GBS

Chriskool

Chriskool

My current project is going live this weekend, and none of the business users can use it effectively. Who has time for the world?
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

Politics is a dangerous topic, but I would like to say one thing.

It is incredibly important, at times like these, to not write off the people who voted for Trump as racist/bigoted/misogynistic/etc. To not sneer when people people suggest that there were legitimate reasons for voting for Trump that had nothing to do with his moral character. Trump did not garner millions and millions of votes because 'everyone's a racist' or 'Americans are idiots.' To write off his supporters as such is to actively ignore the root, underlying causes for his successful election.

What are those root causes? I'm not sure I have an easy answer for that, but we'd better figure them out, or I can guarantee you we won't be looking at 4 years of Trump. We'll be looking at 8.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Politics should not be a dangerous topic :( I have a colleague with whom I can have heated discussions on politics, but while we don't see eye to eye at all as far as politics go, we still respect each other and actually get along very well. Just because I don't get why someone would vote for Trump doesn't mean that someone is stupid, and neither does it mean that the flaws I perceive in Trump reflect back onto that someone. Still, "they" did vote a racist/bigot/misogynist/failed businessman/egotistical tv star into the White House, so a bit of ridiculing is fair game :p In short, I agree with you Gifts.
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

Onderzeeboot said:
Politics should not be a dangerous topic :(
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, in this day and age of hyper-sensitivity and virtual echo-chambers... it really can be.

...well that's not really fair. Politics has always been a heated topic, right up there with Religion. But this election was particularly vicious, I think.

Ridicule itself isn't a problem in of itself, but it distracts from the larger, more important core issues.

Calling Trump a failed businessman is kind of a misnomer, I think. People really don't realize that his famous flops (Trump Water, Trump Steaks, Trump Uni, etc.) were never about the ventures themselves. They were about managing and promoting Trump's one true 'buisness': His brand. (why do you think all his ventures have his name stamped on them? As much as it's fun to believe that he's simply a narcissist, he's far too smart for that.)

Despite many many failures, despite the lawsuits, despite everything, the Trump name is a household one, and is synonymous with Success. Trump is a genius at marketing his name.

People bring up the 'small loan of a million dollars' etc. a lot, to try and devalue his success due to this rich family connections, but

1. He is many times wealthier than his father ever was. Even if he did get a lot of starting capital, it is no mean feat to expand it so successfully. I know if I was given a million dollars today, I wouldn't be able to turn it into 100 million at the drop of a hat. That takes skill and intelligence, whether people like it or not.

2. Not every rich person is capable of managing a successful brand image and public persona. Everything he does, he does to build that persona. It's not easy. I mean, look at what happens when you try to 'shoot' for a persona, and fail:



As Captain Jack Sparrow once replied:

"You must be the worst pirate [politician] I've ever heard of!"

"Ah... but you have heard of me."

The worst thing people can do is write of Trump as an idiot, because in doing so conversation about his policies (you know, the things that matter. As much as 'grabbing em' by the pussy' makes good slander, a locker-room chat from a decade ago isn't particularly relevant) is stifled.
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

sigh said:
Say what you will about the reasons people did or did not vote for the Tangerine Elect, but I find this exit poll chart to be pretty telling:
View attachment 1182
Click to expand...


I've seen that graphic pop up a lot. I'd love to see a thorough explanation of their procedure for it, especially what with all the misinformation surrounding this election. At the very least, the number respondents is more than enough for a good representative sample of the pop.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
There's a reason I didn't put "idiot" in that list, he knows what he's doing. Well, he knows how to draw attention. While that's invaluable when you're building a brand and trying to get elected, I don't know if it will do him much good once he's actually made it to the White House. We'll have to wait and see, he deserves a chance. I do have to say someone who thinks global warming is a hoax automatically loses a lot of points with me though...

https://xkcd.com/1732/

Because yes, earth's temperature has always been fluctuating, but never before at such an alarming pace.
 
GiftsForgiven

GiftsForgiven

Onderzeeboot said:
There's a reason I didn't put "idiot" in that list, he knows what he's doing. Well, he knows how to draw attention. While that's invaluable when you're building a brand and trying to get elected, I don't know if it will do him much good once he's actually made it to the White House. We'll have to wait and see, he deserves a chance. I do have to say someone who thinks global warming is a hoax automatically loses a lot of points with me though...

https://xkcd.com/1732/

Because yes, earth's temperature has always been fluctuating, but never before at such an alarming pace.
Click to expand...


Haha, the next few years are going to be preeeetty interesting, that's for sure. Between you and me, I don't think he expected to get this far. I think he expected this proposition to fail, just like most of his others. I could see his OG plan being: Run for President, make a big fuss, lose in the primaries, write a book about how the election was rigged that sells millions.

Make a lot of money, give the Trump name a political boost, etc.

I'm... I think 'morbidly curious' is how I'd describe my feelings at the moment...

As for the global warming thing... I'm all for keeping an open mind about possible changes/revisions to pre-established scientific thinking, but I'm pretty sure alarming global temperature fluctuations have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt at this point...
 
Dom Harvey

Dom Harvey

Contributor
It's incomplete because it doesn't show how that compares to previous elections. The Edison exit poll (imperfect but afaik the best info available at this stage) makes interesting reading. Specifically, as summarized nicely in this Twitter thread, Trump gained virtually no ground among white voters (he gained support with rural whites but mostly in areas that voted for Obama - and many of which voted for Clinton in the 2008 primary, strangely enough), and didn't outperform McCain/Romney overall.

The Obama coalition collapsed though:

Cw7LcuCXAAEInFE.jpg
 
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