Alfonse D'Amato

Congratulations, Mr. President-elect

Posted

President Trump.

Donald Trump proved everyone wrong — the pundits, the pollsters, and even many of us. He defied all odds, and now the complete outsider who has never held elected office will be the 45th president of our great country.

This election will go down as one of the greatest electoral upsets in political history. Trump managed to capture victories in several swing states, including Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and even surprises like Michigan, a blue state for decades.

Last year, Hillary Clinton was invited to address a prestigious St. Patrick’s Day gathering at the University of Notre Dame. This was a coveted invitation that President Obama, Vice President Biden and former President Clinton all graciously accepted. Hillary passed on it, however, and her insiders insisted that white Catholics were not the audience she needed to spend time reaching out to.

Clearly, she was wrong. Instead she spent the majority of her time targeting young college students and the Latino and African-American voter base that had propelled Obama to victory twice.  As it turns out, Trump did better among many of the minority groups than Mitt Romney.

It was white working-class voters who delivered victories in Michigan and Wisconsin, voters whom Hillary was completely disconnected from and ignored on the campaign trail. Trump won 67 percent of the vote among non-college-educated whites, compared with just 28 percent for Clinton.

The forgotten working class sent a clear message on Election Day. The New York Times, in an article titled “Why Trump Won: Working White Class,” pointed out that “Polls were wrong about one big thing: They missed Mrs. Clinton’s margin in the Midwestern and Rust Belt states, like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.” Trump had a clear advantage with white voters.

His campaign message tapped into their anger, allowing him to take the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, which includes Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. Obama won this area by double digits. Trump also captured similar areas in Youngstown, Ohio, and old industrial towns along Lake Erie. Obama was able to carry these areas in 2012.

Why did Clinton’s campaign suffer such a stunning defeat? I believe that her biggest flaws were nothing she could change. She had the support of almost the entire mainstream media. She was more connected to Wall Street than Main Street. The time she spent in Washington, along with her paid speeches for financial institutions, left her unable to tap in to the anti-establishment and anti-Wall Street rage that Trump capitalized on. The FBI’s investigation into her emails, and the Clinton Foundation’s alleged pay-to-play scams, further disenfranchised the vast majority of both educated and uneducated white voters.

And who could forget the “basket of deplorables”? Their voices were heard loud and clear on Election Day.

Although Trump lost New York and Nassau County, his message definitely resonated down-ticket. Republicans held on to their majority in the State Senate, with Republican candidates like Elaine Phillips defeating Adam Haber to replace Jack Martins. Missy Miller, a complete outsider, defeated Anthony Eramo, and became the first Republican to represent the 20th Assembly District since Joseph Carlino held the seat in 1964.

I know that many of you believe that in this election you were choosing the lesser of two evils, but I believe that with Trump, this country will get a fresh start. Clinton owed so many debts to so many people and interest groups; Trump is starting with a clean slate. He isn’t indebted to any mega-donors or, more important, to any foreign nations.

I believe he will surround himself with some of the best political minds available and begin a new age of politics. This isn’t going to be easy, and it’s our responsibility as Americans to unite and support our new president, not to try to tear one another down. Let’s allow our country to continue to grow and prosper.

Trump has already expressed his commitment to tackling three policy issues immediately after his inauguration — immigration, health care and “big-league jobs.” It will help that he’ll be working with an all-Republican Congress, only the second time that’s happened since 1929. For the good of our country, we should all stand behind our president. I wish him the best of luck.

Al D’Amato, a former U.S. senator from New York, is the founder of Park Strategies LLC, a public policy and business development firm. Comments about this column? ADAmato@liherald.com.