Hiro11

I'm torn. On one hand, we've now elected an offensive bully who's entire platform in a bunch of vague, undeliverable slogans, bullshit and pandering. On the other hand, we've successfully avoided electing a candidate who's every political instinct I disagreed with and a candidate who embodied the self-obsession of the Washington bubble.

The best thing to come out of this is a neat demonstration that an obviously compliant and biased media smugly ensconced in an echo chamber of its own making doesn't know what the hell it's talking about. Also, we get a nice demonstration that treating a large part of the voting base as a bunch of debased racist idiots who need to get back in their box is not a good way to win elections. The DNC deserves what they got here. We're all losers, though.

Leslie

I'm not dead. Yet.

Yeah, I always felt like this was a Republican year. I felt like we would probably see a Rubio or Bush presidency but, at different times, thought different candidates stood a chance. I was wrong.

So, back during the Republican primary, when everybody thought this Trump thing was just HILARIOUS, I was already nervous.

When Trump won the primary I felt sick and have felt sick ever since. There were times that I was able to persuade myself that there was no way Trump could win. There was no way that the American people could ever support such an abusive and cruel person. I was wrong again.

FWIW, Hillary was a horrible candidate. That's why I didn't support her in 2008. But next to Trump she was like Joan of Arc. I still wonder though if America will ever elect a woman president. The fact that women voted for Trump belies a scary and deep sickness that I find hard to even fathom.

scrubbedexpat091

I really didn't think he would win...

While Obamacare didn't seem to do much to reduce cost, it at least allowed folks with pre-existing issue to be insured.

sir_eccles

A bit pointless to wonder how Sanders might have faired. He wasn't the candidate, very little oppo came out on him during the primary.

If the thinly veiled dog whistle anti-semitic ads from the Trump campaign are anything to go by, a Jewish candidate probably would not have done very well.

RoadWarriorFromLP

I'm no Trump fan (obviously), but I don't buy the antisemitism argument. The GOP and conservatives generally have largely moved away from that, preferring Islamophobia instead.

As the numbers get crunched, I think that we're going to find that Democratic turnout was down in some (although not all) key areas and that the independents broke for Trump.

Here's a fun factoid to chew on:

-Percentage of Florida vote won by Romney in 2012: 49.1%
-Percentage of Florida vote won by Trump in 2016: 49.1%

holly_1948

Except Bush and especially Obama successfully got legislation enacted to move lots of powers from the legislatures to the executive.
Trump can do lots of things on a whim. For example pulling the military out of Afghanistan, Turkey and the entire Middle East without notice. Or pardoning Edward Snowden and putting him in charge of the NSA.

But he probably won't. I heard not a hint of "draining the swamp" in his victory speech. Not a word of thanks to wikileaks without whose work his election was not even remotely possible. So it remains to be seen whether or not he was lying, like the rest of them. Time will tell.

Giantaxe

Good to see California was a relative island of sanity - almost two thirds voted for Clinton, we legalized pot and passed background checks for ammunition purchases. Too bad abolishing the death penalty was narrowly defeated.

Pulaski

It barely seems worth the effort as it hasn't been used in more than ten years!

Giantaxe

And long may that remain the case.

dc koop

But legalizing pot at the Federal level wont happen under the Trump administration.

It would have been better if the gun show loophole were to be closed

Hiro11

This kind of thinking, that anyone disagreeing with you is "insane", is exactly what led to Trump. Keep it up.

Giantaxe

Right. But when things are likely blocked at the federal level, the only way forward is at the state. Even with Clinton as president, nothing on the gun control front would have got through congress.

zargof

What about Obama doing it in his lame duck session, because fck it!

dc koop

President Erdogan of Turkey has said that if Trump was elected the the US air strikes against ISIS currently operating from Incirlink air base would no longer be allowed

scrubbedexpat099

Glad to see you back, I was worried.

Van Jones on CNN called it a White-Lash.