By Gaurav Puri:
It’s the end of the most bitter and divisive election seasons in the history of the United States. Never has anyone seen a campaign of this nature where disrespectful speeches and unpolitical language has been used so rampantly. On November 8, America saw a new President-elect in Donald Trump and social media couldn’t handle the news and how would they, a man that has made offensive remarks in one way or another in every speech he has delivered, a man with no political office experience pitched up against someone who has been working for the government for over 30 years and he won not only Republican states but took many swing states to his favour along with the traditional Democratic states which just shows how wrong all the ‘pundits’ were.
However, after being elected, Trump, till date, has said all the right things. Soon after being elected, he spoke about how we owe gratitude to Hillary for what she has done for the country and with no derogatory remarks and its funny how there is no talk of getting her arrested. He asked the people against him to show unity and come together. Hillary has been nothing but humble in conceding the election. Obama has shown grace at the White House for the smooth transition of power. At the White House there was a total show of professionalism and respect between the President and President-elect.
Furthermore, some major developments also took place post this election. As soon as he was elected, the ban on Muslims was removed from his website and in his speech he emphasided that he will be a President for everyone in America. The markets have been volatile but Asian markets are on a rise. And Trump has had no incident from November 9-12, that is three days, which anyone following this election would know, is quite surprising.
Protests have erupted in many parts of the country soon after and most have been peaceful barring a few exceptions. Yes, people are scared and they should be but Donald Trump is the 45th President of the United States. And the sooner this reality is accepted, the better. To be fair, protests would have happened even if Hillary won. Trump has won by fair means, unlike George W. Bush who had controversially defeated Al Gore and there was considerable doubt on the fairness of his election. What needs to happen in my view is take it day-by-day. Ronald Reagan was a Hollywood actor-turned-politician but what is common in all of this is the process by which they came into power that is via a democracy and that needs to respected, the decision of the electoral college needs to be respected as it is the law of the land just as the right to protest is.
Given the responsibility, we may see a changed man. In the same breath, I feel Trump should give out a statement to his supporters that he is a President for all races and religions and to stop this racial hate and put efforts to unify the nation and do it now.
We have to also realise the power of the institutions in America that presents certain checks and balances and the civil society in America, that has time and again stood up to wrong decision-making and succeeded and will continue doing the same. The man is now elected and even though I have not been impressed by him or feel he should have won, I still believe he deserves a chance to lead after a hard fought campaign.