Days before the United States presidential elections, people were expecting that Donald Trump will have a very steep chance of winning the elections, as surveys showed his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton leading in most battleground states, and given his rhetoric against Latinos, Muslims, and other minorities he will have a very slim chance.
But the elections on November 8 showed a different path.
Early results showed Donald Trump leading both the popular vote (Clinton eventually took the lead but it’s quite late) and the electoral vote, and with him winning the Rust Belt states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, he won as 45th president in a stunning upset.
This shocked many people around the world who were so confident he will have a very slim chance of winning given the controversial statements he has made and taking into consideration his background as a reality TV star and businessman with such a bad record.
So why did he win? He tapped into the frustrations of many Americans who felt the political establishment has failed them over the years and it’s about time for a change. And what people saw in Clinton was she was an embodiment of the very same establishment. (because of her e-mail scandals).
Now that we have to deal with this reality, Donald Trump recently has sounded more conciliatory. He promised to be the president of all Americans and while meeting with Barack Obama he sounded little less than the Trump who spearheaded the birther issue.
Regardless of these however, Trump’s campaign has spearheaded a very hateful campaign which will not go away immediately, as it was also during the campaign period all sorts of racist and sexist attacks spread all over the place.
In foreign policy, at least, Trump would strike a non-interventionist line and try to negotiate with Russia, Iran, Mexico, EU, and others on a wide range of issues. And as for our country, at least Duterte wouldn’t have to deal with someone who will egg him on the human rights issue which is pretty sensitive to him.
On the other hand, the Trump victory could have been avoided should the Democratic Party establishment listened to Bernie Sanders and didn’t try to sabotage his chances of winning the nomination.
And now we have to face this reality, let’s all just hope that the Trump in the White House would be a different one from the Trump during the campaign, otherwise, wish us all the best of luck and may we survive.
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