Thomson Reuters
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks at his election night rally in Manhattan
Since announcing his candidacy in June of 2015, Donald Trump has essentially campaigned nonstop.
Trump has held at least 400 rallies in that time, with thousands of people typically in attendance. It's widely known that he hardly sleeps.
In any state that Trump had a chance of winning, he campaigned hard and often. Clinton, despite decades of political experience, didn't step foot in Wisconsin, a state she lost in a shock to Trump.
For some reason, talking heads on TV insisted that Trump did not have the "ground game" to defeat Clinton, despite the massive rallies around the country, and the same "ground game" criticisms falling flat when he defeated his rivals in the GOP primary.
Not only did Trump work harder than Clinton, but he worked smarter.
So many of Trump and his surrogates' talking points functioned as dog whistles for the media. His treatment of women and minorities in his speeches, policies, and personal life inflamed the media and earned him a reported $2 billion in free media coverage.
In fact, the media could not turn away from Trump, whom they slammed as a clown, a pervert, a novice, or even a buffoon. The 24-hour news cycle became a 24-hour conversation about Trump.
But on Tuesday night, the American people showed the media, the punditry, the intellectual elite of the world that they don't share their values. They have their own priorities that have baffled and surprised observers.
Trump's actions on the campaign trail have often clashed with Democratic ideals. He attacked the press and proposed actions like banning Muslims from entering the country.
But voters were willing to take the risk
This is an editorial. The opinions and conclusions expressed above are those of the author.