Donald Trump is the President-Elect of the United States.
Now to say this is unexpected would be a massive understatement.....in fact reporting has come out that even the RNC's internal polls had Trump losing.
Still, Donald Trump is the President-Elect of the United States.
Hillary Clinton WON the popular vote. The majority of american saw through Donald Trump's bullshit.
Still, Donald Trump is the President-Elect of the United States.
So how did this happen?
Well on paper the answer seems easy enough, in a massive shock Wisconsin went red for the first time since 1984, and Hillary Clinton massively under-preformed in (still uncalled) Michigan and Pennsylvania, the latter of which went red for the first time since 1988.
Well on paper the answer seems easy enough, in a massive shock Wisconsin went red for the first time since 1984, and Hillary Clinton massively under-preformed in (still uncalled) Michigan and Pennsylvania, the latter of which went red for the first time since 1988.
But honestly, I think the answer is slightly more insidious, and complicated.
For starters I think it was the "they are both the same" mentality that people embraced as a way to "tune out" the election.
People heard Trump was a bad candidate. As he was, I mean look no farther than what he wants to do to women's vagnias, or his views on giving more countries nuclear weapons.
For starters I think it was the "they are both the same" mentality that people embraced as a way to "tune out" the election.
People heard Trump was a bad candidate. As he was, I mean look no farther than what he wants to do to women's vagnias, or his views on giving more countries nuclear weapons.
But they would also hear Hillary was a bad candidate. And she was, I mean look no farther than her wall street speeches or complete inability to defend herself on her emails.
So many people decided "They both suck" was an easier position to take than figuring out who was the lesser of two evils and voting for that one.
Which is INSANE because in no way were Trump and Hillary equally as bad on almost any given issue.
For example, Abortion.
If your pro choice, you can not honestly believe Donald "I would overturn Roe V Wade and Punish Women who have abortions" Trump is as bad as Hillary "well Im not exactly in favor of late term abortions" Clinton on that issue
Or on free trade, you cant honestly believe Hillary "I have a public and private position on TPP" Clinton and Donald "I oppose the TPP, CAFTA and NAFTA" Trump were going to exactly the same on that issue.
Now yes, you might find yourself agreeing with one on one issue and the other on the other....but that doesnt mean they are equally as bad, that means you have to decide which of those issues is slightly more important to you and vote that way.
But people think that is hard, and they cant be bothered.
And this in turn I think led to many people voting 3rd party, cause hey, then you can send a message to the "establishment" they suck....even when the candidates your voting for tend to hold the same position as the ones you think suck.
For example I have bad news for any pro choice people who voted Gary Johnson over Hillary....hes anti abortion like Trump. Ditto by the way if your anti free trade and voted Jill Stein over Trump...shes pro free trade.
So you didnt make a choice...you took the easy way out.
I happened to watch the election with a group of people who all voted 3rd party, or didnt vote. Now as the night dragged on, and our state wasnt called for either candidate....and was looking more and more necessary for Clinton to win to have a chance of winning, I watched recrimination after recrimination go around the room, mostly a lot of "oh god maybe I should have voted for clinton".
Now my state DID eventually go for Clinton, not that it mattered at the end of the day.
But a lot of other states didnt. Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in particular didnt go for Clinton. Neither did Florida. Michigan and Airizona havnt been called yet, but still probably wont go to clinton. New Hampshire hasnt been called yet either....that might go to Clinton though.
But heres the thing, look at the vote totals out of those states:
So many people decided "They both suck" was an easier position to take than figuring out who was the lesser of two evils and voting for that one.
Which is INSANE because in no way were Trump and Hillary equally as bad on almost any given issue.
For example, Abortion.
If your pro choice, you can not honestly believe Donald "I would overturn Roe V Wade and Punish Women who have abortions" Trump is as bad as Hillary "well Im not exactly in favor of late term abortions" Clinton on that issue
Or on free trade, you cant honestly believe Hillary "I have a public and private position on TPP" Clinton and Donald "I oppose the TPP, CAFTA and NAFTA" Trump were going to exactly the same on that issue.
Now yes, you might find yourself agreeing with one on one issue and the other on the other....but that doesnt mean they are equally as bad, that means you have to decide which of those issues is slightly more important to you and vote that way.
But people think that is hard, and they cant be bothered.
And this in turn I think led to many people voting 3rd party, cause hey, then you can send a message to the "establishment" they suck....even when the candidates your voting for tend to hold the same position as the ones you think suck.
For example I have bad news for any pro choice people who voted Gary Johnson over Hillary....hes anti abortion like Trump. Ditto by the way if your anti free trade and voted Jill Stein over Trump...shes pro free trade.
So you didnt make a choice...you took the easy way out.
I happened to watch the election with a group of people who all voted 3rd party, or didnt vote. Now as the night dragged on, and our state wasnt called for either candidate....and was looking more and more necessary for Clinton to win to have a chance of winning, I watched recrimination after recrimination go around the room, mostly a lot of "oh god maybe I should have voted for clinton".
Now my state DID eventually go for Clinton, not that it mattered at the end of the day.
But a lot of other states didnt. Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in particular didnt go for Clinton. Neither did Florida. Michigan and Airizona havnt been called yet, but still probably wont go to clinton. New Hampshire hasnt been called yet either....that might go to Clinton though.
But heres the thing, look at the vote totals out of those states:
Wisconsin was 1,382,210 votes for Clinton and 1,409,467 votes for Trump.
So Trump won by 27,257 votes.
Pennsylvania was Clinton: 2,844,705, Trump: 2,912,941. A difference of 68,236.
So Trump won by 27,257 votes.
Pennsylvania was Clinton: 2,844,705, Trump: 2,912,941. A difference of 68,236.
Florida was Clinton 4,485,745, Trump 4,605,515. A difference of 119,770
And Michigan seems set for similar numbers...though as it hasnt been called yet, I wont be doing the math for that one. Ditto with New Hampshire (Arizona has Trump up 5% at the moment, so not that close)
Still in all cases, those are TINY numbers.
In fact, in Wisconsin,
And Michigan seems set for similar numbers...though as it hasnt been called yet, I wont be doing the math for that one. Ditto with New Hampshire (Arizona has Trump up 5% at the moment, so not that close)
Still in all cases, those are TINY numbers.
In fact, in Wisconsin,
Gary Johnson got 106,442, or almost 5 times the difference in the vote total
And Jill Stein beat the difference in the vote total, she got 30,980.
And the Constitution Party, Workers World, and Independent party got about 15,000 combined. (and Im betting you never heard of those parties before)
Those numbers by the way, play out the same in PA
Gary Johnson himself beat that number. He got 142,653 votes.
Gary Johnson himself beat that number. He got 142,653 votes.
Jill Stein even almost beat that number, she got 48,912
Heck even the Constitution party candidate in PA got about a 1/3 of that difference with 20,896 votes
And Florida, Gary Johnson got 206,007, roughly double the vote difference
And Florida, Gary Johnson got 206,007, roughly double the vote difference
Stein and other 3rd parties got a total of about 80,000 for the record.
Michigan seems set for an even narrower decision, with about 10-15,000 votes being the deciding factor...meaning this time even the Constitution party probably has more votes than than, let alone Stein and Johnson.
And, just for the record in New Hampshire right now, Clintons lead is less than 1,000 votes...so pretty much ALL 3rd parties beat that difference in the votes.
Now your probibily thinking....whats my point?
Well first, anyone who voted 3rd party in any of those states and woke up this morning going "holy fuck, what the fuck just happened, how can Donald Freaking Trump be president?"......I got news for you, YOUR THE GOD DAMN REASON WHY.
Now look I admit, Im sure some of those 3rd party voters are happier with Trump than Clinton, or legitimately are 3rd party and didnt do it because "both candidates suck" but I have a sneaking suspicion in all 3 of those states there were definitely enough voters who would have preferred Clinton to Trump but voted 3rd party cause they "both suck" to swing those states.
Now what difference would that have made?
Well at the moment with the 3 states uncalled, the Electoral vote is 228 for Clinton and 279 for Donald Trump (and 31 still up for grabs).
But, lets say instead of voting 3rd party, all the "we prefer Hillary to Trump" people actually voted for Hillary and switched those 3 states (PA, WI and presumably MI) blue?
Then the Electoral map would be 274 votes for Clinton and 249 votes for Trump (with 15 unassigned between AZ and NH).
in otherwords Hillary would have won. And it turns out, she wouldnt even need New Hampshire.
And Florida by the way is worth 29 electoral votes, meaning she could have lost any 2 of those 3 listed above +NH, AND STILL WON.
But hey, both candidates sucked and you voted 3rd party.....good fucking job.
And too be honest, I dont mean to direct that just to the "prefer Hillary" 3rd party voters in MI, WI and PA.....it applies to the voters in NH, CO, MA. MN, and NV voters as well, where Hillary won by about 1-2%...or any state like VA that took a lot longer to call than it should even it it wasnt close (5%) win....you all just got fucking lucky your state went the way of your second choice.
Now I know some people are going to think maybe I'm being a bit unfair to the 3rd party voters, I mean you know if the democrats had run a better candidate....like say Bernie Sanders, then maybe those folks would have voted Democrat, and you know we wouldnt have record 3rd party support in a lot of states.
To which I say, I dont think Im being unfair at all....its not my problem those people didnt understand the possible consequences of their actions.....but Im understandably pissed we all have to live with them....despite the plurality of us voting for Hillary Clinton.
Which brings us to the ultimate irony here.....at the end of the day, Donald Trump was 100% correct. The system IS rigged, as for the second time in 16 years we get set to swear in our 2nd republican president who failed to win a majority of the popular vote.
Thank you Electoral College. And thank you Founding Fathers for creating the Electoral College cause the average american was too stupid to elect the "right" person to be president.
The last 2 (of 5) times we really got a pair of geniuses foisted on us because we were too stupid to pick the "better and more qualified" one. And actually given that one of those 3 previous times resulted in us getting President Hayes, who ended Reconstruction in the south, and let them put Jim Crow laws and legal discrimination in place for the next century, I think we should really consider you guys 2 for 5 (at best) in terms of making sure we got the best choice cause we are too dumb to pick it our selves.
And, just for the record in New Hampshire right now, Clintons lead is less than 1,000 votes...so pretty much ALL 3rd parties beat that difference in the votes.
Now your probibily thinking....whats my point?
Well first, anyone who voted 3rd party in any of those states and woke up this morning going "holy fuck, what the fuck just happened, how can Donald Freaking Trump be president?"......I got news for you, YOUR THE GOD DAMN REASON WHY.
Now look I admit, Im sure some of those 3rd party voters are happier with Trump than Clinton, or legitimately are 3rd party and didnt do it because "both candidates suck" but I have a sneaking suspicion in all 3 of those states there were definitely enough voters who would have preferred Clinton to Trump but voted 3rd party cause they "both suck" to swing those states.
Now what difference would that have made?
Well at the moment with the 3 states uncalled, the Electoral vote is 228 for Clinton and 279 for Donald Trump (and 31 still up for grabs).
But, lets say instead of voting 3rd party, all the "we prefer Hillary to Trump" people actually voted for Hillary and switched those 3 states (PA, WI and presumably MI) blue?
Then the Electoral map would be 274 votes for Clinton and 249 votes for Trump (with 15 unassigned between AZ and NH).
in otherwords Hillary would have won. And it turns out, she wouldnt even need New Hampshire.
And Florida by the way is worth 29 electoral votes, meaning she could have lost any 2 of those 3 listed above +NH, AND STILL WON.
But hey, both candidates sucked and you voted 3rd party.....good fucking job.
And too be honest, I dont mean to direct that just to the "prefer Hillary" 3rd party voters in MI, WI and PA.....it applies to the voters in NH, CO, MA. MN, and NV voters as well, where Hillary won by about 1-2%...or any state like VA that took a lot longer to call than it should even it it wasnt close (5%) win....you all just got fucking lucky your state went the way of your second choice.
Now I know some people are going to think maybe I'm being a bit unfair to the 3rd party voters, I mean you know if the democrats had run a better candidate....like say Bernie Sanders, then maybe those folks would have voted Democrat, and you know we wouldnt have record 3rd party support in a lot of states.
To which I say, I dont think Im being unfair at all....its not my problem those people didnt understand the possible consequences of their actions.....but Im understandably pissed we all have to live with them....despite the plurality of us voting for Hillary Clinton.
Which brings us to the ultimate irony here.....at the end of the day, Donald Trump was 100% correct. The system IS rigged, as for the second time in 16 years we get set to swear in our 2nd republican president who failed to win a majority of the popular vote.
Thank you Electoral College. And thank you Founding Fathers for creating the Electoral College cause the average american was too stupid to elect the "right" person to be president.
The last 2 (of 5) times we really got a pair of geniuses foisted on us because we were too stupid to pick the "better and more qualified" one. And actually given that one of those 3 previous times resulted in us getting President Hayes, who ended Reconstruction in the south, and let them put Jim Crow laws and legal discrimination in place for the next century, I think we should really consider you guys 2 for 5 (at best) in terms of making sure we got the best choice cause we are too dumb to pick it our selves.
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