Trump is president; Who is to blame?

[Whateverist]

I liked this bit in the NY times:  

This does not seem to be only a political event. Trump never should have gotten close. That so many Americans who are struggling with money picked Trump must mean that our version of capitalism could use some further adjustments. That so many Americans in places where the economy is on the rise also chose Trump raises the possibility that our leaders promise too much, that we expect that more is possible than really is. That such a proudly amoral and publicly hateful man could become the choice of large majorities of observant Christians suggests some weakness in our religious life and our expressions of morality. That he did not lose more support after his racism and misogyny became well-known suggests how commonplace these resentments must be, between husbands and wives and between neighbors. There was not enough individual decency to make plain Trump’s indecency. We are not so good a people as we thought.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/benjamin-w...s-to-blame

So who do you blame? The DNC? Hillary?

My first inclination is to blame the education system.  How could people not see the false promise of a strong man saying "only I can do it, trust me and don't worry about the details?"  Even more than that, there are a lot of people not doing well economically and rolling the dice on change probably beats betting on slow, incremental improvement to them.  

Or maybe human nature is simply tragic?  Why do we look for a savior anyway?  The trouble with looking for someone better than yourself to rescue you is it still depends on you to recognize the right one.

[account_inactive]

Hillary.

[abaris]

My first inclination is to blame the education system.  How could people not see the false promise of a strong man saying "only I can do it, trust me and don't worry about the details?"

That instinct would be wrong, based on the simple fact that people like Trump win elections in other parts of the world as well. Parts that aren't covered (damaged) by the American educational system. There are simply a lot of people looking for easy solutions. For someone to blame for their own mysery and someone to tell them they're still great because they belong to (insert master race or nation of your choosing).

Add to that the fact that the other side came up with a candidate that never had any popularity, a (probably) low voter turnout, and you got your perfect recipe for Trump.

[The Grand Nudger]

The DNC abandoned a demographic that just voted like a minority bloc.  Even where Clinton won, she got utterly destroyed outside of city limits.

[brewer]

I think it was the promise of change. Hillary was the status quo candidate. Obama won on a change platform. And now Trump. 

Will all of the changes be good, probably not. I don't think they were under Obama either. I doubt Trump will be able to follow through with all of his change rhetoric. The people were willing to roll the dice.

[Tiberius]

Blame belongs in a number of places, but I think Clinton and the DNC need to get the brunt of it. Clinton was an awful candidate; we all knew that, but most people I think at least hoped that Trump would be perceived as worse.

We wake up and ask ourselves what country we live in, and there may be more information over the next coming days, but I reckon the truth will come down to this: people care more about political scandals than personal ones. Both candidates had numerous scandals, but there was a stark difference in the types of scandal each had. Trump's were more personal, due to the fact that he's never held political office before. Clinton's were political, they happened when she was in office, they involved decisions she made, they involved government data. At the end of the day, it seems people care more about that than they do about Trump being a sexist, racist, xenophobe.

[Chad32]

I blame the DNC. They had a diamond in the rough with Bernie, but they pushed him aside as much as possible for Hillary. And now she lost. Some blame can go to Hillary for snubbing the base, but I mostly blame the people who got her to the primary.

[Alex K]

Blame belongs in a number of places, but I think Clinton and the DNC need to get the brunt of it. Clinton was an awful candidate; we all knew that, but most people I think at least hoped that Trump would be perceived as worse.

We wake up and ask ourselves what country we live in, and there may be more information over the next coming days, but I reckon the truth will come down to this: people care more about political scandals than personal ones.

And to be honest, that's the way it should be. The US already have had an (to me) absurd overemphasis on the personal life of their politicians, with presidents going on and on about how much they lover their family in political speeches, something that would be perceived as highly bizarre in most of Europe.

[abaris]

I doubt Trump will be able to follow through with all of his change rhetoric. The people were willing to roll the dice.

He can still do a lot of damage since quite a lot of his populous promises are in line with establishment republicans. Such as rolling back on any kind of anti climate change policies. The immigration policy also was a ticket most republicans tried to run on and his desire for banning all muslims will at least sit well with the religious right.

Far as I understand it, he will also be able to nominate and probably establish the replacement for Scalia at the Supreme Court. Since these judges are there for life, he can do even more damage by choosing a staunch rightwinger. Which probably, even more so given his running mate, will happen. On that note, he probably will also roll back on many civil rights and social issues, such as gay marriage, transgender rights and maybe even abortion.

[FatAndFaithless]

Blame belongs in a number of places, but I think Clinton and the DNC need to get the brunt of it. Clinton was an awful candidate; we all knew that, but most people I think at least hoped that Trump would be perceived as worse.

We wake up and ask ourselves what country we live in, and there may be more information over the next coming days, but I reckon the truth will come down to this: people care more about political scandals than personal ones.

And to be honest, that's the way it should be. The US already have had an (to me) absurd overemphasis on the personal life of their politicians, with presidents going on and on about how much they lover their family in political speeches, something that would be perceived as highly bizarre in most of Europe.

Thing about that is, the evangelical voting block in America has stridently crowed about family values and the importance of that sort of personal 'integrity' for decades and decades.  They skewered candidates on their personal 'immoralities' before, but suddenly with Trump everything is totally fine.  It was something that politicians had to care about for the last half century because it was always something that could get used against them.