# The aftermath of a narrow Trump electoral defeat **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 17, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191 "2016-09-17T19:57:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/21 "2016-09-18T00:36:19Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Except that being an incumbent gives her an edge she doesn’t have right now. But the Democrats would have had the White House for 12 years then, and voters tend to want change by then. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/22 "2016-09-18T00:40:14Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > Trump will then go on to win the Republican nomination in 2020 The Republicans will drastically reform their primary process after this year. Trump will never sniff a nomination again. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/23 "2016-09-18T00:41:20Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > So what are you going to do if he concedes that Clinton’s narrow victory was fair and square? That’s not a possibility with trump. Donuts will fall from heaven before he ever admits such a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/24 "2016-09-18T00:50:34Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > The Republicans will drastically reform their primary process after this year. Trump will never sniff a nomination again. They may try but if they do they will fail. Trump will be essentially running for the nomination for four years. His presence will keep reasonable Republicans from even entering the race. He’ll run wild over the few whackadoodles and second stringers that try to stand against him. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/25 "2016-09-18T00:54:20Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > So what are you going to do if he concedes that Clinton’s narrow victory was fair and square? I’ll wait until he adds: Just kidding! It is barely possible that he will read off a gracious statement drafted by one of his children. But he wouldn’t be able to stick to that in coming days. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/26 "2016-09-18T00:55:24Z")
“Electoral reform” won’t happen. Period. Enough states have a vested interest in the current system to effectively veto any proposal. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/27 "2016-09-18T00:55:57Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > But the Democrats would have had the White House for 12 years then, and voters tend to want change by then. Not if it’s named Roosevelt. And BTW, the electorate does tend to want change, and flip-flops between parties for two termers: Bush, pere got lucky by riding Reagan’s extremely long coattails, and Carter got very unlucky by having the Iran hostage crisis looming over the election for his second term, but it’s been a pretty steady pattern for a while, and the Republicans had it going for them, which they totally squandered by nominating a psychopath. I was very worried Clinton wouldn’t win against a real politician like Cruz or Kasich just because people tend to favor a party change, but Trump is actually the easiest person for her to beat out of all the people who were originally in the primary. I’m still bemused that he actually got the nomination, but whatever. He’s a gift, and the Democrats should be grateful. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/28 "2016-09-18T00:57:47Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > I’ll wait until he adds: Just kidding! > > It is barely possible that he will read off a gracious statement drafted by one of his children. But he wouldn’t be able to stick to that in coming days. I predict that when he loses, he will call for a recount. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/29 "2016-09-18T01:01:41Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > The Republicans will drastically reform their primary process after this year. Trump will never sniff a nomination again. I think they would tweak the primary process in an attempt to reduce the chances for outsider candidates. |But the effect of changing primary schedules and rules isn’t wholly predictable. What specifically do you believe they could practically do? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/30 "2016-09-18T01:03:09Z")
Trump’s not gonna run in 2020. He would be 74 years old. And his heart will have exploded from eating all that KFC and McDonald’s. The most horrible thing is that he’s not going to get QUIET after he loses this November. Now he’s National. Now he’s a Playa. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/31 "2016-09-18T01:18:13Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > I think they would tweak the primary process in an attempt to reduce the chances for outsider candidates. |But the effect of changing primary schedules and rules isn’t wholly predictable. > > What specifically do you believe they could practically do? Superdelegates, carefully selected for loyalty and obedience to the party bigwigs/leadership, so many so that the delegates won from the state primaries themselves are only a minority. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/32 "2016-09-18T01:30:46Z")
You heard it here first… “The Russians hacked the voting machines for Comrade Hillary. Sad.” ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/33 "2016-09-18T01:44:44Z")
Just out of interest why, before it has even happened, are people so dismissive of a claim that the election was rigged. Even I have seen several articles about how likely it is that the election could be rigged. For instance: [How to Hack an Election in 7 Minutes](http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/08/2016-elections-russia-hack-how-to-hack-an-election-in-seven-minutes-214144) > [@](#): > > Appel’s mischief might be called an occupational asset: He is part of a diligent corps of so-called cyber-academics—professors who have spent the past decade serving their country by relentlessly hacking it. Electronic voting machines—particularly a design called Direct Recording Electronic, or DRE’s—took off in 2002, in the wake of Bush v. Gore. For the ensuing 15 years, Appel and his colleagues have deployed every manner of stunt to convince the public that the system is pervasively unsecure and vulnerable. [Voting machine password hacks as easy as ‘abcde’, details Virginia state report](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/15/virginia-hacking-voting-machines-security) > [@](#): > > Touchscreen voting machines used in numerous elections between 2002 and 2014 used “abcde” and “admin” as passwords and could easily have been hacked from the parking lot outside the polling place, according to a state report. > > The AVS WinVote machines, used in three presidential elections in Virginia, “would get an F-minus” in security, according to a computer scientist at tech research group SRI International who had pushed for a formal inquiry by the state of Virginia for close to a decade. > > In a damning study published Tuesday, the Virginia Information Technology Agency and outside contractor Pro V&V found numerous flaws in the system, which had also been used in Mississippi and Pennsylvania. > > Jeremy Epstein, of the Menlo Park, California, nonprofit SRI International, served on a Virginia state legislative commission investigating the voting machines in 2008. He has been trying to get them decertified ever since. > > Anyone within a half mile could have modified every vote, undetected, Epstein said in a blog post. “I got to question a guy by the name of Brit Williams, who’d certified them, and I said, ‘How did you do a penetration test?’” Epstein told the Guardian, “and he said, ‘I don’t know how to do something like that’.” ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/34 "2016-09-18T01:56:27Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Superdelegates, carefully selected for loyalty and obedience to the party bigwigs/leadership, so many so that the delegates won from the state primaries themselves are only a minority. This would be even better for Clinton. Trump goes through the nomination process and is in the lead because he fires up a huge part of the Republican electorate that is angry, irrational, and antiestablishment. Then the RNC decides to go with another dude. Clinton landslide. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/35 "2016-09-18T02:09:20Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > This would be even better for Clinton. Trump goes through the nomination process and is in the lead because he fires up a huge part of the Republican electorate that is angry, irrational, and antiestablishment. Then the RNC decides to go with another dude. > > Clinton landslide. Trump is a one-shot wonder. His message was considered “fresh” by his supporters this spring. By 2020, he’ll be seen as thoroughly stale, tiresome and worn-out by his one-time fans. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/36 "2016-09-18T02:19:05Z")
Almost everything that worked this time will work next time. He will still get support of racists. He will still get support from angry voters. He will still get a ton of media attention. He will still suck all the air out of the room. He will still win the Republican nomination. He will say crazy shit. He will still paint America as a dystopian hellscape. He will lose the 2020 general by an even larger margin. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/37 "2016-09-18T02:33:17Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > He’s a gift, and the Democrats should be grateful. No party should accept a gift that actively makes the public discourse (and thus the country itself) that much worse. I’d much rather a worthy adversary. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/38 "2016-09-18T02:38:24Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Just out of interest why, before it has even happened, are people so dismissive of a claim that the election was rigged. Even I have seen several articles about how likely it is that the election could be rigged. I’ve worked several elections with electronic voting machines. The machines aren’t online, and don’t transmit anything through any kind of wifi. They are self-contained computers. You’d have to plug a device into them to hack them, and they would get noticed pretty quickly, assuming that someone would know where and how to plug a device into one. The vote counts are printed out at the end of the evening, and you do need a password to access the vote count, but the polls are closed, and there is a multi-step shut-down procedure for the machines, so no one could even access the vote count if there were something that could be done with knowing an accurate count early that could be somehow used to rig an election (for example, there’s a phenomenon in many Indiana precincts of Republicans voting early in the day, and tapering off, while more Democrats vote toward the end of the day-- I have no idea why-- but if you could publish the vote count at noon, it would probably show most Republicans well in the lead, and might discourage some Democrats from bothering to go to the polls; on the other hand, it could also galvanize Dems who were thinking of not going to vote to make a point of doing so, so who knows?) Anyway, most articles about hacking electronic voting machines are alarmist, conspiracy crap. I’ve worked polls with the old lever machines, where the workers were there until 1am counting votes, and I’ve worked with the electronic machines, and we’re out by 8:30. Love the electronic machines. ---
**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 18, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/39 "2016-09-18T02:49:36Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > I think they would tweak the primary process in an attempt to reduce the chances for outsider candidates. |But the effect of changing primary schedules and rules isn’t wholly predictable. > > What specifically do you believe they could practically do? Primaries? What primaries? The Republicans might just adopt the _dedazo_ – the “big finger,” by which the Mexican president traditionally chooses the next candidate (which, until 2000, also meant “the next president”). ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191/40 "2016-09-18T03:28:05Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Primaries? What primaries? The Republicans might just adopt the _dedazo_ – the “big finger,” by which the Mexican president traditionally chooses the next candidate (which, until 2000, also meant “the next president”). The big finger…sounds like a description of our election anyway [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aftermath-of-a-narrow-trump-electoral-defeat/766191.md?page=3)