Update on America and presidential election articles

This morning I returned from America, having spent the last 2 weeks in New York City and Washington DC. Yes, the experience was as chaotic, exciting and immensely enlightening as one would imagine.

Whilst out there, I wrote some articles for The London Economic as part of my efforts to understand sentiment in the lead-up and aftermath of the election. And that exposure corrected my predetermined opinions on the political atmosphere as much as I thought it might. Particularly, the longer I was out there, the less sure of a Clinton victory I became. The British media's portrayal of Trump was so demonising that, to us, it seemed inconceivable that he would muster any votes out of the Republican Deep South. As he went on to pick up 52% of the female white vote, it became clear just how wrong we were. There is still an aura of shock (and denial) pervading the daily reactions back on this side of the pond.

Even in New York, which voted overwhelmingly in the Democrats' favour, the people were far from enthralled with their blue candidate; when pledging support for her, many expressed sympathies to me for Trump's cause. Still though, the shock of his big, convincing election has not yet settled.

Beneath are the links to my articles for The London Economic, Also, do check out my last blog entry, which was a more humorous piece I wrote to quell the nerves on the day before the result was announced.

Interview with a taxi driver

Protests outside Trump Tower, NYC

Clinton's failures seeped deep to the core

24/7 election coverage means something slightly different in the US

24/7 news coverage can seem excessive on a normal day. On the day before an election, the never-ending analyses, interviews and hypothesising pose an especially gruelling spectacle. At least that is the sort of standard content provided by British news channels. In America, however, some rather more creative methods are utilised to catch and keep the viewer’s attention. 

Today on Fox News, a group of children were invited on set and given the opportunity to contribute to the momentous occasion. As one would imagine, the discussion was pertinent, such as when they were asked to raise their hands if they wanted to be President of the United States one day. 

One girl said that she would vote for Trump because he seemed “a nice man who is nice to people”. My heart goes out to one of so few years, whose experience of our race so far has been dire enough to make Trump stand out for his genial ways.

The ostensibly youngest boy voiced his approval of Trump’s vow to build a wall. “We need to finish what we started”, he stated. I'm not entirely sure what that meant, but it had an oddly chilling effect. 

The final interviewee completely bottled his moment and said something unintelligible to man. 

This went on for about 30 minutes and was relatively amusing, if for the wrong reasons. Still, sometimes serious occasions can offer entertainment. If this election has taught us anything, it is certainly that.