Election 2016: What Happened? What’s Next?

From left: Sarah Wesley, Bill Boyarsky, Robert Scheer and Natasha Hakimi Zapata.

Stunned Americans watched Tuesday night as the results of the 2016 presidential election rolled in. After hours of tense number-crunching, the outcome became certain: Donald Trump had been chosen the next president of the United States of America.

So, looking toward Jan. 20, 2017, many are wondering: How did we get here? What happens next?

Truthdig sat down with journalist Bill Boyarsky for a live conversation on the factors behind Trump’s win and on the future of the country. Watch the full conversation below:

For many people, Tuesday night was a victory—after all, Trump succeeded in winning over at least 58 million Americans. But it is also no secret that his campaign faced an uphill battle. Both anecdotal and statistical evidence show that Trump is overwhelmingly disliked by a majority of Americans, and many members of his own party have criticized his personality and his policy positions.

Speaking of the GOP, it too garnered victory at the polls. Republicans held the majority in both the House and Senate, despite widespread speculation that this would not be the case.

“The question left unanswered by this surprising presidential election is why so many people voted for a man who is not only opposed to the fundamental precepts of the U.S. constitutional system, but who is also determined to dismantle the safety net and the judicial safeguards that make their lives better,” Boyarsky wrote Tuesday night. “I’m not even mentioning the worst part of Trumpism—his contempt for civil liberties and the fundamental guarantees of democracy, his scorn for minorities, his contempt for anyone who doesn’t agree with him. ‘Early Hitler,’ I thought, when I first watched him on television.”

You can watch past editions of “Live at Truthdig” here.

—Posted by Emma Niles