The US Elections are
over and as I had predicted in September 2016, Trump won with an overwhelming
majority based on the prevailing Electoral College system.
Since the 79th
Congress in 1945 to the 115th Congress in 2017, a period of 62
years, the President, the House and the Senate have been from the same party
only 14 times out of 36 in this period. The Democrats had had this 11 times
versus 3 times for the Republicans, who, in 2017, will have the major advantage
of a Republican President, a Republican controlled House and a Republican
controlled Senate.
This in itself speaks
volumes of the man who led the fractured Republican charge against all odds and
beat the odds on favourite candidate Hillary Clinton. He won despite all the
denouncements from within his own party. While Obama went out to actively campaign
for Hillary, George Bush actually stated that he would vote against Trump.
The man who was
supposed to have completely destroyed the GOP has led it to a stunning victory
and given the party a new lease of life. Grudgingly, the Republicans are accepting
this – they have a much larger role to play in unifying their nation. On the
other hand, the lady who lost, is now crying foul because of being a woman,
unable to break the proverbial glass ceiling has virtually decimated the
Democratic party, a party which is now licking its wounds and undertaking a desperate
soul searching exercise wondering what made it fall from its supposed highs to
these lows.
The supporters of the
losing candidate have started signature campaigns and demonstrations, in some
cases violent, hoping that somehow their prayers and their signature campaigns
will miraculously change the person, a majority of the American people guided
by their Constitution have elected as the 45th President of USA.
Some Democratic Party
spokespersons on TV channels have blamed this defeat to a white lash against
President Obama. How ridiculous this sounds from a party which had positioned
itself as the voice of all the people in America. Hillary Clinton and other informed
Democrats have blamed the FBI for the last minute letter as the primary reason
for the loss. Analysts and motivated party workers have to find reasons for the
defeat and this will continue till the next round of elections.
Psephologists are
concerned on how all their forecasts could have gone wrong. The vitriolic
anchors on TV channels and the all-knowing journalists are scrambling to find
explanations on what could possibly have wrong. Based on statistics from political numbers guru Dave Wasserman,
Hillary won the popular vote by 2,012,331 votes BUT she won California by
3,741,023 votes. Would this then mean disillusionment of the rest of the
country because Californians would have then decided on the winner?
Crying foul is not
going to work. President Elect Trump is on his way to the White House and he
is, for better or for worse the President for at least the next 4 years. Democrats
are up in arms. Hillary Clinton has proudly announced that the fight must
continue. What happened to her resolve to gracefully accept the “will of the
people”? Californian Democrats are looking for even more radical answers like
secession.
Is this not intolerance
from a party that exhibited so much annoyance and surprise when the President
Elect stated that he would decide whether or not to accept the results after
the election? What’s good for one party has to be good for the other as well.
Would the press have been equally kind if the result had been reversed and the
demonstrations were now by the Republicans?
So what can we expect
from President Trump? He is a shrewd businessman and a very unconventional
first time politician with a penchant for surprising the political pundits who
have assumed that political analysis is their private domain since no one
understands it better than them. He has already announced his plan for the
first 100 days and yet there is so much uncertainty on “will he, wont he”.
He is a not a
politician who has been trained and brought up in the establishment. His moves will
be well thought through as he would normally have done while running his
business. He will spring many surprises that a “normal” politician, dyed in the
ways of the establishment, may not have done. He will include his family in his
decision making because he trusts them. Have we not see Hillary Clinton play a
major role during her husband’s presidency? If a wife is acceptable, why not a
daughter, or even a son-in-law?
On the international
front, Trump, the diplomat, will say things that are true and not what the
establishment and the press think as politically correct. There will be issues
with the Trans Pacific partnership, NATO and the equations could change with
China and India but as most leaders think of their own country first, why
shouldn’t the leader of the most powerful country in the World?
Spending on
infrastructure in America will increase significantly, partly because the
infrastructure needs serious investments and partly because this will create
jobs which he must do to meet one of his major election promises. On another
note, an inward looking America will be good for the nations of the World so
that various leaders will be able to work towards resolving the problems of
their nations without turning to a super power for guidance at every step.
Every step that Trump
takes, every appointment he makes, every decision he takes will be analysed and
counter proposals will be presented. Sections of the press will continue to
frighten the masses with their alarmist reporting but this has to be expected.
Cynics will keep predicting doomsday scenarios while his supporters will back
him as long as he keeps delivering on his practical poll promises.
He has the tail wind
with him and once he is in the Oval Office, the election rhetoric will be over
and the pragmatic businessman will become a responsible politician.
He has not even gotten
started - it is too early to write his epitaph.
*******************
The author is the founder Chairman of
Guardian Pharmacies and the author of 5 best-selling books, Reboot. Reinvent.
Rewire: Managing Retirement in the 21st Century; The Corner Office; An Eye for
an Eye; The Buck Stops Here - Learnings of a #Startup Entrepreneur and The Buck
Stops Here – My Journey from a Manager to an Entrepreneur.
Twitter: @gargashutosh
Instagram: ashutoshgarg56
Blog: ashutoshgargin.wordpress.com |
ashutoshgarg56.blogspot.com
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