The guy who played the role of Trump in Hillary Clinton's practice debates explains how to beat him

Dear America: Your presidential campaigns are a circus. Your electoral system is rigged to devalue citizens and install losers. You haven’t worked to stop that shit. Thus, you get what you deserve. Have a happy Tramp 2020.

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Wait time is powerful. When he finishes a lying/offensive response and the moderator gives you the floor, just pause, ignore what he said, and answer like an adult.

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One thing about having an extremely polarized country in which the middle class is being destroyed is that there is almost no “center” anymore. Not to mention that there are no accepted norms in action in Congress anymore. So even if “moderate centrists” are elected (Dems) there are no counterparts to make deals with on the other side. My conclusion is that we should take advantage of the current chaos to go for big, long-overdue “progressive” changes.

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I see that as the point of the strategic calling out of his lies: it is a way to goad him that he has problems responding to. It provokes the meltdown. Let’s say Warren is the nominee, and does that to him: it will get him to fume, start shouting, maybe even walk off the stage. With any other candidate I could even see him losing his cool and actually try to shove the Democratic candidate.

I have this fantasy of him trying it on Kamala Harris, her grabbing his arm and twisting, applying pressure to the elbow joint, and asking “did you just try to hit me?” Which is a far-fetched fantasy, I admit.

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Well, yes, we have. Unfortunately, there’s only so much that can be done to completely overhaul a 200+ year old electoral system between elections. The big push right now is on the state level: more and more states are signing onto the National Popular Vote Bill, which would make the electoral winner of each state the winner of the popular vote in that state.

What we deserve is for votes to be counted, and we’re doing what we can, thank you.

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Um, you’re missing a word in there.

which would make the electoral winner of each state the winner of the popular vote in in all 50 states and DC.

If it was just the popular vote in “that” state, that is the current state level winner take all system the NPV wants to replace.

I’m sure that’s what you really meant, it’s just a typo. :slight_smile:

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yes, thank you. Early morning typo before coffee. That’s what I meant to type indeed!

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Assuming this happened (which I doubt greatly), what should have an “aware” campaign resembled?

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Maybe the democratic party as a whole should do more than pay lip service to opposing voter suppression, for one?

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Well, the most obvious difference would have been bothering to put a meaningful effort into campaigning in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The existence of the electoral college should not have been a surprise.

Plus, as mentioned by Dr @anon61221983, done something to resist the disenfranchisement of the American working class over the last fifty years. But that ties into the broader issue: for that to have occurred, the Democrats would have to be a totally different party.

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How so? Seems loud and clear enough to me. Who are we not reaching—who can be reached, and how?

Be specific.

You don’t say. But this is what you get when you don’t get the vote out, and instead wait for “ideal” candidates to appear.

You get this. Had left-leaning voters actually shown up and voted, this wouldn’t be an issue.

Instead, they whined about how Clinton was the same as the opposition. They stayed home in 2010, and again in 2014, and let state legislatures go deeper into the red.

Had the American left shown up and done its duty—and done it consistently—this whole discussion might be very different now. But being consistent is also critical: do Republicans
always show up?

You bet. They do. Every election. I see them and talk to them all the time.

But you can still see too many D-ballots go unmarked if you hang around polling places. You want Democrats to fix voter suppression?

Fix that first.

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Are you unaware of the vast, complex network of efforts to deny the vote to those demographics deemed most likely to vote Democratic instead of Republican, such as racial minorities, inner-city residents, and college students?

They even get as granular as insisting that merely transporting – via bus or van – poor old folk who have no other way to get the 20 miles to a polling station is voter fraud.

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They could propose policies and implement them that undo some of the damage done by the 1990s criminal justice laws that helped build the current system, for one. They can do what Stacy Abrams did and go to working class communities, especially those of color, and listen to them instead of just assuming they have their vote, like they have been doing. They can more strongly opposed to GOP on issues like voter ID laws. There are some candidates running on these, and they pay lip service, but have done nothing to take these issues seriously. There is a reason why so many black voters no longer vote. Because neither party has their backs or actually cares about their issues.

Or, you know, you could maybe do your own homework on this issue?

That’s bullshit. They came out and voted for her.

If they wanted to do that, they would.

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See, you are forgetting here that this is what a lot of folks on the right wing love. It is not a “meltdown” it is him, “Not putting up with that crap”. A projection of strength in the face of challenges. “Fiery debate”. They eat that shit up.

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But who cares? It’s not those voters who need to be won over. It’s the Democratic base and the remaining 50% of eligible voters who need to be won over. Trump throwing a fit consistently turns those voters against him.

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Oh, I did not forget that, but those people are assholes. They would love it if he puked on stage and call it a sign of strength. Those are not the voters that need to be reminded of what a lying, weak, incompetent asshole President Biff is.

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Because obviously his advice worked so well last time.

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She won the popular vote. So, yes.

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Goddamn fucken A. The “liberal” media sure as shit hasn’t been calling him out on his lies. They’re all afraid they might get mean nickname!

The electoral college makes you president. We need someone who can win that until we can get rid of the electoral college.