Donald Trump has been elected again to be President of the United States. It is hard to believe. He didn’t steal the presidency. He didn’t get himself elected under false pretences. He told everyone exactly the way he was and what he stood for. On election day the people voted for him. They sent him back to Washington.

Trump won on election night, and not by the narrowest of margins. Whatever yardstick you use, he came out the best. Donald Trump, despite all the outrageous things said during the campaign, won easily. A telling statistic is the popular vote. When Trump defeated Hilary Clinton, she had more votes that he did. This time around, against Kamala Harris; he won that popular vote. There are more voters in the United States who voted for Trump than there were voters who voted against him. Think about that. The people spoke and as much as we might not like the notion. Donald Trump is legit.

I have in previous writings offered the old political “saw” that says the people are always right in an election because they are the people. Well, that is true, but I have also introduced Joseph R. Smallwood’s expression after the Liberals lost a provincial byelection that “the people have used their God given right to be wrong.”

Well, here we are. We are on a very dark path now and nobody knows where it leads. When Trump won his first election to the presidency, I offered the hopeful but naïve opinion that perhaps he would grow into the office of the Presidency. He didn’t. I was completely wrong. I was also completely wrong about the result just delivered this week. I thought Harris would not only win but would win in a walk. Not even close, honey. She had all these marvellous endorsements from all facets of liberal society. They ran the gamut from Bruce Springsteen to Taylor Swift to disgruntled Republicans. It didn’t matter. Trump won.
It also didn’t matter that Trump turned out to be a foul-mouthed boring oaf whose speeches were too long and who promised revenge on his political enemies. Trump had respect for nothing including immigrants, women, and none of that mattered! He is now the president-elect.

What happens now? Well, you know I see myself as a mostly astute observer of the passing political parade, but I don’t have a sweet clue. What happens with NATO and what happens with tariffs? What happens on the relationship between Canada and the United States? Is Robert Kennedy Jr. really the voice on where things are going in medicine. Will there be no more fluoridation? What about vaccines? What happens with the outstanding criminal or civil charges against Trump? What happens with implied revenge on his political opponents?

These are all legitimate questions, but the most important question is this. What will the United States look like four years from now after the second Trump presidency?

You can contact Jim Furlong at [email protected]