Republicans will retain their control of both chambers of Congress, with the majority of those heading to Washington being incumbents. Clearly, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump did not win on the tails of an anti-establishment message. Nor did he win on a message of his policies, as the Republican senators who opposed the Mexican-border wall or Muslim ban should have lost if that was the case — namely Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Nor did Clinton lose because people disliked her. Exit polls by NBC show about three in 10 Trump voters said their vote was motivated by a dislike of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, but two in 10 Clinton voters said their vote was motivated by dislike of Trump. Regardless of whether you believe those exact numbers or not — as the exit polls also predicted a Clinton victory — I can confidently say popular discussion showed as many people feared Trump as those feared Clinton.  

There were serious issues for Clinton. Clinton was probably weakened by third parties. According to CNN exit polls, 9 percent of voters age 18-29 went for a third party, an age group Clinton won by 5 points less than Obama did in 2012. In post-election “expert” analysis, the immediate consensuses has a lack of support from the communities that President Obama won big, namely African-Americans, Hispanics and women. These might have cost Clinton the White House, however, something becomes clear in the wake of Mr. Trump’s historic upset: political correctness led to a Trump Presidency.

Politically correct Liberals have inadvertently created Trumpism, and the trend of being offended by people being offended. The supposed threats to the First Amendment by the PC crowd created a group of people who feel they are persecuted on social media for their beliefs, and are afraid to voice them. Trump became an outlet for them. There are those who might disagree, who did not like what Trump said but voted for him anyway. But to those people, what he said could not have been the most important issue; a passive acceptance of his language was created. Trump has led mainstream people to the acceptance that politicians, and yes, now even presidents, can speak this way. Americans have to accept this reality.

I bid congratulations to Trump for pulling off the upset, and I urge those that opposed him to wish him luck. Continue to oppose the policies you disagree with, but accept the reality  — even though in multiple instances he said he might not. Donald Trump is the president-elect. But I remind those that are dejected today, as my Grandpa reminded my Dad after Ford pardoned Nixon: The Republic will endure.

Evan Lewis
Third-year in political science and history