US Presidential Election 2016 - Nightmare Mode

[Dcubed]

In case you wanted anymore proof that there's a Simpson's Picture for everything...

 

[Agent Gibbs]

Not all that surprised he won. I was telling people recently that there'll be loads of people voting for him that are too embarrassed to say.

 

I can completely understand why he's won. So many Americans are disillusioned with career politicians like Clinton. Trump is a breath of fresh air for them.

 

Some of policies are actually quite good - term limits for senators and enforcing a gap between elected Posts and becoming a lobbyist. Some of them are downright dreadful though.

 

It's certainly going to be an interesting 4 years. One thing I can absolutely guarantee is that the Trump we've seen during the campaign will be nothing like Trump the President. He very clearly was putting on an act and saying what he needed to get voted In. His first speech as President-Elect shows this.

 

I don't really know why the DNC wanted Hillary so much. Literally anyone else would've beaten Trump comfortably. My preferred candidate, like many people on the net, was Sanders. He would've wiped the floor with Trump and be president elect right now.

 

Thats all any of us can hope, because if he was being honest and truthful during the campaign, then dooms day predictions could be accurate

[Jonnas]

I'm seeing comments saying Hillary actually won the popular vote, but lost the Electoral one (like what happened in 2000). I've yet to see a decent source on that, though.

 

If true, I would be a tad happier. Only a tad.

 

I don't really know why the DNC wanted Hillary so much. Literally anyone else would've beaten Trump comfortably. My preferred candidate, like many people on the net, was Sanders. He would've wiped the floor with Trump and be president elect right now.

 

Bernie Sanders lost the popular vote, you know. I have a hard time believing that someone who couldn't beat Hillary would have a better shot than she herself did.

[gaggle64]

A final kicker - Odds are good that Clinton will finish with more votes than Trump overall. Current votes put her about 140k ahead (as reported by the BBC tracker). The only other person to become president while still losing the popular vote in the last 100 years was George W Bush.

Edited November 9, 2016 by gaggle64

[sumo73]

Not all that surprised he won. I was telling people recently that there'll be loads of people voting for him that are too embarrassed to say.

 

I can completely understand why he's won. So many Americans are disillusioned with career politicians like Clinton. Trump is a breath of fresh air for them.

 

Some of policies are actually quite good - term limits for senators and enforcing a gap between elected Posts and becoming a lobbyist. Some of them are downright dreadful though.

 

It's certainly going to be an interesting 4 years. One thing I can absolutely guarantee is that the Trump we've seen during the campaign will be nothing like Trump the President. He very clearly was putting on an act and saying what he needed to get voted In. His first speech as President-Elect shows this.

 

I don't really know why the DNC wanted Hillary so much. Literally anyone else would've beaten Trump comfortably. My preferred candidate, like many people on the net, was Sanders. He would've wiped the floor with Trump and be president elect right now.

 

 

Good post although I am surprised/shocked he's won.

 

For me a Clinton/Sanders or a Stein/Sanders or even Sanders/Clinton would have been my idea mix. The next four years will be very interesting indeed!

Edited November 9, 2016 by sumo73

[Daft]

I can't say I'm surprised. Interesting times.

[killthenet]

I just hope that I can get my hands on the Nintendo Switch and Breath Of The Wild before all the nukes go off.

[Choze]

Bernie Sanders lost the popular vote, you know. I have a hard time believing that someone who couldn't beat Hillary would have a better shot than she herself did.

 

Exactly! The Americans have not learnt a single thing from Brexit or the general political climate around the whole world. More importantly they have no intention to on either side(Dems and Reps). One side sure took advantage.

 

Good play by the Republican party. They stayed disciplined and focused. Every step of the way which deserves praise. Trump at the end seemed disciplined and obviously focused on expert advice. The democrats on the other hand seemed like they were stuck at step one. They just kept looking inwards rather than outwards whilst Trump had some very good messages and adverts! (given Brexit and world trends).

 

Also poor day for data sciences. Numerical data alone is not enough. Plenty of warnings were given and lo and behold the same groups as elsewhere were undercounted!

[gaggle64]

Silver lining: Looking forward to the Simpson presidency in 4-8 years time.

 

[Rummy]

I can't say I'm surprised. Interesting times.

 

My sort of feelings on the situation too. I think the year so far has drained me too much that I've approached this as very 'meh' and what's done is done. I couldn't have, and won't, be able to realistically change anything so it's more a case now of just sitting back and seeing what happens.

 

Who even knows, he might yet turn out to be an excellent president?!

[Raining_again]

Its incredibly sad. I've got a *lot* of devastated female friends right now. One who was victimised by a neighbour for their relationship (shes married to a TG (female to male)) and it feels like another attack on them when the majority voted for someone so anti LGQBT (regardless of their feelings on it, voting knowing how he feels isn't exactly supportive).

 

Hillary wasn't perfect and they could have picked someone better to run against him but I would have much preferred her.

[Goafer]

My thoughts (copied an pasted from Facebook, because I'm a lazy shit):

 

Whilst I have the privilege to say "Oh well, I'm white, male and straight, all this Brexit/Trump lark probably won't effect me", it still worries me.

 

It worries me because it's giving the impression that there's a correct religion, a correct sexuality, a correct gender and so forth. Right now, LGBT people, Muslims and women are the target, and that is disgusting in itself, but what happens when the focus turns to goths. Or geeks. Or anyone else who doesn't religiously conform to the pre-assigned "correct" behavior. Who are the next "Faggots"?

 

I'm under no illusion as to how easy I have things, but what is going on right now is still an attack on the freedom to be who you want to be. And that is unacceptable.

[Nolan]

I feel like rereading Transmetropolitan again.

 

It worries me because it's giving the impression that there's a correct religion, a correct sexuality, a correct gender and so forth.

 

In the US that's essentially maintaining status quo rather than giving an impression. There are a lot of people that believe along those lines.

 

And yes, Trump did get votes based on that bigotry. A lot or a few who really knows but I have no doubts there were some.

[sumo73]

Lessons have to be learned from this. Why did the British vote for Brexit and why did the Americans vote for Trump? The political landscape has altered over the course of this year and its effects will last for decades. Trump didn't just scrape through...he won by quite a distance. Questions need to be answered.

 

2016 sure is memorable, if for the wrong reasons.

 

The thing is lessons weren't learnt from the UK regarding Brexit. People turned off listening to the political elite and the main stream media because they wanted change, felt ignored or couldn't trust them any more. Of course be careful what you wish for.

 

When some politicians fail to connect with the public that get them into office and become complacent about them then you have problems.

 

My worry is that lessons won't be learnt from either Brexit nor Trump winning and I predict some losers will be in next year's German elections.

Edited November 9, 2016 by sumo73

[Goafer]

In the US that's essentially maintaining status quo rather than giving an impression. There are a lot of people that believe along those lines.

 

In that case, it's now been reinforced as a legitimate viewpoint.

 

It's crazy. The US has gone from the first black president, a huge leap forwards in terms of acceptance and equality, to borderline-Hitler.

[Sméagol]

Where can I buy Trump t-shirts?

 

Anyway, cut the guy some slack. He's secured the jobs of many a comedian and talkshow host for at least the next 4 years.

[sumo73]

The end of this video says it all -

[Blade]

Extremely worrying times. Can't say that after the reasons why a lot of people voted for Brexit that I am surprised.

[Beast]

They say things come in threes so I'm calling it right now:

 

- Brexit (hate that word) has now officially happened.

- Donald Trump is now the President of the United States

- Honey G WILL win the X Factor

 

All of this spells the end of the world. Do not be surprised if there were some etched drawings somewhere in a cave deep in some unknown jungle that predicted this! haha.

 

For real though, South Park have it bang on. You're voting for a douche or a turd sandwich. I'd rather have a sloth be President than either of them two dickheads. It was like trying to pick the lesser of the two evils. The next four years will be interesting for the entire world through the choices we have made in 2016. Hold on tight, it's going to be a bumpy ride!

[Sheikah]

They say things come in threes so I'm calling it right now:

 

- Brexit (hate that word) has now officially happened.

- Donald Trump is now the President of the United States

- Honey G WILL win the X Factor

 

All of this spells the end of the world. Do not be surprised if there were some etched drawings somewhere in a cave deep in some unknown jungle that predicted this! haha.

 

For real though, South Park have it bang on. You're voting for a douche or a turd sandwich. I'd rather have a sloth be President than either of them two dickheads. It was like trying to pick the lesser of the two evils. The next four years will be interesting for the entire world through the choices we have made in 2016. Hold on tight, it's going to be a bumpy ride!

Your last bullet means literally nothing to anyone here, I hope.

[Rummy]

My only real concern about it is similar to that of Brexit - giving rise to legitimisation of the sort of biggoted views he expressed.

 

Let's not forget though - whilst there were more votes for Hilary, there surely definitely has to be a significant amount of support for Trump from non-biggoted minorities to have gotten him to presidency? There must be minorities mixed into those who voted - just like with Brexit not everyone who voted for him was necessarily racist/bigoted/sexist etc.

 

I'm hoping a lot of the stuff Trump spouted was just bluster to get him in and he'll cut back on that now. He said a lot of silly things during the campaign such as building the wall etc - but how realistically is that actually going to happen? He's already apparently going back on some of the things he said(which should really be no surprise from many politicians making a run for power).

 

I think some of the bigotry within Brexit was much more insidious. I think a number of people who voted for Trump probably thought many of the things he said were so ridiculous(and some were) that they'll never come true or were taken too literally. I don't think every Trump voted genuinely believed he'd build a wall, or that Hilary and Obama created ISIS etc. but I think there were some more ealistic bits mixed in that made him appeal when many people seem to feel quite anti-establishment atm. Brexit was, in hindsight, incredibly similar imo.

 

 

Either all that or he somehow doesn't last his full term due to some ridiculous scandal or something. Iono. Just gotta wait and see.

[Happenstance]

Saw this on reddit this morning

 

[bob]

People just don't like Hilary very much, do they?

[Nicktendo]

I read this before the election and struggled to find fault with it.

http://michaelmoore.com/trumpwillwin/

 

I despise Trump, and despise his rhetoric. I despise his use of language and what he stands for, but I don't think this will be the disaster some people are making out.

 

The Democrats are in a crisis and are now completely out of power in all aspects of American politics. This is a good thing. Their approach of chasing corporate money and media over working people has been their downfall. This will hopefully inspire them to look at that and come back stronger in four years. I geniunely believe Sanders would have won this election had it not been for the corrupt way the primaries were handled. Look how close it was in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida. Sanders, runnning on a similar but ultimately more tasteful anti-establishment, populist programme could have taken those states and unltimately the white house. American politics is unbelievably tribal, but that would likely have been enough.

 

Furthermore, I believe the global community has less to fear from Trump than they would have from Clinton, despite his character. Obama has basically continued Bush's interventinalist policies and now we live in a world where ISIS exists and the US working man's and Middle Class' (regardless of colour) situation is still as poor as it was 8 years ago. If Trump really does opt to run on an "America first" program and take a more non-interventionalist approach to foreign policy, including resetting relations with Russia and scaling back the number of troops / forces abroad, I think a lot of problems could be solved.

 

If he is successful (and I don't think he will be, for what it's worth) in bringing business, industry and money back to America then it will be a massive success after 40+ years of it leaving. Real wages of working people haven't increased since Clinton the first, and continuing on the already trodden path for another 4 years wouldn't have changed that. Hillary wouldn't have changed that.

 

Let us also remember, as the poster above pointed out that Trump recieved less votes than the previous two Republican candidates. This wasn't a popular uprising. This wasn't a fascist takeover. This was people not wanting Hillary Clinton in the White House. This was Democrats not wanting her in there. Democrats in states where it really mattered.

 

People are entirely justified in their fears in what this means for a liberal, open-minded society, but again - millions of newly justified racists haven't suddenly woken up overnight, no more than there already were, anyway. This is where I think this differs from Brexit. Traditional republicans voted for their candidate as they always do, in less numbers than before and the Democrats simply stayed at home. I don't think American liberal culture will really change all that much. I don't think minorities have anything to fear from their neighbours or the media, certainly not in the way sections of the british press have treated them.

 

I hope that in four years the world will be in a better place than it currently is. I hope Trump can actually deliver on some of his more decent policies which appealed to his supporters who want a respectable wage or a increase in the standart of living, and of course the millions of people around the globe who want America to take a step back in global affairs. His rhetoric was vile and appealed to the lowest common denomenator, respect to Hillary Clinton for remaining classy and stateswomanlike. Hopefully we can put all this sordid unpleasentness behind us and things can be handled a hell of a lot more amicably from now on. The America that voted in Obama 8 years ago has not disappeared, it is still a magnificent country filled with wonderful people who want social and cultual progress, this will not change.

 

It's hilarious how many of our own politicians have u-turned on Trump. I heard Theresa May on the radio yesterday and her speech sounded so prepared and fake. She is awful. Do I worry that this will inspire nationalists and racists in Europe? Yes. But as I have pointed out above, this wasn't a landslide or an uprising. This was people who were turned off by establishment politics, if you look at the numbers.

 

Let's have a look in a year and see where we're at. I assume we'll see a very different picture from "the end of the world". Love still Trumps hate, and will continue to do so.

[sumo73]

People just don't like Hilary very much, do they?

 

Vote for me because I'm not (crooked) Hillary.

Vote for me because I'm not (sexist, racist) Trump.

 

It's hardly worth talking about if the campaign ultimately turned out like that is it.

 

 

Imagine if you were an American coal miner hearing this. Who would you vote for? She could have worded things a lot better and told people that their jobs would be protected/safeguarded as things transitioned from coal to other power supplies. You only need to watch this video once and take the main point - jobs gone.

 

Those coalminers probably voted for Obama before and found out that nothing really has changed and that things might get worse if they vote for someone who might take their jobs away so they vote for Trump. Then the media labels them as racist for voting for Trump even if they voted for Obama previously. You can't win and this is just one example.

 

Just look at the number of American companies that are now based outside the country. Ask yourself why?

 

The problem I feel now is that the media backed up with statistics is doing exactly the same thing as what happened in Brexit which is degrading people's votes and dividing people at the very time when America doesn't need to be divided any more. Even the BBC is asking why people voted for Trump? I'm sure the BBC wanted Clinton to win but then again I think most people did. Yesterday the BBC showed Trump winning with 'Best day of my life' playing in the background obviously taking the p.

 

I might not like the results of this election but I have to respect the democratic result as America has it. I watched both Jill Stein's and Ajamu Baraka's speeches yesterday and they gave some vision of hope and progress despite what's going on.

 

Elected people who we vote for work for us not the other way around and the American people can if needed get rid of any elected official if needed through the vote.

Edited November 10, 2016 by sumo73