On November 8th of 2016, Donald trump won the United States’ Presidential Election in shocking fashion. He was victorious in the Electoral College by a score of 306-232. Hillary Clinton, who won the popular vote by over 2 million, would not be the first female President as most had predicted. The days following Trump’s victory were tough for many. Kids who went to school with my sister (high school) and brother (elementary school) came into class the next day crying. Many protests and marches broke out across the country and world against Donald Trump. “Not My President” and “Love Trumps Hate” were rallying calls for the masses. Trump’s voters were excited but still as shocked as the other side. Citizens continue to ask how he won almost 5 months later. Trump had no experience and had constantly made comments seen as racist or sexist by many; and he was to become the most powerful man in the world. It did not add up. Donald Trump won the 2016 Presidential Election by channeling the anger of many American voters at the ‘Establishment’ of the US government.

On June 16th of 2015, Donald Trump officially entered the United States Presidential Election. Many laughed at this move because, frankly, he has no history in politics. He was a rich American businessman who knew how to entertain. He had been on shows like The Apprentice and WrestleMania but never held any sort of political office. His political affiliations also seemed to change every couple of years. Within the month, Trump was leading the polls of the Republican Primaries. His very unconventional, and non-political, style became very popular among groups of voters who had grown tired of the same. He was given the label of “anti-establishment.” Suddenly, Trump’s cheap hats with the slogan “Make America Great Again,” were popping up everywhere. Despite the sudden rise nobody expected his popularity to last. Many analysts were certain Trump would flame out prior to the primaries. In May of 2016, Donald Trump was officially nominated as the Republican candidate for President. Hillary Clinton was nominated as the Democratic candidate. Hillary Clinton has been in politics most of her life. Her husband, Bill Clinton, was a former President. In many ways, she was viewed as the opposite of Donald Trump. She was the “establishment.” From the beginning, Clinton lead in the polls by a couple points. While Trump focused on doing lots of rallies, Clinton did fewer rallies but employed more political allies to help. The press also gave Clinton the victory in all of the debates. Trump remained relentless but going into Election Day, it appeared that Clinton would easily win. The Huffington Post gave her a 99.7% chance to win. In the three hours after the polls closed, the emotions of both sides changed dramatically. Trump was winning states that were thought to be safe for Clinton. Late on Election Night, Hillary conceded and Trump won. The impossible happened. My essay will attempt to describe how Trump won, mainly why his popularity rose as an anti-establishment candidate.

“Can you imagine going to work and not negotiating or compromising with anyone - patients, colleagues, and so forth - while still aiming to achieve quality health outcomes? Can you imagine sharing the goal of patient-centered care, but believing your way is the best way and if patient care is not done your way, then you will simply not provide care? We cannot imagine behaving in this manner or tolerating it from other health care professionals. Then why do we tolerate such behavior from our elected officials?,” wrote Deborah Gardner in her piece in Nursing Economic$. She perfectly states the feelings of many voters on both sides of the 2016 Presidential Election. Her and other’s anger against the politicians of our country has been brewing for a long time. It really started to pour over before the 2016 election. In the 2014 elections, US citizens were voting for congressional positions, not for a president. Obama still had 2 years of his second term left. In those congressional elections, the Republicans assumed control of both the Senate and House of Representatives. The victory meant a gridlock in the American government with a Republican Congress and Democratic President. The results were not pretty. The newly elected Republicans had made promises of bills to voters but were unable to pass anything through President Obama or get the necessary amount of votes for an override. Obama was also fairly powerless. Congress would not pass anything that he wanted. The Senate also never gave his Supreme Court replacement nominee, Merrick Garland, a chance. He was seen as fairly moderate but did not get a hearing. There were also multiple government shut downs because Congress did not approve a budget in time. The US government appeared to be so dysfunctional. Many voters could see how people on both sides were valuing their egos more than the lives of the people. The US was continuing to go into debt and jobs were leaving with the national government doing nothing to stop it except bickering at each other. Approaching the primaries, the Congressional approval rating was approximately 17 percent and that was up from single digits a couple months before 2015. Selwyn Duke also pointed out that this movement is happening all over the world has for some time. Selwyn wrote, “Not only has this anti-establishment movement been percolating for decades, but it’s now a roiling-boil, Europe-wide phenomenon, manifesting itself also in Italy’s Five Star Movement, Marine Le Pen’s National Front in France, Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party, and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban.” The movement has been affecting Europe for some time and finally spilt over to the United States. In the cases of the US and Brexit, both were seen as close but should sway to the other side. The underdog emerged in both and shocked everyone (Recknagel).

The “establishment” was the name given to the politicians who were seen as being frequently involved in politics and doing what was best for their job. Michael Kazin described them as, “‘the Establishment’— ‘the special interests’ and ‘the Washington insiders’…officials who betray the interests and values of their constituents,” (The Nation).  The Washington Post released their own polls that revealed the sway in who the voters wanted on both sides. Both primaries swung heavily to the “anti-establishment” candidates. They were seen as the candidates that were not involved with politics before running or had a history of caring more about their ideology than the health of their party. At the top of the polls for the Republican primary was Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Trump was the eventual winner with Cruz right behind. Cruz was seen as anti-establishment but had experience unlike Trump (he was also very awkward). In the Democratic primaries it was Hillary Clinton vs Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders was seen as an anti-establishment candidate for the democrats. He had consistently authored/sponsored bills that he believed in but not the rest of his party. He eventually lost to Clinton in the primary. He lost mainly due to Super-Delegates, people who were given powerful votes. Without the Super-Delegates going to Clinton, the primary would have been much closer and, in my opinion, Bernie Sanders would have been the Democratic nominee for President. The Super-Delegates pointed to more political involvement and angered some liberal voters. The race then became Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton is the wife of former President Bill Clinton. Bill served two terms from 1993-2001 and had been impeached but not charged during his presidency for relations with Monica Lewinsky. After serving as First Lady, Hillary stayed involved in politics. She became a senator for the state of New York. When Obama became President, Hillary was selected as Secretary of State. During her tenure she got caught up in multiple scandals. Many thought she had wrong doings in the Benghazi attack on the US Ambassador building. She also had a private email server with 30,000 e-mails that was discovered and investigated by the FBI (I’m sure you never heard about this). During her run, WikiLeaks released documents showing that the Clinton Foundation had accepted money from other countries while she was Secretary of State that appeared to have gone towards benefitting those countries in US foreign policy. Clinton perfectly met the definition of “establishment” and politician. Voters, especially on the right, did not want the average sleazy politician as President. Hillary’s opponent, Donald Trump, never had any experience in an elected office. He had no experience. He was a candidate who spoke the mind of the voters. He connected with the feelings of many. He was frustrated with Washington over no progress. Likely motivated by an economy hurting his businesses around the country, he wanted change just as many voters did. The election for the highest office became a race between Clinton and Trump. They were opposites in all ways except age. It was Democrat versus Republican, experienced versus unexperienced, establishment versus anti-establishment. 

From a different angle, Philip Bump wrote a piece in The Washington Post that attempted to support Hillary Clinton’s campaign to be the 45th President of the United States. Bump wants the reader to believe his thinking of how Hillary was possibly our most qualified candidate ever. Bump writes that, “Obama…lets the ‘most qualified’ line lie.” Obama was a fairly popular POTUS but with how unpopular any establishment had been in the primaries; I do not think Obama’s opinion should have been included. Many opponents, like Bill O’Reilly, pointed out that the majority of Clinton’s policies fall in line with Obama’s and the US would have the exact same unpopular system going. Voters wanted the government to change not stay the same. This article came after Clinton’s victory in the primary so a man like Bernie Sanders would have been far more popular and convincing to the likely skeptics of Hillary. Bump later writes, “Hillary Clinton has more government experience than most, and more going into the job than have past presidents.” Three of the four highest vote getters in both presidential primaries were considered “anti-establishment” or known to be against the politician norms of today. Bump’s quote displays Clinton as an exact opposite, a position that makes it tough to gain support from the other side. Donald Trump associated himself with the what the majority wanted, a non-politician. Bump finishes his piece with a very important quote, “Whether or not she has the most experience…is the sort of evaluation that will vary from person to person.” Bumps point that her experience is valued differently may be why she lost. Much of Clinton’s experience was surrounded by scandal from her time as First Lady to Secretary of State. That, along with fact the Clinton name had been in politics for about 40 years shows she is the opposite of what voters wanted. Bump aims to prove that Clinton is the more experienced candidate but in doing so, shows how long she had been involved with the current, unpopular political system.

There were many angry voters but nobody had anywhere to put their anger. Bernie Sanders said, “Donald Trump tapped into the anger of a declining middle class that is sick and tired of establishment economics, establishment politics and the establishment media,” (The Guardian). As Sanders stated, Trump rose to the occasion. His rallies were filled with rants and angry speeches against the establishment. During Obama’s presidency he was already on his twitter criticizing his moves. His criticisms resonated with many voters. They felt the same emotions he did. Another way of connecting for Trump was by addressing more than dodging, particularly in the primaries. Many of his candidates would explain elaborate plans they had for the country or address another aspect of their ideas. Voters did not like when candidates dodged and could sense the politician in them. Voters saw the robotic answers that had been rehearsed for hours. Trump answered on the spot quickly. Trump’s strategy in debates was also to attack the other candidates. He would call out or interrupt when others were talking. It was unconventional, but he spoke his mind. He spoke the mind of the voters who were mad at the other candidates. Trump’s style was also quite simple. He did not go into much detail and instead staying broad. He answered in sentences instead of paragraphs like others. He gave voters a direct answer that they wanted to hear. He said he would bomb ISIS. He said he would build a wall on the border. He had simple but direct answers to the questions. This helped him with the angry voters in November but it could hurt him during his presidency when the voters want results. Trump also played some of the fear card. He made claims that if Hillary becomes President we will continue in debt or be attacked by ISIS. David Rothkopf addressed fear in one of his TED Talks. Fear during the Cold War made the US create new technology. Rothkopf said, “So sometimes fear can produce a constructive response. But sometimes it can produce an un-constructive response.” Trump’s use of fear would fall in Rothkopf’s un-constructive side because he was using it for poltical gain and not to necessarily advance the country or world. Trump’s final way to win over voters was possibly his best. He held lots of rallies while he was running his campaign, almost a stop every day. He met and talked to more people than Hillary Clinton did. He made the impact as a human versus just a politician. Hillary held very few rallies, only going out a couple of days a week. Voters were curious as to why and like a politician, there was no clear answer. She had many others campaign for her including President Obama, Bernie Sanders and even Beyonce. It made voters feel insignificant. Trump won over the voters who were tired of the establishment and channeled their anger through him. He turned their anger into votes for him.

The American voters were tired of the government working for themselves instead of the country. They noticed how all politicians had done the same actions. In their primaries they voted for Sanders, Cruz, and Trump with trump ultimately getting the final votes against the establishment. Donald Trump won the 2016 Presidential Election by focusing the anger of many American voters on the “Establishment” of the US government. He had no experience in any sort of political position. People laughed when he joined the race. Even after he won the primary, the New York Times only gave him a three percent chance. Many people in the US are still as shocked as everyone was on election night. But Trump won. Trump achieved one of the most unlikely upsets and has now begun a Presidency that is surrounded by uncertainty and controversy. We, the voters and citizens of this country must hold him accountable. He is our President, we put him there, and we can vote him out of there. Time will tell if he was the right choice or not. If he does his job poorly we will resort back to the politicians that people were tired of. 