The sun rose today, and it will rise tomorrow as well 

Like most of you , I too was up till 2 AM following the election results and experiencing it’s associated mood swings . I certainly was not a Trump supporter and didn’t expect him to win . I don’t like Clinton either – just for different reasons . Between the two , I was hoping for Clinton to win . I went through publicly available polling data over last few days and concluded , semi scientifically , that Trump at best only had a 30% or so chance to win . I was wrong – dead wrong – and so were a lot of others that I know .

I am middle of the road on my political leanings – fiscally conservative and socially liberal . I also firmly believe that in a democracy , I can’t pick and choose and apply random criteria . People of this country voted and Trump won fair and square . He now has my respect as the President , irrespective of whether I like him or not as a person . It’s difficult , but I am optimistic that it will be fine . The sun rose today , and it will rise tomorrow as well .

But there are important learnings for all of us here , well at least for me for sure 🙂

1. Trump listened to the pain of the people – and Clinton and many of us did not get it . He appealed to the insecurities ( perceived or real ) and got rewarded . Rest of us didn’t – and he won . If you miss the pulse of the majority of  people you deserve to lose . Few months ago I. Atlanta – I had an African American uber driver who told me he will vote for Trump because he is against gay marriage . On a national scale , I didn’t realize how many such people exist and how ignorant we are of the “silent trump supporters” .  Social media created a bubble for many of us – real world is still far removed from social media and that is something I will never forget ever again !

2. Campaigning and governing are not the same . When you campaign , essentially you are pleading  to the majority as defined by electoral college votes . When governing you are everyone’s president and you can’t just think of the voters who took your side . It remains to be seen if Trump has any real solutions to back up his rhetoric of making America great again. I am not a fan of Obamacare – but I am not sure if he has. Ought through sufficiently on what to replace it with . Last thing we need is it to be repealed and replaced with something that doesn’t work .

3. Big solutions might be out of the box in nature . Building the wall , deporting illegals etc are not pragmatic . But then I didn’t see Narendra Modi making 1000 and 500 rupees notes illegal over night to curb black money either . Does Trump have such tricks up his sleeve ? I haven’t seen clues – but I hope he does have great big plans that will pleasantly surprise us .

4. House , Senate and President are all going to be from the same party now . Checks and balances were built into the constitution for a good reason . When democrats had all three , they passed Obamacare that was poorly written and poorly implemented . I am waiting to see if GOP will do any better when they own all parts of government

5. Trump is a business man and I am sure he understands the difference between marketing and execution . I have a lot of Muslims , LGBTs, minorities  and immigrants as my friends and I am super worried for their rights . I hope and pray their rights are not infringed like he told us in his campaign speeches . I don’t honestly think – despite my own multiple jabs – that Old Testament will replace the constitution of this country . Over time I fully expect Trump and the legislature to win our confidence and trust .

6. We should worry about each other more than about the president honestly . A nasty Election season has driven big wedges amongst us . Clinton and Trump were rich and famous and will continue to be so , and will both shake hands and move on . I worry about the rest of us being able to forgive and forget . A good start will be to stop shaming each other from today on how we voted . It’s over , and there are miles to go before we sleep !