Shard

I thought I read, at least earlier in the campaign, that Fox was not supporting Trump. Or was it one of their presenters? I am a bit confused by this, and don't have the misfortune to view Fox in the UK. Were they totally Trump?

BristolUK

He had a run-in with a female presenter (well there's a surprise) but from accounts I read she was a lone voice.

Shard

Was that Megan?

BristolUK

Yeah I think so. Although she spells it differently. Megyn Kelly.

I don't know if that makes her 'arty', daughter of a celebrity or Welsh.

Ebonhawke

I think that the biggest long-term impact of the Republicans winning all three levels of government will be the Supreme Court. While he has said that he would appoint justices that would repeal Roe vs. Wade, you never are quite sure with Donald - as he only tells lies, exaggerations, and mistruths when his lips are moving.

Trump has touted himself as an outsider. However, many of the elected Republicans in the House and Senate are part of the 'swamp'. I suspect that a significant percentage of Republicans that were elected abhor Trump's actions and stated policies, but needed the votes to get elected.

Now that they're elected (and not having to face voters in the imminent future), I'm sure that some will be contemplating how to best position themselves for 2020. If Trump's presidency ends up being mired in disaster and controversies, Republicans eyeing leadership positions within the party will want to be able to distance themselves from those controversies, so I don't think that Trump/Pence will have a carte blanche.

caretaker

They're going to have to take it as a challenge. America has faced internal strife before and survived it. The people are the same as they were last week, the land is the same; I'm Canadian but I have relatives in the US and several parts of my family originally come from there, (England and Empire before).
@Ebonhawke Republicans (and Dems to a lesser extent) have to find a candidate, last time wasn't too good. Trump said climate change is a hoax, has he taken that back?

Ebonhawke

Not that I'm aware of - but it's only Thursday

MillieF

We should just realize that democracy is a hoax....get a gun, and shoot the opposition! See I've assimilated! After the last year with Brexit, then Trump...I'm ready for anything!

Lots of my neighbours think Trump is a good thing

BristolUK

Shoot them.

Ebonhawke

Taking a longer-term (optimistic liberal) perspective on things, imagine that the electoral college had gone the other way this week. Does anyone think that Donald Trump would simply fade away from the political limelight as other unsuccessful Presidential candidates?

I think it's reasonable to imagine that he'd continue to conduct media sessions, and tweet prolific criticisms about how horrible the Clinton administration was, and how the system was rigged, etc. This would continue to fuel his supporters' conspiracy theories, and continue the anti-government rhetoric and impede the government in trying to move the country forward.

With him AS the government, he really can't continue to stoke those fires, and he'll be forced to try and implement policy. If, as many people suspect, he bungles those implementations, he'll simply prove that he really wasn't fit for the job

If he walks back / fails to implement most of his 'outsider' campaign points and is essentially a figurehead to a Republican administration, he'll be tarred as simply a politician who said whatever he thought he needed to say to get into office

Assuming that Trump intends to run in 2020, the Republicans are forced with having a candidate who has made controversial policy decisions that damaged the United States, or having a candidate who has proven that he what he says cannot be trusted. And he'll likely not be facing a Democratic candidate who has some of the perceived baggage that Clinton had.

After leaving office (whether at the completion of his term or beforehand), it's hard to imagine him still having the ears of his base - he had his opportunity to fix the problem, and failed. His hotel brand is likely already ruined, the idea of Trump TV fades, and he fades into obscurity.

Add to the possibility that the next alt-right populist leader in the near future will simply be painted with Trump's failures, and will likely not have near the impact that Trump had.

Of course, the other possibility is that policies are implemented that do produce tangible improvements to the United States. I'm sceptical, but do hold that as a possibility.


The one person whom I truly feel sorry for is Trump's future Press Secretary - that job will probably age the person faster than the mantle of the Presidency seems to.

MillieF

There's a rather pleasant irony in the 'outrage' that Trump caused with his remarks that if he lost the election he wouldn't accept the results....now he has won the election and quite a number of the electorate in large cities won't accept the result

Novocastrian

I don't think anyone in NY etc., is disputing the result of the election but rather they're expressing vocal opposition to many (all?) of the brain-dead, rabble-rousing "policies" which Trump adopted during the campaign.

Not the same thing.

BritInParis

Despite the widely circulated petition asking the electoral college not to elect Trump as president (3.9 million signatures in three days and rising) and the placards reading 'Dump Trump'? Reminds me of when Cameron won a majority in the Commons after the 2015 election. Instant protests outside 10 Downing Street carrying Socialist Worker placards reading 'Get the Tories out!' and some charmer spraypainted 'F**k Tory scum' on the Women of World War II memorial.

Democracy: they don't like it up 'em.

BristolUK

Novocastrian

As you certainly know, the rather strange procedure in the electoral college doesn't actually bind the electors to reflect the outcome of the voting in their States. I see nothing wrong with a petition, but there's no hope in hell of it succeeding.

As for placards, they're preferable to insurrection.