The Many Faces of US Politics...

[LeoMc]

Regarding the Suwalki gap... Russia are 'trying to annex' the Balkan countries (an easy explanation for dummies like myself) How has Trump got anything to do with this??

It is the threatened removal of the old 80's fail-safe - MAD.

If Putin knows or believes he is dealing with an Isolationist / Non-interventionist President he will be emboldened to reclaim the Baltic states. It will start (or has started) with Russian minorities in the 3 Countries claiming persecution and will move to protests and we will see another Crimea or eastern Ukraine. With no US backing which European leader is going to escalate this little regional difficulty?

However I think we would be more likely to see land grabs by the Chinese. If they see the US as non-Interventionist and closing their borders to Chinese goods they will escalate their Island building in the Spratlys to secure the South China Sea oil reserves. Will Vietnam or the Philippines go down the route of appeasement without their US ally.

A third concern would be the loss of American moderating influence on Pakistan in their ongoing dispute with India in Kashmir.

NB: I don't believe America will turn inward despite some of Trumps more off the cuff, ill-prepared remarks. He has got his goal and I believe he will be content to be a figure-head and let the Republican house and Senate dictate policy for the next 4 years. He is over 70 and is not going for a second term.

[seafoid]

Clinton was a bad candidate.

Stupid Goddam Democrats.

Dunno. Somebody in politics as long as Hilary is going to have a few stains but I'm not sure they could have done better. I like Bernie Sanders but I think he would have been destroyed as well. Trump would just have targeted him in a different way. He'd have been labelled as socialist, commie-loving, liberal, soft on emigration/crime etc. It would be emails, Benghazi, lock-her-up tactic in a different guise. Trump's electioneering was just a means to an end. One of the best brain washing campaigns ever. The key was to keep the message simple and repetitive and avoid policy and minute. They pulled it off brilliantly. Probably because they targeted a sizable % of people that will believe something they want to hear, especially if they hear it often enough.
Notice the change in difference in Trump's body language in acceptance speech. The exaggerated hand gestures were well toned down. I suspect everything will be toned down now. Becoming President is an end for itself for this man I suspect.

I don't think the Trump voters are brainwashed. For many of them, I think they have real problems (lack of jobs, decline of communities, etc) which haven't been addressed by recent govts. Along comes a candidate who at least acknowledges their concerns and says he's going to do something about it. Since he's the only one talking to them, they're willing to dismiss all the racist, misogynist things he says (that doesn't mean they agree with him, just that they're looking out for themselves first).

Like with Brexit, it's easier to label trump voters as stupid & ignorant rather than attempting to understand why they voted for him and trying to address their constituency next time around (with REAL policies rather than just rhetoric)

Blue collar people suffering were not but the others were

[Syferus]

Democrats who are now hand waving about this being the worst event in US political history continue to miss that point Mac. They're wringing their hands about Trump being Trump rather than focusing on the issues that led him to be elected.

It all boiled down to the vast swathes of poor white people who felt left behind by politicians and the economy in the rust belt. They saw their small and medium sized towns collapsing around them while the media were focusing on minorities (in their eyes) and treating them as if they were particularly privileged when they didn't feel that way at all.

If the democrats don't pivot and appeal more to low income whites they are probably fucked in four years time too. A rainbow collation will never be enough. They and establishment Republicans want to live in a respectful America that just does not exsist. Trump played to the real situation rather than the assumed one.

[J70]

Democrats who are now hand waving about this being the worst event in US political history continue to miss that point Mac. They're wringing their hands about Trump being Trump rather than focusing on the issues that led him to be elected.

It all boiled down to the vast swathes of poor white people who felt left behind by politicians and the economy in the rust belt. They saw their small and medium sized towns collapsing around them while the media were focusing on minorities (in their eyes) and treating them as if they were particularly privileged when they didn't feel that way at all.

If the democrats don't pivot and appeal more to low income whites they are probably fucked in four years time too. A rainbow collation will never be enough. They and establishment Republicans want to live in a respectful America that just does not exsist. Trump played to the real situation rather than the assumed one.

How exactly did Trump "play to the real situation"?

By demonizing Muslims en masse. By calling climate change a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese government. By appealing to the worst instincts of the GOP base by embracing conspiracy theories, not least about Obama. By making bullshit promises about trade wars and tariffs bringing back manufacturing jobs. By hyping up the "threat" of illegal immigrants and making more bullshit promises about having Mexico pay for a wall the length of the southern border. By equivocating on support from far right racists.

It was populist demogoguery. Are you saying that the Dems need to get down in that gutter too?

[stew]

Whitelash is being blamed On Trump winning the presidency, yes folks some in black America are blaming angr white Americans on Trump being elected, they forget that white America got Obama elected and by the way, ALL Americans should embrace the decision the country made.

I am sick and tired of liberals not owing results, I am tired of their apathy toward the indigenous people of the Americas, I am appalled at their lack,of morality having clinton run representing them, I am sickened by Obamacare and it's skyrocketing costs and I am tired of the lack of respect people have for the office of President, thanks Billy.

Never had you down as advocate of the plight of the native Americans! Please inform us of your activism in this area. I assume you're in North Dakota protesting the destruction of sacred land?  And all this time I thought you were a bitter, right wing plastic Paddy!  I apologise....

You should apologise 2 posts! all this time )

I am bitter toward Clinton, I was, she is politically finished and I have let that go.

As for my leaning 2 posts, I am a social liberal and fiscal conservative and I would love it if both left and right moved to the centre.

President Trump, wow!

Bye bye 2 posts!

[seafoid]

Democrats who are now hand waving about this being the worst event in US political history continue to miss that point Mac. They're wringing their hands about Trump being Trump rather than focusing on the issues that led him to be elected.

It all boiled down to the vast swathes of poor white people who felt left behind by politicians and the economy in the rust belt. They saw their small and medium sized towns collapsing around them while the media were focusing on minorities (in their eyes) and treating them as if they were particularly privileged when they didn't feel that way at all.

If the democrats don't pivot and appeal more to low income whites they are probably fucked in four years time too. A rainbow collation will never be enough. They and establishment Republicans want to live in a respectful America that just does not exsist. Trump played to the real situation rather than the assumed one.

How exactly did Trump "play to the real situation"?

By demonizing Muslims en masse. By calling climate change a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese government. By appealing to the worst instincts of the GOP base by embracing conspiracy theories, not least about Obama. By making bullshit promises about trade wars and tariffs bringing back manufacturing jobs. By hyping up the "threat" of illegal immigrants and making more bullshit promises about having Mexico pay for a wall the length of the southern border. By equivocating on support from far right racists.

It was populist demogoguery. Are you saying that the Dems need to get down in that gutter too?

The dispossessed weren't enough for a majority. He had to add to them . With dog whistles like misogyny and hatred. He won't be able to put the genie back in the bottle.

[whitey]

http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/09/podesta-e-mail-suggested-strategy-to-elevate-long-shot-gop-candidates/

The Dems need to STFU complaining about Trump.  They only have themselves to blame

[AZOffaly]

http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/09/podesta-e-mail-suggested-strategy-to-elevate-long-shot-gop-candidates/

The Dems need to STFU complaining about Trump.  They only have themselves to blame

I agree. They put up a candidate that was immensely disliked, even by people who wanted to vote for her.
They chased the minority vote (which is fine) but at the expense of the majority (which is not). The fact that she decided to campaign in Arizona, which is almost always republican, in the last couple of days, rather than in Wisconsin was a big error I think. She basically made the gamble that she could get enough Latinos out in Phoenix and Tucson to vote for her and carry Arizona, rather than concentrating and shoring up the white vote in Wisconsin. When she lost Wisconsin, it was curtains. Same for Pennsylvania.

I have no problem 'chasing' the Latino vote, or the black vote, or the Irish vote, or any other minority vote. But they are called minorities for a reason. American elections are tactical battles as much as anything, and you have to pick your battles. By choosing to over commit on the minority vote, and hoping that Minority + dyed in the wool Democrat would carry enough states, she erred. Minority + Dyed in the wool democrat + floating white middle America = Victory for her.

[screenexile]

The main stream media have a lot to answer for as well and Trump played them like a fiddle.

On the one hand he was getting the crowd to hate them and saying they were creating all these falsehoods against him but in reality I doubt any presidential candidate ever got as much free air time as he did across all platforms and across all media.

Clinton massively outspent him on TV ads but then he was on every news programme calling her all the names of the day and saying crazy shit so he got probably more air time than Clinton at a fraction of the cost!!

[whitey]

I read  arguing reports that said he got anywhere between $1.7B and $3B in free airtime

[screenexile]

I read  arguing reports that said he got anywhere between $1.7B and $3B in free airtime

How much primetime as well with all the late night talk show hosts using their monologue pretty much every night to destroy him... no publicity is bad publicity!!

[Syferus]

Trump knew how to get airtime better than anyone. A celebrity president for a celebrity obsessed age. These protests are incredibly childish and serve no purpose.

[seafoid]

The main stream media have a lot to answer for as well and Trump played them like a fiddle.

On the one hand he was getting the crowd to hate them and saying they were creating all these falsehoods against him but in reality I doubt any presidential candidate ever got as much free air time as he did across all platforms and across all media.

Clinton massively outspent him on TV ads but then he was on every news programme calling her all the names of the day and saying crazy shit so he got probably more air time than Clinton at a fraction of the cost!!

Yeah.
They kept on repeating the same stuff though. And people wanted a f**k you vote.
Now they are wearing their f**k me boots.

Clinton won 31 out of 35 cities. Trump won the culchies.

[seafoid]

This might be the last big win for old white farts. Because the demographics at younger ages are not majority white male.
The US has an unfortunate history of violent change. And long nurtured bitterness.

[Hardy]

Stew, I wouldn't embrace Donald Trump if I were wearing a Hazmat suit, no more than I would have embraced Ian Paisley at the high point of his demagoguery. He embodies everything I loathe.  No need to enumerate his flaws now.  And if he appoints Giuliani and Gingrich to his cabinet, between the three of them they have amassed nine wives.  This is old school Mormon family values. Book of Mormon, the Sequel.

I do think whitelash is a key factor in Clinton's defeat, a reaction to a number of factors beyond her exaggerated unlikeability--an anti-Obama racism fueled by inherent white racism in America and further stoked by a white electorate that gets its facts from propaganda mills like Breitbart, a racism legitimized by a Republican pledge to obstruct all Obama initiatives.

Of course, Dems should blame themselves too for their smugness, but Trump is right when he says that the election is rigged.  It is.  The Electoral College system is anachronistic and fundamentally undemocratic.  Once again, Dems won the popular vote but not the election.  Absurd.  Add to that the composition of the Senate.  How is it democratic that Rhode Island, a state slightly bigger than Longstone, Bambrook and Lisnally Gardens, gets two senators while California, with an economy larger than France's also gets two?

It is a very dark day here in the States, and I fear for the marginalized under a Trump kingship, and to make matters worse, he is the very antithesis of Plato's philosopher king, he is the embodiment of ignorance. 

I accept the will of the people but don't have to like it, especially since the gullible were motivated by raw appeals to the worst in human nature.  And don't misunderestimate, to quote Bush, the number of adult white males unwilling to accept a woman president.

I have not felt this low since 911.

Well said, Oraisteach.