Had Clinton won, he would likely joined the rw talk radio/TV noise that splintered the country making it impossible for the gracious, brilliant Obama to actually unite the country. The background of RW alt facts was there for those 8 years -- as it was since at least Clinton's administration, becoming ever stronger.
This noisy, ugly, fact free voice has in this election moved into the foreground for the first time. Sadly, it was powerful enough and strong enough without any real administration support. I think we all heard (or read of) it -- but rejected it as not being remotely credible. Now, we have Bannon, from Breitbart sitting in the inner circle in the WH and the President tweeting stuff out of the mouth of Mark Levin or from Alex Jones!
Trump is FAR more dangerous when he can set foreign policy and issue executive orders. Also, in the US the head of government is also our face to the world. Remember how our reputation rose almost instantly when Obama won the nomination? One of my daughters sent me a link to the Sri Lankan English newspaper from that night. She had earlier that year returned from her study abroad there. Part of it was that he was seen as a minority who rose to be voted in as President, but another part was based on things he said. Sadly, I suspect in many countries, our reputation changed at least as much last November.
Not to mention, I remember the concern in European news sources when "cowboy" Reagan was elected. I remember being in Norway in 2006 for the wedding of a lovely woman who had for a year been an au pair to our kids. A young relative made a negative comment on Bush - then quickly covered her mouth and apologized to us - and was very releived that our reaction was that we would say worse and had worked for Kerry to replace him. I remember seeing anti Bush signs in Greece when we traveled there in 2003. Yet, from people we know who have traveled recently and what we have read, Trump generates not just concern or dislike, but incredible fear. I get that many Republicans were leary of or disliked Obama, but that was more similar to how we felt about Ronald Reagan. Trump is completely outside the norm. America elected an amoral demogogue.
It is also closer to home. We live a little over an hour from the Canadian border and we hear people, here legally, but foreign born or Moslem speaking of their fear of going to Montreal as they did before Trump.
Trump, as President, has the ability to completely change what our country is here and what we mean in the world.
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