Donald Trump Wins the Presidency

 

 

Photo provided by: indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com
Photo provided by: indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com

Matt Monroe
Webmaster

In a stunning upset, Donald J. Trump has won the presidency with 290 electoral votes over Hillary Clinton’s 232 electoral votes. However, Clinton took the popular vote with a nearly 1.7 million lead, meaning Clinton won 48 percent of the vote compared to Trump’s 46.7 percent.

Despite almost every poll having Clinton in the lead, battleground states like Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin ended up flipping over to Trump by the time voting ended. So, what ended up causing this flip?

“I think that Trump’s message had a populist appeal that also interacted at the right time with a general sense of economic disenfranchisement,” said Mario Love, a professor at L&C who teaches American Government.

If there’s anyone who felt this sense of economic disenfranchisement Love talks about, it’s the Rust Belt states who voted for Trump with the exclusion of Illinois, where Clinton won the vote with 55.4 percent. Even more locally, Trump won Madison County with 55 percent of the vote.

One of those voters was Joshua Brockman, a radio broadcasting student at L&C. “I thought it was great,” he said.  “I think it’s time for a change in America. I just hope President Elect Trump puts his money where his mouth is now!”

On the other side, University of Missouri–St. Louis(UMSL) student & former L&C student Andrew Cole had this to say: “While I am sorely disappointed in the result, I respect the Electoral College and the democratic process.”

Cole continued, talking about the protests that have popped up against the President-elect: “I am perfectly ok with protest, because this nation was founded by protest and people standing up to what they do not believe in. However, when people’s’ lives are in danger in result of violent actions in reaction to the election and in general, that crosses the line.”

Love also spoke about the protests, saying: “It is the right to protest, but the millennial vote was only 19 percent. Like most protests it will peter out, but I think it will be reflective of the general distaste for Trump’s nomination and impending Presidency.”

Currently, Trump is in the process of filling out his cabinet which so far includes names like Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor Steve Bannon, a former Executive Chairman for the Alt-right Breitbart News, National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn, an anti-Islam retired Army Lieutenant General and former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Senator who’s federal judgeship was rejected in 1986 because of racially charged comments and actions.

Cole spoke about Sessions, saying he had an open mind about Trump’s cabinet until he was selected. “With Sessions’ view towards the racial divide in this country, and his comment that “Good People Don’t Smoke Marijuana,” leaves a lot to be desired for a position that requires an unbiased view in judicial predicament.”

For more info about the electoral map and who voted in this election, visit nytimes.com.  

mmmonroe@lc.edu

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