Donald win a lesson for TT leaders

And while he and his opponent Hillary Clinton both quite remarkably had high unfavourable ratings, Trump crucially outscored Clinton in areas of honesty and trustworthiness.

Where Clinton appeared distant and opaque, Trump had a “what you see is what you get” demeanour and in the 2016 US election, the people voted for what they could see.

The post-mortem of the US election will show that Clinton failed to connect to the American people, most of whom were the minority African-American and Hispanic voters but also, and quite critically, a demographic which Clinton perhaps overlooked — rural and working class workers who felt left behind by a failing political establishment.

Trump’s victory was owed to this key vote of dissatisfied blue-collar citizens.

In spite of his lack of qualifications, poor temperament, and divisive rhetoric, Trump rode the wave of populism that ultimately propelled him to being declared President-elect of the US.

On the global level, Trump’s victory has implications for the future of politics.

As first seen with the Brexit vote, Trumpism has again shown that what matters most to people may not necessarily be experience, qualifications, or policy.

Trump defied what the typical politician should symbolise and while this will be reason for concern when he officially assumes office, he will nevertheless go down in history as embodying a new, radical type of politician.

The ability to connect with voters, understand the source of their dissatisfaction and present oneself as being for the people seems to be the future of global politics. Let this be a lesson to our current and future leaders of TT .

JARREL DE MATAS