Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay – Wednesday November 9, 2016
Donald Trump wins, America elects an unthinkable president
President Donald Trump. Believe it.
Trump pulled off the unthinkable once again on Tuesday, this time with colossal global consequences. The Republican businessman and former reality television star was elected president of the United States, completing an astonishing rise from political laughingstock to leader of the free world.
Trump’s victory, perhaps the most staggering election outcome in the modern history of major countries, was a repudiation of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, who was favoured in polls throughout the campaign but was widely considered dishonest and inauthentic. And it was the biggest triumph yet for the populist nationalism that has shaken countries from Britain to Venezuela.
Trump’s win may produce a period of international political, military and economic upheaval. Even before the race was called, the Dow futures market fell by 750 points, a sharper descent than immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks. Canada’s immigration website crashed.
Clinton and President Barack Obama had called for a comprehensive rejection of Trumpism — his disparagement of women and minority groups, his disdain for democratic norms, his rage. Instead, a majority of white voters, and enough others, rejected their message of inclusion and incremental improvement in favour of Trump’s promise of radical transformation.
They granted immense power to an erratic, never-elected and habitually untruthful candidate whose behaviour and policy positions have alarmed much of the world — and who will face no organized opposition in Congress. Republicans retained control of the House of Representatives and appeared likely to keep the Senate. (Continued: Toronto Star)