Politics

[Rocked and Loaded]

Yes, Trump has won. No, nothing will be official until January. I suspect there will not be a concession until every conceivable path to a win has been exhausted by Harris. There is a beyond minuscule chance that anything will change in the presidential race.

Yes, I am disappointed for the country. As some have said in this thread, now is the time for the Democratic Party to recenter. The far left has had undue influence over the party and left the center-left behind.

What is most disappointing is that this really cements the far right recentering of the Republican Party. Both parties have moved far from center but the R is going to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

This go round there will be no guardrails. If this guy is as great as you appear to believe, let’s see it happen. I only hope that his worst impulses never come to fruition.

There are guardrails. In spite of their incessant whining over it as an undemocratic and racist relic, I’m sure there are a lot of democrats who are today glad that the filibuster still exists. You can thank Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema for that. Of course the democrats love to shortsightedly remove guardrails when in power because they always assume they will be in control forever. They were lucky they didn’t hand Trump a filibuster proof senate this time.

The GOP nominally controls the three branches of government now but without super majorities in the house and senate, they really don’t have carte blanche authority. Even the Supreme Court isn’t a monolith.

 

[Hunt anything]

@Louis Toadvine , I agree with what you said. The NE state that I can’t figure out is Maine. They seem fiercely independent love hunting, fishing and guns but still vote for democrats for president. Of course this could just be because I pretty much just hang out with that type of people.

 

[wesheltonj]

I did not expect Trump to win the popular vote. Senate did better then I expected. My only regret about this election, I should have run for the Texas 4th Court of Appeals.

 

[Razorback]

Yes, Trump has won. No, nothing will be official until January. I suspect there will not be a concession until every conceivable path to a win has been exhausted by Harris. There is a beyond minuscule chance that anything will change in the presidential race.

Yes, I am disappointed for the country. As some have said in this thread, now is the time for the Democratic Party to recenter. The far left has had undue influence over the party and left the center-left behind.

What is most disappointing is that this really cements the far right recentering of the Republican Party. Both parties have moved far from center but the R is going to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

This go round there will be no guardrails. If this guy is as great as you appear to believe, let’s see it happen. I only hope that his worst impulses never come to fruition.

I guess you’ll have to explain what you mean by far right recentering. From what I can see it’s the exact opposite.

-Trump has welcomed in folks that recently were Democrats like Elon, tulsi, RFK jr etc.

- This was the most diverse coalition of republican voters in my lifetime with record numbers of Latinos, Jewish Americans and black men.

- more union votes than I can remember.

- trump supports tariffs to protect American workers and wants to end foreign wars which has traditionally been more of a democratic position.

- Trump is pro choice.


I know the whole “no guardrails this time” is a favorite of the legacy media but that’s just propaganda BS. I’d love to know what exactly is far right about him.

 

[Louis Toadvine]

@Louis Toadvine , I agree with what you said. The NE state that I can’t figure out is Maine. They seem fiercely independent love hunting, fishing and guns but still vote for democrats for president. Of course this could just be because I pretty much just hang out with that type of people.

Yes, New Hampshire and Maine are similar in that regard. They are the two most heavily forested states in the union (% of total land in forests) and therefore traditionally have strong timber and recreational industries. They also have fiercely independent and often very conservative populations across the states.

However, the influence of Massachusetts on the two states (specifically transplants in the southern portion of the states who work in Boston but live in NH and ME for tax or lifestyle reasons) is palpable. We're fortunate the two states only have small "cities" at the moment, but even these modest population centers (which are predominately liberal and Democrat voting) swing a lot of election results--particularly at the national level. There are tons of Republicans in state and local offices, and NH (thankfully) elects Republican governors quite often.

 

[bowjijohn]

There are 6 main threats within the West

3 internal ...

Left wing that the intelligence services have long warned of their association with Islam - not that they share anything in common - other than a hatred of western values and freedom of individual expression

Internal islamic politics

Global Corporations - Dictatorship in all but name - Trump calls them the 'swamp'

3 External

Russian Organise crime - Putin

Islam (see internal threats)

China

......

Trump - potentially - is a threat to all 6

that is why he was chased through the American courts

they, and their ilk, must be pooing themselves

 

[Brent in Az]

Giving Ronna McDaniel the boot from the RNC was a positive.

 

[Tanks]

The GOP nominally controls the three branches of government now but without super majorities in the house and senate, they really don’t have carte blanche authority. Even the Supreme Court isn’t a monolith.

Two most important things don’t require 60 votes in the Senate and a simple majority in the House is sufficient to approve anything Senate passes. Budget, tax cuts etc. can be done through reconciliation. Of course, judicial and cabinet appointments need only a Senate majority.

Good thing the House is in GOP hands now, so the current lame duck Senate can’t set the budget for next year. Just hope that none of the SCOTUS justices die between now and late January à la Ginsburg.

 

[Brent in Az]

In typical fashion, the Democrats are blaming everything but themselves

 

[Rocked and Loaded]

Two most important things don’t require 60 votes in the Senate and a simple majority in the House is sufficient to approve anything Senate passes. Budget, tax cuts etc. can be done through reconciliation. Of course, judicial and cabinet appointments need only a Senate majority.

Good thing the House is in GOP hands now, so the current lame duck Senate can’t set the budget for next year. Just hope that none of the SCOTUS justices die between now and late January à la Ginsburg.

But that’s hardly the Handmaid’s Tale dystopia the democrats claim the GOP want to create.

 

[mdwest]

Two most important things don’t require 60 votes in the Senate and a simple majority in the House is sufficient to approve anything Senate passes. Budget, tax cuts etc. can be done through reconciliation. Of course, judicial and cabinet appointments need only a Senate majority.

Good thing the House is in GOP hands now, so the current lame duck Senate can’t set the budget for next year. Just hope that none of the SCOTUS justices die between now and late January à la Ginsburg.

and lets hope the mid 70's aged conservative justices take one for the team and retire within the next 18 months.. opening the door to a couple of replacement justices that are closer to their young to mid 50's..

I love Thomas.. and have great respect for Alito as well.. but its time to consider piddling around in the garden and maybe doing a little duck hunting on the weekends gents..

Wouldnt be a bad day if Roberts decided 70 was a good age to retire as well (although Im pretty sure he will stay on the bench until the day he dies)..

 

[mdwest]

In typical fashion, the Democrats are blaming everything but themselves

thats not a bad thing at all...

I sincerely hope they continue to look outward, dont learn anything from what just happened, and continue to make the same mistake over and over again for a few more election cycles..

 

[Hunt anything]

In typical fashion, the Democrats are blaming everything but themselves

That’s dead on, I was seriously thinking about not voting for anyone for president but with all of the horrible things dems were saying about anyone that didn’t agree with them. They turned me, not full fledged MAGA but definitely a Trump supporter. They can only blame themselves for my vote for Trump.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Meanwhile here in Maricopa County, Arizona........we're no further along in the vote count than when I went to bed.......this is at least the second time it's gone like this.....

Some 12 hours after the polls have closed and with all the mail-in ballots somehow we're still sitting at 61% of the votes counted.

 

[Brent in Az]

DOW surges by almost a thousand.

It's already starting.

 

[HookMeUpII]

I'd argue there are some chinks in that blue wall and not all of the above are "demcommie" states, which is good news for those of us in the region who are regularly against the grain with our opinions and votes.

New Hampshire is essentially a swing state again this election. Kamala won NH by ~20K votes (just barely 51% of votes), and the state just elected a Republican governor (Kelly Ayotte) to replace the outgoing Republican governor (Chris Sununu). And Maine has tracked again to the right. I was also surprised by the very tight margin of victory for her in NJ.

Compare the win percentage (and winning votes) for Kamala in NH and ME to the surrounding states in New England and the mid-Atlantic:

New Hampshire: 51% (won by <23K votes)​

Maine: 53%​

New Jersey: 51% (wow!)​

New York: 55%​

Connecticut: 55%​

Rhode Island: 55%​

Delaware: 56%​

Maryland: 60%​

Massachusetts: 62%​

Vermont: 64%​

​

Despite being called the twin states, more than a river separates Vermont and New Hampshire. They are dramatically different states from a political and business/commerce POV.

Very close margin for NJ but folks here still have their heads way up their you know what. I always said, if NJ gets called GOP early in the race...it's over at that point. If NJ goes red, everything else will as well.

It's a sad fact of living here actually.

 

[Certus]

In typical fashion, the Democrats are blaming everything but themselves

The Onion put this out yesterday:

 

[Foxi]

You can like Trump or not, but there's no question that he's a tough fighter.That commands everyone's respect here too.
I'm glad he won, because if it had gone narrowly for the Democrats again, who knows if there wouldn't have been violent protests and unrest in the USA.
And the Chinese are just waiting for a domestic political disaster to annex Taiwan and then the lights will go out everywhere.
That was my biggest worry.

We'll have to see what happens with Europe and the tariff disputes.

But Trump is the only one who dares to say the impossible.

Imagine he says to Putin, that Zelensky will get a few smaller nuclear bombs if this damn war doesn't stop, a language that Putin also understands, and the war in Ukraine would come to a standstill?
What would be the result for Trump: the Nobel Peace Prize and everyone here in Europe would turn pale.
Think big .

 

[John Wasmuth]

Hilarious that neither president Crapshispants nor the Kackalaca have yet to show up in public…….. as low in character as Clinton….

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Congratulations to Republican and Conservative USA, a hugely important win. This is not about a right over left in political orientation terms, but rather a right over wrong. I could find nothing commendable about Joe Biden and Kamala's sin was to have been a nothing in the wind.