Quote:
Originally Posted by Oberon
Not being funny, but this election was a gift on a silver plate for the Republicans, it was Hillary, one of the most hated women in America, and she took down Grandpa Bernie through dirty means, if the Republicans had had a half-decent candidate he could have absolutely shredded them and perhaps started a civil war in the Democrats between the Hillaries and the Bernies which would have knocked the Dems out of the loop for an election cycle at least, but the GOP screwed it up, they screwed it up good and proper and to blame everyone else for it is just missing the point and missing a very valuable lesson which they need to learn if they're going to stand any hope of getting a good candidate forward for the next election.
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You're correct. Hillary Clinton is the weakest presidential candidate, in terms of voter support, that the Democratic Party has nominated since Walter Mondale. While she is not inept or unqualified for the position she is wildly unpopular due in no small part to her notorious corruption. Her personality also renders her highly unlikable. This election should have been a layup for the opposition party.
Fortunately for the powers that be in the Democratic Party, the Republicans have spent the past eight years courting the lunatic fringe in an effort to stay viable in regional elections. They've empowered these people through a series of astroturfed movements, the so-called Tea Party the most famous among them. The result of that had been, up to this point, the removal of more moderate elements within the Republican Party and their replacement by a far more extreme element. With eight years of funding and organization behind them it is little wonder that this portion of the Republican base, roughly 30% of the registered Republican voters, were able to push through the presidential candidate they wanted.
The candidacy Donald J Trump is the Frankenstein's monster that has finally gotten away from the control of its master. Rather than reform the platform to represent a greater portion of the American people, the party bosses doubled down on extremism. Now the extremists have their candidate, and the Republicans are slowly coming to terms with the painful truth that 30% of a party base is not nearly enough to win a national election, even against a candidate as unpopular as Hillary Clinton.