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Coming to terms: Make a cathartic admittance of mistakes you've made this election
- Thread starter TheOfficeMut
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The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
As someone from Wisconsin I never in a million years imagined Trump would win Wisconsin
Would you mind elaborating on why? I am unfamiliar with that part of our country.
Not taking Trump and his supporters seriously, even when I took them seriously.
Not taking Hillary's enthusiasm gap and the death-by-a-thousand-cuts propaganda machine leveled against her for years seriously enough and believing that enough saner heads would prevail and see through the bullshit.
I'm going to volunteer for Elizabeth Warren's re-election campaign in 2018. I hardly think she needs the support, given her popularity and the politics here, and I hardly think Curt Schilling poses any real risk to her. At the same time, one of the big lessons here has to be to take people like Trump and Schilling seriously, and not treat them as jokes.
If it's any consolation, I don't think any additional amount of time or volunteering would've helped. The campaign made strategic errors in neglecting Rust Belt working-class whites, but even then I'm not sure that could be overcome given the enthusiasm gap among just enough people.
Not taking Hillary's enthusiasm gap and the death-by-a-thousand-cuts propaganda machine leveled against her for years seriously enough and believing that enough saner heads would prevail and see through the bullshit.
I'm going to volunteer for Elizabeth Warren's re-election campaign in 2018. I hardly think she needs the support, given her popularity and the politics here, and I hardly think Curt Schilling poses any real risk to her. At the same time, one of the big lessons here has to be to take people like Trump and Schilling seriously, and not treat them as jokes.
If it's any consolation, I don't think any additional amount of time or volunteering would've helped. The campaign made strategic errors in neglecting Rust Belt working-class whites, but even then I'm not sure that could be overcome given the enthusiasm gap among just enough people.
Epsilon-delta
Banned
Believed the polls even though earlier this year I admitted that I was worried about Trump's populism.
Assumed Hillary learned from her mistakes in 08', and the average American would not vote for a candidate who had no policies, despite having a personality.
Assumed Hillary learned from her mistakes in 08', and the average American would not vote for a candidate who had no policies, despite having a personality.
This is not to single you out, or targeted at you personally.
But this was one of my absolute greatest annoyances throughout this entire election. Trump was never hilarious. He was never entertaining. He was always dangerous, and he was always horrible. I also didn't think he would make it past the primaries, but all of the "Trump da god" bullshit was harmful from day 1.
The man is a meme. He should have been defeated and removed from legitimacy from the very beginning.
rural whites are one of the last groups where it's still socially acceptable to make fun of
Freshmaker
I am Korean.
I voted accordingly. That's about all I can really do.
Changing the minds of Bernie obsessed conspiracy freaks and/or people who think that Trump of all people is less corrupt than Hillary, and the idiots who think they're both equally bad?
I can't do the impossible. They made their bed and we all gotta lie in it now.
Yeah that's not something to be proud of. It just means you don't know your own state anymore.
RumblingRosco
Member
I supported Bernie in the primaries, then Clinton in the general. I posted on here multiple times that people were too complacent, that Trump could still win, and that we all needed to go vote. I've voted almost 100% Democrat party line in every election, Presidential or otherwise, since turning 18. I frequently engage in polite and constructive political discussion with friends in-person and online to try and convince them to vote for the Democrats.
gutter_trash
Banned
same here,
I enjoyed seeing him destroy the other Republican candidates what I thought was akin to Operation Chaos.
my laughter turned into a frown when the media spent 9 days talking about Comey and Emails, fear became real.
then last Tuesday, i wasn't laughing.
I will never advocate for Operation Chaos ever again, the worst became reality and I am dumb founded
How About No
Member
I stayed completely quiet. Not that I have a lot of convincing power anyway...
Yeah this too
Yeah this too
They're either racist or fine with racist rhetoric. It's fine if you put your own economic interests over the basic humanity of others, just be honest about it.
I thought the same about Michigan, but that is the problem. I spent thus week talking to my friends who used to live in michigan but now have left for solidly blue coastal states. The idweat, beyond Chicago, are not doing a great job of keeping their educated young people in state.
Before the election, I was thinking about how brain drain + migration of black people back to southern states + lack of high latino immigration into these states means that the current Midwest could be as solidly red as the southeast is now (and I expect the southeast to get purple/blue over time)
This so much. I just assumed decency would prevail.
I know those folks are out there and I'm aware a lot of them didn't vote. The part I'm struggling with is determining how to help get smarter, more sympathetic folks to vote in the midterms and presidential elections going forward.
Kid Kamikaze10
Member
A misplaced faith in white liberals getting the job done or even having my best interest in mind. Especially seeing a lot of the post election diatribes about id politics.
An unestimation of Trump's strategy. And the wave hitting the entire world. The right authoritarian wave.
An unestimation of Trump's strategy. And the wave hitting the entire world. The right authoritarian wave.
TheTylerRob
Member
I thought that the left would come together no matter what to prevent Trump from winning. Now I have no faith in fellow democrats phony altruism.
Pretty much this with a side of not being nearly as vocal with friends and family members about the differences between Trump and Hillary.
Even if it hadn't made a difference in the presidency, it would've made a difference in the house and Senate races. Shit, if more people, particularly from the swing states had volunteered, it's possible she would have won. Anyhow, all we can do is work towards the future anyways. I'll try not to make the same mistake again.
Thinking people are actually inherently good.
People want to say, "Well she should have tried harder to court Bernie bros, she should have campaigned harder in Michigan, Wisconsin, etc." don't get the fact that none of that matters. She was running against a candidate slightly to the left of fucking Skeletor. Trump ran on a campaign of blatant lies, contempt, racism, sexism, hell all the 'isms, and half the goddamn country still voted for him.
Hillary should have been able to campaign from a goddamn Chuck-E-Cheese and gotten 75% of the vote based on how blatant of an awful human being Trump was.
People want to say, "Well she should have tried harder to court Bernie bros, she should have campaigned harder in Michigan, Wisconsin, etc." don't get the fact that none of that matters. She was running against a candidate slightly to the left of fucking Skeletor. Trump ran on a campaign of blatant lies, contempt, racism, sexism, hell all the 'isms, and half the goddamn country still voted for him.
Hillary should have been able to campaign from a goddamn Chuck-E-Cheese and gotten 75% of the vote based on how blatant of an awful human being Trump was.
I'll put my own admission of wrongness here:
Although I acknowledged that the polls were probabilistic and moreover prone to error due to a number of factors, I still believed that their predictions would be essentially right. I thought that people warning over polls being more prone to chaos this time were sour-grapes Trump supporters who, lacking data to support them, were reaching at phantoms. I should have focused less on the messenger and more on the message. That said, polling is still very, very hard and while it might be easy to find flaws in it, it is less easy to suggest realistic fixes.
Although I acknowledged that the polls were probabilistic and moreover prone to error due to a number of factors, I still believed that their predictions would be essentially right. I thought that people warning over polls being more prone to chaos this time were sour-grapes Trump supporters who, lacking data to support them, were reaching at phantoms. I should have focused less on the messenger and more on the message. That said, polling is still very, very hard and while it might be easy to find flaws in it, it is less easy to suggest realistic fixes.
onadesertedisland
Member
Believing that our system would at some point stop it. But it didn't. And I have zero faith in our government now. We have a maniac at the wheel, and half of the country want that. We're fractured on a level that I do not believe can be healed.
I'm not following. If a person selfishly votes for their own interests with no ill intent to others, they are still oppressing all other races?
Skellig Gra
Member
Great OP. It takes guts to do something like that and admit your mistakes.
I convinced a bunch of my friends to vote for Hillary instead of Stein/Johnson, unfortunately they are all in solid blue states so it didn't really matter.
I suppose I didn't try hard enough to convince my relatives but Im pretty confident that is a lost cause.
I convinced a bunch of my friends to vote for Hillary instead of Stein/Johnson, unfortunately they are all in solid blue states so it didn't really matter.
I suppose I didn't try hard enough to convince my relatives but Im pretty confident that is a lost cause.
Hoho for breakfast
Member
I hope there are some Clinton primary voters in here.
I also did not vote for either Trump or Clinton. So if you want to place the blame there instead of where I'm placing it then I guess I also fucked up. I don't personally think so though.
I also did not vote for either Trump or Clinton. So if you want to place the blame there instead of where I'm placing it then I guess I also fucked up. I don't personally think so though.
RustyNails
Member
I bet on a 10 point win too. Trump had no GOTV. Hillary had Obama's GOTV.
I will buffet on crows and humble pies for a few months.
A lot of the people pegged for hardcore Hillary supporters voted for Bernie in the primaries. In my case, I'm an NPA in Florida, so I wasn't allowed to vote in the primaries. But sure, be a snob about it.
i should've taken the concept of the "depressed" vote more seriously, i shouldn't have encouraged posts that were designed to abuse anybody considered my ally who were hesitant about Hillary. i should've listened to Nate Silver / Michael Moore and felt worried about my state potentially going red, and took that nervous energy to the local DNC headquarters.
i should've understood that oppression flows in many directions. and that the millions of poor rural voters who weren't financially sound under the obama administration should've not have been ignored by us. "they're all racist xenophobes anyways", but what about the ones we saw statistically vote for obama? what about the poor folk that bernie sanders inspired?
i should've realized that simply not hating minorities and the lgbt does not entitle me to feel superior and smug about it.
i should've understood that oppression flows in many directions. and that the millions of poor rural voters who weren't financially sound under the obama administration should've not have been ignored by us. "they're all racist xenophobes anyways", but what about the ones we saw statistically vote for obama? what about the poor folk that bernie sanders inspired?
i should've realized that simply not hating minorities and the lgbt does not entitle me to feel superior and smug about it.
Puck Beaverton
Banned
arrogance that this election was in the bag
shut down anyone who tried to criticize hilary because the W was more important
there is more I'm forgetting. My head hurts
shut down anyone who tried to criticize hilary because the W was more important
there is more I'm forgetting. My head hurts
Hoho for breakfast
Member
I dont mean to be a snob about anything. What I can't stand is going back to the primaries and seeing the bullshit posted about Sanders being too old or too pie in the sky or this or that and it makes my fucking head spin with outrage. We had a chance.
You were right. Have you seen them right now? They refuse to admit they were wrong. To them, everybody is a racist and not worth their time. They are holed up in their Community subforum echo chamber.
smokeymicpot
Beat EviLore at pool.
I believed people weren't total morons.
Tawney Bomb
Member
I was pro Trump when he first started campaigning, because I thought it was parody. By the RNC in the summer I was scared he'd have a shot even though my friends said he wouldn't.
Audioboxer
Member
I think the only real mistake of grave consequence was if anyone is a liberal/democrat and didn't vote (but have in the past).
Most other things are pretty much noise because they come down to individual issues of I didn't debate enough, or on GAF I let Hillary-GAF silence me, etc. Voting is what matters.
However it's good to vent, and letting it all out, even your minor slip-ups, will help.
Most other things are pretty much noise because they come down to individual issues of I didn't debate enough, or on GAF I let Hillary-GAF silence me, etc. Voting is what matters.
However it's good to vent, and letting it all out, even your minor slip-ups, will help.
I admit I let the polls make me overconfident of Hillary's chances.
I honestly felt Hillary was a weak candidate and lacked wit and charisma, and I long ago said that the general public cares more about brand name recognition and lofty promises over experience and policy...
We all got complacent.
Even as Republican, I was vehemently against Trump's candidacy. It was less a political vote than a moral one. I assumed my own party would have some semblance of shame and self-respect, and oh by was I ever wrong. Dems and Republicans both dropped the ball across the board.
I honestly felt Hillary was a weak candidate and lacked wit and charisma, and I long ago said that the general public cares more about brand name recognition and lofty promises over experience and policy...
We all got complacent.
Even as Republican, I was vehemently against Trump's candidacy. It was less a political vote than a moral one. I assumed my own party would have some semblance of shame and self-respect, and oh by was I ever wrong. Dems and Republicans both dropped the ball across the board.
TheOfficeMut
Unconfirmed Member
Well, look, I agree with the first part that we made the mistake of demonizing him when he had our best interests at heart, thereby creating a rift between Clinton and Sanders supporters; but I will not say if were Sanders made the nominee instead that we would've won. Why? Because that cannot be proven and never will be. The closest retrospective outlook you can have is one where you simply say you wish you could have had a shot at the election twice, once with Sanders, to see how much better or worse he would've been. That type of regret is not conducive to moving forward because it's something you can never prove.
triplestation
Member
i did my part and cant think of any mistakes
but trump winning the election has made me realize how outstanding you must appear regardless of how much substance you have, which Obama had both of and that if we want to crawl out of this abyss in the future we are going to need someone with these traits again
but trump winning the election has made me realize how outstanding you must appear regardless of how much substance you have, which Obama had both of and that if we want to crawl out of this abyss in the future we are going to need someone with these traits again
Hi there!
Lots of people aren't racists.
People who voted for a white nationalist support white nationalism.
Other people would like to pretend that's not true to normalize white nationalism in America so that they can avoid facing the truth.
I didnt realize just how disconnected the country is in views between cities and the rural areas inbetween cities.
Its evident that many people are disconnected with modern ideals and society and that now many of us need to try and bring these people into modern times.
Not sure how to tackle that yet but clearly its a total disconnection.
Its evident that many people are disconnected with modern ideals and society and that now many of us need to try and bring these people into modern times.
Not sure how to tackle that yet but clearly its a total disconnection.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
Hey don't look at me, I was sounding the alarm for over a year now. People want to hear what they want to hear.
I was honestly wondering how the GOP would recover from having their party hijacked by crazy bigots. Their ideals are not in line with the fringe and I do wonder what will remain and if hate groups like the KKK will continue to have reason to celebrate this win in the coming years because surely this isn't going to magically fix all the problems they think it will.
Either way I was wrong. The GOP wasn't in tatters. It took a gamble but it won it all.
Either way I was wrong. The GOP wasn't in tatters. It took a gamble but it won it all.
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