Hillary Clinton, with 47.7% of the popular vote, won the larger share in the 2016 Presidential Election respective to her opponents. However, in a system that doesn't work according to representation by population that's a mere footnote as opposed to the central matter at hand. Where the votes fall and how they relate to the college electoral system were the keys to Donald Trump's victory on Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning. Unfortunately for Trump opponents, rules can't be changed after the game is played and Trump's 45.7% of the vote fell in the right spots.
Yet due to her broad support -- in fact larger support -- it's not surprising that scores have taken to the streets of the United States in protest.
Michael Moore among protesters
Michael Moore, the left-wing documentary maker, is among the scores of Americans that have participated in the protests. Moore updated his Facebook page on Wednesday night, claiming he was at a "NYC protest in the streets." Later in the evening he offered a prediction in the form of another update: "Out with tens of thousands of protesters in the streets tonight. The (crap) has only begun to hit the fan. #OccupyTrump."
Moore was one of the few political commentators that suggested that a Donald Trump victory was imminent on Tuesday night.
Some have said that leftist Noam Chomsky predicted a Trump victory, however I think that largely takes Chomsky's comments, which were made in 2010, out of context. Given that Moore seemed to have a grip on the election situation, you do have to wonder if his prediction of growing protests is one that will come true as well.
Essence of the protests?
Protesters do not necessarily have one unified opinion. But perhaps the main point of the current protests can be summed up with the following Twitter hashtag: "#notmypresident." The communication is redundant in a way, given that the election numbers themselves showed that Trump was not the choice of tens of millions.
That being the case, the point to take away from the protests is that Trump's presidential term may not be a smooth one.
Yes, Trump has the election won, but he does not have the popular vote nor a calm situation under which to start his term. Whether the protests will grow, cease, be stopped somehow, or effectively reduce Trump's ability to carry out his election promises is a matter that remains to be seen. He has started as a betting underdog to build his promised Mexican wall with one sportsbook and he might be an underdog for other agendas too. Anyone that knows about Trump and his life knows that he won't take defiance lying down so there could be scary times ahead in America. All that seems clear is that Trump faces a challenge that no other president has ever faced: the outright non-acceptance of his victory by what appears to be a huge portion of the population that may not be as politically passive as they have normally been.
