Trump’s re-election ‘a problem for the planet’
THE election of Donald Trump as president has left one of the island’s most prominent Americans ‘deeply despondent’.
Former United States president Donald Trump regained the presidency yesterday, defeating Democratic Party nominee, vice-president Kamala Harris.
Tens of millions of voters across the United States cast their ballots for the presidential election on Tuesday, as well as contests for the US Senate and House of Representatives.
Kevin Bales, professor of contemporary slavery at the University of Nottingham and a St Saviour’s douzenier, pictured, had voted by absentee ballot in Texas, a state held easily by the republican party.
He said Donald Trump’s election was disappointing for America and a problem for the whole planet.
‘With Trump in place, China will gobble up more of the world’s economy, which is bad for Europe,’ he said.
‘He will try to hand Ukraine to the Russians and allow a genocidal situation in Israel. Genocide is a hard word to use, but it’s unfortunately true.’
Mr Trump’s Republican Party is also projected to win back a majority in the US Senate, ensuring his party will control at least one chamber of Congress, while the House of Representatives remains up in the air.
‘Sadly if we don’t have that deadlock in Congress, particularly the Senate, it we will see Trump have more power,’ said Professor Bale.
‘Last time we had the election of flawed individuals to the Supreme Justice and matters like that will fly through again.
‘One day we will elect a woman. It is terrifying that in a number of American States you can have a miscarriage and no hospital will accept you. We have women dying in car parks as they can not have a medical abortion.
‘It is cruelty and sexism.’
However, as president-elect Trump will only be in power for one term, Mr Bales was still optimistic for the country’s future.
‘I think America will endure through this,’ he said.
‘We have had darker days, from the massacre of native Americans to segregation. Overall the arc leans towards progress.
‘America is resilient and it's been through worse. In the long-term I hope he will just be a destructive anomaly and a dark footnote of popularism.’
