Can someone remind me why Donald Trump was elected?

[Puupi]

Because of the Electoral College system.... which is absolute bullshit to still have.

Yeah, electoral college is a joke. Just recently came across a picture of the 1864 US presidential election.



Sure, the right guy won the election (having the majority of the actual votes)....but 91% electoral vote....

[Zython]

Nope. Majority of countries with democracy have representative democracy and it's pretty standard nowadays for minority government to rule.

Maybe that's not a good thing?

[mickybrighteyes]

Are you sure about that stable ground?

given my argument is the pointlessness of bringing up the past as a point of belittling apparent opposition... It is as stable as bedrock.



Now go ahead and continue talking about how silly it is for someone to endorse a system that was historically used as a racist tool to hold people down as a way to make yourself and others feel better and go on about Russia like Trump did Obama's birth certificate.

You're continuing to argue in a way showcasing exactly WHY Trump won. You're projecting and belittling people who don't agree with you and trying to act like you're superior.

[Kumorii]

Nah vote for the guy who can help you and has a good track record. They voting for a guy with a spotty one and now those problems go unaddressed.

Since they were ignored it was more like, vote for the guy that promised something vs the one who didn't even bother.

[Zython]

Yes! How dare states have equal say!!!!

Ah yes. Giving government institutions the power to select the government. That sounds like a fantastic idea.

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It's not a democracy, it's a democratic republic. As hard as this might be for some to grasp, most votes doesn't win, If you want to win you have to appeal to the majority of America's population not just a few coastal cities with enormous populations.

Ignoring how you're saying people should be disenfranchised based solely on where they live, how many people do you think live in those places in total?

[Sinyc]

I am from EU, so I don't have any political side when it comes to US, but Donald Trump seems like a stupid stubborn person from my point of view.

E.g. Look at what happened now, the government shut down is still in progress
I can't remember when so many public officials left the white house after working for/with Donald.
Quitting US negotiated deals with the entire world, which the EU did not improve and ignored.

Something is just not right with him, either dumb or something else,

He's dumb. He's stupid. He's not doing a great job. But what you are getting in the EU is lazy journalism from the West about him.

Traditionally, in a democracy, the candidate with the most votes wins.

Well, lucky for you the USA is not a pure democracy.

[Frogguh]

Two sides refuse to budge, only one is being stubborn? Gee, I wonder how we can predict which side is being reasonable? The one you agree with? Surprising.

[Shiny212]

Because the democratic party ran the most incompetent mess of a political campaign ever.

[Zython]

Well, lucky for you the USA is not a pure democracy.

Why is that a good thing?

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We dont want a wall....we'd rather have a 100ft zone with autofiring machine guns to stop INVADERS. Immigrants come in through a legal process and legal Ports of Entry and are welcomed.

Have you ever noticed how support for militarization is proportional to the person's distance from the place that will be militarized?

[Nihilist74]

He was elected because Hillary Clinton ran a really crappy campaign. Noone was really excited to vote for her so a lot of people just stayed home instead of voting at all in key states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and probably Pennsylvania.

[Themius]

Man oh man.

How can this be so hard to comprehend for modern leftists? The wall insta-clicked with me, I understood its purpose immediately.

It is SYMBOLIC.

It symbolizes resisting CHANGE. It symbolizes resisting immigration in the strongest visual way possible, by walling up and saying "this is MY TURF, YOU out there! NOT effing welcome. Go away.".

People understand it might not be super-effective. They understand it costs a lot of money.

But so what? It's a show of force. "We, the US citizens, have had enough immigration. WE will put a stop to it the best way we can. WE will build a barrier between US, and them.".

The wall is the most extreme they can get while keeping a chance at building it. Trust me, if it was truly for these people that voted Trump to choose, they would electrify the wall and get drones with Hellfire missiles watching over, but they know that won't happen - hell, a simple wall might not happen.

It is reactionary and a manifestation of deep disillusionment with modern society and rapidly changing societal norms and expectations. Do not expect reasonable, rational explanations. It is us and them, and there's a war, and they're soldiers in it.

So you feel more for symbols not for practicality that doesn't waste billions of dollars? You want to die on a hill of like tens of billions of dollars of symbol wall?

You say we the US citizens except you bitch about the left and the wall but THE REPUBLICAN REPRESENTATIVES DON'T WANT A FUCKING WALL EITHER THE ONLY people wanting a wall are trump and his fan base, that's it.

[cuafpr]

the Dems ate their own during the primaries, some people felt sure Hillary had it so didn't vote, The constant attacks on the right eventually caught up with them. The last part hasn't changed and could lead to a second term in 20/20. virtually every Trump supporter / voter i know in real life would no say so in a poll or in an interview for fear of retaliation from left... I'm guessing there are more like that out there that keep silent but will still vote when the time comes.

[Themius]

You cannot stop mass immigration and race mixing is inevitable. It's all futile and comical for me. But I do abhor violence, and I am quite convinced that we will have a race war (not just the US, but Europe too) if immigration continues unrestricted. I am of the opinion to control it strictly for a while and slow things down, so we avoid violence, and allow human reproduction and technology (through easier travel) slowly fix tensions. A wall is a strong symbolic statement, it will have a huge emotional impact too.

Money? Practicality? All irrelevant. US prints money. They give the military billions. They give Israel and Saudi billions. But no wall, lol. Maybe stop helping Israel for 5 years and build whatever you want - but of course, trump will never be able to do that, cause muh anti-semitism, nor will he ever take from the military.

Also, do not forget that Trump is democratically elected and represents the people, for better or worse. No crying about electoral college and others stuff please - when they serve your side they're fine, but when they work against you they aren't. You can spam a trillion #notmypresident hashtags, Trump is still the US President.

Immigrants literally commit fewer crimes, so if a war happens it won't be because the immigrants are criminals. A wall is a strong symbol of the wrong type that will roll us back history wise.

The electoral college isn't fine, I complained about it when Obama won twice, because it inherently makes no sense for democracy.

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He was elected because Hillary Clinton ran a really crappy campaign. Noone was really excited to vote for her so a lot of people just stayed home instead of voting at all in key states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and probably Pennsylvania.

Hillary's campaign was crappy because it didn't have enough racism and xenophobia.

[Lochton]

I am from EU, so I don't have any political side when it comes to US, but Donald Trump seems like a stupid stubborn person from my point of view.

E.g. Look at what happened now, the government shut down is still in progress
I can't remember when so many public officials left the white house after working for/with Donald.
Quitting US negotiated deals with the entire world, which the EU did not improve and ignored.

Something is just not right with him, either dumb or something else,

Because democracy did its job, and Donald Trump used big BUZZWORDS that caught the right sparks to ignite this we have now.

[smityx]

Because it is a democracy and enough people voted for him.

Enough of the 538 electoral college voters selected him. He lost the popular (you and me) vote by 2.87 million.

[BlackBoss]

Because the DNC cheated Bernie Sanders and elected the clearly weakest candidate

[Soeroah]

Some of his voters were ignorant, some were conned, some were straight-up racist and supported such policies, some simply cared more about themselves than others despite being the "the country comes first" party (at least from what I've heard).

It was a perfect storm of stupid, plus the media giving him overwhelmingly massive amounts of free advertising, and the politicians not doing their job in the electoral college and electing a demagogue, which from what I've read is what that whole thing was supposed to prevent, just because of their own self interests.

Because the democratic party ran the most incompetent mess of a political campaign ever.

This, too. The blame isn't squarely at the Right's feet. The democrats assumed they would be sure to win with Trump as the opposition so they didn't even try properly, and failed to represent a significant enough portion of their base that they lost.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Big yikes.

I imagine a lot of people agree with this sentiment and it makes me sick.

They always find ways to rationalize their hatred. With Trump it's emboldenment, with Hillary it would've been something else.
It is indeed sickening that we haven't progressed more.

[rubles04]

Haha..cute question..

[Realitytrembles]

I am from EU, so I don't have any political side when it comes to US, but Donald Trump seems like a stupid stubborn person from my point of view.

E.g. Look at what happened now, the government shut down is still in progress
I can't remember when so many public officials left the white house after working for/with Donald.
Quitting US negotiated deals with the entire world, which the EU did not improve and ignored.

Something is just not right with him, either dumb or something else,

Neoliberalism f'ed the working class in the US.

And Clinton was about as charismatic as a 3-day old crap.

Those are why.