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Just Saying
Opinion
Yonden Lhatoo
Yonden Lhatoo

Just SayingWith Trump as US president, let’s sit back and enjoy the show

Yonden Lhatoo relishes the prospect of endless entertainment and buffoonery with Donald Trump in the White House. Relax, it’s not quite the end of the world

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A cake made in the image of Donald Trump on display at his election night rally in Manhattan, New York. Will Trump build the equivalent of the Great Wall of China along the Mexican border? Will he ban Muslims from entering the US? Will he tear up international trade agreements? Photo: Reuters
Yonden Lhatoo

“Be careful what you wish for,” my friends warned me when I wrote in this space back in February that I was rooting for Donald Trump to win the US presidential election. Well, now that the unthinkable has happened, here I am, relishing the moment, not regretting it.

I’m not a fan of that vile man in any sense, but, like I’ve always said, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter a damn who is in charge of that country. America will do what America wants to do and has always done.

Trump, trade and the US pivot to Asia: what lies ahead?

You heard Trump’s victory speech. It was like they brought out an inflatable doppelganger with an accurate hairdo on stage to toe the line after months of racist, misogynist, chauvinistic, divisive, antagonistic, isolationist and protectionist rhetoric. The suicide bomber of American politics is suddenly the saint, pontificating about the “time for America to bind the wounds of division” and “come together as one united people”.
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President-elect Donald Trump walks on stage with his son Barron, wife Melania and daughter Ivanka during his election night event at the New York Hilton Midtown. After months of divisive and racist rhetoric, Trump now calls for America “to bind the wounds of division”. Photo: Photo: AFP
President-elect Donald Trump walks on stage with his son Barron, wife Melania and daughter Ivanka during his election night event at the New York Hilton Midtown. After months of divisive and racist rhetoric, Trump now calls for America “to bind the wounds of division”. Photo: Photo: AFP

Election over, Donald Trump must now change his tune

I followed the big American television networks’ news coverage throughout election day, and found it more entertaining than the most cringeworthy moments in Ricky Gervais’ The Office series. Pundits, pollsters and seasoned hacks figuratively soiling themselves in a combination of bewilderment and horror as the realisation sank in that their smug narrative had been oh-so-wrong.

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Then I watched mainstream media denial and dismay give way to alarmist panic as global stock markets took an initial dive on news of Trump’s stunning upset, never mind the fact that it merely reflected the usual brokers and bankers gambling on people’s hopes and fears, rather than the end of the world. As you can see, that melodrama is over and everyone’s back to their pragmatist best at making money, never mind who’s sitting in the White House.

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