Help me understand...

[Tank]

I don't know, if I had to guess, I'd say he's fully aware of what he's done. The impression I get is that he looks and talks like a buffoon, is a walking talking joke and a pathological narcissist but it's clear he knew what he was doing. He alienated a lot of people but apparently tapped into what a huge segment of the population wanted.

I question whether he's capable of being a president but he sure knows how to herd people. 

The polling companies, the media and a huge portion of the american population underestimated the man, now the nightmare's come true.

Did they underestimate him or overestimate the American public?

[Ecurb Noselrub]

I don't know, if I had to guess, I'd say he's fully aware of what he's done. The impression I get is that he looks and talks like a buffoon, is a walking talking joke and a pathological narcissist but it's clear he knew what he was doing. He alienated a lot of people but apparently tapped into what a huge segment of the population wanted.

I question whether he's capable of being a president but he sure knows how to herd people. 

The polling companies, the media and a huge portion of the american population underestimated the man, now the nightmare's come true.

Did they underestimate him or overestimate the American public?

You got a problem with us, Brexit Boy? 😊

[Icarus]

Overestimating the American public is a common mistake. One of our more dour philosopher types was H.L. Mencken. He famously said that one can never go broke by underestimating the American public or words to that effect.

Not to indict the whole lot of us. We do have some brilliant people, there are also some who are intelligent but not quite brilliant, and a larger proportion who is easily beguiled.  We tend to believe what we want to believe. In that case we will accept bullshit promises as a matter of reality.

Our punditry is already explaining why it is impossible for the Donald to fulfil some of the wild promises he has made.   

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Every nation has a few brilliant people, some smart but not brilliant people, a bunch of average folks, some dull folks, and a few idiots.  It's a Bell curve everywhere.

[Sandra Craft]

I don't know, if I had to guess, I'd say he's fully aware of what he's done. The impression I get is that he looks and talks like a buffoon, is a walking talking joke and a pathological narcissist but it's clear he knew what he was doing. He alienated a lot of people but apparently tapped into what a huge segment of the population wanted.

I question whether he's capable of being a president but he sure knows how to herd people. 

The polling companies, the media and a huge portion of the american population underestimated the man, now the nightmare's come true.

Did they underestimate him or overestimate the American public?

Little column A, little column B.

[xSilverPhinx]

Every nation has a few brilliant people, some smart but not brilliant people, a bunch of average folks, some dull folks, and a few idiots.  It's a Bell curve everywhere.

Pretty much. But some places have more educated people than others.

(I'm treating education levels as distinct from levels of intelligence.)

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Every nation has a few brilliant people, some smart but not brilliant people, a bunch of average folks, some dull folks, and a few idiots.  It's a Bell curve everywhere.

Pretty much. But some places have more educated people than others.

(I'm treating education levels as distinct from levels of intelligence.)

We have lots of educated people, and the best universities in the world. And we elected Trump.  Go figure.

[xSilverPhinx]

Every nation has a few brilliant people, some smart but not brilliant people, a bunch of average folks, some dull folks, and a few idiots.  It's a Bell curve everywhere.

Pretty much. But some places have more educated people than others.

(I'm treating education levels as distinct from levels of intelligence.)

We have lots of educated people, and the best universities in the world. And we elected Trump.  Go figure.

That's what I find fascinating. How is that possible?

[xSilverPhinx]

Voter Embarrassment about Trump Support May Have Messed Up Poll Predictions.

[Steeler]

Voter Embarrassment about Trump Support May Have Messed Up Poll Predictions.

That's what I've been saying to my co-workers. I think it did have an effect.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Every nation has a few brilliant people, some smart but not brilliant people, a bunch of average folks, some dull folks, and a few idiots.  It's a Bell curve everywhere.

Pretty much. But some places have more educated people than others.

(I'm treating education levels as distinct from levels of intelligence.)

We have lots of educated people, and the best universities in the world. And we elected Trump.  Go figure.

That's what I find fascinating. How is that possible?

Again, a lot of people have not benefitted from the economy, and Hillary was part of the establishment who did benefit.  She got millions from Wall Street.  Plus, the Comey letters put the nails in her coffin.

[Arturo]

Every nation has a few brilliant people, some smart but not brilliant people, a bunch of average folks, some dull folks, and a few idiots.  It's a Bell curve everywhere.

Pretty much. But some places have more educated people than others.

(I'm treating education levels as distinct from levels of intelligence.)

We have lots of educated people, and the best universities in the world. And we elected Trump.  Go figure.

That's what I find fascinating. How is that possible?

Again, a lot of people have not benefitted from the economy, and Hillary was part of the establishment who did benefit.  She got millions from Wall Street.  Plus, the Comey letters put the names l in her coffin.

With that said, I think we underestimated American people. I think there is more depth to this than what meets the eye. For example I spoke with some Trump supporters and one person who didn't vote. The people who did vote for him were brash and what you would expect from a Trump voter. And the one who didn't vote, he seemed to be very assumptive and disthorough with his research, which he assumed everybody else did who didn't vote for Hillary.

Now can I chalk this up to them being stupid? Maybe, I don't know. It could be because of a lack of education, or a lack of will power to actually check their sources. One thing is for certain, the people I spoke to were irrational.

[Davin]

I definitely wouldn't say that it has much to with intelligence, and I would agree that it was people not checking sources and voting against their own interests. Like what happened with the bill to help out with the health problems that the first responders got as a result to rescuing people, the Republicans keep saying that they supported them, but in action, most of them voted against the bill several times. But Republican voters believe what their representatives say, rather than pay attention to what their representatives actually do.

Look at another thing that Republicans tend to harp on, the national debt.

And compare that to who was in office at the time and who controlled the senate during those years. Reagan doubled the national debt in eight years. Bush 1 doubled the national debt in four years. Clinton increased the national debt by less than 40% in eight years. Bush II almost doubled the national debt in eight years. And Obama increased the national debt by over 50% in eight years. Republicans and the big spenders, but the representatives have successfully tricked their unskeptical voters by blaming the Democrats for the national debt. This is the way it works with most Republican things, they blame Democrats hoping that their voters won't look at the data, and because their voters don't look at the data, they keep getting voted in and doing the very things that their voters think they are voting against.

[Davin]

We will find out soon enough I suppose.

http://www.salon.com/2017/01/10/please-dont-tell-us-the-truth-house-gop-blocks-budget-watchdog-from-reviewing-cost-of-obamacare-repeal/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/secret-new-rule-allows-house-members-to-hide-records-from-ethics-probes_us_58746aefe4b099cdb0ff34eb
http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/314602/trump-axe-nuclear-weapons-security-chief-without-naming-replacement/
http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/313145-toll-roads-poised-to-boom-under-trump-plan
https://thinkprogress.org/mitch-mcconnell-confirmation-ethics-hypocrisy-2c75b671d694#.jygy2kpx7
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article125030534.html
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/ethics-office-trump-aides-election-233309
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-barack-obama-ambassador-orders-resign-inauguration-day-20-january-president-elect-leave-a7512631.html
https://www.salon.com/2017/01/05/donald-trump-is-going-to-appoint-pam-bondi-who-got-an-illegal-payment-from/
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/05/politics/paul-ryan-planned-parenthood-obamacare/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/us/politics/with-no-warning-house-republicans-vote-to-hobble-independent-ethics-office.html?action=Click&contentCollection=BreakingNews&contentID=64742303&pgtype=Homepage&_r=1

It looks like we're finding out now. This is not going to be good for you, Steeler. This is going to be bad for you, me, and 99% of Americans. Keep an eye on those unemployment numbers, the national debt, budget increases, etc. They are all going to get worse, because you along with other of unskeptical, easily manipulated Americans voted in the most corrupt politicians we've seen in a while. I only wish you and the rest of the Trump voters would realize that you've made a mistake that could have easily been avoided if you didn't believe lies and/or ignore reality.

[Michael1]

I'm shocked as well. Though I predicted it would happen.