U.S Presidential Election 2016 Not Otherwise Specified

[Stavros]

The result, if Donald Trump is elected President, contains more questions than answers at this point. The electoral process has only just begun, and it remains to be seen if the Electoral College confirms Trump as President.

The questions raised exist precisely because of what Trump has said he would do, and before any consideration of trade policy, immigration and foreign policy, if we accept that the voters have rejected 'politics as usual' then Trump's much-repeated slogan 'We are going to drain the swamp' combined with the fracture in policy terms between Trump and his own party raises the prospect of a Republican President who can't get his policies through a Republican Congress. Given that the Republican Party is closely tied to the corporate interests that fund it, the same interests the voters are blaming for their problems that Trump says he will solve, if he is going to 'drain the swamp' then surely that must refer to Republican as well as Democrat Senators and Representatives, as well as the institutions of state, such as the offices of government -such as the Departments of Homeland Security and Education, and agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Reserve, as well as the CIA, the FBI and so on -or 'drain the swamp' is what it always sounded like -an empty slogan from a dodgy salesman whose main aim is to sell you something you think you want but what in fact you don't need.

In sum, this election has produced a result from which, like Brexit, everyone, including I suspect the Trump campaign, is lost in a fog of disbelief. One can imagine Trump being told he has won and after a few moments, exclaiming like Mr Magoo 'Now what do I do?'. Moreover, if there is anything to learn from Brexit, it is that what appears to be a clear message to government, does not produce a clearly stated agenda, indeed the immediate chaos that surrounded the result in the UK has only been replaced by an orderly confusion of 'what Brexit means' because in both cases it is hard to know if what Trump said has any traction in real policy terms just as we don't know what the real terms of Brexit will be, let alone what their impact on economy and society will be.

But the markets are spooked, and that may present a 'President Trump' with a recession as item No 1 in his in-tray, undermining his plans for 'change'.

Thus the bitter irony in all this is that Trump will not get to build his wall, he will not be able to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, he will not be able to roll back 40 years of liberal legislation on abortion and LGBQTPIAN-B rights, he will find himself stuck in tortuous negotiations on trade that cannot be annulled by Presidential swipes of the pen while the Chinese counter Trump's threats by refusing to carry on buying the American debt, indeed asking for their money back or withdrawing it from US Banks, while the promised wipe-out of Daesh is irrelevant as existing US power together with the Iraqi and Kurdish forces relieve him of that burden-

thus, the people who voted for change will wonder when is this change going to happen? The tone of politics will change, Trump has already poisoned the well on that level, and I do hope that the violent attacks on Polish businesses and individuals resulting in destruction and death that followed Brexit here do not translate in the US into physical attacks on minorities, but it may be that is the price you have to pay for handing power to a reckless idiot who may not even last the full four year term. We shall see.

I respect the result, because democracy is bigger than any one person, but what I hope most of all is that in such a bitterly divided country, Trump and his supporters also respect the democracy that has given them power, because they are custodians of a great tradition for four years, not for all time, and as we all know, anything is possible in America, and one must always trust that in the long term the USA will survive the best and the worst of times.

[Stavros]

Is it possible that on December 19 the State Electors of the Electoral College will elect Hillary Clinton as the 45th President of the United States? After all it is the Electoral College that must choose the President.

[martin48]

Well, shit really does happen. Enjoy being ruled by a sociopath

[martin48]

What more is there to say

[flabbybody]

Is it possible that on December 19 the State Electors of the Electoral College will elect Hillary Clinton as the 45th President of the United States? After all it is the Electoral College that must choose the President.

No. It is not possible. An elector is morally obligated to vote for the candidate who attained a simple plurality of votes in the state that he/she represents. A tiny handful of electors in our history have not honored this duty, but it is extremely rare. It has never changed a result from what was intended by the vote.

[blackchubby38]

Reflecting back on the events of last night, I think it was clear early on that Hillary was in trouble. It just seemed as the results started coming in, she was either way behind Trump or she could never gain any momentum when she was ahead of him. If you look at the swing states, her numbers remained stagnant, while Trump's kept increasing. As precincts' kept coming in, those states where getting redder and redder. Until the final result showed why I thought Trump would win this election. There is a huge segment of this country that is angry (and sometimes rightfully so, its just their anger is misdirected) and this was their opportunity to "take their country back". It also confirmed that this country truly is racially divided and I don't see how we can move things forward.

[irvin66]

OMG.............. Congratulations on a well conducted election in the USA! How is this possible.....?????
Hillary led before the election, did she not?
He reminds me a bit about the German "Führer des Dritten Reich" in the thirties, hope he is more reasonable than he sounds in the media ....

[broncofan]

OMG.............. Congratulations on a well conducted election in the USA! How is this possible.....?????
Hillary led before the election, did she not?
He reminds me a bit about the German "Führer des Dritten Reich" in the thirties, hope he is more reasonable than he sounds in the media ....

I know it's difficult to think of this when you think of Americans. But you think of 59 million people who supported him....but also think of the 59 million people who were very invested in seeing him lose (who donated money, went to his opponent's rallies, voted, and encouraged others to do so).

We have no idea what we're going to get...there is the hope that he's more moderate in using power than he was in attaining it...but that doesn't even sound convincing. And yes he was behind in the polls, but there was a group of voters, mainly rural, in the midwest, who issued a primal scream on election night. What they want I have no idea.

[APD2]

Ha. I may have been slightly over-hasty when I suggested Trump might be a Clinton plant.......

[broncofan]

After all it is the Electoral College that must choose the President.

This porous filter will let through a giant orange fascist.