Election followup.

[John_Hannah]

Oh, no.  Apparently now our President-elect is tweeting that he actually won the popular vote, because millions of illegal voters participated and should be deducted from Mrs. Clinton's total.  Cut off that Twitter account.

Just as the left was going nuts over the recount and beginning to really look bad, Trump jumps in and saves them!

 

[Dave Likeness]

President Donald Trump will not be a career politician sitting in the Oval Office.  Instead, he will be
a maverick outsider doing things his way.  Hopefully, he chooses good cabinet members to assist
him in working together with the U.S. Congress.   Trump will need to rein in his off the cuff comments
as President. What works on the campaign trail does not always work in the White House.

However, I believe that President Trump has some good ideas to help America get back on the right
track.  The creation of jobs will help people get a paycheck by working in our own nation.  Changing
the corporate tax rate will enable big companies to stop going overseas to save money.  Our trade
agreement with other nations needs to be fair to both sides.  Some of the silly E.P.A. regulations can
be eliminated by Presidential executive order  and restore more jobs.  The economy of America needs
a jolt and it should start in early 2017.

[SomeoneWrites]

President Donald Trump will not be a career politician sitting in the Oval Office. 

Truth

Instead, he will be
a maverick outsider doing things his way.

I'm comforted that our elections aren't rigged.  And I think both sides have been looking for an outsider.  I liked that he wants to put in term limits

  Hopefully, he chooses good cabinet members to assist
him in working together with the U.S. Congress.

I don't think I've been happy with any of the choices thus far.  I have some significant anxiety with the decisions as I'm hearing them.   

Trump will need to rein in his off the cuff comments
as President. What works on the campaign trail does not always work in the White House.

I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I have very little optimism that he will do so. 

However, I believe that President Trump has some good ideas to help America get back on the right
track.

Oddly enough, me too.  I think I'm behind him most on trade deals.  I could be wrong concerning how they'll work, but I think that was his strongest area for me when watching the debates. 

  The creation of jobs will help people get a paycheck by working in our own nation.

This one is really vague for me.  I think I understand how he wants to go about it, but I've got some skepticism that may or may not be warranted.

Changing
the corporate tax rate will enable big companies to stop going overseas to save money. 

I'm not so sure this will help much.  So far any of the tax analysts I've read favored Hilary's tax plan.  There's some loopholes built into that as he described it, so if he closes them quick there's a shot.  I'm willing to see see what he wants on paper before I tear into it though.  I do think it's possible he can put something together that works. 

Our trade
agreement with other nations needs to be fair to both sides. 

Amen

Some of the silly E.P.A. regulations can be eliminated by Presidential executive order  and restore more jobs.

I'm sure there's some silly ones in there that need to be eliminated, but I'm also concerned about the climate stuff.  There's a lot of conservatives that don't believe that man-made climate change is real, including (at least via tweet) Trump. 

The economy of America needs
a jolt and it should start in early 2017.

Here's hoping. 

[David Garner]

Jill Stein's campaign missed the deadline for a recount in Pennsylvania.

I haven't laughed this hard in months.

[SomeoneWrites]

Jill Stein's campaign missed the deadline for a recount in Pennsylvania.

I haven't laughed this hard in months.

Can you link?

[Chuck]

Jill Stein's campaign missed the deadline for a recount in Pennsylvania.

I haven't laughed this hard in months.

Can you link?

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/pennsylvania-state-department-says-stein-missed-recount-deadline/article/2608305

[Dan Fienen]

Trump is being slammed for alleging voter fraud without any evidence.  What about Jill Stein with her ally Hillary Clinton alleging widespread voter fraud in Pennsylvania with a similar lack of evidence?  Will she be mocked and dismissed in the news media like Donald Trump?

[Steven Tibbetts]

Oh, no.  Apparently now our President-elect is tweeting that he actually won the popular vote, because millions of illegal voters participated and should be deducted from Mrs. Clinton's total.  Cut off that Twitter account.

Just as the left was going nuts over the recount and beginning to really look bad, Trump jumps in and saves them!

On December 19, the Electors will cast their votes, and on January 6, Congress will count them.  Then on January 20, Donald Trump will be inaugurated President of the United States.

And thus far, no one within the political pundit class has any idea how that happened.  Everything he has done -- everything!! -- should have blown up in his face.  He keeps snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.  And then he wins anyway.

So, is Mr. Trump unique, or is the common election "wisdom" no longer applicable?  Or???

spt+

[James_Gale]

Oh, no.  Apparently now our President-elect is tweeting that he actually won the popular vote, because millions of illegal voters participated and should be deducted from Mrs. Clinton's total.  Cut off that Twitter account.

Just as the left was going nuts over the recount and beginning to really look bad, Trump jumps in and saves them!

On December 19, the Electors will cast their votes, and on January 6, Congress will count them.  Then on January 20, Donald Trump will be inaugurated President of the United States.

And thus far, no one within the political pundit class has any idea how that happened.  Everything he has done -- everything!! -- should have blown up in his face.  He keeps snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.  And then he wins anyway.

So, is Mr. Trump unique, or is the common election "wisdom" no longer applicable?  Or???

spt+

Exactly right.  My instincts tend in the same direction as conventional wisdom.  His tweets about the popular vote look crazy to me.  But just maybe, my instincts are dead wrong.  Trump's tweets elevate voter fraud and illegal immigration as issues.  The tweets almost certainly appeal to parts of Trump's base.  But they also force at least some in the media to look at the issues he raises, even as these same media ridicule him.  We begin to hear about a Washington Post study from some time back suggesting that 10-15% of illegal aliens have registered to vote.  We begin to hear about the number of people registered in multiple states.  We begin to hear about ballots "submitted" by dead people in states that automatically send ballots to voters (e.g., Colorado).


I've heard a number of commentators observe that Trump's supporters take Trump seriously but not literally.  Trump's detractors do the opposite, taking him literally but not seriously.  I doubt that Trump truly believes that illegal votes cost him the "popular vote."  But by saying so, he raises a serious issue that his base care about.

[Harvey_Mozolak]

perhaps it is simplistic to note:

but Trump is sort of like contemporary advertising...  no one believes that by drinking a certain brand of beer or using a certain toothpaste will make you the happiest person on the planet, get you friends who all look like the ad portrays folks... but we either buy or are tempted to try the products... 

[D. Engebretson]

perhaps it is simplistic to note:

but Trump is sort of like contemporary advertising...  no one believes that by drinking a certain brand of beer or using a certain toothpaste will make you the happiest person on the planet, get you friends who all look like the ad portrays folks... but we either buy or are tempted to try the products...

Trump has spent many years in both in the business sector and in the entertainment industry.  Undoubtedly he has a fairly good sense of marketing and what "sells."  Despite his great wealth he was closer to popular culture and the common work-a-day world than many career politicians.  He had a sense of what people were thinking and he exploited it to his advantage.  The Clinton team, working against Bill (who had a greater sense of this and used it to his own advantage years before), ignored the very signs that Trump was picking up on. 

[Donald_Kirchner]

perhaps it is simplistic to note:

but Trump is sort of like contemporary advertising...  no one believes that by drinking a certain brand of beer or using a certain toothpaste will make you the happiest person on the planet, get you friends who all look like the ad portrays folks... but we either buy or are tempted to try the products...

Yes, that's quite simplistic, Harvey, wrong, and demeaning to Trump supporters, manifesting the "deplorable" view of others with whom you disagree.

[Dave Likeness]

Donald Trump gave a strong voice to the heartfelt concerns of many Americans.  He was not a career
politician who ignored our citizens except at election time.  Trump has a pulse on what ails America.

1. Illegal immigrants.....our nation should ensure that illegal immigrants do not receive tax-payer
funded assistance to live here.  Only legal immigrants should be welcome here.  To make our borders
secure and fully examine the resume of those who cross them is essential.

2. More jobs.....major American corporations have exported jobs to nations where there is cheap labor.
The corporate tax rate needs to be lowered so American companies can start building new factories on
our homeland.  The recent trade deals with other nations have not been fair to the American workers.

3. Public elementary and high school education. ......We need to get the Federal government out of
the education business and give control back to the local communities.

4. Repeal and replacement of Obamacare......Health care costs in America are not going down but up
under Obamacare.  We need a sensible system that does not have sky rocketing costs for premiums.
Obamacare was never carefully thought out but rammed through Congress by only Democrats.

[SomeoneWrites]

Donald Trump gave a strong voice to the heartfelt concerns of many Americans.

This is true on technicality.

  He was not a career
politician who ignored our citizens except at election time. 

Same

Trump has a pulse on what ails America.

He's got a few things right, but I wouldn't use that term.

1. Illegal immigrants.....our nation should ensure that illegal immigrants do not receive tax-payer
funded assistance to live here.  Only legal immigrants should be welcome here.  To make our borders
secure and fully examine the resume of those who cross them is essential.

Agreed wholeheartedly.  Unfortunately, I don't think the wall is going to help anything.  Zero.  Not even as a symbol.  He might as well make it out of pudding. 

2. More jobs.....major American corporations have exported jobs to nations where there is cheap labor.
The corporate tax rate needs to be lowered so American companies can start building new factories on
our homeland.  The recent trade deals with other nations have not been fair to the American workers.

I'm mixed here.  I support what he said on trade deals, insofar as I understand them.  But I don't know how much lower they can be to offset the cost of labor.  I'd say that for any president.  Send links on how that works.  I'd genuinely love to support it. 

3. Public elementary and high school education. ......We need to get the Federal government out of
the education business and give control back to the local communities.

I know very little about this.  I do think I have a significant bias when it comes to education and conservatism.  Positions on evolution and global warming and such come up. 

4. Repeal and replacement of Obamacare......Health care costs in America are not going down but up
under Obamacare.  We need a sensible system that does not have sky rocketing costs for premiums.
Obamacare was never carefully thought out but rammed through Congress by only Democrats.

If they can do better, may they be blessed.  I'm glad they're keeping coverage for preexisting conditions.  I know too many people that were bankrupted or uncovered before obamacare. 

[Norman Teigen]

I agree with Doris Kearns Goodwin that even though Donald Trump won the election, one should not bet against the United States in terms of survival.  There is still the sour after taste (for this life-long Lutheran)  of the evangelicals (to include some Lutherans) and their support for Trump.  Here is something to consider:   http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/opinion/the-evangelicalism-of-old-white-men-is-dead.html

"Enthusiasm for Mr. Trump gives our neighbors ample reason to doubt that we believe that Jesus is Lord. "  [Andy Crouch, executive editor of Christianity Today]

The authors of this piece note that "next year marks the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation. ...Maybe this is a moment in our history for evangelicals to repent and be 'born again' as Red Letter Christians."