Countdown to Extinction: The 2016 Presidential Election

[Karl Henning]

Playlist for Election Night 2016


Captain Beefheart, "Dachau Blues"
Adrian Belew, "Paint the Road"
Dire Straits, "Heavy Fuel"
Frank Zappa, "Dickie's Such an Asshole"
The Beatles, "Back in the USSR"
R.E.M., "Everybody Hurts"
The Ramones, "I Wanna Be Sedated"
Frank Zappa, "Planet of the Baritone Women"
Bob Dylan, "Watching the River Flow"
Led Zeppelin, "In My Time of Dying"
Heart, "Magic Man"
Jimi Hendrix, "All Along the Watchtower"
Talking Heads, "Burning Down the House"
The Bobs, "Mr Duality"
Captain Beefheart, "Grow Fins"
The Police, "Deathwish"
Steely Dan, "Black Friday"
Bob Dylan, "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"
The Ramones, "The KKK Took My Baby Away"
Pink Floyd, "Careful With That Axe, Eugene"
Chicago, "Baby, What a Big Surprise"
Cat Stevens, "Wild World"
The Pogues, "The Turkish Song of the Damned"
Queen, "Don't Try Suicide"
King Crimson, "Cat Food"
Styx, "Too Much Time on My Hands"
Led Zeppelin, "Trampled Underfoot"
Jeff Beck, "Loose Cannon"
The Beatles, "Helter Skelter"
Joe Jackson, "You Can't Get What You Want, Till You Know What You Want"
Frank Zappa, "Dumb All Over"
Michael Jackson, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
Jack White & Alicia Keys, "Another Way to Die"
Men Without Hats, "Safety Dance"
Peter Gabriel, "Shock the Monkey"
Paul Simon, "Late in the Evening"
Bob Dylan, "Orange Juice Blues (Blues for Breakfast)"
Tom Waits, "Tango Till They're Sore"
George Harrison, "Woman, Don't You Cry for Me"
Supertramp, "Cannonball"
Dire Straits, "Twisting by the Pool"
Frank Zappa & The Mothers, "America Drinks and Goes Home"

[Ken B]

NYT predictor is showing Trump ahead, with Michigan decisive. I remember telling folks here Trump could sell very well in Michigan.

If Trump wins this the underlying reason will be the contempt many voters feel directed at them. I sadly have seen a lot of that here. As I contemplate the very real chance of President The Donald I wonder how many will want to rethink how productive that attitude really is. President Trump, should he really win,  may not prove as bad as many of us fear, but it's a sobering prospect.

[Mirror Image]

As much as I hate to admit it: I think Trump's got this election in the bag. He just won Ohio and no president has ever won without this state. Night, night Clinton.

[Madiel]

NYT predictor is showing Trump ahead, with Michigan decisive. I remember telling folks here Trump could sell very well in Michigan.

If Trump wins this the underlying reason will be the contempt many voters feel directed at them. I sadly have seen a lot of that here. As I contemplate the very real chance of President The Donald I wonder how many will want to rethink how productive that attitude really is. President Trump, should he really win,  may not prove as bad as many of us fear, but it's a sobering prospect.

I absolutely understand why voters in certain regions are unhappy. What baffles me is that their chosen saviour of the workers is a billionaire with a reputation for not paying for work.

As I've said before, it's the henhouse expressing its dissatisfaction with roosters by voting for a fox. Bernie Sanders made sense as an outlet for that dissatisfaction. Trump does not.

[Gurn Blanston]

I absolutely understand why voters in certain regions are unhappy. What baffles me is that their chosen saviour of the workers is a billionaire with a reputation for not paying for work.

As I've said before, it's the henhouse expressing its dissatisfaction with roosters by voting for a fox. Bernie Sanders made sense as an outlet for that dissatisfaction. Trump does not.

This cartoon sadly hits it on the nose:

[(poco) Sforzando]

NYT predictor is showing Trump ahead, with Michigan decisive. I remember telling folks here Trump could sell very well in Michigan.

If Trump wins this the underlying reason will be the contempt many voters feel directed at them. I sadly have seen a lot of that here. As I contemplate the very real chance of President The Donald I wonder how many will want to rethink how productive that attitude really is. President Trump, should he really win,  may not prove as bad as many of us fear, but it's a sobering prospect.

The contempt is not for the voters, but for the person they are voting for. Already markets world-wide are tanking. The Mexican peso is down 12%. Do you think that's a result of contempt for rural white American voters? The world is terrified of this guy. Right now CA is in which makes the vote neck and neck, but either side needs about 100 more.

[Ken B]

I absolutely understand why voters in certain regions are unhappy. What baffles me is that their chosen saviour of the workers is a billionaire with a reputation for not paying for work.

As I've said before, it's the henhouse expressing its dissatisfaction with roosters by voting for a fox. Bernie Sanders made sense as an outlet for that dissatisfaction. Trump does not.

Well I agree Trump is not the right guy. And I am afraid people will learn that in due course. But he won because he tried. Remember when he was roundly mocked for saying he loves the poorly educated? I don't hear any of that mockery now.

[Tritone]

Wow - this IS interesting!!  One message is loud and clear;  the ordinary people are fed up with political correctness, identity politics, gender bifurcation, trigger warnings, safe spaces, "black lives matter".  They're telling the elites what they think.  Win or lose for Trump things will never be the same again.  America doesn't want the inner urbanites telling them what to think, how to live and what to do.  The western world is fed up to the back teeth with this mentality.

[Mirror Image]

If Trump wins (and there's a very high probability that he will), then at least he did it on his own and proved many naysayers wrong. I'm not a Trump supporter as many here know, but I'm willing to accept that he won fair and square.

[Ken B]

The contempt is not for the voters, but for the person they are voting for. Already markets world-wide are tanking. The Mexican peso is down 12%. Do you think that's a result of contempt for rural white American voters? The world is terrified of this guy. Right now CA is in which makes the vote neck and neck, but either side needs about 100 more.

What a non sequitur. I am trying to explain why Trump got so many votes. That has bupkis to do with markets today or the peso. Contempt for blue collar whites is endemic in this country. And there was that deplorables speech. People usually resent being contemned.

[mc ukrneal]

It looks like it comes down to Michigan and Iowa at this point. And while Michigan is still likely to go Clinton, It looks like Iowa will go Trump. And that would give Trump the win (assuming no more shocks based on current results).

[Tritone]

Bravo.  Completely agree Ken B.  But it's not just contempt;  it's moral vanity, climate catastrophizing, explosions in welfare and unchecked immigration.
 

The people have had an absolute gut-full and what's not to love about that??  Let's worry about Trump later, if he wins. 

[(poco) Sforzando]

Well I agree Trump is not the right guy. And I am afraid people will learn that in due course. But he won because he tried. Remember when he was roundly mocked for saying he loves the poorly educated? I don't hear any of that mockery now.

I don't believe for a minute he loves the poorly educated, any more than I believed him when he said the Bible was his favorite book. (We haven't heard that one for a while, have we?) I believe he's been able to talk a good con game. And people will learn that in good (golf) course.

[Tritone]

That makes Trump no more or less a liar than anybody in the game.

[(poco) Sforzando]

What a non sequitur. I am trying to explain why Trump got so many votes. That has bupkis to do with markets today or the peso. Contempt for blue collar whites is endemic in this country. And there was that deplorables speech. People usually resent being contemned.

Not a non-sequitur at all. This election has global repercussions.

[Ken B]

It looks like it comes down to Michigan and Iowa at this point. And while Michigan is still likely to go Clinton, It looks like Iowa will go Trump. And that would give Trump the win (assuming no more shocks based on current results).

Hmm. NYT gives Trump over 70% chance of winning MI, as of 4 minutes ago.
Hard to know what estimate to believe but he's leading Wisconsin too.

[Ken B]

Not a non-sequitur at all. This election has global repercussions.

Last response to you on this. I suggested a reason why Trump won. You say my theory is wrong and cite as evidence that the election matters. That's a non sequitur.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Last response to you on this.

Oh good. The only contempt I sense on this thread is yours for me.

[mc ukrneal]

Hmm. NYT gives Trump over 70% chance of winning MI, as of 4 minutes ago.
Hard to know what estimate to believe but he's leading Wisconsin too.

All he needs is one of them - doesn't matter which one. I've not seen what counties are still outstanding in Michigan. Last I saw (closer to 55%), it looked like some heavily DEM areas were still to report most of their numbers, but maybe there were some offsetting REP areas I missed.

[mc ukrneal]

Everyone keeps talking about the 'implosion' of the Republican Party and they will surely have some interesting problems now that it looks like Trump will win. But I hadn't read one article about the same for Democrats, which made no sense to me. They lost the House. They lost the Senate (is anyone projecting them to win at this point?). They lost the bulk of the Governorships and State Houses some time ago. And now they have likely lost the Presidency. Their 'resurgence' was directly tied to the surge of Obama in 2008. I wonder what they will do to re-orient themselves (if anything). The one positive they have going for them in the coming years is a likely support from minorities, which will only grow over time.