Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 9
By Claude Salhani -Trend:
It was a very different Donald Trump who gave his acceptance speech in the early hours of Wednesday, following a tense evening filled with hope, emotion and anticipation. And for those voted for Hillary Clinton it was an evening of shattered hopes and a sense of loss and even horror and fear.
Some Arab and Muslim Americans began to question if they should consider leaving the country before things start to get seriously nasty for them.
Indeed, it was a night that seemed to last forever with nail-biting moments as results from the individual states’ electoral college began to trickle in placing the Republican Party contender for the office of the president of the United States, ahead of his Democratic opponent.
But when Trump finally appeared in front of the cameras to tell an elated audience that he had just received a phone call from Hillary who had conceded defeat, it was a very different Donald Trump. The old rhetoric was gone, as was the arrogance and male macho behavior portrayed by Trump throughout the long and often torturous campaign.
It was a far more serene and more down to earth President-Elect Trump who appeared in front of the cameras, flanked by his vice-president and his youngest son.
Trump promised that he would be the president of all Americans; Republicans, Democrats and independents alike. The Republicans were not only successful in winning the White House, but the scored pointscin the House and appeared poised to maintain Senate control.
The victory of the New York businessman surprised many of the traditional pollsters who had predicted an easy Clinton’s victory. But as the results began to come in the mood seemed to turn.
At 70 years of age Trump becomes the oldest person ever elected to a first presidential term.
In his acceptance speech President-Elect Trump said that it was time for the nation "to come together as one united people."
Donald Trump congratulated his Democratic rival, saying she waged "a very, very hard-fought campaign." He also commended her for having "worked very long and very hard" over her political career.
"Now it's time for America to bind the wounds of division — we have to get together," he said. "To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people."
Trump, who had been criticized by opponents for his crude and sometimes insulting rhetoric, was characterized as divisive and racist, pledged, "to be president for all Americans, and this is so important to me."
Trump has never before held public office, but he will be joined in the executive branch by Vice President-elect Mike Pence and a host of politicians and business executives who rallied around the GOP nominee.
Clinton — who was secretary of state under President Barack Obama, a U.S. senator for New York from 2001 to 2009, and first lady during her husband's presidency in the 1990s — had been painted as the "establishment" politician, while Trump campaigned as a political neophyte who could "drain the swamp" of government corruption in Washington.
Trump may have won the election but that does not mean he will not face serious opposition from Democrats.
Quite a few financial wizards have described Trump’s ambitions for the economy as “nearly impossible to implement and unlikely to achieve their desired aims.”
Tuesday's election results are a strong repudiation of the system of Washington politics, not just the Democrats or Clinton. A long list of Republican leaders and luminaries had come out against Trump, or at least refused to endorse their party's new, de-facto head.
The Trump victory also marks a rejection of the mainstream news media, which extensively covered Trump's scandals and self-contradictions. Polls showed many of the Republican's supporters dismissed those reports.
As recently as last week, in fact, pundits on both sides suggested that Trump was not angling to win the election — he was instead interested, they said, in establishing a base of support for profitable post-race enterprises. But after an acrimonious election, Trump will now turn to building a team that can work together to implement his ideas for the country.
Claude Salhani: journalist, author, political analyst and TV and radio commentator is one of the most knowledgeable voices on the Arab-Israeli issues, the Greater Middle East, Central Asia, terrorism, and political Islam.