Why Donald Trump Won the 2016 Election

The U.S. presidential election of 2016 was majorly a battle between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump. Being the most politically experienced, with nearly two decades of being actively involved in United States national politics, Clinton was viewed as the front-runner in the election. On the other hand, Trump, a business mogul with no political experience was not seen as a serious contender. Political pundits, media research units, and research organizations gave Clinton a comfortable lead. For instance, according to a survey conducted by Reuters and Ipsos, Clinton had a compelling lead of 15% points over Trump with just 11 days before the presidential election (Tamman n.pag). However, the presidential election results were upsetting to Clinton and her supporters: Trump won the Electoral College with 304 votes while Clinton managed to garner 227 votes (The New York Times n.pag.). Trump's unexpected victory has been attributed to Facebook, his celebrity status, his anti-immigration and anti-trade rhetoric, the mistrust and hostility of the citizens towards the establishment, FBI Director James Comeys letter, and Russian interference.

First, Donald Trumps win is largely attributed to Facebook (Lapowsky n.pag.). One of the ways in which Facebook helped Trump win the election is due to its inability to stop the spread of fake news or hoax. Even though fake news is found in almost all social media sites, the Facebooks the large number of Facebook users (about 200 million active users in the United States) and the way in which such news is distributed, particularly the strong emotional drivers that elevate the activity of sharing and the show me more like this links enable the users to access similar fake news on other websites. This makes Facebook a leading website in support of a highly rewarding market in which fraudulent publishers amass traffic by luring followers off of Facebook onto ad-filled sites using fictitious or exaggerated stories that have little or no relationship with the truth (Gaughan n.pag.).

During the election, the fake stories dominated Facebook. One of the stories, spread by WTOE 5 News in July 2016, which might have influenced the choice of the presidency is The Pope endorses Trump(Snopes n.pag.). On October 2016, WhatDoesItMean website published a widely shared story indicating that Hillary Clinton had purchased illegal arms worth over $137 million through the Clinton Foundation (Snopes n.pag.). These fake stories and others received millions of comments, likes, and shares on Facebook. Even though there were efforts by debunking organizations such as Snopes to debunk these stories, they were insufficient.

Secondly, Trump win is also linked to his celebrity status (Krieg n.pag.). Unlike Clinton, who had an active grassroots organization that mobilized voters to vote, Trump lacked grassroots political campaigns. Political pundits saw this as a major setback for his campaign. However, Trump did not need to set up an aggressive grassroots organization due to his 30-year presence in the public eye and the entertainment industry. Because of his celebrity status, he joined the presidential race with almost 100 percent name recognition. Moreover, his celebrity status helped him to attract unrelenting media attention from the moment he joined the race. It is estimated that Trump received about $3 billion free advertisements from extensive media reportage that characterized his campaigns (Gaughan n.pag.). Additionally, Trump attracted the attention of the voters using controversial statements that he kept repeating on the campaign trail. He seemed to understand that such controversies were more appealing to the electorate than serious policy statements that were associated with Clintons campaigns (Gaughan n.pag.).

Third, Trumps revolt against immigration and trade seemed to have energized his supporters. His campaign was partly driven by his widespread resentment towards immigrants and free trade policies. Throughout his campaign, he centered on these two politically charged issues. He assured his supporters to build a wall along the Mexican border to deter illegal immigration and to also deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Moreover, he promised to do away with free trade agreements, which he linked to the loss of manufacturing jobs. His campaigns were also dominated by offensive utterances towards the Muslims and the Mexicans, which were highly condemned by critics. Despite condemnation, Trump never backed down. He seemed to have a good grasp of the major issues dear to the American voters hearts, particularly globalization and immigration. Because of this, Trump triumphed in traditionally Democrat-leaning states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania having large populations of white blue-collar voters (Gaughan n.pag.).

Fourth, Trumps win can also be attributed to the mistrust and hostility of the general public towards the insiders or political establishment that led the country. The presidential race was thus viewed by voters as a battle between the outsiders and the insiders.' As a political newbie and an anti-establishment, Trump was well-received by the disgruntled voters who saw the current media, political, and business establishment as out of touch with the problems they faced. At the time of elections, trust in public institutions was very low, and most of the American citizens believed that the country was not on the right path. The growing public anger towards these institutions was a game changer in the 2016 presidential election. In the midst of this distrust towards the establishment, Trumps unconventional political style fascinated voters more than Clintons conventional, cautious, and facts-based approach to issues facing the American public. Trump positioned himself as an outsider and a much-needed savior while Clintons approach to issues made her look like the establishment candidate, a factor that derailed his presidential fortunes (Gaughan n.pag.).

Hillary Clinton and her supporters believe that Trump did not win fairly. Specifically, Clinton attributes her loss to FBI Director James Comey (Rucker n.pag.). The letter, delivered eleven days before Election Day by Comey said that FBI agents had learned of newly discovered emails linking her to the use of private email server during her tenure as the Secretary of State. This might have scared off Clintons supporters or made some to shift allegiance to Trump. She also believes that Russian hackers for helping Trump ascend to the presidency (Rucker n.pag.). The hackers release of John Podestas emails which contained her Wall Street speeches, presidential debate questions, her views on the Catholic religion, and her views about Saudi Arabia and Qatar and the countries support for ISIL.

Donald Trump beat all the odds to become the 45th president of the United States. In the process, he surprised all and sundry the political pundits, the media, and polling companies. His controversial take on several issues resonated well with the majority of the voters. His win over Clinton is associated with fake Facebook news, his celebrity status, his hatred for immigrants, the hostility of the electorate towards the establishment, FBI Director James Comeys letter, and Russian hackers.

Works Cited

Gaughan, Anthony J. Donald Trump Won the Presidency Because Celebrity Beats Substance. Quartz, 2016, qz.com/832830/election-2016-how-did-donald-trump-win/.

Krieg, Gregory. How Did Trump Win? Here Are 24 Theories. CNN, Cable News Network, 2016, edition.cnn.com/2016/11/10/politics/why-donald-trump-won/.

Lapowsky, Issie. Heres how Facebook Actually Won Trump the Presidency. Wired, Conde Nast, 2016, www.wired.com/2016/11/facebook-won-trump-election-not-just-fake-news/.

Rucker, Philip. I would be Your President': Clinton Blames Russia, FBI Chief for 2016 Election Loss. The Washington Post, 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hillary-clinton-blames-russian-hackers-and-comey-for-2016-election-loss/2017/05/02/e62fef72-2f60-11e7-8674-437ddb6e813e_story.html?utm_term=.2d575c78a15e.

Snopes False: Hillary Clinton Bought $137 Million Worth of Illegal Arms. Snopes.com, 30 Oct. 2016, www.snopes.com/hillary-clinton-bought-137-million-worth-of-illegal-arms/.

Snopes False: Pope Francis Shocks World, Endorses Donald Trump for President. Snopes.com, 2016, www.snopes.com/pope-francis-donald-trump-endorsement/.

Tamman, Maurice. Clinton Enjoys Solid Lead in Early Voting: Reuters/Ipsos Poll. Reuters, 2016, www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-poll-idUSKCN12T0J6.

The New York Times. Presidential Election Results: Donald J. Trump Wins. The New York Times, 2017, www.nytimes.com/elections/results/president.