Jonathan Pie explains it

[xoxoxoBruce]

I'm always suspicious of exit polls. How many lie? What kind of people would stand there and answer 33 question giving personal information? How many go to the poll thinking about Trade or immigrants?

I wonder what the 40% of eligible voters were thinking that didn't bother?

[glatt]

And if this year proves anything, it's that polls are bullshit.

[Happy Monkey]

The thing about the "boy who cried wolf" story is that the wolf did come in the end.

It's a good cautionary tale for those who raise alarms, but not a good one to invoke to justify ignoring them.

There is no evidence that Donald Trump is more racist than any past Republican candidate (or any other 70 year old white guy, for that matter).

Insomuch as there's no evidence he believes anything in particular, perhaps. But his personal beliefs don't matter, especially if he never reveals them. We do know he's willing to say pretty racist stuff to rile a crowd, though.

All this stuff about how he’s “the candidate of the KKK” and “the vanguard of a new white supremacist movement” is made up.

This isn't true, though. Whatever his motives, the crowd was riled. At the time, he may have just thought of them as votes, but white supremacist groups are touting his election as their victory, and his appointment of Bannon isn't going to disabuse them of that notion.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

Insomuch as there's no evidence he believes anything in particular, perhaps. But his personal beliefs don't matter, especially if he never reveals them.

He really was not saying what he thinks. He just kept throwing shit on the wall. Every so often, something would stick. So he kept saying that thing and stopped saying anything that did not get a good response.

Honesty was rarely in his tool kit. He simply said what an emotional group of people wanted to hear. Therefore anything that displeased them was not repeated. And they forgot he said it.

[BigV]

Well said tw.

[Undertoad]

The "emotional group" was the left, who wanted to hear so they could hate;

And they predictably emotionally overreacted to each of these things in turn, hence actually promoting them to the people who kinda liked the ideas, and leaving no air in the room for anything else.

And this is one reason my question "What would you say was Hillary's most memorable, popularly repeated and heavily debated policy proposal?" ...got crickets.

Thus allowing the Trump campaign to have messages that were far stronger and more widely spread than the opposition, even as they were outspent two to one.

Who elected Trump, YOU did.

[tw]

From the NY Times of 17 Nov 2016:

Automated Pro-Trump Bots Overwhelmed Pro-Clinton Messages, Researchers Say
An automated army of pro-Donald J. Trump chatbots overwhelmed similar programs supporting Hillary Clinton five to one in the days leading up to the presidential election, ...

Their purpose: to rant, confuse people on facts, or simply muddy discussions, said Philip N. Howard, a sociologist at the Oxford Internet Institute and one of the authors of the report. If you were looking for a real debate of the issues, you weren’t going to find it with a chatbot.

"They're yelling fools," Dr. Howard said. "And a lot of what they pass around is false news."

The role fake news played in the presidential election has become a sore point for the technology industry, particularly Google, Twitter and Facebook. ...

In some cases, the bots would post embarrassing photos, make references to the Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry into Mrs. Clinton's private email server, or produce false statements, for instance, that Mrs. Clinton was about to go to jail or was already in jail. ...

The Oxford researchers had previously reported that political chatbots had played a role in shaping the political landscape that led to Britain's "Brexit" vote.

When your supporters are emotional, then fake news becomes fact. Same also 'proved' Saddam had WMDs. More examples of how Trump just kept throwing shit on the wall until something stuck. It works best on emotional adults - who still think like children. Who know what is 'true' without bothering to first learn underlying facts and 'reasons why'.

They also noted that bots tend to circulate negative news much more effectively than positive reports.

The emotional mostly focus on and are best manipulated by negative reports.

[Undertoad]

Jon Stewart explains why liberal thinking of the Trump support "monolithically" is hypocritical:

[Flint]

I knew it as soon as the term "Bernie Bros" became a thing--implying that "sexism" was the root cause of differing political viewpoints (and ignoring the real issue(s)--corporate money in politics, wealth inequality, and economic stagnation for the working class over a DECADES-long period).

I knew it as soon as "Bernie Bros" were called "violent" at the Nevada convention--the Democratic Establishment and their propaganda arm (mainstream media) colluded to disparage the PEOPLE (the actual VOTERS) instead of the candidate (much less the candidate's ideas).

I saw the same HRC campaign stunts in the General Election--catching Trump flat-footed with the Machada "surprise" attack--and the media already having days worth of stories and interviews ready to dominate the airwaves!--the same "liberal media" shenanigans that Conservatives had bemoaned for years--and HRC's campaign had already PROVED were true (to the Dem's own, most-enthusiastic voters!) by railroading Bernie with the same dirty attack style.

The one burning topic that the Democratic Elite failed to recognize--regular American's POCKETBOOKS--is what won the election for Trump (ironically, a billionaire con artist), and the very area where Bernie (a scandal-free, voter enthusiasm goldmine) excelled. Now the Democrats are left with no recognizable ideas that anybody cares about (like the environment, income inequality--you know, things they DIDN'T talk about), and left with the same garbage approach that lost them an election to--literally--an orangutan.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by Flint

I knew it as soon as "Bernie Bros" were called "violent" at the Nevada convention--the Democratic Establishment and their propaganda arm (mainstream media) colluded to disparage the PEOPLE (the actual VOTERS) instead of the candidate (much less the candidate's ideas).

I saw the same HRC campaign stunts in the General Election--catching Trump flat-footed with the Machada "surprise" attack--and the media already having days worth of stories and interviews ready to dominate the airwaves!--the same "liberal media" shenanigans that Conservatives had bemoaned for years--and HRC's campaign had already PROVED were true (to the Dem's own, most-enthusiastic voters!) by railroading Bernie with the same dirty attack style.

So much THIS!!!

[sexobon]

Originally Posted by classicman

So much THIS!!!

Sounds like the kind of thing Infi might also think bears repeating; but, wouldn't to throw someone else a bone.

[sexobon]

Democrats made their platform political correctness. Turned out doing that was politically incorrect.

[Undertoad]

UK needs migration 'because native Britons are bloody stupid', says pro-EU lord

~ well that will convince them to vote for it ~

This is exactly what Mr Pie was talking about.

[DanaC]

The one burning topic that the Democratic Elite failed to recognize--regular American's POCKETBOOKS--is what won the election for Trump (ironically, a billionaire con artist), and the very area where Bernie (a scandal-free, voter enthusiasm goldmine) excelled. Now the Democrats are left with no recognizable ideas that anybody cares about (like the environment, income inequality--you know, things they DIDN'T talk about), and left with the same garbage approach that lost them an election to--literally--an orangutan.

Sooo well put.

[glatt]

Oh good. The Democrats chose Nancy Pelosi as their leader for the 8th time in the House of Representatives. That's just what they needed to do to find a new path forward into the future. I'm sure she will have lots of fresh new ideas that resonate with the voters and invigorate the party.