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Wednesday Dec 11, 2024
Thursday, 10 November 2016 00:47 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Charnika Imbulana in US
In one of the greatest political upsets of all time, Donald J. Trump, American businessman and real estate tycoon, won more than 270 electoral votes to become President-Elect of the United States of America, in the early hours of Wednesday.
He will take office as the 45th President of the United States on 20 January 2017. Trump, 70, went against all odds and expectations from the time he entered into the political arena. Throughout his unconventional campaign, leading to victory, will rank among the greatest political upsets of all time.
The country is divided, with the pain of the half that lost being very visible. President-Elect Trump however, rising to the occasion in his first speech after former Secretary of State Clinton gracefully accepted defeat, made a somber pledge to be “President for all Americans”.
Trumps path to victory was checkered but amazing. As an outsider, he vowed to topple the governing establishment that has embittered so many Americans.
The election and the results follow eight years of President Barack Obama in the White House, a period which represented a turning point for the country. Voters have not only chosen a new President but have also decided to hand control of both the Senate and House to the Republicans.
Former US Senator and Secretary of State Clinton was always a favourite to win the Democratic nomination though rival Bernie Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont, proved a far tougher primary opponent than expected.
By contrast, few took the Manhattan businessman and reality TV star seriously when he launched what seemed a vanity campaign. He powered through a field of 16 rivals, virtually all of them more politically experienced than he was, shattering many of the norms of presidential campaigning along the way.
He turned a series of debates into political burlesque. He insulted whole groups of the electorate – women, Latinos, prisoners of war - but managed to win the GOP nomination handily.
As the party’s standard bearer, he proved no more restrained. He waged Twitter wars against his adversaries and admitted going nearly 20 years without paying Federal Income taxes. He called for Clinton’s imprisonment if she is defeated and openly feuded with leaders of his own party, among them House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Throughout, supporters delighted at what they considered a willingness to say what other more timid and calculated politicians refused to.
Trump staked a number of controversial positions, some of which he reiterated later on in the campaign, closer to the polls; abrogating trade deals and defence pacts with US allies, halting immigration from Muslim countries and, most famously , building a wall along the border with Mexico and forcing the Mexican Government to pay for it.
His campaign, ‘Make America Great Again’ struck both a hopeful and pugnacious tone.
At ages 69 and 70 respectively, Clinton and Trump are two of the oldest candidates ever to seek the White House. But they showed no slacking in their final schedules.
New YORK: In his first speech as President-elect of the United States, after a long and bitterly fought election, Donald Trump on Wednesday called for his country to come together as one united people, saying he would bind the nation’s deep wounds and be a president “for all Americans”.
He also had praise for his defeated rival Hillary Clinton for her years of public service.
In a victory speech in his home city of New York, shortly after crossing the 270-vote threshold to win the presidency, Trump sought to bury the divisions and rancour that had made the 18-month presidential campaign so toxic.
“For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people, I’m reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country,” Trump said.
“I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all of Americans.”
He was also noticeably conciliatory toward his vanquished rival, whom he has spent months berating as a corrupt favorite of the Washington establishment who broke the law by using a private server to send and receive classified data.
“Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country,” he said.
“I mean that very sincerely.”
The provocative billionaire president-elect, 70, said Clinton telephoned him to concede the race shortly after the state of Pennsylvania, which has voted Democratic in presidential races since 1992, was slotted into his win column.
“She congratulated us - it is about us - on our victory, and I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign,” he said.
The real estate mogul also pledged to “deal fairly with everyone”, including “all other nations”, even as he puts America’s interests first.
“We will get along with all other nations willing to get along with us. We will have great relationships,” he added.
“While the campaign is over, our work on this movement is now really just beginning,” Trump said, in a nod to the grass-roots anti-establishment, anti-Washington ground swell that upended the race with historic results.
“We’re going to get to work immediately for the American people, and we’re going to be doing a job that, hopefully, you will be so proud of your president.” (AFP)
President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesighe yesterday congratulated US President-Elect Donald Trump on his election to office.
President Sirisena sent a congratulatory message to Trump emphasising the improved relations between the two countries since presidential elections in Sri Lanka last year.
“My Government and I take pride that the bonds between our two countries have grown stronger, and I am confident that your election will help build on this existing close partnership to further expand our cooperation,” he stated in his message to Trump.
The President also mentioned that USA is the adopted home for a significant number of Sri Lankans and that they serve as important agents to forge stronger people-to-people bonds, contributing in no small measure to the bilateral relationship between our two countries.
In the message President Sirisena also mentions that he looks forward to working with him closely upon his assumption of Office as the 45th President of the United States of America in January, and that the two Presidents can “elevate the relationship between our two countries to even further heights.”
Echoing Sirisena’s words, Wickremesinghe too highlighted the friendly relationship between the two countries.
“Despite geographic distance, the bilateral relationship between Sri Lanka and the United States of America span approximately 70 years of formal diplomatic relations, and over 200 years of close people-to-people ties. Today, our partnership is stronger and more robust than it has ever been in history and we value deeply, our engagement and longstanding friendship with the United States of America,” Wickremesighe’s message said.
Wickremesighe expressed confidence that Sri Lanka and the US will expand and deepen the engagement between each other while exploring progressive avenues for cooperation for mutual benefit under Trump’s leadership and guidance.
“I look forward very much to working with you and your administration towards this objective, in the years ahead,” he said in his message to the US President-Elect.
