How naive we all were back then. Most of us were sure he would drop out before the election or lose. Only 14 out of 179 respondents imagined that he could actually win:
Arcite
Of course, I could have made this announcement just after the 2016 election, but I’ve been too depressed since then to even think about this thread. Now that the end of the misrule of Trump is within sight, I decided to come back and give the winners their due.
I don’t know if there’s any way to tell at this point.
(I didn’t see your post while I was working on my previous one.)
I just skimmed the thread. It is really depressing to see how wrong nearly all of us were. We were certain he would never get nominated; in fact, drop out early. Then that he could not possibly win, but never conceded. Well, we were right about that. But it is really depressing. Only 47 hours and 32 minutes to go.
Here are a few examples of posters who knew Trump well enough even back then to accurately predict his reaction to losing, albeit four years later than expected. (Emphases mine.)
Enginerd:
Trump runs through election day and Clinton wins… but that doesn’t get Trump out of the race. He files at least one post-election lawsuit, with or without merit (my money’s on “without”), contesting the election results and claiming victory.
BobLibDem:
What idiots a lot of us were for this poll. I had picked Super Tuesday. Now I think he never concedes . He’ll lose to Hillary, but he won’t call her to concede, he’ll continue to insist that he’s the real winner and never publicly accepts defeat
Corry_El:
But come to think of it, Trump though will be out of the race assuming he stays in and loses the general election, I agree he’ll go to his grave saying he actually won. And I think that’s also a reason it’s very unlikely he quits before that. Then he’s a quitter. Whereas if he sticks to it and loses he can say the outcome was unfair (very, very unfair!) in a ‘rigged system’ and he’s not actually a loser.
Enginerd:
Sure, but that doesn’t mean his ego can handle the loss. Once the votes are all cast and the winner is decided, though, he can shake his tiny fist and scream at the top of his lungs about how the election was stolen from him without running the risk of actually becoming president. Do you really think he’s more likely to simply return to his business as a gracious loser at that point?
BigAppleBucky:
Since, at this writing, Trump is the GOP nominee, I think it’s possible he’ll lose by a solid margin and claim fraud and cheating on the part of the Democrats. So some date after losing on November 8. Probably well before midnight EST.
Balance:
He wants to win, so he can get his name slapped on stuff that will be around for a long time. Failing that, he’ll try to make the biggest crater he can when he falls–splitting the Republican Party, further damaging trust in our public institutions , anything he could possibly be remembered for.
I fully expect him to continue screaming nonsense even after he’s lost.
septimus:
I predict that long after his Election Day loss, we’ll be hearing accusations of cheating, more prattle about the Second Amendment, etc. He’ll announce some products to cash in on his new admirers, but I’m not sure what. Trump shotguns? Adult diapers?
Part right, part really, really wrong:
YogSothoth:
He’ll make some noise for a few days about rigged elections, might even threaten lawsuits or investigations , but after a week or two, he’ll back off “for the good of the country” and make the most self-serving concession speech ever
The world’s easiest prediction:
