I closely followed US elections keenly observing each move
that the two top canditates made. Hillary moved for good to better to ‘best’
while in the contrast Donald Trump moved from bad to worse. Each day came a
revelation that made you hate trump even more. Trump made it worse by sometimes
saying things that are not ‘politically correct’. But one asks, how come this
guy defied all odds and became 45th President of United States of
America?
While Clinton got endorsements from top most stars in the
US; the Obamas, Jayz, Beyonce just to
mention but a few, Trump was endorsed by Wrestlemania and probably pornstars. Clinton
got full backing of Democrats, most republicans saw Trump as unfit. The media focused
on tarnishing Trump forgetting that any publicity is good publicity. The polls
gave no bill of health. Trump was destined to fail. He was a joker anyway. But how
did he win?
This is where we throw in the religious angle. Well I don’t think
that many pundits will agree with me on this but, could it be that religion was
a driving force in the just concluded elections? Were conservatives against the
kind of an agenda the democrats were driving on? Will minority rights ( LGBTI)
be undermined by Trump administration? Were Americans voting driven by
conservative values?
Well I agree that all these were motivating factors. Looking
at the kind of an agenda that Pence, his running mate was riding on then you
can get the underlying factors deeply entrenched in Trump, Pence campaign. Pence
appealed to religious conservatists, he kept on referring to upholding religious
values. Despite trump being the typical guy who isn’t religious, his running
mate is superbly religious. You will discover that Trumps verbal attacks on
muslims was a way to woe the Christian population in a strategic way putting it
up as a matter of security concerns.
Trump did not thrive on policies, he thrived on emotions. He
stirred the emotions of religious population which is highly conservative and
popular with democrats, he was able to get them in his camp despite wide
knowledge of his vices. In politics when you appeal to emotions, values and
interests of the people you win their hearts and triumph in the ballot.
