Finally Donald Trump has won the game. He has been elected as the 45th president of the United States of America. Congratulations, Mr. President.
As a matter of fact, this decade has been a decade of political uncertainties and great upsets. It includes the shocking victory of Indian Primer Narendra Modi (a Hindu extremist), the Brexit, and now the unexpected victory of Donald Trump. These unexpected political developments have greatly challenged the existing literature of Political Science that is intended to predict politics in the modern era. To be clear here, we need a whole new set of Political Science literature for understanding and predicting, if possible, the future discourse of politics in a globalized, modernized, civilized, and complex world.
The perception about Donald Trump’s victory is almost the same across the globe. David Remnick, in his piece, An American Tragedy has summarized all of these views in an articulated way: “The election of Donald Trump to the Presidency is nothing less than a tragedy for the American republic, a tragedy for the Constitution, and a triumph for the forces, at home and abroad, of nativism, authoritarianism, misogyny, and racism. Trump’s shocking victory, his ascension to the Presidency, is a sickening event in the history of the United States and liberal democracy. ”
But why is it important to discuss this American tragedy, or the election of Donald Trump in a more detailed and comprehensive way? The answer is simple. There are two very important reasons that compel us to keenly observe and analyze the election of Donald Trump: One, how was Donald Trump presented or mispresented before the world by the western media? Two, how did he manage to win this tough and tight election?
Trump, a successful Machiavellian prince, was portrayed as a person who firmly beloved in “racism, sexism, protectionism, xenophobia and authoritarianism” from day one. His anti-Muslim views were presented before the world to show us how rigid, unaware, thankless, and ‘charismatic narcissistic’ person he is. His personal life was brought into the limelight and there were more than a dozen women who accused Trump of sexually assaulting them. His indecent, vulgar, and harsh language were also subjects of observation and heated debates across the world.
Fareed Zakria, a prominent political commentator, in his article for The Washington Post outlining why Donald Trump could never be a normal candidate for the US, has just summed up his views about Trump in a very derogatory way. Donald Trump is, he argued, "a cancer on American democracy. […] And that is why I will vote against him on Tuesday.”
In return, Trump did his best. He remained focused and successfully exploited the fault lines in the American political spectrum. He perfectly felt the impulse of Americans who are frustrated, afraid, and tired of the establishment’s power-oriented policies. Trump assured them that he will focus on America, on making America great once again. He promised them that he will eliminate all the threats and gave his words to build up a powerful, prosperous and respectable America. And it worked. It really worked for Trump.
Marc Fisher in his piece How Donald Trump broke the old rules of politics — and won the White House, for The Washington Post, has stated: “Trump did it the way he’d said he would for more than 30 years: He ignored the rules of modern politics and spoke to Americans in plain, even coarse, everyday language, without massaging his words through the data-driven machinery of consultants, focus groups and TV commercials. He scoffed at ideologies, preaching a tough, blunt pragmatism fueled by an unbridled, unashamed ego. He told people what they wanted to hear: that a rapidly changing and splintering society could be forced back to a nostalgia-drenched sense of community and purpose, that long-lost jobs could be retrieved, that a pre-globalized economy could be restored.”
Now the question is: whose win is this? And, who has been defeated?
Despite all the bad things planted, aired, spoken and written against Trump by the western liberal media, political commentators, and analysts, the people of United States voted for him. Therefore, this victory is not of a single person. This is the victory of a nation. A great yet an unexpected victory.
Whose defeat is this anyway? As they say, success has many fathers but defeat is always an orphan. In the present case, it is not Hillary who lost the elections. Rather, it is the entire western liberal media who, despite its strong propaganda, could not mold the public’s thinking and mass psychology.
To be clearer, it was not Hillary vs. Trump. Instead, it might be more accurate to say that it was about the western media and establishment vs. the people of the United States of America. And it is great to see that people have won, which means that democracy has won.
The last question I seek to answer here is: what can Pakistan, and particularly Imran Khan, learn from Donald Trump?
The Pakistani political elite, especially the Pakistani establishment, should learn that when the public makes up its mind nobody can alter it. Strong media campaigns and bureaucratic control prove useless once the people are awaken. So it is better to feel the impulse of the people in time and deliver them what the demand or wish for. Governance through the Orwellian style of terror and control does not last for a long period of time and ultimately people get fed up of it.
Donald Trump’s victory speech has a very interesting point and a great lesson for Imran Khan. He stated, “Ours was not a campaign but rather an incredible and great movement, made up of millions of hard-working men and women who love their country and want a better, brighter future for themselves and for their family. It is a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds, and beliefs, who want and expect our government to serve the people, and serve the people it will.”
It is not always necessary to follow up on the status quo but it is always imperative to have a deep association with your ends. Imran Khan should focus on the public, his party and the means he has been adopting to get his ends is done since long. And he must run this campaign like a movement: a movement for a new Pakistan.
Once again, I congratulate Donald Trump on his unexpected yet great victory.