>Donald Trump will be the 45th President of the United States. These words will echo in the hearts of 324 million Americans today, some shell-shocked and downcast, others delirious with joy. The sheer divergence of emotions over the surprise result is a poignant signal of how deeply divided the nation is, after a polarising two-year election campaign. Bigotry, patriarchy and racist rancour, which reared their ugly heads throughout this season of incivility, may find no welcome catharsis with the apotheosis of Mr. Trump. According to the exit polls, 58 per cent of whites and 21 per cent of non-whites voted for Mr. Trump, whereas 37 per cent of whites and 74 per cent of non-whites voted for his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. He also scored higher with men than women, and with those voters who did not have a college degree. In other words, blue-collared white men and women thronged to Mr. Trump in droves, angry about their perceived impoverishment and disenfranchisement inflicted by the country’s political and financial elites. It had left them with only one option: to throw a metaphorical grenade at these power centres.
At the heart of the shock result is the shock itself, which stemmed from what most analysts have been calling the vote of the “silent majority”. Why did the U.S. media and pollsters fail to see which way the wind was blowing? They apparently did not suspect, when poll results suggested that Ms. Clinton was the more acceptable candidate, that some of the respondents to these polls may have been unwilling to admit to being supporters of Mr. Trump. It is likely for instance that women, 42 per cent of whom voted for Mr. Trump, were reluctant to reveal their preference after Mr. Trump was exposed for boasting about sexual assault and faced allegations of the same. What was not taken proper note of was that in almost every swing State, there were between 11 and 18 per cent “undecided” voters in late October — a significant number of people that tilted the election in favour of Mr. Trump. Insofar as this election reflected expressions of frustration that went against the grain of political correctness, the Trump victory resembles Brexit. However, in his victory speech Mr. Trump has appeared to quickly move past campaign recrimination, the conciliatory tone of which may go a little way in calming nerves at home as well as of anxious world leaders watching the election from afar. If indeed he presents a softer, more collaborative face at home and abroad, the Divided States of America may yet hold firm and lend strength to the global order, as it has done in the past.
