People Made Mistakes Because Everyone Thought Hillary was Going to Win

[louis c]

Last edited Sun Jul 15, 2018, 01:07 PM - Edit history (1)

Sure, I'll admit that right up until 10:00 PM on Tuesday November 9, 2016 I thought Hillary Clinton would be the first women elected to be President of the United States. Still, I worked my ass off during that campaign, mostly in New Hampshire (I'm a Massachusetts resident). But, the Clinton campaign thought she was a winner, too. They campaigned in Arizona and Georgia in October in an effort to run up the score, and left Michigan and Wisconsin up for grabs. President Obama did not want to go public with evidence that the Trump campaign was conspiring with Russia to undermine our election unless it was bi-partisan. When Senator Mitch McConnell refused to go along with that plan in September of 2106, he dropped it, after all, we could deal with that after Hillary won. FBI Director Jim Comey made two mistakes because he was sure Hillary would win. He had to drag her through the mud in announcing that there would be no charges against her in the FBI investigation into her E-mail server. Then, in late October, he announced the re-opening of that investigation because of the Weiner lap top, all the while keeping the Trump-Russian conspiracy secret. After all, he would look like a fair minded public servant after Hillary won.

Well, the Trump people thought the same thing. There was no way Trump would win. Very few in the Trump campaign were planning on a victory. They wanted to keep it close and plan for life after defeat. That's why Trump and his minions threw caution to the wind. That's why Manafort wanted to clean his financial slate with the Russians. That's why Bannon was planning for life as a star on Trump TV. That's why Trump was talking about a "rigged election". That's why Roger Stone conspired with Guccifer 2.0. That's why Cohen kept the Trump Tower in Moscow on line, even after Trump secured the Republican nomination. That's why Trump spoke with impunity, in public, about the Russians hacking Hillary. That's why amateurs, like Donald Jr and Papadopoulos, were allowed to contact Russians. The final, damning and most convincing piece of evidence was Michael Flynn's Op-Ed piece in a major American Newspaper supporting Turkey the day before the election. When told that that article could be big trouble for him, his answer was, "only if we win". Not "only if we lose", but "win".

They took every chance, because they believed they had no exposure, because Trump was certainly going to lose.

Now, the unthinkable happened and most of us are living through that nightmare that we all believed was never going to happen. If it's any consolation, the personal nightmare is much worse for the Trump team, because they also thought it was never going to happen, so they thought their treasonous conspiracy would only become known "if we win."

[Hoyt]

1. I think that had a lot to do with things. I got sick at 7:15 PM when Kentucky results came it and

Clinton was not doing very well compared to expectations. Of course, DU getting hacked didn't helped on a night we all could have used some support.

[exboyfil]

4. I felt Clinton was in trouble

when the last Des Moines Register poll came out. I could not believe it, but I really started listening to my coworkers - most of whom have MS degrees. They were primarily angry about guns and secondarily angry about abortion. They would never vote for Clinton in a million years. They tolerated Trump, and they got exactly what they wanted. Of course since my company makes ag equipment, I got to wonder if they are not feeling a little nervous right now. I sure am.

I also think a bit of racism was baked into it. Besides those of Asian background, we have very few POCs at our company. The ones that we do have are truly exceptional. They just don't seem to hang around very long (our department intern from last year was simply fabulous, but she had much better opportunities closer to home in Texas).

[qazplm135]

7. I think the hatred of Hillary

is ridiculous, but, unfortunately, it runs deep and wide among all sides of the aisle.

We underestimated it. I think almost any other candidate beats Trump in 2016, but she stoked something in just enough people to cause them to come out for Trump or stay home or vote third party.

[DonaldsRump]

13. Sorry???

"she stoked"???

I think it's pretty clear the Russians "stoked"....

HRC won, but Trump became President because of a criminal conspiracy that is ongoing.

[Blue_true]

18. The Russians found naive people and took advantage.

I still have images of the young women at our convention with "Bernie" tape over their mouths protesting a nominee that had earned the nomination. I still have images of the booing of a four star General and his fellow officers as the stood on stage at our convention trying to warn the nation against Trump. The Russians would have had no impact if they had not found a group of useful idiots. I honestly would not be surprised if Mueller discovers that the Russians meddled in the 2012 election, the difference there was that African Americans voted more heavily in that election.

[marlakay]

17. The thing they forgot was Obama voters

Most of us including me voted for Hillary but things were said during 08 primary worse than the Bernie time. It’s possible some of them especially blacks might not have forgotten and stayed home.

[Beartracks]

15. But if you expressed that concern here, you were quickly labeled...

... as a "concern troll" trying to discourage Democratic votes.



AND... if after the election you observed that you'd been unfairly dismissed when clearly your fears had come to pass, you would have gotten, "So I guess you're happy now?"



=======

[Ms. Toad]

19. Yup. Been there, done that.

At least the first half. I mostly figured the second half was pointless.

[LeftInTX]

20. It is still ongoing

With regards to the upcoming midterms.

I guess some people just enjoy being overly-optimistic.

I'm a mathematician by trade. Not an optimist, but a realist.

I don't take nothing by chance.

[skylucy]

2. louis c----Great OP. I agree.

[Iliyah]

3. Hillary did win, the mistake is that we believed in an honest

election. Most Americans thought that the other party would not stoop that low in stealing and cheating with the help of an enemy.

[mahina]

9. Gore. Kerry. Clinton.

Imagine.

[DonaldsRump]

5. We need to keep bringing up McConnell's complicity in the Fall 2016

Someone with better videography skills than mine could have fun putting a very effective montage of videos from Trump's July 2016 message to the Russians to find HRC's email until Mitch's interference.

OP: I think you have articulated this very well. I think even the Russians had given up hope in October 2016 that Trump would win according to the Steele Dossier. Winning was the WORST thing for them (and for us!).

Keep the faith all.

[aquamarina]

6. I think it is even easier than what you wrote.

1. Trump "won" because of gerrymandering.
2. Trump "won" because of voter suppression.
3. Trump "won" because of Russian interference - including planting misinformation, sowing seeds of distrust between who should have been natural allies and actual vote manipulation.

In my book the madhouse that was DU during the primaries is Exhibit A.

[dlk]

8. Actually, Hillary Did Win

She was robbed in the worst possible way.

[Nonhlanhla]

10. I knew she would lose

The day that Comey reopened the investigation.

[dansolo]

11. I believe that is why Obama didn't push harder for Merrick Garland

He picked Merrick Garland because he thought it would make the nomination process easier, since Orrin Hatch said they would have no problem with him. Obama called his bluff, but then McConnell and Hatch changed their tactic, and refused to even have any hearings at all. I believe that Obama let the nomination languish because he felt that Hillary would win, and Garland would get seated by her.

[lame54]

12. We foolishly had faith in American intelligence...

And that was the stupidest move of all

[elleng]

14. Right, 'and left Michigan and Wisconsin up for grabs.'

[Rhiannon12866]

16. And she did, based on the votes...