Analysis: What really happened in US?

WASHINGTON: American President-elect Donald Trump fought against rival Democratic party, a vibrant strong media, his own Republican party, intelligentsia and civil society yet he managed to win the race for White House. 

While the world is stunned over what has happened with America, experts identify following three key factors which played key role in Trumps shocking victory.

Firstly, the most important factor that played part in Trump’s rise is frustration of White voters especially those doing blue-collar jobs who believe globalisation and America’s pro-immigration policies over last few decades have hit them hard economically. There was a massive disconnect between the traditional politicians and this demographic group of American voter, which makes about two third of American population. This segment is living in the United States for several centuries. Experts believe this group felt left out in economic race which favoured highly-educated immigrants without any consideration of their ethnicity or origin. Also economic recession of 2008 left millions in poor economic state with loss of jobs and even homes and majority racial group felt no one was watching their interest.

Donald Trump directly targeted this group with his blunt message without any regard for political correctness and any fear of media and civil society. He targeted America’s immigrant groups including Muslims, Latino and Chinese openly and promised to restrict immigrations and refugee influx. Such was his confidence in packaging of his message that he did not fear alienating major stakeholder in American system. He connected so well with this group that voters ignored his brash statements, his abusive language against women and minorities, his threat to not accept election results and his tax-evasion. He managed to convince them that he would change the entire world economic order to bring jobs back to America, a promise that expert believe is almost impossible to fulfil given the nature of global economy.

Secondly, voter’s dislike for incumbency also factored in political demise of Democrats who were in government for last two terms. Change is such an attractive slogan it never fails to attract people. It worked for President Obama in 2008 and indeed it worked for Trump this year. When Obama took over the White House, America’s economy was in shambles after being hit by massive recession. Experts believe Obama did really well to bring economic stability during his eight-year- reign yet incumbency factor went against his party. Donald Trump also used this to his advantage and portrayed himself as anti-status quo and a political outsider and who was fighting against the system which is designed to work against the majority ethnic group. 

Third key factor was candidacy of Hillary Clinton. Despite her services for women and children during last two decades as First Lady and as secretary of state, she was considered a traditional politician. Her handling of email issue did not help at all. Trump smartly played the card and accused her of compromising national security by using a private email server for official communication as Secretary of State. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s announcement two weeks before election that it is opening a fresh probe into her emails further harmed Mrs Clinton’s chances. Experts believe Democrats did not make a wise call by nominating Hillary as their presidential candidate. In their view a fresh face could have shown a better result against Donald Trump.