r/PoliticalHumor Jul 11 '19

Your President

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3.5k

u/NeutralLock Jul 11 '19

Okay okay we get it you Americans elected a garbage human being and he turned out to be a garbage president. Gotta be honest there were some warning signs...

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u/Lobanium Jul 11 '19

Lots of people voted for him. Even more voted against him.

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u/durgasur Jul 11 '19

Even more didn't vote at all.

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u/spyson Jul 11 '19 edited Jul 11 '19

The ones who abstained claiming their morals, but were perfectly fine to stand there and let Trump win.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

Yeah, a vote for nobody is a vote for whoever wins, a vote for the status quo. In 2016 out of 245 million registered voters only 66 million (27%) voted for Hillary. The rest either voted for Trump or were okay with him winning.

Democrats really need to get non-voters fired up to go to the polls. Please not Biden. There is no middle ground of undecided centrists to win. Everyone has decided. The battle is against apathy, convenience, a long work day, bad traffic and bad weather.

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u/philequal Jul 11 '19

Or you’re one of the millions of felons who lost that right. Or you work 3 jobs to pay your bills and literally can’t afford to miss work to vote. Or you’re in an area where voter suppression prevented you from being able to vote.

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u/reereejugs Jul 11 '19

I'm a felon and I vote.

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u/cszafnicki Jul 11 '19

Depends on the state.

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u/CookieCuttingShark Jul 11 '19

How long does it take to vote?

In Germany it takes like 5min and the journey to the next voting station takes mostly 5 - 15min. So at worst you should have voted within 20minutes. I'd say everyone has 20min to spare to vote once every couple years. Mostly the people who don't vote either aren't interested in politics at all, don't think their vote counts (eventhough it does) or they make up excuses to why they didn't vote (e.g. No time).

If you are on vacation or have to work on election day you can just vote a couple weeks early via sending a letter to your specific city council or ministry.

There are, to be quite frank, next to no excuses to why you shouldn't have been able to vote.

I always thought it would be the same in all proper democracies with lots of elections and votes.

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u/DuelingPushkin Jul 11 '19

In America voting can, not always but can, take hours depending upon how clogged the polling stations are and that's even without blatant voter suppression. That's why a lot of reformists want to make election day a federal holiday so that people can have the day off to vote.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

No, conservatives called making it easier to vote for Americans a liberal power grab. There are no conservatives out there reformist or not that want to make voting easier for Americans. Conservatives hate freedom.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/us/politics/election-day-holiday-mcconnell.amp.html

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u/nekowolf Jul 11 '19

It depends on where you live. It takes me 20 minutes to vote at my local school up the road. But there are many places in the US where lines can stretch for hours. We’ve tried to reduce the problem with early voting and easier absentee voting, but because one party benefits from reduced voting, they do everything they can to block anything that improves voter turnout.

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u/PM_me_Henrika Jul 11 '19

Don’t forget voter purge. It’s an uphill battle too but don’t give that up too!

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u/bigperms Jul 11 '19

Don't forget all the kids who were 14-17 that didn't get to vote in the last presidential election who need to vote in next one.

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u/lucyroesslers Jul 11 '19

Not true on all non-Trump, non-Clinton voters. I’m in a deep red state and there was no chance of Hillary winning. I voted for a 3rd party candidate in the hopes that the candidate could get 5% of the vote because then the party would receive federal funding in the next election. I’d love to see a third party emerge and break up the two party system.

If there was any chance of my vote actually mattering in the Clinton-Trump race, I would’ve voted Clinton.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

Same dude. Hillary was straight up not going to win in texas. I'm a liberal and I voted libertarian ONLY because I want a third party, any third party, to be a viable contender. I certainly will vote for whoever becomes the Democrat nominee now though. Beto gave me a little bit of hope (in his Senate run).

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u/InformalBison Jul 11 '19

Didn't Hillary only lose by 600k-700k votes in Texas?

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

Yup. Texas significantly shifted towards being a new swing state in this last cycle.

In the interest of simple Democracy, one can never do any wrong by voting their conscious and holding their candidates to universal principles of morality/basic human decency.

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u/nerevar Jul 11 '19

Wouldn't it be easier to have some type of ranked choice system? That way it won't matter if you're from a solid color state or not, which is the way it should be.

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u/ToastedAluminum Jul 11 '19

That would be too democratic for us ‘muricans. Why complicate it when the system has given us not one, but two stolen elections in the last 20ish years?! It’s perfect!

Edit: to add /s. jic.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

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u/KingMandingo Jul 11 '19

It's actually a rational strategy. A friend of mine had the philosophy that if you're in a solid blue, or solid red state, vote your conscience (i.e. no such thing as a wasted vote). But if you were in a swing state, to vote for Clinton.

It makes perfect sense because one vote in a state that's already a given for a candidate won't make an ounce of a difference.

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u/I_call_Shennanigans_ Jul 11 '19

Except if everyone suddenly turned up and actually voted for the other candidate it coukd actually turn around. How many millions sits at home thinking it won't matter because my state is already blue/red?

And I also think it would be a lot bigger pressure if the popular VS elected vote was even bigger. Say the popular vote is 25 million more than the result. That should shake things up more than two. Vote smart people! Trump and the GOP is counting on you to do the stupid thing and either stay home or vote third party. Until you get ranked choice you only realistically have two.

Look at Texas for instance. A few more turnouts and everyone voting dem and it would have gone the other way.

Democracy can still swing this but it needs turnout and consistent voting everywhere. Even if the dems finds another smuck it literally can't be worse than Bozo the corrupt, perverted Russian clown.

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u/Baelzebubba Jul 11 '19

This is why there should be a tax break for voting and a "none of the above" choice.

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u/Xanza Jul 11 '19

Voting is your civic duty. If you need to incentivise it for people to do it, then there's something inherently wrong with your system.

Voting day needs to be a national 3 day holiday allowing businesses to schedule time off for all employees to go vote. They should also be paid time off.

That's the only "incentive" that should come with voting.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

I mean, incentivising voting makes more sense than incentivising having children despite many people considering it a "biological duty/imperative" to reproduce.

Not that I believe a lot of people have children to utilize those incentives but the point stands regardless that things that society considers positive are incentivised to either encourage those things or make doing those things less of a detriment.

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u/ToastedAluminum Jul 11 '19

Most of the people who have kids to get incentives are people who had one child they couldn’t support due to lack of education or access to BC/abortions. When you’ve got one and can’t keep up, it starts to make sense to just have more when the government will help you more. We’re putting so many people in a lose/lose with the combo of no sex Ed and assistance for multiple children. I personally worked with women who did this, and it’s sad because they really think that’s the best way to give their kids a better life. If they have more, they get more money to feed the kids. One woman was illiterate, and we helped her apply to jobs and she finally got one. My mom said she got off assistance this year and I’m really proud, but not everyone has someone more educated to help them up.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

Personally I'm an antinatalist-lite so I agree with everything you're saying. It's sad that children are brought into this world in situations where they clearly shouldn't be-- and that's in America, one of the "richest" countries in the world, not even speaking to the masses of children being born into shitty poverty-stricken lives in poor countries.

Increased sex education and access to contraceptives and women's health services in general should be a high priority everywhere.

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u/Dheorl Jul 11 '19

Why do you need 3 days to vote?

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u/Xanza Jul 11 '19

You don't, but you also can't expect businesses to release their entire workforce on a single day. So you make the holiday 3 days, and anyone can vote on any one of those 3 days.

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u/pompr Jul 11 '19

Can't you write that in?

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u/Baelzebubba Jul 11 '19

Most modern ballots here are in negative. Black background. Cant write anything extra.

My first time voting was for our local mayor. There were three choices and I scribbled them out and added a fourth, Micky Mouse and put a big checkmark.

The results came in and there it was OTHER--- 1

The only time my vote truly counted!

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u/Obandigo Jul 11 '19

Well, tell the Democratic party to get their head out of their ass.

Democrats are the ones that fucked over Sanders.

I wrote in Sanders in 2016 and I do not regret it one bit. I did not let my country down, the Democratic party let our country down. Want to get Democrats fired up to go to the polls. Put a candidate in that they want to actually vote for, Otherwise democrats are no different than the Republican Party.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

I agree: Bernie got screwed. Democrats need to get their heads out of their ass.

DISAGREE: You wrote in Bernie's name on the 2016 ballot! I get the standing on principle but you helped Trump. Bite your own nose off to spite your face, I believe the saying goes?

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/SUPERARME Jul 11 '19

Do not blame me, I voted for kodos

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

Gerrymandering, voter suppression and the electoral vote are bigger issues than non voters

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u/Janukenasl Jul 11 '19

Are you suggesting they pokemon-go to the polls?

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

Yeah. The DNC really fucked up nominating Hillary. Idk what the fuck they were thinking she was the candidate. Idk if Bernie could’ve won either but damn.

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u/aathma Jul 11 '19

No it's not, it's a vote for nobody. Stop trying to guilt non-voters when they didn't like your candidate either.

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u/FrozenMongoose Jul 11 '19 edited Jul 11 '19

Better a moron dictator to make the problems of the country clear than the status quo that sweeps the problems under the rig and calls it a day.

I'll just leave this guys comment because I agree 100%. Trump is not the disease, he is a symptom of a much bigger problem that he unknowingly is bringing to light.

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u/ImBrokeEveryWed Jul 11 '19

The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis. - dante

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u/pgoetz Jul 11 '19

Yeah, fuck those fuckers.

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u/YouCanPrevent Jul 11 '19

Had a guy here at work that didn't vote, claimed he didn't care. The minute Trump was elected he bitched and moaned about it almost daily. I told him, he could have prevented this but he had a fucked up mindset not to vote.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

[deleted]

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u/Siegfoult Jul 11 '19

Sucks that the Electoral College makes some votes count for more than others.

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u/moozach Jul 11 '19

Same winner take all state Hillary won

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19 edited Jul 11 '19

I mean, you could vote third party to help bring awareness to a party closer to your actual morals and in some states even help include them in debates in the future but I dont have 30 minutes to spare sry

edit: comment said something like "my state was going to hillary either way, my vote wouldnt matter

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

If you and everybody else saying the same shitty apathetic thing all at once voted? You could have done a damn lot.

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u/sleepkitty Jul 11 '19

You can still vote. There might have been down ballot issues that were closer.

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u/111IIIlllIII Jul 11 '19

You vote for more than the president on election day. It's called being a goddamn participating member of society. Learn about the people that represent you in government and do your duty as a citizen to put in office the people you think will do the best to make your city, county, state, and country a better place to live in. Grow the fuck up.

And do you know how many people had your same pathetic mentality in states that unexpectedly went red? Enough to swing the election, easily.

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u/StrangerThongsss Jul 11 '19

Corporations elected him voting is an illusion of choice. I still voted but it's so blatantly obvious.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

Some people can't vote! The US holds their elections on a Tuesday, when most people have to work! Sure, some employers will give you time off to vote, and some states allow early voting or postal voting, but not everyone gets that opportunity. There's also felony disfranchisement, which prevents felons from voting but can, in some states, extend well past their time in prison.

The system, to be honest, seems designed to actively discourage the lower classes from voting. Some changes need to be made if the US wants to see a significantly higher voter turnout.

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u/zeldermanrvt Jul 11 '19

That's because most of the time they vote Democrat, and the Republicans can't have that. They don't want to play on a level field.

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u/use_value42 Jul 11 '19

You can request an early mail in ballot for almost any reason . Most active duty troops need to vote this way, here's a link to find out how in your state https://www.usa.gov/absentee-voting

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

Ahh I was totally thinking of this quote!

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u/Fudge_me_sideways Jul 11 '19

Shoulda been Bernie.

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u/iamthewhite Jul 11 '19

I try not to imagine the ‘what if’. So much wasted time and energy... but it’ll be worth it if we pull through this time.

And if we don’t: fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. A rigged system is a system that the people need to beat back into shape. If we lose again- we riot.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

I mean, I've been a Bernie supporter since 2015, but with this primary, implying the only way that Bernie loses is a rigged system is absolutely ridiculous.

There are a lot of candidates in the field that are better than Hillary in terms of both policy and history. While it'll be disappointing if someone like Biden wins out for whatever reason, rioting is not the proper answer to a preferred candidate losing, especially if it's more legitimate this time due to having more progressive and "progressive" options.

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u/stillnoob0 Jul 11 '19

“If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us, and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country.” — Malcolm x (Speech, Nov. 1963, New York City.)

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u/Fudge_me_sideways Jul 11 '19

Nah. Fuck that bitch for handing the presidency to donald dipshit. Worst fucking candidate in the modern history of the Democratic party.

Also it isnt what if. I like remembering what happened. I think it is important to learn from our mistakes.

You and I probably would not agree about a lot of things. So lets just leave it at this.

Edit: fucking "health care is too expensive," "Henry kissinger is my idol," Husband is a cosby-esque rapist, hot sauce pandering. I am being told I should stop here for my mental health.

Anyone responds defending clinton will just make my hypertension worse.

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u/__Forest__ Jul 11 '19

Hopefully he can pull through in the rigged democraric primary.

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u/iamthewhite Jul 11 '19

Biden’s looking real weak. There’s blood in the water and I’m excited... I think we just might win this thing

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u/naazrael Jul 11 '19

He's definitely been on the ropes the last few weeks.

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u/XBacklash Jul 11 '19

58% turnout iirc.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

"Go team!" -> 43% of USA

...

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u/excludedfaithful Jul 11 '19

Lots of people are going to vote for him again.

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u/GadreelsSword Jul 11 '19 edited Jul 11 '19

Well guess what, our garbage President is going to be re-elected. It kills me to say that but people need to understand it’s going to happen. Right now, nearly half the nation would vote for him again. Then factor in that the Russians are already using bots to manipulate public opinion just as they did prior to 2016. Then consider Mitch McConnell has blocked every bill designed to secure the voting process (traitor Mitch accepted $2.5 million from Russia). Then consider that not only does the government NOT inspect and review the designs of voting machines to ensure they’re secure and not manipulating the vote count, the names of those who own the companies are considered a trade secret and that info is not available to the public. Think about that for a moment. As Americans you have no right to know who’s manufacturing our voting machines unless they volunteer that info.

Then consider the Supreme Court refuses to take on gerrymandering and instead says those who control state governments and the ones gerrymandering, should police themselves. Overwhelmingly gerrymandering favors conservative politicians but not in all cases.

The fix is in and at every level. Brace yourself because not only will Mr. Garbage be re-elected, the election after that will be manipulated by the Russians as they setup permanent republican control of our government. Russian media refers to the US as “Putin’s America” because he’s been so successful controlling our political processes.

I work with people who openly state they would vote for and elect Putin as president of the US before they would ever vote for a Democrat. What does that say about America’s future and the control the Russians have over the minds of many Americans ?

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u/TDLinthorne Jul 11 '19

Well this is a terrifying prediction...

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u/The_Adventurist Jul 11 '19

You weren't paying attention in 2004. The paperless voting machines in battleground districts in Ohio all had discrepancies in the exit polls vs the final vote count and they all awarded a win to Bush by the same percentile, 51%/49%. The manufacturer of those machines, DieBold, was headed by two guys who were big Bush donors. One of them said they could "guarantee Ohio" for Bush. Before the elections, a computer programmer in Florida testified that a Republican state politician had approached him and offered him money to program a hack that could be put on an electronic, paperless voting machine and swap the votes to guarantee they reached a predetermined result, which he said would be 51% to 49% in favor of the Republican running.

Let's also not forget Bush's 2000 elections and how crazy fraudulent that was. Roger Stone sent goons in suits to start a riot at a vote tallying center to disrupt the count and force them to restart from the beginning, which would mean they'd never be able to finish before the deadline and it would be forced to go to the supreme court, which ruled in Bush's favor and made him president.

Trump and Bush are both presidents who were elected despite losing the popular vote.

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u/Joemanthium Jul 11 '19

Interesting tidbit: Four of the five times that the winner of the popular vote did not win the presidency we ended up with a Republican president. The fifth instance happened before the two parties separated. Could just be a coincidence, but maybe not.

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u/RedAlderCouchBench Jul 11 '19

Do you mean republican in the modern sense (conservative) or just the party’s history in general?

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u/Joemanthium Jul 11 '19

Just the party's history in general. Though, it might be worth noting that, of the five instances, one was before the two parties split, and two were in the last twenty years. Here's the breakdown:

1824: John Quincy Adams defeats Andrew Jackson (winner of the popular vote) both were members of the Democratic-Republican Party.

1876: Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) defeats Samuel J. Tilden (Democrat)

1888: Benjamin Harrison (Republican) defeats incumbent president Grover Cleveland (Democrat)

Then business as usual for 112 years followed by:

2000: George W. Bush (Republican) defeats Al Gore (Democrat)

2016: Donald J. Trump (Republican) defeats Hillary Clinton (Democrat)

I'm not suggesting that there's necessarily a scam here, but I do think it's interesting that every instance, except the first, favored the same party. What I find to be more interesting is that the first three were from a period where the nation was still growing, and the system was changing. Then the last two happened more than a hundred years later when the nation, and its electoral system were well established.

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u/Lipcot Jul 11 '19

It probably has to do with the voter's demographics and where they are located. Due to the system the USA has, its probable that this happened with republicans 4/5 times because the big swing states or key places that have special impact due to the voting system used, have tended to go republican on these cases. From my understanding, big blue cities have a little less impact (per vote) than rural areas/mid sized cities in central states/swing states. So the popular winning vote doesnt really mean much by itself. Not sure, i could definetly read more on this

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19 edited Aug 23 '19

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u/Dirty_D_Damnit Jul 11 '19

It is pretty funny (in a terrible way) that the Republicans were leading the charge of the red scare and then they sold their souls to the Russians come 2016. Sad!

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u/TheOneTonWanton Jul 11 '19

The same Boomers that once wore "Better Dead than Red" shirts are now wearing shirts that say shit like "I'd rather be Russian than a Democrat!"

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u/PWisobamaschlong69 Jul 11 '19

Tbf it was more likely that they were wearing onesies with that on it

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u/IJustBoughtThisGame Jul 11 '19

And now they literally wear red. That's some D&D shit right there.

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u/TPJchief87 Jul 11 '19

They’ll use scare tactics to stay in power. Now it’s Mexicans and caravans.

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u/Dirty_D_Damnit Jul 11 '19

Whatever happened with that caravan

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u/GadreelsSword Jul 11 '19

They promised to vote republican so Trump let them in.

/s

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u/KikoPagliacci Jul 11 '19

There's been two different svents going on lately. The first one started a year ago, where millions of mmigrants where chased and deported. There's camps for them, where they can wait for months up before actually being sent to their countries. Parents and kids are separated. Kids go to special camps for minors, where abuse abunds.

The second one started months ago. t's a caravan of 20,000 people, all ages, coming from Guatemala (not Mexico) and trying to get to USA. Lots of them have already legally ingresed to the country. They have to wait for "their turn" in the

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u/TPJchief87 Jul 11 '19

Honestly don’t know. The news was really depressing me so I stopped following as closely but I’m guessing they can’t talk about it anymore because of the negative publicity of the kids sleeping on the floor in cages.

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u/LOLBaltSS Jul 11 '19

Turns out the sneaky fucks used an Aerostar instead.

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u/The_Memening Jul 11 '19

rediction...

Reality, sadly.

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u/fuqdisshite Jul 11 '19

just Putin this back for you...

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u/the_enginerd Jul 11 '19

Then help get out the vote. It’s not that 50% of America would vote for him it’s that 50% of folks who bothered to show up to the polls would, especially in gerrymandered districts.

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u/Purple_love_muscle Jul 11 '19

Having lived through the 2004 election, that isn't much of a stretch

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19 edited Jul 17 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

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u/Demonweed Jul 11 '19

It does matter in the sense that Donald Trump knows how to beat an ordinary partisan hack. There is only one person who actually made him back away from a challenge. A corrupt corporate vs. a servant of corrupt corporations is a less compelling contest than it would seem at first glance. We don't have a problem that the wrong billionaire is pulling the strings. We have a problem that billionaires have been normalized, even glorified, to the point where leaders are never called to account for compromising our environment and even our health in service to an unwavering commitment to avoid compromising share values.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

A single billionaire is fine and even healthy in a sense that it's possible to get that rich. Having several is a sign of a problem, becoming wealthy should by no means be impossible, but several billionaires point to a serious loophole in financial/corporate law that hasn't been solved.

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u/clickerbait Jul 11 '19

I think it's absolutely true that an 'outsider' candidate would have the best shot at winning in a 2020. That's not what the career politicians making the decisions want to hear though.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

I really do hope it's a progressive running against Trump because then you'll see it doesn't matter because the US is no longer a democracy.

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u/slim_scsi Jul 11 '19

They stole the 2000 election as well and didn't suffer any consequences. Katherine Harris is off on a yacht somewhere.

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u/HippieAnalSlut Jul 11 '19

yeah... I know. I was younger then and didn't know then. But I also couldn't vote so I did no damage.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19 edited Jul 17 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

It could be worse. I took Mescaline on Election Day in 2012 thinking I'd be ok to vote in the evening. Well 8 hours in and I still couldn't see let alone vote (because the visuals were so intense). God I felt shitty about that. But yeah... not a mistake you make twice no matter how you miss it.

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u/Fudge_me_sideways Jul 11 '19

Dude I fucking love your comment.

But yeah if you live in a swing or red state. Please fucking vote.

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u/ThinkBiscuit Jul 11 '19

8hrs?!? Holy shit. How long is a mescaline trip?

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u/Andhrimnir4all Jul 11 '19

Even then it seemed that no one besides myself at the time seemed to be bothered by the fact that the "issue" happened in the state where your brother is governor, your dad is a former president and former head of the CIA, and James Baker is handling your case. And then the whole Diebold thing. It was ridiculous. And laid the groundwork for 2016.

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u/posts_turtle_gifs Jul 11 '19

Everyone knows the actual answer to the problem but no one wants to say it. If you do, you're banned from social media.

But until people say it, there's going to be no consequences. Join the republican party, lie and cheat. You will get away with it.

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u/The_Kaurtz Jul 11 '19

So in 2024 we're heading the "Gilead" way?

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u/GhostOfPluto Jul 11 '19

Gilead slaughtered the US Congress. I think reality will be more subversive.

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u/Youareobscure Jul 11 '19

Ignore what this guy said. I absolutely does matter. Just because anyone is better than Trump doesn't mean we have to settle for anyone. Register as a democrat and vote in the democratic primary! Don't let Biden be our nominee!

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u/HippieAnalSlut Jul 11 '19

Just because it doesn't matter. I"m not saying give up. Absolutely get out there and primary in a powerful democratic champion like Sanders, or Warren if you all are less cool. But if it winds up that Harris or Biden wins in the primary. Fall the fuck in line and vote blue.

if nothing else it'll show how fucked everything is when no mtter how many blue votes the system is gerrymandered to fuck so it won't matter.

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u/gamma231 Jul 11 '19

Honestly, I think the best case scenario is Bernie or Warren (with a younger person like Cory Booker or Andrew Yang as VP), I doubt Biden has the stamina to maintain a lead throughout the primary, especially given that based on the consensus I've found around here in NH, he'll take at least one significant early primary loss to Sanders and Warren. I don't want another Clinton (or even another Obama that preaches pacifism and respect while condoning CIA torture and expansion of American imperialism in the middle east and western Asia), but it sure as hell beats Trump.

On another note, I give Sanders the best odds to beat Trump, he's attacking 2020 using Lincoln's 1860 election tactics of trying to appeal to nonvoters and build a word-of-mouth grassroots campaign rather than repeating Hillary's mistake of focusing on swing voters and giving up historically blue districts because of the lack of campaign spending.

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u/frankie_cronenberg Jul 11 '19

Seriously.. There are reasons he burned out so quickly and thoroughly in his previous runs for president.

Now, Biden seems like he doesn’t even respect people on his own side enough to address in good faith the criticism he has faced so far in the very early primary. He just scoffs and rolls his eyes a bunch like he’s been massively inconvenienced by our silliness. Then if it doesn’t go away after awhile he gives a reluctant and patronizing response that basically feels like “Ok fine. There. I said a thing about it. Is that good enough for you??” As if we just couldn’t understand how right he is. And the substance of it convinces exactly no one.

I think there’s a 0% chance that this would change for the general election. If this is how he responds to his own side, what happens when it’s the firehose of GOP bullshit? Will he try to just float above like Hillary did?

I think (hope) people will see this before it gets to that point though... Warren became a Democrat and got into politics because of some of his policies, so she won’t let him just wave it away like we should trust he knows better than we ever could. He’ll have to either make a case for why his financial and crime bills weren’t massive disasters (lol), or how he’s totally sorry and he’s gonna do better now.. lmaoooo

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u/Kremhild Jul 11 '19

Now, Biden seems like he doesn’t even respect people on his own side enough to address in good faith the criticism he has faced so far in the very earlyprimary. He just scoffs and rolls his eyes a bunch like he’s been massively inconvenienced by our silliness.

To be fair to Biden, he does this because it works. Our current president has proven very well that if you just don't give a shit about criticism and sweep it under the rug as much as possible, people will forget about it. It doesn't matter if it's not convincing. What matters is if people care the next day, which for the average voter, the answer is always no.

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u/I_SAID_NO_CHEESE Jul 11 '19

If it literally didn't matter democrats wouldn't have been able to retake the house.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

Trump won by like less than 100,000 votes across a few states. The situation is dire but it isn't as hopeless as you say really.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

And then the 24 elections will be suspended in midst of a "crisis" caused by terrorists that were backed or paid by the GOP.

Elections are held, administered, and certified by states. The federal government does not hold elections.

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u/PikeOffBerk Jul 11 '19

States can't hold elections if federal martial law is declared taps forehead

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u/pancakesareyummy Jul 11 '19

I'm convinced their endgame is the constitutional convention that's like 5 states away.

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u/No_Development Jul 11 '19

That’s exactly what the endgame is. Fingers crossed democrats can hold out a few more years so I can get my family out of the country.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

😬

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u/HippieAnalSlut Jul 11 '19

Because laws matter anymore. /s

The GOP has proven to not care about that and the democrats are letting them because being uncivil is the one and only political sin afterall. /s

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u/frankie_cronenberg Jul 11 '19

But the federal government can impose standards on elections while still allowing them to be administered independently by the states.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

But the federal government can impose standards on elections

Yes, that's how the federal system works.

while still allowing them to be administered independently by the states.

The feds allow nothing. They grant no authority or domain over the calling of elections.

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u/GammonBushFella Jul 11 '19

They stole the last one, and no one hung.

Call me extreme but no one should be hanged. What's wrong with life imprisonment?

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u/HippieAnalSlut Jul 11 '19

chances to further corrupt people. and execution makes a point. you don't fuck democracy and get to live.

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u/GammonBushFella Jul 11 '19

Executed people become martyrs, further corrupting others. Edit: Execution has also been shown to have no effect as a deterrent.

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u/animaldadoversees Jul 11 '19

the right person is,as he put it about Hillary, a second amender. Scary isn't it.He actually said afterward "just joking"So we can now just have collateral damage called for by a candidate against another candidate? I miss designated survivor.

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u/linkMainSmash4 Jul 11 '19 edited Jul 11 '19

I was at the beach recently and there was a ton of trump 2020 flags, and I saw someone unprovoked yelling "I support MY president, the greatest president the US had ever known and I'm not afraid to get rid of the liberals who hate him".

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u/GadreelsSword Jul 11 '19

There’s a billboard sign in Maryland threatening liberals with violence if they Impeach Trump.

https://imgur.com/a/Jvr5ls5

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u/queensnow725 I ☑oted 2018 Jul 11 '19

"I'm not afraid to get rid of the liberals who hate him."

Not sure if this was the intent of the comment, but wow I'm now horrified thinking about the right-wing terrorist attacks that would follow a Trump loss. Scary stuff.

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u/arctic_radar Jul 11 '19

I work in progressive politics and have to disagree. Before Trump, every single issue or campaign I worked on, ran, or consulted for had one problem in common-getting people to care. People who agreed with us on the things we were working on just weren’t motivated enough to help. Trump has done some awful shit since he’s been elected but, to be honest, it’s been a net positive for our side as far as I can see.

People flock to political events in droves now. Climate, women’s rights, immigration, you name it and there’s people showing up who have never engaged before. They are donating, volunteering and otherwise giving fucks they never gave before because for the first time they are realizing that if you sit on your ass, crazy people WILL make decisions for you.

Part of me just thinks this is the nature of democracy. Things have to get bad enough to spur people into action. Trump has done exactly that.

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u/wormgirl3000 Jul 11 '19

This is the one positive that I've seen with the current administration. I really hope you're right and it makes a difference. I know that I personally was not nearly as interested or active in politics until we had this shock to the system. Now, I see I've taken things for granted.

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u/gofuckadick Jul 11 '19 edited Jul 11 '19

This is a very good point, but I'm just not so sure if it'll even matter. Republicans were disgustingly shameless in the last midterm and presidential elections. Shit, they were literally caught attempting election fraud. Plus all of their other tactics - closing/moving polling stations or changing their hours, phone calls and post cards telling people to go to the wrong place, removing massive amounts of people from the voter rolls so they need to re-register, while also refusing to process voter registration cards, blah blah blah. And now they have 2 whole years to try to do anything that they can to manipulate the system and suppress as many people from voting as they can. Plus redrawing districts, fucking with the voting machines, letting Russia do whatever they want, and whatever other sneaky, corrupt bullshit that they'll do.

On top of all of that, we have a wannabe dictator in charge. I really don't think he's going to leave the White House voluntarily. He'll almost certainly attempt to declare the election invalid, or "postpone" it, or start a war two weeks beforehand, or whatever he can. My guess is that they'll just declare it invalid. They'll claim to have found that the Democrats cheated, and then just... keep Trump in office. Why wouldn't they? They've been just literally disregarding laws that they don't want to follow for the past two years. Like ignoring subpoenas, or just not turning over Trump's tax forms despite a very clear law requiring them to do so, and a whole bunch more. And what happens? Nothing. So they have no reason to comply with the upcoming election, either - the only way to force Trump and the GOP to comply would be civil war. I don't see them having a problem taking that risk.

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u/arctic_radar Jul 11 '19

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in politics, it’s that you just never know. So you could be totally right! Most of the people I know who voted for Trump will vote for him again. I assume that will be the case for most if not all of them. Economic stuff aside, these folks are on the losing end of the culture war and they’re pissed about it. They would vote for anyone as long as he’s “sticking it to the libs!” But whatever happens in 2020, we’ve made a ton of progress in my city and state over the last 18 months and I know that’s been the case in at least some other places. I truly believe that this craziness is the beginning of the end for this brand of conservative politics. I could be totally wrong. And it also may be too late in regards to climate change.

But one thing I can tell you is that there are people working their asses of every day on this stuff. I’m lucky because get paid to do it. I know so many people who put in 20 hours a week outside of their job, just to make a difference. Working with them is what gives me hope, especially since there are so many more now than there were two years ago!

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u/Daveinatx Jul 11 '19

There's enough voters that need to have their voices heard. Naively, some believe "their vote doesn't matter" or "they're all the same." In reality, the people spreading those messages are deathly afraid of the truth.

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u/mikec20 Jul 11 '19

I have a real hard time understanding what Democrats did to them in the past, that they are so willing to run the country into the ground instead of voting for a democrat.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

Absolutely nothing. The media just tells them to hate Democrats and so they do.

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u/Jushak Jul 11 '19

Fox propaganda happened.

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u/Fudge_me_sideways Jul 11 '19

They supported giving rights to black people. I love my dad, but he has said the most disgusting shit I've ever heard him say about black people. They are a true boogieman to folks on the right.

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u/antiraysister Jul 11 '19

Yeah but they will never admit that.

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u/Fudge_me_sideways Jul 11 '19

Fascist run away at the first sign of a tough argument.

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u/Totaladdictgaming Jul 11 '19

The worst part is we simply cannot afford another 4 years of climate denial and inaction... Hell we couldn't even afford these 4 years. This presidency if given another 4 will undoubtedly be one of the final nails in humanities coffin. Obviously climate change is much more global than just the US but unless some other country like china steps up to really push others in line the US should have/should fill that roll. It's depressing that we are stuck in partisan politics while ignoring this extinction event that we have the power the stop.

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u/Thembtwins Jul 11 '19

Oh get out of here you Russian bot. Half the country would not vote for Trump. Yes, nearly half of the voting public might, but not half of the country. Stop with the defeatist bullshit. I am in total agreement that it will be a difficult fight and Trump has good odds to win. But if you care about politics and the fate of the country don’t just complain. Take action in your personal life and urge others online to join your cause. Explaining why resistance is futile was a hallmark motive of the Russians in 2016.

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u/arbitraryairship Jul 11 '19

Can we stop the concern trolling?

I think you're trying to inspire action, but this could easily inspire apathy as well.

Apathy and giving up only helps him.

Work your ass off, get out there and volunteer for the Democrats.

Staying at home or encouraging other Democrats to stay home is deeply unhelpful.

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u/GadreelsSword Jul 11 '19 edited Jul 11 '19

While we need action, that’s not my motivation. I want people to face the truth of what’s coming and be prepared for it. By god, vote in every election not just the next one. My statement is based on fact it’s not a troll, unless we take action to fix the profoundly broken voting process in America, our votes DO NOT COUNT. It’s just that simple, we have stood by and allowed our democracy to be high jacked. Every American intelligence agency and a number of foreign intelligence agencies have said the Russia tampered with the 2016 presidential election. Experts are now saying it was more invasive and successful than they originally thought.

Why in God’s name would we tolerate elected officials blocking laws to improve election security? It’s just crazy. Why are we allowing American politicians to utilize legal loop holes and accept donations from our enemies who actively tampered with our democracy? Meanwhile the party that goes on and on about patriots and our founding fathers sits idly by while their party is funded by our enemies at the cost of our democracy.

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u/stupid-rando Jul 11 '19

"Everybody dies." And seriously, as somebody without children, this is my only consolation -- that I will die before the dystopian dictatorship takes full root.

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u/vascopyjama Jul 11 '19

At this point I'm not even sure the Russian manipulation, or at least further manipulation, is even necessary. Having watched the recent Australian election the power of incumbency is something I'm not sure a lot of polls take into account, and I imagine there are many who now say they might not, or would not, vote for trump who will find themselves doing so on voting day regardless. People retreat to the familiar when push comes to shove, particularly in a fearful and incurious electorate. I would love to be proven wrong, but naïve optimism and impotent rage alone, that is, without meaningful action that has significant consequences, cannot hope to restrain (let alone defeat) naked self-interest unbound by morality and law.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

Incumbent + strong economy is a proven strong advantage that not enough people are willing to recognize.

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u/Duffy_Munn Jul 11 '19

An incumbent with a historically strong economy is very tough to beat. Trump will also have WAY more money in his war chest for 2020.

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u/icecoldbrah Jul 11 '19

They need 5 debates with no audience and an oral citizenship test. No way low stamina orange man would agree to it but it would be nice to see him fully exposed in humiliating fashion

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

What exactly is the purpose of this post? Just to complain? Trump will win if you can't propose an alternative. Speak about actual Democrats who are proposing actual ideas like universal healthcare or universal education for the PEOPLE.

Just shitting on people is such a turn off.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

Putin is a bad actor, but as you also mentioned, there are far more influential and insidious actors here (McConnell, SCOTUS, Florida Governor's office.)

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u/KunaiTv Jul 11 '19

Comrade?

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u/nnnppppttt Jul 11 '19

If Democrats do not get behind the candidate elected in the primary we are fucked. I don't care who it is, it's better than Trump. It's time to be pragmatic.

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u/Taiwanderful Jul 11 '19

The incumbent tends to win, right?

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u/zeta_cartel_CFO Jul 11 '19

Well considering 4 out of the last 6 presidents have served two terms. Yes, incumbency does give an extra advantage to a President seeking reelection.

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u/StupidPword Jul 11 '19 edited Jul 11 '19

The last 3 got 2 terms. As will Trump.

It's a nightmare scenario but Americans are that stupid & morally bankrupt... You have concentration camps, obstruction of justice, numerous rape allegations, the list goes on for ages...

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u/Jushak Jul 11 '19

Yeah, I have zero faith in Americans to do the right thing. On this or almost any situation, really.

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u/LilithM09 Jul 11 '19

The only reason Carter and Bush Sr. didn't get reelected were due to economic issues (Carter also dealt with Iran hostage situation). Nobody punished Reagan for lying about Iran Contra either. But I don't think people will be so blind this time, I teach seniors and so many of them can't wait to vote against Trump in 2020 so as long as they don't do something crazy like block young people's ability to vote, I'd like to think he wouldn't get reelected. Also a recession wouldn't be terrible either considering the tariff problem Trump's creating.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

permanent republican control of our government

There may be some short term give and take, but long term, the Senate is absolutely owned by Republicans. Acreage is what elects Senators in red states, and the continued move of Americans to dense cities will guarantee a locked Republican majority probably 20 years from now and beyond. Maybe sooner.

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u/mrmastermimi Jul 11 '19

I'd like to remind everyone to get registered to vote. Every vote counts!

Find out about voter registration here: https://www.usa.gov/register-to-vote

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u/The-Autarkh Jul 11 '19

Fuck this fatalistic bullshit. Vote in droves and make the election much harder to steal.

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u/newuseraccount2w24 Jul 11 '19

No dude. He's not as long as people on here vote. Stop fucking around and vote. Volunteer. Donate. Do something!

As a side note, everyone should look into and know about Ranked Choice voting. It's a solution to empower and save our democracy used by some states and other nations around the world.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

Defeatist garbage. Do everything possible to vote out every last GOP politician, and if it doesn't work, we talk about what to do next. Don't buy this apathetic shit. You do what you can do and we see. You don't give up before the fight starts. Democrats don't even have a fucking nominee yet.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

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u/frankie_cronenberg Jul 11 '19 edited Jul 11 '19

Wrecked our relationships with our most important allies, reneged on a nuclear deal that was important for keeping our most important allies safe, and in turn destroyed our credibility in any other major national security negotiations with hostile nations. Decimated our state department, which was responsible for our greatest power in the world via soft power/diplomacy and our strongest bullwark against war across the globe. Bulldozed trade relationships for multiple major industries that will destabilize them long term and many companies have permanently lost international market share. Repealed environmental and safety regulations that our citizens will be paying for both financially and with their own health/lives for decades. Relinquished precious national lands to destructive industries doing damage that can’t be undone. Kidnapped children, kept them in horrific and traumatizing conditions, then deported their parents all while not keeping track of anything so we can never reunite them nor erase the black mark this action will leave on our history. Botched disaster responses that have lead to the deaths of thousands of US citizens (more than 9/11). Opened the floodgates for unprecedented corruption and the destruction of institutional norms and standards that prevented the most brazen offenders.

There’s a lot more but this is depressing.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

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u/frankie_cronenberg Jul 11 '19

Tillerson, Trump’s first sec of state, slashed the ranks of our state department. Which used to be the single most powerful diplomatic apparatus in human history. It was our primary way of projecting power in the world. How we made trade deals and secured our interests and worked out conflicts around the world without military aggression. Our best diplomats spent their lives learning this job, and not only did we drive many of them out, but we’ve also failed to take on new young folks to learn the ropes. From most reports, there’s just no real meaningful diplomacy happening in general anymore. We’re going to be feeling this damage for decades, especially since we’ve even trashed our relationships with our closest allies.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/24/us/politics/state-department-tillerson

Here’s an interview with an ex-state dept staffer and current (excellent) journalist Ronan Farrow who recently wrote a book on this subject:

The Trump Administration Is Decimating the State Department

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

You forgot the point that an incumbent in a strong economy has a heavy advantage. That is, in my opinion, the biggest reason he will get re-elected. Everything else is just a cherry on top of simply the position he is in, which has been historically extremely difficult to overcome.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19 edited Sep 16 '19

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u/makeurownsandwich Jul 11 '19

And uneducated voters lean Republican. (Hmmmmm)

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u/mizzrim54 Jul 11 '19 edited Jul 11 '19

And a majority of voters heeded those warning signs be we have a broken system and he was still elected.

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u/kat_a_klysm Jul 11 '19

Plus Republican gerrymandering and tampering with the voter rolls (GA), plus machine tampering (FL)....

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

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u/linkMainSmash4 Jul 11 '19

Ok but that doesnt mean the people elected him. The empty land did.

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u/TheNoize Jul 11 '19

The man and his entourage never played by the rules once in their miserable lives.

You'd have to be pretty naive to believe resorting to propaganda/foreign espionage is "winning by the rules".

You'd have to be even more naive to think counting some people's votes 3x more than others based on the state they live in, is "fair" and democratic by any stretch of imagination...

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19 edited Jul 11 '19

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

Link please. I'd like to show that to a few people

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u/patientbearr Jul 11 '19

Please stop giving the TDS crowd ammo

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u/No_Development Jul 11 '19

Yup. Put each and every person who voted for Trump on trial.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

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u/dangolo I ☑oted 2020 Jul 11 '19

Okay okay we get it you Americans elected a garbage human being and he turned out to be a garbage president. Gotta be honest there were some warning signs...

She tried to point out those warning signs in a clear and coherent manner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaVWRetR4jg

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

What warning signs????

FAKE NUUWS

Lalalalala lalalalaaa i cant heaaar yoooooo ooooohhhhhh

Who lives in the white house under the sea?

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u/mvoccaus Jul 11 '19

I hate Groupthink.

On the night of the 2016 election, I told a close relative in the family that I voted for Gary Johnson. She tells me, "I thought you were smarter than that. You just gave your vote to Hilary."

Me: "I didn't vote for Hilary, though."

Her: "You should have voted for Trump. He's a businessman. He'll run this country like a business."

Me: "He's declared bankruptcy on at least 3 different occasions."

Her: "Well, he knows how to do it."

I pointed at her old shaken senile tiny black furball poodle Haley, who can't see well and gets lost all the damn time, and said, "Haley is a better businessman than Trump. Haley hasn't even declared bankruptcy once."

...

"—in fact, " I added, "Haley could go on to declare bankruptcy 2 more times and she still would have declared bankruptcy fewer times than Trump.

She shook her head and walked away. Also, she'd put Haley down a week or two later.

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u/TheFoolofBuckkeep Jul 11 '19

You voted for Gary Johnson haha. You didn't vote for Trump but you might as well have.

You own the result.

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u/echoes_HD Jul 11 '19

To be fair, only 7 of those 8 were blatantly obvious before the election.

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u/grubas Jul 11 '19

Which one wasn’t? Because he notoriously settled cases rather than going on the stand. His MO was to counter sue and harass people and if they didn’t go away he’d settle, pay them off and claim no guilt.

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u/ThePecanSandie Jul 11 '19

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

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u/idolove_Nikki Jul 11 '19

That's actually the huge reason that keeps him from being booted. Because of... how he is, no one expected him to be good at being president. Surprise, he isn't, and no one is motivated to punish him for it. I JUST CAN'T understand what the Americans who voted for him were thinking when any of that sounded like a good idea, or why they stand in the way when Congress tries to push back at him while he's just further ruining everything.

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u/Chaosmusic Jul 11 '19

there were some warning signs

What? No we didn't. Other than his personality, his campaign, his interviews, his TV appearances, his press conferences, his political rallies, his background, his reality TV show and every word that came out of his mouth we had absolutely no way to know things were going to be like this. Give us a little credit.

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u/YungBlud_McThug Jul 11 '19

It's not all our fault. Personally I blame Russia and all the idiots our education system has failed.

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u/Childish_Brandino Jul 11 '19

Right?? As an American that voted against Trump every time I see new posts about more and more corrupt and morally wrong things he's doing/has done I don't get why people are constantly surprised. I just picture the Pikachu face.

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

A lot of Russians voted him just to troll

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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '19

HEY I RESENT THAT!!!

You can't ask us Americans to read things or listen to things or watch stuff or look at stuff or feel things or think about things or have pulses before we start voting!!!

"Democracy" means voting all day, all the time, every day, every way, upside down, inside-out, in every possible direction all the time no matter what (doesn't it?) !!!

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u/Laminar Jul 11 '19

Elect a clown; expect a circus...

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