What happened?

[askandanswer]

I started my semi-annual hibernation in mid-October. I woke up the other day and noticed that Trump is now President. How did this happen? Why did this happen? I'd be interested in hearing people's views/explanations. I supposed that now the battle begins, Trump vs. the swamp. I wonder who will win. The swamp seems to have been sucking people into it for literally centuries, and self survival is the strongest instinct. 

[Sunday21]

Observing from a distance and not being familiar with us politics, my bet is the cost of health care insurance under Obamacare. For some people the cost of health care went up by hundreds per month. 

Edited January 22, 2017 by Sunday21

[Backroads]

Indeed, I know people who say they voted for Trump solely for healthcare reform. One family had to leave their home because insurance equales their mortgage.

My personal guess was sheer luck of the election. Many people just weren't happy with the candidate selection but voted anyway and the electorates did their job and Trump happened to win.

[Guest]

13 hours ago, askandanswer said:

I started my semi-annual hibernation in mid-October. I woke up the other day and noticed that Trump is now President. How did this happen? Why did this happen? I'd be interested in hearing people's views/explanations. I supposed that now the battle begins, Trump vs. the swamp. I wonder who will win. The swamp seems to have been sucking people into it for literally centuries, and self survival is the strongest instinct. 

It's really quite simple.  You are an Aussie.  This is America.

[askandanswer]

If I was an American, or if I was in America during the campaign, I'd probably have a better idea of why Trump won, but I'm not and I wasn't so I thought I'd ask those who are and were as they are likely to have a more informed view than myself.  

[Jane_Doe]

12 minutes ago, askandanswer said:

If I was an American, or if I was in America during the campaign, I'd probably have a better idea of why Trump won, but I'm not and I wasn't so I thought I'd ask those who are and were as they are likely to have a more informed view than myself.  

Honestly, his victory was a huge surprise (Hillary was slated to win in all the polls).  In the USA, it's not the person who wins the most votes who becomes president, but the person who wins the most electoral votes (feel free to google electoral collage).  Trump got the most electoral votes by winning a few key states, so he gets to be president.  Hillary had the highest number of people vote for her.

At points I feel that US politics are redicilous (cause they are), but then I feel a sense of comfort (or dread) to realize that other countries politics are just a ridiculous in their own special ways.

[Vort]

Trump won because the Democrats fielded a historically awful candidate. Hillary Clinton will forever be remembered (among other things, for as long as she is remembered at all) as the person who could not beat the worst Republican candidate in, well, maybe ever.

[anatess2]

This goes beyond Hillary.  Look worldwide A&A.  Philippines, Iceland, Italy, Sweden, Britain, etc. etc.  They all tell the same story.

[askandanswer]

2 hours ago, anatess2 said:

This goes beyond Hillary.  Look worldwide A&A.  Philippines, Iceland, Italy, Sweden, Britain, etc. etc.  They all tell the same story.

The story they tell is that there is a wide spread, quite sharp swing to the right. This seemingly global trend is an interesting phenomenon and I'm still puzzled as to why it seems to have emerged right across the western world at roughly the same time. Similar trends are quite apparent in Australia, as indicated by the resurgence of Pauline Hanson and her One Nation Party. There also strong rumours that Senator Cory Bernardi and one or two other Members of Parliament from the Liberal Party are planning to split from their party and start their own party because they don't see the Libs as being  sufficiently right wing. A lot of people are exasperated with the performance of the current Prime Minister, saying that he is a hostage to the right wing elements within the party and that his ability to govern effectively is significantly hampered as a result.

I would argue that the story in England is not quite so straight forward. Despite the right wing sentiments expressed through the Brexit vote, the Labour Party has the most left wing leader they've had in decades. Although he was firmly rejected by the vast majority of the Parliamentary wing of the Labor Party, the ordinary members of the party have solidly supported him, mostly recently in a leadership challenge last September, when he was re-elected to be party leader by an increased majority. 

 

[Sunday21]

Canada went left. We moved from a balance the budget incumbent to a spend and stimulate the economy government. We moved from ban the niqab in citizenship ceremony(after we check out her identity in a closed room) to let's bring in more refugees in a community based program. In this program ten people or families, often church groups unite to sponsor a family of refugees. I bet the family of refugees are cuddled to the point of fatigue!

[Windseeker]

Trump won because Obama failed. 

In my opinion the vileness between Hilary and Trump pretty much cancels each other out. Which leaves us with policy and the fact that Obama's was a complete disaster for eight years. His single greatest achievement has little to do with him or his policy and all the credit goes to the American people; that is putting a Black person in the highest most powerful position in the world, something that ought to heal the divide and give hope to all. Yet Obama's legacy isn't Hope, but Black Lives Matter, a testament to the racial despair and division he sowed every time he opened his mouth. Rather than give hope he chose to use fear and hatred to strengthen and seal in his base while alienating and dehumanizing his opposition painting them as racist even to his last speech. ie.."If we’re unwilling to invest in the children of immigrants, just because they don’t look like us, we will diminish the prospects of our own children — because those brown kids will represent a larger and larger share of America’s workforce." Newsflash...no one in the USA makes policy, immigration or otherwise, based on how it affects our racial makeup and many of the "brown kids" I know are getting fed up with identity politics and becoming wise to how they are targeted and used as political pawns.

While Obama didn't start any open ended war, announcing the exact date we were leaving Iraq created the vacuum that would give rise to ISIS and his bumbling action/inaction on Syria played a role in 400,000 deaths and Europe’s immigration crisis. His foreign policy was a disaster and erased any progress we were making in the fight against Radical Islam. 

His supporters us terms such as "impeccable integrity", "above reproach", "avoid even rumors of scandals", "play by the rules" to describe his Presidency but predictably forget Fast and Furious, Benghazi, Solyndra, Deepwater, Obamacare (“if you like your health care plan you can keep it”), the IRS targeting conservative and pro-Israel groups. 

Eight years of ignoring and disrespecting his opposition, failed Domestic and International policy proved not just a disaster for Obama's Legacy but a disaster for Democrats. When Obama took office in 2009, he had a 58-seat majority in the Senate, a staggering 256 seats in the House and held 28 governorships. Since then he lost his party 63 House seats, 10 Senate seats and 12 governorships.

Edited January 23, 2017 by Windseeker

[Vort]

4 hours ago, askandanswer said:

The story they tell is that there is a wide spread, quite sharp swing to the right.

I disagree that a simple one-dimensional "right/left" divide is sufficient to describe the underlying reality among people's viewpoints. In fact, I suspect it is a harmful oversimplification.

I also disagree that American political "Right/Left" spectrum, in whatever sense that division might be useful, bears a meaningful resemblance to the non-American political "right/left", such as the European model. For example, the American "Left" is by far the more fascist and authoritarian of the two poles. The only people who disagree with this are, predictably, members of the American Left. (Though I realize this is a "no true Scotsman" argument.) I suspect that this observation would also apply equally worldwide, e.g. in comparing Latin American vs. European politics. But I make no specific claims in that arena.

[Guest MormonGator]

10 hours ago, Vort said:

Trump won because the Democrats fielded a historically awful candidate. Hillary Clinton will forever be remembered (among other things, for as long as she is remembered at all) as the person who could not beat the worst Republican candidate in, well, maybe ever.

Exactly. @Vort you are agreeing with me more and more lately and I'm very proud of how much you've grown and evolved. Well done old man.  

[anatess2]

54 minutes ago, Vort said:

I disagree that a simple one-dimensional "right/left" divide is sufficient to describe the underlying reality among people's viewpoints. In fact, I suspect it is a harmful oversimplification.

I also disagree that American political "Right/Left" spectrum, in whatever sense that division might be useful, bears a meaningful resemblance to the non-American political "right/left", such as the European model. For example, the American "Left" is by far the more fascist and authoritarian of the two poles. The only people who disagree with this are, predictably, members of the American Left. (Though I realize this is a "no true Scotsman" argument.) I suspect that this observation would also apply equally worldwide, e.g. in comparing Latin American vs. European politics. But I make no specific claims in that arena.

The similarities worldwide is not Right/Left (that doesn't even mean anything in the Philippines - everybody is Right, it's just varying degrees of Rightness over there which is not even generally applicable but just issue based).  Rather, the observable similarities is anti-globalist, anti-multiculturalism, anti-establishment (that peddles those ideologies in their policies).  This is mainly a push back triggered by 1.) the liberties that Developing countries took against the Developed ones (aided by the Climate Change initiative that neutered the Developed ones) in usurping trade advantages, 2.) Muslim states using immigration to decimate the culture of non-Muslim states, 3.) imbalance of power caused by a self-imposed weakness in the US (economically and militarily) and her allies causing leadership in Russia, China, etc., to flex their muscle and threaten stability making war a constant cloud over all nations.

All this caused people to demand protectionist policies from their established government.

And this is what I've been saying all along.  A weak America causes echoes of unease in the Philippines (and I would posit worldwide).  We need America strong.  Why America?  What's so special about her?  The answer is completely illustrated in that inspired act of George Washington to hand the government over to John Adams.  It is a very rare event that a person, who could have been King, would give up all that power in the name of American idealism.  And it didn't stop there.  It continued to happen until today.  This inspired leadership is what we all look up to worldwide.

[Guest]

8 hours ago, askandanswer said:

The story they tell is that there is a wide spread, quite sharp swing to the right. This seemingly global trend is an interesting phenomenon and I'm still puzzled as to why it seems to have emerged right across the western world at roughly the same time.

What difference at this point does it make?

[Blackmarch]

On January 22, 2017 at 4:39 AM, askandanswer said:

I started my semi-annual hibernation in mid-October. I woke up the other day and noticed that Trump is now President. How did this happen? Why did this happen? I'd be interested in hearing people's views/explanations. I supposed that now the battle begins, Trump vs. the swamp. I wonder who will win. The swamp seems to have been sucking people into it for literally centuries, and self survival is the strongest instinct. 

The left scared too many people to come out of the closet and speak up.

[askandanswer]

12 hours ago, Carborendum said:

What difference at this point does it make?

I'm not sure but its a question worth pondering about and it may have theological implications. Such strong and widespread changes in the public mood, particularly when they happen so quickly and across so many countries don't just pop out of thin air and their causes and implications are worth thinking about.