[St Charles Owl]

In case anyone thinks I'm being preachy on here with my strong condemnation of an American President-elect, let me pass along to you that until last November we in Canada were ruled by a right wing Tory party. Stephen Harper was nowhere near as bad as Trump, nor would he have had as much influence on world affairs, but under his regime unemployment benefits were cut, the Alberta Oil sands with its numerous pipelines spewed toxic pollutants that were an embarrassment to the nation, he refused to look into why so many indigenous women were being raped and murdered, and in Trumpian fashion, he tried to sett up a policy for aspiring immigrants and refugees to sign on to a set of "Canadian values," whatever they are. He closed down libraries  at scientific government labs and laid off countless scientists. Those that remained operated under a cone of silence, forbidden from speaking to the press or even publishing their data without permission.

So, we do know what a paler shade of Trump looks like. We refer to those 9 years as the dark ages.

I'm afraid that where the U.S. is now headed but it would appear to be even darker.

Sorry I can't be more optimistic as SCO is. But, I have to call the shots as I see them.

I'm not optimistic at all, I think he will be ok at some things but will xxxx us up for potentially years with other things!!! I just hope I am wrong and the country can survive this and get rid of him and the Republicans in 2020!! I also recognize that for now nothing can be done to stop him becoming president, the people have spoken as they say and he won. In some respects its now the same situation as Brexit, democracy however misguided has voted in a madman, now we have to live by that choice and not try to find a legal loophole to screw up what the electorate voted for or else what is the point of democracy??

[Statesideowl]

The Republican's seem to have a burning desire to impeach every Democratic President, so why not hold them to the same? Especially when there are actually legal reasons to. Not saying Pence is again, a good choice for the people though. It's difficult to see anything positive come from the right's clean sweep of power.

Trump owes Deutsche Bank 300M. I wonder who he'll get to pick up that bill. There's also still the issue of him handing his business over to a blind trust, among a few others.

[peiowl]

But is it really democratic for someone to be elected with fewer votes than the one declared to have lost? Just making the point that democracy in practice is imperfect and not a holy cow. We have the same problem in Canada, also in U.K., where the first past the post system often results in governments with false mandates.

[Owlkev71]

The winning party usually only gets around about 35% of the vote here in Blighty, not exactly the majority of the people.

[peiowl]

The winning party usually only gets around about 35% of the vote here in Blighty, not exactly the majority of the people.

Not much difference here Owlskev. 39% as I recall. Like in the UK, we have 3 parties that garner a lot of support so the votes are split. In that US election, those 2 fringe candidates, Stein and Johnson, acted as spoilers and were one reason Trump won. Not the only reason though.

[talkSAFT]

I don't quite get why Brexit went to a Referendum anyway.
There's 650 MPs who the Public vote for to make these decisions for us (commoners). Every one of them have access to accurate statistics spelt out for them by the Treasury etc. Instead, though, we get twats like Boris Johnson, George Osborne giving the commoners false information, and nothing is done to stop them. There was nothing to stop Johnson from telling us we'd all be millionaires if we came out, or that we'd send all the nasty Poles back home. Nobody corrects them when they talk bollocks, so how are the Public supposed to know what's best?

[Statesideowl]

It's mind blowing how many people around the World, even some mates back home have been mugged by the media in to believing Hillary is much worse than Trump. I can't express it enough. both were terrible candidates that were never going to change anything for the lower classes.

It was never about Clinton v Trump, it was always the larger picture of preventing the Republicans sweeping the House, Senate & Presidency. The last time it happened, Under Bush, followed by a recession. It also happened in 1928. Followed by a recession and great depression. So, expect the trend to continue..

Myself and many others are well aware that Hillary is lifelong politician, liar, crook. It was always going to be a terrible choice since the DNC pulled Bernie and gave us Hillary.
Now both sides of working class are going to get screwed, generally because of ignorance and the media's endless failure to do its job.

I see Trump's asking for top secret clearance for his kids already..

[Owlkev71]

Well look on the bright side, he will only be President for 4 years, then he will get voted out, after they realise he wont be able to go through with all his "promises".

[peiowl]

I hear you Stateside. So many people even this side of the border were duped into believing that Hillary was just as disgusting a candidate as Trump. I won't re-iterate the long list of behaviours and odious policies that the Trumpet bandied around. Hillary used an improper email server and had something suspicious to do with something called Whitewater which most people don't understand anyway. Not even in the same league. For what it's worth I think Hillary would have made a decent President.

[St Charles Owl]

I hear you Stateside. So many people even this side of the border were duped into believing that Hillary was just as disgusting a candidate as Trump. I won't re-iterate the long list of behaviours and odious policies that the Trumpet bandied around. Hillary used an improper email server and had something suspicious to do with something called Whitewater which most people don't understand anyway. Not even in the same league. For what it's worth I think Hillary would have made a decent President.

Lets be careful not to portray Hillary as some angel just because we ended up with the devil himself!!! Hillary's "crimes" with regards to the server and her emails were serious enough that if it was you or I or some other military person then in all likelihood we would have ended up in jail. American troops died in Benghazi, something else she was attached to and something that will always resonate badly with the average American and her foundation has taken a lot of money from foreign governments!! She was a bad candidate for the democrats to choose. She was in the same league as Trump but for different reasons!!

In past elections, neither of these candidates would have won the Primaries, there would have been better alternatives who would have fully exposed them, but 2016 will go down as hopefully the last time we don't hold our candidates responsible for everything they do and everything they say.