[Politics] The 2024 US Election - *MATCH DAY*

[nicko31]

One Hope from me in this is that it will push us inexorably closer to Europe.

We're more isolated than ever in a world more and more protectionist. We need to re-open trade to those on our doorstep ASAP

 

[Commander]

I cannot understand why your average American would vote for him. I don't generally struggle with empathising with other people, in fact I am usually quite good at it.

Can you enlighten me?

I have heard that they voted for him to improve their lot economically. But I remain unconvinced that he is a better economic candidate and his policy of adding taffifs to Chinese imports is surely going to make the cost of living higher. So I don't understand this.

The ABC over here said the exit polls showed that the main reason people voted was democracy. And his track record in this area seems sketchy to say the least. So I don't understand this either.

If you are an American in a small town that used to have a power plant / factory / car plant that most of the town worked in and brought prosperity and a comfortable existence to the town and it's people, and was shut down years ago due to globalisation / climate change policies, and now there are every few opportunities and a fairly miserable existence, then when someone comes along and tells you he will bring all that back and make things like they used to be, then surely you can see the attraction in that?

If you are an American in a small town in a pretty miserable existence who has never left your State, let alone the US and somebody comes along and says that rather than send £150 billion to a country you've never heard of in a far away continent you have never even considered visiting, he is going to invest that money back in the US in towns like yours to make your life prosperous again, can you really say you wouldn't be tempted to vote for that?

The fact is that America is not New York and Washington and San Francisco like we picture in the UK. Most of the country is much more like the scenarios described above. And I totally understand why people in that section of America would vote for Trump. In fact, it's blindingly obvious why they would. It's the same phenomenon with Brexit- people in well-to-do, wealthy and prosperous Sussex can't understand why somebody with a shit life in a dump like Hartlepool would vote for Brexit, because they are doing OK. But put yourself in those people's shoes and you would very likely have a different world view.

To be clear, I voted Remain, voted Labour in this year's election, and wanted Harris to win. But people here dismissing seventy million people as fat racist idiots for voting for Trump is just embarrassing.

I think Trump's win is a terrible result for Ukraine, and a pretty poor result for the UK and Europe. But for your average American? Not convinced it's a bad thing for them, and that is what people tend to vote on- how it will affect their individual lives.

 

[Giraffe]

Tremendous day for the USA and the world. Biden has been a disaster, I'm not convinced Harris would have been any better given her performance in interviews where she had no idea what she was talking about. No idea why Michelle Obama bottled coming back as I think she may have been a decent bet.

God bless America.

 

[Bozza]

Maybe it's me that's the jinx.

I've just put a US news channel on for the first time in about eight hours, and they immediately called Wisconsin for Trump, making him President Elect.

(Not that there was really any doubt, as I said before I went to bed)

 

[BadFish]

Tax cuts
Spend spend spend (making people wealthier in the short term)
Send back the illegals
Protectionism
America first
Anti woke
End wars globally.

These arent my views. But these are valid reasons to vote for him and his policies are pretty clear.

Thanks Dwayne, I guess this all needs to come with a generous helping of belief. Something which is track record suggests is probably misplaced.

But I suppose this answers my question.

Now he has to deliver, or more realistically he has to make the American people feel like he has delivered.

 

[Titanic]

Trump wins Wisconsin, and then Alaska - and with it the US election... 279 and counting.

 

[BadFish]

Tremendous day for the USA and the world. Biden has been a disaster, I'm not convinced Harris would have been any better given her performance in interviews where she had no idea what she was talking about. No idea why Michelle Obama bottled coming back as I think she may have been a decent bet.

God bless America.

Your preferred candidate won
Yet all but one of your sentences are about democrats and none are about Trump.

It suggests that you are less than convinces about your opening sentence.

 

[nicko31]

James O'Brien taking the result really well - what a sweetheart!

Like Brexit, Trump 2.0 will be good for business even if bad for the world.

There will be a lot to talk about in the years ahead as the Tories try and align themselves with a government in Washington with has authoritarian and fascist leaning

 

[Lenny Rider]

The burning question for many animal lovers this morning will be, is he going to pardon Joe Exotic?

 

[nicko31]

Tremendous day for the USA and the world. Biden has been a disaster, I'm not convinced Harris would have been any better given her performance in interviews where she had no idea what she was talking about. No idea why Michelle Obama bottled coming back as I think she may have been a decent bet.

God bless America.

Vindication of a felon, law breaker and sex offender. Tell that to ya kids

 

[peterward]

 

[Dibdab]

If anyone didn’t watch Threads the other week now might be the time.

To see what we the US electorate have probably helped us avoid?

 

[BadFish]

If you are an American in a small town that used to have a power plant / factory / car plant that most of the town worked in and brought prosperity and a comfortable existence to the town and it's people, and was shut down years ago due to globalisation / climate change policies, and now there are every few opportunities and a fairly miserable existence, then when someone comes along and tells you he will bring all that back and make things like they used to be, then surely you can see the attraction in that?

If you are an American in a small town in a pretty miserable existence who has never left your State, let alone the US and somebody comes along and says that rather than send £150 billion to a country you've never heard of in a far away continent you have never even considered visiting, he is going to invest that money back in the US in towns like yours to make your life prosperous again, can you really say you wouldn't be tempted to vote for that?

The fact is that America is not New York and Washington and San Francisco like we picture in the UK. Most of the country is much more like the scenarios described above. And I totally understand why people in that section of America would vote for Trump. In fact, it's blindingly obvious why they would. It's the same phenomenon with Brexit- people in well-to-do, wealthy and prosperous Sussex can't understand why somebody with a shit life in a dump like Hartlepool would vote for Brexit, because they are doing OK. But put yourself in those people's shoes and you would very likely have a different world view.

To be clear, I voted Remain, voted Labour in this year's election, and wanted Harris to win. But people here dismissing seventy million people as fat racist idiots for voting for Trump is just embarrassing.

I think Trump's win is a terrible result for Ukraine, and a pretty poor result for the UK and Europe. But for your average American? Not convinced it's a bad thing for them, and that is what people tend to vote on- how it will affect their individual lives.

I can certainly see the attraction in being told that he will bring back the good old days. But he said that last time and simply didn't do it. So putting myself in those shoes I would be asking what was going to be different this time.

What I do get is wanting something different to the usual candidate, candidates that have made f*** all difference to one's life. And like you say someone comes along and promises better, it makes sense. What I struggle with is why they think that Trump is going to be different (see also, Farage). Worth a shot though I suppose. What's the worst that can happen?

I hope that your last para is right and it does make things better for your average American. I fear though that it will make the square root of f*** all difference to them and all the difference to Trump, Musk and the rest of them.

 

[hampshirebrightonboy]

It’s the people of Ukraine I worry for. He’s shown a worrying propensity for fawning over Putin.

The rest (while occasionally abhorrent) I’m less fussed over, but my great fear is that he’s going to appease Putin and hand over Ukraine’s land.

Well we should fine out by the end of the day. Didn’t he say it would take one day to resolve?

 

[Bry Nylon]

I put it down to feelings, because the facts do not back up supporting him. But then this begs the question as to why people would choose to use feelings instead of facts to vote in a politician.

I really struggle with why you find this so hard to understand?

Political campaigning is about communicating a better / different future state and tapping into people's emotions and feelings. That's what motivates people to get behind something and actively support it.

No different to here when Starmer campaigned on a slogan of 'Change' - or Vote Leave campaigning on a slogan of 'Take Back Control' or New Labour using 'Things Can Only Get Better' as the soundtrack to their '97 landslide. Nobody is interested in facts about the past or present when it comes to voting. We want a vision of how things will be better then they are now, no matter how good 'right now' may or may not be.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Tax cuts
Spend spend spend (making people wealthier in the short term)
Send back the illegals
Protectionism
America first
Anti woke
End wars globally.

These arent my views. But these are valid reasons to vote for him and his policies are pretty clear.

I can't wait to see how tax cuts, spend spend spend and protectionism interact with his other pledge to "end inflation". Any student of GCSE Economics knows how that will turn out.

 

[mrjon1976]

If you are an American in a small town that used to have a power plant / factory / car plant that most of the town worked in and brought prosperity and a comfortable existence to the town and it's people, and was shut down years ago due to globalisation / climate change policies, and now there are every few opportunities and a fairly miserable existence, then when someone comes along and tells you he will bring all that back and make things like they used to be, then surely you can see the attraction in that?

If you are an American in a small town in a pretty miserable existence who has never left your State, let alone the US and somebody comes along and says that rather than send £150 billion to a country you've never heard of in a far away continent you have never even considered visiting, he is going to invest that money back in the US in towns like yours to make your life prosperous again, can you really say you wouldn't be tempted to vote for that?

The fact is that America is not New York and Washington and San Francisco like we picture in the UK. Most of the country is much more like the scenarios described above. And I totally understand why people in that section of America would vote for Trump. In fact, it's blindingly obvious why they would. It's the same phenomenon with Brexit- people in well-to-do, wealthy and prosperous Sussex can't understand why somebody with a shit life in a dump like Hartlepool would vote for Brexit, because they are doing OK. But put yourself in those people's shoes and you would very likely have a different world view.

To be clear, I voted Remain, voted Labour in this year's election, and wanted Harris to win. But people here dismissing seventy million people as fat racist idiots for voting for Trump is just embarrassing.

I think Trump's win is a terrible result for Ukraine, and a pretty poor result for the UK and Europe. But for your average American? Not convinced it's a bad thing for them, and that is what people tend to vote on- how it will affect their individual lives.

100% this.

I have many American friends who live in rural America, and this is precisely why so many vote for Trump. Not because they are racist, or bigots or anything like that, but because they believe in what he says. These people feel left behind, feel ignored by big city America, struggle to afford groceries, petrol etc. Trump taps into this, and gives them hope that things will be better.

As for Harris, not only does she suffer from the Biden effect, but no one actually knows what her policies would have been. I always get suspicious when candidates reel off one celebrity after another - oh look, another mega rich Joe telling me how to vote. She struck me as all talk, no action, whereas Trump may have batshit crazy policies, but unlike most other politicians, he actually delivers on them. People forgive a lot i they have more money in their pocket after all....

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Tax cuts
Spend spend spend (making people wealthier in the short term)
Send back the illegals
Protectionism
America first
Anti woke
End wars globally.

These arent my views. But these are valid reasons to vote for him and his policies are pretty clear.

Like him or loath him, it's pretty clear what his views are.

There's no such clarity of message on the Democrat side.

 

[BadFish]

I really struggle with why you find this so hard to understand?

Political campaigning is about communicating a better / different future state and tapping into people's emotions and feelings. That's what motivates people to get behind something and actively support it.

No different to here when Starmer campaigned on a slogan of 'Change' - or Vote Leave campaigning on a slogan of 'Take Back Control' or New Labour using 'Things Can Only Get Better' as the soundtrack to their '97 landslide. Nobody is interested in facts about the past or present when it comes to voting. We want a vision of how things will be better then they are now, no matter how good 'right now' may or may not be.

Absolutely agree that this is the way it is. But I disagree that this is the best way to make our decision.

If the electorate settle for slogans, songs, lies and vague notions of sunlit uplands then we get what we deserve.

Spin is king and damn any accountability.

And ain't life grand.

 

[dwayne]

I can't wait to see how tax cuts, spend spend spend and protectionism interact with his other pledge to "end inflation".

Yep it's fascinating but I'm sure he will cook the books somehow lol.