Jim Allister: I rejoice in defeat for meddling Hillary Clinton

We in Northern Ireland have suffered enough external meddling to appreciate this. Thus I rejoice in the defeat of Mrs Clinton as she and her husband were serial meddlers in our affairs.

At the UK national level I believe the election of Mr Trump enhances the opportunities of Brexit. Obama arrogantly tried to bully the people of the UK into voting Remain in the EU referendum by telling us we would be “at the back of the queue” when it came to a trade deal with the US.

Mr Trump responded by saying “it wouldn’t make any difference to me whether they were in the EU or not. You’d certainly not be at the back of the queue.”

It was obvious throughout the campaign that Mr Trump drew inspiration from the Brexit. In both cases the despised little people rebuffed the arrogance of those who condescendingly sought to lord it over us by insisting they knew best.

The rebuff of the establishment on both sides of the Atlantic has made 2016 a high point for people power.

Perhaps the greatest lesson Northern Ireland can learn from this election is that in the US your vote can make a difference to who governs you.

We, sadly, are denied that fundamental right due to the absurdity of mandatory coalition. Since the Clintons played a prominent role in subjecting us to that undemocratic form of government, their demise is sweet.

It was also good to see conservatives take control of Congress as well as the Presidency. And, very significantly, key Supreme Court appointments will now be in President Trump’s control.

Importantly, he has pledged to appoint a pro-life constitutionalist to the Supreme Court. This is good news for those rightly outraged at the actions of a court which has moved away from interpreting the Constitution of the US as it was intended to be read.

Judicial meddling in matters which should have been left to the people and their elected representatives – as happened with the Supreme Court ruling on same sex marriage – will hopefully become more difficult with conservatives on the court.

One other issue worthy of note and of direct relevance to Northern Ireland is President Elect Trump’s plan to cut corporation tax from 35% to 15% in an effort to encourage US companies to keep jobs in America.

That of course makes sense from an American point of view but it could make efforts to attract Foreign Direct Investment to Northern Ireland more challenging.

However, huge infrastructure investment in the USA may provide export opportunities for us too.

• Jim Allister is leader of the TUV and MLA for North Antrim