# Trump haters: If you could retroactively change the 2012 election results, would you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220 "2016-11-09T15:41:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220/21 "2016-11-10T07:33:52Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Unhesitatingly. > > People are very frightened now, and for good reason. 😕 Don’t you live in Canada? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220/22 "2016-11-10T07:42:02Z")
Actually, Democrats don’t need to give up a term. Just swap Clinton for Obama and they probably win for 16 years. The Democrat was going to win in 2008 and Clinton was more suited to the last eight years than Obama, whereas Obama would be PERFECT if he was running for the first time now. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220/23 "2016-11-10T07:54:07Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > 😕 > Don’t you live in Canada? Exports to the USA are something like 20% of Canada’s economy. If Trump tanks the American economy, or even just puts up trade barriers (his transition site talks about possibly withdrawing from NAFTA), Canada will suffer. And that’s without getting into the other fears about the general stability of the world. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220/24 "2016-11-10T17:52:33Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > 😕 > Don’t you live in Canada? Yes, and people here are very, very scared. Right now I’ve run into two types of Canadians; people frightened and upset, and people who don’t want to talk about it because they’re too frightened and upset. Certainly no one who isn’t white wants to travel there now; there are already uncountable tales of black people. Muslims, anyone who isn’t white being assaulted and harassed. That alone is scary. Trump is going to start a huge, huge world economic crisis, and that affects everyone. When he tanks the US economy, we go with it. That’s the least dangerous part, but unfortunately is a safe bet to happen. American unemployment will double or triple. That affects everyone. It’s going to make 2008 look like a mild bump. The more dangerous part is his insanity regarding military alliances. We all lose if he lets World War Three happen. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220/25 "2016-11-10T20:09:22Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > No, regardless of Mr. Romney’s decency he advocated economic policies that would have strangled the Obama recovery, anemic though it may have been, in its infancy. We would have been plunged back into recession. But cheer up, that could still happen under Trump. I would take Romney 2012 in a heartbeat. If the worst Romney could do is put us in a recession, I’d still take that. I fear Trump is going to be a lot worse than creating a recession, a whole lot worse. Comparing Trump to Romney or W is like comparing Hoover or Harding to Buchanan or Andrew Johnson. Sure, they’re all bad, but there’s an order of magnitude difference. It’s like asking what would I chose for my next three drives home. 1. A safe drive, another safe drive, and a head on collision on the freeway at top speed (Obama, Obama, Trump). 2. A safe drive, a minor fender bender at 5 mph, another minor fender bender at 5 mph (Obama, Romney, Romney). It’s a simple choice, and a 2012 Romney win would have been far better than what we have now. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220/26 "2016-11-10T23:06:18Z")
I’d take an Obama-Romney-Romney over this any day. I’d even settle for Obama never throwing his hat in the ring in 2008, staying a senator (until 2020), and a Mccain-Mccain-Romney presidency. And I _really_ like Obama. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220/27 "2016-11-10T23:24:44Z")
Hell, I’d even live with a repeal of the 22nd Amendment before the 2008 election, followed by 12 more years of W. ---
**Author:** ![Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omg_a_Black_Conservative)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220/28 "2016-11-10T23:27:35Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > No, but I’d love him to be the winner now. Robot Romney was wrong on many issues, but he seemed a decent guy. > > We needed 8 full years of Obama. Yes, we needed 8 full years of Obama to ensure the Democratic party is a minority party for at least a decade. I agree! ---
**Author:** ![Salvor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Salvor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salvor)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220/29 "2016-11-11T00:02:18Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > No, but I’d love him to be the winner now. Robot Romney was wrong on many issues, but he seemed a decent guy. > > We needed 8 full years of Obama. Agree totally. Truth is, I think Romney is an excellent manager type that has a strong pragmatist streak in him. He did sign off on a state version of the ACA when he was governor. The problem with any republican is the base and dogma and the congress would not have easily gone along with reasonable reforms or anything close to approaching increased government involvement in healthcare. Because conservatives KNOW from past experience/dogma dictated from God himself, that anytime government touches something it gets worse. And the proof? They believe it. tighten the slack on those jaws, not everyone has the same standards liberals. For conservatives, if they believe something is true, then it IS true, their beliefs are identical to reality, so why bother testing things? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220/30 "2016-11-11T00:56:22Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > What did that extra 4 years of Obama get you? Four more years without Republiscum in office. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220/31 "2016-11-11T02:49:01Z")
And the Democratic Party getting gutted. All the demographic change in the world won’t help if your bench is empty. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220/32 "2016-11-11T02:50:30Z")
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democrats-face-a-power-outage-in-washington--and-an-identity-crisis/2016/11/09/74c80de8-a6a7-11e6-8042-f4d111c862d1\_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democrats-face-a-power-outage-in-washington--and-an-identity-crisis/2016/11/09/74c80de8-a6a7-11e6-8042-f4d111c862d1_story.html) > [@](#): > > The biggest stain on Barack Obama’s political legacy may turn out to be the decimation of the Democratic Party on his watch. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220/33 "2016-11-11T03:06:00Z")
Absolutely. I think Romney’s policies probably would have brought on a recession, and he would have been defeated in 2016 (unless maybe the Democrats nominated Hillary Clinton). But even granting two terms of Romney, it’s like two broken arms vs. a shot in the head. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220/34 "2016-11-11T03:07:07Z")
Yup. The democrats held the senate in 2012 so they would have the filibuster, and Romney wasn’t a proto-fascist, rapist, criminal lowlife like Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220/35 "2016-11-11T03:11:32Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democrats-face-a-power-outage-in-washington--and-an-identity-crisis/2016/11/09/74c80de8-a6a7-11e6-8042-f4d111c862d1\_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democrats-face-a-power-outage-in-washington--and-an-identity-crisis/2016/11/09/74c80de8-a6a7-11e6-8042-f4d111c862d1_story.html) In 2008 Obama had won the presidency by 7 points, picking up several states that were considered reliably red up to that point (Colorado, Nevada, Virginia, Indiana, North Carolina). The democrats had 59 senators, and 257 members of the house. The GOP meanwhile has far fewer senators and house members, and their president doesn’t have a mandate. He lost the popular vote. However the GOP bounced back from 2008. The crushed in 2010 and 2014, and got the presidency in 2016. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-if-you-could-retroactively-change-the-2012-election-results-would-you/771220.md?page=1)