As we watched the news of the election trickle in, it was clear that Trump was going to be elected the next President. And the official news came in. It may initially seem bizarre why somebody quite seemingly unqualified would be chosen to lead one of the greatest nations in the world. Among the many analysis surrounding the election, the answer is actually dead simple. The people who voted for Trump were ANGRY.

Anger Wins It All

People call Trump the king of social media, the master manipulator of media, and more, but above all, he was able to make people angry as well as incite hate. Anger is one of the strongest emotions which leads to actions taken without much consideration. How many times do we hear mistakes made in the moment of anger? On the other hand, Clinton’s campaign was largely appealing to the intellectual, and that ultimately cost her the game.

People were generally unhappy after the Financial Crisis where Wall Street was seen as the Big Bad Wolf that stole the people’s money. Hollywood movies like Wolf of Wall Street hammered that in further. In the midst of retirement or approaching retirement, the American people are hit with the lowest interest rates ever, affecting their income for retirement.

Trump rally violence. Image lifted from The New York Times.

Broad Sweeping Statements Are The Best For Riling Up Emotions

“The System Has Failed Us All”, “Let’s Make America Great Again” are two of the most repeated phrases throughout the Trump campaign. The first capitalise on the economic situation, the unhappiness at immigration policies, and flips people into the anger mode. The second phrase puts the angry mob into attack mode, directing them to action which is probably why rural whites and retirees came out in force to vote for Trump.

Social media platform Twitter is the perfect place for phrases like these to go viral. It’s impossible to place a well thought out argument supported by facts in the limited 140 character tweets, but entirely possible to put in catchy phrases and mantras like these. Twitter has also grown to become an outlet for negative comments, complaints which get way more shares and engagement than anything positive.

Emotions Trump Intelligence

Arguing from an intellectual standpoint is difficult when you are faced with an emotionally charged, angry crowd. They won’t listen to facts and figures, nevermind that the US Economy is recovering bit by bit shown by the unemployment rates. The economy is broken and Trump is the only person who can fix it because Clinton is corrupt, that’s an easy statement to make without offering any real solutions.

Obama’s counter-argument to Trump’s Let’s Make America Great Again is America is Already Great and he goes on to justify that. Intellectually, it sounds like a great argument, but it lacks emotions. People don’t get excited or moved by hearing how great America already is.

Social Media The Echo Chamber

Social media is also another key factor as both sides of the divide get trapped in their own beliefs, surrounded by what they want to see due to the Facebook algorithm, further intensifying their viewpoints, hence the echo chamber. Nevermind that Trump made countless, insensitive, racist, sexist remarks, the Trump supporters will never get to see it, because they are consuming their media, not from news sources, but from social media, which is filled with their own community sharing how great Trump is and how exciting the rallies are.

On the other side, Clinton supporters consistently see how Trump constantly trips up, making remarks and later backtracking on them. The social media seen by Clinton’s supporters generally enhances the views that Trump is a joke and would never ever win the election, but nothing could be further than the truth.

So how should Democrats play their cards now? Like Michael Moore pointed out, be angry, be very angry that the election has been stolen from them. “Any Democratic member of Congress who didn’t wake up this morning ready to fight, resist and obstruct in the way Republicans did against President Obama every day for eight full years must step out of the way and let those of us who know the score lead the way in stopping the meanness and the madness that’s about to begin.” – Michael Moore