Jesus Christ! CNN declares Donald Trump as president-elect of USA; Donald Trump gives victory speech

Last updated on 11th Nov. 2016

President Trump, http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/08/politics/election-day-2016-highlights/index.html, Nov. 9th 2016

A short extract from the above CNN report:
Donald Trump will become the 45th president of the United States, CNN projects, a historic victory for outsiders that represents a stunning repudiation of Washington's political establishment.

The billionaire real estate magnate and former reality star needed an almost perfect run through the swing states -- and he got it, winning Ohio, North Carolina and Florida.

The Republican swept to victory over Hillary Clinton in the ultimate triumph for a campaign that repeatedly shattered the conventions of politics to pull off a remarkable upset. Clinton conceded to Trump in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
--- end extract ---

Here's a video of Trump's victory speech, FULL: President-Elect Donald Trump Victory Speech - Election night 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn9_z0e819U, 16 min 20 secs, published on Nov. 9th 2016.

Mr. Trump starts the main part of his victory speech as follows.

I have just received a call from Secretary Clinton. She congratulated us - it's about us - on our victory and I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard fought campaign. I mean, she fought very hard. [Mike Pence applauds.] Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country. I mean that very sincerely.

Now its time for America to bind the wounds of division. We have to get together. To all Republicans and Democrats and Independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people. [Applause. Mike Pence applauds.] Its time.

I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans. This is so important to me. [Mike Pence applauds.] For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people [light laughter], I am reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country.

As I have said from the beginning, ours was not a campaign but rather an incredible and great movement made up of millions of hard working men and women who love their country and want a better, brighter future for themselves and for their family. Its a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds and beliefs who want and expect our government to serve the people, and serve the people it will. [Applause. Mike Pence applauds.]

Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and renewing the American dream. I have spent my entire life in business (looking at (using?)) the untapped potential in projects and in people all over the world. That is now what I want to do for our country. Tremendous potential! I have gotten to know our country so well. Tremendous potential! It is going to be a beautiful thing.

Every single American will have the opportunity to realise his or her fullest potential. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer. [Applause. Mike Pence too applauds.]

We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals - we are (going to) rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none. And we will put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it.
...

We have a great economic plan. We will double our growth and have the strongest economy anywhere in the world. At the same time, we will get along with all other nations willing to get along with us. .. We will have great relationships. We expect to have great, great relationships. No dream is too big, no challenge is too great, nothing we want for our future is beyond our reach. America will no longer settle for anything less than the best. [Applause. Mike Pence applauds.]

We must reclaim our country's destiny and dream big and bold and daring. We have to do that. We are going to dream of things for our country and beautiful things and successful things once again.

I want to tell the world community that while we will always put America's interest first, we will deal fairly with everyone, with everyone - all people and all other nations. We will seek common ground not hostility, partnership not conflict.

-- end extracts from first half of Trump's victory speech ---

Ravi: President-elect Trump will also have a Republican controlled (majority) House of Representatives and a Republican controlled (majority) Senate, according to the Washington Post article, Republicans keep control of Congress after decisive Senate wins in Missouri, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin and N.C., https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/11/08/senate-house-majorities-hang-in-the-balance-on-election-day/, Nov. 9th 2016.

Ravi: So that seems to have given Mr. Trump and the Republican party all the power they need to implement (push through) their plans and policies in USA Congress. I mean, they may not face the gridlock that happened in the earlier USA federal govt. due to opposition between Democratic USA president and Republican controlled USA Congress (both House and Senate, if I got that correctly).

When Mr. Donald Trump entered into the contest sometime in June 2015 (if I recall correctly), how many people in the USA and those who followed this USA election in other parts of the world, would have thought that he would win the USA presidency!!! I certainly did not.

What an extraordinary political achievement it has been for a rank outsider, a billionaire real estate businessman and reality TV star, with no experience in politics or government service (including military service), to first, very convincingly, win the Republican primary for presidential nominee, and then (if CNN projections are correct) win the USA general election for president!!!

I wish (based on CNN projections) USA president-elect Mr. Donald Trump all the very best in his and his team's efforts to better the lives of the American people at large, especially the jobless poor, and lower and middle income working classes whose job/growth prospects seem to have been dismal for many years now.

Please note that I have a PUBLICLY NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about the USA presidential elections. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me voting in these elections.
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Why I used the words, "Jesus Christ!", at the beginning of the title of this post

Well, I do not view Christianity as a foreign religion. I view Christ as a divine figure and so consider myself a worshiper of Christ of the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the New Testament. BTW Christianity is reported to have come to Kerala, India in the first century AD itself. So Christianity is a native religion to some parts of South India which is the cultural milieu in which I have lived for most of my life (even though I was born, bred and lived for most of the first four decades of my life in and around Mumbai, which is above South India and in the West of India).

Some extracts from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Thomas_Christians

According to tradition, St. Thomas, one of the 12 apostles, came to Muziris on the Kerala coast in AD 52 which is in the present day Pattanam, Kerala. As per most recorded versions of the legend, the community began with Thomas's conversion of Brahmin Gramams or families, which are named in some sources as Pakalomattom, Sankarapuri, Kaliyankal, Kalli, Kalikay, Kottakali, Kayakkam, Madeipur, Muttal, Nedumpally, and Panakkamattam. The four families Sankarapuri, Pakalomattam, Kalli, and Kaliyankal were considered the most preeminent. The tradition of the coming of a Jew by the name Thoma who debated with the Brahmins and converted many "prominent people" including a king is part of Nambudiri Brahmin folklore and is found in the important Nambudiri Brahmin 17th century tract, the Keralolpathi.

The Cochin Jews are known to have existed in Kerala in the 1st century AD, and it was possible for an Aramaic-speaking Jew such as St. Thomas from Galilee to make a trip to Kerala in the 1st century; however, there is no contemporary evidence for this incident. The earliest known source connecting the apostle to India is the Acts of Thomas, likely written in the early 3rd century, perhaps in Edessa.
...
The Saint Thomas Christians or Thomas Christians, also called Syrian Christians or Nasrani, are a community of Christians from Kerala, India, who trace their origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. The community was historically united in leadership and liturgy, but since the 17th century have been split into several different church denominations and traditions.

Historically the Saint Thomas Christian community was part of the Church of the East, centered in Persia. They were organised as the Province of India in the 8th century, served by Nestorian bishops and a local dynastic Archdeacon. In the 16th century the overtures of the Portuguese padroado to bring the Saint Thomas Christians into the Catholic Church led to the first of several rifts in the community and the establishment of Catholic and Malankara Church factions. Since that time further splits have occurred, and the Saint Thomas Christians are now divided into several different Eastern Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, and independent bodies, each with their own liturgies and traditions.

Thomas Christians represent a multi ethnic group. Saint Thomas Christian culture is largely derived from Jewish, East Syrian, West Syrian & Hindu influences, blended with local customs and later elements derived from indigenous Indian and European colonial contacts. Their language is Malayalam, the language of Kerala, and Syriac is used for liturgical purposes.
...
The Indian government designates members of the community as "Syrian Christians", a term originating with the Dutch colonial authority distinguishing the Saint Thomas Christians, who used Syriac as their liturgical language, from newly evangelized Christians who followed the Latin liturgy. The term Syrian relates not to their ethnicity but to their historical, religious and liturgical connection to the Church of the East, or East Syrian Church.

--- end extracts from wiki ----

Ravi: Taking the name of divine figures in Indian religious traditions (including Hinduism, Christianity and Islam) is not viewed as swearing. I (and I think many others in India) take the name of divine figures when confronted with something shocking (pleasant or unpleasant) as a way to remember the divine and invoke His protection and companionship to help us handle the shock.

Also, as an Indian English writer, I feel that by invoking the divine name of Jesus Christ in the title of the post, I have appropriately and accurately expressed my feelings of shock as well as invocation of divine help to handle this extraordinary event (of Mr. Trump being president-elect of USA). In the Indian English cultural context I don't think this would disturb most readers (at least most of my readers).
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Prof. Erlendur Haraldsson, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erlendur_Haraldsson, https://notendur.hi.is/erlendur/english/, is a professor emeritus in the psychology department of the University of Iceland, and is a noted figure in some Sathya Sai circles for his investigations of the paranormal phenomena associated with Sathya Sai Baba, as captured in his book, "The Story of Sathya Sai Baba: A Modern Day Prophet", and is also known for his other parapsychology work. My review of this book of his on paranormal phenomena associated with Sathya Sai Baba is available here: http://ravisiyer.blogspot.in/2013/09/review-of-modern-miracles-story-of.html.

Prof. Haraldsson wrote in response to the above post contents sent to him over mail as follows (slightly edited; he was OK with public sharing):

Interesting what you write about the St. Thomas Christians. Thank you.
...
Also, the Thomas gospel is very interesting. Let us also recall the Thomasomar Mount near Madras where there is an old Armenian church in memory of St Thomas.
--- end Prof. Haraldsson mail responses ---

Ravi: I responded (slightly edited): Thanks sir.
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Ravi: I dug up some info. about the St. Thomas Mount (and church) in Madras/Chennai (I did not know of it earlier). Some extracts from its wiki page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Thomas_Mount, are given below:

St. Thomas Mount (known in Tamil as Parangimalai) is a small hillock located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, near the neighbourhood of Guindy and very close to Chennai International Airport.

The ancient Syrian Christian community of India trace the origin of their church to St. Thomas the Apostle, believed to have been martyred in St. Thomas Mount. From the 17th century, this part of Chennai was populated predominantly by Anglo-Indians. The St. Thomas Garrison Church is located at the bottom of St Thomas Mount.
...
A shrine dedicated to "Our Lady of Expectation" (Mother Mary) was built in 1523 on top of the mount. The altar of this shrine was built on the spot where St. Thomas' death occurred. At the northern foot of the mount, is a gateway of four impressive arches surmounted by a cross bearing the inscribed date 1547. A flight of 160 steps leads up to the summit of the mount. There are 14 stations of the cross erected on the way to the summit.
--- end wiki extracts ---

[I thank cnn.com, Mr. Donald Trump and Wikipedia, and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extract/transcript (short extract from cnn.com) from their website/video on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]