Hawaii Reacts To Trump’s Upset Victory Over Clinton
Shocked Democratic audiences grow somber even before any Hawaii election results are released.
Quiet disbelief.
That was the mood at the campaign headquarters of Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell well before the Hawaii polls had even closed Tuesday night, as it became clear that Republican Donald Trump had a real shot at winning the presidency over Hillary Clinton.
The mood was the same at Japanese Cultural Center, where聽Hawaii Democratic Party Chair Tim Vandeveer and Oahu Chair Reena Rabago tried to fire up a mellow crowd of roughly 80 people at the main election night party for Democrats.
鈥淚鈥檓 super-duper nervous right now,鈥 Rabago said, referring to the closeness of the presidential race between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Hours later, Trump had sealed the deal, winning election as the 45th president.
U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono spoke to Civil Beat earlier in the evening, when Trump was already running strong.
鈥淚 think a Trump presidency would interject a lot of uncertainty and instability into everything you can think of,鈥 Hirono said. 鈥淏ecause as I鈥檝e watched Donald Trump and his candidacy he has taken potshots at every minority group and he has said things like he knows more about ISIS than all of our generals.鈥
She went on: 鈥淚 happen to sit on both the Armed Services Committee and the Intelligence Committee, and I would say that there is no way Donald Trump knows more about ISIS than our generals and our other people who pay attention to that part of the world.鈥
The mood was a lot happier at a celebration for Honolulu mayoral candidate Charles Djou, even though the Republican former congressman eventually聽lost the race to聽Caldwell. Many Trump supporters were surprised but gratified at how the Republican candidate dominated swing states.
Kalihi resident Christopher Puletasi, a 55-year-old Marine Corps veteran, said being president is too stressful for a woman.
“I voted for Trump because God created man first and God honors man,” Puletasi said. Serving as president is “a big responsibility,” he said.
Mimi Torreano, another Trump supporter, said she’s confident the real estate tycoon聽will do better job on improving national security and economy than former Secretary of State Clinton would.
“She is so crooked and so evil,” Torreano said.
Carolyn Kakakelii, who also attended Djou’s event, said she likes how Trump is “not a politician.”
“Look at his kids, how strong they are, how well-brought-up,” she said.
As for allegations that Trump聽groped women without their consent, she said, “I don’t think that has anything to do with being president.”
Makakilo residents Susan and Rudy Ganitano聽were similarly enthusiastic in their support for Trump and Djou.
Susan, a caregiver, says both men聽inspire trust and confidence that they’ll be great leaders.
Rudy, a retired carpenter, said trust is big for him too, but he also thinks he would have voted for any man over Hillary Clinton.
Rudy said that as a Christian, he believes, “Man is best and girl is weaker.”
Staff writers Anita Hofschneider, Nike Grube, Chad Blair and Nathan Eagle contributed to this report.
