The 2016 Presidential Election Trainwreck

[Moliere]

I never said "cool with it." It's more like apathetic. And the apathy is what's so frustrating.

For me, it's not apathy. I was horrified at Trump's victory, but he's our duly elected president and I'm willing to give him a shot. I'd do the same with Hillary if she had won, which she obviously didn't.

As to whether or not the Russians' influence helped Trump, it probably did but it's clear that wasn't their intent (the NYTimes backs this up). I don't like outside forces meddling in our elections. But outside forces have been doing that for a long time. This isn't anything new. I support the gov't figuring out who did it and trying to clamp down on anything like this happening in the future, but it's going to happen again. It's the world we live in and campaigns should take note. They can start by not sending sensitive information in emails, especially stuff that makes it clear they picked Hillary from the start. There are certain things I never send in email at work, not because it is wrong but because of how it would look if my company were ever investigated for financial statement fraud.

[Omaha 680]

https://reason.com/archives/2016/11/...-saint-hillary

Ever since Donald Trump won the presidential election, all eyes, and wringing hands, have been on the white blob who voted for him. These "loud, illiterate and credulous people," as a sap at Salon brands them, think on an "emotional level." Bill Moyers warned that ours is a "dark age of unreason," in which "low information" folks are lining up behind "The Trump Emotion Machine." Andrew Sullivan said Trump supporters relate to him as a "cult leader fused with the idea of the nation."

What's funny about this is not simply that it's the biggest chattering-class hissy fit of the 21st century so far — and chattering-class hissy fits are always funny. It's that whatever you think of Trump (I'm not a fan) or his supporters (I think they're mostly normal, good people), the fact is they've got nothing on the Clinton cult when it comes to creepy, pious worship of a politician.

By the Cult of Hillary Clinton, I don't mean the nearly 62 million Americans who voted for her. I have not one doubt that they are as mixed and normal a bag of people as the Trumpites are. No, I mean the Hillary machine—the celebs and activists and hacks who were so devoted to getting her elected and who have spent the past week sobbing and moaning over her loss. These people exhibit cult-like behavior far more than any Trump cheerer I've come across.

Trump supporters view their man as a leader "fused with the idea of the nation"? Perhaps some do, but at least they don't see him as "light itself." That's how Clinton was described in the subhead of a piece for Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter. "Maybe [Clinton] is more than a president," gushed writer Virginia Heffernan. "Maybe she is an idea, a world-historical heroine, light itself," Nothing this nutty has been said by any of Trump's media fanboys.

"Hillary is Athena," Heffernan continued, adding that "Hillary did everything right in this campaign… She cannot be faulted, criticized, or analyzed for even one more second."

That's a key cry of the Cult of Hillary (as it is among followers of L. Ron Hubbard or devotees of Christ): our gal is beyond criticism, beyond the sober and technical analysis of mere humans. Michael Moore, in his movie Trumpland, looked out at his audience and, with voice breaking, said: "Maybe Hillary could be our Pope Francis."

Or consider Kate McKinnon's post-election opening bit on SNL, in which she played Clinton as a pantsuited angel at a piano singing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," her voice almost cracking as she sang: "I told the truth, I didn't come to fool ya." Just imagine if some right-leaning Christian celeb (are there any?) had dolled up as Trump-as-godhead and sang praises to him. It would have been the source of East Coast mirth for years to come. But SNL's Hallelujah for Hillary was seen as perfectly normal.

[Sleeping in EQ]

He's not invited and his friends can't come:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/18/politi...-inauguration/

I like 80s rock as much as the next guy--OK, more than the next guy--but...umm...what?

Follow up question: Would Vince have played Shout at the Devil?

[Goatnapper'96]

He's not invited and his friends can't come:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/18/politi...-inauguration/

I like 80s rock as much as the next guy--OK, more than the next guy--but...umm...what?

Follow up question: Would Vince have played Shout at the Devil?

Don't go away mad - just go away!

[Copelius]

Don't go away mad - just go away!

Best nugget from the story was that Ahnold is replacing Trump on Celebrity Apprentice. Wonder if he'll replace the line "You're fired," with "Youah tehminated."

[Northwestcoug]

Don't go away mad - just go away!

[Sleeping in EQ]

Don't go away mad - just go away!

Seriously.

There are plenty of rock and pop stars who would use good judgment about what to play at such an event:

Aerosmith would play Dream On, I Don't Wanna Kiss Your Thing, and maybe Amazing.

Bon Jovi would play Living on a Prayer, It's My Life, and whichever ballad they felt like.

Cyndi Lauper would do True Colors, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (for Hillary), and Time after Time. She-bop would not be in the cue.

Elton John would stick to Disney ballads and would stay away from his druggy 70s catalog.


But Vince Neil?

[Mormon Red Death]

Seriously.

There are plenty of rock and pop stars who would use good judgment about what to play at such an event:

Aerosmith would play Dream On, I Don't Wanna Kiss Your Thing, and maybe Amazing.

Bon Jovi would play Living on a Prayer, It's My Life, and whichever ballad they felt like.

Cyndi Lauper would do True Colors, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (for Hillary), and Time after Time. She-bop would not be in the cue.

Elton John would stick to Disney ballads and would stay away from his druggy 70s catalog.


But Vince Neil?

They would start out with Girls Girls Girls... head into Same old Situation then end with Home sweet home and Wthout you

[Commando]

They would start out with Girls Girls Girls... head into Same old Situation then end with Home sweet home and Wthout you

complete with the dialogue riff, "Hey Tommy-- check that out" "WHERE, Vince? WHERE?" "Right there!(points to the madam president) *wolf whistle*"

[Uncle Ted]

Maybe Trump was right... the system is rigged:

Computer scientists urge Clinton campaign to challenge election results

Hillary Clinton's campaign is being urged by a number of top computer scientists to call for a recount of vote totals in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, according to a source with knowledge of the request.


The computer scientists believe they have found evidence that vote totals in the three states could have been manipulated or hacked and presented their findings to top Clinton aides on a call last Thursday.
[...]
Additionally, at least three electors have pledged to not vote for Trump and to seek a "reasonable Republican alternative for president through Electoral College," according to a statement Wednesday from a group called the Hamilton Electors, which represents them.


"The Founding Fathers created the Electoral College as the last line of defense," one elector, Michael Baca, said in a statement, "and I think we must do all that we can to ensure that we have a reasonable Republican candidate who shares our American values."

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/22/po...lts/index.html

Let me guess. Those three electors are from Utah.

[byu71]

Maybe Trump was right... the system is rigged:


http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/22/po...lts/index.html

Let me guess. Those three electors are from Utah.

I was surprised at the outcome. I am glad the scientists are going to keep politicians and the Russians accountable

[myboynoah]

Hmmmmmmmmm . . .

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Clinton campaign will participate in Wisconsin recount, with an eye on ‘outside interference,’ lawyer says

In a Medium post, Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias said that the campaign had received “hundreds of messages, emails, and calls urging us to do something, anything, to investigate claims that the election results were hacked and altered in a way to disadvantage Secretary Clinton,” especially in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where the “combined margin of victory for Donald Trump was merely 107,000 votes.”

Elias said the campaign had “not uncovered any actionable evidence of hacking or outside attempts to alter the voting technology.” But because of the margin of victory — and because of the degree of apparent foreign interference during the campaign — Elias said that Clinton officials had “quietly taken a number of steps in the last two weeks to rule in or out any possibility of outside interference in the vote tally in these critical battleground states.” He said that they would also participate in the Stein-initiated recount in Wisconsin, and if Stein made good on efforts to prompt similar processes in Pennsylvania and Michigan, they would do so there, as well.

[Moliere]

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I remember the days when I believed the ultra liberals were big fans of personal rights and freedoms. Guess those days are long gone.


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[frank ryan]

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I remember the days when I believed the ultra liberals were big fans of personal rights and freedoms. Guess those days are long gone.


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Greens have always been super duper crazy.

[Walter Sobchak]

Greens have always been super duper crazy.

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