Wednesday, November 9th, in the year of our Lord 2016

By Adam McManus

Trump Wins Surprising Victory

It was 1:38 a.m. central time when Donald J. Trump, the improbable outsider, was declared to be President-Elect, pulling off a stunning populist upset against Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a candidate who was better-funded and appeared to be better organized.

Chris Wallace described his victory speech as “pitch perfect: humble and presidential, gracious and big-hearted.”

“I just received a call from Secretary Clinton. She congratulated us, it’s about us, on our victory, and I congratulated her and her family on a very very hard-fought campaign. I mean, she fought very hard. Hillary has worked very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country. I mean that very sincerely. Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division enough to get together. To all Republicans and Democrats and Independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people. I pledge, to every citizen of our land, that I will be president for all Americans, and this is so important to me. To those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people, I am reaching out to you for your guidance and your help, so that we can work together and unify our great country.”

While the Democrats walk through their “five stages of grief” – to quote Megyn Kelly – the question on everyone’s mind is how did a non-politician like Trump, whom no one took seriously when he announced his presidential bid 18 months ago, win so decisively?

Not only did Trump win his “must-win” states of Ohio, Florida and North Carolina, but the underdog won his other apparent “must-win” state, the blue-leaning swing state of Pennsylvania.  Plus, The Washington Post reports that “Trump won at least one and possibly two states in which he didn’t even campaign until the final week of the 2016 election: Michigan and Wisconsin. These states have long eluded the GOP’s grasp and didn’t seem likely to be winnable for Trump.”

But Hillary had ignored the Rustbelt, which had lost thousands of manufacturing jobs overseas, while Trump became their champion, something even liberal filmmaker Michael Moore was forced to admit.

Pundits Speculate on Cause of Hillary’s Defeat

Some pundits suggest that Hillary Clinton was more deeply flawed than Trump. Perhaps her Achilles heel was her untrustworthiness which became apparent through her email scandal amplified by FBI Director James Comey’s two investigations, her unaccountability for the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, the Wikileaks dump from her internal campaign emails, the collusion with the media, and her pay-for-play scheme for fat-cat foreign donors and governments to the Clinton Foundation.  

Others point to Hillary’s inability to make a clear case for why Americans should have voted for her combined with her open disdain for the people in flyover country, whom she gleefully described as irredeemable and a basket of deplorables.

Trump Resonated with the Working Class

Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, referenced the “undercover Trump vote” in a Tweet last night, voters who were hesitant to tell pollsters or even friends and family that they planned to vote for Trump. Nonetheless, his America-first message that emphasized job creation through dramatic tax cuts and better trade deals, the rebuilding of the American military, and the promise to build a wall on our southern border to ensure our sovereignty as a nation resonated with the forgotten working class.

“Every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer. Ours was not a campaign, but rather an incredible and great movement, made up of millions of hard-working men and women, who love their country, and want a better, brighter future for themselves.”

Lou Dobbs said, “He relied on his gut, and his gut was golden.” He perfected the political art of defining and then defeating his political enemy from “Low Energy Jeb” in the primaries to “Crooked Hillary” in the general election.

Plus, those who had once embraced Obamacare, now became its strongest critics due to skyrocketing premiums combined with the fact that the greatest number of evangelicals went to the polls in decades, hopeful that Donald Trump would nominate two to four carefully vetted conservative justices to the Supreme Court who would affirm religious freedom as well as the sanctity of life and marriage.

Vice President-Elect Pence Speaks on Importance of Trump Victory

Vice President-Elect Mike Pence, the evangelical Indiana governor, who turned out to be the perfect running mate for Donald Trump, summed up the import of the victory.

“This is a historic night. The American people have spoken, and the American people have elected their new champion. America has elected a new president, and it’s almost hard for me to express. I come to this moment deeply humbled, grateful to God for His amazing grace. I’m deeply grateful to the American people, for placing their confidence in this team and giving us this opportunity to serve. And I’m mostly grateful to our president-elect, whose leadership and vision will make America great again.”

But we know the real reason behind Trump’s victory. Daniel 2:20-21 says, “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings.”

Franklin Graham Says the Christian Voice Needs to Be Heard

In an interview with the Christian Post prior to Election Day, evangelist Franklin Graham hoped that Christians would recognize the difference between the platforms of the two major parties.  He said, “This isn’t difficult to figure out if you are a Christian. There’s really very few choices here because the Republican Party has a platform where they support life, the unborn, they’re very clear on these issues. I think it all boils down to the Supreme Court.”

Graham went on to say, “The Christian voice needs to be heard this election because we’re going to lose our country, we’re going to lose our freedoms. There is an assault today against the church, against those people who live by biblical values. We’ve seen the bakers out West who lost their bakery because they refused to bake a cake for a gay wedding. We’ve seen a Christian pharmacist lose his pharmacy because he refused to sell the morning after pill that will create an abortion.”

Perhaps Franklin Graham’s 50-state “Decision America” tour helped, in part, to motivate the largest evangelical voter turnout in decades.

Three More States Legalize Recreational Marijuana

Four states and the District of Columbia already have legalized sales of recreational marijuana, and yesterday that number nearly doubled. Massachusetts, Nevada and California have also legalized recreational marijuana.

Beyond that, Florida, Arkansas and North Dakota legalized (or greatly expanded legal access to) medical marijuana. Before yesterday’s vote, medical marijuana had been available in 25 states.

And that’s the World View in Five Minutes.