Geoff > Status Update

No worries. He will NOT be elected.

Richard wrote: "No worries. He will NOT be elected."

I'm not so confidant.

James wrote: "Just found out my dad voted for the first time since 1972 (he voted for Nixon). That's at least one old white guy who isn't crawling out of the woodwork to vote for Trump."

He didn't vote for Trump? Give that man a hug.

Will the weapon of mass discussion go off today? Or will it be diffused? Waiting, waiting.

Good luck America. Vote sanely.

Newsweek is confident:

https://i.reddituploads.com/99aa48cc6...

I think I'm now confident, too:
a) Clinton's position in the polls looks very good; basically she needs to lose every fight not to win, whereas Trump needs to win every single contested state, more or less
b) Clinton by all accounts has a better GOTV
c) Looking at early voting and reports from polling today, it looks like an immense turnout, by US standards, and not just in white areas. Trump's support looks like a small but fanatical hardcore, so higher turnout should favour Clinton overall (though not in all places).

It needs to be decisive. He needs to be repudiated - better, shamed.

Cast a vote for Clinton - first time I've ever voted for a major party candidate for president

Whatever happens, no gloating & no despair -

Working late tonight; hoping the news comes quick...

Seems like it's going to be really tight. Florida looking less good as the panhandle comes in. Virginia goes from too early to too close to call. NC tight. Ohio close. I'm sweating Michigan in a big way.

Yeah this is way too close.

Definitely going pear shaped if Michigan falls. I don't think she can recover from that. The news out of there is not good.

I can't believe it's so close in Virginia.

Whatever happens.... it's the Dems' fault. [the beginning and end of my on=line tonight folks ;; blessings.]

James wrote: "Definitely going pear shaped if Michigan falls. I don't think she can recover from that. The news out of there is not good."

She can lose Michigan if she scrapes Florida. Otherwise she needs two out of Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia.

I think she'll lose Florida, but will end up getting Michigan and Virginia.

But this is getting genuinely a bit scary. The idea of Trump as President is just inconceivable. It seems to be an existential threat to... well, everything.

Wastrel wrote: "James wrote: "Definitely going pear shaped if Michigan falls. I don't think she can recover from that. The news out of there is not good."

She can lose Michigan if she scrapes Florida. Otherwise s..."

Now, what will crash the financial markets harder: Trump winning cleanly tonight, or it coming down to lawyers fighting over a thousand votes in Florida for a few weeks?

Yeah, I'm going to try to head to bed. Florida is cooked and Michigan and Wisconsin both look bad. Get ready for the four most conservative years we've ever seen. Republicans will have free run at everything. Presidency, house senate and court.

Yep. Our national nightmare is just beginning. This is real.

Actually, my best guess is now worse than that. I'm guessing she scrapes Michigan... which would mean 269-269. Clinton would probably win the popular vote then, but Trump would would be given the Presidency by the House... but the problem is, that would take a while. That would not be a fun period (with legal challenges everywhere meanwhile).

I think she'll win Michigan, but she really needs something surprising in Wisconsin, North Carolina, or possibly-remotely Arizona.

North Carolina is gone. I think Trump's in, folks.

Geoff wrote: "Yep. Our national nightmare is just beginning. This is real."
yeah, i was wrong. I thought there wasn't enough angry white guys out there to elect this misogynistic zenophobic racist megalomaniac, but obviously i was wrong.

The people who voted him in, rural poorer areas, are going to suffer the most under his reign. Anyway, I can't even begin to fathom where this is going to take us. It's too much. I'm going to try to sleep if possible and wake up with some kind of courage. We become the resistance. My country is not my home.

I wake up, switch on the telly, visit a website and I read "Trump edges closer to victory."

Is it fucking April Fool's Day or what?? Or am I reading Onions?

No, Trump's won. There is no doubt of it now.

Well, you know how these reality TV shows work - there's no doubt that Trump was the most interesting and entertaining competitor.

ho ho very funny

I'm almost being serious. I do wonder whether people can tell the difference between fantasy and reality any more. Trump's campaign has been carried out entirely in a fantasy world, but his supporters like it.

It is in keeping with two things: (1) the popularity of ultra-national bullshit and xenophobia all over the world and (2) the failure of opinion polls in a two-way race. I have a theory that opinion polls actually drive the supporters of the underdog to vote more.

My condolences to American friends.

Now that America has gone to the ultra-nationalist idiots, we can expect a hardening of the religious and ethnic divides all across the world. So, Jibran, it's not only about America.

The whole myth of "the world against Muslim terrorists" just got a shot in the arm.

Well, now fantasy is going to have to confront reality. Any bets on which of the following campaign promises materialise?

1 That wall, and making Mexico pay for it
2 Deporting several million illegal immigrants
3 Defeating ISIS
4 Pulling out of NAFTA
5 Massive taxes on Chinese imports
6 Massive reductions in income tax for the most wealthy
7 Massive reductions in business taxes
8 Only supporting NATO allies when it's deemed expedient
9 Putting Hillary in jail
10 Suing all the women who have accused him of sexual assault

I'm betting on (3), since it's well under way already, plus (6) and (7), since they are so useful for him personally that he won't be able to resist. Not so sure about the others.

Only 6 and 7. He may also claim credit for 3, and his minions will believe it.

Honestly don't know what to say. 2000 was embarrassing enough. W was a pokicy savant compared to this guy Buyers remorse is gong to be off the charts when America realizes every day in the media still has to be about him after a year in.

This is really not a good day for the world. Though, as usual, it will be worse for some people than for others.

Nandakishore wrote: "Now that America has gone to the ultra-nationalist idiots, we can expect a hardening of the religious and ethnic divides all across the world. So, Jibran, it's not only about America."

Bigoted and narrow-minded nationalism has been on the rise for a while now, in and outside the West. I'd thought Americans with their diversity and cosmopolitanism would choose better but I've wrong. I believe in my hearts of heart that someone like Trump wouldn't make it to the top, but I've been wrong.

I guess Modi government and its partisans are happy with the result. So are the Islamists I have seen and spoken to. Ultra nationalists recognise each other's worth even if they have totally different ideologies They justify themselves by the other's popularity. So yes, this is just the beginning. We'll see more bigotry, racism and violence in the coming years, all over the world.

I think the liberal-secular dream of equality, multiculturalism and peaceful coexistence is in its death throes.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/in...

http://www.theonion.com/liveblog/onio...

There's a spare room at my place for some of you.

I just feel sick. I don't know if I should feel more angry at Zizek or revisit his arguments for some consolation.Maybe I've been living as a monad too long. Wishing I had more community right now...

Jibran wrote: "Nandakishore wrote: "Now that America has gone to the ultra-nationalist idiots, we can expect a hardening of the religious and ethnic divides all across the world. So, Jibran, it's not only about A..."

Jibran, the ultra-conservatives are united in one thing - their hatred of the liberal. And if the person is left-leaning, like me, the hatred is even more pronounced.

They want a hate-filled and violent world where they are free to attack and destroy the other - and each believes that the ultimate victory is to their side.

David wrote: "I just feel sick. I don't know if I should feel more angry at Zizek or revisit his arguments for some consolation.Maybe I've been living as a monad too long. Wishing I had more community right now..."

I thought Zizek's had a point but on reflection, no, I don't get his argument. He made it seem as if Trump is some blue collar guy running on an independent platform appealing to a vast majority of people like him. But he's a textbook corporatist with obscene amounts of money who came to power on a Republican platform. You couldn't get any more establishment than this. How could anyone seriously think he's going to shake up the 'status quo' or be any different than Hilary. Popular gimcrackery and old-fashioned chauvinism put him into power. I think our friend Manny has a better explanation of what's happened. There is no longer a difference between reality and reality show in the popular American imagination?

Anyway, I'm particularly disappointed in women voters. Trump would not have won if only women had voted Hilary, not because the latter has a vagina but because the former embodies the worst of male chauvinism. Not to mention all those sexual harassment stories and grabbing of women by their privates...I guess it didn't matter to many. It's a big joke that religious right's vote went to Trump. The guy's whole lifestyle goes against traditional Christian values.

Yeah, I guess best case scenario right now would be the status quo... anyway, be sure to call all your loved ones. Xoxo

Yes I feel sick. I slept from about 1:30 am EST to now, but I am a knot of anxiety. We've done something so terrible. I'm sorry, world. I'm speechless.

Add to that - hopeless.

I don't think I'm going to sleep either

but then I often don't sleep

my boyfriend thinks I might be overreacting...

(He points out we've had Republican presidents before. Comparison to Hitler are probably be overblown. If Putin really is using Trump as a puppet, that would sort of make Trump the opposite of Hitler)

still, minimal hope

This morning is the nadir of my relationship to my home country - - even throughout the 8 years of Bush Cheney I got it to some degree, I understood. I don't understand this. This is beyond reason to such a degree. My only conclusion is one I have always held in deeply gloomy times but now just seems confirmed in the brightness of this new light - I live in an evil country.

For perspective, I'm thinking of Trotsky hunted down everywhere he fled and Adorno forced into American exile

Things can always get a lot worse

The thing that worries me most is that the US population could have had such bad judgement. This just doesn't come across as a smart decision. I'm expecting a fair proportion of the people who voted for Trump to start regretting it before long.

Or maybe they won't, in which case it's just an honest difference of opinion. Still, that's my prediction.

David wrote: "For perspective, I'm thinking of Trotsky hunted down everywhere he fled and Adorno forced into American exile

Things can always get a lot worse"

Benjamin on the Spanish border? What's that Kurt Cobain line? "Look on the bright side, suicide." Well country, here we are - you just put the Trump brand razor up to the wrists.

But honestly the judgment of the experts was seriously, seriously flawed as well in so many fucking ways....

We're not overreacting - all progress of the last 8 years, though minimal, will not only be undone but we will go so so far back on climate change, immigration, isolationism, worker's rights, civil rights, prisoner rights, education, on and on and on - we are entering an Alt-Right era. The angry armed white racist is back, and he's pissed. We are resoundingly fucked.