US Presidential election

Idiocracy is not a movie, but a documentary of the fucked up timeline we live in...

Unbelievable, waking up today. America sure is majorly fucked up.

Quote by MorePleasin

Unbelievable, waking up today. America sure is majorly fucked up.

welcome to america - the land of hate, fear, and greed.

My commiserations.

Good thing is that the military operation between Ukr and Rus will end in 24 hours. Trump promised.

just makes me sick. I mean my stomach hurts.

he was just given the world as his playpen for his sick little mind.

It will be up to the rest of the duly elected (congress, senate) to keep the reins and bridal on him.

Listen, if you'd let Canada vote in your elections, none of this would have happened. Instead, you insist on only allowing American citizens to vote, and you know how they are... So this is what you get. What I'm saying is that as a nation, you're clearly not responsible enough to govern yourselves, and need a sensible adult present to supervise you.

Quote by smiley69

It will be up to the rest of the duly elected (congress, senate) to keep the reins and bridal on him.

Both of which the Republicans are now (as of Jan 6) the majority party. Want to bet they continue to support trump in whatever he does?

Quote by Just_A_Guy_You_Know

Listen, if you'd let Canada vote in your elections, none of this would have happened. Instead, you insist on only allowing American citizens to vote, and you know how they are... So this is what you get. What I'm saying is that as a nation, you're clearly not responsible enough to govern yourselves, and need a sensible adult present to supervise you.

I don't disagree at present

Quote by sprite

Both of which the Republicans are now (as of Jan 6) the majority party. Want to bet they continue to support trump in whatever he does?

And let's not leave SCOTUS out of the equation. So much for 'checks and balances.'

Harris received 47.5% of the vote. That's quite a chunk opting for the Status Quo.

From a Canadian perspective watching all this, the Democrats were an abysmal failure. Having said that I do think the results expose the true nature of America: its not any where close to the world's greatest democracy. Instead its rife with hate, racism and greed. It always has been, just ask anyone who belongs to a marginalized group of Americans. Your government and supreme court have been sold to a few rich cronies, a direct result of a system that ultimately allows a tiny number of Americans to decide who runs for office and ultimately runs the USA. American campaign financing rules pretty much ensure this will always be the case.

My view is perhaps distorted by the Canadian news lens but I was stunned that nearly all I ever saw from Democrats was bashing Trump's character. Stupid strategy, his character is well known and he still managed to get nearly 50% of the vote in 3 elections; they needed to articulate policy much better. The one thing that astonished me is I didn't hear a single Dem point to Trump's previous admin as the cause of inflation. All that money that got handed out in the US and other countries during the pandemic is what caused inflation. The same payouts and inflation occurred in most countries. Its Economics 101.

Biden should have been replaced much sooner and as offensive as it sounds there are a huge number of Americans who will not vote for a woman president and certainly not a black woman. Looks like the Dems lost every swing state which suggests a major failure of the campaigns in those states. The Dems consistently self-destruct, often because they can't keep members under one, contiguous policy umbrella due to their divergent opinions. While I personally feel that is exactly how government should work, (diverse opinions being considered within policy discussion) its tends to not work very well at election time.

I'd be curious if Americans see a different perspective based on the various US media outlets. I'm assuming the news coverage in the US was more focused on the issues.

With control of the House and Senate its going to be an ugly 4 years and given Trump is a fat old guy we may see a President Vance.

As an interesting side note we have a federal election coming in Canada and the current polls show the Conservative leader well ahead. The leader, Poilievre and the party seem to be a slightly watered down version of MAGA. If he gets in I'm moving to New Zealand.

Quote by LYFBUZ

From a Canadian perspective watching all this, the Democrats were an abysmal failure. Having said that I do think the results expose the true nature of America: its not any where close to the world's greatest democracy. Instead its rife with hate, racism and greed. It always has been, just ask anyone who belongs to a marginalized group of Americans. Your government and supreme court have been sold to a few rich cronies, a direct result of a system that ultimately allows a tiny number of Americans to decide who runs for office and ultimately runs the USA. American campaign financing rules pretty much ensure this will always be the case.

My view is perhaps distorted by the Canadian news lens but I was stunned that nearly all I ever saw from Democrats was bashing Trump's character. Stupid strategy, his character is well known and he still managed to get nearly 50% of the vote in 3 elections; they needed to articulate policy much better. The one thing that astonished me is I didn't hear a single Dem point to Trump's previous admin as the cause of inflation. All that money that got handed out in the US and other countries during the pandemic is what caused inflation. The same payouts and inflation occurred in most countries. Its Economics 101.

Biden should have been replaced much sooner and as offensive as it sounds there are a huge number of Americans who will not vote for a woman president and certainly not a black woman. Looks like the Dems lost every swing state which suggests a major failure of the campaigns in those states. The Dems consistently self-destruct, often because they can't keep members under one, contiguous policy umbrella due to their divergent opinions. While I personally feel that is exactly how government should work, (diverse opinions being considered within policy discussion) its tends to not work very well at election time.

I'd be curious if Americans see a different perspective based on the various US media outlets. I'm assuming the news coverage in the US was more focused on the issues.

With control of the House and Senate its going to be an ugly 4 years and given Trump is a fat old guy we may see a President Vance.

As an interesting side note we have a federal election coming in Canada and the current polls show the Conservative leader well ahead. The leader, Poilievre and the party seem to be a slightly watered down version of MAGA. If he gets in I'm moving to New Zealand.

I was watching on election night and kept hearing about all the early votes and how women outnumbered the men voters. The assumption seemed to be that it favored Harris. I didn't feel that way at all. Trump announced earlier that he would get rid of the income tax. I knew that would swing a lot of voters to his side. Harris kept talking about a middle-income tax cut. I'm certain there were people on the lower pay scale who were saying, "What about me?" They, very likely, voted for Trump. Abortion? Climate change? Ukraine? Those things are a distant second (if that) to whether they can pay bills and keep food on the table or not.

Trump will most likely impose a national sales tax. This, of course, along with his increased tariffs on imported goods, will likely mean that the lower income citizens will actually be paying more in taxes than they would have been with the income tax. It's the people in the higher incomes, as always, who will benefit the most. The low-income voters will figure it out when it's too late.

I agree that the democrats spent too much time making fun of Trump, instead of focusing on policy. When Trump said he wanted someone to attack NATO members who hadn't paid up, the attack was the only thing that was focused on. While it was stupid of him to say that, I guarantee there were plenty of voters who heard (loud and clear) about the part of paying up. This is something that has been brought up, multiple times, during my lifetime, starting with Jimmie Carter. He won the Nobel Prize for negotiating the Middle East Peace Treaty. I remember someone saying that he essentially paid two kids to quit fighting each other when it was in their own best interest to not fight. And he used our money, not his own, to do it.

People are tired of the USA being the world's babysitter. Trump, by saying what he did, connected with those people. I think this is why he won the election.

Trump won because white people are scared of becoming a minority because they know how minorities are treated… and they think Trump will prevent that.

To think that the majority of Americans are smart enough to even think about geopolitics or real economic policy is laughable.

Trump campaigned like a wrestling character.

That’s why he won.

Quote by Longtime_Firsttime

I don't normally discuss politics with my family or my friends. And for good reason. I certainly didn't discuss who I was voting for. I am a swing voter in a swing state. I have never believed in taking one side or the other or registering as such because I refuse to vote for a party that I suddenly disagree with. I vote based history/policy and the last 4 years told me that the Biden/Harris era was a complete disaster. And I voted for them in 2020. So say what you want. Defend them all you want, but they have fucked this country to its foundation. I didn't vote for Trump, I voted for a Republican term and the people who will be part of that team. Say what you like about Trump. You all make personal anyway because you just dont like him and you cant defend Harris and her piss weak persona, her policies and what she stood for either. But you're neck deep in shit and left with no option but to go all in. You didn't even get a chance to nominate her as your candidate. That's democracy, right? Not only did she lose, she copped an embarrassing flogging despite all the help she got from left wing media and the billion dollars in donations for her campaign. God her donar's must be pissed today and she didn't even has the brass to come out last night and thank those who helped her. Disgraceful. I've taken so much pleasure in watching all the media totally melting down and coming up with excuses as to why she took such a beating and yet they continue to spill nonsense about him being a dictator, even after the horse has bolted. Some even saying the same things that conservative commentators have been saying for months. Making it a racial result is just disgusting. Even worse is calling the result misogynistic, even when women clearly voted for him as well. And black women for that matter. The margin was overwhelming.so I guess that makes you hardcore Libs the outsiders now. Dry your tears. Everything is be ok. Just remember, he's lead this country before and none of the bad shit people said actually happened. If anything, he learned from it. If this country becomes even more divided, its on you.

Sure Jan

Big oof. Thinking about you guys during this shit show.

Quote by PrincessC

Big oof. Thinking about you guys during this shit show.

Take Elon back you piece of shit.

Quote by Magical_felix

Take Elon back you piece of shit.

Hey, don’t blame us. He’s literally the bad guy here with his apartheid emerald mines. We knew enough to chase them out with pitchforks. I can lend you mine if you need to do the same

Quote by Longtime_Firsttime
... I vote based history/policy and the last 4 years told me that the Biden/Harris era was a complete disaster. And I voted for them in 2020. So say what you want. Defend them all you want, but they have fucked this country to its foundation....

Seeing how their administration brought back a lot of jobs, a booming economy, a useful infrastructure plan (that their opposition liked to take credit for, even though they voted against it), and helped out many with crushing student debt (thus investing in the entire nation's future, in effect), can someone please explain to this this dumb Canuck what the "complete disaster" was that "fucked this country to its foundation" ?

…

Quote by MorePleasin

Can someone please explain to this this dumb Canuck what the "complete disaster" was that "fucked this country to its foundation" ?

Crime and inflation. The former exploded in the wake of the Pandemic (though it has since eased to pre-2020 levels), and although not strictly the Biden admin’s fault, it was widely blamed on the social justice movement and DEI, so now we have an enormous backlash to deal with on gender and race both. Trump was well equipped to fuel and feed on white-people and male resentment)..

Inflation has also “eased,” but slowing the rate of increase is not the same as returning prices to 2019 levels (which would be impossible). It was largely not Biden’s fault (more due to the Pandemic supply problems and the Ukraine invasion), but the fact remains that food and goods cost 20-25% more than pre-Pandemic, and housing costs are a staggering 50% higher when count in the oligarch-friendly interest rate increases. Those who’ve remained in owned houses have been blissfully insulated from the housing increase, but those who bought first homes or who rent are feeling a lot of pain, and house-poverty is at an all-time high, also raising the rate of food insecurity to levels we haven’t seen in a long time.

Although the job market remains strong, wages have not come close to keeping up. The material standard of living for a majority of Americans has declined substantially during the Biden admin. The Dems’ response has been to gaslight them by reminding them the economy is strong and inflation has eased. While that is technically true, it is far from the “I feel your pain” of Clinton (not that I’m a fan), and seems calculated to drive people into the arms of the opposition. It’s always about the economy, stupid. There could have been a Democratic path to victory through this minefield, but they were far too clueless about the plight of working people to see it.

More succinctly: Bernie’s right, Jaime’s wrong. Full stop.

Interesting, Post Covid the US economy seems to have performed better than comparable countries. I had read in our local press in the lead up to the election that US median household income in 2023 was over $80,600, an increase of 4.0 percent, having adjusted for inflation. I thought the Democrats would get credit for that, jobs and even inflation where the US really has out performed many other countries.

Then I googled today and saw this Median Income breakdown, which may have more explanatory power:

No high school diploma $36,620 + 1.1

High school, no college $55,810 + 4.3

Some college $73,610 +3.1

Bachelor’s degree or higher $126,800 + 3.1

You’re not wrong that the US has outperformed other economies, but Americans are pretty well known for not seeing past our own borders.

This just dropped from Blueprint

Blueprint surveyed 3,262 national and swing state 2024 voters fielded over web panels from November 06 to November 07 and weighted to education, age, gender, race, and 2020/2024 election results. The margin of error is +/- 2.1. The swing state oversample included 1,883 voters. 

KEY FINDINGS

• The top reasons voters gave for not supporting Harris were that inflation was too high (+24), too many immigrants crossed the border (+23), and that Harris was too focused on cultural issues rather than helping the middle class (+17). 

• Other high-testing reasons were that the debt rose too much under the Biden-Harris Administration (+13), and that Harris would be too similar to Joe Biden (+12). 

• These concerns were similar across all demographic groups, including among Black and Latino voters, who both selected inflation as their top problem with Harris. For swing voters who eventually chose Trump, cultural issues ranked slightly higher than inflation (+28 and +23, respectively). 

• The lowest-ranked concerns were that Harris wasn’t similar enough to Biden (-24), was too conservative (-23), and was too pro-Israel (-22). 

------------------------------------------------------------

Blueprint is a public opinion research initiative focused on narrative-building and message-testing to elect Vice President Harris and deliver Democratic control of Congress in 2024.

I think the win, set women's right and everything back years...

You need a leader who is smart and understands the reality.

Orange weirdo is NOTHING of that.

Quote by CuriousAnnie

Interesting, Post Covid the US economy seems to have performed better than comparable countries. I had read in our local press in the lead up to the election that US median household income in 2023 was over $80,600, an increase of 4.0 percent, having adjusted for inflation. I thought the Democrats would get credit for that, jobs and even inflation where the US really has out performed many other countries.

Then I googled today and saw this Median Income breakdown, which may have more explanatory power:

No high school diploma $36,620 + 1.1

High school, no college $55,810 + 4.3

Some college $73,610 +3.1

Bachelor’s degree or higher $126,800 + 3.1

Indeed, it does not have the appearance of a failure, but the media did a great job of suppressing the truth, by either not reporting it, or making sure reporting is "balanced" (i.e. guaranteed to be both-sides and half-wrong, to confuse people).

I wondered how much C-suite occupant's salaries have gone up relative to the workers that produce the wealth. I looked it up: 1460% since 1978 for the CEOs. That's even more than the stock market increased. Meanwhile, worker pay over the same period went up just 18%.

How about the ultra-rich that pretty much own the media, like Murdick, Bozos and Mush? I bet they've seen an over 100% annual increase in their income. And the ultra-rich got a drop in taxes, both personal and corporate, thanks to the trump shit-show.

That's the new "American Way": take full advantage of the positive feedback loop of "Success", get "too big to fail", and leave all the rest of the rabble in your dust, not giving a shit about them... because you can.

I think we've found what "fucked this country to its foundation": Greed, selfishness, and stupidity.

Quote by CuriousAnnie

Interesting, Post Covid the US economy seems to have performed better than comparable countries. I had read in our local press in the lead up to the election that US median household income in 2023 was over $80,600, an increase of 4.0 percent, having adjusted for inflation. I thought the Democrats would get credit for that, jobs and even inflation where the US really has out performed many other countries.

Then I googled today and saw this Median Income breakdown, which may have more explanatory power:

No high school diploma $36,620 + 1.1

High school, no college $55,810 + 4.3

Some college $73,610 +3.1

Bachelor’s degree or higher $126,800 + 3.1

I thought I would look at UK statitistics and found this summary _ not directly comparable, but you get the idea.

In the UK, the median salary for working-age graduates in 2023 was £40,000, which is higher than the median salary for non-graduates:

• Median salary for graduates: £40,000

• Median salary for non-graduates: £29,500

• Median salary for postgraduates: £5,000 higher than graduates

The average salary in the UK by education level is:

• No qualifications: £1,216 per month

• GCSEs or equivalent: £1,524 per month

• A-levels or equivalent: £1,740 per month

• Higher education degree: £2,776 per month

The Institute for Fiscal Studies found that the difference in lifetime earnings between graduates and non-graduates is £430,000 for men and £260,000 for women. However, once taxes and student loans are taken into account, the difference declines to around £130,000 for men and £100,000 for women.

The current GB pound to US dollar exchange rate is $1.29 to #1. So mutilpying by 1.29 gives these results.

No qualifications: US $36,620 UK $18,899

High school, no college:US $55,810 UK $23,600

Bachelor’s degree or higher: US $126,800 UK $43,000

For comparison the US federal minimum is $7.25 per hour although in DC and many states the level is higher eg DC $17.50 per hour, Washington $16.28 per hour, California and New York $16.00 per hour. Following the recent budget the UK level ifor thoise over 21 the national mimimum wage form 2025 will be $15.75 per hour.

The Real Living Wage in the UK is $16.25 per hour outside of London and $17.87 per hour in London. The real Living Wage is a voluntary standard that is based on the cost of living and is calculated annually by the Resolution Foundation. The Living Wage Commission oversees the calculations.

The Real Living Wage is different from the government's minimum wage, which is the legal minimum that employers must pay. The Real Living Wage applies to all workers over 18 years old.

Average house prices are significant: US $359,982 UK $377,900

There's something off when the richest guy makes $1000 for a fart's worth of time, and is not willing to pay a little extra via a reasonable progressive income tax. How many problems could be addressed if the ultra-rich would hand over at least 50% of their annual income as they once did (from about 1915 up to the early 80's). They would still be the richest, having many millions in after-tax income. That money might help everyone to be a little less grumpy, a little more comfortable, a little more invested in solving problems and learning new things ... .like the way it was, at a time most conservatives dream about returning to.