I Hope Donald Trump Wins

I hope Donald Trump wins the US election and here’s why:

First, he’s a ton more fun than Hillary.  He’d make politics much more amusing than some boring politician that’s pretty much a continuation of the Obama regime and Clinton regime in one.

Second, it doesn’t matter who’s actually in office; Obama has had a hostile congress and senate for years shooting down pretty much everything he has tried to get thru.  Chances are high that Hillary will face the same.  Even if the congress and/or senate are friendly, chances are, they won’t vote for outrageous propositions.  Do you believe that most senators/congressmen will actually vote for building a wall on the border to Mexico?

Do you remember all the hope/dread you had for/against Obama in 2008 and 2012?  How he would add free healthcare for all and close Guantanamo?  Neither of those really went all that well/bad.  Obamacare is a bit of a disaster (yes, there’s stories of people praising it, just as there’s stories describing how their coverage became worse and more expensive) and Guantanamo has pretty much become a running joke.

I’m not saying that these failures to follow thru on promises are Obama’s fault, I’m saying that despite his best effort, he could not follow thru on his biggest promises.  Whether you’re for or against him, your biggest hopes or fears did not come thru.  The same will be true for Trump or Hillary.

Third, even if a president gets something thru the congress and senate with full impact, consider how much it actually matters.  Here’s a good rule of thumb for judging political plans: if the cost is stated in absolute amounts (such and such many millions or billions, or such and such many schools or daycare centers), they are likely cheap.  If they are stated as a percentage, they are likely expensive.  One million is a lot of money to most households and is mentally categorized as large as it constitutes 100%-1000% of most household budgets.  One percent of the budget is mentally categorized as small, as one percent of most household budgets is in the order of 1000-10000.  The US 2016 budget is just under 4 trillion.  That means one percent of that budget is 40 billion.  One million is 0.000025%.   The Trump wall is claimed to cost 10 billion.  That’s a quarter of a percent of the budget.  It’s a lot, but it’s still just a one fourhundredth of the budget.  By comparison, the 2015 deficit was 43 times the cost, and the cost of interest on US debt was 22 times that in 2015.  Even if his dumbest and most expensive idea passes fully, it’s laughable compared to widely accepted parts of the US budget.  By comparison, Obamacare costs around 30% of the US budget or 120 times Trump’s wall.

Fourth, Trump actually represents around 50% of the voters.  One thing many Europeans, SJWs and other idiots fail to realize is that people don’t vote for Trump because they condone his behavior towards women.  They don’t vote for him because they hate Mexicans.  They don’t vote for him because they are dumb.  They don’t even vote for him because of his baby-smooth beautiful skin and full head of hair.  Yeah, there’s probably exceptions to all of these, but I strongly believe that most vote for Trump because their situation is seriously shitty.  They are poor, unemployed, indebted and see no way out.  Sure, Trump’s solutions won’t solve a damn thing, but neither will Hillary’s.  Obama had 8 years to “fix everything,” and Hillary will be 4 years of the same, so instead of trying the same thing that didn’t work in the past, why not at least try something else?

Trump is the protest vote, as was the Yes to Brexit vote, as was the Greek Coalition of the Radical Left vote, as was the Icelandic Pirate Party vote, as is the constant strengthening of increasingly outward just racist right-wing parties across Europe (such as Dansk Folkeparti, Front National, Sverigedemokraterna, UKIP, and PVV). Continuing ignoring the protest votes will only make people more aggravated and strengthen the vote. When the right-wing movement started to really blossom in the late 90s people ignored them, but they only grew stronger and stronger, to the point where they now have actual power and can assert influence.

4 and 8 years ago, people laughed at the Tea Party (and their amusing wrongful use of the word teabagging).  Sarah Palin was a laughing stock among the political correct.  Largely, rightfully so.  But she and the movement was ignored, and today we have Trump.  If Trump loses and is ignored, just imagine what we get in 4 years.  And that might win, because more-of-the-same-Hillary is unlikely to quench any smoldering dissatisfaction.

Fifth, our perceptions of public figures is hella colored by the media we follow.  We are much more likely to get into a hug-box these days, with media reinforcing existing beliefs to get that click and ad view.  Your impression of a candidate is super-influenced by the media you read and this is self-reinforcing, as you ignore stories going against your already held belief.

For example, which is worse, Trump’s tax case and withholding of tax forms or Hillary’s email case and withholding of evidence?  Let me guess, your favorite candidate is the other one?  The two case are the fucking same.  But, Trump paid no tax for years despite making money and Hillary was found not guilty, you say?  But Hillary broke the law and potentially places people in real danger, and Trump was following the letter of the law which allows deduction for losses, you say?  You’re fucking grasping at straws!  Both cases are the same.  Any difference doesn’t really matter, and you’re just looking for reasons why the case of the one you already don’t like is really bad while the case for the candidate you like the least is not nearly as bad as it is made out to be.  Both cases were probably largely within the law, both were definitely dodgy, but both were the exact same most everybody in the same situation would have done.

Sure, Fox News is biased.  As is Huffington Post and largely Reuters.  You read media that appeals to you, and this is largely biased.  You only realize how much if you start reading media that doesn’t appeal to you.  And I don’t mean “just read to understand how wrong the other side is,” but to actually consider the arguments.  I listen to Wall Street Journal on Audible, and find it hilarious how I can hear how much contempt the journalists have for Obama.  As a European you’re not really used to media representing him as anything but the second coming of Britney or something.  Likewise, we rarely see Trump except as a bad person.  If both sides see the other side’s media as so obviously wrong but our own side so obviously right, how can we be sure that we are the ones being right?  How can it be that German propaganda from the 30s/40s and Russian propaganda from the past 20 years is so hilariously manipulating while our own medias are 100% fair and balanced?

Our tendency to seek media with agree with and ignore facts that go against our preconceptions makes us view the candidate we dislike in a much worse light.  and even then, does that matter at all for a president, or is our influence of the halo effect and attribute substitution so strong that we really believe that Trump being a chauvinistic pig or Hillary being a lying bitch prevents either from being a acceptable president?  For Kentwood’s sake, Russia had a walking vodka bottle as president for almost a decade, and he largely did good despite being a laughing stock.

A Trump victory would serve as a wake-up call; it would not really matter in the grander scheme of things, because he can do very limited damage as there’s mechanisms in place that will stop him from getting his most crazy ideas thru, and even if he did the real-life impact would be minimal.  The impact of politicians is much less than we think; was 9/11 caused because of Bush (despite him being in office for only 8.5 months at the time)?  Was the fiscal crisis caused by Obama?

The world is full of experts who predicted pretty much everything from the fiscal crisis to the badness of the war in Iraq.  But did they really?  How much of that is rationalizing afterwards?  How many times were those same people wrong?  It’s easy to predict every crisis ever by constantly predicting that the world will end in 2 years.  Once you will be right, and all the other times people will have forgotten once we get there.  What is more likely, that all the presidents you disagree with made all the wrong decisions because of malice while the ones you agree with made all the wrong decisions because of unfortunate external factors they had the no control over, or that they all pretty much just tried to get by with the at the time available information?

A Trump victory would give the dissatisfied a voice, and I believe that would actually be good.  There’s no saying that a president should necessarily be a strong politician or even smart; they should really just represent give people a voice and leave the rest to government officials.  The Brexit vote did the UK really well; it called the bluff of all the Brexiters (who left office I think all of them).  It will not have a huge impact; yes, everybody’s talking about how the world is going to end, but that’s largely just people exaggerating and not taking into account that compromises will be made (and will need to be made) on either side.  The Brexit got the UK interested in the EU.

Trump as president might get Americans interested in politics – people for him because they finally get heard, and people against him because they have a strong reason to get rid of him.

Postscriptum: while I to a very large degree believe that the actual choice is very unlikely to make much of a direct difference either way, one thing that does matter is if a particularly crazy person gets a cabinet and supporting parliament that gives them de-factor unlimited power.  We saw that with Stalin, with Hitler, with all the Kims of North Korea, with Putin, with others.  I have a strong conviction that Trump is largely harmless; he’s likely a complete buffoon and certain to be severely limited by a rather hostile congress and senate, even if it might be Republican.

46 thoughts on “I Hope Donald Trump Wins

  1. I actually agree with most of what you say. Almost all of it. I like the “How can it be that German propaganda from the 30s/40s and Russian propaganda from the past 20 years is so hilariously manipulating while our own medias are 100% fair and balanced?”

    I also don’t really care so much who wins. As for internal policies they don’t really have that much power. Mostly only to veto against laws they don’t like. As for the military we know that with Hillary we probably won’t get more peace in the world because if anything she has shown that she’s not a big fan of that. Trump is more of a wildcard when it comes to the military which is probably not good.

    However, one thing I do think you miss in your wall discussion is that it’s mostly not financial problem but what it might show other countries about the US. And that would be my argument for voting for Hillary – because at least the other countries kind of know what they get.

    1. While I didn’t touch on it explicitly, it was what I meant with pulling forward Boris Jeltsin. That man was drunk and still fairly respected. Putin too is hated by many if not most. Heck, even Merkel is far from popular in many places. Yet they enjoy some sort of respect all of them.

      I’d argue that Trump might just as well. I’d even argue that it might not be bad that he’s all buddy-buddy with Putin. Putin is in that scary position where he’s immensely powerful, enjoys quite a bit of internal support and is either highly intelligent or pee-his-pants bonkers. While I might not like him, it might not be too bad to be on his good/better side. Trump might achieve that. Then again, the two of them might also be an accident waiting to happen.

    2. Completely agree. At least, the chance of getting a friendly house/senate is near zero. At least this time around. If Trump does an amazing job he might during the mid-terms… not much chance of that happening, but you never know.

      A thing I really dislike is that he gets to pick the next Supreme Court judge…

    3. It’s just that the cabinet of Bush Jr jumps to my mind – they could do as they pleased because he was incapable to form his own policies. That very cabinet made the world much less safe. I don’t have the impression Trump has the ability to set out proper well-working policies.

    4. You’re right the world became a (apparently) less safe place during Bush, but was that due to Bush and/or his cabinet? Or was it just the world moving on? Wouldn’t 9/11 have happened either way? I think most likely. Wouldn’t Al Gore have had to do something, based on the same intelligence Bush & Co got?

      It’s of course only speculation, but how much did they really contribute and how much was just the world moving? Do we see more terrorism now because of Bush? No, because we actually see less terrorism than 20 years ago; it’s just spread and repeated more.

      It’s of course – and can only ever be – speculation, but I have a feeling we vastly over-estimate our and other people’s influence, including “the most powerful man in the world.” It even has a name; it’s called Illusion of control (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusion_of_control) and I think people especially do that combined with the halo effect to ascribe much more influence over “good events” to people they like and influence over “bad events” to people they dislike.

    5. I knew that you would bring that argument. A smarter person would not have invaded Iraq and then left it with a power-vacuum to be taken by rapists and murderers in the disguise of a religion. But a cabinet with ties to corporations benefitting from this situation for short term profit does (Halliburton if you remember). The invasion of Iraq turned the tide of the Muslim world against “the West”, allowing the very sentiment and emotions that are raging high in all societies and counties around the globe.
      I’m not pretending Bush was in control or Trump is or Hillary would have been. But you can set tones and do actions that push and expel or integrate. And I don’t think Trump will be one to take actions of integration and collaboration on mutual terms. Let’s not forget how he’s spoken out publicly against Mexicans, Muslims, women and that he is charged with rape of a 13 year old. The moral image presented by a person in that position is their actual power over everyone. It sets the norm for accepted behavior. The rest is what people do with their norms. (And no – law and the judicial system are second to moral and social norms, they will not prevent misbehaving and crimes).

    6. As I sold my Haliburton stocks a week ago (not even kidding), I can be completely impartial in this 🙂

      You of course have a point, but I think you vastly over-estimate the effect. Iraq has been at war for nearly half a century now, and the invasion might have been a cause. I doubt it was the underlying reason; it’s just propaganda on the other side combined with making the west the scapegoat for everything bad in the middle east.

      I’m not sure whether the leader sets and example for the people or acts as a mirror. To which the high-school student suggests “why can’t it be both.”

      There’s a definite balance between having discussions like that out in the open and legitimizing the actions and opinions. I think the balance has been shifted far to much towards pretending there is no undercurrent of racism and suppressing racist speech. Saying nigger doesn’t make you racist, disliking black people does. I think it would be good to let Trump try fixing all the things he has said would be so easy. There’s basically no way we can lose: if he succeeds, great, if he fails the mask might come off and some of the people voting for him might see how ridiculous he is.

      At the very least, he got people who would never have given a damn about politics to care enough to vote. The other side has become even more engaged to stop him from getting 8 years. That’s a good thing.

    7. As I sold my Haliburton stocks a week ago (not even kidding), I can be completely impartial in this 🙂

      You of course have a point, but I think you vastly over-estimate the effect. Iraq has been at war for nearly half a century now, and the invasion might have been a cause. I doubt it was the underlying reason; it’s just propaganda on the other side combined with making the west the scapegoat for everything bad in the middle east.

      I’m not sure whether the leader sets and example for the people or acts as a mirror. To which the high-school student suggests “why can’t it be both.”

      There’s a definite balance between having discussions like that out in the open and legitimizing the actions and opinions. I think the balance has been shifted far to much towards pretending there is no undercurrent of racism and suppressing racist speech. Saying nigger doesn’t make you racist, disliking black people does. I think it would be good to let Trump try fixing all the things he has said would be so easy. There’s basically no way we can lose: if he succeeds, great, if he fails the mask might come off and some of the people voting for him might see how ridiculous he is.

      At the very least, he got people who would never have given a damn about politics to care enough to vote. The other side has become even more engaged to stop him from getting 8 years. That’s a good thing.

    8. As I sold my Haliburton stocks a week ago (not even kidding), I can be completely impartial in this 🙂

      You of course have a point, but I think you vastly over-estimate the effect. Iraq has been at war for nearly half a century now, and the invasion might have been a cause. I doubt it was the underlying reason; it’s just propaganda on the other side combined with making the west the scapegoat for everything bad in the middle east.

      I’m not sure whether the leader sets and example for the people or acts as a mirror. To which the high-school student suggests “why can’t it be both.”

      There’s a definite balance between having discussions like that out in the open and legitimizing the actions and opinions. I think the balance has been shifted far to much towards pretending there is no undercurrent of racism and suppressing racist speech. Saying nigger doesn’t make you racist, disliking black people does. I think it would be good to let Trump try fixing all the things he has said would be so easy. There’s basically no way we can lose: if he succeeds, great, if he fails the mask might come off and some of the people voting for him might see how ridiculous he is.

      At the very least, he got people who would never have given a damn about politics to care enough to vote. The other side has become even more engaged to stop him from getting 8 years. That’s a good thing.

    9. As I sold my Haliburton stocks a week ago (not even kidding), I can be completely impartial in this 🙂

      You of course have a point, but I think you vastly over-estimate the effect. Iraq has been at war for nearly half a century now, and the invasion might have been a cause. I doubt it was the underlying reason; it’s just propaganda on the other side combined with making the west the scapegoat for everything bad in the middle east.

      I’m not sure whether the leader sets and example for the people or acts as a mirror. To which the high-school student suggests “why can’t it be both.”

      There’s a definite balance between having discussions like that out in the open and legitimizing the actions and opinions. I think the balance has been shifted far to much towards pretending there is no undercurrent of racism and suppressing racist speech. Saying nigger doesn’t make you racist, disliking black people does. I think it would be good to let Trump try fixing all the things he has said would be so easy. There’s basically no way we can lose: if he succeeds, great, if he fails the mask might come off and some of the people voting for him might see how ridiculous he is.

      At the very least, he got people who would never have given a damn about politics to care enough to vote. The other side has become even more engaged to stop him from getting 8 years. That’s a good thing.

    10. I get’n’agree with that. The last days and what surfaced around it brought me to the following conclusions: Trump himself is clearly not the cause of the problems we see today (neither was Bush&cabinet) alone, but they were catalysts that triggered changes. And the one thing that I still consider extremely dangerous is that Trump triggered and brought racist and xenophobic people into the mainstream (it’s not about what they say, but what they openly do, and of course it is much more complex: every liberal family taking their kids out of a school with too many kids with a weak social status is acting racist in some form). He doesn’t seem the person to be able or willing to influence these people. Seeing him in the White House this week: he did not expect to win, he is totally unprepared for this, but he can’t get out of it. It’s just like with the Brexiters who did not expect to win, then had no plan and abandoned ship the very next day to leave their problems to others. He’s a bit in that situation, but cannot stand down. That’s what makes it dangerously unpredictable and influenceable from all sides.

    11. I completely agree with that. I also think things might be getting worse, but I believe that he won’t have nearly the power people seem to believe, and it won’t really matter in the long term.

      I also agree he probably didn’t expect to win, which is part of what makes it so beautiful. Like Boris and Nigel, he now has to actually own up to his promises instead of just complaining and playing the blame game.

      I see just two likely outcomes: he owns up and actually succeeds or he fails miserably, setting back populism many years if not decades.

  2. I think you severely under-estimated the damage this vote can do.
    Obama was a Democrat against a Republican Senate. And still he managed to do some things. Sure, Congress mangled Obamacare to the point that it’s like a sniffer dog without a nose, but it’s still more than nothing. He also vetoed a bunch of things. Trump will have a Congress from the same side, ready to approve his dumbest ideas. And why am I sure they will approve?
    Because the real damage of this deranged campaign is that Trump showed that politicians don’t need to be reasonable anymore. You can be racist, misogynistic, not have any clue what you’re doing, flip-flop on your ideas twice a day, and you still get elected. As long as you shout loudly enough that you are standing up for the ‘oppressed’ (which everyone thinks they are). A reasonable person would say a 10 G $ wall is terrible value for money, but a Trump-era politician would vote for it with both hands, to secure those sweet ‘dey tuk or juuuubs’ votes.

    1. The 10 billion is a terrible value for money. I’m not even going to fall into some “broken window fallacy” and pretend it is good on the long term. There is a genuine chance that doing this might yield a short-term boost to the US economy. On the long term it’s just 10 billion wasted and an image problem (assuming it doesn’t get fucked up, delayed, and cancelled before the first rock is laid due to bankruptcy).

      I disagree that Trump has a senate in his favor. First, they don’t have absolute majority, so there’s no way in hell the Democrats won’t filibuster any attempt at building the wall. Second, most republicans align closer with Hillary than Trump. Most don’t like him and won’t go along with his crazy “plans.”

      At least this time around – during the mid-terms it might look different, but that hinges on Trump doing an actual stellar job.

      This election is on the top 3 of important things happening this week, sure, but in a month it’s largely forgotten. The Brexit vote was super important a couple months ago, but now people don’t care anymore. The Grexit votes were super important a year ago, but I don’t recall hearing anything from them (not really true, I mostly read WSJ and FD so I have heard a couple one-liners about their debt but that’s literally it).

      Projection: in a month people will have moved on, in a year Trump will have done just below average, and in 4 years there still won’t be a wall and Trump will lose against whats-her-face? The lady-Obama that everybody seems to like?

    2. I guess your projection might be right, and still there will be long-lasting damage to the (already pretty broken) US political environment.
      Trump is like a kid who started acting up in class, and instead of a serious slap, he got a bag of candy. Now many of the other kids (politicians) will start acting up too, since they might also get some candy, or at least not get punished.
      Mind you, I don’t care that much about the increasingly Fascist States of America. But it worries me that the already rising populist extremists right here in Europe might also see this as an opportunity to try for a bag of candy at home.

    3. Pretty sure it’s the exact opposite. Ignoring them, freezing them out, belittling them, and acting as if they were the worst scum of the earth only caused the right-wing parties to grow in Europe over the past decade or two.

      Winning an election in the UK caused them to almost die; caused the nationalism in the remainder of Europe to take a hit.

      Once the populists have to deliver on the promises and no longer can hide behind being an “oppressed minority” they lose out, because it turns out they don’t have the answer. The ugly fact is there is no royal road to an easy life. Well, there literally is, but not really figuratively.

      (There’s of course an opposite effect, where talking about the populist legitimizes them, but I think we’re past that and need to fight the martyrdom instead.)

    4. Pretty sure it’s the exact opposite. Ignoring them, freezing them out, belittling them, and acting as if they were the worst scum of the earth only caused the right-wing parties to grow in Europe over the past decade or two.

      Winning an election in the UK caused them to almost die; caused the nationalism in the remainder of Europe to take a hit.

      Once the populists have to deliver on the promises and no longer can hide behind being an “oppressed minority” they lose out, because it turns out they don’t have the answer. The ugly fact is there is no royal road to an easy life. Well, there literally is, but not really figuratively.

      (There’s of course an opposite effect, where talking about the populist legitimizes them, but I think we’re past that and need to fight the martyrdom instead.)

    5. Pretty sure it’s the exact opposite. Ignoring them, freezing them out, belittling them, and acting as if they were the worst scum of the earth only caused the right-wing parties to grow in Europe over the past decade or two.

      Winning an election in the UK caused them to almost die; caused the nationalism in the remainder of Europe to take a hit.

      Once the populists have to deliver on the promises and no longer can hide behind being an “oppressed minority” they lose out, because it turns out they don’t have the answer. The ugly fact is there is no royal road to an easy life. Well, there literally is, but not really figuratively.

      (There’s of course an opposite effect, where talking about the populist legitimizes them, but I think we’re past that and need to fight the martyrdom instead.)

    6. Pretty sure it’s the exact opposite. Ignoring them, freezing them out, belittling them, and acting as if they were the worst scum of the earth only caused the right-wing parties to grow in Europe over the past decade or two.

      Winning an election in the UK caused them to almost die; caused the nationalism in the remainder of Europe to take a hit.

      Once the populists have to deliver on the promises and no longer can hide behind being an “oppressed minority” they lose out, because it turns out they don’t have the answer. The ugly fact is there is no royal road to an easy life. Well, there literally is, but not really figuratively.

      (There’s of course an opposite effect, where talking about the populist legitimizes them, but I think we’re past that and need to fight the martyrdom instead.)

  3. Interesting discussion. More importantly, there are going to be interesting times. I highly doubt that “Trump” election as president will set the “trend” toward extremism parties, either right or left. Trump was elected by people who struggle to bring basic needs to their families; who want to change their current poor financial situation. They really don’t care about the fact Trump is reckless, misogynistic – all the personalities that a president shouldn’t have- all they want is: please change my financial situation NOW. Trump comes along with slogan “let’s make America great again ” and they believe him simply because they can’t bear their financial struggle anymore! Just ask yourself: what would do if your family is starving, no house!?! Yes, I am aware that Trump won’t increase the minimum wage, but he promised to bring “factory ” back in US, which will create opportunities to those people! They can’t read/ don’t fully understand what Trump is saying as they just… fed-up! Therefore, it should not be a surprise that Trump clearly won on poorest states of US.

  4. Interesting discussion. More importantly, there are going to be interesting times. I highly doubt that “Trump” election as president will set the “trend” toward extremism parties, either right or left. Trump was elected by people who struggle to bring basic needs to their families; who want to change their current poor financial situation. They really don’t care about the fact Trump is reckless, misogynistic – all the personalities that a president shouldn’t have- all they want is: please change my financial situation NOW. Trump comes along with slogan “let’s make America great again ” and they believe him simply because they can’t bear their financial struggle anymore! Just ask yourself: what would do if your family is starving, no house!?! Yes, I am aware that Trump won’t increase the minimum wage, but he promised to bring “factory ” back in US, which will create opportunities to those people! They can’t read/ don’t fully understand what Trump is saying as they just… fed-up! Therefore, it should not be a surprise that Trump clearly won on poorest states of US.

  5. Interesting discussion. More importantly, there are going to be interesting times. I highly doubt that “Trump” election as president will set the “trend” toward extremism parties, either right or left. Trump was elected by people who struggle to bring basic needs to their families; who want to change their current poor financial situation. They really don’t care about the fact Trump is reckless, misogynistic – all the personalities that a president shouldn’t have- all they want is: please change my financial situation NOW. Trump comes along with slogan “let’s make America great again ” and they believe him simply because they can’t bear their financial struggle anymore! Just ask yourself: what would do if your family is starving, no house!?! Yes, I am aware that Trump won’t increase the minimum wage, but he promised to bring “factory ” back in US, which will create opportunities to those people! They can’t read/ don’t fully understand what Trump is saying as they just… fed-up! Therefore, it should not be a surprise that Trump clearly won on poorest states of US.

  6. Interesting discussion. More importantly, there are going to be interesting times. I highly doubt that “Trump” election as president will set the “trend” toward extremism parties, either right or left. Trump was elected by people who struggle to bring basic needs to their families; who want to change their current poor financial situation. They really don’t care about the fact Trump is reckless, misogynistic – all the personalities that a president shouldn’t have- all they want is: please change my financial situation NOW. Trump comes along with slogan “let’s make America great again ” and they believe him simply because they can’t bear their financial struggle anymore! Just ask yourself: what would do if your family is starving, no house!?! Yes, I am aware that Trump won’t increase the minimum wage, but he promised to bring “factory ” back in US, which will create opportunities to those people! They can’t read/ don’t fully understand what Trump is saying as they just… fed-up! Therefore, it should not be a surprise that Trump clearly won on poorest states of US.

  7. Agree 100%. With the added bonus that Hillary was running on being “more Obama,” and going with more of what lead them there in the first place. Plus she’s more or less the perfect embodiment of what a lot have come to loathe: the career politician who has never done anything else.

  8. Agree 100%. With the added bonus that Hillary was running on being “more Obama,” and going with more of what lead them there in the first place. Plus she’s more or less the perfect embodiment of what a lot have come to loathe: the career politician who has never done anything else.

  9. Agree 100%. With the added bonus that Hillary was running on being “more Obama,” and going with more of what lead them there in the first place. Plus she’s more or less the perfect embodiment of what a lot have come to loathe: the career politician who has never done anything else.

  10. Agree 100%. With the added bonus that Hillary was running on being “more Obama,” and going with more of what lead them there in the first place. Plus she’s more or less the perfect embodiment of what a lot have come to loathe: the career politician who has never done anything else.

  11. There is no simple answer. I wish the answer was just based on the rust belt’s poorer folks The fact is its much deeper than that – including fundamental issues of race, bigotry and did I forget – sexism?? “What appears to have made the biggest difference on the night was the turnout for Trump of white voters across the board – of both sexes, almost all ages and education levels, and from mid- and higher income levels.”

  12. Haha… that’s just bad reporting. Just look in which states Trump won? Did win in California or New York – the highest GPO !?! No, he didn’t!
    Just to make my argument stronger: Trump won in… Louisiana- state very hard hit crisis + Katrina AND where majority of people are… colored. We all know that Trump “view” on colored people and despite this he “beat” Clinton very clearly- I think almost 62%…

  13. Hillary didn’t “win the public vote.” She got less than 0.2% more votes than Trump. Had the electorals been in her favor and she got the president-crown, it wouldn’t really have changed anything: people are deeply frustrated. There was no clear winner: the two got almost exactly the same number of votes.

    Just claiming that it’s due to ignorance, chauvinism, sexism, racism or whatever is not only missing the point, but exasperating it. People feel they are not heard, and the appropriate response is not to ignore them.

    Of course neither side is an opaque homogeneous blob, and Trump’s supporters does include racists, sexists and what have you, just like Hillary’s supporters include people who don’t support Hillary but just really doesn’t want Trump and people voting for her just because she’s a woman. But just the same, Trump’s supporters include people who are poor and need that factory job he’s promising, or who lost their job or was robbed by a dark skinned person and believe that a wall magically will solve it. And Hilary’s supports include people who really believe in her message, or who just see an economical benefit to her proposed politics over Trump’s.

    There’s no way Hillary’s politics would solve all of this. There’s no way Trump’s politics will solve it. And it’s probably for the better that he is given the chance to fail. Because the truth is maybe that the person who lost their job to a Mexcican is a lazy fuck who was sacked for showing up late and drunk to work for the 3 time that week and the poor person cannot afford diapers for their 7th kid because they really like smoking 3 packs a day and a sixpack for breakfast. Or just that the world isn’t fair and sometimes bad things happen to good people and there is no panacea.

    And better for Trump to try an fail than Hillary. Just like Obama tried and failed because the economy was just down the drain for the time he was president. Allowing Trump to try his populist politics might teach people that the easy answers don’t work. Allowing Hillary to fail would just give them another 4 years of frustration and he (or somebody equally bad or worse) would win an absolute majority everywhere in 2020. Or heck, who knows, maybe he’s right and all the worries was for nothing?

    Or maybe it’s just the natural progression of time; there’s an (unscientific) theory in social sciences about generations, that there’s a roughly 25 years cycle which starts with an awakening of a generation, then unraveling the existing followed by crisis until things settle into a period of stability. Maybe we’re just somewhere in the awakening towards the unraveling? This video explains it nicely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD0x7ho_IYc

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