The Hilarious Trump of the US Elections
Everyone by now must have read all the statistics and post-election analysis of the US presidential election. If not you are probably reading just the right one right now cause I’m about the rip the elections apart and how!
The USA is a Democratic Republic which implies that the people of the country indirectly vote their representative to be the supreme power and the latter does not rest with a monarch or a ruler. So arguably what has happened in this election is entirely what the people of the United States wanted and have voted for. Although most of us watching the continuous ongoing debates and ugly use of words between Hillary and Donald (I am going to address them by their first names as this is common practice in work environments these days – which also has been taken from the US) were convinced that US is not going to vote for Donald for his words and ideologies were spiteful. We have all created a beautiful image of the West, particularly the United States, which has no place for words like racism, gender discrimination, irrational behaviors and represents the most progressive thinking societies in the world. This beautiful image made us believe in their ability to vote for the more ‘rational’ and ‘liberal’ of the two candidates that were running against each other. I mean I agree that they hardly were given much choice when it comes to presidential candidates, and yet I believed that US could not vote for Donald. But they did! The Hilarious Trump of the US Elections
Donald didn’t just get a majority his number ‘290’ is way above the majority of 270 required. It was a clean sweep.
Ashutosh Varshney, Professor at Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University has really made it crystal clear in his article in Indian Express (http://bit.ly/2geTRAZ ). As we all know Donald’s campaign was hostile towards the ethnic minorities of US as well as towards women and hence these candidates were expected to vote against him. Given the demography of the country Ashutosh has clearly shown a 5 major voting arms – The Black (12% of the electorate), the Hispanic (12%), the Asians (5%), the college educated White community (25%) and the non college educated White community (45%). Now women across all communities were expected to vote for Hillary due to sexist comments from Donald. All minority and ethnic communities were expected to vote for Hillary again due to scornful attacks on them by Donald and the college educated Whites who are the privileged members of the society were expected to vote for Hillary making the predictions tilt the scale towards Hillary.
What happened was an eye opener of sorts. The women across communities did show a common voting preference to Hillary over Donald but most still stuck to their community trend – which means White women stood by Donald despite his derogatory comments. This goes to show the human tendency to remain in groups and communities and conform to the social expectations and trends of that community. Whether a man or a woman, one would not go against a common good of your community however globalized you may be and that is what is also reflected in the White community’s vote. Against the expected vote to Hillary by the college-educated White community, the entire White community in US whether college educated or non-college educated has voted for Donald! These two factors are exactly what has changed the entire dynamics of US elections. It has turned the table for Donald.
This episode of US elections should be a revelation of human behavior for all of us and break our stereotypical fancy ideas about the West. Human race as a whole is racist without exception whether it is the West, the Middle East, Africa or East. It comes out of the fear of losing ones own kind and being a minority among people of other race. Its a fear of losing power.
I read an opinion somewhere about women not being able to break the ‘glass ceiling’ of being on the leading positions anywhere after Hillary lost the elections. But I feel it was not the gender bias but a mere human sentiment which floats across all continents that did not allow her to rise to the pedestal. Think about it… In the past century or more the US has had open doors for immigrants and so have other western countries in Europe, UK, etc. It is only now after so many years of allowing immigration that they have realized the dangers of a propagating races and the effect of them overpowering their own communities. UK has removed itself from the EU and restricted all immigration for reasons of losing jobs to immigrants and impending ‘safety’ hazards being faced by the ‘locals’ or the ‘natives’. EU is closing doors to refugees and making immigration laws stringent out of fear of their own safety. It is this basic human nature that is resurfacing after a century of so called ‘globalization’. Let’s face it, we are certainly globally connected due to technology but we are not globalized as a human race or else boundaries wouldn’t have mattered when it came to employment. So we have come full circle with the concept of globalization and we no longer want encroachment into our personal territory. We are tired of the effects of globalization and want radical changes to bring about a revolution that will change the way we live. This is why everywhere in the world we are seeing a common trend of extreme politics and decisions.
The US elections have opened doors to a new era in the history of mankind certainly that will change the way things are done and drive a new global culture. This global culture would be defined by the way ideologies propagate in the world – whether it propagates from West to East or vice versa. What needs to be seen is which country is the stronger player and what becomes the driving force. That will define where the weighing scale tilts on this side of the millennial timeline. The country that plays the ‘Trump’ card will take it all! What a ‘Hilarious’ twist in the first half of a galloping century, isn’t it!
