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For the second time in 2016, the World has just witnessed another upset in the political landscape of the World. First, it was the British people’s decision to exit the European Union in June of this year following an advisory referendum in which 52% of votes were cast in favour of Britain leaving the EU. The second is the just concluded United States elections in which Donald J. Trump emerged the president elect after a tightly contested polls that saw his opponent accepting the outcome almost immediately in the spirit of sportsmanship. Although the polls and the odds favoured Hillary Clinton before November 8, as major online polls were reporting Hillary as the potential President-elect, no one would have predicted otherwise- not after thrashing Donald Trump in the three debates that was held before the elections. This is a clear indication that online polls do not determine who eventually wins the real election.
Few things, in my opinion I observed did not work for Hillary Clinton in the just concluded elections. First is the issue of trust. People were fed up with the Media and with Washington. Many Americans believe that HC is part of the establishment that has deceived the American people for a long time. As a matter of fact, this became so obvious in the way people voted, especially the Whites. In addition to this, Donald Trump was able to convince the American people that thirty years of Hillary Clinton in public service has not done anything worthwhile for the American people and therefore cannot be trusted with the mandate. Also, the countless of business connections to the family charitable foundation left many voters doubting Hillary Clinton’s sincerity on matters of money and much else. The email scandal and the FBI investigation just few days before voting began, with the intention of bringing possible indictment against her for using private servers to send her emails as the Secretary of State was just the most punishing of the issue.
Also, the Trump movement was able to win more people to their side through most of Donald Trump’s campaign promises. Why Hillary Clinton was busy selling herself as the most experienced and the most qualified to take on this job, Donald Trump was busy selling what the American people want to hear. From the threat to ban Muslims from entering the US, to building a wall that would prevent Mexicans immigrant from illegally entering the US, to threatening to deport immigrants that are living and working illegally in the United States, to rolling back Obama care that has only benefited 20% of Americans since inception, to the threat to withdraw the Iran nuclear deal Obama struck with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and to making America great again. These are what majority of the voters want to hear and they were glad hearing it from Donald Trump. These Trump messages was able to one way or the other, appeal to a growing group of unaffiliated independent-minded American folks who bought into them.
Again, many of Obama’s policies failed in his eight years in office. Many Americans believes that Obama only talks and then no action. The lack of action, the hypocrisy, “the talking the talk without walking the walk”, that have made many progressives and liberals frustrated and angry, and which eventually played out in this just concluded elections. For example, many have criticized Obama’s foreign policies as one of the “wackest” in the US history, which has put even strong US allies like the state of Israel in great danger. Many Americans believed that they are less prosperous and less safe because of Obama’s policies. Others believed that the US no longer leads in the World because Obama in his eight years in office has led from behind. This is why countries like China and Russia are gaining momentum and about to overtake the US. Many Americans believed that Obama’s healthcare policy has been a complete failure as well in which many Americans termed “healthcare slavery”. With all these and many more, the voters believe a vote for Hillary is a vote for continuity of Obama’s policies.
What about the Bernie Sanders movement? There were no doubts those Bernie Sanders supporters who did not believe in Hillary Clinton’s candidacy either didn’t vote at all, or gave their votes to the republican candidate Donald Trump. It must be recalled that more than 12 million people voted for Sanders in the Democratic primaries, and this figure not even include the number of independents who supported him but could not vote during the primaries. The millennials, those young educated folks who believed the primaries was rigged in favor of Mrs. Clinton never forgave the system. Despite Bernie Sanders endorsement of Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention, some of his supporters left feeling alienated by the party. Apart from this obvious fact, the Wikileaks emails that the DNC was working secretly to support Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders also powered this distaste.
Now, this is my final take on this issue. It is clear that Donald J. Trump is the 45th President-elect of the United States of America, and will be substantially sworn in at the appropriate time. The elections have come and gone, and the President-elect must now get to work- first, by uniting every aggrieved person within his own Republican party because he needs every support he can to succeed. It is no longer about Trump or Hillary again for now, but about the people of the United States and the rest of the World. People around the globe are watching what would come out of a Trump presidency. It has to be less of tweets and more of actions from President trump. It is left for the President-elect to prove millions of pessimist wrong that he can truly make America great again, stop terrorism around the world, deliver on the thousands of jobs being promised during the campaign. The new president should also look for a system of integrating the undocumented immigrants rather than deporting them. I think it would be highly unfair to deport over 11 million people who have consistently over the years contributed in no small measure in paying taxes and ensuring America’s diversity.
This election is Donald Trump’s first political office and the World no doubt will be watching how it would all play out in the next four or eight years of Trump’s presidency. Thank you for reading.