US Election Thread 2024

[lowenz]

For clarity, this is the final result of the presidential election...



Trump wins 312 electoral votes...which is a landslide victory.

Trump wins all 7 battleground states.

Trump wins the popular vote by over 4.6 million votes.

The Republicans win control of the Senate.

The Republicans win control of the House.

So where are the "big unstoppable powers against the people" ?

[Arch Fenster]

I am really proud of Kamala Harris. And very thankful.

Libs, you may wish to point out to any MAGA friends and family that there have been no accusations of election fraud, and no denial of the election loss, from Harris or anyone associated with her.

Also, today (is it still today?), during her concession speech, when she assured the public and the press that there would be a peaceful transfer of power, the audience of democrats applauded.

That's proof of sincerity and integrity if anyone needed it.

[lowenz]

"MAGA friends" are laughing at her and her voters.....they're not interested in "honesty". They function around a totally different paradigm: the "righteousness", not the "honesty".
For them "honesty" is for the weaks and you're intended to laugh at weaks because weaks are losers and that's a circular argument that create a positive feedback (I mean positive not as "good" but as "additive")

If you fail to understand their mindset (-> https://www.instagram.com/the.art.of...Y/?img_index=1 ) you can never stop the shitshow.

[Tomi]

Ah well. I'm disappointed but not at all surprised. How the maga folks have remained faithful to their demigod is a bit scary, but then again the rise of the far-right can be seen all over the world, which is always worrying, as is the rise of any kind of extremism. It's only one day after the election, but you can already see the crazies starting to crawl out of their holes (even here on TTLG) and I'm really not looking forward to all the wild conspiracy theories that they come up with during the next four years.

What the world really doesn't need at the moment is more instability and unpredictability, but that's exactly what Trump has to offer. You only have to look at those people who have been the most eager to congratulate him so far, and you get a good idea where his politics lie and what we can expect from his presidency. I hope that at least something that he does leads to something positive, even if it's by accident, but right now I can't see too many positives. "BUT HE SAYS THAT HE'LL END THE WAR IN UKRAINE IN ONE DAY!!!" You know, he may even aim for that, but what really matters is how he's planning to do that.

I wish I could just ignore Trump and his corner of the world for the next four years, but sadly that's not how global politics work, and his cult has followers in my country as well.

[lowenz]

The only 3 things that can stop Russia are:

1) concede to Putin whatever he wants
2) frontal attack Russia
3) go on with the attrition war for the next 5/10 years and make Russia bankrupt

Of course Trump will choose 1) but being a child he can't grasp the fact that Russia economy can't revert to a "peace time economy" in a snap and so the MIC will "necessary" push for some other military actions (Transnistria? Moldavia? Georgia? Africa?) in the ideological framework of the "Ruski Mir".

[LordBooford]

I'm in Scotland and the overwhelming feeling here is that

[mxleader]

It's interesting to me that women on the left are upset at white conservative women for not voting for Harris. Those white women are and always have been conservative and very few will abandon their political values for a gender vote. The most likely scenario for a woman to become US president is for both major party candidates be women. If that happens not only will there be a woman in the oval office but you will see the smaller party candidate's votes swell. I'm not saying this to be mean or anything but I think that's the reality of the way US voters think.

[heywood]

A lot of religious conservative women are anti-abortion voters who always vote Republican. I don't think there's any mystery to how they voted.

Harris actually did better among white women than Biden or Clinton. Trump did better than last time with younger women and especially Latinas. I think the Latina vote is easy enough to understand, but younger women are a bit of a mystery to me.

[mxleader]

Voter turn out in general seems a lot lower this time than in 2020, which is a bit strange. Did people not vote because they didn't like either choice or are the conspiracy theories about fake ballots true? At any rate, Trump will be more dangerous this time than the last because he's older and also doesn't have to think about getting reelected. If both the house and the senate become republican control conservatives can do just about anything. Will Republicans take the high road or the low road? Will Republicans use this golden opportunity to royally fuck over the country and piss nearly everyone off or will the use the time to repair the party's reputation? Probably fairly easy questions to answer, unfortunately.

[Pyrian]

Voter turn out in general seems a lot lower this time than in 2020, which is a bit strange.

Eh. Stuff was really really a shit show in 2020. That motivated people to turn out. Democrats need strong turnout to win, but create prosperous stability, which depresses turnout. Republicans need weak turnout to win, but create chaos and disaster, which increases turnout. The cycle has been clear for a long time. In a nutshell, Harris lost because Biden's economic recovery was too successful; Clinton and Obama presided over much slower recoveries.

[mxleader]

Harris lost because Biden's economic recovery was too successful

What economic recovery?

[demagogue]

The stats show an economic recovery. Wages and prices are famously sticky after any economic shock, and then add to that the spotlight bias (people remember or pay attention to what they're told to look at in clear detail than what they could see themselves with great effort in blurry detail), and so there's a lag and bias in people on the ground seeing it in their daily lives. It's an effect that always repeats itself after every economic shock it seems, it's just sad when it lines up with a campaign cycle like it did this round.

[LordBooford]

The high inflation thing was a worldwide thing. In the UK prices were crazy for a while. Even on everyday foods- just a can of soup slowly doubled in price. Statistically American inflation was among the lowest in the world. I've tried pointing that out to MAGAs online but they just don't or won't understand it. It's all "Everything was so darn expensive, it was Biden's fault"

[Arch Fenster]

Remember that each time America has encountered the Darkness, we came through it a better nation.

[Arch Fenster]

I think the primary reason that Trump won is apathy.

[RippedPhreak]

The prime movers for voting Trump were to drastically reduce immigration or even make it 0.0% for like 20 years, plus bringing back jobs from overseas and economic improvement in general.

[mxleader]

The prime movers for voting Trump were to drastically reduce immigration or even make it 0.0% for like 20 years, plus bringing back jobs from overseas and economic improvement in general.

So basically the impossible...

[RippedPhreak]

If the people don't get what they want, they will keep moving farther and farther Right until they find someone who will give them what they want. Why not just give it to them now?

[Vae]

Trump won 2,642 out of 3,144 counties (84%) in the United States.

This is 54 more counties for Trump than from the previous 2020 election (2588). Full List of Counties Donald Trump Flipped From Kamala Harris

[Arch Fenster]

Repeating for clarification:

The reason Trump won was voter apathy. People who said things like "they're all the same" and "the lesser of two evils", etc., who simply did not vote.

Call it intellectual laziness. Call it a lack of the imagination required to foresee outcomes. Call it uninformed cynicism. Whatever you wish. But it's the folks who took no action that handed Trump the prize.

[mxleader]

Here's what I'm seeing on Tiktok: Trump won because:

1. People hate the Biden/Harris administration enough to vote for Trump
2. Everyone is racist.
3. White women are racist.
4. What were latino men thinking?
5. Everyone hates women, even women.
6. Not enough people want a woman for US president.
7. The low votes for Harris is because many were fake during the 2020 election but the problem is fixed now.
8. Everything is Biden's fault.
9. Harris had four years to fix things and didn't, so it's Biden's fault.
10. Women cancelling out their father's, sons, brother's, uncle's, cousins and grandpa's votes was the best campaign strategy.
11. Telling the opposition that they are stupid and garbage in the hopes that they would be persuaded to vote blue.

Did I miss anything?

[Vae]

Donald Trump's campaign manager Susie Wiles has been named Chief of Staff.

She is the first female Chief of Staff in history...

[mxleader]

Repeating for clarification:

The reason Trump won was voter apathy. People who said things like "they're all the same" and "the lesser of two evils", etc., who simply did not vote.

Call it intellectual laziness. Call it a lack of the imagination required to foresee outcomes. Call it uninformed cynicism. Whatever you wish. But it's the folks who took no action that handed Trump the prize.

I've seen a few social media posts blaming those who voted Green, Libertarian, etc. are at fault. The problem with that is that if all those other parties voted for Harris it wouldn't have moved the needle.

[Starker]

People will always try to find someone to blame when something bad happens. But at the end of the day, the responsibility lies at nobody else's feet other than the voting-age people of the US. They saw the incredible displays of incompetence, the constant rampant corruption and the incessant chaos and scandals of the first 4 years first-hand and said either "yes, more of that!" or "I don't really care if it's more of that." Lord Dampnut may be a stain on the image of the US, but it's the people of the US who soiled themselves... twice.

[Pyrian]

What economic recovery?

The very very successful one. Historically successful, even. Try to keep up. Brought unemployment below 5%, inflation below 3%, real inflation-adjusted wages rising especially for lower income earners, record stock markets and GDP. If you go back and compare the last several economic recoveries, this was much better in every important way.

Yes, there was some inflation (still not "hyperinflation"), but 1. IMO really not a big deal when inflation-adjusted wages are UP and 2. It was worldwide inflation and we were comparatively low. The real reason there's a big freakout about inflation even after it went back below 3% is that people with a lot of money haaaate inflation (and Democrats) and they've purchased the ability to drive the discourse. For a typical worker, things cost 21% more than 4 years ago but they're getting 26% more pay, so whatever, why go out and vote? They've got work to do. But the guy with $100m in dollar-denominated assets suddenly finds that the buying power of that investment is now only ~$80m compared to four years ago is pisssssssed off and more than willing to blow a few million to fool the gullible. They'd much rather have high unemployment than low returns.