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Rachel Smalley: Nobody wins from anti-Trump protests

Publish Date
Fri, 11 Nov 2016, 6:51AM
Rachel Smalley says nobody wins from protests against Trump now that he has been elected (Getty Images)
Rachel Smalley says nobody wins from protests against Trump now that he has been elected (Getty Images)

Rachel Smalley: Nobody wins from anti-Trump protests

Publish Date
Fri, 11 Nov 2016, 6:51AM

So the Trump fall out continues but really, it shouldn’t. No-one wins if it carries on.

The Guardian has been carrying the headline “it’s a dark time for the world….” and in Britain The Mirror’s front page was an image of the Statue of Liberty with her head in her hands.

Everywhere you can read, hear and see people ruing what many consider a very bleak result in a very controversial election, and now the world has a very uncertain future.

In the last 24 hours, I've been among those who feel disillusioned. Old America won. The women who voted for Trump - I will never understand that - but they did. And so be it.

The protests are troubling. I’ve seen the American flag burned by angry crowds in the Middle East. I don’t recall ever seeing the stars and stripes being burnt on American soil. Nothing good can come of that.

MORE: Protesters fear Trump will be "uncontrollable"

But, I guess, it's not a surprise. It’s what happens when you preach hate. Hate comes back at you. But the protests and the burning of the flag wont change the result. America has elected Donald Trump to the White House, and that’s where he’ll be for the next four years. Who knows, he might even make eight. He might be there for the best part of a decade.

And so you have to give Trump a chance to lead. He will be a very different President to the Republican nominee we’ve seen ranting and raging over the last year, the man we've mocked and feared, and never truly believed would make it to the Oval office. He’ll be more statesman-like. He has to be. He’ll have a cast of thousands around him already, coaching him, working on his image, working on his rhetoric, working on new policy, the set-up of his senior leadership team, and shaping him as a President. He'll be managed within an inch of his life. Thankfully.

And so that's why I think we need to quell all the commentary about armageddon. It's not the end of the world, it's just that it's a very uncertain world right now.

In America, the only person who can calm the nation, who can stop the flag-burning and the protests is the current president, Barack Obama. He’s already said that Trump needs to be granted the opportunity to lead and to unite a divided country. And it’s Obama, I think, who can quell the revolts and the protests before they get out of hand. He is the master orator, after all. He needs to graciously tell Americans to hit the pause button.

I can't quite believe i'm saying this, but Trump needs to be given a chance to lead and sure, if he fails, if his inexperience and lack of preparedness shines through, if he's un-Presidential, if he takes over Gaddafi's title and becomes the 'mad dog' of politics, then criticise him, hold him to account.

But until then, I think we need to pause, breath and stand back and watch for a while, because no-one wins when protests become violent, and people take a match to the stars and stripes.

It is, after all, the land of the free. And until proven otherwise, you have to assume that Trump will do what he says he will, and that's make America great again.

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