The End is Nigh: US Presidential Election Thread Part XVI

[digitize]

I just woke up desperately hoping that I'd grab my phone, load up FiveThirtyEight, and see that this was just a nightmare.

No such luck.

I am so angry. I am so angry and I have not a ton of personal reason to be angry - I'm a straight while male with a job that pays me well. I work in a cyclical industry and thus have some recession risk. But it kills me to think that if I were a woman, or if I were Latino/Latina, or if I were LGBTQ, or if I were Black, or if I were Islamic, that white men like my non-hypothetical self (along with a surprisingly large number of whites women) banded together on a campaign against me. And that can have real consequences. This fucking buffoon of a candidate campaigned to build the wall. To ban Muslims. And he had a Republican Congress to play with here, which will play along with an unknown amount of reliability. He's admitted pleasure at sexual assault and his language towards women threatens to push back against decades of progress on that front.

Not to mention that he affects all of us with an utterly ridiculous economic policy, and the fact that he's temperamentally fucking crazy while controlling the nuclear codes. I can't even imagine this man being the most powerful in the country with the sort of decisions that presidents have to make all the time. He'll likely face a recession. He'll likely face more of a mess in Syria and in Israel and God only knows where else. How will he react? Probably not well.

This is a tragic day. Globalists like me have obviously been holed up in our ivory towers, ignoring the anger that has been brewing; Brexit showed us that, and this horrible, horrible nightmare makes it worse.

But there is no excuse for casting a vote for Donald J. Trump.


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[anitram]

Originally Posted by nielsgov

Isn't the dismissive nature of all the people who feel morally superior the reason that this has actually happened? The John Oliver's of this world, they mean well, and I completely agree with them, are alienating so many people from "reasonable" politics.

Like we have to put "reasonable" in quotation marks to denote a politics that isn't sexist and racist? Sorry, uncivilized.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

It's really time for us to go our separate ways.

[Axver]

Originally Posted by Headache in a Suitcase

It's really time for us to go our separate ways.

Perhaps you should've just let the Confederacy go in 1861.

I think I'm joking.

[Saracene]

Can't say I'm surprised at all by the result, though I'm surprised by the margin - I thought it would be much closer. I had a feeling that Brexit and Trump are basically a part of the same wave, and that Trump's anti-establishment image would count a lot. Also, the media coverage was so overwhelmingly anti-Trump it was impossible to say what the feeling on the ground really was like, so those pre-election polls felt useless. I suspect many people who voted for Trump maybe wouldn't admit it in public, but the thing about the private vote is that it's *private*.

[Vlad n U 2]

Originally Posted by nielsgov

Isn't the dismissive nature of all the people who feel morally superior the reason that this has actually happened? The John Oliver's of this world, they mean well, and I completely agree with them, are alienating so many people from "reasonable" politics.

I would agree. There is a definite sense of elitism present.

The John Olivers of this world are essentially useless.

Originally Posted by Headache in a Suitcase

Putin. Hrs laughing.

White supremacists.

People who want to end marriage equal.

All laughing.

The rest of the world is sobbing.

I think Putin will be relieved that he's dealing with someone who doesn't seem to give much of a shit about Russia in general.

[Vlad n U 2]

I'm more shocked at the fact that Trump won when it was widely predicted that he'd get thrashed, than the fact that a man like Trump was elected as the President of the United States.

There's a frightening realisation settling in at the moment, which is being reflected all over Europe, Latin America, the world ...

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Right at the time where NATO brings 300k troops to high alert against Russian aggression, we elect a con man who's sympathetic to Putin.

I weep for our nation.

[gump]

Today is really scary. Not sure how to get ready to go to work.


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[mikal]

Originally Posted by gump

Today is really scary. Not sure how to get ready to go to work.


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I'd still try to follow the same morning routine.

[BVS]

Originally Posted by nielsgov

Isn't the dismissive nature of all the people who feel morally superior the reason that this has actually happened? The John Oliver's of this world, they mean well, and I completely agree with them, are alienating so many people from "reasonable" politics.

Then how do we go about it?! It's fucking 2016 and we just told our daughters that it's ok to be grabbed in the crotch by a man, as long as they're rich. Oh, and sons it's ok to be a bully, especially if that person is different or looks different than you.

They are made up of people who are either; racist or don't understand racism, who can't differentiate between sexual assault and language or they just don't care.

How do you educate them? This all should be common knowledge and common decency in 2016.

Forget that he's a serial liar, ignorant of foreign policy, and has no true policy. How do you get the common knowledge and decency aspect across without "moral superiority" when they've proven they don't care?


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[BVS]

Originally Posted by mikal

I'd still try to follow the same morning routine.

Whiskey in the coffee?


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[gump]

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-d...y-donald-trump


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[Axver]

I'd just like to say the thread title has taken on a new meaning today.

[elevated_u2_fan]

I keep trying to type something witty but nothing seems to fit because this just isn't funny anymore.

My faith in humanity is at an all-time low.

[iron yuppie]

Originally Posted by nielsgov

Isn't the dismissive nature of all the people who feel morally superior the reason that this has actually happened? The John Oliver's of this world, they mean well, and I completely agree with them, are alienating so many people from "reasonable" politics.

This is it. I think it was anitram who said many threads ago that the incessant mocking of the Trump demographic came with a price, and here it is coming home to roost.

[LuckyNumber7]

Shit, folks.

There ain't much you can do. I understand feeling bad, and it's a difficult pill to swallow, but for one of the worst things that could have happened... gotta accept it for what it is. Trump International Airport will be a thing some day. The Trump library. Is what it is.

[RockNRollDawgie]

We're doomed.

[Axver]

Ah, the Trump library, with all two picture books that dullard has ever read in his life.

No acceptance. To quote a famous Australian politician at a famous juncture in Australian history, maintain the rage.

[LuckyNumber7]

Originally Posted by Axver

Ah, the Trump library, with all two picture books that dullard has ever read in his life.

No acceptance. To quote a famous Australian politician at a famous juncture in Australian history, maintain the rage.

One of them being Mein Kampf, of course.

Dunno your famous Ozpeople, but don't know if I agree. There's a different theater for that rage, but right now Trump is unfortunately the legitimate president elect.

I think my history with having to cope with shit is kicking in here. This is a much larger scale issue of course, but it doesn't have to be all that bad. Trump is a total piece of shit conman turd sandwich. You'll just have to give the piece of shit conman turd sandwich a chance I guess. And reflect during the next two years and work towards mitigating the problem, should he ultimately be the problem we anticipate.