Comment by kleigenfreude | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kleigenfreude | Hacker News Reader

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The Media (and you it seems) almost immediately went into "where did we do wrong and what can we do better" mode. While that's a completely important thing to do, and appropriate for many problem situations, it isn't appropriate here. Here's why:

1. Clinton won the popular vote.

2. Economists think Trump is a bad idea, so on that level, the popular vote was not wrong.

3. The electoral college is outdated, was originally created because southern states wanted to keep slavery: http://time.com/4558510/electoral-college-history-slavery/

Unless the electoral college decides to vote with the American popular vote in this election, very bad things could happen:

* California could try to hold a referendum for succession from the U.S., if they're not too stoned to do so: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-protest-trump-20...

* Riots.

Don't blame yourselves. The electoral college and Trump's campaign taking advantage of it (and the F.B.I.) are the reason that things are going to go bad.

> 1. Clinton won the popular vote.

I can't get over how differently results seem to be reported in the US.

As of right now, reports I read suggest she's barely 100,000 votes ahead on that measure with "44 electoral votes still available".

i.e. there's a huge number of votes uncounted and that "fact" could easily turn out to be a poor prediction/

Why are news reports/speculation/predictions taken as fact without waiting for results to be announced?

If the electoral college had been close there was always the possibility of a renegade Republican elector or two flipping things (especially if Trump's forthcoming trials gave them further excuse to do so). Though they certainly wouldn't have done that in the expectation of reducing riots.

The electoral college isn't close though. Given that they've won the popular vote in all but one of the Presidential elections since 1992 and lost three, it'll be interesting to see if electoral reform comes onto the agenda when the Democrats are back in power again. But in the mean time, the absolute best case scenario for the left is a revelation which leads to Trump's impeachment and four years of President Pence.

> the absolute best case scenario for the left is a revelation which leads to Trump's impeachment and four years of President Pence.

If it is determined that the F.B.I., votes, voting machines, and/or election results were manipulated, and a case is brought against him to try to invalidate the election and hold another one, he will fight back hard, and there will be chaos, riots, and perhaps a state of emergency declared. Or, the media may go into overdrive trying to gather evidence to have him impeached, but I think that would only serve to fire up those that voted for him.

We could also take a page from Clinton's playbook: keep an eye on him and record his every move, let him shoot himself down, then use that as evidence for the T.V. commercials in the next campaign. However, you risk 4-8 (or more if there is a war) years of damage.

One thing's for certain though, the time is now to start a new political party. With both candidates at record low approval ratings, and hate for the other candidate driving votes, the only reason the Green and Libertarian parties or an independent didn't win was that most of those that are qualified are too scared to run for president. Those people need to get over that fear, take one for the team, and dedicate their life to establishing a political party that is sensible and compassionate.

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