By BRENNEN JOHNSON
Assemblyman Nick Perry shook his head in discontent when asked about Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential race.
Seated in his office in a burgundy chair in front of the American flag, the Jamaica-born legislator expressed deep concern about the nation’s welfare, especially for Caribbean-Americans, who have clustered in his East Flatbush district.
“They think he’s a change agent,” Perry, a Democrat, said of Trump. “Caribbean people around the world realize the change he’s talking about is the change we’ve been fighting to stop.”
Trump’s victory has left a deep disappointment in Brooklyn’s Caribbean immigrant community, the largest in the country, coupled with disbelief and distrust in the American political system.
Although exit polls show that Clinton won nearly 9 out of every 10 black votes, Perry lamented that some black youth backed Trump.
“My granddaughter sends tweets about politics to her peers on Twitter, and I can’t believe how some of these young minority African American youth were inspired to support Trump,” Perry said, referring to Roc Nation recording artist Justine Skye.
The disbelief of Jamaican and Haitians residents here reflected the low morale not only in the Brooklyn immigrant community, but in Caribbean communities across the globe.
Local Caribbean newspapers have carried reports of leaders and former leaders in the West Indies who expressed reservations about Trump’s victory. For example, the Caribbean Life newspaper reported that while former Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller congratulated Trump on his victory, she quickly pointed out the concerns people have with him.
“Trump must recognize the influence the United States has on global affairs. In the weeks ahead we look forward to hearing and seeing how the Trump’s administration will take shape,” Miller added. “We have some concerns, since Jamaicans are a big part of the immigrant community in the U.S.” ht
In Trinidad, Vice Chairwoman Camille Robinson-Regis showed her disappointment with Clinton’s defeat.
“What I find truly amazing is that a country as liberal and advanced like the U.S. took 200 years to have a woman on the ballot of one of the major political parties,” Robinson-Regis said, echoing region-wide disappointment with the result. “My brother, who lives in the key swing state of Florida, had been campaigning for Hillary and canvassing for votes for her. I told him if Hillary didn’t win I’ll blame them squarely. My brother and cousins in New York, who are all registered Democrats, were among millions of early voters.”
Jermaine Richards, 32, a dollar van driver from Kingston, Jamaica, spoke in his native patois about how he despised Trump’s immigration policies, quickly pausing the conversation about Trump to pick up passengers along Flatbush Avenue between Avenues R and S. Richards stopped inside of Caribbean soul food hotspot, Island Express, to eat a plate of his favorite meal, oxtails with white rice and cabbage, just as night fell and his second shift of rounds was soon set to commence.
“My wife and daughter are back home” in Jamaica, Richards said, between bites at the table. “Everyday I roll up on the road back and forth from Kings Plaza Mall down to Flatlands just to provide an honest income to send back for them. Trump said he wants to build a wall for keep me little girl and her mother away from me. Man must reconsider cause Jamaicans compose of a bulk of the immigrant community here and we’re not satisfied with them plans.”
Jamaica native Stephanie Burke, 46, an early childhood home daycare provider, said she was outraged at America’s choice for commander-in-chief due to what she sees as a lack of leadership qualities and contradictory behaviors.
“Trump displays a racist attitude toward immigrants, prides himself on being a nationalist but entirely contradicts ideals intended to protect its citizens, that were put forth by the founding fathers of the United States,” Burke said.
Burke said an advisor at the U.S. Citizen Immigration Services office had helped her after she lost her birth certificate and passport in a home invasion. “At that point in my life I wanted to give up but the immigration service advisors helped restore my hope and walked me through the steps of the citizenship application process,” she said. But it was too late to vote. “I tried to get everything together in time for the election so I could vote, although neither candidate interested me,” she said. “But the voter registration deadlines derailed my efforts.”
During the campaign, Caribbean immigrants observed warily as Trump offered such policy solutions as construction of a wall along the Texas-Mexican border and mass deportations.
But there were also grievances in the Caribbean community against the Clintons, and Trump sought to take advantage of that.
Trump visited the Little Haiti neighborhood in Miami and praised Haitians for their contributions to the United States. Haitian-born columnist Joel Dreyfuss wrote in the Washington Post of how Trump maneuvered the resentment Haitians have toward the Clintons to sway the vote.
The situation stems from grievances over President Bill Clinton’s handling of Haitian immigrants, which included jailing some in the Guantanamo Bay prison.
Registered Democrat Karrine Sylvan, 27, a dental assistant from Mill Basin, was aware of her Haitian relatives’ dismay toward the Clintons but decided against Trump due to what she saw as his misogynistic attitude. Sylvan was disappointed that the United States was not ready to become the 45th country to choose a female head of state.
“Trump’s derogatory remarks about sexually assaulting women really upset me. Clinton led a positive campaign that inspired young women around the world but at the end of the day she only lost because he is a man,” Sylvan said.
Photo: Karrine Sylvan shares the dismay within Brooklyn’s Caribbean community over the election of Donald Trump as president.
By ALEXANDRA SEMENOVA
A viral Facebook video posted last Saturday by Ivis Suarez of Miami Lakes, Florida shows her abuela, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, as she is overwhelmed with tears on receiving the news that Fidel Castro has died.
“Not even Alzheimer’s could take away the emotions my abuela Ata felt when she found out that monster had died!” Suarez wrote in the post, which was seen by over 400,000. “Thanks to her, my family is in this country today.”
Castro’s death aroused strong feelings, pro and con: In New York some people placed flowers at the Cuban consulate in Midtown Manhattan.
But when the partying, for some, and grieving, for others, are said and done, a bigger question, remains: What will Castro’s death mean for U.S. relations with the island nation at a time when President-elect Donald Trump takes office?
“The big question mark is Trump,” said Ron Howell, a professor at Brooklyn College and a journalist who covered Cuba for Newsday. “I think younger Cubans will make a difference because they largely want to see an opening.”
Castro’s death on Nov. 25 quickly ignited political debate in the United States.
“I hope we don’t see Barack Obama and Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton and the Democrats lining up to lionize a murderous tyrant and thug,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is Cuban American, told ABC News. “If you wouldn’t go to Pol Pot’s funeral or Stalin’s funeral or Mao’s funeral because they were murderous communist dictators then you shouldn’t be doing what Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau are doing, which is celebrating Fidel Castro, a murderous communist dictator.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) slammed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for offering sympathy upon Castro’s death, calling his remarks a “parody.”
Trump followed.
“The world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades,” Trump said in a statement following Castro’s death. “Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights.”
During his campaign, Trump criticized “concessions” made to Cuba’s Communist government and threatened to void Obama’s U.S.-Cuba Bilateral Commission, a plan that was resurfaced by Trump Chief of Staff Reince Priebus when he told Fox News that Trump stands by his intention to negate the deal.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, bolstered the president-elect’s statement, tweeting “I called @RealDonaldTrump to let him know that the State of Florida will help his administration to support a pro-democracy movement in Cuba.”
Florida holds 67 percent of the nation’s 1.2 million eligible voters of Cuban descent, many of whom live in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area, according to Pew Research Center.
Despite a 2014 Pew Research Center survey that found Cuban American registered voters have shifted toward the Democratic Party for over a decade, more than 54 percent of Cuban Americans voted for Trump, National Election Pool exit poll data showed. The number was almost double the 26 percent of non-Cuban Hispanic voters who supported Trump in the 2016 race.
This number is higher than the 47 percent who supported Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 race, according to the exit poll.
“The generally more conservative you are, the more you did not like Fidel Castro,” said Howell, who reported on Cuba for three decades and met Castro when he invited journalists to the Presidential Palace in Havana in 2001.
Studies show that while older Cuban Americans are strongly Republican, there is a divide between them and younger voters.
According to a study done by Pew Research in 2013, 56 percent of Cuban Americans aged 18 to 49 identified with or leaned toward the Democratic Party compared to 39 percent of those 50 years and older.
“The future, I think, is in young people who want to preserve the achievements of the revolution, but also want to engage in more cooperative forms of governance and production,” according to Professor Alan Aja, professor of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at Brooklyn College.
According to Aja, the Cuban government has long prepared for Castro’s death and a transfer of power well beyond his “more moderate” but equally aging brother.
“The paternalistic model of the revolution does not work for them but neither does free market capitalism because they know how much inequality it yields in the U.S. for their familial loved ones and in other Caribbean nations,” Aja said. “Contrary to our ‘exceptionalist’ thinking in the U.S. that we’re the only ones that matter, or know better, the Cuban government is self-aware and strategic.”
By MELODY CHAN
Jacqueline Brettschneider, a 21-year-old Marine Park resident, reached out to her friends ahead of the Nov. 8 election and reminded them to vote.
To convince those who were reluctant to vote, she warned them about the possibility that Donald Trump might win.
“I’m going to wake you up to vote,” she says she told one friend. “No way am I having Trump in the White House.”
On the morning of Election Day, she sent out reminders again through text messaging because she thought Hillary Clinton had a better chance to win if her friends voted.
“It’s super important that young people vote,” she said.
Brettschneider is among those who believe young voters, ages 18 to 29, impacted the election’s results. Although the race came down to Clinton and Trump, nearly 1 in 10 young voters voted for third-party candidates or wrote in their own candidate, according to the Brookings Institution. In addition, this age bracket is known for its low turnout.
“Relatively low voter turnout is kind of an ongoing issue for young voters,” said Alexander Reichl, a professor in the political science department at Queens College.
This year, an estimated 24 million people under the age of 29 voted in the general election, according to NPR.org. The young voters made up one-fifth of the electorate.
Yet, there are 69.2 million eligible voters in the 18-to-34-year-old group. As the youngest members of the Millennial generation turned 18 to vote in this year’s election, the bloc is now comparable in size to the estimated 69.7 million Baby Boomer voters in the United States. Thus, it is often said that Millennials have the ability to impact the result of the election.
“There were some debates about voting for principals versus voting for what was more practical,” Reichl said. “But some people just couldn’t stomach Clinton. There are different attitudes on why and how you should vote” between older and younger voters .
Turnout is a significant factor in understanding the clout of the Millennial vote. When Millennials had a record-breaking 50 percent turnout in the 2008 election, they were surpassed by more than 60 percent turnout among Generation X voters, ages 36 to 51, and 70 percent of Baby Boomers.
The turnout rate is even lower among younger those aged 18 to 24. Only 38 percent cast a vote for president in 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Vivian Mok, 22, of Bensonhurst, believes Millennials have the power to impact elections if they try.
“Millennials have a greater voice because they are more tech savvy and annoyingly more persistent,” Mok said. “They have a louder voice and the ability to spread the words further… as long as they’re not too lazy to do so.”
However, Kenneth Sherrill, a professor emeritus who taught at Hunter College in the political science department, said, “Voting is something of a habit and people take a while to develop the habit.”
Moreover, he said the low turnout can be the result of “less inspiring” candidates.
This year, 55 percent of young voters, ages 18 to 29, voted for Hillary Clinton, according to the exit polls conducted by Edison Research for the National Election Pool.
While Clinton beat Trump in a landslide among young adults, with a 55 percent to 37 percent margin, she received fewer votes than President Barack Obama did in the 2008 and 2012 presidential election. Obama had a 60 percent–36 percent advantage over opponent Mitt Romney in 2012 and in 2008, he had a 66 percent–32 percent over opponent John McCain.
Even during the Democratic primary in 2008, Millennial voters preferred Obama over Clinton by a margin of 58 percent to 38 percent, according to exit polls. Clinton also lost the Millennial votes to Bernie Sanders during this year’s Democratic primary, 83 percent to 16 percent.
“Obama and Bernie come across as leaders who wanted a better life for everyone while Clinton seems more like a politician who will sway whichever way to get her more votes,” said Paige Chen, 22, of Bensonhurst, who did not vote in the primary election.
“I honestly believed Bernie Sanders would’ve won without my vote,” she said. “However, once I learned he was no longer a candidate, I became desperate for Hillary to win.”
Chen said she “learned to always vote, despite how worthless one vote can seem, hopefully others have learned the same lesson and not take their rights for granted, as well as, learn that we failed as a country because we failed to do our part as individuals.”
Meanwhile, one-third of young voters supported Trump. The number exceeded what pre-election polls suggested. Still, it was the fourth-lowest turnout by the group for a GOP nominee since 1972, according to The Brookings Institution.
It also reported 32 percent of Trump’s young supporters were excited about having him as a president while only 18 percent of Clinton’s expressed excitement.
Jessica Peru, 26, of Flatbush, voted for Trump.
“He is the best!” she said. “Being nice doesn’t take you anywhere in life. We need someone strict like Donald.”
This year, there was an obvious decline in Democratic advantage among the youngest voters, under the age of 29.
Chen said people who voted for third-party candidates or wrote in their own votes simply negated or wasted their own efforts because they should have known it came down to Clinton and Trump.
“There were some debates about voting for principals versus voting for what was more practical,” Reichl said. “But some people just couldn’t stomach Clinton. There are different attitudes on why and how you should vote” [between older and younger voters .
“Millennials were either not voting or voting in a way that kind of rejected the system all together,” he added.
Wuraola Sonubi, 21, of East New York, said he didn’t vote this election because he didn’t like any of the candidates.
“The kinds of patterns that you see now will carry on,” Reichl said, “but there are some forces pushing and pulling so we don’t know what will happen down the road until things play out.”
In addition, Sherrill said Clinton’s use of celebrity endorsements don’t matter as much as other things do.
“A celebrity appearance can draw a crowd to a rally because they want to hear a performance or see a celebrity but I’m not sure how much that generated the actual turnout,” he said.
Sanna Chen, 22, of the Lower East Side in Manhatan said celebrity endorsements do not make a difference for her.
“At the end of the day, the celebrities are not the ones fighting for my rights and making political changes,” she said. “I would hope it doesn’t matter for other Millennial as well and that they can make up their mind and choose a candidate base on what they stand for.”
Moreover, she said she did a lot of research on the candidates before she voted and got most of her election news from news media and word of mouth.
“Hopefully those that didn’t vote will understand how much weight their votes had on this election and vote for the next ones,” she added.
Photo: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Depicts 2012 election in Calgary, Canada.
By MELODY CHAN
Right now, the people who Donald Trump attacked directly and indirectly throughout his candidacy are wondering, “How on earth did Donald Trump win?”
Although Trump is a rookie in politics compared to Hillary Clinton, his victory in the presidential election was not without strategy.
First, let’s acknowledge his supporters.
“Trump has an incredibly loyal and enthusiastic following,” Victoria Allen, an adjunct assistant professor of political science at Queens College, said in an email interview.
His supporters have not wavered despite his scandals, she said.
But who are his biggest supporters? A shrinking population, said Anna Law, an associate professor in the political science department at Brooklyn College.
“His biggest voting bloc are white people without college degrees,” she added. “The higher level of education you have correlates with lower levels of racism and misogyny.”
Allen said that for every person who voted for Clinton because she is a woman, there is another who didn’t vote for her because she is a woman.
“I don’t think she can handle America,” said Kimberley Blackmeth, 28, of Brooklyn, who voted for Trump said. “I understand she wants to be the first woman to be elected president, but I don’t think she is the right woman.”
Still, why are his supporters so supportive of him?
“His campaign has given a voice, albeit a crude one at times, to many disaffected, ‘forgotten’ voters,” Andrew H. Sidman, an associate professor of political science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said in an email interview.
Trump’s victory, despite his flaws, is largely because of his message and its resonance with these voters, he added.
Michael Krasner, an associate professor of political science at Queens College, said in an email interview that Trump appealed to the resentments, fears and prejudices of voters, especially white working class voters. In addition, Trump capitalized on “xenophobia, racism, sexism, resentment of elites, economic dissatisfaction and real economic losses.”
He appealed to the voters’ sense that politicians had abandoned them and offered himself as a solution, Krasner said.
“He’s used a combination of classic right wing populism, authoritarianism, and the techniques of reality TV,” he added.
“His strategy is to scare [the voters] into voting for him. His strategy is fear,” Law said. “When he said American voters are out of control, they don’t know how to fact-check it. They don’t know who’s right or who’s wrong.”
However, Krasner said his supporters don’t care if he’s lying or insulting people as long as they feel Trump is representing them.
“It works to his advantage,” he said, “because people think that when the media brings up the lies, his supporters see that as an attack by the establishment that proves that Trump is new and different and for the people.”
“America needs a drastic change,” said Malik White, 24, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, who voted for Trump. “America needs a drastic change, and Hillary cannot provide that change for America. We need someone strong to take over America.”
In addition, Brian Arbour, an associate professor of political science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said Trump’s strategy was largely playing on negative partisanship.
He said that despite the number of Republicans who are reluctant in supporting Trump, they are voting for him because they are against Clinton.
Clinton is the opposite of what Republicans represent, which include lower taxes and less government regulation, Arbour said.
“That’s the basic divide among Republicans and Democrats,” he added.
Trump also went with a more traditional route, campaigning in large venues and communicating with average voters on his own terms, Sidman said.
However, Joyce Gelb, a professor emerita who taught at the City College of New York in the political science department, said in an email interview that Trump’s victory is a “triumph for a fascist-like approach.”
She said he lied about the country’s economic position, the role of race and catered to fear, racism and ethnic hatred.
In addition, his “outrageous” policy proposals overshadowed Clinton’s policy speeches, Arbour said.
But, was there a better winning strategy for Trump?
“I think Trump would have been better off to attack Clinton on Benghazi,” Krasner said, “and other instances in which he could say she’d cost American lives.”
On the other hand, Allen said, “He probably has done the best he can with the momentum he is able to generate at his rallies and on television.”
“Mr. Trump’s instincts have generally been a plus for his campaign,” Sidman said.
Even so, he said Trump’s experience at playing the game has been a big negative although politics is a skill honed over time.
“Beyond statements he made in the past, throughout the campaign Mr. Trump displayed an inability to exercise even basic self-control and it has been costly,” he added.
Prior to Trump’s victory, Gelb said, “We have had demagogues in the U.S. politics but never one running for president.”
“We’ll likely have fascism within a couple of years,” Krasner said.
By NATHANIEL BUTLER
After a brutally negative campaign, the presidential race of 2016 boiled down to which candidate voters would view as the lesser threat to the American people.
Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton were the most unpopular candidates ever seen in a presidential campaign.
“Clearly with Donald Trump in the race, it’s totally about the negatives,” said 67-year-old Manhattan political consultant and former political reporter Bob Liff. “You pick it, he pissed all over it. He took shots at it. “
Liff saw Trump’s role in the election as polluting, and said Clinton had to confront that.
“He dragged her more than she probably wanted to into that muck,” he said. “But at the same time, if you listen to her, she talks a lot more about a positive vision of the country. “
Many Clinton supporters seemed bittersweet or reluctant about their decision while Trump voters liked his tough, no-holds-barred attitude.
“I voted for Hillary. Honestly I don’t like Hillary neither, but Trump can’t win,” said 27-year-old Jennifer Acevado, a middle school teacher. “If he does I’m moving back to the Dominican Republic.“
“Donald Trump has my vote! He is the best!” said 26-year-old Jessica Peru, a sales associate in Flatbush. “Being nice doesn’t take you anywhere in life. We need someone strict like Donald.”
Office assistant Sasha Peterson, 22, was in the minority of New York City residents who chose the billionaire developer. “I’m voting for Trump. I like the way Trump thinks,” she said. “Yes, he is strict. However, America needs a strict leader.”
Is Trump’s anti-immigration attitude the kind of strictness that resonates with many Americans? The election raised that question.
Some Clinton voters interviewed yesterday expressed full confidence in her candidacy.
“I am voting for Hillary; Trump cannot win. I won’t allow him to win,” said 22-year-old Richard Stevenson, a full-time college student. “Trump is a businessman; he knows how to run a business. America is not something we can play.”
Other voters are not even buying into both the negatives of Trump and Clinton’s candidacy weighing the same, remaining skeptical towards the possibly of both candidates being as equally bad.
“There’s been an awful a lot of talk of the lesser of two evils and the equality of the negative points of each of these two candidates, making it equal. But I’m not buying it,” “said 68-year-old George Rodman, a professor of media at Brooklyn College.
As the returns came in, Gov. Andrew Cuomo assailed Trump over his anti-immigrant positions.
“You are going to tell us that differences are bad, you’re in New York my friend! You are going to tell us that immigrants are bad; we are all immigrants in New York,” said Cuomo. “Unless you are native American. My friend, you are an immigrant. “
Trump hammered relentlessly on Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was the Secretary of State while Clinton attacked Trump as a misogynist. The voters judged which one would be the lesser threat.
Photo: Donald Trump. (Greg Skidmore, via Wikimedia Commons).
Brooklyn News Service reporter Deidra Brisco visits polling places in Crown Heights and Canarsie.
By BRENNEN JOHNSON
Sen. Charles Schumer easily won victory Tuesday night in his reelection bid against Republican challenger Wendy Long but fell short of his goal to become the powerful majority leader of the Senate.
Schumer won some 70 percent of the vote.
“Tonight I am humbled by the trust that my fellow New Yorkers have put in me,” Schumer said as he was on his way to taking some 70 percent of the vote, a landslide. As he addressed Democrats on Tuesday night, he noted the chance that he could become Senate majority leader, and pledged to work hard for his home state.
But Democrats, who had hoped that a victory in the presidential race would sweep their candidates into office in close Senate race, saw their hopes dashed on that front as well. Still, Schumer is expected to be the minority leader of the Democrats in the Senate, which will put him at odds with another victorious New Yorker: President-elect Donald J. Trump.
Running against her heavily favored opponent, Long took advantage of their lone debate to fire remarks pertaining to ethics at Schumer and to needle him for his lack of interest in the FBI’s most recent review of Hillary Clinton’s emails.
Long, a Manhattan attorney, asserted that Schumer failed to do so because of conflict of interest in that the emails were found on the laptop computer of his old friend and protégé, former Rep. Anthony Weiner.
Schumer declared in his opening statement that he’ll return jobs to New York State such as those he took credit for at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics in Rochester.
He said he understood his fellow New Yorkers’ hopes for economic stability since his father, an exterminator, and his mother, a housewife, struggled when he was growing up. Schumer said he planned to fight economic stagnation by raising the minimum wage and discussed the ways he’s displayed his loyalty to the people he serves in time of crisis.
“Whether it’s 9/11 or downstate, a horrible snow storm in Buffalo upstate, the floods in Binghamton,” Schumer said. “I’m always there for New Yorkers.”
Their debate also focused on FBI Director James Comey over his decision to announce that agents were reviewing a new round of emails to see if they were connected to Clinton’s private server.
The debate at Union College took place before Comey announced that his review determined there was no need to reopen the investigation of Clinton that he closed last July.
“Mr. Comey, first, ought to make them public and second, owes not only Secretary Clinton but the American people an explanation for what appears to be an appalling act,” he said.
Long disagreed. “When something like that comes to light, I think it’s the duty of the prosecutor to evaluate it,” Long said. “So, I disagree that it should be ignored just because we are further down the road.”
By ALEXANDRA SEMENOVA
Republican candidate Donald Trump emerged the surprise victor early Wednesday in a stunning and unexpected outcome to a bitterly confrontational presidential race against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
As election night wore on, Trump took one battleground state after another, often overcoming polls that predicted a loss. Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania all moved into the Republican column — making the 70-year-old New York real estate developer, a political outsider who was often shunned by his own party’s insiders, the 45th president of the United States of America.
Clinton, 69, the former Secretary of State, senator from New York and first lady during the presidency of her husband Bill Clinton, conceded the race to Trump in a phone call. She received strong support from women, but was defeated in her second attempt to become the first woman president.
It was a grueling, bitter contest.
The 2016 presidential race was the first time Trump ran for political office. Before becoming the Republican nominee, he was best known for his work as a businessman and reality television star. Trump is the chairman and president of the Trump Organization, the holding company for his real-estate projects and other business ventures.
Clinton overcame a challenge in the primaries from Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont while Trump triumphed over a large field that was whittled down to include Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and John Kasich of Ohio. She chosen Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) as her running mate.
The battle for the Republican ticket set the tone for the ominous rhetoric of the election early in the race.
“He’s always calling me Little Marco, and I’ll admit he’s taller than me,” Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, one of Trump’s opponents, said of Trump in February while campaigning in Virginia. “He’s like 6’2, which is why I don’t understand why his hands are the size of someone who is 5’2.”
Trump used the Republican debate in March to fire back. “He referred to my hands — ‘if they’re small, something else must be small,’” Trump said during the nationally televised event. “I guarantee you there’s no problem.”
Such exchanges helped to set the level of the campaign.
Republicandiscontent with Trump followed quickly.
After endorsing Cruz, former GOP nominee Mitt Romney said, “Today, there is a contest between Trumpism and Republicanism,” in a statement he posted to Facebook. “Through the calculated statements of its leader, Trumpism has become associated with racism, misogyny, bigotry, xenophobia, vulgarity and, most recently, threats and violence. I am repulsed by each and every one of these.”
Trump chose a more traditional Republican, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, as his vice-presidential nominee. The Trump campaign was plagued by a series of controversies over the course of the election. He faced allegations of sexual assault and charges that “Trump University” was not legitimate. His accusations against the federal judge handling a fraud lawsuit involving Trump University, Gonzalo P. Curiel, also led to widespread condemnation. He had said Curiel should step aside because his Mexican ancestry would make it impossible for him to judge the case fairly. He also faced disclosures that he had not paid federal income taxes for many years because of financial losses he declared, and he refused to make public his tax returns.
More controversy ensued after Khizr and Ghazala Khan,the parents of a Muslim soldier slain in the war in Iraq, appeared at the Democratic National Convention in July and urged Americans not to vote for Trump because of his public call to ban Muslims from entering the country. He responded by disparaging the Gold Star family and refusing to issue an apology.
Members of his own party responded with criticism. “I am appalled that Donald Trump would disparage them and that he had the gall to compare his own sacrifices to those of a Gold Star family,” Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said at the time.
Clinton’s reputation was damaged by her use of a private email server during her time as Secretary of State and the resulting FBI investigation of her handling of classified information. This arrangement and emails exchanges between members of her campaign revealed by WikiLeaks led to voters’ distrust. Clinton noted that U.S. intelligence agencies had determined that Russian authorities were responsible for hacking the email of her campaign coordinator, and charged that President Vladimir Putin was trying to steer the election to Trump, who alarmed many people with his praise of Putin. Throughout the campaign, Trump constantly called his opponent “Crooked Hillary,” a title that many Americans adopted. He also called repeatedly for Clinton to be jailed for her carelessness with emails, even after the FBI determined that criminal charges should not be brought.
Clinton was also criticized for her controversial paid speeches, a point Sanders had also pressed in the Democratic primaries. Controversy also swirled around the Clinton Foundation.
In July, Gallup showed in its “Favorable Image of Hillary Clinton by Age” study that Clinton’s favorability rating has spiraled down among voters between 18 and 29, dropping from 47 percent to 31 percent over the year.
October shook the campaigns of both candidates.
A 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape originally uncovered by the Washington Post early last month revealed a lewd exchange between Trump and NBC host Billy Bush, in which the Republican nominee joked about making forced sexual advances against women. The incident became the focus of the second and third debates.
This month the Clinton campaign was also shaken by FBI Director James Comey’s announcement 11 days before Election Day that the FBI re-opened the email investigation after finding messages “pertinent” to the case while looking into former Rep. Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of Clinton’s chief staffer Huma Abedin, for sending explicit text messages to a 15-year-old girl. Comey announced Nov. 6 the FBI found no evidence of criminality in the new emails.
Jennifer Acevado, 27, of the Morris Park section of the Bronx, middle school teacher: “I voted for Hillary. Honestly I don’t like Hillary neither, but Trump can’t win. If he does I’m moving back to Dominican Republic.“
Wuraola Sonubi, 21, of East New York, full-time student: “I’m not voting this election; I don’t like none of the candidates. I’m scared for America.”
Richard Stevenson, 22, of Crown Heights, full-time student: “I am voting for Hilary. Trump cannot win. I won’t allow him to win. If he wins, America is going to change. Trump is a business man; he knows how to run a business. America is not something we can play with.”
Voter Darius Nunez
Darius Nunez, 25, of Queens, personal trainer, said he doesn’t know if he’ll truly be heard or be recognized because of the electoral voting procedure, “but… if I have the ability to put my best foot forward for the future generations then I’ll do just that!”
Malik White, 24, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, sales associate:
“I’m voting for Trump. America needs a drastic change, and Hillary cannot provide that change for America. We need someone strong to take over America.”
Sasha Peterson, 22, office assistant: “I’m voting for Trump. Why? I like the way Trump thinks. Yes he is strict. However, America needs a strict leader.”
Kimberley Blackmeth, 28, of the Morris Park section of the Bronx, registered nurse: “I am voting for Trump. Hillary cannot win; I don’t think she can handle America. America needs a strong leader. I understand she wants to be the first woman to be elected president, but I don’t think she is the right woman.”
Jessica Peru, 26, of Flatbush, sales associate: “Donald Trump has my vote! He is the best! Being nice doesn’t take you anywhere in life. We need someone strict like Donald.”
Kaila Chapman, 33, of Washington Heights, blogs on natural hair and accounting manager for restaurants, said her name wasn’t at her local polling site. “But, I’m not supposed to think this is all rigged?” she said. “I voted, I guess.” She added that she’s “so tired of talking about politics”.
Kiana Nicole, 20, of Flatbush, student at the University of Albany and first-time voter in a presidential election, graduate of Brooklyn College Academy: Nicole has a lot of friends who aren’t voting in this election. She told them, “although you may not like the candidates running, we have to choose one that will run our country and represent us the best in the next four years … I’m with her.”
Allison Shiffler, 30, of East Harlem, single mom and full-time Columbia University graduate student in clinical social work, said she was excited to have taken her 7-month-old daughter to the polls with her and said she voted for Clinton so we can finally “move on and make some extra efforts in making a safer America” for her daughter.
Darius Nunez, 25, of Queens, personal trainer, said he doesn’t know if he’ll truly be heard or be recognized because of the electoral voting procedure, “but… if I have the ability to put my best foot forward for the future generations then I’ll do just that!”
Beverly McGee, a nursing student from Brownsville: “People are mad because in some places, they don’t even have the books” that list voters. “You know the books that have your name?”
Pablo Young of Bronwsville, a construction worker, said “There were lines, but it’s not so bad. I just went to my table.”
Tokunbo Ayeni, Nathaniel Butler and Raychelle Balentien contributed to this story.
By JOSEPH MODICA and the STAFF OF BROOKLYN NEWS SERVICE
11:47 p.m.
The New York Times is projecting that Trump has won Florida.
11:42 p.m.
Georgia is going to go in favor of Trump, says NPR.
11:32 p.m.
New York Times says that Clinton has grabbed Virginia, with Clinton ahead in Electoral votes by one.
11:31 p.m.
Florida has voted to approve marijuana for medical purposes, says NBC.
11:29 p.m.
FiveThirtyEight: Trump has an 84 percent chance of winning the election.
11:28 p.m.
Even with Trump’s lead, Clinton is still projected to win, says NBC.
11:17 p.m.
According to a NBC graphic, North Carolina has 93 percent of the vote and Trump is leading in North Carolina with 5.1 percent, projecting that he will take it.
11:11 p.m.
According to CBS, leading with 53.7 percent of the vote, Clinton is expected to take Oregon.
11:08 p.m.
According to NPR figures, Trump is leading with a slim margin of 201 electoral votes, with Clinton close behind with 190 votes.
11.00 p.m.
According to CBS News, Trump is ahead 16 percent in Georgia, giving him a great chance to take the state.
10:58 p.m.
According to CBS News, with Clinton ahead in the double digits, she is in a good position to take Minnesota.
10:54 p.m.
New York Times says that Trump has won Ohio, a surprising shift for a state that has voted for Obama twice.
10:50 p.m.
Update: Authorities say they don’t believe that the shooting in Azusa, California is election related, stating that “It could be domestic violence, but nothing jumps out right now.”
10:47 p.m.
NBC news has called Ohio in Trump’s favor.
10:44 p.m.
With a very close race, New York Times experts are not expecting a decision tonight.
10:36 p.m.
Fox News projects that Clinton will win Colorado, dealing a small blow to Trump’s campaign.
10:32 p.m.
Ohio projected to go to Trump with his double digit lead.
10:25 p.m.
Currently, Trump leads with 168 electoral vote compared to Clinton’s 109 votes, says NBC News.
10:20 p.m.
Even with Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia’s polls closed hours ago, they are still too close to call.
10:14 p.m.
NPR projects that Trump will grab Montana.
10:09 p.m.
NBC projects that Clinton will win New Mexico.
9:57 p.m.
The next four states that will close their polls are Iowa, Nevada, Montana and Utah at 10 p.m.
9:51 p.m.
Even with Trump’s current lead, the Washington Post projects that Clinton will get ahead when accounting for safe states.
9:35 p.m.
With 34 percent of the vote in for New Mexico, Clinton is leading with 54 percent compared to Trump’s 36 percent in votes, though NBC says that it is still too early to call.
9:29 p.m.
With half of the nation’s polls closed, Trump carries a lead of 33 electoral votes over Clinton, with a total of 137 and 104 votes respectively, says NBC.
9:22 p.m.
CNN is reporting on its live stream that New Hampshire is in a dead tie with both Trump and Clinton having an even 46 percent votes currently.
9:20 p.m.
CNN is reporting that Trump is leading with 128 electoral votes, leaving Clinton behind who has 97 votes.
9:14 p.m.
According to NBC, Donald Trump is to take North Dakota.
9:06 p.m.
Democratic incumbent Chuck Schumer will keep his New York Senate seat.
9:05 p.m.
Trump will “easily win Arkansas,” according to Fox news projections.
9:01 p.m.
NY1 has projected that Dem Chuck Schumer will win his fourth term as senator for New York.
8:54 p.m.
14 states will close their polls at 9 p.m.
8:38 p.m.
Democrats hope to take Senate majority took a blow with Republican candidate winning Indiana from Democratic candidate Evan Bayh, says Washington Post.
8:35 p.m.
Clinton has won Rhode Island, says CBS News.
8:31 p.m.
Trump has won South Carolina, says CNN.
8:28 p.m.
President Obama reassures tense citizens that, “No matter what happens, the sun will rise in the morning” through a video at Buzzfeed News.
8:22 p.m.
Clinton currently has 68 electoral votes with Trump catching up with 57, says CBS News.
8:15 p.m.
Man arrested in Texas for voting twice, claimed that he was working for Trump and was “testing the system,” says the Washington Post.
8:11 p.m.
Clinton is currently ahead with 44 electoral votes with Trump trailing with 31, according to NPR.
8:09 p.m.
Trump has taken Oklahoma, Missouri, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi, says Fox News
8:04 p.m.
Hillary has won Delaware, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Washington, and New Jersey, says NPR.
7:55 p.m.
Fox early exit polls project that Trump will win South Carolina.
7:43 p.m.
Republican Senate incumbent Rob Portman managed to hold onto his seat for another term, says Wall Street Journal
7:40 p.m.
North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and Virginia are still too close to call, says Wall Street Journal.
7:32 p.m.
Trump has won West Virginia, according to Fox News
7:26 p.m.
Polls will close at 7:30 p.m. in Ohio, West Virginia and most of North Carolina, says CNN
7:20 p.m.
Board of Elections in North Carolina will extend voting time in Durham County by as much as an hour, says CNN.
7:17 p.m.
Update: One victim has died in a shooting at a polling station in Azusa, California, says the Washington Post
7:08 p.m.
Phoenix, Arizona votes are coming in despite long lines and system glitches there, according to the Washington Post
7:02 p.m.
CNN early exit polls are projecting Trump won Kentucky and Indiana, while Clinton took Vermont.
6:32 p.m.
Michigan will be a close call, while Detroit voting turnout is “way down,” says sources quoted by Fox News.
6:25 p.m.
Two polling locations are in lockdown as at least four people are wounded in a shooting in Azusa, California, according to CNN
6:08 p.m.
“There was a lot of confusion- there were a lot of people angry,” Brooklyn News Service reporter Nathaniel Butler says of polling locations in Brownsville. “Voters who made mistakes had to get their votes voided in order to recast.”
5:57 p.m.
Colorado has reported issues with its voting system, but quickly brought them back online, according to CNN.
5:52 p.m.
“I don’t know that North Carolina will be called tonight. It might be that close,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook tells MSNBC.
5:46 p.m.
Harlem voters are walking out of polling locations with having to deal with long wait times and broken machines, says New York One.
5:44 p.m .
Our Brooklyn New Service reporter Lisa Flaugh is reporting over an hour and a half wait at polls in Upper Manhattan.
