How the west was won by Trump
And so, we wake up to another other day, nothing has changed. Donald J Trump, the US version of our own Digong Duterte, is still the US president elect. He won by painting red most of America, including the battleground states of Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Georgia, in addition to Texas and all his bailiwicks. The Democrats, the Clintons, and the Obamas and the whole political establishments in Washington DC have all underestimated the man who never held any public office. Trump knew something we all didn't know. He understood the trends and the directions where the political winds are blowing.
And Trump had a message, the gospel of change. With passion, courage and relentless determination, he just focused on his value proposition. It was not a walk in the park, it was, in fact, a lonely and difficult struggle, where many old guards of the Republican establishment have abandoned him. But he kept on fighting and challenging the status quo. He dared to challenge the old traditional politicians in Washington DC. Many of the big names in GOP have publicly declared that they are not supporting Trump. Even the Bushes of Texas have abandoned him when Trump defeated Jeb Bush in the primaries.
In the most unexpected political upheaval in the history of the USA, since 1948, when President Harry Truman surprisingly defeated the highly popular GOP's Dewey, Republican Party's Donald Trump scored the most telling upset ever by beating a quasi-incumbent, who was supported all-out by President Barrack Obama, and the incumbent Democrat administration. The former State Secretary, former New York Senator and former First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton conceded her defeat and congratulated the winner. Trump too commended Clinton for working very hard in that hotly contested campaign.
This column was wrong. It was a mistake. The sources which were used consisted of close friends, relatives, and allies residing in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, as well as from the West consisting of those in California, the state of Washington, Oregon, and Hawaii. In fairness, Secretary Clinton did manage to win in these states. But the US is much bigger than our sample states. But we were not alone in our grave mistake. The Democrats had it all wrong. The pollsters had it wrong. Even CNN, CBC, Fox and many of the major networks were wrong.
Well, we did not learn our lesson from this year's election of our own President Duterte. Although we did predict his victory, and we supported him all the way. But there were lingering doubts that our man from Davao could beat the LP organization, standard bearer, and resources. But then, when the people come together and rally behind a new message of change, of hope, and of rejection of anything identified with the establishment, a victory was achievable. In the same manner that Trump and President Duterte are like modern-day Don Quixotes challenging the central government's windmills, then Mar Roxas is our version of Hillary, the old the old guards of the status quo, whom the people rejected.
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