Capping an enormous political upset that even his supporters couldn’t have imagined just hours earlier, president-elect Donald Trump graciously claimed victory in arguably the most divisive political campaign in recent history, and told a bitterly polarized nation: “It is time for us to come together as one united people.”
Echoing the populist themes that propelled him from reality-TV show stardom to the most powerful elected office in the world, Trump told a New York hotel ballroom packed with jubilant supporters that he will heal a divided electorate and restore the U.S. economy to its former glory.
Pledging to work with fans and critics alike, he vowed to rebuild the nation’s neglected cities, create an infrastructure “second to none,” put millions of Americans back to work and create a brighter future for all.
“The forgotten men and women of this country will be forgotten no longer,” he said to cheers and chants of “USA! USA!” from the audience.
But Trump, whose stunning defeat of Hillary Clinton sent shockwaves around the globe, seemed to recognize the Herculean challenge he’ll face when he is inaugurated Jan. 20 — and the fact that he won the nation’s highest office by the narrowest of electoral margins and with an even thinner mandate.
“I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all America,” he said. “And this is so important to me: For those who have chosen not to support me — and there were a few people — I’m reaching out to you for your guidance and help” to unify the country.
“I promise you I will not let you down,” Trump said. “While the campaign is over, the work on our movement is really just beginning.”
The 20-minute speech closed a marathon campaign that analysts called one of the most remarkable in recent political history, one that transformed the political landscape, arguably for generations. Besides defying political gravity and upending convention, the unorthodox race Trump ran ushered in a new political era, one in which disaffected white ex-urban and rural voters overwhelmed the coalition of women, young people and minorities that swept President Barack Obama to the White House as the nation’s first black commander-in-chief.
Those voters, largely undetected by horse-race polls and political analysis, also swamped the campaign of Clinton, Obama’s former secretary of state and his anointed successor.
Described by Obama as the most qualified woman ever to run for president, Clinton had been poised to make history as the nation’s first female commander-in-chief — and had held a narrow but consistent national lead over Trump leading up to election day.
Trump gave Clinton a shout-out in his victory speech, telling his supporters the nation owes her and her family gratitude for their service.
“She congratulated us — it’s about us — our victory,” he said, describing her concession call to his headquarters. “She fought very hard.”
But the president-elect’s speech also was the latest unlikely step in a stranger-than-fiction transformation for an inexperienced politician who beat long odds to win the Oval Office.
When he entered the race last year, Trump was a political gadfly whose chief claims to fame were for hosting a reality-TV show — and repeatedly promoting the false notion that Obama wasn’t born in the United States.
Though he flirted with running for the presidency in 2012 before backing Mitt Romney, the GOP’s nominee that year, few pundits gave Trump a chance when he entered the 2016 race. The larger-than-life real-estate developer had never held elective office, had zero experience running for one and was widely seen as a laughingstock among political elites.
His background, meanwhile, made veteran political consultants blanch: A checkered business record that includes four business bankruptcies, two failed marriages, a casual relationship with veracity and tabloid scandals clattering after him like tin cans behind a wedding limousine.
But his simplistic message — America is losing, has been for years, and he can make it great again — resonated with GOP voters anxious about immigration, whipsaw cultural changes and an economy they believe has left them behind.
Despite having just a handful of endorsements from mainstream conservatives, next to no organization and rhetoric better suited to a pro wrestling match than political debates, Trump blew past 16 other seasoned politicians to seize the Republican presidential nomination, largely on the strength of his appeal to older white grassroots voters.
It seemed a losing strategy, particularly since Trump’s centerpiece proposal is building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border — and Latinos have become an emerging political powerhouse that’s projected to become the nation’s majority demographic within the next 30 years.
Then, in his general-election campaign against Clinton, Trump again tossed aside conventional wisdom and political orthodoxy. He refused to release his taxes, breaking a decades-long political tradition. He refused to apologize for insulting immigrants, women and minorities. He feuded with Republican elites and ignored fact-checkers who caught him in falsehoods. He eschewed cutting-edge, micro-targeted, get-out-the-vote operations, instead relying on big rallies and live cable-news coverage of his bombastic stump speeches.
But he also survived gaffes, ugly headlines and self-inflicted controversies that would have torpedoed a town-council candidate, let alone a presidential campaign. That includes blaming Clinton for questioning Obama’s citizenship, repeat allegations of sexual assault, suggestions he has back-door dealings with Russia and a hot-mic audio recording of him bragging about forcing himself on women.
Even on Election Day, Trump still seemed a White House longshot. In Clinton, Trump faced an experienced, highly- ualified candidate with strong party support and a polished campaign apparatus. Analysts predicted Trump — an outsider with relatively little organization who relied on big rallies and bombastic campaign speeches — would suffer an early, decisive defeat.
That seemed likely to even his supporters. As polls suggested Clinton had surged to a narrow but solid national lead in their nasty, at-times personally acrimonious campaign, the mood at his victory party in Manhattan was subdued. Reports indicated some supporters believed it would take a miracle for him to survive the Clinton juggernaut.
But Trump was swept to power by so-called “nostalgia voters” anxious about surging immigration, whipsaw cultural changes and an economy they believe has left them behind.
Though he will take power with a Republican supermajority in the House, GOP control of the Senate and a vacant Supreme Court seat, Trump faces serious challenges rallying the nation behind him. His support among women didn’t break 40 percent, black and Hispanic voters barely gave him a glance and the international community — including overseas financial markets, which plunged at the news of his election — openly fretted about his victory.
But he set aside his usual free-form, grandiose speechmaking to allay those fears, if only for the night.
Declaring his movement is “for all races,” Trump promised to work for those “who expect our government to serve the people” and said his victory represented a “movement” for those who want “a brighter future” for themselves and their families. Though America comes first, he pledged to “get along with other nations willing to get along with us.”
And he challenged the country to imagine a better future.
“No dream is too big, no challenge is too great,” Trump said. “Nothing we want for our future will be beyond our reach. America will never settle for anything but the best.”
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Donald Trump: “It Is Time for Us to Come Together” originally appeared on usnews.com
