World expects more nuance and reason

At home Trump has several burning issues of economy, national security and healthcare to deal with

By Fazal Malik

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Published: Wed 9 Nov 2016, 7:22 PM

Last updated: Wed 9 Nov 2016, 9:28 PM

Before and during this bitterly fought US presidential election, Donald Trump kept on saying that he will win the vote and in case he loses, he would not accept the results. Well, contrary to his own fears and the predictions of the opinion polls, Donald Trump has won this most polarised election in the US history. However, the process through which Trump became the 45th President of United States of America will remain a topic of political debate for long time to come. 
As I write this column, the markets are in jitters, trying to come to terms with a mandate which looks as surreal as the campaign that saturated the print, electronic, online and social media for months. Eventually, markets will accept this vote and some stability will return just as it happened after the similar unexpected mandate on the Brexit vote in the UK in June this year. There are many similarities between the Trump win and the Brexit vote, and even those who voted in favour of the UK leaving the European Union could not believe the results of what they had voted for.  No wonder, Nigel Farage wants to be Trump's ambassador to the European Union.
Without going into a deeper analysis to understand the outcome of these two unexpected votes, it is clear that the issues of immigration, white identity, trade and a more inward-looking foreign policy, if not isolationism, came to the centre-stage of electioneering during this campaign. It is clear that these issues have deeply divided people in both the US and the UK. While Donald Trump did not shy away from being very aggressive in placing these issues on top of the political agenda and election manifesto, making many people even within his own party red-faced. On the other hand, Whatever the analysis, Trump is the 45th President and the Commander in Chief of the armed forces in the United States of America. He has already declared himself as the President for all Americans in a bid to dispel, the real and perceived, fears people have about his intensions. Trump's campaign, which was based on an unrelenting offensive on everything Democrats stood for, has paid a dividend.
Now the people expect a more balanced approach in dealing with issues both at the domestic and international front. Besides a number of flickering foreign policy fires to attend, Trump has several burning issues of economy, national security and healthcare to deal with at home.
Beyond the melodrama on live TV, there are some important lessons for everyone interested in the politics: whatever the rhetoric, it is immigration, taxes, jobs and healthcare, and more importantly a fear about these issues, not the libertarian slogans that matter.
The writer is the Programme Leader for Journalism and Mass Communication at Amity University Dubai


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