WS Chronicle

The campaigning is over. Now, the path to governing begins.

Donald Trump campaigned vigorously by calling people names; vowing to cut freedom for undocumented residents, especially those of Mexican descent; speaking about sexually assaulting women (he says he didn’t do any of the things he boasted about); threatening to screen Muslims entering the country because he says they might be terrorists; and being condescending as he tried to court African-Americans. Whew. And he still won.

He faces a court date over his defunct Trump University.  The case is being heard by a judge Trump called biased because of his Mexican heritage. He questioned the judge’s citizenship as an American.

How can the country heal based on Donald Trump’s background?

How can African-Americans trust Trump when his campaign was mostly funded by one billionaire who is paying the salaries of Trump staffers, including a leader of a racist organization, Breitbart News Network? Will Trump make leaders of the Klu Klux Klan members of his Cabinet? After all, the group endorsed him.

And what about those jobs he promised Americans? In this “rigged” system, as he called it, will only the people who voted for him get those jobs, if any jobs really emerge?

Trump has a lot of backtracking to do if he expects to heal the country.

Maybe he doesn’t expect to heal the country. Maybe he wants to destroy it.

We are hunkering down for the next four years.

ELECTION DAY QUOTES

Below are some quotes generated on Tuesday, Nov. 8 in Winston-Salem:

Melissa Harris Perry, the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair at Wake Forest University. She also is the Executive Director of the Pro Humanitate Institute and founding director of the Anna Julia Cooper Center at Wake Forest.

“No matter who wins, we must continue to work together to build a better, stronger country. We have to figure out how we’re going to have conversations with each other, how we’re going to get the things we need. Don’t buy into the hype that this is the worse thing that every happened to you because it’s not. We’re going to be all right.”

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Eric Ellison, chairman of the Forsyth County Democratic Party

“I think all of us are proud of the efforts we put forth as Democrats. We had a record number of early votes, and record number of Democrats with absentee votes, so I think we did well. I’m very confident that by the end of the night, Forsyth County and North Carolina will be blue not just for president but for governor and attorney general. We’re very confident but we have to wait until the final numbers are counted.”