Donald Trump was elected on Tuesday with 290 electoral college votes, which triumphed over Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton’s 228 votes. According to The Associated Press, Trump’s victory was shocking to much of the nation, and is poised to undo the efforts of President Barack Obama on various issues.
“I was surprised at how wrong the polls were,” said The Woodlands junior Alex Getting. “But she wasn’t able to come down and talk to the common man like Trump was. They both have lots of money, but Trump has the ability to reach out to the average working American and say ‘Hi, I’m going to make sure your job is safe.’”
According to Trump’s website, one of the president-elect’s primary goals is to “uphold the law and the Constitution.” This includes securing American’s right to bear arms, as well as the idea that as multiple Supreme Court Justices near retirement, Trump will be selecting justices that match these views, as well as filling the seat of the late Antonin Scalia.
“I’ll tell you what … you lost a great one with Scalia,” Trump said at a rally in Wilmington, Nc. in August. “We want to replace with justices very much like Justice Scalia and that’s going to happen. It is so important.”
As far as health care is concerned, Trump’s website states that he plans to “repeal and replace” ObamaCare with Health Savings Accounts and work with Congress and the states to tailor healthcare to the needs of each individual.
This election also brought a rise in the discussion of immigration. Many are familiar with Trump’s plan to “build a wall” separating Mexico and the United States; however, Trump’s website also details that he is supportive of legal immigration, but wishes to put Americans first.
“Oh we’re gonna build the wall,” Trump said at a rally in Harrisburg, Pa. in April. “We’re going to bring people in, but we’re going to bring people in legally.”
Trump has also stated that he is “pro-life,” and plans to appoint Supreme Court Justices that share his views. However, Trump believes that the legality of abortion should be left to individual states rather than the federal government.
“If they overturn it, it would go back to the states,” Trump said at the presidential debate on Oct. 19. “If we put another two or three justices on, that’s what will happen, and it will happen automatically, in my opinion, because I am putting pro-life justices on the court.”
With these issues also brings the question as to whether or not Trump is supportive of same-sex marriages and the rights of LGBTQ Americans. According to CNN, Trump has been called “one of the most pro-LGBT Republican nominees ever,” and that the issue of same-sex marriage lies with the Supreme Court, not with the Congress or the presidency.
While many Americans believe that Trump can indeed “make America great again,” others, such as DeSoto senior Mark Toliver, feel that electing Trump will be “detrimental” for minority groups and for the country as a whole.
“I feel like America implicitly voted for racism, sexual assault and ignorance,” Toliver said. “The results [of the election] were astonishing. These issues are real. Racism does exist, misogyny does exist, social issues do exist.”
Although America was surprised by the outcome of the election, and the overall inaccuracy of the polls themselves, Peter Klein, professor of entrepreneurship believes that in order to understand Trump’s victory, one must examine the election from a business standpoint, not a political one.
“Trump had no political experience. He looked, sounded and acted different. Clinton, of course, was the quintessential insider, and her campaign was more conventional,” Klein said. “It is very difficult to anticipate market outcomes when there is an unconventional challenger to a conventional incumbent. This week’s results suggest that political insiders can also be disrupted by competitors who behave completely differently than expected.”
