USA Election

Yeah but didn't think Trump would win, don't have as much confidence in the Nix though.

I knew Americans hated Hilary but thought still get over the line.

That's 100% I've been thinking about.

Someone at work said at least some change can happen with a party holding most things.  Not all change is good change, especially if they reverse some of the good strides the states finally took.

This is a disaster.  Wonder if Bernie would have done any better.

I'm guessing TPP is dead, which isn't a big disaster except we already have pretty open borders and not much in the way of tarifs, if the US becomes highly protectionist it's going to hurt us.

It's going to be awful watching the victory speech.  He'll be a sore winner, not once ounce of humility does he have.  I want to puke.

Better than another Clinton.

So much bitter. It is called Democracy. Go and do some reading and find out what is behind this change. Find out why they did not trust Clinton. Find out why that huge chunk of middle america wanted change.

Clinton is predicted to win the popular vote so is not even democratic

Trumps vote was 1% above Clinton.

Trumps just made his victory speech:

Actually I was surprised at how well balanced his victory speech was. He has said all the right things.

Odds on an assassination?

You call that well balanced? He spent most of the time asking where is so and so? It sounded like someone's embarrassing twenty first speech

Trump grabs America by the pussy

Pussy grabbing to be legalized but Gay Marriage & Abortion to be made illegal. 

The White House is to be turned into the Gold House with the word "Trump" in flashing lights appearing hanging over the roof. The Situation room is converted into a Casino.

Comb overs to come back into fashion.

Nuclear war is now a distinct possibility although, not sure who. Picking North Korea before Russia. Fall Out Bunkers to see an increase. Tin Foil hats will be sold out.

Rednecks of the world rejoice as they are allowed to shoot Mexicans when and if they want. (Listening to Pink Floyd - All in all it's just another brick in the Wall) (Mexican Wall?)

Tanning salons notice a large increase in the metalic orange bronze look.

Any other conspiracies?

Trump to not see out his first term either dead or impeached, there will be no second term. 

Will someone ask him to order the release of all information regarding UFO's??

(Edited spelling)

Oh shark, we have a soothsayer here, you can see the future right? Because there's still plenty of votes to come in, as I said she's predicted to win the popular vote as it's mostly pro Hillary booths which are outstanding.

give me a break

"It's rigged, it's rigged! I won't accept the result if I lose!"

Across the US, systematic attempts have been made to suppress voting by blacks, Latinos and the young (all of whom trend Democrat) by a combo of stricter ID requirements, fewer voting sites and reduced funding for election purposes

http://werewolf.co.nz/2016/11/gordon-campbell-on-t...

Trump isn't about democracy. It's about something, but not that.

Surely the Republicans are very happy to have Mike Pence running the country?

The whole thing is undemocratic, despite what people like Leggy said above Hillary is ahead in the popular vote ATM, although vote counting isn't over yet. Other things are undemocratic. Residents of Puerto Rico, for instance, are American citizens but are not allowed to vote, in fact even if you're from the continental US but are simply living in Puerto Rico short term you're not allowed to vote, yet if you live in NZ you can. That's more than 3 million people who can't vote for some unknown reason right there.

The system was agreed apon and the same for both candidates. 

There are lots of flaws with the system- but it is an inherently democratic one. The degree to which it is democratic is what you are arguing about. 

The way Trump approached the contest by undermining the system though was not.

It's not actually inherently democratic because the electoral college often votes against its mandate. In fact one representative of Washington State refused to vote for Hillary even though she won it in this election just gone. So just over 500 people actually have the power to choose the president regardless of who the people actually vote for.

Also the fact that most states vote exclusively for one candidate means that for most Americans their vote simply does not count.

To me democracy is the rule of the majority and the US system is set up in such a way that you can win without the majority supporting you, that isn't a proper democracy.

Get over it Ryan.  Trump won.

So we can't talk about it based on your say so?

This may look like a snide post but I do not want it to be. More just a conversational piece.

There are 2 remarkable points of to consider about this Trump win.

1: "" America is racist because they voted for the bigoted, sexist white man that was gonna lock out all the "ch*nks, sp*cks and n****rs" ""
I think there is merit in some of that but thats not the reason for all of it because.....

2: Had Obama been running again for a 3rd term, he would have won and won easily. This would be in stark contrast to point 1

So that being said, while the blue collar white American male mobilised and voted for Trump cause he promised to let them keep their guns, shoot the gays and kick anything out not in line with the KKK way of thinking, if Obama had been running, then where does that put that theory?

I think there is a combination of things here at play here which we may not be aware of from afar

1: Its not common for the sitting presidents party to hold the seat for a 3rd term after the incumbent has reached his 2 terms

2: While there is a voice for change, was change away from a black president to a female president with the same policies as Obama or was change something entirely different like Trump?

3: The hill that is being climbed in terms of social acceptance to change in America where there has been a black president is a lot bigger than people imagined and they are not accepting of a female president.

4: The Clintons are deeply disliked by 'middle America'. When you look at the landscape of NZ and middle NZ, Key has done a great job of pitching his party and policies at that block of voters - the same thing that Trump has largely done and Labour has not figured out and probably never will while unions hold power over the head of party. Those voters are the majority largely.

5: Trump as a businessman is successful. Will he run America with the retoric that he campaigned on? Unlikely cause if he believed that, there is no way he would have been a successful businessman and be in the running in the 1st place.

6: The Clintons took a lot of their base states support for granted which is arrogant to say the least

Trump *could* be good for America as a country. Its not good for the rest of the world because his policy is very much 'America 1st and the rest of you get stuffed' but for America, he could potentially be an ok president if he runs it the same as his businesses. I can't see it happening but then who else picked Brexit and Trump? I think at the very least, its probably fair to say that his mouth wrote a lot of cheques that his arse ain't gonna cash but at the moment, all bets are definitely off with him and what he can/will do.

It is funny how it suddenly becomes undemocratic when "the otherside" win. 

By way of clarification, I am not by any means pro Trump. I think he is an idiot, but there are very real reasons why America voted this way and not just being anti Clinton and Establishment. A Huge swathe of Middle America (Geograpically and Socially) have become disillusioned by the system and feel left behind. Average wages in Middle America have not increased in 16 years, unemployment in middle America is soaring.

In circumstances such as those you would expect a Left leaning party such as the democrats to do well, but they have offered nothing other than "we are not Trump". Trumps has at least offered some ideas 

The thing is this is worth talking about because on the face of it it's a very big step backwards and will empower similarly narrow minded people in NZ to think they are in the right. I'm also paid in US$ so his policies have a real effect on me.

A few points:

1.  He is a climate change denier, that is insane in this day and age he wants to restart the mining industry which is going to fudge everyone.
2. He wants to make torture legal.
3. People under him will feel empowered to be bigoted against people who have a differing sexuality or religion.
4. Most likely he will try and legislate marijuana usage on a federal level.
5. He is against firearm reforms.
6. He claims he's going to bring jobs back to America, the problem is that is not financially viable, in fact job losses are going to accelerate massively. Jobs in the manufacturing sector have been lost, the next job losses will be in the transport and logistics sector.  The only way to bring these jobs back is to put in place massive protectionism and subsidies and this has never worked. 

Instead of fighting the inevitable by trying to maintain an unsustainable status quo countries should be working towards a world of sustainable energy and universal income because Automation means that no job is safe. If you fight it the ultimate fall is going to be that much harder.

His policies are harmful, counter productive, and frankly insane.

Since WW2 there have been an equal amount of Democrat and Republican years in power so I don't think it makes things biased in either direction.

Middle America believes in a supernatural being and who despite claiming that everyone should be nice to each other and forgive also hate the LGBT community, the right to abort, and want everyone to have automatic rifles, unfortunately while the left will help them the left also is against most of their ideals.