Stephen Mills and Matthew Hooton discuss the outcome of the US presidential election and what impact Donald Trump's victory will have on New Zealand.
Matthew Hooton & Stephen Mills Photo: RNZ/Dru Faulkner
Hooton said Trump’s win in last week’s US Presidential election legitimised anti-globalisation messages which could embolden New Zealand political parties that have strong anti-immigration and anti-free trade policies - particularly NZ First and the Labour Party under the leadership of Andrew Little.
“I see this as the end of an era, he said.
“If Trump’s promises can be taken seriously I think we draw to a close a 30-or-40-year era of open boarders and ever greater globalisation and cosmopolitanism to more isolationism and protectionism.”
Before the election, no one believed Trump could win Michigan and Wisconsin – states no Republican had taken since Reagan, he said.
“My theory is, [and] I didn’t appreciate this till I got to the US really, because we don’t see this in our media, which we take mainly from CNN or The New York Times, is the degree to which the Clinton’s are perceived as crooks by the public.”
The reopening of the FBI investigation reminded voters of all the scandals the Clintons have been involved in over the years.
About 100,000 people, particularly women voters, decided to not to cast a ballot at all rather than vote for Mrs Clinton, and this was enough to flip those states, Hooton said.
Mills said, with hindsight, Mrs Clinton was clearly not the best candidate for an electorate who wanted change.
And she had had a lot of trouble shaking off the challenge from Bernie Saunders, he said.
“In the end, Hispanics, blacks and women did not come through for her in sufficient numbers.
“I still do find it faintly staggering … that given all the evidence about Trump, that a majority of white women voted for [him],” Mills said.
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