I different set of voters would have turned up - a lot would have stayed off the electoral radar, a lot who didn’t vote would have. Impossible to say.
If Trump could knock down all the other Repubs — which should have been an Awful Warning to the Clinton Gang, but instead inspired them ludicrously to boost Trump as Public Enemy No. 1 to provide an easy target — there’s is no reason to suppose this ghastly shower could do better than he in the election.
And America dodged a bullet fully as bad as Hillary in the beastly potentialities of presidents Walker, Ryan, Rubio, Huckabee, Romney et al. Trump is certainly unspeakable; but he’s not a RW loony, fond of the whip.
The thought of President Cruz actually scared me, the others not so much. I’m well aware that the Republicans have to fashion a working governing body out of evangelicals, libertarians, big business, and the tea party. My expectations aren’t high.
He just appoints them to his Cabinet.
My Bold.
Yes, all incoming presidents get massive publicity. But usually those headlines are full of hope, congratulations, desire to work together. The headlines about Trump from Europe (not Russia, though) are full of worry, alarm, and fear. You really can’t see the difference?
My bold.
Yeah, that was a problem. I’ve learned not to put all my eggs in one quiet and tidy basket. I sincerely appreciated your offer of hospitality before it became conditional. 
I think this is right on the money (so to speak).
Being President is not like running a hotel or a casino, such that when things go bad, you can just fire everyone, declare bankruptcy, stiff the people you owe money to, and break ground on a new property. And play a round of golf that afternoon.
Even Obama said that after he found out what the job was REALLY all about, “If there weren’t bars on the windows, I’d jump out and run like hell.”
For all her 12 trillion faults and failings (“Email!! Lied!! Benghazi!!”), Hillary Clinton knew exactly what being President demands of a person.
True, but* he* has the whiphand now.
Imagine him strolling around the table like Stalin with the politburo, or a 19th century mill-owner with his board of directors, jeering at them as nancy-boys and soft gits, whilst they, trembling and unmoving without permission, stare at him with impotent hate in their eyes.
He’ll never do this. He’d have to have balls to show some leadership. And we know he doesn’t have any. He’s a tower of Jell-o.
We will not see any leadership from him. He’s a hollow man, a puppet like Charlie McCarthy and the Republicans will have their arms so far up his ass, they will be the ones making his mouth move.
Random thoughts:
At 55, Barack Obama is *leaving *the presidency at an age when many presidents first *enter *the presidency.
Barack and Michelle Obama are 3 years apart in age. Donald and Melania Trump are 24 years apart.
Ivanka & Melania are only 11 years apart.
Unlike Obama, I don’t think many universities would want Trump delivering a commencement address. I don’t think many charities or organizations would want his presence either. So Trump may have a less cluttered POTUS schedule than Obama.
I’ve thought about this a lot, and I see the 2016 election as a mirror image of the 1992 election. In 1991, Bill Clinton was the only candidate who recommended compassion and tolerance for the L.A. rioters. America was appalled by the Rodney King beating, and voters were so sympathetic that they elected Clinton to office.
In 2016, the BLM movement accused America’s police officers of racism based on the deaths of inner-city youths. The BLM didn’t cause any major trouble themselves, but a few crazy admirers ambushed and executed police officers. The BLM disavowed responsibility but maintained their anti-police rhetoric. One police chief called them terrorists, but on the whole, America’s police behaved flawlessly.
As a result, a large segment of America sympathized with the police and considered the BLM to be a criminal organization. In a complete turnaround from 1992, Americans didn’t want to hear about compassion and tolerance. They wanted someone to be tough on crime, so they went with Trump.
I’ve been studying this problem due to my prophecy thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=807456
It is a very interesting subject of which many laymen have diagnosed myself and Donald Trump along with this crazy election with: Psychiatry.org - Warning Signs of Mental Illness
Warning Signs of Mental Illness
Heard some little time back he was coming to Minneapolis, he was here, now he’s gone. Uf dah fuq?
Turns out, he had scheduled an appearance in Wisconsin in a time that it would conflict with the gorram Packers football game, so maybe not a great idea, hey! Let’s just go to Minnesota! He used a lot of his time here to wipe his ass on the Somali refugees we got here, what a big problem they were, what with all the terrists…
Tell you what, Donny! Bet none of those Somalis would be fool enough to schedule something like you did, dumfuk! Saw the video, he said his shit and the crowd made a noise, dunno if they were growling, but they weren’t cheering. Even Trumpiviks are nicer here in Baja Canada!
There’s crime and then, there’s crime. Looting the gullible and desperate with a fake University, that’s just good ol’ American entrepreneurship!
I see your comparison, but when the police officers in Ferguson were ambushed, I seriously wondered whether a race war was approaching. Donald Trump’s sins (and there are many) are comparatively insignificant.
And just to be clear, I voted for Hillary Clinton and screamed when she lost.
What the Clinton campaign did not account for was mudslinging doesn’t work if your opponent is already covered in shit. Everyone knew what sort of person Trump was so he started at the bottom of his poll numbers and could only go up. No new revelations would affect that. On the other hand, anything negative that came out about her (health, emails, Clinton Foundation, etc.) could only hurt her and drive down her numbers.
Also, can I mention here that I don’t give a shit if he wants to work out of Trump Tower?
Sucks for the bystanders who now find themselves living in the number one terrorist target on the planet though.