Tuesday 8 November 2016

Trump is the 45th President of the United States.

It's almost 0530. I woke up around 0505 and thought I'd stroll downstairs to check out the US presidential election. I had a sneaky suspicion that Trump would be in the lead and I was right. He's got 244 votes against Clinton's 209 at the time of writing. Clinton has just won Nevada and I'm feeling just like I felt on the morning of 24 June – sort of pissed off.

The Donald – the 45th President of the United States.
President Donald Trump. What? The man in charge of the free world is Donald Trump? Well, folks, yes he is, or at least it's looking that way. He's won Florida, Ohio, Iowa and North Carolina, the key states, and it looks as if the global trend at the moment is swinging to the right. In the UK we're out of the EU and the Tories will be in charge for many years as there is no credible opposition.

When the EU referendum vote was announced we had racially-motivated attacks on the streets – expect similar, but worse, in the USA. And remember, you heard it here first, folks.

Trump has mobilised white voters in the same way that the EU's Leave Campaign got the white working classes to come out and vote. The story is similar. People are pissed off with the establishment.

Minnesota will probably go to Clinton, says Emily Matlis on the BBC, and there's talk of a draw and the vote going to the House of Representatives, in which case, says Andrew Neil, Trump will win. But it looks like Trump's got it, sadly. I was hoping for a woman in the White House, but it was not to be. It looks like, on 20 January, Trump will be inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States. Oh dear!

In Michigan it's neck and neck; in New Hampshire, Trump is in the lead. In Arizona it's neck and neck. At Clinton HQ there's a lot of concerned faces.

It looks as if all of my predictions have come true: the UK has come out of the EU and now Trump is the President of the United States.

"There is a lot of anger out there," says the BBC reporter inside the Clinton campaign headquarters, where the Democrats are putting on a brave face. We're hearing phrases like, "It's not over yet," which is always a sign of desperation. They're saying that the millennials aren't voting for Clinton, they're voting for the Libertarians and the Greens. How stupid are they? They don't want Trump in the White House, but they're not voting for Clinton. Unbelievable.

Clinton – she's not liked by the American people
So I'm sitting here watching the BBC, but let's see what's happening on ITV. It's a similar story, of course, except that on the screen they have Trump on the left and Clinton on the right hand side – on the BBC it's the other way around. On Channel Four it's Deal or No Deal and on Channel Five, House Doctor.

Think for a minute, though. Donald Trump will have access to the nuclear codes. Just think about that: Donald Trump is in a position where he can 'press the button'. It's a bit like giving the codes to Philip Green.

London futures fall more than 4%. The Mexican peso hits a record low against the dollar, Japan's Nikkei 225 falls 6.1%. In Moscow Donald Trump has an 82% approval rating and Putin hopes that Trump will be an easier president to work with than Hilary Clinton. Perhaps a Trump presidency will heal the rift between Russia and the USA.

In many ways, I like the fact that the establishment is getting a good kicking. They deserve it. Trump needs just 26 votes to win the White House and it's looking highly likely that he'll win. To get there, he'll need 270 votes in total.

A woman on the BBC has just said, "None of us saw this coming." What rubbish! I saw it coming months ago, like I did the EU referendum vote. "It's a remarkable achievement for Donald Trump and the impact on the United States is seismic," she adds. He took on the establishment and won, says Andrew Neil. "This is the biggest story," says Jeremy Vine. The best performance ever for the Republican Party, Vine adds.

I can't believe that everybody thought he wouldn't win. For me a Trump win has always been on the cards. Alright, I kind of hoped he wouldn't, but I knew he would, in the same way that I knew we'd come out of the EU.

What does it all mean? It means that the world has swung to the right, it means people have had enough of political correctness, it means that 'the left' is on the ropes and has to regroup – and fast – and it means that stuff like workers' rights will play second fiddle to the needs of 'business'. It also means less tolerance, it means that people with racist tendencies and values will feel 'legitimised'. As I said earlier, expect racially-motivated attacks in the USA. Is it good for the world? Probably not, but we've all got to live with it. Yes, if you live in the USA, you can leave, but guess what? You can't leave the world, so in other words, Trump's in the White House and you can run, but you can't hide.

Time for some breakfast.

No comments:

Post a Comment