The results Tuesday night stunned strategists from both parties. Somehow the candidate – who relied almost entirely on the Republican National Committee for his ground game – outmanned the Clinton campaign. Then came uncertainty as FBI Director James Comey cast a new cloud of suspicion over Clinton’s campaign, reopening a review of emails tied to her server.Ĭlinton allies said the damage was undeniable – their hope of swaying those final persuadable Republican women and independents – suddenly looked bleaker.Īs late as this weekend, the polls suggested Trump would have to run a near perfect race and chart a very narrow path to the White House, essentially pulling an inside straight. But the polls began to tighten, returning the race to a more accurate reflection of a deeply polarized country. Still, Trump pulled off one of the most staggering upsets in the history of Western democracy.Īs recently as a month ago, pundits were still contemplating the possibility of a Hillary Clinton landslide. “I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans.” “I say it is time for us to come together as one united people,” he said. Trump pledged unity during a victory speech in the early morning hours Wednesday. The question now, is when he becomes the most powerful man in the world in January, whether Trump will try to rewrite the rules and conventions of American government and the international system, just as fundamentally as he rewrote the rules of American presidential elections. How politicians, pollsters and media missed Trump’s groundswell Trump’s rewriting of the rules of politics could usher in a period of global turmoil and uncertainty, as US allies, foreign markets and the Americans who were revolted by his behavior during the campaign look to the future with deep anxiety. He said the polls were wrong and that he would pull off a surprise that would dwarf the shocking poll-defying Brexit vote in the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. He said he could teach Republicans to beat their nemesis – the Clintons. He said he could humble the most talented Republican field in a generation: He did. Trump said he would change the complexion of the electoral map – putting Democratic states in the decaying industrial Midwest into the Republican column with his anti-trade rhetoric. He argued that Americans were hungering for change and that he alone could “drain the swamp” by sweeping away corruption in Washington. Instead Trump marshaled a movement – a modern day uprising of forgotten Americans, reminiscent of Richard Nixon’s “silent majority” of the late 1960s. The pundits thought Trump’s reality show antics, his vulgar rhetoric, speeches filled with falsehoods and insults thrown at almost every sector of American society – Latinos, African Americans, war heroes, women and Muslims – would disqualify him from the presidency. He spoke to the pain they felt about working hard and getting left behind.Īnd in doing so, he eviscerated every convention about politics. He tapped into their anxiety about the present and the fear of the future. Trump channeled the fury of average Americans against Washington. He pulled off a stunning victory after the most unprecedented of presidential campaigns. From the beginning, everyone underestimated Donald Trump.
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