YOURSAY | It took a billionaire like Trump to connect with the disadvantaged.’

Bill Price: Pundits have missed the simple fact that many of the Donald Trump votes were actually votes against Hillary Clinton. Clinton was allegedly involved in shady deals throughout her long political career. She will say and do anything to get elected. Thankfully this did not happen.

As an American, I think I speak for many when I say we are simply sick of the Clintons. Hopefully, his election will close the book on them for good.

Writer Bridget Welsh is biased but right in one respect: The Trump presidency will not be an easy one. If he wants to get anything done while in office he will have to learn to work with those in our Congress.

We are in for a turbulent four years but when compared with the alleged institutionalised corruption that Clinton would have brought to the White House, it is a price worth paying.

Americans have said 'enough' of Hillary Clinton. Trump is not an ideal choice but he is far better than Clinton.

MariKitaUbah: The Democratic camp of Hillary Clinton was too complacent and was over-confident. They were ready to celebrate the ‘victory’.

I recall what happened in Sabah during the Berjaya era. On election night, Haris Salleh, the incumbent CM and president of the Berjaya party, and his supporters were all at his official residence to enjoy the night with drinks and a barbeque.

PBS won the elections, which was unprecedented. Berjaya supporters could not believe their eyes. Apparently, it was the biggest upset in the history of Malaysia.

We hope this will happen again in Malaysia with GE14. Let's pray. Nothing is impossible. God willing, it can happen.

FellowMalaysian: Let's not see Trump's win clouded in the shadow of bitterness, anger and negativity as Welsh's account seemed to portray - a gloomy and dark period has befallen America and the rest of the world.

Never has democracy been more alive than when the US elects its president every four years and the results showed Americans trusted and chose a Washington rookie rather than a seasoned campaigner.

America also played poker when they voted for Ronald Reagan, an unknown and a former Hollywood actor, to become their president in 1980.

During the eight years under Reagan, the US and the rest of the world prospered and lived peacefully enough. Bridget sees Trump as donning a Darth Vader mask, but let's not be overly judgmental or critical.

Anonymous_1381103882: Trump played the racism card, and is said to be arrogant. He gained support from mostly rural area, blue-collar workers, and the majority race.

This sounds pretty similar to one of the political parties in Malaysia.

Ferdtan: It pays to play hate politics. That is the reason why Umno will never lose. Play to the gallery of the majority.

OMG!: Welsh has the conventional view. There are several takeaways from Trump's election: Hillary marginally won the popular vote (but all are not in) 59.8 to 59.6 million.

Hillary forgot Bill's 1992 message - "It's the economy, stupid!" This is linked to the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations - Bernie Sanders would have given Trump a bloody nose.

As for the misogyny, women struggling to make ends meet found it an acceptable price to pay, believing that Trump would fix the elitist stranglehold on power – ironically, it took a billionaire to connect with the disadvantaged.

As for Muslims, their permissive stance towards terrorism disentitle them to the benefits of liberal democracy and the attendant freedoms of the individual. They have to contend with their demons first.

As for racism, the white population is falling significantly. Non-white fertility exceeds white. Trump has to massively import whites. Can he?

Now that he's won all the marbles and inherited the problems, Trump has to show that he can really shake things up. The easy parts will be passing Executive Orders.

But Barack Obama was a Harvard law prof and he may have made it difficult to undo his legacy. Plus, not all the Republicans in the House and Senate will support the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

Trump will find that governing is a whole lot different from driving a business, looking for tax loopholes, stiffing your contractors, declaring bankruptcy six times, etc.

The Russians and Chinese, among others, will soon think of testing his isolationism. In fact, everybody and their mother will test him.

Who's he going call out now that he sits on the throne? Plus, he's going have to keep his itchy fingers off the nuclear button and women’s posteriors.

SusahKes: Hmm, some still don't get it? Maybe it's the shock of the totally unexpected.

1. You (Welsh) state that "this is a victory for racism, misogyny and anger". Yet you fail to raise the fact that Clinton surrounded herself with the likes of Jay-Z, whose filthy verbal tirade during a concert in support of her contained equally, if not more, of the same stuff.

I don't see any forward thinking from Hillary's association with these celebrity types. Unless of course, you want to count Lady Gaga and Madonna as good role models for our young ones.

2. "The media is vibrant"? Yes, but it is also clearly biased. The polling failed because there was no unbiased objective covering by the media. Ironically, the media's biasness actually helped Trump win; people saw through the hypocrisy.

Here's a lesson for our own mainstream media (MSM) - for all their posturing at Malaysian Official 1 (MO1) and BN, nothing beats the truth on the ground.

Now, if only the New York Times/CNN/Washington Post, etc, had learned about Malaysia's own election in 2008 - how the people rejected the op-eds of the Wong Chun Wais and the Awang Selamats, then maybe, they would have approached it differently.

In fact, this lesson is for any media - be it MSM or alternative; ignore the voice on the ground at your own peril.

3. The elitist Hollywood/Wall Street bunch who treated Middle America with contempt. How often we've seen Hollywood stereotype these folks with disdain?

4. Immigration - the US government has been practically careless with undocumented immigrants. We understand this well, we've had our own Project IC.

5. A stronger economy under Obama? Well, then how do you explain wage stagnation? Just as the polls looked good for a Hillary victory, the numbers on jobs too looked good - and yet, there are many unemployable millennial graduates.

6. Obamacare - this is more or less concluded to be a failure.

7. Obama's foreign policy - remember the red line in the sand? His dithering leadership, pretty much allowed Islamic State (IS) to mushroom, and also emboldened Russia to step in.

In summary, it would therefore do all of us well if we learn to appeal to as many sections of society as possible, and not just the cool ones. Instead, respect and receive everyone's struggles as part of the overall vision.

This is what Hillary, Obama and the Democrats failed to do in this election.

HaveAGreatDay: Thank you, Welsh, for the analysis. I draw solace from your predictions even as I try to come to terms with Trump's victory.

Most of all, I hope the US Department of Justice’s legal action against the alleged money laundering of MO1 via 1MDB will continue.

Anticonmen: The American people's ability, due to a very good electoral system, to change their governments every four or eight years as a check and balance on power is what true democracy is all about.

No one, or no party, is indispensable to the people, who are the real power.

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