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The Last Battleground ’16: Trump Stuns Clinton and the World

What just happened, and what lies ahead.

prezelecttrump
prezelecttrump

NEW YORK — The world awoke to a new reality on Wednesday: President-Elect Donald Trump.

NEW YORK — The world awoke to a new reality on Wednesday: President-Elect Donald Trump.

The New York businessman-turned-Republican-nominee defeated Democrat and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in one of the most stunning political upsets in U.S. history. Coming into Election Day, even the Trump campaign acknowledged he had little to no path to victory, and polls indicated Clinton had a wide one. But after votes began to come in across the United States Tuesday night and Trump built a lead in key battleground states, it became increasingly clear that once again, the polls and the pundits had underestimated the Republican and, most importantly, the anxiety, anger, and divisiveness that fed his campaign — this time with stakes at their highest.

For the thousands of supporters gathered here in Manhattan, the glass-covered convention center where Clinton held her election night event became a curse, rather than merely a tortured metaphor for the would-be first woman president of the United States.

“We have seen that this nation is more deeply divided than we thought,” she said hours later in her concession speech, “but I still believe in America.”

As Esben Dahl, who traveled to the United States as part of a Danish delegation observing the election, put it: “The establishment not only here in the States but in Europe has to figure out how to deal with the populist right and left, or they’ll be cannibalized and killed … It’s a totally new world.”

President Barack Obama, with months left in office, will now scramble to safeguard the basic tenets of U.S. foreign policy that Trump has vowed to scrap. The United States, and the rest of the world, will then be left to hope that Trump will somehow not be the president he said he would be.

Sign up for FP’s Editors’ Picks newsletter here to receive Battleground ’16, our take on the presidential race, each Wednesday through November.


 

Hillary Clinton Concedes to Donald Trump After Historic Upset

The former secretary of state acknowledged a ‘painful’ defeat, but offered to work with her rival.

 


 

“The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.”

— Now President-Elect Donald Trump’s victory speech in the early hours of Wednesday, Nov. 9, in New York.

 


 

After Trump’s Upset, White House Shifts to Damage Control

Obama will try to protect his policies in his final months in office, but much of his legacy will be at the mercy of Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress.

With Donald Trump’s shocking upset electoral victory against his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama will rush to safeguard his signature foreign-policy initiatives in his final months in office. But there are limits to how much his administration can preempt the next president, who captured the White House riding a tide of populist anger over immigration, trade, and international commitments.

 


 

Markets Recover From Lows After Unexpected Trump Victory

The sky fell a bit overnight on world markets, only to recover as the reality of a Trump presidency set in.

 


 

218-279

Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump in the Electoral College as of Wednesday, with 270 required to win.

 


 

President-Elect Donald Trump Speaks

In a move that surprised pollsters and pundits worldwide alike, Republican Donald Trump is the president-elect of the United States.

 


 

In Addition to White House, Republicans Kept the Other House and the Senate

America went red.

 


 

Surprise: Canada’s Immigration Site Has Crashed

As election results showed Trump victories in key swing states, nervous Clinton supporters grasped for an exit strategy.

 


 

American Democracy Is Dying, and This Election Isn’t Enough to Fix It

The foundation of our political system is broken. And repairing it will take more than just your vote.

U.S. prosperity and stability over the last two centuries has been built on the country’s unique brand of inclusive institutions. And it’s under threat.

 


 

Sign up for FP’s Editors’ Picks newsletter here to receive Battleground ’16, our take on the presidential race, each Wednesday through November.

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