America experienced 2016 with many surprises and deep divisions.

2016 has ended, but perhaps many Americans and the international community are still shocked by what just happened.

Billionaire Donald Trump's overwhelming victory in the presidential election is considered the most unpredictable in modern world history, and deep divisions in politics, society, race, and religion are what America has witnessed in the past year.

US President-elect Donald Trump. Photo: Reuters

Donald Trump unexpectedly won the presidential election

The event that attracts the attention not only of the American people but also of the whole world is none other than the 2016 Presidential election. Starting from the primary election on February 1st until the general election on November 8th, the whole of America seems to be immersed in a vibrant political atmosphere with all kinds of emotions.

Going against most of the public opinion polls, analysis, evaluations, and predictions of experts and the American media, real estate billionaire Donald Trump, from the position of "paving the way", has unexpectedly become the new owner of the White House.

With a strange election campaign including shocking statements, candidate Donald Trump spectacularly surpassed his opponents within the Republican Party and broke away in the final race with the strong Democratic presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Having won the most complex and unpredictable presidential election in modern American history, it is no surprise that President-elect Donald Trump was named the best presidential election by the prestigious magazineTimeand French news agencyAFPvoted "Person of the Year 2016".

The fact that billionaire Donald Trump, a businessman considered to have no real political experience, was elected President of the United States was a big surprise and the beginning of a series of surprises to come.

The Democratic Party's defeat by Mr. Trump is not only a failure of globalization over the past few decades but also a testament to the relative decline of American power in the world.

Tired of liberalism, tired of globalization, immigration, and the decline of life, the vast majority of American voters want to turn inward, return to their own work and move toward the goal of a great America. A new era of populism may be beginning not only in the United States but also in Europe and a number of other societies around the world.

A deeply divided America

The presidential election dominated the political life of Americans in 2016. But it itself and many other internal events also showed unprecedented divisions within the United States, from politics, race, religion to society, economy, and income.

The election is over, but the results and its aftermath have shown a country and a society divided, between people of African and Latin American descent, a small group of white people considered the elite in society, and on the other side are small towns, deserted industrial cities and a large number of low-educated white people, farmers in remote areas.

In addition, police shootings of black people have sparked mass protests against racial discrimination in many major cities in the United States. The protests quickly turned from peaceful to violent, with some cities even having to declare a state of emergency to deal with the situation.

According to preliminary statistics, in 2016, nearly 1,000 people were shot dead by the police, of which 350 were black and Latino people compared to 450 white people. This reality shows that the tension between law enforcement and the black community in the US as well as the mentality of racial discrimination is still very persistent in this society.

Also in 2016, the United States witnessed many shootings and bloody attacks with the suspects mostly being Muslim immigrants, such as the attack on a nightclub in Orlando that killed nearly 50 people, and a series of bombings in New York and New Jersey that injured dozens of people.

After each attack, a wave of Islamophobia spread, the Muslim community was threatened, some mosques were burned and shot. These suspects were more or less related to terrorism or were infected with radical Islamic ideology, but it is clear that some Muslims, although having lived in the US for many years, have not been able to integrate into the community.

Surprises and divisions are what the American people have witnessed and these will likely continue in the new year 2017 when Mr. Trump officially takes office. With President-elect Donald Trump's policy statements going against what is considered the legacy of outgoing President Barack Obama, the world will certainly witness many surprises and the US internally will likely face an important political turning point while the question of healing social divisions may still be left open./.

According to VOV