I’m pretty stunned at this. The Selzer poll gave such hope and for that to be almost 20 points off is hard to fathom.
I now think more than in 2016 this country is not ready to elect a woman president any time soon. For some reason states including deep red states don’t have a problem with having a woman governor but “commander-in-chief” maybe has some subconscious association with a man.
That’s not to say I think she lost because she’s a woman. But that’s one factor. Another is in hindsight Barack Obama got re-elected with unemployment touching 8% so maybe voters will trade inflation for higher joblessness - in which case the theory that Democrats upon taking office needed to invest big in stimulus projects was a mistake and it should have just been as Joe Manchin argued - a tightening of the purse during Covid time.
Lots of ifs, buts and maybe’s. Ultimately now the Biden presidency will go down as a waste of time as all the good he did legislatively will be repealed and the courts are going ultra conservative. I said in the summer he should have been the candidate in 2016 as he was more lively back then, more popular as Obama’s VP and Trumpism was a mile long but an inch deep. We failed to cut it at its roots and now it has grown out of control.
Many here are, which disturbs me, because the most “obvious, rational” acts I see that leading to are suicide and/or homicide. I hope nobody here goes that route, despite what they say here.
Yes. We noticed this at the election (“polling”) location where I was working.
This was huge. The parallels to 2016 are deep. My very first thought when I heard she’d likely lose was, "will the US ever have a woman president?,: and the next was “maybe, but she’ll have to be a Republican” – Nixon in China and all that.
And then, “in 2000, Mexico had their first free and fair elections, resulting in an opposition party finally winning, while the US election was a mess*,” while “in 2024 Mexico elected its first woman president…”
(*Nothing like what was to come 20 years later, of course…it was just a mess due to mathematical bad luck.)
With the redrawn maps, Democrats gained seats in the WI state legislature. Not enough to win a majority, but not nail biting close to being able to override Gov Evers.
Not all MN state legislative races have been called. In one race ( State Representative District 54A) DFL is ahead by 13 votes.
My prediction was the important half wrong but unfortunately I am not stunned. (I was fairly sure the typical systemic polling error would make this a sweep one way or the other but had been optimistically expecting the error to go against Trump this time.)
I am ashamed of my fellow citizens. Nevertheless I believe we will outlast his harms and in the broad scope of history we will endure as democracy.
Unfortunately my track record is not something I can be proud of right now.
Yep. I was a big supporter of that idea, and I still think all of the results of it are better except for the electoral results, but, y’know, elections are how we decide these things! Oh well, politicians have surely learned this particular lesson good and hard.
Some small good news-the nation’s first out transgender person was elected to Congress. Missouri raised the minimum wage. And reproductive rights had a good night from what I understand.
This is me. Last time he got elected I followed his every move, and started the clusterfuck thread here that ran to thousands of outraged posts.
Now, against all reason, it has happened again. I weep for my country. And I am going to put my myself in a bubble. I’m going to ignore him and ignore politics. Next week I’m going to be 76 years old, and in 4 years I will be 80. I live in a good situation, I am by no means wealthy but my finances are secure, I don’t have any children. And I’m just going to Ignore him as best I can.
I do think Kamala ultimately lost because she is a woman. Not just a woman, but a black, Asian, childless woman, married to a white Jew. I had a thread on this board many years ago that declared the United States will never be ready for a woman president. Sad, but apparently true. At least not in my lifetime, which, optimistically, only has 20-ish years left in it, if I’m lucky.
No, Republicans didn’t cheat. Democrats are in charge of the election machinery in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and other swing states that may yet be called for Trump.
The Republicans always cheat, that’s a given. It’s built into the system at every level. But if there wasn’t such a huge population of fascists, bigots and religious fanatics that wouldn’t have been enough.
Harris lost all of the swing states by less than 200K each. It will be interesting to see the turnout percentages by party to see if she lost because
A) The Republicans turned out
and/or
B) The Democrats did not
This was my first reaction, and I’m on the fence about this now.
On the one hand, life is short – there are so many beautiful things still in this world – I’m fortunate to have what I have in my life, and to squander seconds and minutes, let alone months and years, on the anger and stress of paying attention to (and struggling against the power of) that asshole and his hundred million minions, is to let the assholes win. My kid will only be a kid for these coming four years, and they will be years when Trump is (again) president. Best to ignore that fact as much as I possibly can. Pretend I don’t care who is president and what they’re doing to ruin so many lives (I’m lucky I can get away with this, as much as anyone) – and, harder still, pretend that so many millions (including neighbors, my kids’ friends’ families, etc.) don’t like Trump or what he stands for. Be here now, day in and day out; spend each day’s precious hours doing and thinking all the great and mundane things life has to offer.
But then I think: Should I really set an example to my kid of disengagement with the world? Shouldn’t I continue to show him it’s important to grapple with facts and reality, even when it disappoints – and that politically engaged, optimistic (yet realistic) work is an important part of a fulfilled life? That you need to be involved in your community and your time in history?
I’m truly torn on this. But mainly, now, I am exhausted – and need to ensure my mental grief doesn’t engender physical harm on my body. I can’t do either of the above options, if I’m stuck in a deep, prolonged physical/mental illness.
