Former Omagh man celebrates Trump’s historic triumph

WHILE many local people watched the US election results through their fingers last week, one Tyrone man cheered triumphantly as Donald Trump was returned to power.

Paul Doherty (pictured), who emigrated to America in 1989, believes the 47th US President will deliver on his promise to ‘unite the country’.

Mr Doherty this week explained why he voted Trump, what he hopes his reelection will bring, and why he believes people in Ireland, including his own family, struggle to see how the billionaire and former reality TVstar is the right man to lead the world’s most powerful nation.

“Everybody back home thinks they know better than me when it comes to what is best of the US, despite the fact I’ve lived and paid taxes here for over 30 years. But I voted for President Trump because I know he is what the country needs right now,” began the adopted Colorado man.

“Everyone sees things from their own point of view and everybody’s perspective is distorted by whatever lens they look through. Every media outlet is biased – they only tell a partial story. That means all of us, to some degree, are biased.

“In Ireland, the story you get sold is an anti-Trump one.”

President Trump was accused of being noncommittal and contradictory on a number of issues during his presidential campaign. He also came under fire for failing to substantiate his claims that he could mediate a peaceful resolution in both the Middle East and Ukraine.

However, Paul disagrees with these criticisms. He thinks that the Republican nominee came out the victor because he was the only candidate with a coherent strategy.

“Harris ran on a campaign of fear. She didn’t say what she would do as President. All she talked about was how Trump was divisive, all the while subtlety sewing seeds of division herself. She tried to play identity politics, talking about race and sexuality. Trump didn’t talk about any of that stuff. He spoke about uniting the people, improving the economy, making America powerful and influential again, and using that to broker peace on a global stage.”

Mr Doherty went on to talk about illegal immigration.

“People are crossing the border too easily. Nobody is stopping them. We have no idea if they have criminal records, if they are bringing in drugs or if they are carrying diseases. Harris had four years as vice president to do something about the illegal immigration crisis and things only got worse.”

Concluding Mr Doherty said, “Under Biden, the US was a rudderless ship. Trump is back, at the very least, to give us some direction.”

‘It was a choice between those two numpties…’

ADOPTED Michigan man Anthony Duffy said he loves his life in America, but claims there is no freedom in being forced to choose between ‘two numpties’.

“It’s mad to me that in a country as great (in both senses of the word) as America, you have to pick between a pair of clowns,” the former Strabane man said. “There are so many brilliant people here, and this is the best the Democrats and Republicans can come up with? I hate it, to be honest.”

However, despite his view that America’s two party system is fundamentally flawed, Mr Duffy said that he did reluctantly vote Harris.

“There are about seven different candidates on the ballot sheet, so I was going to go for one of the independents. There was no chance of any of them winning, obviously. Barely anybody knows anything about them because they don’t have the money to run proper nationwide campaigns. Anyway, just before I went into the polling station, my wife said it would be a wasted vote. I seen what she meant, so I sided with Harris. To be honest, though, I sort of wish I’d stuck to my guns and opted out of the Democrat-Republican rubbish,” he said.

Mr Duffy bemoaned the polarising effect which America’s electoral system has on its population.

“It’s one side versus the other and there are a lot from both sides that really do hate the other. They think that the fate of the world hinges on every election, especially this one.

“That is not a view I share. I thought both candidates were wrong for the job, but I don’t think that life will be that different under either. For normal people, things remain more or less the same.”

Mr Duffy then speculated on how Trump was able to pull off such a landslide victory.

“For one thing, a lot of Americans are still very Christian, and they see the Democrats as the party that poses the greater risk to their values. For example, I know there are a lot of people across the country that don’t agree with how Christianity is being weeded out of the education system. I can understand where they are coming from. Obviously, progress is important. But there are people who will correct you now for saying ‘Merry Christmas’, insisting that the right, non-discriminatory thing to say is ‘happy holidays’. To me, that’s not a big deal. But to some people it is emblematic of a shift away from a way of life they want to preserve.”

Mr Duffy concluded, “I am not looking forward to Trump’s upcoming term in office, but I am hopeful that things won’t change drastically. Yes, he’s a felon. Yes, he has been accused of rape. But are the lives of ordinary Americans going to get better or worse? That still remains to be seen. It’s far from an ideal situation for the country to be in.”