How Hillary Clinton Lost the Election

[Dale]

Yes, I know that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. I'm all for doing away with the Electoral College. Yet that still leaves us with a serious question: Why did Hillary Clinton do so badly, even against a boorish opponent with no political experience? Why didn't enough people vote for Clinton to make the vote imbalances in a couple of states irrelevant?

Here is my theory. Look at the top people on the ticket. Shortly before the election, Hillary said that she would make Joe Biden Secretary of State in her Administration. Biden is certainly well known, having been a presidential candidate and Vice President for eight years.


Ticket: Candidates by occupation.


Hillary Clinton-President is a Lawyer.

Tim Kaine-Vice-President is a Lawyer.

Joe Biden-Secretary of State is a Lawyer.


In addition, Hillary's husband Bill is also a lawyer. Could it be that the American people don't want to be ruled by a triumvirate of lawyers? Mike Pence, Trump's VP, is also a lawyer but at least only one member of the ticket is a lawyer.

Another possible reason is foreign policy. Many people believe that Barack Obama's foreign policy is simply unacceptable. Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State under Obama for years. She seems to be in agreement with his foreign policy. She said nothing about changing it during the campaign. To top it all off, shortly before election day, she pledges to appoint Joe Biden, Obama's VP, as Secretary of State. It looks like more of the same in the foreign policy arena. No new ideas, no awareness of past failures, no sign of change.


What is Obama's foreign policy? Obama basically put America's allies on the back burner. Building up our allies and reassuring them of our commitment was a low priority. At the same time, Obama believed in making overtures to America's enemies and everyone else who wasn't a close ally. It certainly looks like Obama took American allies for granted and concentrated on trying to either persuade or deal with America's enemies. Whatever you think of this approach in theory, it looks like a disaster in practice.

 

[Big Drew]

It was going to be more of the same all the way around...it's very rare that we get three or four consecutive terms of either party in the presidency. The last time it happened was almost 30 years ago, with Reagan/Bush...before that we'd have to go all the way back to Roosevelt/Truman.

Hillary brought nothing new to the table...as you say, more of the Obama foreign policy...people frustrated with Obamacare and other domestic policies.

And she had no wow factor...as much as I disagree with him, if the dems really wanted a win they would have gone with Bernie...he was shaking things up and getting folks excited, especially the younger crowd.

It also didn't help her any with all of the scandals that were surrounding her...many of which she had been dealing with for years.

As far as the electoral college goes...whichever party loses always screams how unfair it is when there's a close election like this...the thing about it is, if we didn't have the electoral college we would pretty much be letting California and New York decide every election...a democrat may not see the problem with that, but that's why the electoral college is there, to keep everything in balance...sometimes it goes one way, sometimes the other. We don't have to like it, but it does serve a purpose.

 

[friend of]

She's a psycho.

 

[Mountainmanbob]

Many saw Hillary as just a simple replacement for more of what Obama brought to us -- next to nothing -- plus lie after lie.
Then on her own Hillary laid out a TON of lies -- couldn't be trusted.
Wanted the vote just because she's a woman -- give me a break -- weak one -- except for some very liberal ladies.
Called 25% of the citizens of the United States deplorables.
Who does she think she is -- queen for the day?
M-Bob

 

[Archivist]

I live in West Virginia where Democrats outnumber Republicans two-to-one and where we just elected a Democrat Governor. Yet Hilary lost this state big time (489,371 votes for Trump, 188,794 votes for Clinton) because she said that she was going to shut down the coal mines and put the miners out of work. You don't say that in a major coal-producing state and expect people to support you.

 

[abysmul]

What if Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Had Swapped Genders?

 

[Neal82]

I live in West Virginia where Democrats outnumber Republicans two-to-one and where we just elected a Democrat Governor. Yet Hilary lost this state big time (489,371 votes for Trump, 188,794 votes for Clinton) because she said that she was going to shut down the coal mines and put the miners out of work. You don't say that in a major coal-producing state and expect people to support you.

Coal mining work had been declining for decades, and will continue to no matter who is the White House.

 

[Archivist]

Coal mining work had been declining for decades, and will continue to no matter who is the White House.

Agreed. Cheap natural gas is what is closing the mines. But, unlike Hilary, Trump didn't say that he was going to actively work to close the mines down. Stupid move on her part. She blew a huge registration edge. Trump, on the other hand, said that he was going to open the closed mines back up. Whether that happens remains to be seen but it got him a lot of votes.

 

[SolomonVII]

Coal mining work had been declining for decades, and will continue to no matter who is the White House.

It doesn't mean that a politician doesn't need to play politics.

 

[Neal82]

It doesn't mean that a politician doesn't need to play politics.

When politicians patronise and lie to me, I personally am not inclined to vote for them. Clearly Trump was able to win over the folks who believed false promises. It's a fantasy that there will ever be anywhere close to the number of coal mining jobs of the past.

 

[Armoured]

Many saw Hillary as just a simple replacement for more of what Obama brought to us -- next to nothing -- plus lie after lie.
Then on her own Hillary laid out a TON of lies -- couldn't be trusted.
Wanted the vote just because she's a woman -- give me a break -- weak one -- except for some very liberal ladies.
Called 25% of the citizens of the United States deplorables.
Who does she think she is -- queen for the day?
M-Bob

Any move on that 14th amendment reply yet?

 

[SolomonVII]

When politicians patronise and lie to me, I personally am not inclined to vote for them. Clearly Trump was able to win over the folks who believed false promises. It's a fantasy that there will ever be anywhere close to the number of coal mining jobs of the past.

I know that.
Hillary made it a point about killing jobs that are disappearing anyway.
Not smart politics, but she believed that she would gain the votes elsewhere, with the greenies.
Who knew that Trump could win a country by appealing to the small and significant losers of the American economy scattered across the country?
Well, who, besides Trump, that is?
It was a demographic that HRC thought she didn't need. Trump found the only Identity group that the Dems hadn't wrapped up.

 

[Armoured]

I know that.
Hillary made it a point about killing jobs that are disappearing anyway.
Not smart politics, but she believed that she would gain the votes elsewhere, with the greenies.
Who knew that Trump could win a country by appealing to the small and significant losers of the American economy scattered across the country?
Well, who, besides Trump, that is?
It was a demographic that HRC thought she didn't need. Trump found the only Identity group that the Dems hadn't wrapped up.

Just a shame Trump isn't going to help those small and significant losers in any way.

 

[Neal82]

I know that.
Hillary made it a point about killing jobs that are disappearing anyway.
Not smart politics, but she believed that she would gain the votes elsewhere, with the greenies.
Who knew that Trump could win a country by appealing to the small and significant losers of the American economy scattered across the country?
Well, who, besides Trump, that is?
It was a demographic that HRC thought she didn't need. Trump found the only Identity group that the Dems hadn't wrapped up.

Clearly you're right that she didn't win over those voters, and she should have strategized better in those states. I can understand her reasoning behind not making false promises, as she was someone who had the experience to know the facts about the coal industry. Had she misrepresented things and lead those folks to believe the jobs would be coming back, she'd have been called out for that. Trump could blame somebody else for giving him wrong info or something, she wouldn't have that out. I think she underestimated how gullible some folks were.

 

[Greyy]

It's really not complicated.

People couldn't stand Hillary.

 

[more4less]

We doesn't have to be a rocket scientist to know why Hillary did not win. It is obvious why she did not win. The majority Americans are Christians and Christians do not believe in late term abortions, except for the ones that claims to be Christians but they are not. It is because they believes in destroying a life..

In U.S., 77% Identify as Christian

 

[more4less]

Mark 3:4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

 

[more4less]

 

[more4less]

 

[SolomonVII]

Just a shame Trump isn't going to help those small and significant losers in any way.

Eight years after Obama, the poor are poorer and the rich are richer. This was directly contrary to what he promised.

Trump's economic plan is not a conservative plan either. I never had high expectations, but I do think that cutting regulations and stepping back from green hysteria to build pipelines and the like are steps in the right direction. It is growth and confidence from the business community that stimulates job creation. I have no way of predicting the future on where the American economy is going to go. We can all speculate, but the future remains as elusive as ever.

So, the point of my argument remains. HRC lost because she believed she could totally disregard people that you too have no problem labeling as losers, and Trump was able to reach these people enough that they switched votes from Obama to him.