Amusement park in California.
Finally, a new day and a new beginning beyond politics as usual. For the first time in decades, the “deplorables” get their turn to ride on the carousel powered by tax dollars. As we all know, Trump’s slogan was “Make America Great Again”, while Hillary’s boiled down to “More of the Same.”
People are going to be surprised by Trump’s presidency. The US campaign is a full-contact, blood sport. Trump showed he can get down and dirty in the trenches and duke it out. But he is a man with several personas, and we will get to watch the transformation into elected leader, statesman, national governor, and commander-in-chief. If politics is making deals in order to get things done, then let’s see in action a man who built his wealth and reputation on “The Art of The Deal.”
No doubt there will be missteps since he has never done any of this before. But for the first time in modern US history, the presidency will be re-invented by someone not schooled in the system, and little beholden to vested political interests.
One excited millennial womon in Times Square last night (before the result): “He’s not in this because he is a politician, and not because he needs the money. He’s in it because he loves this country.”
The voting pattern will be dissected and analyzed in the days ahead. So far we know that Hillary mostly matched her poll projections while Trump surpassed his by about 4%. It may turn out that advance polls based on “likely” voters missed a constituency of angry, fed-up middle-class white males who were expected to stay home as usual, but turned out in large numbers to determine Trump’s victory. I will also be curious to see what millennials did.
US politics will be fun again. No more politicians (“adults in the room”) lecturing to us what we should think, how we should talk, who we should like and dislike, and what we should care about (e.g. “climate change is a bigger threat than radical Islam”)
Fasten your seat belts for the roller coaster ride is about to begin.
Science Matters 
‘he is a man with several personas, and we will get to watch the transformation into elected leader, statesman, national governor, and commander-in-chief. ‘
That is exactly how I figured it would be, and good to see that at least some others see it also.
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We will get a really huge amusement park.
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Politics as usual requires the park to have the Hall of Smoke and Mirrors. Let’s hope he leaves that out.
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“… advance polls based on “likely” voters missed a constituency of angry, fed-up middle-class white males who were expected to stay home as usual, but turned out in large numbers …
We haven’t answered the phone in weeks — unless ‘caller ID’ indicated the caller was known to us.
Because the “middle class” can afford cell-phones and caller-ID the notion of polling has taken a hit much like “Dewey Defeats Truman.”
Further, in WA State voters do not turn out. Nearly 100% of the vote is by ballots sent to people and returned via mail or dropped in a box in front of the Court House or similar place. Photos of people standing in lines waiting to vote bring up old memories. I do not understand why this still goes on. And note that WA is a very strong Donkey state. So called “by mail” voting began in WA in 2005 and the last county to do so fully (89% before) was Pierce in 2010.
The person that seems to have understood what was happening for the last 18 months is Scott Adams of Dilbert comic strip fame:
http://blog.dilbert.com/
Folks should read the last 50 or so of his blogs to see what he thought was going on.
That of today is worth a read.
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John thanks for the link to Dilbert–really insightful.
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‘The voting pattern will be dissected and analyzed in the days ahead. So far we know that Hillary mostly matched her poll projections while Trump surpassed his by about 4%.’
Can I toss in my two pennyworth?
Mike Smithson at Uk blog PoliticalBetting has pointed out in terms of the popular vote, Donald Trump received 1.5 million less votes than Mitt Romney in 2012. But Trump won due to Hilary Clinton receiving 6.3 million less votes than Barak Obama. People were more turned off voting for Hilary Clinton than for Trump. That is not surprising for two reasons.
First is that the most vilified candidate has a lot of quiet voters. In the UK when the Conservatives won they often confounded the opinion polls. This occurred in 1970 (when polls were first used), 1992 (when John Major won a small majority when polls predicted a Labour win) and in 2015 (when David Cameron won a small majority when polls predicted a Labour win).
Second is that Donald Trump projected what many saw as a positive vision. It might be that most outside the US would not see building a wall to keep out the Mexicans, or banning Muslims from entering the country as being positive. But for many Americans in claiming back “lost jobs” and “protecting National Security” it is. It is a positive vision that the liberal left lack.
In terms of the roller-coaster ride, in terms of politics and entertainment that might be the case. But in terms of increased risks of starting WW3 or causing globalized trade to collapse with new tariff barriers I do not think so. You said Trump has many personas and reminded us of Trump’s 1987 ‘The Art of the Deal’. Part of successful deal-making is to make the other side feel that they have got something out of the transaction, whilst achieving one’s objectives. In politics, whether domestic or international, this is even more important than in business.
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You make good points. It will become clearer that Trump’s three priorities of immigration, health care and jobs is actually a laser focus on fixing the economy. And now that the election is won, you will see him building bridges to get that done. More thoughts on his presidency here: at Trump Appreciation post.
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