Page 8A
ELECTION 2016
East Oregonian
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Trump pulls off upset to win White House
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald
Trump awakened a movement of
angry working-class voters fed up with
political insiders and desperate for
change. On Tuesday, that movement
propelled him to the White House.
Trump’s stunning, come-from-
behind victory over Hillary Clinton
served as a symbolic raised middle
finger to the political establishment
from his fervent backers.
But to millions of others, the
billionaire businessman’s elevation
to the presidency is a shocking,
catastrophic blow that threatens the
security and identity of a bitterly
divided nation.
Many see the president-elect as a
racist, a bigot and a misogynist unfit
for the office.
“He scares the daylights out of
me,” said Wendy Bennett, a Democrat
and government worker from Reno,
Nevada, who cast her ballot for Clinton.
“I think his personality is going to
start World War III. He reminds me of
Hitler.”
Lisa Moore, a registered Republican
from Glen Rock, New Jersey, crossed
party lines to vote for Clinton, who
would have been the nation’s first
female president.
“As a woman, in good conscience,
and as the mother of a daughter, I
can’t vote for somebody who’s so
morally reprehensible,” said Moore,
an exercise instructor.
The 2016 election will go down
as one of the most vicious in modern
history, as Clinton tried to paint Trump
as a reckless bully and Trump belittled
his rival as a corrupt insider who
belonged behind bars.
But the election also served as
vindication for Trump, a former
reality TV star whose appeal was
underestimated from the start.
While pundits assumed his poll
numbers would sink as soon as voters
started taking the race seriously, Trump
was drawing thousands each night to
rallies packed full of angry, largely
white supporters who felt ignored and
lied to by Washington.
While statistics showed the U.S.
economy improving overall, it didn’t
feel that way in places like upstate New
York, Pennsylvania’s coal country and
former manufacturing towns across the
Midwest devastated by outsourcing
and globalization. Chaos abroad only
added to the feeling that the country
was sliding backward.
Together, those factors drove a
yearning to return to a simpler time
when America was the world’s
undisputed superpower and middle-
class wages were on the rise.
“We have our fingers in too many
baskets,” said Joe Hudson, 49, an
engineer and registered Republican
from Virginia Beach, Virginia, who
said he would be voting for Trump
because “we’re not taking care of our
own people.”
“We’re trying to be too involved
in world politics. And our country is
imploding from within,” he said. “We
need a new direction, a new attitude,
and people to stop arguing and letting
the media affect how we feel.”
Trump’s vow was simple: He’d
“Make America Great Again.”
His outsider status, coupled with
his personal business success, lent
credibility to a populist message that
emphasized recapturing manufacturing
jobs, restoring American strength
abroad and curtailing legal and illegal
immigration.
Trump, early on, painted his
supporters as a “movement” larger
than himself.
“This isn’t about me; it’s about all
of you and our magnificent movement
to make America great again all over
this country. And they’re talking about
Election results rattle markets
as shares, U.S. dollar tumbles
AP Photo/ Evan Vucci
Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump cheer as
they watch election returns during a rally Tuesday in New York.
HONG KONG (AP) The
rising prospect of a Trump
presidency jolted markets
around the world Wednesday,
sending Dow futures and
Asian stock prices sharply
lower as investors panicked
over uncertainties on trade,
immigration and geopolitical
tensions.
At one point, Dow futures
plunged more than 4 percent
and Japan’s major index
nosedived more than 6.1
percent, its largest drop in
years. The Mexican peso
likewise tumbled and investors
looking for safe assets bid up
the price of gold.
During the campaign,
Trump threatened to rip up
trade deals like the North
American
Free
Trade
Agreement. He pledged to
greatly restrict immigration
to the U.S and to build a
wall along the United States’
southern border and force
Mexico to pay for it.
But the lack of clear
policy details has left many
worldwide uneasy over the
future direction of the U.S.
economy. Share prices began
tumbling as soon as Trump
first gained the lead in the
electoral vote count.
The Federal Reserve had
been considered all but sure
to raise interest rates at its next
meeting in mid-December,
reflecting a strengthened U.S.
economy. But a Trump victory
could make a rate hike less
likely — especially if financial
markets remain under pressure.
Trump’s strong talk on
trade also has left many in Asia
deeply worried.
Top officials from Japan’s
central bank and finance
ministry met Wednesday to
discuss how to cope with the
gyrations in financial markets.
The Nikkei 225 stock index
closed 5.4 percent lower. Hong
Kong’s Hang Seng slumped
2.7 and South Korea’s Kospi
shed 2.4 percent.
The Shanghai Composite
index fell 0.2 percent to
3,141.87 and Australia’s S&P
ASX/200 in sank 1.9 percent
to 5,156.60.
GOP keeps Senate control
as Democrats fall short
AP Photo/David Goldman
Guests watch election results during Democratic presidential nominee
Hillary Clinton’s election night rally in the Jacob Javits Center Tuesday in
New York.
it all over the world,” he said at a rally
in Miami last week during the race’s
furious final stretch.
“There has never been a movement
like this in the history of our country —
it’s never happened. Even the pundits,
even the ones that truly dislike Donald
Trump, have said it’s the single greatest
phenomena they have ever seen.”
But as he worked his base into a
frenzy and locked down one primary
win after the next, Trump was also
repelling large swaths of the populace
— including women, college-educated
whites and minorities — with his
deeply divisive rhetoric.
Trump launched his campaign
with a speech that accused Mexico
of sending rapists and other criminals
across the border.
He
later
questioned
2008
Republican nominee and former POW
John McCain’s status as a war hero,
saying he preferred people who hadn’t
been captured. He mocked a disabled
reporter.
And he called for a “total and
complete shutdown of Muslims
entering the United States until our
country’s representatives can figure
out what is going on” — a blanket
religion test denounced by many as
un-American.
After
securing
his
party’s
nomination, Trump questioned a
federal judge’s ability to treat him
fairly because of the judge’s Hispanic
origin, repeatedly insulted a Muslim-
American family whose son had been
killed in Iraq, and got into an extended
spat with a former beauty queen, at
one point instructing his millions of
“This isn’t about me,
it’s about all of you
and our movement
to make America
great again.”
— Donald Trump,
U.S. President-Elect
Twitter followers to “check out” her
non-existent sex tape.
Again and again, Trump appeared
poised to close the gap with Clinton,
only to go off on a tangent that would
send his poll numbers tumbling.
Then came the release of jarring
old video footage from an “Access
Hollywood” bus in which Trump
bragged about being able to grope
women because he was famous. The
video’s release was followed by a
string of allegations from women
who said Trump sexually harassed or
assaulted them.
Trump denied the accusations,
at one point threatening to sue the
women.
But one October surprise was
followed by another: a letter from
the FBI director informing Congress
that the bureau had found a new trove
of emails potentially relevant to its
investigation into Clinton’s use of a
private email server a secretary of state.
While the FBI eventually announced
that there was nothing in the emails to
merit criminal prosecution, the damage
appeared to have been done.
WASHINGTON
(AP)
— Republicans held onto
their slim Senate majority
Wednesday, a stinging blow
to Democrats in a night full
of them. Democrats had been
nearly certain of retaking
control but saw their hopes
fizzle as endangered GOP
incumbents won in Missouri,
Indiana, Pennsylvania, North
Carolina and even Demo-
crat-friendly Wisconsin.
GOP-held New Hamp-
shire remained too close to
call in the early morning
hours Wednesday, but even
if Democrats eked out a win
there it would not make a
difference.
Republicans started the
night with a 54-46 majority
in the Senate and were on
track to end up with at least
52 seats, presuming they
win a December run-off in
Louisiana, as expected.
The outcome added to a
debacle of a night for Demo-
crats, who lost the presidency
and faced being consigned to
minority status on Capitol
Hill for years to come.
Republicans celebrated
their wins, already looking
ahead to midterms in 2018
when Democrats could
see their numbers reduced
even further with a group of
red-state Senate Democrats
on the ballot.
As the night wore on,
Democratic operatives strug-
gled to explain why their
optimistic assessments of
retaking Senate control were
so mistaken. Some blamed
unexpected turnout by certain
segments of white voters, or
FBI Director James Comey’s
bombshell
announcement
that he was reviewing a new
batch of emails connected
with Democrat Hillary
Clinton.
In Pennsylvania, GOP
Sen. Pat Toomey won a
narrow victory for his second
term
over
Democratic
challenger Katie McGinty.
It was a race Democrats
expected to win going into
the night — and one that
many Republicans felt nearly
as sure they’d lose.
The story was the same
in Wisconsin, where GOP
Sen. Ron Johnson, written
off for months by his own
party, won re-election against
former Democratic Sen. Russ
Feingold in a rematch.
In Missouri and North
Carolina, where entrenched
GOP incumbents Roy Blunt
and Richard Burr faced
unexpectedly strong chal-
lenges from Democrats, both
prevailed in the end.
Democrats did grab a
Republican-held seat in Illi-
nois, where GOP Sen. Mark
Kirk lost to Democratic
Rep. Tammy Duckworth, a
double-amputee Iraq war vet.
The other bright spot for
Democrats was in Nevada,
where Minority Leader
Harry Reid’s retirement after
five terms created a vacancy
and the one Democrat-
ic-held seat that was closely
contested. Reid maneuvered
to fill it with his hand-picked
successor, Catherine Cortez
Masto, Nevada’s former
attorney general who spoke
often of her family’s immi-
grant roots in a state with
heavy Latino turnout..
John McCain, at age 80,
won his sixth term in quite
possibly his final campaign.
The 2008 GOP presidential
nominee was re-elected
without much difficulty
despite early predictions of a
competitive race.
GOP wins two more years of House control, Dem gains minimal
WASHINGTON
—
Republicans retained their
lock on the House for two
more years early Wednesday
as GOP candidates triumphed
in a checkerboard of districts
in Florida, Virginia and
Colorado that Democrats
had hoped Donald Trump’s
divisive comments about
women and Hispanics would
make their own.
Democrats who had envi-
sioned potentially big gains
in suburban and ethnically
diverse districts instead were
on track for disappointingly
modest pickups. Republican
contenders were buoyed by
Trump’s startlingly strong
White House bid against
Democrat Hillary Clinton
and appeal to white work-
ing-class voters.
Expectations were low
that Democrats would win
the 30 seats they had needed
to capture House control. But
both sides had anticipated
they’d cut the historic GOP
majority by perhaps a dozen
seats, which seemed possible
but unlikely. Republicans
currently hold a 247-188
majority, including three
vacant seats, the most the
AP Photo/Paul Sancya
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. waves to supporters
at a campaign rally Tuesday.
GOP has commanded since
their 270 in 1931.
By Wednesday morning,
Republicans had at least
232 seats — guaranteeing
control — and just five of
their incumbents had lost.
The GOP retained seats in
Minnesota, New York, Mich-
igan, Pennsylvania, Iowa and
Wisconsin that Democrats
sought to grab, and Repub-
licans prepared to build on
their current six-year run of
House control.
“This could be a really
good night for America,”
House Speaker Paul Ryan,
R-Wis., who won a 10th term,
told supporters back home in
Janesville, Wisconsin.
It was initially unclear
what impact the marginally
smaller size of the GOP
majority would have on
Ryan, who’d angered some
Republican lawmakers by
refusing to campaign for
Trump.
While one member of the
hard-right House Freedom
Caucus was defeated, several
newly elected Republicans
could bolster it. That would
increase
conservatives’
leverage to demand their
way on issues like curbing
spending and government
regulations.
In Florida, freshman GOP
Rep. Carlos Curbelo won a
race that underscored how
Trump’s damage to Repub-
licans would be limited.
With around 7 in 10 of the
Miami-area district’s voters
Hispanic, Democrats targeted
it and the race became one of
the country’s most expensive
with an $18 million price
tag. But Curbelo distanced
himself from his own party’s
nominee and held on.
Virginia freshman Rep.
Barbara Comstock kept her
seat in the Washington, D.C.,
suburbs despite Democrats’
attempts to lash her to
Trump. The two sides spent
more than $20 million in a
district of highly educated,
affluent voters that both sides
had viewed as vulnerable to a
Democratic takeover.
Democrats defeated two
Florida GOP incumbents,
but that seemed due to local
circumstances.
Rep. John Mica, 73, a
12-term veteran from the
Orlando area, was criticized
by GOP strategists for a
lackluster campaign and
lost to Democrat Stephanie
Murphy, a political neophyte.
Democrat Charlie Crist,
once the state’s Republican
governor, defeated Rep.
David Jolly in a St Peters-
burg district redrawn to favor
Democrats.
Democrats spent $4
million and beat GOP Rep.
Scott Garrett, a Freedom
Caucus member from New
Jersey’s suburbs of New
York City. Also defeated
was Rep. Bob Dold, a GOP
moderate from outside
Chicago, and Republican
Rep. Cresent Hardy from
Nevada.
No Democratic incumbent
had lost by early Wednesday.
Both parties’ candidates
and outside groups spent
nearly $1.1 billion combined
on House campaigns, shy
of the $1.2 billion record in
2012, according to the Center
for Responsive Politics, a
nonpartisan research group.
Republicans had only a slight
financial edge.
Even with the Ryan-led
House GOP’s current formi-
dable advantage, work has
stalled this year on spending
bills after hitting objections
from conservatives.
Moving
into
2017,
Congress faces a fresh round
of budget legislation plus the
need to renew the govern-
ment’s borrowing authority
or face an economy-jarring
federal default. Those are
never easy to pass.
Ryan, 46, has said he
wants to be speaker in the new
Congress and has expressed
confidence in doing so. But
he is not immune to ire from
the Freedom Caucus, which
chased former Speaker John
Boehner from Congress last
year, and other Republicans
upset over his frigid treat-
ment of Trump.
Just a handful of disgrun-
tled conservatives could
possibly block Ryan from the
218 votes he’d need to retain
his post. That would be an
embarrassing setback for the
GOP’s 2012 vice presidential
candidate, who may harbor
White House aspirations.