Nah, that has relatively little to do with it. The likes of Wyoming’s 580K voters getting 3 electoral votes while California’s 39 million get 54 is what produces that result. Just too many red states where the weight of their votes is 2 or more than those of solidly Democratic states like California and New York. Throw in the winner-take-all effect used in 48 states, and you get a surprising number of Presidents elected having lost the popular vote, it just hadn’t happened in the 20th century.
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Can we assume that 45% of the people in USA support trump. Based on how many actually vote republican ?
There are a sizable number of bigots in those 45% of a huge population and that’s Trump’s gallery.
Does mean what I’ve said before about a vote in California mattering lesser than a vote in Wyoming.
There’s a rot in Indian election scenario as well. The votes down south don’t matter despite south India being a net contributor to India’s Funds whereas areas like Bihar , UP , rajasthan etc get more funding because of their increased population despite doing fuck all in terms of development etc.
I think that overestimates it - also need to factor in turnout. There are a lot of Republicans who are not voting, plus a significant number of independents. Trump got 46% of the votes in 2016, from a pool that had 59% of voting-eligible turnout. Within that pool, yes, undoubtedly there are hard-core bigots. But there also loads of ‘hold my nose because I cannot stand the Democrats’ voters.
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In India, the situation is a little different. The fundamental problem in India is that the north is more populous but less productive. In the US, the blue states are more populous AND more productive. But the electoral institutions set up in the early 18th century are structured to protect states, leaving the ‘red’ states with disproportionate say in both economic and demographic terms in this century.
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Low turn out does speak of the general apathy among the voterbase. But it’s likely that the turnout doesn’t affect the percentage of the votes overall too much. Sure there are some states where 500 votes here or there make the difference.
But largely , people not voting harm the system more.
Just saying that the system in India right now favours rabble rousers and people who give sops. Nearly every indian party is a sop oriented party in that regard. Indian politics , that way can’t be demarcated into right wing - left wing.
We have real world cases in front of us that people are discussing. Imaging hwo these supposedly deranged people would respond to some additional set of hypothetical criticisms of Trump is just a misdirection tactic. It allows you to write people off as hopefully biased so you do not have to engage with the actual facts of the real cases being raised, and in turn justifies to you that you have landed on a perception based on what you want to be true and are in a constant scramble to interpret information in a way that might supports that.
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I dont think that holds now. Certain people have become very good at stoking anger and playing the pied piper
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I’d really like to read that, but do not want to subscribe 
Somehow came under the free article limit for me , hence I posted the main crux of the article.
Will post the entire article again.
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Todd Blanche , Trump’s lead defence lawyer , just got Cohen to admit that he stole from the Trump Organisation for overstating a reimbursement.
I’d expect this latest ‘zinger’ to figure prominently in the media’s roundup tonight , although it has precisely nothing to do with the central charge.
Apparently Cohen’s holding up better today than last Friday when he was appearing a little frayed after seven hours’ worth of cross examination.
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You do know there’s a way you can ?
Too many ads coming on my way while trying to post that article. @Bekloppt
Will get across to it on the pc later.
Anyway the point that there is a rhyme or reason for people to vote Trump (apart from bigotry and not being democrat) isn’t there.
And at this point, this is Trump’s Republican party , If people do still vote trump in , it shows they are bigots and can’t hide behind the “I can’t stand democrats” card.
That said , the current democrat approach is a cluster fuck as well.
Shared as a “gift” so you should be able to read it- https://wapo.st/3yqXhtz
The crux is that “Economic anxiety”, the primary animating sentiment of the 2016 Trump voter, was incorrectly interpreted by many to mean poor or working class. No more so than by the people who were paid to cover the campaign, unfortunately. In reality the average Trump voter was wealthier and earned more than the average Clinton voter. For some reason people can only think about “economic anxiety” as something applicable to the working class poor, but it applies just as much to people who have been relatively successful and look at the world and don’t see the same prospects for their kids or grandkids.
In a post-banking collapse world in which small businesses were being increasingly squeezed, this sentiment was very understandable. Bernie was one response to that and Trump was the other. One asked people to pull together to collectively solve problems, the other turned people against each other in a fight for limited resources. There were two groups of people who heard Trump’s message and responded. One was the working class poor, especially in rural areas. They were animated by finally hearing a solution for how to improve their lot in life. Related to Mascot’s point, Trump’s appeal was similar to what LBJ once observed, that if you can make the lowest white man think he’s better than the best black he will do anything for you. The other group were the yacht/country club republicans who heard a solution for how to stop the tide of change that was challenging their status.
The one of the biggest predictors for Trump support was living in a region with rapidly changing demographics. It didnt have to mean that majority white status is being threatened, but that rate of change was happening quickly enough for people to see it. What we saw was Trump managed to get these people to view this change as people coming for what was theirs and he would help them hold on to what is rightfully theirs, and even wrestle back some of what these people have taken from you. Economic anxiety is real, but in electoral politics it is typically a reflection of lots of other things bubbling under the surface.
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Great summary and if I may just hijack it a bit, I would say this wouldn’t be too far from what happened wrt brexit. There was a significant block of fairly well off to very well off that voted for this. You cannot beat a bit of old fashion xenophobia and bigotry!
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Yes, in internet speak, the answer to the popular question of “was Trump’s appeal because of economic anxiety or xenophobia/racism?” the answer is “yes”.
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both.
Blanche: Do you have a financial interest in the outcome of this case?
Cohen: Yes
Blanche: So you benefit from a conviction?
Cohen: Actually, its better for me if he’s not guilty because it gives me more to talk about in the future.
Laughs are heard throughout the courtroom
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