UPDATE: I was wrong. We’ll see lots of postmortem analyses in the next few weeks (there are some in this thread), but the damage is done. I just went for a walk around central Hong Kong and felt sick to my stomach, unable to even think rationally about what just happened. To those I’ve bet on this site, send me your address and I’ll pay off. But the whole country is going to pay a much larger price than I over the next four years.
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By the time this post goes up (I’m writing it at 2:30 a.m. Chicago time), enough ballots will have been cast to ensure a Presidential victory for Hillary Clinton. Or such is my prediction, and I stand to win about $600 if she does win. (All those bets were with credulous liberals who thought Trump had a chance, and would gladly pay me $100 out of relief if Clinton won. I love liberal suckers!)
Who knows what the next four years hold? If the Senate goes Democratic, which may well happen, we’ll get a more liberal Supreme Court justice, one who may help overturn some of the horrible decisions of the pre-Scalia-coronary court, including their wonky interpretation of the Second Amendment (the right to keep and bear arms).
I was never a big fan of Hillary, though many of the readers here are, but if she wins I wish her well and will support those of her policies with which I agree (she already has my vote). By the time readers wake up the morning after this post, we’ll have the nation’s first woman President, and a big bunch of angry Republicans. Although I hope the country can come together after the election, that’s very unlikely: the Republicans, whose policy was simply to obstruct anything Obama wanted, will continue to do that with Hillary, whom they hate even more than Obama. And there will be all those disgruntled Trump supporters, many of whom have guns.
In my experience, this is the most tumultuous time in American political life since the Watergate affair. I can’t predict what will happen after Clinton wins, but readers are welcome to weigh in below.
Well, the GOP might find reason to impeach Trump for something if they wanted to. Remember that process does not require an illegal act, but only for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” This is understood to mean that a president or any person in high office can be impeached for whatever reason Congress sees as necessary and sufficient to get the job done.
Then it would be Pres. Pence. Yippee.
“Well, the GOP might find reason to impeach Trump for something if they wanted to.”
Sorry, if we haven’t learned anything about Trump yet, we’ll never understand that “high crimes and other misdemeanors” are the exact features that made people love him even more. Besides, he has the FBI and both houses on his side (and soon the Supreme Court). He is the alpha and the omega of con artists protected by a dangerous level of populism that will support and protect him no matter what he does.
It is hypothetical, but the FBI and the Supreme court has nothing to do with this process as far as I am aware. Also, yes the House and the Senate are now red, but it seems to me that he has very few friends among Republicans in Congress.
But remember, he’ll do it HIS way. All praise the dear leader.
He doesn’t need friends. He had few friends in the election either, but virtually the entire GOP got behind him. They will stay in line lest his zealot followers primary them.
There will be no, zero, zip, nadda push back on Trump from the GOP.
You know, the electoral college might still go the other way. Why not? Anything can happen now in this crazy year.
Quote. “How could so many people get it so wrong” (CBC this morning)
Judging by the internet and news media etc the chattering classes still do not appear to understand?
Nuff said, let us get on and enjoy life.
Can I haz a degree from Trump University and be president too?
Looks like Sinclair Lewis was on to something after all.
Not so much Bible, though.
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People underestimated the effect of the incredibly-badly-timed Obamacare rate increases, and the huge disparity between enthusiasm levels between the supporters of the two candidates.
True about the Obamacare annual sign up right before the election. But I may lose my insurance completely now. But the rate hike of $90 a month was not lost on me for my 2017 Obamacare plan. I’m sure that kind of hike was the proverbial straw for many – we can’t vote the greedy insurance companies out of business, but we can incorrectly target the Democrats.
This is how they burned our house down to save their toilets. Never mind the fact that it would have been remediated anyway.
I wish this was a purely American problem. Sadly those of us inhabiting the rest of the world will also have to suffer the consequences of this election.
I am still in shock. My first reaction, at least I am a straight, white female (although straight, white male would be best). Second reaction, what I remember of life pre-1968, before I had become self-supporting, is that four years of 1967 might not be so bad. No self-consolation for life with new Supreme Court Justice(S) for the next 30 years.
How much of a kickback does Rudy get for this? Take down Gotti and then help his doppelganger get elected into the oval office years later. And we thought that Little Nicky Scarfo was bad?
Leaving aside the likely disasters for ‘merely’ USians, and those comparatively short term disasters more generally for the human species, it seems that there is so far essentially nothing here on the environment and climate change. To mimic the juvenilities of many, maybe ‘Move to Venus’ would be appropriate. Within a rather small number of generations, we earthlings may beat the global 450 degree temperature on that planet.
One ray of sunshine: At the moment it’s looking like Hillary won the popular vote.
That just infuriates me all the more.
How long before one of his rabid gun toting supporters puts some holes in Trump because he didn’t “jail the bitch” quickly enough?
Trump has made a lot of promises to a big group of unstable and well armed people who don’t appear to have a lot by way of patience or understanding. Not something that can end well in my opinion.
Feeling a bit hungover. Can’t remember what happened last night. It’s all a blank. Nevertheless, woke up with an unaccountable desire to purchase property on the moon. Puzzling.
Anyway, think I’ll just switch on the old TV, see what’s been happening in the world…
Welcome to Fascism , God Bless America.? God Help America and the rest of us. The DNC have only themselves to blame,they were too busy trying to rig the Primary against BS,they failed to keep tabs on their own demographic ,turning up in vast numbers to hear Bernie, while Clinton was getting crowds in the low hundreds,if that. So now your well and truly screwed, they where so far up their own arse, they couldn’t see the disaster barrelling down the highway.
Darn.
Normally new presidents do, or try to, carry out their promises. But Trump is not normal. Now that he’s got the presidency, president Trump might be very different from candidate Trump. (Yes, I’m known for grasping straws).
His acceptance speech was uncharacteristically conciliatory. His best way to show that he is really conciliatory is to propose Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court. The latter is a moderate (not really a liberal) candidate and would have been accepted by all if it were not for ‘Obama’ proposing him. He would in one swipe defuse much of the hostility of democrats and many republicans in a simple move. He would also kind of assert his authority over the GOP if successful. Not getting my hopes very high though.
Note that these chimps trying to get alpha status become very much more conciliatory and kind once they are the alpha.
I can see a couple of ways Trump doesn’t nominate an ultra conservative to the court, but not this one.
Way 1: He comes to realize that a “strict constructionist” supreme court person would actually reign him in as President. Desiring maximum freedom, he nominates a toady instead.
Way 2: He gets into some kind of fight over which he can use the SCOTUS nomination as a bargaining chip or as a form of retribution.
I saved $800 because I offered to bet eight Republicans $100 each that Hillary would win. No one took me up on it.
I have read many pundits’ analyses of why Trump won, but virtually none have discussed the Christian vote. Yes, they usually point out that evangelicals went for Trump something like 84% – 16%, but I think that there is deeper issue. The majority of Christendom in this country, from Catholicism to the Churches of Christ, prohibit women from holding the top leadership positions. Evangelicals and many others contorted themselves trying to justify supporting Trump, relying from everything to prophecy to the buybull for their political views. Somehow many equated misuse of emails to misogyny, xenophobia, adultery, racial and religious intolerance, ad nauseum.
My running list of variables, in no particular order:
1)The media not paying enough attention who what is likely Russia meddling in our election.
2)The media’s failure to do their job and openly criticize both candidates; Trump’s absurd escalator ride should have been the end. I think the media had a vested interest in a close race and the bias towards striking a balanced tone cost us dearly.
3)Trump actually did better than Romney in the Hispanic vote
4)Trump did better than Romney in the black vote.
5)Hillary did not run an exciting campaign, I think a lot of people simply stayed home.
6)Racism and xenophobia was a large enough factor to give Trump a bigger portion of the white vote than we’ve seen in a long time
7)The regressive left gave Trump fuel to add to the fire.
8)An uneducated populace bought into the numerous falsehoods spewed by Trump. Facts mattered less than emotions, in many cases facts didn’t matter at all.
9)Religious people started drooling over a conservative SCOTUS and the possibility of banning abortion, even if this is extremely far fetched. They love Pence and his homophobia.
10)Comey butting into the election as early voting ramped up.
There’s more I probably missed, but the point is, I’ve seen a lot of people trying to come up with the reason Trump won. Like most things, there wasn’t a single cause and this race was certainly close enough that you could probably pick any of the ten things I listed above and without it, he loses.
Chris – agree completely with your analysis, particularly number nine.
Evidence? How?
cr
Ah shit, I’m sorry, I misread your comment as ‘number one’.
Number 9 (fundies) I completely agree with.
cr
Not a problem -it’s late somewhere 🙂
I agree, I would just add an adjunct to #7, that the anti-regressive left liberals, added more fuel to the fire by giving the regressive left a disproportional amount of attention. I’m talking mainly about people like Dave Rubin, and Gad Saad, and the begrudging support they expressed for Hillary as a result.