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Republicans Politics

Trump Wins US Presidency For Second Time (decisiondeskhq.com) 466

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.

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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 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).

      • So, then, what? Set the system on fire by intentionally voting for the one dude who would nuke the whole thing?
        "I don't like the house I live in. I should set it on fire, THAT would teach it!"

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Even that makes no sense. Their issue is that they think politicians are in it for themselves and do not represent them. Well that describes Trump perfectly. He's in it to make money and stay out of jail. His policies are not going to help the average American, and he has a proven track record of giving the super wealthy big tax cuts while scamming everyone else.

        If it's a protest over mainstream politics then shooting yourself in the dick doesn't seem like an ideal way to go about it.

    • by yakatz ( 1176317 )
      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.

        • 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 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 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?

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            So why doesn't the same thing apply to the Republicans?

            They thought they could push Trump again, despite him being a convicted felon and deeply unlikeable. Despite his obvious dementia, despite the fact that he is too old.

            Why is it only Democrats are judged on those things, while the Republican candidate gets a free pass?

          • That's propaganda. The most obvious example of which was when there was a news story floating around about how he just started staring off into space and it turned out that what he was actually doing was speaking to somebody who was off camera.

            I don't think it really matters anymore because I don't think America is a democracy anymore, but Americans get more propaganda than North Korea.

            The Democrats biggest problem was that they always assume people are better than they are. So they had Tim Walz Go
      • You're right. No one truly understands how stupid Americans are. Not even Americans as it stands.
        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          The sad truth is that most electorates are that way, not just Americans. Look at Argentina, or the UK. Populism and charismatic liars are irresistibly seductive.

          The only defence is a system that offers a plurality of choices and prevents any one of them gaining absolute power, like it appears Trump now has. With control of the presidency and both houses, a supportive SCOTUS, and immunity, these are worrying times.

    • 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.
    • 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
      • 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.

          • 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, tha

      • "no track record of success with the an immigration assignment she was given"

        You mean had her efforts torpedoed by Trump precisely so he could play that card?

    • 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.

    • Why would someone who lived in a communist country not understand voting against communists?

      • by war4peace ( 1628283 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @03:06AM (#64923153)

        If you believe the Dems are communists, you know jack shit about communism, buddy.

  • No need to cry (Score:4, 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.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Maxo-Texas ( 864189 )

      No, this time there are no guardrails. There are no reasonable people to hold him back.
      We really don't have any idea how bad it can get but what Project 2025 spelled out is nightmarish.

      • I'm guessing at this point it's watching the shit fall where it may. The 2020s started as a trainwreck, continued as a train wreck, so why stop now?
  • by Fons_de_spons ( 1311177 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @02:04AM (#64922949)
    So US, how does it feel to have become a rogue state? No worries, you will endure and come out stronger. (after Trump is dumped)
  • It means it's time for both parties to go to work for the people of the country again. Quit targeting people for political persecution and revenge, start working together. Don't target the other side because you disagree with them.
    • It means it's time for both parties to go to work for the people of the country again. Quit targeting people for political persecution and revenge, start working together. Don't target the other side because you disagree with them.

      I don’t think that’s going to happen.
      In fact, I believe that - as long as there are no meaningful punishments for spurious legal shenanigans - this shit will continue.
      For example: There is significant evidence pointing to collusion between the DNC and the New York State Attorney General’s office.
      Certainly enough to prosecute both the AC and several members of their staff AND the judiciary.
      The process is/was the punishment as then, suddenly, Donald Trump was a felon - at least that was the

      • by Sique ( 173459 )
        Donald Trump in this case is a felon. He tried to file an expense for hush up money (which by itself is totally legal) as legal expense. This is tax fraud. Very petty, but still tax fraud.

        It was blown out of proportion by all sides, but the fact remains: Donald Trump was falsely declaring his expenses, which makes him a felon. Many people went to prison for similar offenses, why should he be any exemption?

  • by Required Snark ( 1702878 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @02:08AM (#64922957)
    As of 2AM East coast time.

    Slashdot has right wing bias. Proof positive.

  • 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!

  • 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.

  • Silly question, but how is it possible to call it at this time?
    • NEVERMIND, just refreshed what I was looking at, and saw that Trump had jumped from 248 to 267 electoral votes.
  • I hope JD Vance is not as bad as Trump, because I don't see DJT surviving 4 years in good enough health to be president.

    (don't mean being shot like JFK, I mean natural causes)

  • Why?
  • The near future (Score:4, Interesting)

    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.

    • In order to control the inflation the Federal reserve will crank interest rates which will trigger mass layoffs because that's the whole point of interest rate hikes. That's how they reduce inflation by increasing the cost of borrowing money which stops new investment which results in job losses which causes people to have to take lower paying jobs and blow through their savings.
    • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

      "I'm old. I'll probably be gone in 4 to 8 years anyway."

      Hastened by your loss of retirement, medicare, and savings for sure. And that's part of the plan. You are one of the "others", that is definitionally true with fascists like Trump and your death will make it easier for him to take. There's only so much wealth to go around, and Trump doesn't like it going around.

  • Fuck you America (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @03:32AM (#64923277)
    everything's done. Everything. Fuck you.

    I don't get to buy a house next year. Trump will cause inflation and interest rates to hike.

    I'm going to lose my job, and I probably won't get another.

    My kid doesn't get to go to grad school, the program they need is going away with the depart of education.

    Fuck you America and fuck all you fucking boomers who sold us out.

    Democracy is over. Trump will do Project 2025, Schedule F and then crack down on voting. Then he'll get a super majority in Congress, use it to re-write the constitution and game over.

    Fuck you America. We're done. It's over.
  • by Growlley ( 6732614 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @06:30AM (#64923791)
    any hope for the environment,

"You can't make a program without broken egos."

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