GannonFan wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2024 1:35 pm
Gotta say, I thought this was going to be a super tight election, with it possibly coming down to just one state (Pennsylvania). Instead, it ends up being what looks like a complete Republican blowout. Show me anyone who thought Trump would comfortably win the popular vote. Complete sweep of the swing states, in some cases comfortably, and Trump even had coattails tonight in many Senate and House races. The GOP having a multiple seat advantage in the Senate again was something no one was predicting. Heck, Bob Casey, after more than 20 years of doing nothing in his PA Senate seat, might actually be leaving DC after this election. Once again political prognosticators will have to go back to the drawing board and decide how they missed this one and how they didn't see Trump performing this well.
Plenty of blame to go around for the Dems, but a lot of it will have to land on Biden. Had the worst economy since Carter and luckily for the Dems the election wasn't as bad as it was in 1980, but still bad.
Just an incredibly historic election in US history, shocking really. Definitely will be the stuff of tons of history books to come in the future (right along the ones deciphering who was really running the government in Biden's administration).
Certainly opens up 2028 as another crazy election year - like in 2016, there will be no incumbent (barring Trump dropping dead or handing it off to Vance mid-term - Dems will always ponder why they didn't do that right after the 2022 mid terms) and no former President, and the Dems will have to wonder how to pull any of this back and the GOP will have to wonder how not to squander it too quickly.
Oh, and Clarence Thomas is already circling his retirement date - as one last middle finger to the left that demonized him since his nomination fight (and not all of it without merit) he's bound to be bouncing off the walls to pick his own time to leave and to be replaced by a conservative judge.
There were a lot of factors here that were difficult to predict.
- Would voters hold trump responsible for January 6?
- Would trumps increasing gaffes and odd behavior impact votes?
- Would trump's appeal to machismo win over black and Latino males?
- Would pro-Palestinian liberals refrain from voting for Harris?
- How much would frustration with the inflation, illegal immigration, etc. impact harris?
- How would growing distrust for the "establishment" impact harris?
Now we get to see what trump actually tries to implement and how it plays out in the courts.