Right: across America, days and nights of violent and noisy protests erupted.
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Reasons why Donald Trump should have been confirmed as President of the United States
1. Donald Trump won a comfortable majority of Electoral College votes
The President of the United States has never been elected by a simple popular vote.
The President is not directly elected by the people, rather he or she is elected by a set of state representatives organised into Electoral Colleges. Each state in the United States has a certain number of Electoral College votes. For example, Wyoming, with a population of 584,153, has three electoral votes, while California, with a population of 38,800,000, has 55 electoral votes. It requires a minimum of 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency.
There are two major reasons for the institution of the Electoral College system. The first is a distrust of the potential excesses of a mere popular vote. The framers of the United States Constitution were concerned that the average voter might have his or her judgement swayed by trivial or misleading considerations. Having the President selected by the Electoral College imposed another layer of deliberation before the President was selected.
In Federalist Papers: No.68, Alexander Hamilton explained why a small set of electors should select the President. Hamilton believed, as did the other designers of the United States Constitution, that a smaller group of qualified individuals would be better placed to elect a President.
Hamilton wrote, 'The immediate election should be made by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice.
The writers of the United States Constitution were also concerned that popular votes could be bought or acquired by other fraudulent means. As Hamilton explained, 'Nothing was more to be desired than that every practicable obstacle should be opposed to cabal, intrigue, and corruption.' Given that the members of the Electoral College were presumed to be men of substance and independent means, it was believed that they would be more likely to exercise their vote independently and so select the most suitable person as President.
It is not by mistake that the Electoral College vote does not necessarily reflect the popular vote. The Electoral College was first instituted under the Constitution to act as a safeguard against mistakes that might occur as a result of a popular vote. Therefore, those who defend Donald Trump's election do not see his failure to win the largest percentage of the popular vote as a reason why he should not be conferred as President.
Don Loucks, writing in a piece published in The Statesman on November 17, 2016, stated, 'Our founders knew how "the crowd" could be swayed; how popular opinion could be manipulated, so they guarded against temporary, poorly thought-out fads by slowing-down the process.'
A further justification of the Electoral College is that it serves to reduce the influence of the most populous states. The United States is a federation, a union of formerly independent states. At the time the United States was formed the smaller states were concerned that in any mere popular vote their interests would be subsumed by those of the larger states. The Electoral College serves to reduce the influence of the largest states as the smaller states are given a larger number of electors relative to their size.
Don Loucks further stated, 'Here is the main purpose of the Electoral College: to protect sparsely-populated states from being ignored in presidential elections and then walked all over by the federal government.'
2. Donald Trump is a successful businessman with a wide range of prior experience
Donald Trump's supporters have argued that his business experience is relevant to performing effectively as a national leader. It has also been suggested that a lack of political experience may be an advantage in a leader.
In an opinion piece published in The Conversation on November 10, 2016, Ian Shields, associate lecturer in International Relations, Anglia Ruskin University, stated, 'While lacking in political experience, Trump is hardly lacking in business experience, acumen or success.'
Shields argues that Trump's business success suggests he is a pragmatist who once he is in office will bow to current economic and international political realities.
Shields claims, 'There may be more uncertainty that comes with the Trump administration, but we need to maintain balance - the realities of today's global economies are such that... Donald Trump must accede to them.'
On November 14, 2016, In Daily published a comment by Stephen Pallaras, former South Australian Director of Public Prosecutions. Pallaras argues that Trump's business acumen and the personal qualities he displayed in achieving commercial success are what the electorate responded to when voting for him for President.
Pallaras stated, 'Clearly [Trump's] lack of traditional qualifications for the job did not faze [the electorate] in the slightest. What is also clear is that the qualities they saw to be necessary or at least desirable to be President included decisiveness, irreverence when it comes to the political establishment, a 'can-do' approach to the most intractable problems and an overpowering self-belief.'
Pallaras argues that Trump's lack of immediate political experience may be an advantage in a political leader. He asks, 'So what can we learn from Trump's success? Could it be that in looking for "experienced" candidates or those seemingly more "qualified" for office, that we are looking for the wrong thing?...
Should we look outside the ranks of the professional politician for our inspiration and ideas? Should the experience that we look for be in the specific areas of responsibility rather than in the more generic "public life"?
Pallaras suggests that we should make a place among our political leaders for those with real world experience relevant to the political leadership roles they will fulfil. He asks, 'Is there perhaps room in our system, or if not should we make room, to bring in and appoint more "civilians" with expertise in discreet areas to be members of our government: economists to decide on economic issues, businessmen and women to decide on issues affecting small and medium-sized business, lawyers who actually have substantial work experience as lawyers to guide the legal system, doctors and nurses to direct the health sector, farmers to develop appropriate rural and agricultural policies?'
3. Donald Trump's platform appealed to many Americans who consider they have been ignored by conventional politicians
Political analysts have suggested that many who voted for Donald Trump did so because his status as someone outside the conventional political establishment appealed to them. This is a section of the United States electorate that considers its interests have not been served by conventional politicians.
Trump's focus on job creation, on trade barriers to promote United States industry, on preventing immigrants from competing for jobs within the United States is believed to have spoken to the concerns of these voters.
On November 10, 2016, The Guardian interviewed voters who had cast their vote for Donald Trump and sought their reasons for doing so. The following are excerpts from the reasons these voters gave.
'Obama created jobs, but minimum wage jobs. You can't support a family on a minimum wage. Our manufacturing plants are gone, the coal industry is gone from my area and Hillary would just shut it down the rest of the way.'
'Donald Trump might not have political experience but I truly believe he has the American people's interest at heart. We need to bring jobs back to our country, make the economy stronger and hopefully unite all people...Trump won't take nonsense from anyone and he doesn't have any special interest he has to make happy. He's for the people!'
'I want to change America to serve the people instead of a political system that wants to serve itself. My life won't change much, except I will have more hope that my government is trying to make our country strong instead of pandering to its own liberal interests. My main hope is that he will help balance our budget, and secondly that he will help our economy to remain strong.'
In an opinion piece published in The Star on December 13, 2015, more than a year before the election, Daniel Dale attempted to account for Donald Trump's growing support base. Dale stated, 'The voters who have propelled the race-baiting billionaire to the top of the Republican presidential primary aren't arch-conservative party loyalists. They're right-leaning people, mostly lower-income whites, who believe they have been betrayed by both sides of a political system rigged for the benefit of rich campaign contributors.'
Dale quotes a 52-year-old Marine veteran who works at a Tennessee supermarket who tells him, 'I think they're all crooked. I'm not that much of a religious man, but every day I hope that Trump gets elected. If nothing else, just to tear up the system.'
Dale concluded, 'It's impossible to ignore the role of bigotry in Trump's rise. It's foolish to dismiss the importance of political dysfunction and economic upheaval. Trump, seemingly too wealthy to be bought, is promising to "make America great again" for a white working class that feels it is being treated as an irrelevant underclass.'
Post election analyses have indicated that Donald Trump received particular support from white, working-class women. He received the strongest support from white women without college degrees, 62 percent of whom voted for him. Although his supporters reported median household incomes of $70,000, the Trump campaign tapped into fears and frustrations among white working-class women about diminished possibilities for their husbands and sons to provide for their families.
Trump's supporters maintain they are a legitimate constituency, with legitimate concerns and that they are entitled to vote for the candidate whom they believe is most likely to act to address their needs. They are also entitled to have their vote respected and their successful candidate installed as President.
4. Politicians' private lives and personal views are generally not relevant to the performance of their public function
Some of those who defend Donald Trump's personal conduct, in particular his crude and sexually abusive treatment of some women, argue that a politician's private life and personal conduct have little bearing on the performance of his or her public duties.
According to this line of argument, a man may, for example, be unfaithful to his wife, without that disqualifying him from performing well should he assume high office. The implication is that no individual needs to be above reproach in all aspects of his or her life in order to be effective as a political leader.
This argument was put by Bill Clinton after it was discovered that he had conducted an affair with a White House intern. President Clinton stated, 'Even presidents have private lives. It is time to stop the pursuit of personal destruction and the prying into private lives and get on with our national life.'
Bill Clinton went on to argue, 'Our country has been distracted by this matter for too long, and I take my responsibility for my part in all of this. That is all I can do. Now it is time, in fact, it is past time to move on. We have important work to do -- real opportunities to seize, real problems to solve, real security matters to face.'
Democrats seeking to condemn Donald Trump on the basis of his recorded comments about using his celebrity status as an opportunity to grope women have been condemned for their hypocrisy as many were prepared to excuse Democrat President Bill Clinton for similar behaviour.
In an opinion piece published in Frontpage Mag on October 12, 2016, Daniel Greenfield accused the Clintons of this type of hypocrisy. Greenfield stated, 'Despite their ugly past, the Clintons have decided to run for a third term on their record as moral paragons...[urging] voters to protect their children from the bad influence of a President Trump.'
Among the former US Presidents whose sexual conduct has been called into significant question are Presidents John F. Kennedy, James Buchanan, Grover Cleveland, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Warren Harding and Thomas Jefferson.
As this list includes a number of presidents commonly regarded to have been among the best leaders the United States has produced, it lends support to those commentators who claim that an individual's private conduct does not affect the manner in which he or she performs public duties.
An article published in The Washington Post on September 14, 1998, indicated that this distinction between public and private conduct has been a long-standing feature of American political life. Michael Grunwald wrote, 'The sexual peccadilloes of presidents such as John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Franklin D. Roosevelt were generally considered out of bounds for public discussion. Grover Cleveland faced chants of "Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?" after fathering a child out of wedlock, but voters still chose him to lead the country, prompting the famous rejoinder: "Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha!"'
Trump's defence of his recorded comments regarding groping women stressed that this was just 'locker-room talk'. The implication again appears to be that there are some forms of conduct and/or conversation that are allowable in certain contexts where they would not be in others. Thus Trump appears to have been drawing on another version of the private versus public distinction often made with regard to a leader's moral conduct.
5. Donald Trump will have the benefit of expert advice and support as he performs his presidential duties
Many of those who believe Donald Trump will make an effective President believe that he will counter his own relative lack of political experience by surrounding himself with an appropriately skilled and experienced cabinet. A list of some of Donald Trump's major cabinet recommendations to date follows.
Secretary of State: Rex W. Tillerson - the president and chief executive of Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded international oil and gas company. Mr. Tillerson emerged as a contender on the strong recommendations of James A. Baker III, the secretary of state under President George Bush, and Robert M. Gates, the former defence secretary.
Energy Secretary (primarily responsible for managing the US nuclear arsenal): Rick Perry, former Texas Governor. Mr Trump has said of Mr Perry, 'As the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry created a business climate that produced millions of new jobs and lower energy prices in his state, and he will bring that same approach to our entire country as Secretary of Energy,'
Labor Secretary: Andrew F. Puzder is Mr. Trump's expected choice. He is the chief executive of CKE Restaurants. He is an outspoken critic of the worker protections enacted by the Obama administration.
Environment Protection Agency Administrator: Scott Pruitt is the Oklahoma attorney-general and a critic of federal environmental regulation. Mr Trump has said of this appointment, 'For too long, the Environmental Protection Agency has spent taxpayer dollars on an out-of-control anti-energy agenda that has destroyed millions of jobs, while also undermining our incredible farmers and many other businesses and industries at every turn.'
Homeland Security Secretary: Gen. John Kelly is Mr Trump's candidate for this position. has been endorsed by fellow retired Marine Gen. James Mattis. Gen. Kelly is a staunch critic of the United States current border security and has been especially critical of the security along the border with Mexico.