Trump was alleging a widespread conspiracy (of Americans) who would alter or generate millions of fraudulent votes. That did not happen, and Obama is not claiming it did or could.
It would be real interesting to see campaign strategies when they need to scrape for every vote and swing states didn't exist. It would force democrats and republicans to campaign everywhere and start giving a shit about the other side. You'll see Clinton doing rallys in Nebraska and fighting for coal jobs in Kentucky. It would be interesting.
My only problem is that Hillary made a giant spectacle calling Trump out when he said if he felt the election was rigged that he may not accept the results. Yet now whether or not Russia was behind the wikileak she is all for denigrating the electoral college and the vote. It isn't like Putin an the KGB were putting floppy disks into Diebold machines to change actual votes. In fact most of the polls say that the wikidump didn't sway their vote yet reinforced the decision to vote for Trump.
It doesn't matter. The hard-on the democrats have for blaming the election results on Russia is as stiff as they come. It's not like they're going to take accountability for nominating that God awful train wreck of a human being. Most of the country hated Hillary before the Podesta e-mails came out. She already had the worst favorability ratings of a democratic nominee ever. She didn't even bother making a coherent pitch to the rust belt that cost her the election. The wikileaks was just another slab on her scandal ridden career that the democrats thought they could shame people into not believing. What happened to blaming Comey? This will probably mean Tillerson doesn't pass the nomination. You add in the old guys like McCain who still have that cold war mentality where any mention of Russia gets them hard too and I bet the senate votes him down. It's too bad as I think he was a good pick. The establishment blows so I want to see outsiders. If it's not a traditional politician wouldn't someone with major business success who has worked around the globe be the strongest pick? I hope we don't get some psycho like Rick Santorum in his place.
I think the Dems are still trying to figure out how they lost the election to such a horrible candidate. Instead of blaming their own candidate for being equally horrible, their system corrupt, and the fact that they were inept with their data, it has to be someone else's fault. They just can't accept the fact that people are tired of the bullshit. And honestly, does anyone here think Obama threatening Russia is in the best interest of this country? Do you think he'd be threatening them if Hillary had won? The motherfucker could cause nuclear war throwing his little shit fit over losing the election. Isn't it ironic that the Dems said Trump wasn't fit to handle the nuke codes? That he wasn't fit to be president if he wouldn't accept the results of the election? That he was a whiny moron for claiming the election might be rigged. Less then 2 months later and here we are. Dems are rioting, threatening the lives of electors, and making threats against superpowers for rigging the election. But, it's all Trumps fault. Or the Russians. Or racists. Everyone, but themselves.
Heres the straight-forward approach on the Russia situation: Present credible evidence that supports the claim of Russia interfering with the election. Otherwise, the media needs to shut the fuck up. In attempting to hurt Trump over the election results, the media is harming international relations with another world power by continuing to peddle this bullshit. If the proof exists, then raise hell. And comparisons to claims about Hillary during the elections are a complete non-starter. Democrats need to accept that they lost, re-group and put forward a viable candidate in four years that doesnt hold their party hostage in the process. Thats really it. If they do that, they will win. Engaging in a scorched earth policy as Obama exists the stage is nothing but counter-productive.
Everyone is wondering if Trump is poking the Russian Bear and might cause a WW3, but it's always seemed to me that it's been Russia that has had to be treated with kid gloves for fear they'd react in a wild and unpredictable manner... but now the shoe's on the other foot. I wonder if they're now afraid of how to interact with Trump due to his crazy and unpredictable nature? Trump may very well be the crazy chick in the relationship now... the sex is great, but she's totally unpredictable.
"I'm sorry, did you say something Mr. Pinochet?" Read about Chile in 1970 if you want to see how a country meddles in another country's election, fails, and helps mount a successful coup three years later. But hey, we got a couple of good songs from Sting and U2 out of the mess, right?
Because their base is so fanatically obsessed with Americans who don't pass their ideological purity test they don't think for even a second to question their party. Obama just gave a speech, most awkward I have ever seen. "Ummm, eh, if, eh some e-mails uh DNC got released. You know, I umm, fired DWS when she got caught. Then Hillary hired her. Errr, I mean, umm, there was you know, nothing in there. Like if, eh, you, well we put Donna Brazille over there when she got caught. Ummm, nothing in the e-mails. You know, maybe, uh, something a little embarrassing. This is the press' fault. They, uh, talked about it. So I was like, Russia will have consequences if they do that. I am doing everything in my power to help Trump with his transition. Let me take this moment to remind you, that uh, this party cannot accept the results of this election, but we are like sort of? Ummm, thanks. This party is great. We ummm ran the primaries with integrity, so ummm, we need to protect our integrity from Russia." Ok, so he left some little details out, but you could tell how self aware and full of shit he was. I'm pretty sure the base just nodded to that and was like "Yep, we got cheated again! Our fucking hero politicians!" Maybe if they tried holding them accountable the party wouldn't be on a one way track to irrelevance, but the base doesn't do that anymore. That's pretty fucking clear. I like too how now it's only the wikileaks that made people despise Hillary and the way the DNC was managing the primaries. Well that, and the spirit cooking, obviously. Everyone took that seriously.
Anyone older than a toddler knows that the right wing is far more ideologically pure, far more able to close ranks, vote as a bloc, and crush dissent within their own party than the left wing is. We've seen it again and again over the years. From filibusters to pushing their talking points, the Republicans are far more unified than the Democrats.
Word. They are much more of a hive mind, and have a far more ferociously loyal base. Part of it has to do with them being traditionalists, who often seem to have this hope that America could magically transform back into "The Good Old Days" which were never really like a John Mellencamp song. Meanwhile modern democrats alternate between blame-shifting and turning life into a perpetual series of spineless apologies. They WANT unity, but half of them refuse to accept blame for backing (and wrongly forcing in) the wrong horse. They need a ctrl-alt-del option.
Aren't these the people who voted for Ted Cruz though? And Rick Santorum the cycle before that? If it's such a hive mind, why did they nominate someone so far outside the mainstream of republican establishment beliefs? I suppose society will always have those morally righteous groups trying to tell others how to think, how to live. The right has their Christian fundamentalists. The left has their socially 'aware' outrage busy bodies. It just seems like that contingent of the left has now taken over the party. It certainly was the central theme of the speeches from all the major party leaders in the last few months of the election. Maybe it was just the madness of this election cycle though, and it'll start to taper off again, but so far it isn't. As for more current politics, has anyone seen Trump's Syria plan? It is the weirdest military strategy plan either administration has come up with since... ever. I don't even have thoughts on whether it's good or bad yet, it's just weird. Where does he come up with this shit?
You can have you Cruz's and Santorum's throughout the party, and they might be more extreme theocratic types, but they also embody a lot of the basic conservative principles throughout the country. Let's also not forget that using the religious right as a voting base was no accident. They knew a long time ago that their faith was a huge driving force behind how they live day to day and it's very easy to exploit them. I feel that while the democrats also have basic principles that run through the party, there is a lot more diversity among the populace and about what each type finds important. You have coastal liberals who are more philosophical about their ideologies. They are typically more well off and live in that bubble that Hillary loved. And for a long time, they also had a safe bet with minority groups. But that is shifting now to a more class-based electorate.
Interesting comment from Obama's press conference today; Last night he threatened Russia for meddling in the election. Today he said that during the China summit he had a sidebar with Putin and told him to quit meddling and the Russians quit. So... Is he lying about that encounter taking place? Is he lying that the Russians actually quit meddling? or Is he making threats because his candidate lost and it's purely a partisan thing? Not a single one of those options is very appealing. Then he lamented that it was sad that so many people are believing the Russians, who say they didn't do it, over their own government. I'll agree with that sentiment. I wonder if he's asked himself WHY so many Americans might believe the Russians instead of their own government?