WASHINGTON (AP)\u2014Donald Trump claimed his place Wednesday as America\u2019s 45th president, an astonishing victory for the celebrity businessman and political novice who capitalized on voters\u2019 economic anxieties, took advantage of racial tensions and overcame a string of sexual assault allegations on his way to the White House.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s triumph over Hillary Clinton, not declared until well after midnight, will end eight years of Democratic dominance of the White House. He\u2019ll govern with Congress fully under Republican control and lead a country deeply divided by his rancorous campaign against Clinton. He faces fractures within his own party, too, given the numerous Republicans who either tepidly supported his nomination or never backed him at all.<\/p>\n
As he claimed victory, Trump urged Americans to \u201ccome together as one united people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clinton called her Republican rival to concede but did not plan to speak publicly until Wednesday morning. Trump, who spent much of the campaign urging his supporters on as they chanted \u201clock her up,\u201d said the nation owed Clinton \u201ca major debt of gratitude\u201d for her years of public service.<\/p>\n
The Republican blasted through Democrats\u2019 longstanding firewall, carrying Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, states that hadn\u2019t voted for a GOP presidential candidate since the 1980s. He needed to win nearly all of the competitive battleground states, and he did just that, including Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and others.<\/p>\n
Global stock markets and U.S. stock futures plunged, reflecting investor concern over what a Trump presidency might mean for the U.S. and world economies and trade.<\/p>\n
A New York real estate developer who lives in a sparkling Manhattan high-rise, Trump forged a striking connection with white, working class Americans who feel left behind in a changing economy and diversifying country. He cast immigration, both from Latin America and the Middle East, as the root of the problems plaguing many Americans and tapped into fears of terrorism emanating at home and abroad.<\/p>\n
GOP Senate candidates fended off Democratic challengers in key states, including North Carolina, Indiana and Wisconsin. Republicans also maintained their grip on the House.<\/p>\n
Senate control means Trump will have great leeway in appointing Supreme Court justices, which could mean a shift to the right that would last for decades.<\/p>\n
Trump has pledged to usher in sweeping changes to U.S. foreign policy, including building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and suspending immigration from countries with terrorism ties. He\u2019s also praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and spoken of building a better relationship with Moscow, worrying some in his own party who fear he\u2019ll go easy on Putin\u2019s provocations.<\/p>\n
Putin sent him a telegram of congratulations early Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Trump upended years of political convention on his way to the White House, leveling harshly personal insults against his rivals, deeming Mexican immigrants rapists and murderers, and vowing to temporarily suspend Muslim immigration to the U.S. He never released his tax returns, breaking with decades of campaign tradition, and eschewed the kind of robust data and field efforts that helped Obama win two terms in the White House, relying instead on his large, free-wheeling rallies to energize supporters. His campaign was frequently in chaos, and he cycled through three campaign managers.<\/p>\n
His final campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, touted the team\u2019s accomplishments as the final results rolled in, writing on Twitter that \u201crally crowds matter\u201d and \u201cwe expanded the map.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clinton spent months warning voters that Trump was unfit and unqualified to be president. But the former senator and secretary of state struggled to articulate a clear rationale for her own candidacy.<\/p>\n
She faced persistent questions about her honesty and trustworthiness. Those troubles flared anew late in the race, when FBI Director James Comey announced a review of new emails from her tenure at the State Department. On Sunday, just two days before Election Day, Comey said there was nothing in the material to warrant criminal charges against Clinton.<\/p>\n
Trump will inherit an anxious nation, deeply divided by economic and educational opportunities, race and culture.<\/p>\n
Exit polls underscored the fractures: Women nationwide supported Clinton by a double-digit margin, while men were significantly more likely to back Trump. More than half of white voters backed the Republican, while nearly 9 in 10 blacks and two-thirds of Hispanics voted for the Democrat.<\/p>\n
Doug Ratliff, a 67-year-old businessman from Richlands, Virginia, said Trump\u2019s election was one of the happiest days of his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis county has had no hope,\u201d said Ratliff, who owns strip malls in an area badly beaten by the collapse of the coal industry. \u201cThings will change. I know he\u2019s not going to be perfect. But he\u2019s got a heart. And he gives people hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Republican Party\u2019s tortured relationship with its nominee was evident right to the end. Former President George W. Bush and wife Laura Bush declined to back Trump, instead selecting \u201cnone of the above\u201d when they voted for president, according to spokesman Freddy Ford.<\/p>\n
House Speaker Paul Ryan, a reluctant Trump supporter, called the businessman earlier in the evening to congratulate him, according to a Ryan spokeswoman. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the American people \u201chave chosen a new direction for our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obama, who campaigned vigorously for Clinton throughout the fall and hoped his own rising popularity would lift her candidacy, was silent on Trump\u2019s victory, but he is expected to invite him to the White House this week. It will be a potentially awkward meeting with the man who pushed false rumors that the president might have been born outside the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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