Under-estimated from day one, berated and scorned by some, not many saw him coming or even gave him a chance. But bad-mouthing billionaire businessman, Donald Trump is today President-elect of the most powerful nation on earth, the United States of America (USA).

From the primaries, in the Republican party, to the campaigns for the Presidential elections, he was controversial, his political rhetorics, divisive and unspoken word racist. He berated leading lights of his own Grand Od Party (GOP), vilified former US President George Bush over Iraq, mocked frontline republican rivals Michael Rubio, as little Rubio and Ted Cruise, lying ruise.

His campaign style was benile and polarising. He threatened to deport over 11 million undocumented immigrants, restrict Muslim’s influx into the country, build a wall to restrain Mexicans, who he described as rapists and criminals, mocked a physically challenged reporter, denigrated another female journalist and vowed to replace the status in Washington, the seat of US Political Power.

At some point, the choices left for the Republican Party were to replace Trump or distance itself from him. Infact, many top Republicans openly voiced their disapproval of his candidacy and promised to vote for his Democratic Party rival, former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

So when, towards the last three weeks of the campaign, a leud tape went virile, one that saw Trump boasting about his approach to and passion for a class of women, most GOP members thought it was the height of it. Here was a man facing protests among women for describing some of their ilk as pigs, one who described living conditions of African Americans as awful, one who questioned the nationhood of the first Black President, Barack Obama and indeed one caught boasting about his escapades with women, in his own words on tape.

To make matters worse, after Trump had in defence described his vulgar comments as locker-room talk and denying during one of the debates of doing any of those things he boasted about, more than 12 women surfaced with claims that he had sexually harassed them. One even produced a photograph of herself and Trump, all of which, he denied ever meeting, calling them ‘attention seekers’.

Even in the midst of his controversies, his condemnation of nearly all known democratic structures did not abate. Trump said the Amercian press was rigged and so was the political process. Infact, Trump said the political system was rigged against him and threatened not to accept the eventual outcome unless he won.

To describe Trump as a controversial candidate would be an understatement, he was not a conventional politician who spoke guidedly, mindful that what he said would impact on his ambition. Instead, the more foul language, the more electoral missteps, the more polarising campaign, the more accepting Trump became to an equally little-seen voting force.

In poll after poll, Trump trailed Clinton first by double digits and later by a narrow single digit when Clinton’s long dragging E-mail scandal was dramatically re-opened by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Trump’s closest to his opponent in average of all polls was two percentage points and again rose to three, after the FBI finally cleared Clinton. Yet Trump remained on point, insisting amidst jeers that he would win unless the process was rigged against him.

Before the elections proper, the Cable News Network (CNN) pre-poll projections, gave Clinton 268 electoral votes as against trump’s 204, meaning Trump needed to win as many as six states to hit the 270 magic number needed to win the elections, yet Trump soldiered on.

Rather than be discouraged, Trump stretched his campaigns to hardcore traditionally Democratic Party-controlled states like Minessota, Wisconson, and Virginia, all states won by Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. He also stormed Pennsylvania after making strong showing in Ohio and Iowa.

Trump’s never-say-die disposition to the campaigns forced out the DNC political machine led by President Obama, accompanied by Senator Bonnie Sanders, Vice President Biden, First Lady Michele Obama, Former President Bill Clinton and daughter, Chelsea and indeed all notable Democrats. To stop Trump, the Clinton Campaign revisited Blue states earlier visited by the opponent and even had to go to Colorado, North Carohna and Pennsylvania thrice.

In the end, it was Trump that emerged winner, even after Nigeria’s TV evangelist, Prophet T.B. Joshua had predicted a Clinton victory. It was a victory that was largely unforeseen and even prayed against by many American allies whose relationship with the US he had threatened to review.

Trump had threatened to annul the Iranian deal, force nations enjoying US protection to pay for it and approach all treaties with the eyes of a businessman and above all exit the Paris Climate Change Protocol, to save the US coal industry. Infact, he warned that the days when America played father Christmas and global Policeman without proper reward were over. To make ‘America Great Again’, Trump promised to re-negotiate all existing trade deals and return American jobs, chlipped to China and elsewhere back to Americans.

The question was what went right rather than wrong with Trump?. Paul Ryan, Chairman of the US-Congress, a top Republican who once distanced himself from the Trump campaigns explained: When others were listening to the familiar, Trump heard the voices of many Americans, most didn’t hear – the voices of Americans who wanted a clean-break with the way Washington did its business.

It was a protest by the middle class American, working class crop battling with high health insurance premiums and static wage and Americans tired of the political status quo. Trump heard the voices of those Americans, in the loudest pitch possible, with roaring calls for change, which Democrats and even Republicans did not hear. Not even President Obama, with his high approval rating.

Infact, Obama repeatedly told Americans that Trump lacked the temperament to serve as Commander-in-Chief and with his divisive and exclusionist rhetorics, was unfit to be President. He then advised Americans to reject Trump.

But as it is, Obama must eat his words and has. He must ensure a smooth transition like that he enjoyed from the Bush Presidency and has started and must help heal the wounds of the disappointed and morally wounded and has through public speeches after the results.

Such was the unpredictability of the 2016 American elections. It was a displacement of the status quo, not only in Washington, but indeed the whole of the all powerful American media which predicted a Clinton victory to the angst of Trump.

Nearly all the powerful newspapers endorsed Clinton with only one endorsing Trump. All but one poll chose Clinton as preferred winner but in the end it was Trump and not Clinton that made it to the finishing line first, putting to question the time-tested electoral polling system of the US media.

What went wrong with the US media? Trump supporters insisted the media was biased against their candidate and so was deliberately peddling anti-Trump falsehood, including questionable poll results to sway voters. They repeatedly questioned the authenticity of the polls, saying they were unbelievable but who dared challenge the US media and succeed, not with the first amendment which makes free speech a number one right.

That is why it’s difficult to blame pundits who went along with the American media to predict a Clinton victory must be forgiven. Trump fooled all.

My Agony is that the social media has been making a mince meat of the vocal Prophet T.B. Joshua for predicting a Clinton victory, which never was. Some even questioned the ‘god’ who revealed that false prophecy to him.

Truth is T.B. Joshua predicated that Clinton would win and she did. She won the popular votes. Only, Trump too won. He won the all-important electoral college votes. However, of both winners, T.B. Joshua’s and Trump, it is the latter that is the 45th President-elect of the United States of America. Full-stop.

Soye Wilson Jamabo