NOV 7 — The number of Malaysians upset by Donald Trump’s return to the White House numbs the senses. At least the next four years will not witness Malaysians kicking off petitions to the US government every time they are despondent with our government’s alleged ineptitude.

They don’t expect love from Donald.

But to our politicians, those plotting incumbency or an upset at the next general elections there are valuable observations to pay heed to.

On the economy: Voters react to what they feel, not what they actually experience

This must be the supreme lesson bar none.

Outgoing President Joe Biden doubled up on Trump’s first-term policies to be America-first and punish China stance, spending record amounts to spur the American jobs market.

Unemployment is super low. The stock market is firing away with US technology firms far ahead of the world and ready to rise further with AI.

Yet, most sentiment polls indicate Americans feel the country is heading in the wrong direction.

They seemingly voted on their perception rather than reality.

With the fuel subsidy rationalisation measures upcoming and all new tax burdens labelled as for only the super-rich, while the labour market prefers foreigners over locals — settling for unsettling e-hail or delivery jobs — US election results serve as a reminder. A good reminder.

Be sure to watch in 2025 for all good economic news to be "owned” by Trump despite not being in office for four years.

Too much peacocking on woke issues rub people the wrong way

US media is dominated by a combination of pro-woke and woke-fearing folks. Reading into the media coverage can blindside people to the reality on the ground.

Media focused on Trump’s peccadillos and was convinced gross transgressions tend to affect voters.

It did to many but in a binary election, one or the other, the overreliance on moral reprehension did not turn over the undecideds. "I won’t vote Harris just because Trump is a creep” sentiment was more widespread than the media thought.

There are many happier to be with Trump’s opposition to political correctness and schools participating in gender decisions by minors at the expense of parents.

Translated to Malaysia, local players should rein in their overenthusiasm with what they feel rhymes with the majority based on morality.

Minorities are not binary

For years Democrats felt the minorities were with them because they are the party for minorities, as represented by over-the-top characters like Congressman Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez (AOC) — she won comfortably her New York seat.

However, it is naïve to think a whole group of people are permanently locked in with the party less identified with majoritarian fervour. Identity is not the only thing important to minorities.

Which is a decent reminder to Pakatan Harapan; do not neglect the minorities presumed to be with them because Perikatan Nasional is overly communal.

There is a lesson in Sabah and Sarawak. They adopt an indifference to peninsular politics and zero in to Borneo first and then other considerations.

If the overall PM prize is set to be aloof to Borneo, then the rational method is to vote strategically for East Malaysia’s benefit.

PAS disadvantages Perikatan in this regard but it is not a deal breaker. While the ethnic vote flip in 2008 always reassures Pakatan, there can always be a reflip if the government of the day acts more like PAS than PAS itself.

Migrant flooding scares folks

There are literally millions at the borders waiting to enter the United States and it spooks the people.

Trump was always the guy more likely to do more about illegal migrants than any Democratic candidate.

The language is coarse and the lies major, but it is the idea that he’d do more about it that appealed to the masses.

Migrants in Malaysia, the uncontrolled levels of it, worries Malaysians. Locals are excited to chuck in expletives in social media when it comes to the arrivals. More than three million officially but the unofficial number may soar north of six million or worse.

Whether the xenophobia is warranted or not, the candidate with a better grip of the matter can sway a considerable number of voters.

There are more migrants in cross ranges of jobs and even the villages house them.

A clear plan on how to reduce dependence on foreigners does appeal to Malaysians.

As of now, neither those in power or those who preceded them have come up with even an inkling of a plan.

It is a blackhole which is already an election issue except the leaders on both sides of the aisle are less clued in to react.

Liberal media captures middle class aspirations, not wholesale sentiments

The last few weeks were about the Harris insurrection. Late to replace Biden but the energy of a nation accompanied her if the media was to be believed.

Flailing Joe Biden possibly may have lost worse but Harris’ ascendancy claims were premature.

The same can be said about paying attention to the more worldly English media in Malaysia. To assume the rightness of the issues and the relationship candidates hold to them determines outcomes.

A great example is Bung Moktar Radin, leader of Sabah Umno and Kinabatangan MP. His grip on his constituency baffles the folks in Taman Tun and Bangsar.

But there he is with a chance to be Chief Minister at the upcoming Sabah state elections.

In Malaysia’s non-presidential and Westminster based parliamentary system, the sentiments in rural zones matter even more.

There are murmurings of the next seat increase and adjustments, the cities may have a bigger say, but even so the rural constituencies will continue to be kingmakers.

Symbolism has a ceiling

Kamala Harris is the second female candidate for the US presidency, and it has its distinct advantages. But when Kamala went "girl, gurl” too often it started to overreach. She oversold it.

Barack Obama refused to be the black candidate which is seen with his "even more perfect union” rhetoric. He wanted to be the American president more than the black president and never let the order switch.

Harris wanted it to be about a woman holding office rather than make herself the American candidate who happened to be a woman.

She felt the gains she would make would outstrip the losses, and indeed she failed. The numbers are going to indicate a level of mistrust from male voters.

She might have been better served to have her final TV appearance on Yellowstone drinking a beer with a rural community rather than on Saturday Night Live with Maya Rudolph.

In the Malaysian context, not to oversell the Malay card, social media never tires of showing Muhyiddin Yassin’s "I’m Malay first” quote. This warning probably resonates more with the Perikatan folks.

Bad dancing wins more votes than a moonwalk

Donald Trump’s "YMCA” impression has set the Internet alight and not as a liability.

On every wedding dance floor there are more bad dancers than good ones.

The returning president, despite his upper-class background, probably caught up with the people with his clownery.

Harris had through her campaign not appeared too common to the people. She did not need to do a moonwalk but her inability to relate to the masses as Kamala did undo her at the end.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is well aware about keeping the common man touch about him.

Akmal Salleh and Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal may want to pick a few notes from this. So should the incoming Bersatu Deputy President and Leader of the Opposition Hamzah Zainuddin. He has a national presence without a telling human presence, for now.

Not Murica

The United States is halfway across the world, and it has differences as wide as the oceans separating itself from Malaysia.

But as the most important national election for the globe and with the level of media scrutiny involved in it, the candidates are made aware of their actions and what they mean to the voters.

Usually, it is after voting day that the lessons are fully absorbed.

The rest of the world, even new BRICs applicants like Malaysia, cannot fail to not pick a lesson or two from the American elections. Less, they too pay the price and get fired like on The Apprentice.