Many Factors Contributed to This Disaster, but Which Was #1

[kebob]

I continue to indict James Comey: Without his unprecedented interference, we'd not only have HRC as President, but a Democratic Senate as well.

But perhaps you've a different view...

26 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited
	Comey
	6 (23%)
	Media gave Trump billions in free exposure
	1 (4%)
	Media spent too much time on Hillary's e-mails
	2 (8%)
	A combination of #s 2 & 3
	5 (19%)
	Complacency on the part of the Clinton campaign
	2 (8%)
	Republican failure to stand up to Trump
	0 (0%)
	Voter suppression
	1 (4%)
	Russia and/or Wikileaks
	0 (0%)
	Bigotry: racism, misogyny, antisemitism, xenophobia, etc
	3 (12%)
	Other (Please Specify)
	6 (23%)
	1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[benld74]

1. NOT voting!!!!!!

[Auggie]

11. Agree. That and the "protest" votes for neither candidate or those cast for Johnson ...

which were essentially votes against Madam Secretary.

[Bobbie Jo]

16. You're right, of course

but how is it that we have to show up in double/triple numbers to beat these SOBs?

Something is seriously wrong here.

[uponit7771]

17. HRC Numbers are up with Obama's 2012 ...this meme is not a true factor

[PoliticAverse]

2. Calling your opponent's supporters "deplorables" just motivates them to vote.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/09/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-basket-of-deplorables/index.html

[JHan]

4. all the handwringing over that is mighty rich. Sure it was politically inconvenient,

and there was a political price to pay for it but spare me the outrage. Way more offensive disgusting shit was heard at Trump rallies and from Trump himself. folks should be aware when cognitive dissonance strikes..

[PoliticAverse]

6. "and there was a political price to pay for it" - that's the point. This isn't about...

which candidate was "more offensive" (is there a doubt it was Trump?) but rather what
resulted in the biggest political hit. The "deplorables" comment was politically unwise
and may have cost the election.

Note that in 2008 Obama also made a comment that was used as a rallying point
by opposition voters:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/apr/13/barackobama.uselections2008

[JHan]

7. You're right, I know.. Eleanor Holmes Norton was alarmed as well but..

We constantly have to rise above the fray and be judged by different and unfair standards.

[NCTraveler]

10. That's your #1 reason?

Laughing smilie goes here.

[CanonRay]

3. Russian hacks of state vote counts

[JHan]

5. comey killed the momentum in the final stretch.

and my views are consistent. I've disliked him all year.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

8. Other: White Evangelical Christians.

Are they in the racist category? I don't know.

If the national exit polls were accurate, they comprised over 36% of the white voters and they voted for Trump over Clinton by 80% to 16%.

[Quixote1818]

9. A lot of it was just bad luck. We won the popular vote and lost by a hair in rust belt

This election could have gone either way and as someone mentioned if you just moved the borders around on the rust belt states a tad then Hillary would have won there. Clearly however, Hillary took the rust belt states for granted and Trump went hard there. It was just enough to put him over the top in an election he actually lost.

[Botany]

12. Crosscheck

[Vinca]

13. We ran an insider in an outsider year.

[planetc]

14. Other: the ability of parties unknown to steal elections electronically. eom

[geek tragedy]

15. Political cycle creates an undertow

for the incumbent party in an open election.

[trueblue2007]

18. Comey should resign. HE IS A TRAITOR

[pressbox69]

23. Couldn't

agree with you more.

[sarisataka]

19. Hubris nt

[NRQ891]

20. left vs right giving way to populism vs establishment

This is particularly true, given possible developments of parties in the future.

Think how much things have changed since Bill Clinton ran in 1992 - entities that are now large institutions, hadn't ever been heard of - Yahoo (arguably, has come and gone), Google, Facebook - and even the internet itself

Compare this to the 'old guard' of American companies:

Ford - created 1903

General Electric - 1892

But both of these companies are 49 and 38 years (respectively) newer than the creation of the last political party, the GOP.

Trump didn't just defy the expectations of the Democratic party, he defied the GOP as well, breaking every rule known to politics to do it, at a fraction of the budget. Howard Dean was the first social media candidate, President Obama perfected it. Trump created news cycles with Tweets. Sanders went a very long way with mostly small donors. Jeb Bush had perhaps the largest war chest, yet went nowhere and out with record dispatch. So much so that many have already forgotten him

This election wasn't left vs right, it was populist vs establishment. I remember being bored in 'flyover' territory years ago, nothing but fundamentalist Christian radio for the drive, and tired of my own CDs. But it was interesting, a guy talking about how evangelicals were being 'played' by the GOP, strung along for social issues, but sold out on economic ones, the issues they raise their families on, and pointing out that the biggest 'family value' is feeding it. They're not all as dumb as you think. And they could be shaken out of the GOP, not into this party perhaps, but something else. (a lot of them have already become independent, George Will, for instance)

With the advance of technology, the 'proof of concept' of Trump's completely unconventional campaign style, I would not be shocked to see the rise of a 3rd populist party, somewhat libertarian on social issues but populist on economic ones. I think it could pull 1/4 of Democrats, 1/4 of Republicans, and 1/4 of Independents, giving it parity with other parties almost overnight. Please understand I'm not advocating such a thing, I'm stating that such a possibility is out there and must be considered, when assessing next elections. They say generals always fight the last war, but true preparation means some vision of a possible landscape. Ross Perot tried this in 1992, but it was 15 minutes before the internet, and still in the 'old rules' era. I don't see the 'Reform party' coming back, as it went FUBAR, but something fresh could start up

[NRQ891]

21. the bad luck of Weiner

Mark Foley, Bill Clinton, Larry Craig - good politicians, bad politicians, these things never happen at a convinient time - nobody's exempt from Murphy's law

[Dems to Win]

22. NAFTA

I made this post on another board on Sept 30, after the first debate:

The Democrats seem surprised that the 2016 election has now turned into a referendum on NAFTA, after they nominated the wife of the man who signed NAFTA's implementing legislation. I'm surprised that they are surprised.

If we elect a demagogue in 2016 it will be in large part as a backlash against NAFTA. It will be quite a direct belated rejection of the Clinton Administration, who invested so much political capital into passing NAFTA.

The worst moment for Hillary in the debate, and the best issue for Trump, was her curt dismissal of the manufacturing job losses and devastation of factory towns across the USA as "That's your opinion."

They don't call it the Rust Belt because manufacturing is booming.

NAFTA also hurt Mexican corn farmers, and sent a wave of undocumented immigrants to America. Decades later, they are still here, and their children have grown up to be Dreamers.

When one out of 20 workers in the US are exploitable, hardworking, very low wage illegal immigrants, it depresses wages for the entire working class.

Working class Americans feel a double hit from NAFTA: so many manufacturing jobs have been shipped south to Mexico, and the remaining hard jobs in the US are filled with low paid undocumented immigrants instead of native born Americans making a living wage, as it was 30 years ago.

Say what you will about Trump: he's at least noticed these people and their hardships. More than we can say about the Clinton Democrats.

[NRQ891]

26. and everything you said about NAFTA, Ross Perot warned of in 1992

I interpret part of Trump's appeal as 'should have elected Perot in 1992'

[flamingdem]

24. Russian involvement and dark money

[Retrograde]

25. Low-information voters turned out to vote

in droves. The Trump personality cult. Free publicity for Trump. Zero analysis of issue on mainstream media. The on-the-fence voters staying home.

[elleng]

27. Combination,

Dem party/campaign 'complacency/ failure to VISIT rust belt locations, even after requested to do so, and Media handing trump millions in free coverage.

[kerouac2]

28. Media calling it for Clinton weeks ahead, Dems got cocky and mis-spent time & money.

The media essentially said there was no way she could lose near the end.

Dems were talking about cabinet members and putting time and money into states she wasn't going to win as people bragged about how we could pickup seats. And way too much time spent in big cities she was already going to dominate.

That totally motivated the right and may have made some blue staters less likely to vote because they thought she had it in the bag - while motivating repubs worried about the down ticket. Trumpers were highly motivated in their hatred and ignorance.

What we have now is shameful. Shameful. A president our kids must be told NOT to look up to or copy in any way. What is happening now and what is being said and done is nothing short of unbelievable and millions of people are walking around in a daze waiting for something or someone to swoop in and save us for this insanity. This is just off-the-rails crazy town.