Yes, it’s that Trump

In an unprecedented political upset, Republican Donald Trump on Tuesday became the 45th President of the United States (US) after beating Democrat Hillary Clinton who most polls showed would handily win the election.

It was a result that shocked America’s political world and people across the globe.

Yes, it is that Donald Trump who won.

That brush billionaire whose business record is full of shady dealings, bankruptcies, history of short-changing people, racism and outright failure to pay contractors.

It is him—the man who has called immigrants, especially of Mexican descent, as nothing other than rapists and drug pushers who he will keep out by building a wall. He has also insulted African Americans in ways that defy political decency.

It is that man who has spent the last two years dodging to release his tax returns because, I suspect, people would have discovered that either he paid no taxes, exaggerated his net worth or whatever skeletons he has tucked away in that cupboard.

It is that man who was caught on tape bragging about how he enjoys sexually assaulting women by forcibly touching their genitals or kissing them against their will.

Yes, that Trump is the guy who has insulted Muslims across the world, even proposing a temporary ban on their entry into the US.

It is that man; the fellow who can lie through his teeth without remorse and takes pride in his ignorance and a world view that can shame even my eight-year-old.

Donald Trump has done and said a thousand things that would have killed any presidential candidacy in a normal campaign environment—but, hey, this was no normal campaign.

I mean the man has no bit of decency and that’s the person the American people have picked for their president.

What does this say about modern day America? First, the American political and cultural landscape has changed forever.

This is a country that for generations has thrived on strong values in their leaders, but they have just ushered in someone whose values are the opposite of what they have fought to preserve for centuries.

Trump exploited the anger that the voters felt at the establishment—the career politicians, operatives and lobbyists that run Washington. They wanted an outsider with a completely different brand of politics—the type that Trump showed on the trail—that can really shake up Washington.

They wanted someone who does not believe that America should be the globe’s top cop and knight in shining armor, shouldering the responsibilities of dealing with crises in both blood and treasure in every corner of the globe.

Americans, it seems, are tired of globe-centred foreign policies that drain their resources for strategic and geopolitical goals whose impact does not directly benefit them.

Thus, under President Trump, we must be prepared for an isolationist and in-ward looking America that does not have to pour billions of aid into poor countries such as Malawi; an America that no longer wants to be the single biggest source of funding to the United Nations or the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

You are likely to see a protectionist approach to US policy making, especially on trade and foreign affairs, which will be shredding everything that makes America.

It is a fundamental shift in how the US will interface with the rest of the world. This could just be the beginning of the end of America’s global power and influence.

But what lessons do we draw from this, especially as Malawi? First, it is that there comes a time when people get tired of the status quo and when they have made up their minds to seek change, they get it.

Second is that you cannot take citizens and voters for granted, blow-beating them at each and every turn because when they fight back, they deliver a crushing and paralysing blow. Ask Hillary Clinton.

You can even ask President Barack Obama who got a “sherracking” during the 2010 mid-term elections after his party was viewed as having overreached in its legislative agenda.

Third, politics of entitlement are unacceptable to many people. Hilary Clinton felt she was entitled to the presidency even as scandal and scandal meant that even if she were to win, she would be too weak to govern effectively. The American people have just buried the Clintons once and for all.

I hope the Mutharikas and the Muluzis of this world get the picture here—dynastic politics are not what democracies need.

Another interesting point is that the Republican Party will no longer be the same ideologically—Trump has made sure of that with his winning populist message that sounded more liberal than the Democratic platform, particularly on trade.

The Democratic Party itself must be in crisis after Trump stole their long-time agenda right under their noses and turned it into his own movement and vote grabbing machine.

It is one of the most ironic moments of American politics—a coin has been flipped here and it has left both of America’s largest political parties confused about their ideological direction.

And it’s because of Donald Trump, yes, that Trump.