US Presidential Elections: Who Really Prevailed?

The recently concluded United States Presidential election has been adjudged as the most rancorous in the 238 years history of the country. Speculations were rife that Mrs. Hillary Clinton would make history as the first female president of the US, but against all odds, a politically inexperienced Donald Trump, a storming petrel upturned all permutations. Jude Igbanoi examines why and how the loser lost and the winner won

The recently concluded United States Presidential election has been adjudged as the most rancorous in the 238 years history the country. Speculations were rife that Mrs. Hilary Clinton would make history as the first female president of the US, but against all odds, a politically inexperienced Donald Trump, a storming petrel upturned all permutations. Jude Igbanoi examines why and how the loser lost and winner won

That Mrs. Hilary Clinton didn’t win the US presidential election has many still pondering on what really went wrong, but for some, the former US Secretary of State and former Senator would go down in history as the first female to have really created an impact in the race to the White House. Hillary Clinton no doubt commanded media attention and had a better control of the media throughout the campaigns leading to the epic battle for Capitol Hill. Not a few took it for granted that the tough talking, battle hardened and eminently experienced, former First Lady of the United States of America would clinch the ticket to govern the most powerful nation on earth come January 2017.

But November 9, 2016 became a monumental watershed in the political history of the US. This was the day a political neophyte, perceived roughneck, inexperienced Donald Trump without enviable credentials, and no perpendicular moral standing, stood reason on its head by the winning the ticket to the White House on the platform of the Republican Party. This was against all permutations, expectations and calculations. There were prophesies and purported divine pronouncements that Clinton would effortlessly walk victoriously into the White House as the next President of the USA. This was not to be as the American people spoke loud and clear that they would rather settle for tempestuous Trump with all his imperfections, foibles, failings and human frailties.

The Hidden Truths Behind the Peoples Choice of Trump

Despite the undoubted visibility of Hilary Clinton, Trump prevailed in spite of himself over Hillary, not because he is anywhere near what could be described as a presidential material by American standards, but simply because as many have said, there was a divine intervention in the affairs of the world’s most powerful nation.

It has also been pointed out by political experts and pundits have been ruminating and pondering over why Mrs. Clinton didn’t win. According to Joseph Mattera, an internationally known author, activist and theologian; Clinton didn’t win because “first, her Supreme Court Justice Selections, her view on the Freedom of Religion, her view on Abortion, her Constant email Scandals, her Foreign Policy which seemed disastrous etc.’

Mrs. Clinton had been First Lady, US Secretary of State and a Senator, yet those matchless and unrivalled credentials couldn’t get her there, and a keen observer of American politics noted succinctly that Americans were just not prepared for a female president. Not at this time. Could the American society be said to be chauvinistic and gender insensitive? Not quite so, it therefore would mean that Clinton came before her time. So some said.

There also allegations that Hilary is part of a network of terrorist organisations, which have made the world most unsafe in the past decade. Her connections to these organisations have been subject of debates, with reports from global media outfits like Wikileaks, who had churned out a retinue of reports linking her to these organisations, including alleged funding from the Clinton Foundations to terrorists.

Another of Clinton’s numerous sins included defending a child rapist and laughing about it. She illegally accepted millions of dollars from foreign governments through the Clinton Foundation. She was allegedly endorsed by the incumbent President, Barack Obama, who is on record to have muscled the country into passing the Same-Sex Marriage Law, under questionable circumstances.

The Role of Electoral College

Another argument is that US electoral collegiate system played a negative role in why Clinton failed at the polls. History has it that the Founding Fathers had something particular in mind when they set up the U.S. presidential election system.

Americans call it the presidential obstacle course and the Electoral College and some call it the odd political contraption. The argument is that, after all, state governors in all 50 states are elected by popular vote; why not do the same for the president? The quirks of the Electoral College system were exposed last week when Donald Trump secured the presidency with an Electoral College majority, even as Hillary Clinton took a narrow lead in the popular vote.

According to another political expert, ‘the founding fathers chose the Electoral College over direct election in order to balance the interests of high-population and low- population states. But the deepest political divisions in America have always run, not between big and small states, but between the North and the South, and between the coasts and the interior.

‘One Founding-era argument for the Electoral College stemmed from the fact that ordinary Americans across a vast continent would lack sufficient information to choose directly and intelligently among leading presidential candidates.’

To win this year, Trump didn’t necessarily win the most votes, but he won the most votes in the right places to become the 45th President of the United States of America. Under the Electoral College, that’s what matters. In the final analysis therefore, Clinton won the popular vote, but lost the election.

The Campaigns

The groundswell of spirited campaigns saw the candidates cross swords and crisscrossed the entire length and breadth of 50 states, canvassing for votes from rural peasants, city dwellers, the poor and middle class Americans. But the battle wasn’t really in the field; it was mainly in the media, with Clinton maintaining an unprecedented visibility as her party and campaign organisation had an unquestionable control of the mainstream media.

Starting on a rather shaky leg, most did not give Trump any chance as he stumbled and fumbled in political misspoke unguarded utterances. But picking the Republican Party nomination saw him refining and retooling his machinery, making him better prepared to face the real battle.

But a more experienced Clinton, who had spent over three decades in the corridors of power had her own colossal political luggage, including her actions and inaction while serving Secretary of State.

A general overview of the entire campaign process shows that the candidates unwittingly gravitated away from addressing serious national issues and their manifestoes, but rather launched personal attacks on their persons, families and associates.

As things would turn out, most agreed that the election was devoid of fraud, manipulations and violence as some had anticipated in both camps. In contrast, the hand of God was seen as intervening in the affairs of the United States. The predominantly Christian America saw Christians of Pentecostal and orthodox persuasions coming together in prayers, seeking divine intervention in the affairs the nation. They prayed the Democrats out of power for their perceived ungodly acts, including same-sex marriage, outlawing prayers in public school, legalising abortion, etc. There was also a global network of Christian bodies that stood in prayers with the Republicans and the result is what transpired on November 9, 2016.