ELECTION AFTERMATH
Thousands of students, demonstrators, protest in droves throughout the U.S.
Democrats extend an olive branch, while Republicans signal they will move quickly to enact agenda,
WASHINGTON— Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama congratulated president-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday as an emotional America and a stunned global community began to grapple with the titanic impact of the businessman’s election upset.
Trump’s supporters celebrated as Democrats reeled, stock markets rose, protesters took to the streets, Republicans outlined their preliminary Trump-era agenda and members of racial minority groups expressed fear and dismay over the elevation of a man who has been openly hostile to them.
Trump and his party allies signalled their intention to dismantle Obama’s legacy. The top Republican leaders in Congress, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, said they would move quickly to repeal the Obamacare health-care overhaul.
Clinton, who declined to give a concession speech late Tuesday, stepped to a microphone at a New York hotel and said the “painful” words that had seemed improbable even to Trump’s own team the day prior: “Donald Trump is going to be our president.” “We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead,” she said.
Clinton said she was sorry she didn’t win and promised a woman would “some day” break “that highest and hardest glass ceiling.” Speaking to “all the little girls” watching, she urged them to “never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.”
Clinton wore a suit with purple trim, a choice some interpreted as a symbol of bipartisan unity. Clinton’s magnanimity, though, was mixed with an unsubtle warning for a victor who has professed disdain for democratic norms.
“Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of pow- er and we don’t just respect that, we cherish it. It also enshrines other things. The rule of law, the principle that we are all equal in rights and dignity, freedom of worship and expression,” Clinton said.
Clinton appeared to be on track to win the popular vote despite her convincing loss in the Electoral College that decides the outcome.
Shortly after she spoke, the president stood in the Rose Garden outside the White House, soon to be the home of a man who propagated a conspiracy about his citizenship, and vowed to help the same man with the transition as George W. Bush had helped with his own.
“We’re not Democrats first. We’re not Republicans first. We are Americans first. We’re patriots first,” he said. “We all want what’s best for this country. That’s what I heard in Mr. Trump’s remarks last night. That’s what I heard when I spoke to him directly. And I was heartened by that.”
Obama, too, made a reference to the “rule of law.” And he was no doubt disheartened by early reports on Trump’s potential political appointees.
Trump’s campaign allies appeared to be in line for top cabinet appointments. The names bandied about by anonymous sources included former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and even former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.
Democrats said they would be willing to work with Trump on some issues. House Minority Leader Nan- cy Pelosi said they could co-operate to pass the infrastructure spending Trump has said he is seeking.
Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator Clinton defeated in the primary, issued a statement saying Trump had “tapped into the anger of a declining middle class.” He said he would work with Trump on improving the lives of working people and oppose him “to the degree that he pursues racist, sexist, xenophobic and anti-environment policies.”
Several thousand high school students in California, Arizona and elsewhere walked out of class in a “not my president” anti-Trump protest that continued with thousands more taking to the streets for evening marches in New York and Chicago.
In Oregon, media reports said a crowd of about 300 people burned American flags and chanted, “That’s not my president.”
In Pennsylvania, hundreds of University of Pittsburgh students marched through the streets, with some in the crowd calling for unity.