By 3.35 am yesterday, the cliffhanger scenarios were over: Hillary Clinton and the Democrats were out and Donald Trump as a Republican US president-elect was calling for unity.
Clinton never came out to the Javits Convention Centre to address her waiting supporters, who had watched in apprehension, sadness, and disappointment as the gap between her numbers and Trump’s widened. Campaign chief John Podesta appeared at 3 am and told them to go home and rest, as there “were more seats” to count. Half an hour later, US media reported Clinton had called Trump to concede and congratulate him.
And that call was the second thing Trump announced when he took the stage at the New York (Midtown Manhattan) Hilton to declare victory. In the speech, Trump, gracious towards Clinton, reached out to voters, saying it was time to bind the wounds (of campaigning), echoed his unity call and pledged to be a president for all Americans and that his government would serve the people.
“The forgotten people will be forgotten no more...” he said to ringing cheers. Touching briefly on some campaign plans, he told the world community while he would put Americans first, “I’ll deal fairly with everyone,”
Will he stay true? Here’s how some T&T experts feel Trump’s campaign statements on security, immigration policies, Muslims and other matters may affect T&T.
Former diplomat/Public Service head Reginald Dumas
“Platform statements carry a certain ring but when you enter office, reality might be a different thing. If president-elect Trump has to back away from his platform positions, we’ll have to see what impact it will have on his supporters, who voted for him on his promises. For T&T, if I were the Government I’d certainly make early contact with the Trump team—and start later this week or latest by next week—to seek informal discussions on where T&T and the Caribbean will go. Having worked in Washington, I know one of the most important things is access, at least to the power brokers. It’s absolutely necessary. So T&T should endeavour this with Caricom colleagues or alone and position ourselves to have access and better understand where this new direction will take us.”
Muslim community attorney Nafeesa Mohammed:
“The Muslim community is in disbelief. This victory could see a deepening of very strong anti-Muslim sentiment. Here in T&T we’re already seeing Islamophobia. Facebook comments locally and from some overseas have shown a tremendous outpouring of disappointment at this (victory) and shock. What I’m picking up in the community is the understanding of the Qu’ran’s teachings about the end of times.
“Our authorities should recognise the community is a significant part of the population that’s helped build T&T and whatever dictates of this new US president, our authorities must ensure systems are implemented to protect innocent citizens. All information about the community must be verified. Given Trump’s statements, he may have no choice—if he’s to move forward—to bring about unity, as there are significant migrant and minority populations in the US. In the post-election ‘honeymoon’ period, there’s not much to do but give him the benefit of the doubt to prove himself and see if he means unity. We just have to pray there are systems to contain any effort at bullying, alienating, victimising or discrimination against minorities.”
ASJA president Yacoob Ali:
“Some of his campaign statements (about Muslims) were unfortunate. The US is a country of immigrants, built by immigrants. I’m sure his family came to the US from somewhere also. I don’t think he’d want to jeopardise the free flow of people into the US, as there’s always a labour shortage. So I don’t think his statements will be something he can act on alone and he may not get the support from their Congress to fulfil all that he’s said. He may soon understand that. So I’m not worried.”
Jamaat al-Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr:
“I predicted Trump would win, but I don’t think it’ll impact negatively on T&T. When you’re trying to be leader, you say all kinds of things and when you get into office it’s another thing. He speaks his mind so you know where you stand with him. He said he wanted to be president of the US, not president of the world and he doesn’t depend on financiers who might manipulate him. Hillary Clinton was jubilant when (Muammar Gadaffi) was killed and Barack Obama did nothing for the Afro-Americans.
“I feel he was politically correct in wanting to prevent some Muslims coming from the Arab world. The US has been so cruel to the Muslim world, the latter has a bitter taste in its mouth regarding the US. So you can’t open US doors without properly vetting people, so his proposal was correct. On immigration, a lot of T&T people go to the US and do wrong things so if he thinks people who commit crimes should be deported, I agree.”
UNC MP Dr Bhoe Tewarie:
“We’ve entered a different world with this victory, given Trump’s disposition to Nato alliances, which may have implications for the reconfiguration of military alliances and safety/security issues globally and also his ‘US first’ position on trade and immigration, which will have an effect on all states including T&T and the Caribbean. We have to see what’s happening with the markets. Apart from the trade paradigm, which is about to change, we’re likely to see uncertainty continuing in finance and financial arrangements globally and continuing uncertainty in the energy sector—all bad for T&T. We may also experience more US deportees, which would require us to negotiate with the US. Many undocumented T&T nationals in the US might have problems and have to return, adding to T&T unemployment.”