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[Mahonay]

ouch..

Factor in the fact Trump got billions of dollars in free coverage from the media, he really didn't have to dump money into it.

Which is ironic for a man that rallies against the evil media.

 

[Mikecari]

Its useless to try and empathize with people who agree and support such heinous views.

This is why Clinton lost though. She showed absolutely zero empathy for anyone who didn't automatically agree with her and more or less pushed people towards the other side out of spite. She also failed to consider why people would vote for Trump besides racial reasons. News flash: people weren't happy about losing their jobs to trade agreements like NAFTA.

 

[Audioboxer]

So you admit that yes it is the fault of the voter? You lose the right to complain about the outcome if you had a chance to change it and couldn't be bothered. People's common sense or lack thereof is all on them.

Of course I admit fault of anyone choosing not to vote.

I don't care. I miss him.

Me too, his takedowns of Trump would be glorious.

 

[marrec]

My hope is that he doesn't use as much extreme rhetoric. But the damage is done; he already stroked the flames of racism, Islamophobia and divisiveness and his followers want a revolution (or whatever)

I think it's clear from hearing him speak last night that he will moderate his language for the most part. We'll probably still get some crazy shit out of him but nothing like what we've seen leading up to now.

That won't change the fact that his leadership ability and his ability to pick surrogates is probably pretty poor.

 

[Imm0rt4l]

Well hopefully one day you'll realize you, and people like you, are part of the problem.

Racists and non-racists who enable bigotry are the problem. Bigots don't need to be coddled, they need to be shamed.

 

[Pedrito]

Voice of reason, but unfortunately it will be mostly ignored around here.

The hate, mudslinging and fear mongering I'm seeing today is outright disturbing.

Trump's whole campaign was based on hate, mudslinging and fear mongering. And he won. What does that tell us? That Democrats were the ones that were supposed to be more inclusive?

 

[BoboBrazil]

It feels like a different world today. I'm filled with disgust looking at everyone outside and everyone else looks miserable.

 

[PdotMichael]

Factor in the fact Trump got billions of dollars in free coverage from the media, he really didn't have to dump money into it.

Which is ironic for a man that rallies against the evil media.

based on wikileaks. It's possible that the Democrats even paid for his media presence because he was seen as easy opponent.

 

[YianGaruga]

Racists and non-racists who enable bigotry are the problem. Bigots don't need to be coddled, they need to be shamed.

Look how well this worked out for you this election

 

[JohnsonUT]

My hope is that he doesn't use as much extreme rhetoric. But the damage is done; he already stroked the flames of racism, Islamophobia and divisiveness and his followers want a revolution (or whatever)

I just hope he takes his position seriously.

I have a feeling it will continue. He is not going to be able to bring back jobs, so he will be forced to either take responsibility or blame someone else. We already know which he prefers.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

Yep. Some people comparing this to Obama and how he didn't follow through on all his changes. Definitely not the case here with the same party controlling everything.

It's the complete opposite of 2008. Obama walked into the office presiding over a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate.

Last night was fucking surreal. The federal government has completely flipped.

 

[ErichWK]

what are the chances that trump "Drains The Swamp" like he said he was gonna do

 

[Euphor!a]

Racists and non-racists who enable bigotry are the problem. Bigots don't need to be coddled, they need to be shamed.

Well I hope you feel good about your moral superiority when they vote against your interests because you couldn't be bothered to give a shit about their concerns.

 

[marrec]

Look how well this worked out for you this election

It seems like there's a problem of dilution.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Man, 4 years is a long time. I thought we were almost done with this. Ugh.

 

[EatinOlives]

Well hopefully one day you'll realize you, and people like you, are part of the problem.

Nope, not really. Only one side elected a racist, sexist, xenophobic billionaire with no experience into the White House.

People shouldn't stop pointing this out just because they were wrong about the election. It's not prudent to let the winner re-write history.

 

[BFIB]

The media today is so surreal. Constantly you are hearing these pundits "We need to look at each other and start healing, finding common ground." Where the fuck was this while you were getting your rating instead?

Goddamn, if there's one thing I hope gets a major overhaul, its this media bullshit spin on this election.

 

[Afrodium]

ouch..

What does Trump's success mean for campaigning going forward? Does knocking on doors matter in the 21st century? We all laughed at Trump for having no ground have our ad money but in the end it didn't matter.

How important were spaces like /pol and r/theDonald for his success? Was Pepe the frog important? Did memes win this election?

 

[Wheeljack539]

Racists and non-racists who enable bigotry are the problem. Bigots don't need to be coddled, they need to be shamed.

Unless something happens to them that fundamentally changes their worldview shaming won't work. Silence them for a time but not change the way they think.

 

[Killer Queen]

Even if he doesnt, there are other Republicans waiting in the wings to whisper in his ear to make their agendas look favorable to him.

Which is really the scariest part.
Honestly if he manages to:
-Not accelerate global warming with stupid desicions
-continue to militarize police forces
-engage in treason (doubtful)
-further ruin race relations
-make life difficult for LGBT and minorities

We'll be fine. Everything else he can actually accomplish will be reversible, the scariest thing that isn't is empowering shitty people. But it's already too late to go back on that.

Hopefully 2018 can bring some changes to who's in power and honestly, i kinda hope that he continues to make life difficult for rural white Americans. Not because I hate them or I'm cynical, but as a wake up call to say "This is what you asked for, and THIS is what doesn't work" which will hopefully sway some the other way. Some people just don't believe things until they're a reality and even then we'll after, and right now it's not like they can put the blame on anyone but themselves.

 

[Steve Youngblood]

Its useless to try and empathize with people who agree and support such heinous views.

You either support it or not, and taking a side on these issues speaks loudly on the character of that person.

I think one thing I'd caution is that I don't necessarily think the advice is to be empathetic so as to relate to the person who hates minorities and cuts them some slack. The idea is just that going all in on condemning them may not be pragmatic. Sincere passion aside, I do think it can be strategically valid to just highlight deplorable behavior as not acceptable and trust others to agree. But it is a gambit. By going in on the basket of deplorables, the idea is that hopefully enough of the "non-deplorables" will see what's going on and not want to be on the wrong side of history on these things. You don't beat around the bush. You make it clear that this type of behavior isn't acceptable, and you hope enough people agree with the logic and decide to do the right thing.

But what if you're overplaying your hand and not enough people are ready just yet to see things your way? I'm not saying it's any one person's responsibility to have to be the bigger person and meet more than halfway. But I do think some are just trying to be more pragmatic and recognize that some progress is better than being uncompromising and correct. But again, I do realize that some people are genuinely passionate about their positions and I'm not trying to discourage that.

 

[ThreePiMatt]

Its useless to try and empathize with people who agree and support such heinous views.

You either support it or not, and taking a side on these issues speaks loudly on the character of that person.

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. The son of Stormfront's founder left that lifestyle. It's hard but not impossible to make people change. Your lazy and defeatist attitude is absolutely part of the problem. But like many liberals, when confronted with adversity you retreat to your safe spaces and echo chambers, plugging your ears and shouting down anyone who doesn't agree with you.

This election has no doubt inspired the undesirable factions on the right, but hopefully it also emboldens the free-speech liberals who want to fight bad arguments with good arguments rather than mercilessly trying to silence the opposition.

 

[MIMIC]

I think it's clear from hearing him speak last night that he will moderate his language for the most part. We'll probably still get some crazy shit out of him but nothing like what we've seen leading up to now.

That won't change the fact that his leadership ability and his ability to pick surrogates is probably pretty poor.

I was honestly greatly pleased with his acceptance speech. He could have gloated, talked about "crooked Hillary" and how he was gonna build the wall

Spoiler

and maybe he still will

, but he didn't....when the spotlight of the world was on him. But I really appreciated his tone this morning.

 

[oti]

What role will RINO's play the next four years?

 

[OrbitalBeard]

Man, 4 years is a long time. I thought we were almost done with this. Ugh.

If it makes you feel any better, only five incumbent presidents has lost re-election.

Ok, that probably didn't make you feel any better.

Eight years of Donald J. Trump. Yeah, that might happen.

 

[Steve Youngblood]

What does Trump's success mean for campaigning going forward? Does knocking on doors matter in the 21st century? We all laughed at Trump for having no ground have our ad money but in the end it didn't matter.

How important were spaces like /pol and r/theDonald for his success? Was Pepe the frog important? Did memes win this election?

One thing I remember hearing last night is that while the Trump campaign may have been lacking, the RNC ground game was supposedly very good and Trump benefited from it immensely.

 

[The Kree]

What role will RINO's play the next four years?

They'll fall in line behind the fuhrer.

 

[Euphor!a]

Nope, not really. Only one side elected a racist, sexist, xenophobic billionaire with no experience into the White House.

People shouldn't stop pointing this out just because they were wrong about the election. It's not prudent to let the winner re-write history.

You can point out whatever you like, you are more insightful and smarter than all the people that voted for Trump, but look how far that got you.

 

[robotrock]

Sanic please.
https://twitter.com/sonic_hedgehog/status/796426251040792576

I hate this Twitter account

 

[mercenar1e]

What does Trump's success mean for campaigning going forward? Does knocking on doors matter in the 21st century? We all laughed at Trump for having no ground have our ad money but in the end it didn't matter.

How important were spaces like /pol and r/theDonald for his success? Was Pepe the frog important? Did memes win this election?

nobody in the DNC can pint point the reason but i bet some of the questions being asked within are

Was Hillary that awful as a candidate?
How much did Wall Street hurt her?
Last minute FBI investigation?
Free media coverage for Trump?
How can they convince Democrats to get out and vote?
Do they move further right or will they get more liberal?

 

[LegalEagleMike]

If it makes you feel any better, only five incumbent presidents has lost re-election.

Ok, that probably didn't make you feel any better.

Eight years of Donald J. Trump. Yeah, that might happen.

I doubt he will be healthy enough to go 8 years. I could see him not running for reelection and passing the baton to Pence.

 

[Pedrito]

Well I hope you feel good about your moral superiority when they vote against your interests because you couldn't be bothered to give a shit about their concerns.

It's completely false. Things like Obamacare address one of their concerns. But I guess it doesn't matter compared to a wall and vague promises of MAGA.

 

[Meatfist]

What does Trump's success mean for campaigning going forward? Does knocking on doors matter in the 21st century? We all laughed at Trump for having no ground have our ad money but in the end it didn't matter.

How important were spaces like /pol and r/theDonald for his success? Was Pepe the frog important? Did memes win this election?

I think we saw the contrary--internet echo chambers like /pol/, The_Donald and even GAF aren't accurate representations of America, especially rural America. Trump ultimately won because he promised change to the ailing Rust Belt, not because of spicy memes or racism/xenophobia

 

[tiva]

Donald Trump's entire campaign was built around antagonizing comments and it didn't drive his supporters away (or indeed turn out a coalition against him). Fox News and far right wing media like Drudge and Breitbart don't take the tone of "let's educate liberals so they can see things from our perspective." Why is it just on the left to treat the opposition like special snowflakes while the right is calling for Hillary to be thrown in jail and trying to ban brown-skinned people from entering the country? There is a giant rift in this country and it's not going to be solved if one side tries to acquiesce while the other maintains an extreme level of vitriol. The solution is probably not greater vitriol on both sides, obviously, but every other time our country has been as divided as this, it's taken an external factor (war or recession) to get us to move beyond our differences and identify as countrymen again. The answer can't just be "liberals were too mean."

i agree. it does seem like an external factor is the only way to resolve problems like this. but i'm not saying that liberals should treat opposition like special snowflakes, just human beings ( i couldn't find a way to word that that wasn't cheesy as hell lol sorry). their extreme vitriol is a result of fire stoking from both sides. there is an anger there that the right-wing media just taps into and increases, but these people have some legitimate concerns and problems that need to be addressed, that are largely being ignored. and obviously that isn't the only reason for these election results, just one of many.

i really, really want to believe that people are inherently good, but stuff like this makes it hard sometimes :/

 

[cyba89]

"President Trump"

That still doesn't sound good. Not at all.

 

[~Kinggi~]

we are gonna need the mainstream media to step things up more than ever now unfortunately. With the extreme right in power since the level-headed right abandoned ship, we run the risk of some serious violations of peoples rights and just human rights violations in general, and major things like that can lead to violence with so many people disgusted by trump. Media is gonna have to keep a bright spotlight on everything.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Eight years of Donald J. Trump. Yeah, that might happen.

I honestly don't think we will have much of a country by then. Trump is probably the last President America has. I feel something very bad is approaching.

 

[KeyBladerXIII]

No, not really. The assumption that EVERY SINGLE SOLITARY Trump voter is a racist, sexist pig and has zero other relevant political interests other than to keep minorities and women down is a fault of about 95% of PoliGAF. All the hand waving was ridiculous before the election, but now with the results how they are they just dig themselves in deeper, just like those "deplorables" did when you called them racist and sexist and ignored any other concern.

If a person's vote was based solely on the hopes that Trump's experience in business would help their economic situation, jobs, and improve the infrastructure of their cities, towns, etc, fine. I get it.

If they cast a vote on that basis with acceptance of the strong possibility that Trump's other plans will come to pass and they have no qualms about it, that's a problem. From what I've seen, that looks to be the case. I certainly haven't seen any evidence of Trump voters wringing their hands with concern for the negative effect their vote will have on minorities or whoever else will suffer from this. But fine, if that's not a concern of theirs, so be it. We'll see how it shakes out.

 

[CadetMahoney]

Does Obama have to be present during the inauguration?

Lol, yes. He even has to speak to him face to face soon about sensitive material. God, this is terrifying.

I looked up and they have to ride together in the same limo as well. no. not like this.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

I doubt he will be healthy enough to go 8 years. I could see him not running for reelection and passing the baton to Pence.

President Mike Pence.

Yeah, that might happen.

Christ.

 

[Count Dookkake]

On the bright side, one week after the inauguration we get to see Alice destroy the Umbrella Corporation in Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.

#imwithher

 

[Killer Queen]

President Mike Pence.

Yeah, that might happen.

Christ.

This is even worse.

 

[Codeblue]

Look how well this worked out for you this election

These states flipped on the democrats over half a century ago because it became more difficult to discriminate. Some of the greatest orators of all time came out in favor of equality but a good chunk of the USA doesn't understand the concept of "All men are created equal". There's no real educating to do and pandering is even worse.

If we cater to racists, then there can be no progress, there can be no place in the USA for minorities. Demographics will shift blue, and if voter suppression laws don't kill us, progress is inevitable.

 

[Dominican Power]

I will never accept Trump as my president.

 

[darkwing]

Does Obama have to be present during the inauguration?

Yes, so will his wife

yup, it will be awkward

 

[Gotdatmoney]

This argument wasn't very popular on here during the campaign. People put their need to be right and to bully anyone who had views they disagreed with above trying constructively to create positive change. And this is the result.

If you want to know what lost this thing, start by looking at yourself and the way you behaved.

I don't know how many times I have to ask this but before trump went deep into racism where was he?

If you look at the exit polls why isn't the economy above terrorism aand immigration on most important with Republicans?

Anyone want to genuinely aanswer this?

 

[LegalEagleMike]

President Mike Pence.

Yeah, that might happen.

Christ.

Ya I didnt say it would get better lol.

 

[mercenar1e]

I will never accept Trump as my president.

welcome to the Republican mindset of the last 8 years.

 

[paperboywriter]

I will never accept Trump as my president.

trump supporters said that about clinton and no one gave a shit. deal with it.


btw. the little boy who was standing behind trump during his speech, is that the super hacker he mentioned during the debates?

 

[CopperPuppy]

the kind of extremely patronizing and antagonizing comments i've seen in this thread are exactly why trump won. you do not peacefully convince people that you are right by aggressively making fun of them and telling them that they are wrong, even if it's true. that makes them even more entrenched in their own beliefs, and breeds resentment as well. it's really sad that the left has failed to realize this, and it has led to this massive divide in the country. i say that as someone who leans left-of-center when it comes to politics.

This is amazing to me. I've seen this sentiment in several other threads today and last night. People actually think that our current political divide and Trump's victory resulted from internet condescension and liberals not being inclusive?

Fucking seriously?

That's why people voted for Trump? Because they were getting made fun of? Because "liberals" were too mean?

Economically stagnant rural communities provided ample opportunity for Trump to exploit basic scapegoatism and fear of the other. Immigrants, terrorists, you name it. Promise economic revitalization and protection from imaginary invaders to communities convinced that their dwindling resources resulted from foreign sources and, voilà, you've created an enthusiastic base - electoral fruit, ripe for the picking.

These people didn't turn out for Trump or turn against Clinton because they were being made fun of or generalized by liberals in their communities or people on the internet. They turned out because Trump described a threat that these people already believe exists, talked it up for months on end, and then promised to vanquish it and "bring back jobs." If you actually think they showed up to vote because liberals didn't try to include them or used mean words to describe them, then, man, you need to get a grip.

The bottom line is Trump found a successful strategy for turning out the base he cultivated. Hell, he won with fewer votes than Romney. Democrats, meanwhile, didn't show up, likely due to a number of reasons (apathy, lack of enthusiasm, etc.). The coup de grâce was systematically flawed polling in rural communities.

Add it up, and here we are. But let's be clear: "social justice warriors" and "patronizing comments" are not why Trump won.