Many Americans, especially those who enthusiastically supported Hillary Clinton, are still shocked and devastated that Donald Trump defeated her in the electoral college and that he is about to become president within six weeks. What’s easy to forget is that this was an election between two extremely unpopular candidates. No matter who won, the result would’ve been bad.
Not That Strong
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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«No matter who won, the result would’ve been bad.» Nailed it, Ted ! But why must we in the rest of the world have to wonder every four years or so if your country’s going to blow us all up ? The lady in the cartoon might not get a Europe to move to….
Henri
> But why must we in the rest of the world have to wonder every four years or so if your country’s going to blow us all up?
Good question. The US accounts for around 4% of the world’s population – we’re vastly outnumbered should the rest of you decide to gang up on the big psychotic bully.
The US might be 4% of the people, but it’s more than 50% of the military might of the world. It is clear that only Russia and China MIGHT be able to stand up to the US, but many (all of HIllary’s advisers) are convinced the US could obliterate both Russia and China with no more risk to the US than the obliteration of Saddam and Qadhafi.
Obama has said that Russia hacked the US election. I’ve read foreign idiots who think Obama can call the election ‘hacked’ and remain in office. He cannot. Obama and Biden must leave at noon on 20 Jan, no matter what. An Amendment says who must take over if Obama convinces the Supreme Court to nullify the election, and it is NOT Obama.
Saddam and Gaddafi have proved quite costly in my estimation.
@michaelwme
I more-or-less agree with your assessment of the military situation. The US may have more Bombs to throw, but it will also be a target of more Bombs. After that it will come down to number of survivors.
New Zealand’s looking good …
You won’t have to for much longer, henri. As many here have observed, the US is in its final days of empire, desperately clinging to the hegemony it once had.
«As many here have observed, the US is in its final days of empire, desperately clinging to the hegemony it once had.» Whether the US ever really possessed the global hegemony to which it aspired is open to question – the Empire’s defeat in Korea, when it was relatively at its strongest, indicates, I should argue, that it did not….
But the point of my comment had less to do with the relative strength of the US military, which has, inevitably, declined since its peak after most of the rest of the world was torn apart in WW II, but rather more with its absolute strength, i e, with its ability to bring the short, happy life of H sapiens sapiens< on this blue planet to an abrupt end, which, on the contrary, has increased (and on which, the current president, one Barack Hussein Obama, has launched a programme costing more than a terabuck – a programme, nota bene that his successor, Donald John Trump seems unlikely to cancel). My worry is that as the goal of attaining global hegemony retreats ever further into the distance and the US finds itself dethroned from the imaginary position of «indispensable nation», even though, militarily at least, primus inter pares, advisors will convince the US president to the sort of folly which attempting to use that military to browbeat Powers like Russia and China would constitute. Neither a Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton nor a Donald John Trump would, I submit, have the gumption to resist….
Henri
Good points. I don’t deny that more pain is ahead. I just mean I believe collapse is coming sooner than later. There won’t be the same sort of anemic recovery as last time. Not with interest rates and central bank balance sheets what they are. Finally, TPTB will be out of tricks. The past 100 years of carnage would never have been possible without “money printing”…
«I don’t deny that more pain is ahead.»
Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not….
Henri
Yeah, the Weimar sucks. That’s why I voted for Hitler. Dorme bene.
In the German Federal Election of 6 November 1932, in which over 80 % of those eligible voted, eight of the about 50 parties participating in the elections received 1 % of more of the ballots cast and received under the proportional representation system a corresponding number of places in the Reichstag….
A rather different state of affairs than that obtaining in the United States on 8 November 2016. On the other hand, it’s not impossible that the consequences of 20 January 2017 may come to resemble 30 January 1933….
Henri
As I understand it, Hitler did not have a majority, but, with a plurality, they decided to make him Chancellor. Since he did not have a majority, that decision was not forced, but they figured it was the best decision.
Churchill demanded that the UK send the RA in to force regime change. With 20/20 hindsight, Churchill was right. But many figured Hitler would protect Western Europe from Stalin.
You would be correct, Michael. Something more people really should remember is that Hitler obtained power by the skin of his teeth.
«Churchill demanded that the UK send the RA in to force regime change.» Actually, the person who worked tirelessly to create a united front against the Nazis from the Nazi Machtübernahme in January 1933 to his dismissal as Soviet Commissar of Foreign Affairs on 3 May 1939 (a couple of months after Germany occupied rump-Czechoslovakia) was Maxim Maximovitch Litvinov. But the governments of Britain and France under Arthur Neville Chamberlain and Édouard Deladier regarded the Soviet Union as a far greater threat than Nazi Germany, and refused to cooperate with the Soviet overtures, hoping instead that Hitler could be enticed to attack the Soviet Union first in his quest for Lebensraum, after which, Britain and France could go in and pick up the pieces. These strategic considerations gave us the München Agreement and the sacrifice of Czechoslovakia (in which the Poles and Hungarians participated with such glee), and WW II in Europe….
Henri
Even worse? Look at all the HRC supporters who were going on about moving out of the U.S. because Trump will ruin the country and turn it into a concentration camp.
And now? After the election? They’re all staying.
And I’m supposed to believe all the scaremongering about what Trump will do because …?
It reminds me of the kind of person who’ll call the police to report a suspicious car. (“It could be filled with explosives!!!1!”) And then stands around while the police fiddle with the doors trying to open it up.
Let me go one step further. As I understand it, illegal immigrants (wait, how dare I say anyone is illegal, what a horrible person I am). Okay, people, sorry, wonderful, decent, perfect people — is that okay? Can I get to the goddamned point now? Or do we need a shaman circle? — are in this country without the necessary paperwork. And Trump wants to deport them. And is, therefore, a monster.
Tell me: How do they do it in Canada? If you don’t have paperwork and get caught, what happens? Or Britain? Or Germany?
“We” not only aren’t the “strongest” we aren’t the most rational.
If all those would said they’d leave were actually good for their word, America would already be halfway back to great again. They’re the real villains of this story for getting my hopes up.
Seriously though, I enjoyed this comment. If the Left were comprised of people more like you, maybe they wouldn’t be so bad!
Watch ‘Born in East LA.’
Of course, when the US annexed chunks of Mexico, all the Hispanics should have gone back to Latin America. So why NOT deport their descendants?
Trump is terrible. He wants to burn more coal (Obama only wanted to burn more petroleum products, so he was ‘green’ because petroleum products produce less carbon dioxide than coal).
Hillary wanted regime change in Russia. What could possibly have gone wrong?
A choice between two that the Founding Fathers would have wanted blocked by the Constitution. Sadly, one of them will take office on 20 Jan.
Obama says the Russians hacked the election.
Will he convince the Supreme Court the election was invalid and St Hillary really won? I guess we’ll find out soon.
I think it’s safe to say that the Founders would have had trouble supporting hardly any presidential candidate for the past 100 years at least.
Okay, so let’s fantasize that the Russkies perhaps, maybe did hack the election. Even if it were so, where’s the proof that the hack was even effective? Is Kankles loosing the election itself proof of a successful hack?
Maybe the Russians saw what many others in the US saw, THAT Billary was going to lose badly! So, they “hack” it anyway. They don’t change anything, they just leave barely enough evidence to show a hack. So what happens then? America tears itself apart, and the Russians don’t have to spend a dime for the new civil war.
Before it’s handed to Hillary on a platter, I’d certainly like to see all that evidence that it actually was Russia’s fault. For all we know, their hack simply helped Hillary get the popular vote, while letting the electoral vote stay true. Meantime? The Speaker of the House becomes caretaker.
Either that or we simply inaugurate the electoral college winner.
DanD
«Obama says the Russians hacked the election.» The notion of «hacking the [US presidential] election [of 2016]» is ambiguous ; what do people mean – or perhaps more importantly, want others to understand – when they use that term ? For example, it is clear that DNC servers were hacked, even if it is difficult to know by whom, and emails from this source were leaked to WikiLeaks, which published them. The DNC servers seem to have been so poorly protected that anyone with a modicum of knowledge and an interest in doing so could have accessed them, so presumably this was not beyond the capabilities of Russian intelligence agencies (that is, after all, their job) ; however, hitherto no evidence has been presented to support the contention that it was the Russians who leaked the documents to WikiLeaks, which denies this allegation….
That the RNCs servers were significantly better protected than those of the Democrats is difficult to believe, so presumably the Russians are aware of the discussions that went on their as well, even if, nota bene, nothing to support support such a contention has been released….
But «hacking the election» could also be interpreted to mean someone interfering with and changing the results presented by the very insecure voting machines – in particular, those that don’t leave a paper trail – used throughout the United States. Once again, no evidence has been presented that such a far more serious offense was carried out, much less that in that case, it was the Russian wot done it….
But in a McCarthyite world, what better way to cast doubts upon an undesired outcome than to lay the responsibility at the feet of those dastardly Russians ? Unless, of course, one prefers, as Mr Trump seems to do, to lay the responsibility for all that’s not right with the world at the feet of those equally dastardly Chinese. The nice thing about this is that either way, excuses for devoting still greated funds to an already bloated military/intelligence establishment are generated. Best of luck, civilian infrastructure !…
Henri
Latest reports say that the Rooskies hacked the RNC as well, but didn’t release what they found. I dunno if these allegations are true, but I find it interesting that the Rooskies usta be the RW boogiemen back in McCarthy’s time.
Whereas today, they admire the strongman Rooskie president, and are totally indifferent to charges that the Evil Empire hacked the elections.
Ultimately, of course, the gubmint will demand even more intrusive control over the internet in order to defend us from similar attacks on our freedom. (wait … what?)
«Latest reports say that the Rooskies hacked the RNC as well, but didn’t release what they found.» The Dems seem to want a war with Russia, which would destroy us all. Mr Trump seems to want a war with China, which would likely result in the same. Who says voters in the US don’t get a real choice under the so-called «Two-Party System» ?…
Henri