By Athena Papakosta
Millions of Americans woke up yesterday to a transformed country trying to realize that the winner of the election is, after all, the Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump.
As the hours passed, it became increasingly clear that Trump had not just won, he had swept the United States of America. All seven undecided states, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada, locked up the White House for him, while for the first time in 20 years the Republican party also won the popular vote. At the same time, he manages to control both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
How did we get here? How did the United States vote to reinstate a former president, who has even been convicted and is facing sexual assault charges, instead of choosing to elect, for the first time, a woman to the position of president?
According to Britain's Guardian, the United States was desperate for a change, and Kamala Harris' election campaign "suffocated" any possibility of the country following a new path. The vice president of the United States did not take enough distance from the Biden administration, and Americans did not want a repeat of the previous four years.
"America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate," said the newly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump during his first address to his gathered voters at the heart of his campaign in West Palm Beach, Florida, where despite the fact that the election result by that time was not official, the celebrations had begun. "I will govern with a simple slogan," he said, "promises made are promises kept."
Donald Trump is expected to be sworn in on January 20 as the 47th president of the United States and among his campaign promises one can find, among others, changes in the country's immigration policy which will include: sealing the borders and mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, the promise to end inflation, the promise to impose tariffs on all imported goods and the promise to end the war in Ukraine. It remains to be seen what he will do about abortion, an issue that became a Republican nightmare on the campaign trail (and thus avoided), with him content before his election to say that the issue should be resolved at the state level.
In their article, the New York Times underlines that the Republicans ran an election campaign as a party of hate. Instead, the American paper reports, the Democrats entered the campaign arena as a party that stood for almost nothing to underline that "between hate and nothing, hate won."
Now the Democrats should use this defeat as a good wake-up call. As the New York Times also points out, it's time for "moderate Republicans" to stop playing it safe and stand up in action, not just words, for workers and human rights for all.
For her part, Kamala Harris, after hours of silence, delivered an emotionally charged speech during which she congratulated Trump on his victory and, calling on her voters not to despair, emphasized that the battle for Democracy continues.
Donald Trump is returning from the political abyss in which he had sunk, back to the Oval Office. For many it seems to have been reborn from its ashes. After four years out of power he has managed to grow stronger with each indictment and is now preparing to start his second term obeying fewer political rules after a campaign that seemed to defy them all.
Source: skai.gr