NEW YORK — A great majority of Americans responded Tuesday to the clarion call for Change and believed enough in the trumpeter – Donald Trump – to elect him the 45th president of the United States on his promise to fix the crooked system.
The message of Trump, the Republican bet, that the government must be returned to the people from the power clique in Washington and Wall Street must have resonated coast to coast to give him enough popular votes that translated to 289 of the 538 electoral votes.
The race for the winning majority vote of 270 kept us on edge the whole night, as we witnessed the collapse of the 18 “blue wall” states that held up for Democrats for the past 20 years, including for Barack Obama in the last presidential election – but not for Hillary Clinton this time.
(After receiving before 2:30 a.m. EST a call from Clinton conceding his election, Trump addressed his followers assembled in anticipation of a victory. After thanking those who have helped him win, he called for unity, for a binding of the wounds of the bruising campaign.)
(This Filipino observer cannot help seeing in Trump’s win a parallel in the election of then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to the presidency – also on a promise of Change.)
What went wrong for Clinton? She enjoyed the Democratic Party’s full support and benefitted from the field campaigning of President Obama and first lady Michelle, who delivered among the most moving speeches of the season.
Clinton failed to fend off attacks on her own trustworthiness, on shortcomings of ObamaCare (the administration’s program for affordable health care), her careless handling of official emails as State secretary, and the US military entanglements on many fronts abroad.
In contrast, Trump was all but dumped by GOP bosses and some senior Republicans whom he beat for the party nomination. This left him with some associates, corporate executives, and his children to bear the brunt of the battle, putting in his own millions to the campaign chest.
• Trump vows to ‘drain the swamp’
LIKE A VOICE in the wilderness, Trump told the electorate during the campaign (he called it a “movement”) that being with the economic elite, he knows exactly what ails the system and that he happens to be eminently qualified to “drain the swamp.”
He criticized regional trade and economic agreements entered into by the US which, he said, had resulted in the relocation overseas of US industries and the loss of a big number of jobs. He promised to review these pacts and bring back manufacturing, the jobs and revenues.
At the risk of alienating minorities such as Afro-Americans and Latinos, he ranted against foreigners who have stayed illegally and added to the social security strain. He sounded like he was stirring up a “whitelash” against non-Caucasian minorities.
Part of his rhetoric against minorities and illegal migrants, as well as the exporting of American factories and jobs, was his plan to build a 2,500-mile wall on the US border with Mexico. Reacting to this, Pope Francis stressed the need for bridges, rather than walls.
It was reassuring then that Trump’s victory speech started on a reconciliatory note, reaching out to friends and foes alike to come together so as to bind the nation’s wounds. An expectant nation hopes he has the temperament to do that.
Unification and “making America great again” would be an acid test for the businessman who had never held any post in the civil service or in the military. Some associates expect him to manage state affairs almost like he would do his corporation’s business.
• ‘US to beat China, Japan, Mexico’
FOR THOSE who missed Trump’s speech, here are excerpts:
“We are going to make America great again! But we’re going to do it the old fashioned way. We’re going to beat China, Japan. We’re going to beat Mexico at trade. We’re going to beat all of these countries that are taking so much of our money away from us on a daily basis. It’s not going to happen anymore.
“We have the greatest businesspeople right now in the world. They call me all the time. They want to be involved. We have political hacks negotiating our deals for billions and billions of dollars. Not going to happen anymore. We’re going to use the finest businesspeople in the world. We are going to do something so good and so fast and so strong. And the world is going to respect us again.
“I think one of the things that really caught on is very important, self-funding my campaign. Everybody on both sides... And you know I was saying two weeks ago. I said I don’t think people really appreciate it because I see all of this money being poured into commercials and it’s not their money. It’s special interests’ money. And this is on both sides. This is on the Republican side, the Democrat side, money just pouring into commercials.
“These are special interests, folks. These are lobbyists. These are people that don’t necessarily love our country. They don’t have the best interests of our country at heart. We’re not going to let it happen. We have to do something about it. When you see the kind of deals made in our country, a lot of those deals are made because the politicians aren’t so stupid. They’re making them for their benefit. We have to stop it.
“In a nutshell, we’re going to make great trade deals. We’re going to rebuild our military. It’s going to be so big, so strong, so powerful. Nobody is going to mess with us, believe me, nobody.”
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