They were just fed up

And a lot felt troubled, many still marching against him.

But the election was more than that. Large numbers were already fed up with an abundance of self-serving politics — fed up with bloated, unresponsive, government bureaucracy, repeated allegations of political corruption, frustrating public institutions from Congress to the courts, financial scandals and excessive US interference in civil wars abroad. And Trump’s advisers saw these “small town” frustrations — coiled, silently waiting to strike.

Their dislike for immigrants and refugees was just added to this list.

Trump helped lit the fire with the pledge “I will clean up the swamp in Washington.” Throwing political correctness further into the wind, he threatened Wall Street, a place where millions of the working class lost their savings.

And as a final nail, he accused Hilary Clinton of being a bosom-friend and beneficiary of the “fattened, corrupt Wall Street.” It seemed as if Trump inherited a broken system which he himself had exploited. So to denigrate Trump alone is quite an incomplete analysis.

In the eyes of many, the system, the institutions, were already broken for them. The self-serving masters did nothing to help. And Trump appearing as “Mr Fix-it,” seized the opportunity.

Political corruption and anti- working class rhetoric energised the swirling tide of widespread discontent, particularly among what political commentators now call the “coalition of whites.” After the results, CNN black analyst, Van Jones, called it a “white-lash.” In Newtonian politics, the cross-country “Black Lives Matter” marches, for example, and the criticisms against them by Trump supporters, notably Rudy Guiliani, likely provoked a electoral reaction by conservative whites.

While Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, attracted university graduates, Trump mobilised the aging fields of discontent, discontent with the establishment.

Clinton’s support for thousands of Muslim Syrian refugees courted political trouble. And with Trump’s “wall” to keep out “drug addicts, rapists and criminals” coming from south of the border, well, nothing else gets a political constituency mobilised as when you make them frightened of “others” — a large part of Trinbago politics.

The fear of more crime and the loss of jobs added to the existing discontent with the US establishment.

Trump declared: “I will be a law and order president.” His promise to “make America great again” captured millions of rural, blue-collar workers - a constituency once tightly held by the Democrats. His opponent, Hillary Clinton, appeared less adventurous – even more respectful, but with the money-making Clinton Foundation dragged into the campaign, Hilary’s back went against the wall. Still, she got a little more votes than Trump (47.7% Clinton vs 47.5% Trump).

She didn’t win because of the Electoral College system, a system which imperfectly matches the population of each state. Of the 538 electoral votes, Trump got, at the last incomplete count, 290; she got 228.

Framed at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the imbalances now observed in the Electoral College largely grew out of a fear by southern politicians that the northern states would outnumber them electorally.

Among the compromises made was to add a bit more electoral votes for some states, and also, in the south, to classify slaves as “three-fifth of a person” rather than not count them at all.

Would the anti-establishment rage and “forgotten men and women,” as Trump called them, remain forgotten? Last Thursday, fresh from victory, he sat, school-boy posed, with President Obama, apparently appreciating his tasks ahead, including the youthful thousands now marching against him across the US.

Trump is now establishment leader.

Sitting with Speaker Paul Ryan and other House Leaders last Thursday in the “Washington swamp,” he remained tight-lipped, then walked through Congress’ halls looking as an “outsider.” As his language, tone and demeanour changed, he said, “I will be a president of all citizens.” Political cor rec tnes s was returning, possibly leaving Trump’s fed-up followers to wonder about his promises.