Re: US Election 2024
 

Well, indeed, it would seem the “polls” did another bang up job! Had us all fooled.

It’s not even going to close.

I’m now looking forward to seeing Trump, not do, what all the hysterical people with TDS say he was going to do.

It’s a great day for democracy.

Re: US Election 2024
 

The inevitable numerous meltdowns are going to be fun to see.

Re: US Election 2024
 

My 16 year old who is now studying Government and Politics A Level was very much ‘why?’, ‘how?’ at the news this morning. Based on living there for a bit (albeit in the fairly liberal north west but in a less well off area) and working with Americans on an almost daily basis, I gave my perspective. Here’s what I shared;

Americans are scared
The US is an incredibly powerful nation and people living there should be rightly proud of that. However, under this there is an undercurrent of fear. If you ask gun owners in the USA why they have guns, they will say for protection. In another example, I frequent cooking sub reddits and the number of Americans who are scared of using plastics, scared of leaving food unrefrigerated, etc. is huge. This is very different from the ‘I am sure it will all work out’ attitude most brits have. Trump is very good at leaning on those fears - Kamala Harris will let all the immigrants in, take away your guns, etc. Fear is stronger than hope

Americans love winning
Winning is hugely important to Americans but more important is the other side losing. Alex Horne tried to launch Taskmaster in the USA and it bombed because everyone was so competitive. If you look at successful panel shows in the UK like Have I Got News for You, Taskmaster, etc. we don’t actually care about who wins as long as we were entertained. A lot of Americans do not have that psyche. On top of that is the zero sum game where it’s so important not just to win but to make sure the other side loses. ‘Owning the libs’ is a strong attractor. They might not agree 100% with what someone says or does but if it disadvantages people they don’t like, then that’s great. This means that compromise is a lose lose outcome. Kamala Harris saying we will talk to Republicans who don’t agree with her is not a winning look.

Strong leaders are attractive
This is not so just a USA thing but a more right of centre politics thing and is in danger of evoking Godwins Law… Fearful people who like winning love a strong leader, someone who is channeling their thoughts, someone to look up to. They can quickly support people with those traits as ‘one of our own’ even when their background shows they clearly aren’t. It’s a type of confirmation bias. Now we British are very strong with that trait. Look at politicians who have very strong personal followings that are treated as ‘one of us’. Not naming names here but privileged upbringings, public school and Oxbridge educated but somehow are branded as an average Joe. Trump leans on that and his supporters believe he is on their side. Kamala Harris appeared more distant and removed from the general public.

The Democrats will learn from this but it does show how strong a tool populism is

Re: US Election 2024
 

Harris was a Diversity Hire and conveniently sidestepped any democratic selection process, which all goes to show that nobody knows "what she's about".
The only arguments presented for voting for her seem to be a combination of "she's not Trump", "she's female", and "she's a person of Colour".

Re: US Election 2024
 

It'll be interesting to see what the Democrats do now. In some ways, I think they might be strong in 2028 as they won't be the incumbent and they won't be running against Trump, but how they respond to this loss will decide what kind of candidates they have.

If Trump does bring in tariffs, then you would expect the economy to be good in the states with the industry he protects but at the national economy's cost. We would need to see how that plays out.

---------- Post added at 09:43 ---------- Previous post was at 09:40 ----------

Yes, because votes were counted, people seem to trust the result and (I hope) there won't be a Democratic Party attempt to invalidate it.

It's a great day for Democracy when people are allowed to vote and that vote is respected, irrespective of who wins.

I am not happy with this result, to say the least, but there is some comfort that this won't collapse into civil disorder and hopefully Americans will respect how important the peaceful transfer of power is.

Re: US Election 2024
 

Why’s that then ?

Re: US Election 2024
 

maybe i'ts very entertaining to see the wokie snowflakes go into meltdown

Re: US Election 2024
 

Same question then, why ?

Re: US Election 2024
 

Let's not lose track of the fact he hasn't officially won yet there's still hope;)

Re: US Election 2024
 

So it looks like the yanks have voted in the first convicted criminal as president.


In the process thrown Ukraine under the bus and handed it to Russia


Now to see the Gaza strip wiped of the earth.


Way to go USA.

Re: US Election 2024
 

Reminds me of the Blazing Sladdles quote:

Putin can now pop the Champagne he has had on ice ... and Zelensky is frantically looking for those old Soviet manuals on how to build nukes.

Re: US Election 2024
 

Hollywood star promises to 'drink drain cleaner' if Donald Trump wins US election


Wonder if it will be televised

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/showbiz/...drain-34045776

Re: US Election 2024
 

Like Obama did? any won't happen Ukraine will still exist, the war may end though

as above


Already happened under Biden/Harris

Re: US Election 2024
 

It’s incredibly embarrassing for the Democrats to lose the popular vote. A message that simply didn’t resonate with the voters they needed to get off the couch. Millions of voters who went for Biden in 2020 didn’t bother for Harris in 2024.

Re: US Election 2024
 

The defeat is so comprehensive that I am not sure any campaign would have turned it around. This isn't 2016 where Clinton was more popular and essentially ran a bad campaign to lose a few states by a few thousand votes. This was Harris losing ground in almost every area and every demographic. A bad campaign doesn't do that.

I think it's quite simple in the end. People don't like governments that oversee high inflation and a fall in living standards. The Tories got the blame for it here and the Democrats got the blame for it there. The same thing happened in Germany.