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Republicans Politics

Trump Wins US Presidency For Second Time (decisiondeskhq.com) 1605

Major media outlets are beginning to declare former President Trump the winner of the 2024 presidential election, having secured 270 electoral votes. "He becomes the first president in more than 120 years to lose the White House, and then to come back and win it again, after President Grover Cleveland in 1892," notes The Hill. As with previous election announcements on Slashdot, this is your chance to talk about it and what it means for the future of our nation.

In a victory speech, Trump said that he was the leader of "the greatest political movement of all time." He said: "We overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible," adding that he would take office with an "unprecedented and powerful mandate." President Trump has vowed a radical reshaping of American government, tasking SpaceX and Tesla chief executive Elon Musk "with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms."

UPDATE 12:30 PM PST: Vice President Kamala Harris has officially conceded the 2024 presidential election, calling former President Trump to offer her congratulations. She's expected to make a concession speech at Howard University at 4:00 PM EST. You can stream the speech here.
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Trump Wins US Presidency For Second Time

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  • I don't understand (Score:5, Insightful)

    by war4peace ( 1628283 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @01:58AM (#64922933)

    Disclaimer: I live in a former Communist country.

    I just don't get it. From where I stand, that guy's a fraud A to Z. There is nothing appealing about him. Horrible character, lies all the time, has an ego so big the Sun would orbit him if he had gravity.

    WHY do people vote for him? And, more importantly, why do people STILL vote for him?

    • by Fons_de_spons ( 1311177 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @02:02AM (#64922941)
      I am starting to get it. Because they do not believe in the system anymore
      • by demon driver ( 1046738 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @02:35AM (#64923033) Journal

        Neither do I, but why then vote for someone who is the least probable to change the system, only to use it to profit from it himself as much as he can, and f*** the people?

        • by chefren ( 17219 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @03:13AM (#64923179)

          I am appaled by his re-election, precicely for the reason that Trump will continue to erode the democracy in the US.

          Harris wouldn't have changed anything either, but I am convinced the GOP under a Trump presidency will make a play for preventing the democrats from winning again, setting the US on a path to being a single party state and eventually ending up like Russia.

          I hope I'm wrong..

          What the US needs is to end the first past the post system in these elections.

        • by Frobnicator ( 565869 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @03:49AM (#64923365) Journal

          The skills needed to win elections are different from the skills needed to govern.

          The election is an emotional appeal. It is the popularity to the masses. During the election every location gets told what they want to hear. Lies are tolerated because of the emotional response. Whatever stokes the population ego, particularly giving people to blame and giving targets for aggression, they win elections.

          Governance is about logistics, balance between the masses and the individual, balance of global concerns with national concerns with regional concerns with individual concerns. Government is about policy rather than popularity.

          • by kwikrick ( 755625 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @05:33AM (#64923677) Journal

            Continuing that line of reasoning: not believing in the system, American democracy, is entirely understandable. The public is too easily manipulated to vote on power hungry, immoral individuals and parties, incapable of good government. This is of course a general problem in democracy. There are plenty of examples where democratically elected parties have failed to work in the public's general interest (with Germany in the 1930's en 40's as a horrific schoolbook example) and currently many democracies have difficulty dealing with populist propaganda amplified by social media. But I think in the USA the system is especially vulnerable, having insufficient guards to protect the system from manipulation by the rich and powerful, eroding the checks and balances needed to make sure government is not corrupted. Already, the gains of technological progress flow almost exclusively into the hands of the very rich, while the general population does not benefit or is worse off than in the preceding decades. Yet every party's electoral program ever claims that they will improve the lives for the common people! So yes, of course people have lost faith in the system.

            But voting for Trump because you don't believe in the system is of course still very a stupid thing to do, because if he and his cronies get their way, they''ll replace it with something far worse (an autocratic kleptocracy, like Poetin's Russia).

    • by yakatz ( 1176317 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @02:20AM (#64922987) Homepage Journal
      I think this describes it perfectly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

      People don't really want either of them, but when forced to make a choice, they choose the one they think will be less bad.

      That and evidently there was a major uptick in Google searches for "Did Joe Biden drop out of the presidential race?".
      People who don't pay any attention to anything (and yet we let them vote) expected to go in and vote for Joe, then they didn't see any names on the ballot they recognized.
    • by DesScorp ( 410532 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @02:31AM (#64923013) Journal

      I just don't get it. From where I stand, that guy's a fraud A to Z. There is nothing appealing about him.

      "I just don't understand how Nixon could have won. Nobody I know voted for him".

      You don't get . it because you probably live in a bubble, at least socially. But you're not alone, because you have a lot of compatriots on Slashdot.

      BTW, Trump is also projected to win the popular vote. And the GOP will take the Senate. And it's looking like the GOP will keep the House, albeit narrowly.

      In short, if you can't possibly understand why Trump won, maybe you should get outside of your circles and mingle with other folk who think differently than you. BECAUSE THERE'S A LOT OF THEM.

      Or, you can just keep hanging with the folks here who will insist that it's all due to cheating, Russian "interference", vote suppression, etc etc etc.

      Bottom line: Americans know who Donald Trump is. They know his ideas, his positions, and have watched the whole legal circus surrounding him these past two years. They have plenty to judge him by.

      And they chose him anyway

      Maybe ask yourself "Huh, could it have been that the American electorate considered the alternative that fucking bad? Yes. Yes they did.

      • by war4peace ( 1628283 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @02:41AM (#64923057)

        I know why he won. he won because he was voted.
        But why did people vote vor him, specifically?

        My take: because he is what they want to be. They want to be that person who can say anything, no matter how big of a balooney it is, and nothing happens to him. they want to be rich and get by by winging it, and so on.

        • by k2dk ( 816114 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @03:08AM (#64923157)

          Have you considered asking them?

          • by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @03:30AM (#64923263)

            Have you considered asking them?

            Bingo. The Democrats lost the presidency, the Senate, the HOR, and a majority of the governorships because they won't even talk to 52% of the American people.

            A majority of the people don't care about identity politics, don't want drag queens in classrooms, don't want boys on the girls' swim team, are sick of the "asylum" charade at the border, don't like the politicization of the DOJ, and are tired of being called bigots and fascists.

            Disclaimer: I didn't vote for Trump, but I understand why most people did ... because I talk to them.

            • by serviscope_minor ( 664417 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @03:45AM (#64923343) Journal

              You say all that, but it doesn't hold up. One hears way more from the Republicans about identity politics. It's the almost #1 topic on fox news. Apparently Americans DO want identity politics and they just voted for it big time.

            • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @04:53AM (#64923607) Homepage Journal

              It's simpler than that. Trump is a populist, he offers simple solutions to difficult problems. They are not real solutions, but they sound easy and most importantly hurt other people who he blames for everything.

            • by ToasterMonkey ( 467067 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @09:14AM (#64924365) Homepage

              Bingo. The Democrats lost the presidency, the Senate, the HOR, and a majority of the governorships because they won't even talk to 52% of the American people.

              That's flat out wrong and you know it.

              The country is not divided into to two sides separated by geography. We ALL have Trumpers in our own families. I know you have democrats in your own family, would you watch a Trump rally with them and answer any questions they might have? Do you talk to them about politics? Would you even sit down with a totally blank slate, neutral 18 year old kid barely able to think critically but not already engulfed by political issues, watch the MSG event and just answer questions? Could you do that?

              I can't talk to my own dad about Trump. It's not like I don't try. It's like talking to a cult member, because you don't know what's going to be a third rail and just shut them down. I'll try going in totally ignorant of maga talking points on some issue and step in it. "Hey Pence was an alright guy at least right?" Yah, oops, that ended abruptly. Can't even talk about the fucking vice president for some reason.

              Talk about the economy and bring up a WSJ article "they're biased", dad it's owned by the guy that owns Fox, "I don't read the news". You'd think I'd just told him Jesus isn't real. It's all about feelings. So we talk, but you can't talk about politics or whatever maga world considers to be politics at the moment, tik tok, bitcoin, Disney, whatever. He won't watch a Trump rally, or admit being aware of anything that happened at one, apparently because he doesn't want to know or is embarrassed? I'm not embarrassed to discuss any Kamala/Walz anything, I'll give the pros and cons. I can talk about the latest Biden gaff without turning red faced and shutting down full cult mode.

              So don't tell me democrats don't talk to republicans. I'm not convinced y'all even talk to each other about this stuff.

            • by DaFallus ( 805248 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @09:50AM (#64924495)
              So people tired of being called out for their bigoted, fascist behavior elected a bigoted fascist. That sounds totally reasonable...

              You listened and heard the bullshit excuses for why people voted for Trump. Now apply logic and common sense to those excuses and you'll see they're fictitious boogeymen used to scare weak minded people. Meanwhile you literally have women dying due to the consequences of the last time Trump was elected, but sure its the Democrats obsessed with identity politics...

              The reality is that the majority of people, Americans included, are generally complete fucking idiots. It certainly doesn't help that one party has a hard-on for destroying public education in an effort to privatize it, and it is also no coincidence that the majority of uneducated people also prefer this same party. So yes, it is the fault of voters for falling for such idiotic populist garbage because they're generally dumb, selfish, and too lazy to see past the surface.
      • by ArmoredDragon ( 3450605 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @02:49AM (#64923095)

        I still don't understand why the Democrats didn't hold a primary. You know your candidate is bad when her own hand-picked cabinet quit because they can't fucking stand her.

        Three. Fucking. Years. Ago.

        https://www.newsweek.com/kamal... [newsweek.com]

        And somehow they got it in their heads that she'd win? I think it hadn't occurred to them that affirmative action might help you get into Harvard, but it doesn't help you win a public office.

        • by Tom ( 822 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @04:00AM (#64923399) Homepage Journal

          This.

          From what I see from afar, it's not Trump who won the election. It's the democrats and their hubris that lost the election.

          They thought they could get Hillary pushed into a presidency, completely ignoring her scandals and unlikeable character. There were better candidates and the way they were pushed to the side was dirty. Voters did not forget that.

          Then they thought they can push Biden into a 2nd term despite his dementia becoming clearly obvious. From what I see, he wasn't a bad president, but couldn't sell his victories.

          So among all the candidates the dems picked the one already burdened with a bad reputation, with a more than questionable history, and as vice-president an easy target for criticism against the current administration. And again, the dems decided to push through their favorite candidate, as if voters didn't exist and would have the same preferences.

          The democrats are lost in their own bubble. They think that whoever party leaders prefer the people will vote for. Maybe this time they'll wake up. Nah, who am I kidding?

      • by serviscope_minor ( 664417 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @03:43AM (#64923327) Journal

        "I just don't understand how Nixon could have won. Nobody I know voted for him".

        That's not what he said. He said Trump is a fraud.

        You don't get . it

        That's literally what he said.

        Huh, could it have been that the American electorate considered the alternative that fucking bad? Yes. Yes they did.

        Clearly. We all know that. The question that people with even a tenuous grasp of reality want to know is why, because most of the reasons put out for Trump are disconnected from reality.

        Anyhoo enjoy the next 4 years.

    • by aepervius ( 535155 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @02:33AM (#64923021)
      There are multiple factors :
      1) IQ is a gaussian centered around 100. So effectively half the population is below average intelligence and will not understand or grasp at complex electoral programs, and they are weak to populist trope or soundbites.
      2) more often than not in the US, people don't vote for a specific person, but rather for a team. There is maybe 10-15% which switch side. The rest of core elector always vote dems or reps no matter what, or don't vote. That's how MTG , Boebert and Trump get elected.
      3) At Presidential election people in the US *mostly* don't look at each candidate programs, but rather something far FAR more simplistic : was my life better now than 4 years ago ? Some will skip voting or switch vote depending on that sole factor
      4) you keep repeating people they are worthless and the reason for all is bad and they are privileged *while they feel shitted on by society*, and at some point people rebel against it. That's why in MANY country (Germany, US, Korea chief among other) the male youth shifted far into the right.

      This is not a single factor. But combine all 4 ? Then you get a trump president 2024, a red waves in the senate and IMO very probably a majority in congress. A complete carte blanche for 2 years to Trump to do whatever.
    • by mrproperz ( 6515104 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @02:42AM (#64923059)
      In a world where you pick the lesser of two evils, this was the lesser. Kamala was somehow a worse communicator than Trump, had no track record of success with the an immigration assignment she was given, and had zero charisma.

      Blame the Democrats for putting a mentally ill person into the presidency, lying about it, then bypassing primary elections and place an extremely unpopular candidate as a replacement. That rubbed a lot of people the wrong way

      Also, we in the US do not understand why people keep hating on Trump when all it takes is providing a competitive candidate. It should not be that hard, but the Democrats are now 0 for 3 in their candidates.
      • by war4peace ( 1628283 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @02:49AM (#64923091)

        "Also, we in the US do not understand why people keep hating on Trump"

        Simply because he is a horrible person. I am dead serious: I can't find one positive thing about him, as a person. And, believe me, I tried.
        It's even more perplexing to me, since you already had him as POTUS once, and seem to have liked it.
        Just puzzling.

        • by iAmWaySmarterThanYou ( 10095012 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @03:03AM (#64923139)

          We learned the lesson very well during the Clinton era that personal behavior is no longer important. Only policy matters.

          Most Americans are worse off today than they were under Trump. Policy. That's it. All this stuff about how he is as person is utterly irrelevant and has been since Clinton. We learned that lesson very well. So, here's Trump, an egotistical asshole with great policies for 51.1% of the voters and that's more than enough to get elected.

          Maybe in some other universe where it wasn't sold to the voters that fucking your intern is ok and being a general shit bag to women is ok they didn't elect Clinton or Trump. But we're not in that universe. Personal character no longer matters.

          Did you know Biden had to drop from his first attempt at office over a plagiarism charge decades ago? Character mattered then. But the second time, no one gave a shit so he got in, too, just like Trump and Clinton, all men of low moral character and ethics.

          • by Freischutz ( 4776131 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @04:08AM (#64923423)

            Most Americans are worse off today than they were under Trump. Policy. That's it. All this stuff about how he is as person is utterly irrelevant and has been since Clinton. We learned that lesson very well. So, here's Trump, an egotistical asshole with great policies for 51.1% of the voters ...

            ... and those policies only being great for 51.1% percent of the voters on the extreme right is exactly the problem because it is what John Adams called a "Tyranny of the majority" and in this case a very narrow one. I know 'my way or the highway' politics are very seductive and visiting retribution on the other 48,9% to make them cry is great fun. However, the person that will fix America is going to have to come up with great policies that appeal to 75% of Americans on both sides of the trench lines, that requires compromise and Trump just ain't that guy. He even said it himself: 'I am your retribution!!!'.

    • by korgitser ( 1809018 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @02:56AM (#64923117)

      Trump wins because he acknowledges the issues his voters have, and promises to fix them. Of those there are imaginary ones, like communism, and real ones, like loss of jobs and destruction of middle class. Two thirds of the country are one hospital visit away from being homeless. The latest generations are never going to be able to afford homes. Team Dem pretends these things don't exist, but they do, and affect more and more of the populace, and as such, will command more and more of votes.

      I'm not saying I believe Trump will actually fix these issues, the last time something was actually fixed in the States was the New Deal. It's been a while. It's not going to happen any time soon, whoever the president is. Wasn't going to happen under Kamala, didn't happen under Biden, nothing under Trump last time, Obama - nope, Dubya - lol... The list goes on. The job of the president is to turn campaign donor money into campaign donor policy. Donors are who made them president, it's who they are responsible for. It's that simple.

      But if one has a choice of two candidates, one who knows your problems and promises to fix them, and the other guy doesn't and doesn't, many people are going to choose the first one. Lies don't matter here, the truth was dead in the US a long time ago already. And it's not like the other guy tells the truth. If the other guy says everything is all right, but nobody in your town has a job, that's the lie you care about. If the other guy says (s)he's proud of the America (s)he has built, they publicly acknowledge they're your enemy. Trump on the other hand positions himself on the side of the little guy, and as being hated by the establishment for trying to help the little guy. The establishment helps him along with that by hating him.

      The donors of course don't hate him. The donors don't give a fuck, they donate to both candidates and will get whatever they want no matter who wins. If the people somehow get anything, it's a side effect of giving away public policy or public money to the donors. The issue has actually been studied: https://www.cambridge.org/core... [cambridge.org] . Voter preference has no effect on policy in the US. Only money does. Arguing about which president is better or worse here is like arguing which cheek of the ass does the best farting.

      • by war4peace ( 1628283 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @03:06AM (#64923145)

        That makes sense.
        For some reason, your post made me think of... all those religious cults in the USA, which gather large followings.
        Many, many people in the USA really like and enjoy being groomed into becoming fanatics, through words alone.
        Very interesting. I had never considered that before.

      • by TheDarkMaster ( 1292526 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @05:56AM (#64923727)
        Quite true.

        In my country we have a left that is losing on all fronts to people that I can easily consider as complete lunatics or criminals, but this left cannot understand what is happening, much less react accordingly. And why? It is because while the average citizen is trying to make ends meet and return home alive at the end of the day because of crime, this left that I mentioned is more concerned with "neutral pronouns" and other things that have no real impact on the life of this average citizen.
    • by RightwingNutjob ( 1302813 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @07:00AM (#64923865)

      I'm speaking only for myself. I seriously thought about leaving a blank ballot until I was standing in the voting booth. I didn't even fill in the bubble for him until I had done everything else. And the reason I made myself do it is this:

      With Trump, there are a few known deficiencies, but the general attitude and instincts about policy are correct. With Biden, and now Harris, the talk was warm and fuzzy but the policies were a death by a thousand cuts: de jure bans on natural gas exports, de facto bans on ICE cars, more mandatory kangaroo courts for sexual assault accusations in the universities, mandatory affirmatiins the delusions of the gende-confused (even if children and even if temporary). And on it goes.

  • No need to cry (Score:5, Informative)

    by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @02:02AM (#64922945)

    If you can survive a lunatic madman once, you can survive twice. This country was designed so that any moron can run it. The lower IQ the better.

  • Canada (Score:5, Funny)

    by guacamole ( 24270 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @02:14AM (#64922973)

    Reminder, the last bus to Canada will be departing in 40 minutes, don't be late!

    • Re:Canada (Score:4, Insightful)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @05:08AM (#64923637) Homepage Journal

      Not sure if this is joking but that's actually a real consideration for a lot of people today.

      The Republicans spent a lot of time and money attacking and demonizing LGBTQ people. A lot of them have already lost access to healthcare, and networks have been created to help them leave states that oppress them. With the federal government coming for them, will anywhere be safe now?

      Dark times.

  • by spike_gran ( 219938 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @02:30AM (#64923011)

    In this election, the right picked up more men, more latinos and blacks, and more non-college educated than in other recent election. For latinos and blacks, the left just expected that they would get their support with no lobbying or special attention. For men and non-college educated, economic life and community life has gotten even worse under Biden, and Harris's plan to improve the lives of men and working class didn't seem to resonate. So, unsurprisingly, given the two party system, people were less excited to vote for the party in power. And a couple of percent makes all the difference.

  • The near future (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Maxo-Texas ( 864189 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @02:56AM (#64923115)

    Groceries are going to become very expensive as the Kroger/Albertson's merger goes through.

    Tariffs will dramatically increase the prices of everything sold at big box stores.
    Corruption will increase dramatically.

    Ukraine will be cut off by the U.S. It's going to be up to Europe.
    NATO is a done deal. The U.S. will likely withdraw.

    The long standing independence of the U.S. military - swearing it's oath to the constitution will be subverted and those who favor the president over the constitution will be promoted. We may see the military used on U.S. soil within the next 4 years.

    It's likely that social security and medicare will see significant cuts. The ACA will be cancelled and there will not be a replacement.

    Insulin will return to several hundred dollars per dose.

    The U.S. will become more aligned with Russia.

    The rest of the world will never trust the U.S. again. It will be viewed as China or Russia (in it's heydey).

    Hundreds of young women will die each year over the next four years as increasingly draconian anti-abortion laws go into place.

    And I may be overly optimistic. I'm old. I'll probably be gone in 4 to 8 years anyway. God help the young folks I leave behind.

  • by cstacy ( 534252 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @04:20AM (#64923469)

    I'm one of the most elderly people you will find on Slashdot. Politics has always been slimy, but it's devolved really badly at this point.

    The main thing I hope for, four years from now, is that both parties will offer good candidates. I feel like we've reached rock-bottom.

    With Trump being the incumbent, and the Democrats response to him, it could not happen last time. I had hoped the parties might turn around this time, but no such luck. Here's hoping for a good four years, and for much better offerings the next time out.

  • by Murdoch5 ( 1563847 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @10:53AM (#64924749) Homepage
    Look at who he was running against, Biden has some kind of mental problem, it might be mild, but, Biden can't hold a thought or message long enough to convey it. Maybe you could have hid that better, and made a comeback from the disaster debate, but then to switch and throw the VP into the ring, with basically no time left, and with no sensible platform or direction, was just idiotic.

    Even if Harris could have held the fort down, she basically admitted that she had to fix all the problems she and Biden created, which means the last 4 years were a train wreck, to which she wanted to recover from. All Trump had to do, was not demonstrate insanity, and I'm not talking about questionable statements or ideas, I mean insane, and he wasn't, so he won.

    The only people the Democratic Party can blame, are themselves. They blew the entire race apart, then had no plan to put it back together, and arguably let a terrible idiot win. I'm not a Trump fan, but he was smart enough to outplay the special kids, and so his team won. He's also "special", just not wheelchair shaking special, like Biden and Harris.

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