Despite developing associations with men having criminal pasts and shady business practices (ranging from drug trafficking, swindling, and racketing to felony) and indulging in tax evasion, prevarication, playacting, sexual absolution, and faking through casino and real estate-cum-construction businesses, Donald John Trump became the 45th (2017-2021) President of the United States (US). This was the central idea of David Cay Johnston’s famous book, The Making of Donald Trump, published in 2016 immediately after Trump had won the presidential election.

Though the ground realities remained the same, representing the Republican Party, Trump has once again won the 2024 presidential election and got the status of the president-elect. On January 20, 2025 he will sworn in as the 47th President of the US. Like before, his priority is to protect the interests of Corporate America, which Trump portrays as America First. This time again all key industrial states (including Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin), which had traditionally voted for the Democratic Party, supported Trump. During his previous election campaign, Trump exploited weaknesses of the then President Barack Obama (2009-2017), who failed to end the engagement of American forces in foreign lands. Representing the Democratic Party, Obama proved to be a weaker president succumbing to plans of the Pentagon, which is considered a hub of war monger military men trying to correct the world forcibly. Protracted military engagements on foreign lands mounted expenditures straining the local economy. Moreover, Obama remained soft on China, which flooded the local market with low-cost products outperforming the domestic manufacturing market of the US. The consequent problem was not only that the local industry was threatened to obliteration, but also that the government was short of funds to extend social security to unemployed workers. The same double-whammy remained the hallmark of the tenure of the outgoing President Joe Biden (2021-2015). Collectively, both Obama and Biden permitted Trump to fillip the American version of the White Revolution represented by the white working-class voters.

As happened in the past, in Trump, white voters see a person who can introduce reforms – any step which can revive the local manufacturing industry, and hence the economy. Moreover, in Trump, white voters see a person who does not submit to the whims of the Pentagon. Instead, he steers the way through all war mongering inclinations to offer economic prosperity to his voters. In this election, white voters have proved that they are the decisive factor affecting the decision making in the US. Compared to the 2020 election, this time, white voters have showed their maximum participation, through a high voter turnout, including showering Trump with the popular vote.

In the past, Trump pledged with white voters to introduce reforms to stop a foreign conflict from becoming local and to stop the local economy from becoming foreign. This time, Trump again made similar promises. The point where Trump sounds familiar with white voters is dipped in the history of the US defined by the Monroe doctrine of isolationism. In a way, white voters desire Trump to reincarnate the Monroe doctrine (named after the US President James Monroe who articulated it in December 1823) to make their lives peaceful both politically and economically. In the same vein, Trump is expected to fall harsh on illegal (coloured) immigrants, who are not only encroaching upon the jobs of the locals, but who are also numerically challenging white voters, thereby upending demography. In the past, white voters were job providers. Now, they are job seekers. There are two main differences. First, compared to the past, when Trump had pledged only to protect the local manufacturing industry, which has been the mainstay of the US economy, this time Trump has also promised to protect the advanced scientific industry from the challenges of plagiarism. In both cases, white voters see China a threat to their hegemony. Second, compared to the past, when Trump overwhelmingly relied on electronic media (Tv networks) to spread his electoral message across, during this election campaign, Trump relied on social media in an effort to reach out to audience convincingly. To elaborate, instead of relying on television networks which use their own commentators and analysts (who carry a streak of predisposition) to make or break the reputation of a presidential candidate, Trump reached out to voters directly through podcasts to let the voters decide by themselves uninterrupted by any third party. In his talks, though sounded to be a racist, Trump tried to be a pro-white dweller of the US, yearning for the welfare of the white. Through such means, Trump established a line of differentiation cleverly, and won the election again. He remained focused on the white, instead of annoying the coloured. This is the point where his electoral opponent Kamala Harris lagged behind.

Like before, Trump has once again emerged as an embodiment of American conservatism, which is inward-looking and protectionist in penchant. Trump is bound to ask Europe to participate more in its own security (personified in the NATO), instead of overburdening the US with spending, including the case of war with Russia. On the touchstone of complexity, Trump may end the ongoing conflict in Europe before the current conflict in the Middle East. The way Trump would be a decisive factor in ending both conflicts somehow (whether or not resolved equitably) lies in the way Trump compromised with the Afghan Taliban, who had been ousted by the US and allied forces in 2001. Trump ended the war in Afghanistan and handed over Kabul to the Taliban in 2021. This step remained an eye opener for those who reveled in emotionalism and considered conceding such a step a loss of prestige. Trump established himself as a realist, not idealist, to serve the cause of white voters. This is the message of Trump’s victory.

Dr Qaisar Rashid
The writer is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at qaisarrashid@yahoo.com