EDITORIAL - World shocked by US election results

 

The 2016 elections in the United States will perhaps be remembered for all time, and November 9 – the day after the results were announced – will go down in history as ‘the day the world stood shocked’.  
 
While everyone knew that there was a possibility that billionaire businessman Donald J. Trump could win the election, none thought that he would beat the first woman to run on a major political party’s ticket.
 
Poll, after poll, after poll suggested that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would become the 45th President of the United States of America and the first woman to hold that post, but in hindsight it seems none of the pollsters took into consideration the tremendous support being shown for this non-traditional candidate. None, it seems, took into consideration the impact that third party candidates could have on the election; nor did they consider that there were many persons who were holding close to their chest the fact that they intended to vote for Mr. Trump.
 
The failure to look at these factors, as well as to truly measure the impact the public’s disdain for the “establishment” could have on the results, meant that many of the polls missed the mark. Added to that, some say that the FBI’s decision to reopen the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s email was not just a blow to her campaign, but was perhaps a nail in the coffin.
 
There is no doubt that the political pundits will be discussing for months, and perhaps years to come, what caused the pollsters to be dead wrong this time; for while predicting human behaviour is by no means an exact science, to make such a mistake again could prove catastrophic. Just look what happened Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning when stock markets plummeted at the news that Mr. Trump’s momentum was riding high. But then things levelled out – people realised that in spite of him being elected the next Leader of the Free World, Earth did not stop spinning on its axis, and the sun still rose and set as it usually does. Like what happened in the aftermath of another shocking vote earlier this year – Brexit – life went on!
 
Indeed, the wider world will have to get used to the idea of a Trump presidency, but as he will not take up office until mid-January or thereabouts, there is time for that and time for the United States to start healing the rifts that became evident during the campaigns. As we noted in yesterday’s editorial, efforts must be made to unite that divided nation, a nation split almost down the middle when you look at the fact that both candidates secured equal proportions of the votes cast. 
 
It was heartening therefore to see both candidates recognising the need for unity, with the President-elect vowing to “bind the wounds of division” and Mrs. Clinton offering to work with him and telling supporters they “owe Donald Trump an open mind”.
 
We will no doubt be looking on intently during the coming weeks and months, as the transition of power is made and the world sees if the new president will soften on some of the things he had spoken about such as immigration. This is an issue that the countries of CARICOM must watch, because it is certainly likely that some of the persons who fall into that category come from this very region, and sending them back could put added pressure on our limited resources.
 

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