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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
In the end Trump won the change vote, folks who voted for Obama because 8 years of Bush gained them nothing now voted for Trump because 8 years of Obama did them nothing. They're the white, rural, middle class who feel that their world is falling apart. They voted for Obama because he promised change and that things would be different, Trump promised the same so they voted for him.
I wonder how last night would have looked if a few months ago Obama have abandoned the TPP and started pushing for a jobs program for rural America.
We have two years to hold the line folks, we know Trump's a mess, which president we get will probably be revealed via his twitter account. If he's back in control we may well have President Sociopath (so camps for Mexicans, Clinton locked up, Obama loosing his secret service protection, war over twitter fights, constant fear of a nuclear launch, massive protectionism, the end of NATO and probably an honest to god attempt to build the wall), if it's still in the hands of his staffers then the beast may have been tamed and we'll be looking at President Celebrity (diplomatic trips cancelled at the drop of a hat, policy coming out of Ryan and Pence, lots of pageantry and little substance).
Either way we're still looking at hard times, President Celebrity is the best case scenario that that's Pence in charge, which means the Iran and Cuba agreements are gone, Obamacare is gone, Gay Marriage and Roe VS Wade hanging by a thread, LGBT rights rolled back, minority rights rolled back, possible war with Iran.
Plus in the end Trump will still be President Entitlement, I'd be shocked if in two years time the US hasn't had either a massive economic collapse, a war with Iran and/or a huge scandal due to Trump sexually assaulting someone in the White House.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranYeah, but we don't have the USSR to look to as an alternative any more. It's all Evil vs. Evil, in a world of Corrupt Corporate Executive all-devouring fascist monstrosities.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.@Gilphon; not with a Congress that just benefited hugely from it. Actually, structural changes to how voting works has rarely been on the radar of people concerned about voting rights, which is part of why I think it'd be an uphill battle to do away with it and create a more direct democratic vote. For people to be for or against the Electoral College, it needs to pop up in conversation a lot more than once every two to four years.
@Silas; well, I'm pretty sure that Trump can't reinstate a ban on Cuba after it's been dropped. What even would be the point? Obviously he can scuttle any sort of political relations with them, but reinstating the ban seems a bit far?
edited 9th Nov '16 11:33:28 AM by AceofSpades
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Please do. You have your work cut out for you. But this is an amazing opportunity to remodel the Democrat party. I hope Sanders and Hillary and Warren can work on it together. Heck, do you think we could count on Obama participating in the Democrat party one way or another?
WORK, WORK! I'M LOOKING FOR A MIND AT WORK!
edited 9th Nov '16 11:34:35 AM by TheHandle
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.I think chances of trump being Celebrity President are good. Just ask yourself if Trump really looks like the kinda guy who would do actual presidential work besides just spending a lot of time blowing smoke over his own ass and maybe occasionally trying to fuck over someone for saying mean things about him loudly enough? Being the president is one of the most consistently demanding, stressful jobs you could have, I don't think he's gonna want any of that. It's still a dreadful scenario but I still expect Pence and his cabinet to do most of the governing.
Not to say we should immediately discard the possibility of Despot Trump since him even winning in the first place was a shock to a lot of people, so things could get even more crazy, but we have to wait and see. Either way we can't give up.
edited 9th Nov '16 11:35:41 AM by Draghinazzo
@Aceofspades: I think you misunderstood what I was getting at with the 'gives Congress a solid political reason to get rid of it' bit. Hint: I referred to it as a very unlikely outcome, and presented it as the alternative to it proving it has no reason to exist.
edited 9th Nov '16 11:36:24 AM by Gilphon
Trump Did Better With Blacks, Hispanics Than Romney in '12: Exit Polls
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-election-day/trump-did-better-blacks-hispanics-romney-12-exit-polls-n681386
edited 9th Nov '16 11:41:58 AM by xanderiskander
I also agree that Trump's most likely going to end up President Celebrity and yes, that will mean rolling back a lot of the progress made in the Obama years. But we're more likely to survive under President Celebrity as odious as he would be, and hopefully bide our time so we can reintroduce that legislation under a new Democratic administration. The ball's rolling, and it's already helped out a lot of people. People are going to suffer in the meantime but once it's out there it's unlikely to result in a permanent snapback.
@Kostya
I agree, we should be turning our eyes towards Warren while also trying to shine the spotlight on other Democratic hopefuls. While I don't blame anyone for feeling despondent in the slightest we should also not forget about things like that and start planning early. For one thing I'm hopeful that Warren can do things to energize the change voters and turn out to be Sanders with less stigma. Alternatively... uh, Chelsea Clinton at some point down the line?
edited 9th Nov '16 11:42:32 AM by AlleyOop
I'm hoping for a Video Game//Borderlands-style universe. Trump is already Handsome Jack in all but appearance already.
Wow, you guys had quite an, um, party while I was gone.
Anyway, I've gone nicely to "Acceptance". This is my current mood:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo
(How do you embed videos? :/)
Also, call me naïve, but I don't consider this over until the Electoral College have voted. Okay, maybe I am being naïve.
thebeatles.com/careersQuestion: A month or two ago, when it still looked like Clinton had a considerably better chance at winning the presidency (both by off-site analysis and in this very thread), I had started working on an Alternate History scenario in which Trump won instead. Now that Trump did win... where does that leave my scenario? Would it be a case of Life Imitates Art, or something similar?
... Wait, they still didn't vote?!
edited 9th Nov '16 11:45:03 AM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

The world is mostly feeling sorry for you guys. Perhaps that's even worse.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.