Skin

Honestly that doesn't make me feel any better. The fact that racism, ablism, sexism, homophobia, and Nazism and everything else wasn't enough to disqualify this man is enough to make me lose complete faith in this country. As to those whites who voted for Obama and then Trump - I think those could most accurately be described as those change candidates someone in this thread described earlier. They just want change, not realizing what change will actually be or consist of. Again they feel and seem largely uninformed about what it takes for them to recover, and honestly this whole sympathy narrative is incredibly taxing because these same individuals in the Republican party have said despairing things about the black communities for decades now, and now all the sudden now that whites are having similar problems we must roll out the red carpet in order to see to their needs. It's the crack/cocaine/heroine dichotomy all over again where you demonize one race for something and then give endless understanding and sympathy to the other. What I am coming to realize in regards to the numbers and trending issues is that we most likely will get there in regards to representation - we already see this happening with winning the popular vote, what I am most concerned about is the Republican's redistricting everything and putting forth suppression laws to make these numbers not count. It's a perversion of everything America stands for, and Republicans can and will do whatever it takes to disenfranchise as much people as possible. We may end up getting those numbers - but they may not end up meaning anything in the long run.

Democrats like America itself is at an all important crossroads, at this point in time, and I think it needs to be underscored America needs change, but at the same time doesn't know how to action any of those changes, and government inherently is difficult and takes forever for anything to change or resolve anything. I think the American people feel and understand that more now then ever, but the cycle is pervasive and unending. Nothing will get done, and we have a community that is too large that has diametrically opposed views on what direction they want to go in. The cycling back and forth between two parties just ends up manifesting itself as largely standing still, because the previous party has to walk back on all the things the previous party did while they were in power. It's an endless cycle that isn't efficient. Something needs to happen to break the cycle - I doubt more and more that this two party system will ever work. I think the unending lie of the democratic party is that demographics will swing towards them, no matter what and they just need to be patient for these parties to arise, not realizing that the goal of the Republican party is to make sure that day never comes in the form of allocating all the resources they can to disenfranchising as much people as possible. The gerrymandering and anything that comes through over the next 4 years will be a solidification of doing all they can to keep power in the establishment and lower the position of minorities. That being said democrats need to be focused on winning elections. The popular vote is nearly always in their favor but the electoral college is not. That being said I do not believe it is worth cannibalizing the entire platform for these individuals that may never vote for what they propose. Analysis needs to be done on if these voters fit into the demographic of newer or converted blue states like New Mexico and Colorado. I think in about 8 years, even Texas could be competitive. So Democrats have a lot to potentially look forward to, but at the same time they have to protect the vulnerable demographics who are most at risk. At the same time there are voters who are just plenty uneducated about so much -- thinking about Kentucky, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and the like who voted for Trump and then are completely afraid that they will lose Obamacare or that their aid will get defunded which is a cornerstone of the Republican party. They are essentially Snidely Whiplash characters who want everyone to either die, starve, become homeless or become entrepreneurs. I don't think they will ever understand or come to the other side unless we let them get exactly what they asked for. We can't be the liberal soft hearts anymore trying to stop enablers from drinking poison. I'm not afraid of the Republicans ever becoming decent because they haven't shown that for years, and their hypocrisy can only be supported by those who don't intelligently look at their arguments. It takes a special kind of person to ignore the fact that the party leader of the Republicans was a recipient of government aid, and now wants to abolish the program because he got what he needed from it. I think it goes back to seeing how far gone these people are. If they really believe that minorities are evil people and that they don't deserve to exist then there not much that can be done. At that same token there needs to be responsibility on their side to understand that the jobs that they lost aren't coming back and they need to move to another field or industry. Many of them refuse to see that - and as such they will continue to be destroyed as we move into the future. The cutting of aid programs will only exacerbate their issues. If people can't understand that all people deserve equality and a chance and deserve the opportunity of a better life America is dead. Overall the party needs to be about progression and integration. That's what I always understood the party to be and that's what I believe it still is - but it's also morphed into an elitist and intellectualized hub of diversity, and those ideologies have been demonized by the right. As if it's cool to be ignorant and not know information. This anti-intellectualism has grown with the last two Republican president elects - George W. Bush and Donald Trump. It's really abhorrent and disgusting. What I love is that Obama is putting in as many roadblocks as he can to stop Donald's craziest proposals. It will take a while for Trump to effect things on a significant scale - I'm hoping that with Obama's orders it will take him 2-2.5 years to really implement many of his changes, but with the Republican lead Congress and Senate, as well as a Supreme Court - it's going to be a rough time, and if Democrats lose any more seats (which is likely in the mid year elections) Trump could alter the constitution. We really have to see if they can be educated and if they are willing to learn the reasons for their problems and the personal responsibility of their actions, and how they have caused their failings. The recession hit everyone hard, but the economy has largely sprung back. They need to ask themselves hard questions like why haven't they recovered while others have. Don't quite believe this, I think they will be emboldened and united with every law Trump passes that harms minorities. It's already happening that the Republicans are targeting Muslims, Gays, Immigrants and Women - it's only a matter of time before he begins targeting the black community, if they haven't already. No one is safe, and every action or measure that is taken that harms these groups will rally his base even more. They like the idea of hurting people who are not white, straight and cis-gendered. Every measure he takes against them will be an action against their war against liberals.

This is important, want to come back to this when I have the time.

Women I understand a bit more of, there is a ton of internalized misogyny in this world, and white women can still profit and benefit from white men being in power. Arguably less so with minority women who are from a darker pigmentation spectrum. I think one of the biggest problems with this presidential race was that everyone was grouped into brackets, not understanding that white women in the mid-west are fundamentally different from white women in the urban centers. I think that was a costly measure as it looks more and more like white women backed their white men. Those women may be pissed that they can't be homemakers anymore, and that their men can't make enough to where they don't have to work and they may be able to just sit at home and worry about the house. Maybe they want it to be 1950 as well, where they didn't have to worry about being independent, and just had to have dinner ready before 5. Those other individuals who voted for him, I imagine Hispanics and Latino's also seem to have a hatred for undocumented immigrants, not realizing that they could be just like them if not for a number of possibilities. I don't understand nationalist sentiments, as it's not something that is controlled for. Even though I was born in America, that means nothing to me, as I can't control where I was born. That's like holding something against someone simply due to uncontrollable factors. We can't control where we were born, what color our complexion is, if we are able bodied or if we are male, female or transgendered. I don't understand why people continue to hold this belief that one is inherently better than the other, when that is out of their control.

That illustrates so much self-hate right there, I don't even know what else to say.

I remember reading an article from the Nation titled: What Time is it? Here's what the 2016 Election tells us about Obama, Trump and What Comes Next. It was an insightful read that really goes to task about Trump and what he means and that Obama was a figure that tried to fight against Reganomics but ultimately failed. The writer likened Trump to Jimmy Carter as a "disruptor" or a disjunctive President that won't get much of anything done because he isn't aligned with his party and he thinks he can do everything himself. Ultimately we need to know where we stand as a nation. There were white working class voters who voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012, that did not vote for Hillary in 2016. Is there any way or path for the Democrats to get back things that they should have never lost in the first place? Part of the thing that was most frustrating about this election cycle was that there was an organic effort in the Democratic party that touched the same vein Trump did in regards to income equality and lobbyists - but it was snuffed out and stifled by the DNC, to their own destruction. Is the far left out of touch with "modern" America? And by how much? Do we really have to sacrifice big revolutionary changes for incremental change? Or is Trump just an inflation and representation of an America that is tired of the same old, same old - and Democrats just needed a better alternative that wasn't apart of the system? These are the questions the party needs to answer and quickly. Trump will be a disaster, but what happens next cycle?

The problem with this election is that everything is so completely skewed that it's hard to make heads or tails out of what just happened and how to move forward because so much of what once was has been turned upside down. Does the majority of this country really skew Republican, and are we really that far backwards ideologically? Or are people really just fed up with government and the Republicans and just decided to say the hell with it all and elect Trump as a way to screw the system? Democrats really need to do their research here and study what the problem is, because if they over correct themselves based on this one election they could make themselves even weaker and more irrelevant than ever by turning their backs on their base supporters. The Trump base is so ideologically screwed I don't know what to make of them. They vote Republican and then cry about losing Obamacare. They hate taxes, and yet don't realize how much they benefit from those taxes by living in red states which statistically are provided the most aid. Was Hillary such a bad choice in a candidate that they couldn't bear voting for her, and would they have won had they chosen another candidate that wasn't mired in endless scandal and corruption gossip? Trump won by such a slim margin and was completely trounced by the popular vote so there is hope. But we need a detailed and complete analysis of what the hell happened this year, and we need leadership to unite the party and move it forward. It's a shame that this loss happened but I fear that the party will remain divided. It reminds me of what the Democrats were like prior to Bill Clinton, during the Reagan years. Is the Republican party a true representation of this nation or has it been artificially inflated due to Trump's ignorant populism? His approval rating is low - lower than an incumbent President's ever been, which bodes well for the nation, and the democratic party - but some of these people are just so ideologically backwards I don't have much hope. They don't trust media, they don't trust government, and they seem to have these crazy conspiracy theories that the government is out to get them.

I said this before, but I can't believe that pollsters didn't take into consideration that white women would vote to protect and further sheath their white men. Their a packaged set in this red states. Not everyone is as progressive as the urban woman.

Well that is the myth of the presidency, without Senate or Congress you can't get much done that will be effective in the long-term. The Republicans really worked to make sure he could and would accomplish nothing, and they succeeded. I remember in 2015 feeling as if he had accomplished so much to bring the nation forward: same sex marriage, universal healthcare, economic progress, bank regulation, death of Bin Laden, Climate regulations, etc. But all of that looks to be undone. The Republicans want to bring the entire nation back to the dark ages, and it's only going to get worse. 2020 can't come fast enough. But I fear what the disgruntled white population will do when Trump fails. I feel like race relations will just get worse.

I'm worried that Fox News and the like are going to end up brainwashing all of the people that view their news into believing that Trump is the great job bringer, they already started with Carrier and now they have continued with Ford and that Asian mobile company investing 50 billion dollars into the US. If those voters end up really buying this we may be in the red for generations.

He stopped Carrier from leaving to Mexico by threatening their Government contract. This is a huge boon for Republicans. Indiana may end up staying red.

He went on Twitter and said it wasn't true.

Bannon is incredibly dangerous, he is against globalization and against diversity and inclusion - and pretty much only cares about the white half of this country. I would say not just millennials, but also the older citizens who also want to retire but can't. The Republicans are going after medicare and medicade, which will devastate the older citizens who already don't have enough to live off of. If it gets much worse you will end up in a society not unlike that of a depressed China. Where we have the Generation X-er's sheltering everyone - their children and their parents - if they can afford it.There's a bottle neck happening on both sides here and they are both getting squeezed. You have people not wanting to vacate jobs because they are unsure about being able to retire, which directly effects the graduating students because there are no opportunities for them to enter the workforce. Their both getting squeezed, the middle can't move, and prices for everything are continuously escalating. The student debt is also a massive issue, these students can't pay back their loans and they can't create additional costs like moving to a place they have no foothold in. Most of them don't have good enough credit to pay for things they can't afford when they are already hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. That's what happens when you tell an entire generation they have to go to college in order to get a good job.

Those manufacturing jobs are not coming back. This is a reality of the world we live in. America over the past 20+ years has become a consumer culture, and getting into a trade war with all of these countries will be a disaster. No one wants to pay $100.00 for a bag of coffee grounds, or $5,000 for a spare tire. We are vulnerable because we consume everything from every other country and our dependence has fueled this behavior for decades now. Going back to everything being American made is no longer feasible and corporations aren't going to foot the bill for it. I feel bad for Wisconsin and Michigan because their economies have been devastated but at the same time this is exactly what has been happening to the millennial generation since the 2007 housing crisis tanked the economy. Their insistence that they are too good for customer service jobs and refuse to learn new skills is only an impediment to themselves, and blaming immigrants, people of color, women, LGBTQX and other minorities is ridiculous.

I remember reading an article from the Harvard Business Review that in the middle red states she was never going to win them over because she couldn't straddled the need to be both Presidential and a woman. In their eyes she performed well in the first debate but when she went on the attack she was deemed to be "unlady like", another thing that was mentioned was that all of her preparation served her adversely. She had such a long record, that any mistakes that she made were immediately used against her, and due to her long public record she gave the republicans much fodder from the banks, to the super predator lines, to the emails, to the trade deals, etc. She just had so much material used against her. She was almost too overqualified for the position which then made her unqualified for the role. It's a shame but in elections like this is almost feels like it's better to either perform perfectly or not have anything at all to be used against you. I think from here on out we need perfect candidates, otherwise we're just going to fail. I have no faith that these red states can vote the right way next time around. The Popular vote is ridiculous. More than 2 million extra people will have voted for Clinton, which means we are basically jailed by these red states over the will of the people's votes.

Just realized we lost everything with this past election. - Lost the White House - Lost the Senate - Lost the House Of Representatives - Lost the Supreme Court nominations for the next 4 years. The Republicans are in a position to pretty much pass whatever they want. They will completely erase all of the progress Obama made with regards to everything. It will be like he was never even in office. Have the Democrats ever received a trouncing this bad in the history of the understanding of the current two party system? Having all of the Democrats saying they are willing to work with Trump is disgraceful, but they have no bargaining ground whatsoever. All they can do is pretty much beg.

Honestly Hillary was a weak candidate - that's what the numbers consistently say. She lost all of the states that Bernie picked up in the primary, which more or less forecasted her failure. Combine that with the emails and that was more then enough for a failed bid for the presidency. Another potential red flag was this mistaken belief that white women would not support their white men in those red states. I think these polls need to take into consideration that not every woman is a individualistic vote. I think if anything this underscores that in those deep red states, and even the ones that leaned Trump, that those women will support their men. No matter what. IT's a value's based decision based on their lifestyle choices and upbringing.

Trump is projected to win 57 electoral votes. Such a shame. Democrats chose the wrong candidate.

You are dreaming if you don't think Hillary and her investigation didn't hurt her brand in the mind of voters. Joe or Bernie could have cut into Trump's source of power: white middle/working class men.

Now they are talking about this being another 2000's with Gore vs. Bush.

She's holding out for Detriot, but her performance has been horrible in pretty much most of the battle ground states. She's losing all of the states she originally lost in the Primary. It's hard to deny at this point that Biden and Bernie would have been stronger performers in cutting into Trump's lead. Democrats have completely fractured under her nomination.

I read something in the paper today about some economists praising his plan at some special meeting with Wall Street. Is this really happening? Are people really on board with him. I read an article a few weeks ago that Michael Moore posted: 5 Reasons Trump Will Win I really do think that this could be a possibility. I feel like people may just spite vote in the end just like the Brexit people earlier this year.

Her album sales were actually pretty solid, and about on average with what most albums sell first week now a days. Had her team been a bit more timely and released the album later she could have had the #1 album this week. However radio is really over her. Her last big hit was about three years ago, as a feature artist for an artist no one really cares about anymore. It's a shame because it seems like she really was excited to promote this album, and seemed reinvigorated in her career with this past album. It just seems like she recuperated to late before she really came back. Her performance abilities have increased ten-fold since 2007, and even since 2011. Vegas did her good in that realm.

I might be showing my age, but I don't remember Cyborg being apart of the original Justice League line up. I wonder what made them pick Cyborg over Hawkgirl, The Wonder Twins, or Marian The Man-hunter.

We already discussed that fact checking doesn't move the pendulum against Donald in any measurable way, and that his voter's don't care re: Donald's presentation being a factor in his electability, but you are entitled to your opinion. My belief is that his presentation is not a factor for voters.