The people have spoken.
In an election that partly turned upon Donald Trump’s ability to tap into the public’s deep-seated resentment and partly upon that public’s distrust and weariness of Hillary Clinton, the political novice was elected Tuesday to be the 45th president of the United States.
The final outcome was surprising; the totality of Trump’s campaign was shocking. For somebody who was best known as a businessman and reality TV host to win the presidency speaks to the depth of Americans’ frustration with politics as usual — a politics embodied by Clinton.
The result came at the end of the most brutal, vicious campaign in recent memory, a punishing gauntlet in which the resulting bruises were exacerbated by the saturation of modern media and the relatively new existence of social media. But the vitriol was hardly unprecedented. When a supporter of candidate John Adams wrote in 1800 that were Thomas Jefferson to become president “we would see our wives and daughters the victims of legal prostitution,” it simply was not repeated endlessly on cable TV and retweeted thousands of times.
In other words, this nation will survive and endure in the wake of a campaign that was simultaneously memorable and eminently forgettable. And if the public can come together and somehow find a shared purpose, this nation will thrive. Our citizens are too strong, our system too secure for the outcome of one election to serve as a death-knell — despite the rhetoric on both sides of the campaign.
Undoubtedly, that can be difficult for many to see at the moment. The prospect of the United States having its first woman president — a woman with strong credentials but equally powerful flaws — was tantalizing for millions. Trump’s flaws are equally glaring, from his thin-skinned insistence upon insulting all challengers to his open misogyny and his demonizing of Others. And Democrats likely will spend years pondering what would have happened had Bernie Sanders won the party’s nomination or if Vice President Joe Biden had sought the presidency.
But, the people have spoken. And while presidential campaigns inherently leave bitterness and disappointment in their wake, eventually we must move on. Move on together. Move on toward improving the United States and the fate of her people. The future is too important to allow injury to fester.
For the United States, it is a seminal moment in history, a moment brought about by Trump’s promises to alter how business is done in Washington, D.C., how America welcomes others, how this nation conducts itself on the world stage. In the process, he has promised to defy many of the United States’ long-standing beliefs and deeply held convictions, choosing isolation in trade and immigration rather than an inviting nature that for centuries has made the nation a shining beacon on the hill for the rest of the world.
While it remains to be seen how much of this Trump can accomplish, and while there is reason to weigh the realism of his vision against the notion of empty promises, Americans on Tuesday provided a stamp of approval for that vision. Trump’s disregard for — and lack of understanding about — the United States Constitution has been disconcerting throughout the campaign, and it will require an adjustment for him to meld his megalomania to the requirements of checks and balances.
Undoubtedly, it is a brave new world for the United States, a world unimaginable some 15 months ago. And yet it is a world we must embrace.
For the people have spoken.
