well, I agree that "not the other guy" was the main motivation of this election, for both sides. but a campaign cannot run on a purely negative motto. a campaign always needs something positive that it can offer its supporters. the clinton campaign lacked such a motto, so they basically used "come to our camp, because we're the good guys".

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Jan 20 2017 12:39pm

polarizing messages run both ways. you can't support a democrat without being supportive of baby killing or letting criminals loose before they've finished their sentences that will rape and pillage. both sides have a moral superiority complex and the rights may be arguably more concrete due to the religious aspect being more prevalent but we agree the left ran a stronger moral superiority message out of the two. although i think Trump turned it on hard down the stretch.

This post was edited by thesnipa on Jan 20 2017 12:42pm

The thing there is, they only had the motto. There was no substance behind it. There was no detailing what would #MAGA, so to speak (and the media's complete unwillingness to call him out on this during the campaign is ludicrous). Only that he would MAGA.

well, I might be biased here, but IMHO the trump campaign made very clear what they stood for: end uncontrolled immigration, end unregulated free trade that benefits billionaires and multinational corporations, but hurts the American middle class, end interventionist foreign policy, end a policy of political correctness and minority pampering that went way overboard. refocus on the core of the American society and rebuild the country, both in a literal and in a figurative sense.

trump made very clear where he wanted to go, that he wants a lot of change. and he was credible with this message, with this alignment. he convinced millions of Americans that he stands on their side.
yes, he never gave a lot of details on how he wanted to get there, but at least voters knew the direction he wanted to go, and many liked it.

That would be the substance part.

by contrast, clinton never found any positive message, she couldnt offer "change". all she stood for was "retain the status quo" or even "status quo on steroids". she didnt have a convincing economic message, and her identity policies were entirely focused on minorities and liberal elites. she had absolutely nothing to offer to white and/or rural and/or non-college educated voters. she more or less ceded a huge junk of the electorate without fighting for it.

there is good reason why the clinton campaign always focused on trumps personal, individual transgressions and not on the weaknesses of his policies. as much as trumps campaign was lacking on details and substance, clinton didnt have more convincing alternatives to offer. with her "status quo"-message, she had those that benefit(ted) from the status quo in her bag, but she had no chance to fight for anyone else.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Jan 20 2017 01:46pm

i think your rundown is ridiculous revisionist history. Trump couldn't give specifics that would last more than a week the whole campaign. he went from lambasting people for amnesty, to saying he'd deport everyone, to saying he wouldn't. he'd repeal obamacare immediately, to we'll keep the good parts, to no one will lose their insurance, etc. he wasn't allowed to show his taxes for audit reasons, oh wait did his son just say "it would raise too many questions"? We're gonna get tough on crime and bring back stop and frisk and more, but we're gonna improve police relations. Mexicos gonna pay for the wall, mexicos gonna pay us back.

if you consider a vague stolen message like "make america great again" or "we're gonna take the country back" as clear messages allow me to show you a promising new line of snake oil shampoo.

11/7/16

For old times sake

as I said, I dont deny that he wasnt very convincing or coherent when it came to details. but he was consistent about the changes he wants for America. his goals are consistent. the way to achieve these goals - not so much.

About the 8th time that's been posted in the past week.