In results that starkly highlight the divisions between urban and rural America, Republican Donald Trump was elected as the next U.S. president. The celebrity businessman rode a wave of underappreciated discontent to the White House.
His victory is a belated wake-up call to both the Democratic and Republican parties that America’s recovery from the Great Recession has been too slow — and more important — too uneven. Voters in rural America, including Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, clearly spoke out about their discontent with changes that have left them behind. Mocked as deplorable, these voters were motivated to defend their values and their livelihoods. Trump spoke directly to their sense of unease and anger — at global trade deals for moving their jobs to other countries, at immigrants for “taking” their jobs, at Washington elites for ignoring them. In Trump, they found a voice.
Incomplete results Wednesday show Democrat Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote, but Trump won key states such as Pennsylvania, Florida and Wisconsin to earn the Electoral College votes needed to propel him to victory.
For the first time in history, Maine split its Electoral College votes, with three going to Clinton for winning the statewide vote but one going to Trump for winning more votes in the 2nd District, highlighting his rural appeal.
The difficulty for Trump, whose policy positions are vague and often contradictory, is translating his supporters’ grievances into action. He has vowed to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, which, of course, is easier said than done. Who will pay for it? Will Congress rubber stamp billions of dollars in new expenditures to cover the cost? How does this square with Trump’s and Republicans’ pledges to reduce taxes and the deficit?
Will a Trump administration really deport millions of undocumented immigrants? Don’t count on it. One reason there has been no movement on immigration reform despite decades of debate is that American employers, large and small, count on often low-cost immigrant labor to get work done. If this cheaper supply of workers diminishes, labor costs increase.
With higher labor costs in the U.S., what incentive is there for American corporations to move manufacturing from countries with low labor costs back to the United States? This is a significant contradiction between Trump’s promises to crack down on immigration and to bring jobs back to the U.S. Trump lives this contradiction: His clothing line is made overseas, where labor is cheaper and he has employed foreign workers at his resorts and hotels.
Like most politicians Wednesday morning, Trump spoke of bringing America together. “Now it is time for America to bind the wounds of division,” he said in a victory speech in New York. “To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.”
This may be even more difficult. Trump’s campaign rallies were filled with hate and anger. Supporters wore “Trump that Bitch” T-shirts and anti-Trump protesters were violently attacked. Trump fueled the anger and hate with demeaning and divisive comments about Muslims, Hispanics and women. He was the only presidential candidate in nearly a century endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan.
So, as Trump supporters felt left of America’s changing economy, many of the groups Trump and his backer attacked feel left out of his plans to “make America great again.”
The millions of voters who backed Clinton must continue to stand with and advocate for those who have the most to lose under a Trump presidency — minorities, people with disabilities, people living in poverty, the LGBT community, immigrants.
The coming months and years will be a test of America’s character and, yes, greatness. How each of us reacts to Tuesday’s election will set the country on a course of inclusion and hope or bitterness and division.
