The Wykehamist The Wykemamist Common Time 2017 No. 1474

THE WYKEHAMIST Common Time 2017 EDITORS Henry Beddow (B) Henry Bertlin (I) Sebastian Byers (I) Matthew Chapman (E) Henry Grandage (G) Linden Grigg (F) Alexander Ind (H) Omar Lingemann (A) Edward McMillan (Coll) Safi Riaz (K) Thomas Stewart-Smith (A) Ned Whitley (D) Luke Williams (B) ║EDITORIAL We must protect democracy Alexander Ind (H) When Donald Trump won the US Presidential Election on 8 November 2016, a large number of Democrats refused to accept the result. They pointed out that Trump won only 46% of the popular vote, slightly less than the 48% won by Hillary Clinton. However, that was not the vote that mattered. Trump won 306 Electoral College votes, 74 more than Clinton, which is why he is now the President. Those were the rules, and everyone understood them from the beginning. It was a fair and democratic election and Trump won. It’s as simple as that. Despite this, a multitude of Democrat supporters complained, protested and rioted in the streets for months after the election. They also tried to wreck the inauguration ceremony, and many celebrities jumped on the bandwagon too. Even Ice T and Elton John refused to perform at the ceremony (which was probably a big relief to anyone who had No 1474 Index Editorial Feature Articles Music Theatre Art & Exhibitions Sport Home and Away The Register 1 3 8 10 11 12 15 16 Don in Charge REJF Correspondence to [email protected] tickets). In doing so, these so-called Democrats showed no respect whatsoever for the democracy they claimed to represent. The whining and protests have got louder since Trump moved into the White House, and conspiracies are now being hatched to remove him from office, a bit like a modern day Gunpowder Plot. According to the betting odds, there is now a 50% probability that Donald Trump will either be impeached or forced to resign before the end of his presidency. Admittedly, the first few weeks of Trump’s presidency have been a bit crazy. He has tried and failed to ban migrants from seven Middle Eastern countries, sacked his national security advisor and declared war on the press. But the fact remains that the American people elected a billionaire reality TV host as their president in a democratic process – and it was pretty obvious to everyone what they were going to get if he won. You don’t get the chance to change your mind this soon. You have to wait four years, because that is how the democratic system works. 1