Political Discussion

Joe Mac said:
The big problem was that she’s the third awful candidate that they’ve put up in a row, she’s so right wing in the context of normal politics, she just seems less so sat next to Trump. It’s almost like asking a labour voter to vote for the right of the Tory party to stop Farage getting in, it’s probably worth it but it’s a hard ask. The dems are 100% to blame for this, they tried to win by moving right, they needed to play to their progressives and give disenfranchised people an alternative that showed that they were even on their radar. That and her position on Gaza is gross. The fact that they’re losing the popular vote and not just the electoral college as well is mind blowing.
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Ah, I don't disagree with any of this, and it's the same here in Oz - our current slightly left of the right wing party in power isn't setting the heather alight.

I think I'm maybe being a bit idealistic - I'd have thought a potato could have won against a felon/insurrectionist/misogynist, but who knew that it was more complicated...
 
Thackeraye said:
Ah, I don't disagree with any of this, and it's the same here in Oz - our current slightly left of the right wing party in power isn't setting the heather alight.

I think I'm maybe being a bit idealistic - I'd have thought a potato could have won against a felon/insurrectionist/misogynist, but who knew that it was more complicated...
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I mean look at how Starmer and Reeves have governed so far in Britain too. It feels like we’re just in a bad place right now. The younger generation do give me hope but then I was all bright and idealistic 10-20 years ago too so let’s hope it doesn’t make them all jaded cynics too…
 
Thackeraye said:
I think I'm maybe being a bit idealistic - I'd have thought a potato could have won against a felon/insurrectionist/misogynist, but who knew that it was more complicated...
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Ordinary people’s lives are shit everywhere right now and just like they’ll desperately vote for Brexit against their real interests they’ll do the same for Trump too unless you can convince them you can make their lives better or the populists fuck it up to the level the Tories do and let you in by default.
 
Being right about American politics and this election is deeply dissatisfying this morning. Confronting the evidence of where we are as a society is a depressing task. People don't want to accept outcomes that are too painful to process. But here we are now. The fascists have won. Things will be bad. There's no sugar coating what comes next. Those of you who live in Blue states may be lucky enough for now to avoid the worst of it. But for the rest of us, I woke this morning to a very specific kind of fear. This life we've known is over. The world is changing and I don't think we get a redo in four years. This is it. The world we knew is gone and what replaces it is ugly and dangerous. Watching people stop resisting and going along with this new reality to protect themselves is going to be the hardest thing to witness. Don't sell out the vulnerable to save your ass. Protect people till the end.
 
I woke up to an “oh god” moment. I won’t say too much. I’m shocked and gutted tbh. Im clearly not anywhere near understanding current feelings in US but my gut feeling really was a comfortable Kamala win.
What do I know. I not gonna say more as could sound a bit demeaning etc. Just so disappointed he is back. Like Harry Potter at the end of Goblet of Fire.
Yes watched that film recently with kids (for 10th time) hence the reference haha.
 
ByersVinyl said:
I woke up to an “oh god” moment. I won’t say too much. I’m shocked and gutted tbh. Im clearly not anywhere near understanding current feelings in US but my gut feeling really was a comfortable Kamala win.
What do I know. I not gonna say more as could sound a bit demeaning etc. Just so disappointed he is back. Like Harry Potter at the end of Goblet of Fire.
Yes watched that film recently with kids (for 10th time) hence the reference haha.
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I’m increasingly coming to the view that America’s major contribution to the world these days is to make the rest of us realise our shit choices maybe weren’t so bad after all
 
Rowan said:
I’m increasingly coming to the view that America’s major contribution to the world these days is to make the rest of us realise our shit choices maybe weren’t so bad after all
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I don't know who the UKs next bad choice will be, but I'm being told they'll likely have a hair cut like this or some such bat shit thing.
name-this-haircut-v0-u7tit9m5e6ld1.jpeg
 
Very shocked this morning. I hate what this means for our country that we saw what he did before and thought that was a better alternative. Not sure where we go from here. I think I'm going to stop going on social media specifically Twitter. I can't in good conscious use a platform that helped enable a 2nd Trump term.
 
I got no sleep last night.

I put Hulu Live on my iPhone and set it up on my bedside table. I was pretty much lying awake in bed all night not really dozing off until around 5:30. I was awake when NBC project Trump winning in GA, PA, WI. When Trump gave his victory speech. When NBC projected that the GOP would have solid control of the Senate and when NBC projected Trump as the winner.

Over all theme that had me saying oh shit and my anxiety running on hyperdrive was the numbers that kept coming in that were showing Trump way up in rural counties and Harris lagging behind Biden and Clinton in Urban centers. Chuck Todd did a good break down of this around 2:30 or 3:00am or something like that. What was interesting is he showed this was not just a battleground state shift. But also in solid blue states. For example, he showed Maryland and New York. And how Trump was up and over performing in rural counties and Harris was under performing. While Harris still won these stays, it was in narrower margins than 2020 or than in 2016 by 5 or more points. Signs that some solidly blue states were close to being purple states signaling a seismic shift in America. And as I say America, I should say USA, as I saw several memes yesterday about people pointing out This is America pointing to both the continents of North and South America and then highlighted the United States nd said "This is USA". The rest of America does not want to be associated with the United States and are offended when people refer to the United States as America.

The main things I heard that lead to the loss for Harris were:
  • The hispanic vote
  • The black male vote
  • The Gen Z male vote
These demographics had a mejore shift red and towards Trump.


One other thing talked about was along the lines of the article I referenced yesterday titled "Voters are saying yes to abortions but no to democrats"

The abortion ballot questions proved this. Even in Florida where it didn't pass. A solid 10 to 20 points that went towards a yes vote for abortion were by people who voted for Donald Trump. So people were voting for abortion and then voting for Trump.

When it comes to the House of Representatives, I'm very nervous. According to NBC last night, while it's still too close to call, the path to the democrats have control is very narrow and got narrower last night when Trump flipped 3 seats in PA the GOP was not expecting. This means that the democrats would have to flip every seat in CA to have a path forward for control of the house. Can they do that?
 
RenegadeMonster said:
I got no sleep last night.

I put Hulu Live on my iPhone and set it up on my bedside table. I was pretty much lying awake in bed all night not really dozing off until around 5:30. I was awake when NBC project Trump winning in GA, PA, WI. When Trump gave his victory speech. When NBC projected that the GOP would have solid control of the Senate and when NBC projected Trump as the winner.

Over all theme that had me saying oh shit and my anxiety running on hyperdrive was the numbers that kept coming in that were showing Trump way up in rural counties and Harris lagging behind Biden and Clinton in Urban centers. Chuck Todd did a good break down of this around 2:30 or 3:00am or something like that. What was interesting is he showed this was not just a battleground state shift. But also in solid blue states. For example, he showed Maryland and New York. And how Trump was up and over performing in rural counties and Harris was under performing. While Harris still won these stays, it was in narrower margins than 2020 or than in 2016 by 5 or more points. Signs that some solidly blue states were close to being purple states signaling a seismic shift in America. And as I say America, I should say USA, as I saw several memes yesterday about people pointing out This is America pointing to both the continents of North and South America and then highlighted the United States nd said "This is USA". The rest of America does not want to be associated with the United States and are offended when people refer to the United States as America.

The main things I heard that lead to the loss for Harris were:
  • The hispanic vote
  • The black male vote
  • The Gen Z male vote
These demographics had a mejore shift red and towards Trump.


One other thing talked about was along the lines of the article I referenced yesterday titled "Voters are saying yes to abortions but no to democrats"

The abortion ballot questions proved this. Even in Florida where it didn't pass. A solid 10 to 20 points that went towards a yes vote for abortion were by people who voted for Donald Trump. So people were voting for abortion and then voting for Trump.

When it comes to the House of Representatives, I'm very nervous. According to NBC last night, while it's still too close to call, the path to the democrats have control is very narrow and got narrower last night when Trump flipped 3 seats in PA the GOP was not expecting. This means that the democrats would have to flip every seat in CA to have a path forward for control of the house. Can they do that?
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Probably not. It looks like he'll get full control.
 
Based on exit polling, I heard a number mentioned by NBC at some point last night. When it comes to favorable ratings of the candidates. 52% viewed Harris as favorable and only 43% viewed Trump as favorable.

With that said, they summarized that that many republicans voters may not be happy with or like Donald Trump, but they feel voting for him is still best for their interests and pockets and that he will do a better job with the economy that the democrats would.


Another thing I heard mentioned is peoples perception of the economy.

The latest economy numbers were great, the economy was on fire. However, when you look at peoples perception of the economy, the general perception is that it is currently worse than it was during the Great Recession. 75% of voters said they were hurting / struggling in todays economy.
 
I think the media had a direct hand in all of that. You can't tariff your way to prosperity. The people who will do well under Trump as the people who always do well, the rich and corporations. What's his plan to get housing to be more affordable? He has none.
 
Anecdote time. Back in 2016 I felt awful, probably because I was hungover terribly but I was in panic mode. It was such a bigger shock than today is.

I was so worried that I panic contacted a Canadian Immigration lawyer to see about moving to Canada. Here's part of the email.

1730899370974.png

After realizing the logistics of everything, the cost, uprooting everything, I realized I wasn't going to do that. I ended up moving from a very blue state to a very, very blue state that borders Canada instead. I had lived in that very blue state my whole life and needed a change anyways. But I guess I also thought, "if things go tits up, the border is right there." Earlier this year, I moved back to that very blue state and bought a house so I can't do anything like this now.

Looking back at this now it's all very silly. I wish I could do something like that, but running away won't fix or change anything.

I feel weird. Better than 8 years ago because I'm not insanely hungover, but also this is not a surprise. During the entire campaign I had less hope overall than the times I felt like there was hope. It was only the past 2 weeks where things changed, but before that this result does make sense.

I really think Media does a bad job of highlighting issues and trying to play both sides equally. There are a lot of people who are worse off than they were during 2017-2020. They don't care or don't know about all the other baggage and they vote with their wallet and well-being in mind. They want change. They won't get it, but that's what they want.
 
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