I didn't think it would happen either. I'm stunned. I really thought Clinton would win. What kind of people voted for Trump?
I just couldn't berlieve the freaking newsthis morning. My condolences to you Americans .
Well that is where the whole issue is. We KNOW that part of the problem was that they talked up a narrative of Trump supporters all being poor uneducated white males. THAT is not a huge enough demographic to win.
They did not mention that the black vote was 200-300% higher than previous Republicans (around 15%) or that the Hispanic vote was in the 40%'s. THAT was against the narrative. Trump supporters crossed all boundaries and were diverse.
Now as to motivations to vote Trump were diverse too. But again this talk to pigeon hole them into being racists and bigots was inaccurate and misrepresentations.
In characterising the Trump supporters they deliberately cast them ion a way that marginalised them and dismissed them as a real threat. Hillary had the numbers because only a small number of dumb rednecks vote for Trump....but then how could she lose IF that narrative was correct. Unless of course it never was right.
Yeah, they did pretty much the same thing about Brexiters. The weird thing is, since Brexit won, people are
still calling the Brexiters racist, and citing the Brexit vote as evidennce that racism in Britain is rife. Fed up of reading "I'm ashamed of my country" etc, since Brexit
Actually,
I've been ashamed of my country for decades, and depressed by the toxic, increasingly right-wing political agenda. which has increasingly widenened the gap between rich and poor, irrespective of which party wins the elections. Brexit was , overwhelmingly, a working-class movement from people who felt similar to myself. We'd had enough of economic arguments which equate to"Jam tomorrow" for most of us, but always turn out to mean "More jam today" for the rich and powerful, and increased austerity for the rest of us. Much of that economic punishment was driven by/supported by the EU, which has been credibly painted as a "bosses club"
I suspect that the Trump supporters were similarly motivated. but -hang on- doesn't he represent your right-wing party? At least , we Brits weren't voting for any particular political party. The right wing somehow managed to dominate the debate on both sides of the argument, so they could effectively take credit for whichever result; but that result certainly didn't empower the right wing; rather, it's prompted a general shift to the left. Which is what most of us
really want. in actuality
Congratulations! You now have a bigoted , filthy rich, right wing buffoon as head of state. Is that what Americans really want? I doubt it. But I guess he looked like the least of two evils. And I guess that a lot of poor Americans have reached the same point that many of we Brits reached: anything that purports to be a major challenge to the status quuo has to be worth a shot.