Before The gae of the Donald - by Dave Jaffe Part 12

    Before the Age of the Donald - Part 12
 


    On November 8, 2016 Republican Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election over his Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton. Many people on the left just freaked out. How could this man whom many called a foul mouthed, racist, misogynist candidate beat a brilliant centrist woman? It seemed to some to be impossible.
     In fact it was very easy.
     Trump cobbled together a coalition of business friendly people with many white working people. These working people weren't poor but they didn't like the new diversity of white, but also brown, black, and yellow skinned Americans that they could see in the streets of any U.S. city.
     These people also didn't trust Hillary Clinton or her husband the former U.S. president Bill Clinton.
      Trump's debating style also turned off some people. He spoke the way the main characters in many t.v. reality shows mouthed off. Hardly surprising since he'd starred in a t.v. reality show himself called 'The Apprentice'. "The man's never been in politics," one American I know said. "He knows nothing about the way the country's run." Yet Trump's lack of any political experience played as a plus for him. Right now many Americans loathe politicians and being a non-politician gives you a great advantage.
    Then,too, Trump is worth billions of dollars. "I'm worth three billion dollars," he once said. Whatever his net worth, Trump is very rich. Many Americans and many Canadians too worship the wealthy. Finally many Americans felt angry at the new world of free trade agreements, changing technology and the seemingly inbred world of high tech billionaires, political insiders, lobbyists, spin doctors, and Washington, D.C. politicians. Hillary Clinton seemed to symbolize this world that most people could never join. Trump called these new rulers "the elites"
      "Make America great again," the hotel magnate declared again and again, to applauding  crowds. His anti-Muslim, anti-Mexican rap harked back to supposedly simpler more virtuous time when America ruled the globe or at least seemed to. All of this was enough to win him the presidency even though Hillary Clinton won 2 million more votes than he did.
     So how good or bad will a Trump presidency be?