# Donald Just Lost The Election **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 16, 2016, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103 "2016-09-16T18:03:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/161 "2016-09-18T06:50:10Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I don’t care what Trump said. I remain convinced Obama is a Keynesian. “We’re All Keynesians Now!” - Richard M. Nixon (attrib.) ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/162 "2016-09-18T06:56:05Z")
American Dad! has a great [song about the Iran-Contra deal.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpZbbOgjhPc) ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/163 "2016-09-18T13:41:55Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > … Of the eleven Trump through GW Bush, Reagan ranked 6th on overall approval ratings. … Truman! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/164 "2016-09-18T15:24:13Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Many of us, as in about 35%, since Ronald Reagan left office with a 65% approval rating. How many thousand times must I tell you not to use one poll to make any point? [Ronald Reagan From the People’s Perspective: A Gallup Poll Review](http://www.gallup.com/poll/11887/ronald-reagan-from-peoples-perspective-gallup-poll-review.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/165 "2016-09-18T15:27:17Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Truman! Yeah. This whole thing _must_ be an episode of the _Truman Show_, or such. It’s simply too convoluted and bizarre to be an authentic phenomenon. Unreality TV. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/166 "2016-09-19T01:39:55Z")
We’re getting into the definition of teflon here rather than the subject at hand, but if you look at the GAllup article you notice that whether it was a recession or scandal, nothing ever stuck to Reagan long. His popularity always recovered. Donald Trump has never been popular to begin with, so he’s not teflon. It’s just that his unpopularity has probably gotten as bad as it can get. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/167 "2016-09-19T02:17:45Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > We’re getting into the definition of teflon here rather than the subject at hand, but if you look at the GAllup article you notice that whether it was a recession or scandal, nothing ever stuck to Reagan long. His popularity always recovered. > > Donald Trump has never been popular to begin with, so he’s not teflon. It’s just that his unpopularity has probably gotten as bad as it can get. True Reagan and the myth of how much everyone loved him is a hijack but the point that you seem to be ignoring is that his popularity did not recover for the majority of his terms because it was _never_ particularly _there_. He dropped down a bit below average during the recession and during the Iran-Contra affair and only perked up again on his way out the door. You want Teflon that was WJ Clinton who stayed very popular even through the Starr Report and impeachment proceedings. The initial period after NAFTA during which the Health Care Initiative failed was his only mild drop, and he bounced right back up. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/168 "2016-09-19T02:21:02Z")
I thought Birtherism was started by [this woman](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orly_Taitz)? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/169 "2016-09-19T02:42:03Z")
We’re running out of opportunities to stop Trump. We might be one good debate performance away from a Trump presidency. Hillary is losing support among millennials and I seriously wonder if she can get it back. They were already a skeptical bunch to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/170 "2016-09-19T02:51:07Z")
Ah, I was wondering when this was going to return. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/171 "2016-09-19T03:13:13Z")
Clinton is certainly capable of managing to lose to Trump, but I’m starting to wonder if those millenials are going to really stick with third party candidates. It seems to me that she doesn’t need more than 20% of them to come back to her to win, and that should happen pretty much automatically. I guess we’ll see in the next two weeks, between the debates and more polling. Trump’s rise still hasn’t stopped(RCP average Clinton +0.9), so the debate might be her first chance to arrest this. Of course, we all know how Clinton rises to the occasion when it counts. Her comeback victory against Barack Obama is still the stuff of legend. LOL. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/172 "2016-09-19T03:25:38Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I thought Birtherism was started by [this woman](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orly_Taitz)? I don’t think she started it; she just picked it up and ran with it. (I also reject the notion that Hilary Clinton started it. It did start during the same time as her primary campaign against Obama, but her campaign didn’t do the dire deed.) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/173 "2016-09-19T04:19:48Z")
Then Bush wasn’t responsible for the Swift Boaters. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/174 "2016-09-19T04:32:53Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Then Bush wasn’t responsible for the Swift Boaters. Bush the Younger has never been responsible for anything. He let his Congressman Dad get him a cushy National Guard post to avoid Vietnam. He got several business opportunities but was never much of a success. He finally let Cheney, _et al._ set him up as “President.” What does any of that sad tale have to do with Trump? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/175 "2016-09-19T04:47:49Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Then Bush wasn’t responsible for the Swift Boaters. This is one of the finest non-sequitur strawman arguments you’ve yet made on the SDMB, **adaher**! Good job! ---
**Author:** ![ganthet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@ganthet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ganthet)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/176 "2016-09-19T05:22:03Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Then Bush wasn’t responsible for the Swift Boaters. Bush largely wasn’t, despite some minor level connections between the Bush campaign and the Swift Boaters. But he and the Republican National Convention tried to have it both ways by sterile-ly refusing to directly attack Kerry’s service on paper but not discouraging anyone else from doing so. During the 2004 convention, many Republican delegates were featured wearing band-aids on their faces with small drawn-in purple hearts on them. Since many of them likely never served, even in a National Guard/Reserve capacity, let alone in Vietnam, it was pretty disgraceful. Even McCain tried to somewhat swat away accusations against Obama as a secret muslim or Arab on the campaign trail. So, TL, DR - Bush wasn’t responsible for the Swift Boaters but he, his campaign, and the RNC didn’t exactly acquit themselves very honorably either. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/177 "2016-09-19T05:23:09Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > This is one of the finest non-sequitur strawman arguments you’ve yet made on the SDMB, **adaher**! Good job! Clinton supporters started the birther story. BUsh supporters started the Swift Boat story. I’m just trying to maintain a consistent standard here. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/178 "2016-09-19T05:37:51Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Clinton supporters started the birther story. BUsh supporters started the Swift Boat story. I’m just trying to maintain a consistent standard here. No, I don’t think you are. I think you’re trying to steal **Bricker** ’s “liberal hypocrisy!” schtick and you’re doing a damned poor job of it. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/179 "2016-09-19T05:42:00Z")
Let’s not be too hasty. After all, a man of GeeDubya’s utter lack of curiosity? He might well not have known anything about it! Wouldn’t he have objected to such treatment, _had_ he known? Of course, how can we doubt that? A military man himself, who protected the skies above Amarillo from the Viet Cong Air Force? And Mr. Corsi? I daresay, the dispproving and disdainful way in which the Republicans treated him would be a stern warning to would-be imitators! ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103/180 "2016-09-19T09:05:58Z")
Adaher, according to fivethirtyeight, Trump’s rise _has_ stopped (finally). But it’s leveled off where this thing could very easily go either way, that’s true – 60-40 odds. Wow. In the words of the immortal Tuco, “Tight! Tight! Tight! _Gah!_”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-just-lost-the-election/766103.md?page=10)