YES THEY DID:
OUTSIDER GETS IN Stunning victory puts billionaire past electoral college mark
WASHINGTON: It’s President Donald Trump now. Get used to it.
The Republican nominee, who upended politics at home with his wildly unpredictable ways and a sharp tongue, and caused concern abroad with his unorthodox views, has been elected the 45th president of the US.
He defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who led all polls and forecasts barring a few exceptions for most of the year, ridingawaveof angeranddisaffection among largely white and relatively less-educated blue-collar workers.
The race was marked by unprecedented nastiness and divisiveness, with the 70-year-old real estate billionaire largely at the center of it, first as a candidate for the Republican ticket and then as the party’s general election nominee.
While Clinton and the Democratic party were his primary targets, Trump had appeared to be running against his own party as well, most of whose leaders abandoned him, and the media that he disparaged constantly but mined for free airtime.
But he struck a reconciliatory tone in his first remarks after being declared elected early on Wednesday morning with a call for unity. Flanked by his family and running mate Mike Pence, he said it was time “to bind the wounds of division”.
“To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people,” Trump said, pledging to be “president for all of Americans, and this is so important to me”.
Hours later, Clinton made her concession speech in which she told her supporters that they owed Trump “an open mind and a chance to lead.”
Trump had disparaged Hispanics, calling them rapists and criminals, called for a ban on Muslims entering the US and openly flirted with white supremacists during the campaign, driving divisiveness wherever he could profit politically. CONT’D ON PAGE 6