Senate The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election has begun

business as usual is monstrous. business as usual is endless perpetual foreign wars waged for resources on the thinnest of ideological pretexts. business as usual is murder and for-profit incarceration for the most vulnerable among us. business as usual is ballooning wealth disparity. business as usual is institutional sabotage of the only sop to democracy our overlords even deign to pretend to give us. business as usual is continuing to rearrange deck chairs rather than making actual progress towards mitigating catastrophic climate change

business as usual is unsustainable. if not trump now, it will collapse into fascism at some point in our lifetime. some days, i think its better to go with the farce now than the tragedy later. anything that accelerates the collapse of "business as usual" (and, by definition, the chance for a fresh start) is preferable to sustaining it

 

As an outsider looking in, I see this years US elections being a tossup between

Clinton - same old same old approach but in a ropier package

Trump - Turd Sammich.

As a nation you have 2 options. Any third way just isn't going to cut it. If you don't vote Clinton then you will get Trump. If you want to vote for an independent as a "protest" vote then you'll get Trump.

 

id make fun of you for not understanding the electoral college system but 90% of the americans itt dont seem to get it either despite repeated attempts to explain it to them, so ill give you a pass

 

Electoral college…what's that? Sounds like student government.

FatBurt, we have a voting filter known as the electoral college. There are already several safe states for each candidate electorally. They are just campaigning in the battleground states where votes might make a difference but no guarantees. The electors still make pledges and vote based on the outcome. And these are not divided proportionally except for a few states so state by state votes matter little overall.

 

rendering any pretense at honest social commitment moot

 

But there's more that can be done. You can phone bank for Hillary to help prevent a Trump presidency. You can phone bank for her, and still sit out in your home state or vote 3rd party during the general.

 

Hitler never won a fair election. When he ran for President of Germany, the Pragmatic candidate of traditional conservatives-- increasingly senile WWI General Paul von Hindenberg-- won. When the Nazis gained a plurality-- not a majority; again, they never won a fair election-- in the Reichstag, Hindenberg appointed Hitler as Chancellor with the logic that would bring him under control. And it got worse from there. Every true fascist regime-- Mussolini, Hitler, Franco-- has seized power outside of the established system and then proceeded to dismantle it. If Trump becomes President, it will be the same way nearly every President has gained power since the 1830's.

The United States is not Weimar Germany. Our elections and governmental system are completely different. If Trump is a fascist, the United States has a deep and long-running fascist tradition. Trump is not a "unique threat" to American "democracy" just because he has no filter. You can see Trump in politicians at least as far back as Goldwater, if not all the way back to the ****ing 19th century. I'm tired of people pretending that Trump is unique. He's not.

 

I'll be honest I don't understand it and I'll also be honest in that I've never taken the time out to look into it, but you the people still have a chance to vote. The more people that vote for Trump will increase the chances of him getting in I would assume irrespective of the EC

 

But from what you're saying, it suggests you wouldn't vote for Hillary even if you were in a swing state. In fact, your words above suggest you wouldn't vote for Hillary even if it'd swing the election.

Yeah, I am aware of this. That's why I said: "To put it succinctly." I was just trying to make a vague general explanation that could express my general sentiment that others would get, which is: "If Trump wins, I don't want to feel that I didn't do what I could to stop that."

And I do live in a swing state, but even those who don't live in a swing state can take actions -- like phone banking -- that might help prevent a Trump presidency.

And it is possible he will win. 1 big terrorist attack right before the election could swing this thing. The margins for Hillary need to be as high as possible.

 

Depends on which state those "more votes for Trump" are cast in. If he has a surge of voters in Wyoming…big deal. He's still getting those set number of electoral votes anyway(electoral votes are determined by total number of congresspeople and senators in a given state. Utah has five total, two senators and three congresspersons). If it's a Trump voter surge in a battleground state(very competitive race), then it might make a difference….might.

 

Trump has significant demographic and geographic disadvantages that tie directly into the Electoral College system. The popular vote could be close depending on turnout, but the Electoral College will not be.

 

Well that fills me with a little hope


Only a little mind

 

Yep. Due to winner take all, Hillary could win an incredibly close popular vote by a single vote in each and every state and it would be an electoral college blowout.

 

this is the greatest post of all time

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-...lebrity-enough-to-win-the-us-election/7655816


I am unsure if the person speaking is in any way specifically biased to lie etc but the main crux of the story here in this article -

Clinton campaign - using a billion $ to spend on ads and the rest to get votes.

Trump - using his charisma and a MUCH smaller pool of $$ to get votes.

 

That is what Trump is betting on: smaller spending than Hillary but more name recognition and celebrity to carry him to a win.

 

Ah ok,so the article and comments are at least "accurate representation"

Media of course can say they're reporting news but be spinning.

 

Yep. The landslides in the electoral college can make it appear to be a popular vote one too but it's rarely the case.

Master_Rebado, Trump has little state by state party infrastructure and money for media buys compared to Hillary. She has a very extensive organization. Trump's is threadbare by comparison.

 

Yeah, IIRC supposedly Obama's good ground game vs Romney's/McCain's bad ground game altered the vote by 1 to 2% in swing states. So, I wonder how much of an advantage Hillary's good ground game vs. Trump's no ground game will give Hillary.

Also, Hillary will have much more to spend on ads, and it's easy to make effective ads against Trump.

 

I don't really wanna see that but yeah.

 

I would suggest it's no ones damn business to be honest. But, Trump has spent the last three decades making all of that tabloid garbage our business so it's set in the public mind now. Still no ones damn business though on either side. But sure, there would be a different standard , especially for Hillary. I can imagine them asking "what's wrong with her?" or "Can't she keep a man?" etc. Bullcrap like that.

I just hate how all of this private crap is such a part of this now. Has no bearing on the race whatsoever.

 

But again, the network news didn't give this even 1 second of coverage.