The 45th President of the United States: Donald J. Trump

BY TAMARAH WALLACE

The election of the century has drawn to a close and an unlikely underdog has now taken his place as the future President of the United States of America. Donald J. Trump became president-elect in the wee hours of November 9th and awaits his time in the White House.

“I stayed up until 1 AM to watch the election and as the hours winded down, I couldn’t believe the outcome,” Cooper City High School junior Talia Slann said.

The election was extremely close to say the least, with imperative swing states being in the state of “too close to call” for hours after polls closed across the country. However, it is clear that Secretary Hillary Clinton lacked support in key formerly Democratic states that would have won her the presidency. The president-elect outperformed even his own projections and won the vital states that Secretary Clinton lost. His unexpected last minute turnout has been likened to the vote for what has been coined the “Brexit,” or the British exit from the European Union (EU), across the pond earlier this year. Before the Brexit vote, most polls had predicted that Britain would stay in the EU, however, the mass flood of citizens who voted to leave was not counted by the early polls and the vote turned in favor of Exit- a similar unexpected outcome.

Most polls, including that of CNN and FOX news, had projected Secretary Clinton to win the election but according to CNN’s election night broadcast, Donald Trump was able to successfully draw in a surge of white collar Americans while Secretary Clinton did not entice the amount of minority votes she was expected to have.

This election, from the start, has deeply divided our country and has prompted endless debate surrounding the new leader of our nation. In fact, support garnered for Secretary Clinton and/or dislike for Donald Trump facilitated the crash of Canada’s immigration website on election night. And after the results of the election were cast, protests against Donald Trump began to take place. Across the nation, Hillary and anti-trump supporters are advocating against his presidency by organizing both peaceful and non peaceful protests.

“I believe that this election is a product of the two-party system,” AP Psychology teacher Steve Franzone said. “When you have two people running against one another it can be easier to tear down the other side rather than build yourself up. It also creates a divide between constituents when what we really need is to come together. It is hard to believe every issue that we are faced with in these times can be put into two categories without room for discussion or people working together.”  

At Cooper City High School, students and teachers have strong opinions about the country as well as the new president-elect.

“I think the Republican party is a legitimate party with legitimate values. However, I feel that Donald Trump does not embody the values of Americans as a whole,” CCHS junior Stav Sharoni said. “He ignores the necessary existence of minorities in this country as well as issues like climate change that will affect prosperity.”

Another student agrees with the sentiment expressed by her peers and further hints at the president-elect’s trouble with inappropriate comments involving women during his campaign.

“I think it is a joke that he is president-elect and it is despicable that any women actually voted for him,” CCHS junior Rebecca Pretty said.

On the other hand, there are students who have supported the Donald Trump throughout his campaign and are anticipating his presidency.

“Trump was the only viable option for our country. While I understand that his rhetoric is a severe problem, his fiscal policies will help save this nation and truly make America great again,” said CCHS senior Gaby Sanchez.

Some students are waiting just as anxiously as the rest of the nation for the Mr. Trump’s plan of action.

“I think that America wanted an outsider, someone who wasn’t a politician, as they wanted to throw a curveball at our current establishment,” CCHS senior Logan Piper said. “I don’t know if Trump is the guy, [but] I guess we’ll just have to see.”

Donald Trump will be sworn in as President on January 20th, 2017 in Washington DC and the country as well as those at Cooper City High School are holding tight to witness his first action as President of one of the most powerful nations in the world.