The great persuader

The shock was total. Jaws had dropped, faces were stunned. ‘How could this be?’ was the thought on everybody’s minds. The seasoned media professionals on the Age newsroom floor were gutted. He was a joke of a candidate, no one thought he could win, he had no real qualifications, a silly dolly bird wife, the other candidate was much more acceptable – yet the mighty USA, mightiest country in the world, had just elected him president.