Letter: Give Trump credit for winning

How did Donald Trump win the presidency? He took the Electoral College. How? By gaining slim margins in most of the 'swing” states. This was an extraordinary event, not just because he shocked and astonished the world by winning. It was also a tremendous stroke of luck: it was a like running the table in pool. But give him credit.

Trump was aided by a number of other factors. Hillary Clinton carried heavy baggage into the election; her reputation (not entirely earned), her lack of a clear vision, and the fact that she represented the status quo were crucial factors. In addition, she was a poor campaigner, although her campaign organization was superb.

In this extraordinary election, the email issue was also very important. Clinton was hurt by the unprecedented leaks of emails obtained by WikiLeaks from Russian cyberspies. After an intensive and thorough investigation of the email practices, the FBI pronounced her innocent of any criminal actions, though strongly criticizing her judgment. But in a startling move, the FBI director, only 11 days before the election, announced that additional material had been found. His subsequent acknowledgment that 'there's nothing there, folks,” came too late to make a difference.

Her gender was a big factor as well, exploited by Trump's misogynist comments, which elicited and legitimized the same thing in others.

Hal Dendurent

Mount Vernon