Into the era of Trumpism

Last week Donald J Trump, the 70-year-old real estate magnet and former TV reality show personality, won the US presidential election against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton after securing more than 270 electoral votes necessary for a victory. However, his election came as a surprise because the mass media predicted something completely different. This has to do with Trump's previous disapproval of the country's electoral system, his shaky election campaign stained by controversial comments on America's socio-political minorities and the continuous anti-Trump protests in several parts of the United States.  
Arguably, the result of this election makes us acknowledge that ordinary Americans are tired of Washington's humongous corruption and power-hungry politicians and they desperately sought an actual change in the political arena. Moreover, it would be an immature judgment, if one assumes that a Republican-dominated White House as well as both houses of the Congress will bring unity and sweet harmony to the United States, with Trump simply fulfilling his elite role as the figurehead of Washington's shadowy oligarchy. If Trump starts creating new jobs to help build a robust economy, it might be considered an effective method to heal the wounds caused by his dark past. Trump should stick to his open-minded agenda and should not try to break the balance in America's foreign policy.
Unofficially, US elections have always been aided by an obsolete two-party system that involves two candidates already endorsed by powerful lobbies, banks, corporations and other interest groups. From the very beginning, Trump had been viewed as the far less favoured or desired by the political elites including his own Republican Party. Surprisingly, America's mainstream media was 'pro-Hillary' and 'anti-Trump' - shockingly demonstrating the most biased and least objective media coverage of any presidential election in the country's history. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was their choice from the very beginning. The fact that Trump, who never held public office before, somehow won the election confirms the pessimistic attitude of American voters towards their existing political establishment.
It is too early to proclaim that the people's verdict has been given in a free and fair American election and such jubilation would be both naïve and confusing. The real power-brokers such as the lobbying firms and corporate entities in Washington ultimately realised that Hillary Clinton with all her repeated scandals was simply a growing liability and this allowed Trump a narrow margin of victory. Today the international community sees that American democracy exists only on papers. Most of the media estimates were erroneous because it was scripted that way. The gigantic media corporations carefully exaggerated the poll numbers right to the end-a Reuters poll gave Clinton a 90 per cent chance-through persistent propagation tried to convince US voters that Mrs. Clinton was destined to be the next president. A latest study of news stories broadcast on ABC, CBS and NBC from July through October showed that 91 per cent of the news was negative toward Trump while ignoring the fact that Hillary violated espionage laws breaching US national security and engaged in 'treasonous' pay-for-play operations with foreign nationals. Her tax-exempt Clinton Foundation (worth $2.0 billion) is more like a racketeering cartel that scammed the people of Haiti after the country was hit by a deadly earthquake in 2010.
However, it is important to know that the same power interests control American politics whether a Republican president or a Democratic president occupies the White House. Evidently, the Obama administration was a mere extension of the Bush administration. America's domestic and foreign policies both continued incessantly under President Obama because the same Neoconservative think-tanks were able to control Washington regardless of which party actually came to power. Moreover, it is unwise to give any false impression or hope that the new scenario will change.
The Speaker of the US House of Representatives Paul Ryan said, "I cannot support Trump for president!" just before Election Day. A Trump administration is supposed to face a hostile Republican-led Congress, so the gridlock that has characterised US politics so far may not change with Trump becoming the next President. Historically, the Republican Party has represented and served corporate or big-business interests over the popular interests and Trump individually may not change the status quo of how the corporate oligarchy runs the show.
When it comes to finding allies in a dynamic foreign policy, Trump's immediate answer is Russia. Both Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have made public statements conveying admiration for each other's style of leadership as well as a desire to work together as partners in defeating the so-called Islamic State (IS), Al-Qaeda, Al-Nusra and international terrorism. Economic sanctions against Russia that the United States imposed on its allies in Europe hurt the Europeans as much as the Russians.
Furthermore, Donald Trump has some urgent work to do if he wishes to mend and heal the open wounds and make peace with America's minority groups. His racist and volatile statements toward minorities in the past were clearly the liability. In the United States, the fastest growing minority is the Latino community and calling Mexican immigrants "rapists and criminals" was simply outrageous. Some of his views indicated racism also towards African-Americans and Muslim-Americans. Apparently, he offended all these groups with prejudicial slurs and bigoted statements. It led many who might have otherwise supported his candidacy to reject him, although his insulting rhetoric was toned down at the end of his candidacy. So, Trump's poor track record toward the country's minority population speaks for itself and it is definitely not positive.
Displaying effective, sound, strong and positive leadership to undo and overcome his disrepute will be a difficult task. However, if he simply looks forward to create thousands of new jobs that will help build a robust US economy and improve the life of every segment of the US population, particularly those indigent at the bottom of the socioeconomic hierarchy, that would be the most effectual and most convenient way to heal the wounds caused by his controversial past.
If Trump can boost the US economy, upgrade the country's once-lively but now almost-nonexistent manufacturing sector, refurbish the decaying US infrastructure, provide some incentives to bring back US companies that have outsourced millions of American jobs abroad, close the loopholes aiding offshore tax-evaders, and perform the miracle of accomplishing the impossible amidst the global economic meltdown on the verge of total collapse - then Trump will never be called a racist again!
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