Hillary Clinton Has Already Lost the Election

[Anonymous]

So the first debate is scheduled for tomorrow, with two more following and a fourth debate between the Vice Presidential nominees, then that final sprint to November 8th.

But here's the thing, no matter what happens between now and November 9th, Hillary Clinton has lost.

A little over a year ago when Donald Trump announced his bid for the Republican nomination, few believed he had a chance. Months later as he racked up win after win after win in state primaries Republicans started worrying about how to stop him from winning because they believed he had no chance in the general election, count me personally as one of them.

But now here we are, six weeks or so from election day and it's now the Democrats who are getting worried. They're literally bewildered at the fact that not only is the race close, but that Donald Trump has legit paths to victory in the electoral college. I work with a couple people who are literally acting depressed and completely out of character due to this simple fact, they're horrified because they know Trump might win.

And there in lies the kicker, because of this, Trump already has won.

No, maybe he will not get 270 or more electoral college votes on November 8th (though he very well might), but even if that ends up being the case and Hillary Clinton becomes President, the fact that Donald Trump came as close as he inevitably is going to will rob Hillary Clinton of any mandate during her time in the Oval Office.

Donald Trump was not supposed to be a serious contender, he was not supposed to win the nomination and he wasn't even supposed to come within 50 points of Clinton (according to her). In the spring of 2015 most people thought the campaign and election were going to be nothing more than formalities, that Clinton would walk into the room and her hapless opponents in the primary and the general elections would kneel at her feet, that she would beat Warren Harding's 26% margin of victory in the popular vote and even turn Texas blue.

But that isn't going to happen, she's going to squeak by by two or three points, if she even squeaks by at all. The fact that she is going to win by so little against Donald Trump, who by many people's standards has made it his mission to alienate as many voters as possible is a testament to how lowly the American people think of her.

This election is already over. Whether or not Donald Trump wins, Hillary Clinton loses.

[Fathoms77]

I actually agree.

Neither candidate is electable as far as I'm concerned but the fact that Trump is this close should be a giant red flag to the ruling regime in this country (the Democrats): If THIS many people are willing to elect someone like Donald Trump in what would be an admittedly desperate - and possibly insane - tactic to get the hell out of this nosedive the country is in, it means the liberal "kum-bay-yah" approach for all isn't working, and hasn't been working for decades.

Seriously, just kick 'em both out and start the hell over.

[PrincessofNohr]

We're screwed either way. One maintains an increasingly awful status quo, the other makes us the world's laughing stock. The third party candidates aren't much better: one of them really thinks that government loans are the sole cause of high education costs, the other switched her position on vaccine safety just to brown nose a few votes out of a few delusional yuppies. They all suck.

I feel like the biggest cause of these issues is extreme partisanship on both sides. Both Democrats and Republicans would rather win a dick measuring contest than come together and make real change. That's why I stood behind John Kasich the whole primary. Even though I disagreed with many of his stances, he was the only candidate on either side who emphasized crossing party lines to make real changes. Alas, we Americans don't want to say we're wrong, so he went unheard.

[LittleSally]

Why anonymous?

[Soteris]

Granted Hillary has royally messed up her chances and someone like Bernie or almost anyone else would be a better bid.. But.. and there is the big thing.

I dont think Trump has what it takes to win. Putting aside all his problems and issues with his campaign I think his platform itself is flawed. He obtains massive support by the expense of another group of people and those people are naturally going to be drawn towards Hillary for no other reason. His aggressive campaigning simply alienates a too large part of America and gives Hillary free votes, not because she earned it but because Trump is bungling it.

[Soteris]

Basically what I wanted to say is that this is an election of Trump VS himself. By the end of it I dont think people will think much of Hillary's campaigning at all or even the results itself. They are only going to focus on the failure of Trump.

[PrincessofNohr]

No, the entire country loses. We've shown the world that we're such a hateful, ignorant nation that a good swathe of us support a reality show clown with nothing but hate and penis jokes because we think the key to a great nation is division and anger. He has given the wing nuts a voice and legitimacy that opens the door for more extreme positions down the road. I still hope and prey that this is not the start of a dark trend.

[myTake Owner]

You're not real smart are you?

[PrincessofNohr]

Ooh, what a burn, it hit me right in the gut! I would say the same of someone like you who can't even come up with a halfway decent insult. Come back when you have something worth saying. And at least I have the guts to share my opinion without hiding behind an "annonymous" tag

[myTake Owner]

Oh I only went anonymous because I wanted people to read it with an open mind, if they saw who I was then that would affect their opinion of the take before they even read the first word.

[Saoirse_Nua]

That take makes an awful lot of sense - Many Americans still have their head in the sand like you said somewhere it has a feeling as the same dynamic as Brexit - I am not a supporter of Donald Trump but I will not be surprised if he wins - On the larger scale, if Hillary wins and has a damaged mandate, I will still feel better than if Donald Trump wins.

[Tarvold]

Correction.

Whether or not Donald Trump wins, America loses.

What? Is the rest of the world supposed to just forget that half of America is made up of mentally challenged, bigoted white supremacists?

[myTake Owner]

Foolish statement, you're drunk on your own Kool aid.

[Tarvold]

You don't have to believe me. Just watch the financial market's reaction to Trump during the debate tonight. You guys are fucked.

[myTake Owner]

Yeah, that sounds a lot like what people said about Brexit. I can take a bumpy ride for a couple months if it means long-term prosperity.

You can't make an omlett without breaking a few eggs, how else would you expect a player in a corrupt system to react to someone railing against the corruption (honestly for a change)?

[zagor]

The same could be said if a cute puppy ran against Hillary Clinton.

[myTake Owner]

Wasn't supposed to be that way, she's supposed to be ahead by 50 points, just ask her.

[Dred1614returns]

She has little or no lead in the polls now. She's not going to win.

[Anonymous]

Um but she's winning all of the national polls

[myTake Owner]

Not in LA Times.

But even if you were correct, that was not the point of what I said. I clearly said she might be our next President, but even if that ends up being the case, she still lost, because Donald Trump would have nearly beaten her.

Someone like Hillary Clinton is supposed to run away with the election and win by a landslide like Warren Harding did, because she's up against Donald Trump. But she isn't, she's barely holding on and is one public coughing fit away from being guaranteed a loss.

This means that even if she gets 270 or more electoral votes, she will have very little, if any, political capital, meaning opposition in Congress will be just as stiff, if not moreso, than it is to Obama right now.

[goaded]

projects.fivethirtyeight.com/.../#plus

Scary.