Originally Posted by
parksey
On reflection, you've got to agree that there is to be a lot more to this result than just racism and fear mongering - although that undoubtedly played a big role for many voters.
The points about people being fed up with the political class are totally correct. This rejection is happening all over the world. Mind you, it is often led by and lapped up by middle-aged white people who don't like the increasingly progressive world we are living in.
Those who speak about the silent majority, the group we often laugh off as being non-existent, are probably on the money. The majority of Americans, Brits and Australians are white, middle-aged people, who have a problem with the world changing from the one they grew up in. It's totally understandable, looking at it from their perspective.
Large sections of the media are filled with younger, forward-thinking people and there is a deep mistrust of the mainstream media in the States. So much of the rhetoric around the election on social media was literally made up by some conspiracy theorist in a dark room, but the people lapped it up.
America has always been a very insular nation. Although it has global ambitions, at the end of the day its people only really care about themselves and their country. It's also a very religious, conservative and contrasting nation, especially in regards to wealth and most importantly education.
All credible reports show that 'real America', the one you don't see on the postcards and in your Instagram feed, is hurting. The people wanted a change and saw Hillary as more of the same, even though the president has little power over what's effecting them most.
Now whether Donald Trump is the man for the job is a totally different story. In my opinion, he is a disaster and will undoubtedly drop nearly all of his 'policies' within weeks of taking office because most of them are impossible to put into action. The fact he won is still almost unimaginable.
The people who say that anyone would be better than Hillary really need to give their head a wobble.