Neil A. Carousso produces NewsNation original “Kurt’s Country” – a celebration of country music and a slice of Americana with host Kurt Bardella.
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Independence Day 2: Donald Trump Elected President Against All Odds, Vows to Return Power to the American People
By Neil A. Carousso
In an unprecedented upset, Republican nominee, businessman Donald J. Trump won the 2016 presidential election, his first political campaign, over Hillary Clinton, being elected the 45th President of the United States of America by the American voters.
President-elect Trump shakes hands with Vice President-elect Mike Pence (R-IN) at the New York Hilton Midtown as they declared victory. (Getty Images) Most political pundits didn’t give Mr. Trump a chance to win in the primaries in which he had to overcome 16 GOP candidates in a hard-fought, contentious campaign in which Trump tapped into the anti-establishment wave with a successful nationalist, populist message of making America strong, safe, wealthy and great again. Trump was given little to no chance to defeat Mrs. Clinton in the general election, but the real estate mogul did so decidedly with a “silent majority” of enthusiastic Trump supporters, who voted to “take back our country” from a big government, political establishment which has teetered on corruption optics.
The President-elect received big wins in swing states such as Florida, North Carolina and Ohio. Trump shockingly won traditional blue states Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and was competitive in Michigan, which is still too close to call as of Wednesday afternoon. Trump also won in Maine’s 2nd congressional district, Utah, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Vice President-elect Mike Pence’s home state of Indiana. Alaska’s 3 electoral votes, announced in the 3 AM ET hour, put the Trump/Pence Republican ticket over the top to clinch the presidency with the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win.
This reporter covered election night outside Mr. Trump’s election headquarters at the New York Hilton Midtown, surrounded by enthusiastic Trump supporters of all races, ethnicities, cultures and backgrounds. As the night progressed and states like Florida, Ohio and North Carolina were called, Trump supporters cheered with hope for the non-establishment candidate, given little to no shot of defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton. The live reports are below, in a playlist, including interviews with supporters and the group “Blacks for Trump,” discussing substantive issues and their reasons for supporting the political outsider from Queens, and capturing the surreal atmosphere in the heart of New York City.
Featured image courtesy of VOA News.
