Donald Trump is president-elect of the United States. That is a fact. But a week after his election, the world is still trying to come to terms with the fact. Those who did not want him elected or did not give him a chance are still in shock, disbelief or anger. The ones disposed to a Trump presidency are far from being euphoric. There is an attitude of ‘let’s wait and see’. Inevitably, there is a frantic search, led by the media and pundits that got it wrong in the first place, for explanation to the triumph of Trump. If they are honest, they might come to some of these conclusions. Traditional media has come to play a big role as a reliable source of information and vehicle of informed opinion, as well as its ability to influence the course of events. However, in the last few decades, it has grown too big, elitist and arrogant, and out of touch with ordinary folks. It carries the ideas and world view of the elite, and in a sense talks to and for them. It cannot and does not speak for a world and people it does not understand. The election showed that there is a gap in the respective perceptions of the ordinary people and the elite. And so in the wake of the Trump “shock” the media might have to evaluate its relationship with various sections of the population and the way it reports on them. Punditry too has become a big industry that not only analyses and explains issues, but also influences decision-making. Pundits have arrogated themselves the right to interpret things for us. Like the media, they speak to a narrow audience of like minds, not to the majority who don’t listen to or read their opinions. In the new world of Trump, punditry too might have to change to retain credibility. Another area that could do with a reassessment of how it works is the prediction industry that has also grown huge over the years. In the last few years polls have been missing the mark as we saw in the 2015 general election and the referendum on Brexit in June this year in the United Kingdom. So what is wrong with the polls? Are people getting smarter than pollsters? Or are the polls sampling unrepresentative groups? One thing is obvious: the population is much more complex than is often assumed and polls must readjust their methods to reflect this fact. What the American vote says is what Rwandans have been saying for a long time: people have a mind of their own and issues that they feel strongly about. You cannot decide for them how and what they feel, or tell them how to live their lives. Foreign experts of every stripe have peddled a view of Rwanda that Rwandans cannot recognise. They have said Rwandans are not free; they are oppressed and are mired in poverty despite what the government says; the government is lying. But Rwandans know better and have shown so numerous times in elections and surveys of all kind. Whether these groups learn any lessons from Trump’s victory and change is a different question. What is clear, however, is that a number of things on which they base their assumptions are likely to change. First, Puritanism and politics might be parting ways, especially as regards sexual mores. In the past even a whiff of sexual impropriety was enough to bring a promising political career to a crashing end. Not so now. Trump bragged about all the things he has done to women and got away with it. He brushed aside the image of a sexual predator. More importantly, voters ignored his reported misdeeds. In a sense, Trump might have helped remove sex from American politics. Secondly, he has exposed other hypocrisies that were assumed to have been diminished or disappeared altogether. One of them is political correctness or public morality which papers over cracks but does not completely seal them. It may keep bigotry, racism, and other terrible things out of public view but it does not banish them. The Trump victory showed that high ideals alone do not win elections. Other, more worldly, issues do. Social justice, jobs, and even tribal or racial pride matter. Thirdly, the macho man still rules in America despite all the talk about advances in gender equality. The stats tell it all. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, women make up only 20% in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. They constitute less than five per cent of Fortune 500 CEOs. The United States is not ready for its first female president. Trump’s victory is a pushing back against that possibility. Coming immediately after a black president, it would have been for many a cultural shock greater than Trump’s election. By campaigning as a feminist, Hillary Clinton did not make the prospect any easier. It might have made a difference if she had run as a politician who happens to be a woman. All that does not matter now. Trump is president-elect. The world laughed as he sought the highest office in the land. He now has the last laugh and has begun making his imprint on America.
