Inquirer Editorial: With the presidency decided, time for Americans to come together

With its hills and valleys, curves and zigzags, potholes and occasional deer in the headlights, the road to the White House in 2016 was hardly an easy trek. Yet what lies ahead will be more challenging for President-elect Donald Trump, who must shed the name-calling negativity that gave this election the distinctly pungent odor of a cesspool on a hot summer day and get Americans to stop arguing and work together.

In a shocker of an election that saw Trump win states that history and late polling suggested would be carried by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, including Pennsylvania, the unconventional Republican candidate not only gained victory for himself but had shirttails long enough to help Sen. Pat Toomey win a narrow victory over his Democratic challenger, Katie McGinty.

Trump's unexpected victory prompted joy among his supporters even as it raised fears among people who disagreed with Trump's focusing on America's negatives while proclaiming that only he can fix what's wrong. At least Trump's victory speech early Wednesday morning provided a more conciliatory tone that suggests he understands that this country's government includes checks and balances to protect its people from unbridled power.

Binding those wounds requires acknowledging that our country is divided and understanding why a TV reality show star like Donald Trump could exploit that division to not only conquer a platoon of heavyweight Republican politicians who seemed better positioned to become the party's presidential nominee, but compete toe-to-toe with a former U.S. senator and secretary of state on Election Day.

Republican bluebloods at first appeared amused by the upstart Trump's candidacy, but as others more deserving of the nomination in their estimation peeled off into obscurity, it became obvious that they might be stuck with the interloper. Some, like Gov. Christie, decided to embrace the inevitable. Others, like Jeb Bush, acted as if they didn't understand how someone like Trump could hijack the GOP.

A closer look shows Trump's candidacy embodied the vaunted "Southern strategy" that Richard Nixon first used in 1968 to become president. The strategy was first touted in the 1950s by conservatives like William F. Buckley Jr., who believed the party of Lincoln could offset the loss of black voters lured to the Democratic Party by Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal by courting white Southerners.

Aided by the FBI probe into Clinton's emails, Trump embraced that strategy and found receptive ears in the South and in Rust Belt states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, where people worry about the hemorrhaging of jobs made worse by the recession and feel threatened by an influx of immigrants that has changed their hometowns. By expressing their concerns, Trump won their allegiance.

The discontent that propelled Trump's candidacy cannot be ignored now that the election is over. It means something when so many voters are willing to ignore Trump's business bankruptcies, lecherous escapades, and insults to practically every minority group to vote for him for president. Trump's supporters don't believe Washington pays attention to them. The new president must prove that's not true.

But that task won't be the new president's alone and Trump supporters aren't the only ones Washington must pay attention to. It's time to end the obstructionism in Congress that saw Republicans oppose whatever President Obama proposed. With a new president and their party's future challenged by Trump's insurgency, Republicans should covet every opportunity to mend the partisan divide that has kept America from being even greater than it is.