White House welcomes President Trump

9 November 2016 01:14 pm Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 50 Bookmark

CHATURANGA PRADEEP SAMARAWICKRAMA Follow

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Donald John Trump will take oaths as the 45th president of the United States of America on January 20th, 2017. In what could be termed the biggest upset in recent democratic polling history, the businessman, reality TV star, maverick turned juggernaut movement head -- Donald Trump -- claimed victory at around 2.45 am New York time, at the Hilton Hotel in New York.

After more than a year of hard fought battles, overturning every liberal media and analyst's prediction, Donald Trump proved to be the winner with 59,182,321 votes, amounting to 47.5% of the total votes cast. His opponent, who was tipped to be the first female President of the United States, polled 59,353, 098 votes or 47.7% of the votes cast.

“He spoke to real people, the people who were never spoken to before and who didn’t have a chance with this elitist system,” Ronald Walker 33, a Trump supporter living in the Upper East Side in New York, told Daily Mirror.

At the time of writing, Donald Trump had won 279 Electoral College votes, which is over and above the required 270, while his rival -- the former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton -- had won just 218.

Clinton, was slightly ahead in the overall popular vote count, but the Electoral College system had all but sealed Trumps victory, early Wednesday morning.

The Trump movement saw masses of lower middle class or poor people rallying around the call to topple the existing status quo. Donald Trump, the President elect, in his rhetoric highlighted how the “corrupt, system of a powerful few” had alienated the average American, a message which continuously resonated with the populace. The popular message of the movement, was that the system in place had not delivered, and that the time was ripe for an overthrow.

The manner in which the Electoral College system of the United States (which comprises 538 votes) works, gave a clear indication of the upset victory early on. 435 of the Electoral College votes are cast by the states and their population, 100 votes are allocated to senators and 3 to the District of Columbia.

The ‘popular vote’ which is the vote cast by the citizen in each state is counted, and the winner of each state is accordingly assigned the number of Electoral College votes he/she receives. Following the declaration of the popular vote. Accordingly the winner of a state such as Texas or California by popular vote would be apportioned the Electoral College votes allocated for the state. California has 55 apportioned and Texas the second largest has 38.

Both candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were a 30-minute walking distance away from each other, having cast their votes in New York- the home state of both.

Clinton supporters were gathered at the Jatvis Center between 34th and 40th Street on 11th Avenue, from 3pm until John Pedosta the campaign Chairman spoke to her supporters at around 1.30 am. He told the supporters, who were by then aware of the imminent defeat, “Go home, she will have more to say tomorrow”.

50 minutes to an hour later, all television news stations, who played a pivotal part in the forecast and reporting of the election, said that Hillary Clinton had made a phone call to Donald Trump and conceded defeat. The same was confirmed by the President elect during his victory speech.

The 70 year old businessman, the oldest to win a first term in the history of the United States, acknowledged the phone call when he spoke to jubilant fans at the Hilton at around 2.50 am.

Reading from the teleprompters before him the new President elect commended his opponent for a very hard fought campaign”.

“We owe a very major debt of gratitude to her (Clinton) for her service to our country, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people," he said.

In what could be termed a gracious and conciliatory speech, given the bitter campaign that many assume had divided the country, Trump attempted to make amends.

“Now it is time for America to bind the wounds of division, have to get together, to all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation I say it is time for us to come together as one united people,” he said.

Clinton, who was scheduled to speak on Wednesday, at 10.30 am Eastern Standard Time, was yet to make her concession speech, at the time of writing.

Voting began early Tuesday morning with much enthusiasm across the country. Clinton and Trump both voted in New York, after which they both retired to their respective hotels in Manhattan.

Despite the surge in Hispanic voters and record turnouts in some states, states which Clinton supporters, pollsters, academics and political pundits repeatedly believed were ‘safe states’, the night was long and drawn out for her campaign.

The first result, at around 7.10 pm, was a victory for Trump. From then on, the movement, largely ignored by the progressives and the liberals, gained momentum, with Ohio, Florida and North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin all falling to Trump. The Clinton supporters had hope, up until around 11.00 pm, when North Carolina and Ohio were called, after which, many of them who were anti-Trump voters rather than pro Clinton voters, admitted, “its over”.

Voters who had previously heralded the First Black President of the country, Barack Obama, had rejected Hillary Clinton and significantly voted for Donald Trump whose rhetoric had posited the exact opposite. Glaringly, Trunbull, in Ohio went to the Republican by a 6 point margin, despite giving Obama a 22 point victory in 2012.

Daily Mirror, yesterday, predicted that the polls and opinions may be proved wrong, given the nature of the campaign and the widespread cohesion of the movement, which many in liberal and academic circles failed to acknowledge until late last night.

All networks displayed shock and awe when the results started to flow in, with Wolf Blitzer on CNN among all anchors on the major Networks admitting that they had “read the election wrong.”

“This was not expected, and we had even gone into the appointments of the President elect. This map was not supposed to look this way,” the NBC news election coverage anchor said.

However, despite the constant fear-mongering, Trump's victory speech may have resulted in sighs of relief across the globe.

In his speech that lasted close upon 12 minutes, Trump said, “All people and all other nations. We will seek common ground, not hostility; partnership, not conflict.”.

New York, considered the most progressive state in the country, was in no mood for partying. Since the election results started coming in, the atmosphere was sober and sullen. Despite it being the home of the two candidates, there were no street parties nor traffic around the city. The subways remained empty, symbolizing, if nothing else, that America had realised that its estimation of the dejection and disappointment of the populace at the status quo, was in fact all wrong. (Hafeel Farisz in New York)