Donald Trump’s victory is unprecedented and historic. He swept the South, captured the so-called Rust Belt, and won most of the states on the periphery of the US-Mexico border.
He stunned Democrats in many of their traditional strongholds, including Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, through smart and strategic campaigning. He showed that the election polling was wrong—considering major pollsters saw a close, but nevertheless clear win for Hillary Clinton two days before the elections.
In the primaries, he eliminated all 16 opponents through insults, slander and falsehoods. On many occasions, he chose social-media platforms like Twitter, ensuring his tirades immediately went viral. One New York Times columnist described him as a “seventh-grade bully”. Many of his supporters, however, appreciated his straight-talking style, saying his brashness demonstrated that he was unafraid to face establishment politicians in Washington.
In the general campaign, he pounded on the loss of factory jobs in the industrial belt, like Detroit and Pittsburgh. For years, many working-class white Americans have lost their jobs because of free trade, seeing their jobs outsourced to other countries where labor costs were lower. Trump capitalized on their disgruntlement and raised their anxieties even more with the specter of uncontrolled immigration.
His victory was well-received by leaders, like Vladimir Putin of Russia; Marine Le Pen of the French right-wing party National Front; Nigel Farage, head of the UK Independence Party once nicknamed by Trump as “Mr. Brexit”; and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Certainly, few libertarians received Trump’s victory as warmly.
On the other hand, much of Trump’s campaign rhetoric caused deep worry among the world’s democratic leaders. He vowed to withdraw support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; to disown the Iran nuclear deal; and said he would leave South Korea to defend itself against North Korea, if it did not shoulder more of the costs of the US presence there.
However, mere days after his victory, he affirmed the US’s commitment to defend South Korea in a phone call with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
What then will be the foreign policy of President Trump? What will be his view of the US’s global role in this era of uncertainty? Obviously, it is too early to tell.
E-mail: angara.ed@gmail.com.