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The feeling here is that Trump will get in for a second term. But I doubt many people will be surprised if Harris wins. One way or another, I’m anticipating a strange day at work tomorrow!

Out of interest,  when you say "the feeling here".... Where is "here"?... For me, a Trump victory doesn't bear thinking about

Just outside of DC, so very much in the thick of things.

Some businesses are boarding up in anticipation of trouble. It’s very surreal.

Interesting... Couldn't be much more in the thick of it than that.... I don't think Trump will win and I'm not a religious person but I'm praying he doesn't...

I thought Trump getting in the first time was until I went to New York the Feb before and put their news on in the hotel room. Very quickly realised it was no joke. We're very far removed from it here.

They're both terrible. The democrats are some of the most despicable people on the planet. I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist but there is a lot of crossover between celebrities promoting Harris and those being investigated for pedophilia and human trafficking. Not to mention the amount of people that have mysteriously committed suicide close to the Clintons.

Its the same bullshit we get here where people like to portray the left as sugar and spice and all things nice vs the evil right, when in reality the overwhelming majority of politicians on both sides are utter scum.

I'm not a fan of Trump but I'll shrug my shoulders either way.

I’m not a very political person, I let most of it go over my head. What I do know is how incredibly toxic it is here. I thought it was divisive in the UK but that doesn’t hold a candle to the utter hatred many people feel for those on the other side. Absolutely no chance of that changing for at least a generation

I was sort of enjoying the TEF being the one place on the internet not talking about this, but I guess it's the actual day of so probably not too bad. One mad thing about US elections is just how long they run for - I'm sure this campaign started about two years ago.

I try very hard not to let things I don't have control over worry me - there's plenty of fucking dreadful things going on in the world that I can't affect. But a second Trump term does scare me - not so much for the just general deep unpleasantness of the man but for what it would mean for European alliances - if he gets in and withdraws from either or both of the Paris climate change agreements or NATO then we have real problems.

Harris is the more status quo option foreign policy wise, and I can really see the attraction of a change to that status quo, but not every change is for the better and it's hard to imagine a second term would be.

Yeah I always think its terrible here with huge division and usually two terrible legitimate choices and then on the states side its so much worse.

It's crazy to think that people will actually vote for a man like Trump. He's about as bad a person that you can get, but obviously has some appeal to some.

The business I work for trades in the US, and Trump is talking about applying tariffs to all and sundry so we're desperately hoping he won't get in. From a personal perspective, I just want the man to disappear. Vile.

And as bad as it is here in Virginia where the winner is pretty much a foregone conclusion (Harris) I can’t imagine what it’s like in the swing states like’s Pennsylvania

When I hear this term used I think of Trump like this.

(https://media.tenor.com/bbE_46S4_W8AAAAM/playground-swing-fail-playground.gif)

Swindon is the UK equivalent of a swing state funnily enough. When was the last time Swindon went against the overall winner?

1979 I think. It was one seat then, gone for the winner every election since 1997 when they split for sure.

British politics is like a WI meeting compared to US politics...thank God! It is utterly toxic and the possible consequences of a Trump win are pretty terrifying for the whole world (the USA pulling out of NATO is unthinkable)

The whole Trump/MAGA thing is utterly baffling to me, it totally blows my mind. In 2016, I absolutely detested Trump even then and didn't want him to win but I could see why he might appeal to some people...i.e. he was not a politician as such, he was from the outside and would come in and give the political machine the shake up it so badly needed etc....but now, everyone has seen his true colours (mainly orange!)....and yet he has a massive following. It is a cult though...a cult which thrives on ignorance, bigotry and hate...There is no Republican party any more, it's been hijacked by a bunch of freaks, fraudsters and criminals...

Unless there is a clear run away leader which I doubt this will probably drag on until Dec or Jan next year.  We all know Trump will contest every Harris win

This could be another Al Gore v George W Bush election where is took until December to announce even though polling day was 7th November

When future historians piece together the history of this period, it would be so interesting to see how they put MAGA in to context.  I suspect that it will be seen as a large-scale, populist reaction to the end of the period of unchecked American global dominance.  Tens of millions of Americans - realising that the American Dream that their parents & grandparents lived through, and the living standards that it generated - was on the wane.  Frustrated, angry, and willing to see through the faults of an appalling human being in a futile bid to rediscover national 'greatness'.  The parallels with Germany in the 1930s are so obvious to see.

Fortunately, there are differences as well.  Not suggesting that 1930s Germany = 2020s USA in every respect, clearly - and not least because, I suspect, America is about to swerve its next date with fascism after flirting with it.  (Or is that 'I hope'?  I'm not sure, actually.)  Trump was certainly right when he called this one of the most consequential elections in US history.

I noticed Trump was continuing to ramp up the rhetoric on the campaign trail, stoking the fires that caused the DC riots back in 2020 (or whenever it was) "They're wrking really hard to steal this electio- really hard to steal it".

If campaigning to win an election is working hard to steal it, WTAF does he think his lot are doing?

Still, never let the arch conspiracy theorist be denied.

From the Guardian's live feed:

Jessica Mendoza, 35, voted for Trump. “I have two kids and I really just want to see a change for them and a better future,” she said “We’re also Christians so we voted with our morals as well.”

Sometimes I think people live in alternative realities.  Did Jessica not see Trump fellating a microphone just days ago?  Morals, Jessica?  Christian morals?  Seriously?!

I mean I'm not sure that's top of his list of moral failings...

The Bible is full of imperfect men doing the work of God, if that's what you want to see. Of course, that doesn't mean that any imperfect man is doing the work of God...

 I suspect the outcome of what happens in the States over the next few days/weeks will also be interesting from a Tory (and much of the public's perception of them) point of view, a large number of what is now the shadow cabinet have come out pro Trump, now if he wins its likley to lead to him establishing a pretty far right regime, abandoning longstanding Western alliances and norms which in turn will possibly encourage/embolden Putin to invade multiple Eastern European democracies, and if he loses we will no doubt see widespread violence and insurrection (again)... Not sure either of these will go down that well in middle England.....

Her surname is Mendoza. Possible heritage from somewhere ravaged by far left politics like Cuba or Venezuela.

And yet, he’d probably want her deported. I can’t understand how any sane person could want him in charge of a village fete tombola, let alone a whole nation.

The fact this is even a contest shows just how fucked the American psyche is. It feels like even if there was video footage of Trump had been sat in the chair in the hotel room watching some godawful heinous crime Epstein was doing (probably with Prince Andrew in wardrobe), his supporters would insist it was good and actually was pretty GREAT actually, maybe you should not vaccinate your kids and prostrate before Jeeeeezus.

No matter your opinion of the democrats or republicans, re-electing that orange meat puppet of the sinister is boggling, and yet we're on the verge of them doing it for a SECOND TIME.

The worst thing is that it legitimises the benefit of blatantly lying to the voting populace in a Western democracy. As if we don't have enough problems with that.

orange meat puppet heh  :soapy tit wank:

Lots of sirens and horn honking and all that malarkey already.

Why does OMP keep banging on about ''paper'' like it's some new thing? Anyone would think it was c1850. He just needs to replace the baseball cap with a top hat - because it's likely the workhouses and mills wouldn't be far behind.

Early signs not good.  F*** me, they might be about to give him another term.  This is bleak.

Yeah not good he’s won all the major states which doesn’t bode well

Fuck. Me.

And fuck you, you stupid, stupid dumb Americans.

Speechless.

Disappointed but not surprised. The older I get, the more I think elections pretty much come down to trying not to be the party in possession when the world economy goes to shit. The rest doesn't seem to matter except at the margins, if the economy tanks while you're in charge, that'll be it for you however you handle it.

Second this.

The next decade is gonna be rough.

What a time to be alive.
STFC and now this.

It would be like us deciding to re-appoint Mark Kennedy.

Utter madness.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Voters don't care that he is a criminal, don't care that he is a serial liar and don't care that he is unhinged. They care about money in their pocket and the border crisis.

The Democrats failed to address the issues that matter to the voters and in particular issues that matter to the regular middle class folk, the votes of the MAGA whackjobs weren't enough to win the election on their own (as per 2020 election).

Biden can take his share of the blame, had he not ran for re-election it would have given the party time to go through the proper nomination process to find a candidate who wasn't guilty by association to him

Absolutely this...not that Biden did a terrible job but it's all about perception...

Your comment mirrors this country, only in part we are lagging about four years behind.

In some ways i agree. Sadly there is certainly a growing movement in this country not too dissimilar to MAGA who will probably have a bigger say in our next election

I quite enjoy the idea of watching the world burn, so I'm sure that fat orange idiot will assist in that.

However, it's semi-scary that someone so unhinged can have so much power. Plus with Musk being involved and Project 2025 it's a whole other level of scary. Stupid cunting Americans.

I don't think it would ever happen for obvious reasons (Labour would go mad, I don't think Farage would say yes) but I suspect the best political move possible for the country now would be for Starmer to offer Farage the US Ambassadorship. Trump is, above all else, someone who has his favourites and Farage is clearly in the 'in' group.

We're in a tough spot undoubtedly outside the EU and with a likely less friendly US President. Tough time to be Keir Starmer, again.

Republicans/Democrats, Tories/Labour. Not a lot of difference between any of them when in power.
We're all screwed as there appears no alternative.

He's already single handedly won the Olympics and World Cup, bigly.

Trump wins then. Jeez

Dey eat der own doooogs.

FFS. What a nation.

But it is "democracy" even if the rules have changed.

Not quite what I meant, however, it’s down to the incumbent government to steer the country, wether they can successfully or not remains to be seen. I do feel for the American public. The choice of candidates was very watered grits.

I have no connection with the US, so have avoided as much of this bollocks as i could.

In my view, two things caused Trump to come back.

Biden getting in...bumbling, not all there old fella etc etc.

Establishment going after Trump.....shouldnt of done that...makes him a underdog and stronger....

Almost as mad as us voting in Johnson

I personally think that the USA will never vote for
a). a woman into power
b). another person of black heritage into power

Combining the 2 was a bridge too far IMO.

I do think you're probably right that the Democrats are going to nominate the whitest man they can find in 2028, but I'm not sure it was the decisive factor. Biden was losing by more than Harris before dropping out, the problem wasn't identity of the candidate racially/gender wise so much as what they were associated with in governance.

The markets seem to like the result.

Not sure I agree. The margins were tight. If a couple of states swung the other way we’d have a black woman president.

It's possible that there might not be any nominations for 2028.

Anyway, looking forward to Gilead hosting the next world cup.

Another win for Russia. Putin's little pissstained lapdog will ensure that the defence of Ukraine won't be standing for too much longer. Murica is utterly fucked.

Don't mince your words mate :D

But we haven't done it twice.

Blessed be the fruit

I've seen that James Corden had threatened to leave America if Trump won, no wonder the fuckers voted for the Orange Man

We need to put an injunction in place to stop this.

we are the real victims in all this

FFS, the day keeps getting better  :suicide:

It's not really that comparable, the Democrats are probably more liberal than Labour and the Republicans are much more right-wing than the current Tory party.

Now, a Tory/Reform alliance with Farage at the helm on the other hand...

Watch out for 2029.

True

If anything, today is a win for capitalism. His rich friends are going to get richer. Why do you think Musk was backing him?

I liked this

Yet...

We could trump Trump and go full Farage.

Fucksake don't even joke about that. The thought of fucking Nigel Mirage, aka Parker from Thunderbirds {Parker's movements were less wooden} being PM is probably more than enough for folk to jump off Beachy Head.

RE: Results

When you look at a lot of the states there's not a lot in it. A few thousand votes in many cases. Similar in both the Senate and the House. The Senate had a few where there's only a few hundred votes between Red or Blue. The House of course is still to be decided.

I thought it quite remarkable that more women, latinos and trans people have voted for Trump...which speaks volumes I guess about the voter intention of the USA public.

As others have said, surely when your two main presidents elect are shite, you usually vote for the better of the bad - call me stupid but surely this should have been a case of ''...anyone but Trump''

I guess when you've got the likes of Musk and Rogan throwing all their potential reach and shit stirring absolute garbage at it...then some of it is going to stick isn't it? Musk should be nowhere near politics but the tune of near £100m says otherwise. Yet Trump was fully against EVs until Musk cam on board as his number one backer. I can't see that relationship last very long if I'm honest.

Oh well America, you {or at least 51% of you} have made your bed, so you and the rest of the world will have to sleep in it for at least another four years. Hysteria has landed in the US of A yet again and there really isn't a noun close enough to match it.

Joe Rogan voted for Biden by the way. He's very centralist but to the left of course he's literally a nazi.

He invited Kamala on too and she bottled it. Could have been a pivotal moment that.

How much more does the World's richest person want? Can't stand him.

Has he ever thought about buying a football club? Might sway your opinion on him.

Hahaha, yeah, after he's done four years as co-comms on Wiltshire Sound saying stuff like he's going to repeal the offside rule, make our tickets cheaper by charging away fans £100, build a wall around the Town End to create the illusion of a new stadium etc. etc.

We need to stop away fans coming here. They're breaking the taps, they're breaking the bogs...

Especially Tottenham ones, clogging up the systems with their not so mysterious white powder

Bit concerning...

Just had a mutual friend say ''I quite likes the bloke'', meaning Trump.

This is someone who has not long started to bring a daughter up into the world...how can someone consciously have that view?

I find that really difficult to get my head round  :crash:

No chance. If he ever fancied getting in the ring with me I might change my mind, so no chance  :D

Indeed. But in the UK's defence, Johnson got less than half the vote, unlike Trump.

We also don't vote for the prime minister as such. His name wasn't on any ballots. You vote for your local MP and then the winning party appoints their leader the PM.

Splitting hairs a little bit maybe.

Definitely splitting hairs, very few people vote specifically for an MP, in fact most don’t even vote for a PM, the majority just vote for a party.

The USA system is very different though - to avoid having a King, the President has limited powers, and passing laws is pretty hard without control of all three of the Presidency, Senate and Congress.

It wasn't a surprise that Trump won.  I think I mentioned months ago that Harris was not a great pick.  The problem the Democrats had was allowing Biden to run for so long instead of getting him to bring forth a new generation.  He did his initial job then got stuck in Power I guess.  Even with the right candidate it would have been tough given the Economic headwinds - namely inflation.

On Trump, he succeeds by enabling the people who would usually mutter their shit under their breath the opportunity to say stuff out loud and there are enough of them willing to vote that it makes a difference.  Long term, I don't think that path sustains well, but until the passage of time gradually changes the electorate, the battle is getting people to cast a vote.  Fear and anger are motivating forces.

Listening to a lot of Americans, Harris was somewhat of a joke. She basically can't speak for longer than a couple of minutes reciting the same rhetoric about growing up middle class over and over just speaking in sound bytes.

The democrats seem hell bent on putting the most unlikable candidates they can against Trump. It says a lot that the one that actually managed to win was completely fucking senile. They've done this to themselves.

Equally on the other side if it was a more moderate republican instead of Trump they'd have probably mascaraed Harris on the vote worse than it was.

Eh, Harris' approval ratings were loads better than Trumps (and Walz's better than Vance's). I don't think she was a great candidate, but she wasn't uniquely bad - Biden would absolutely have done worse. Party's perceived record and priorities was a much bigger problem.

Agree that a Republican who wasn't Trump would have won by plenty though. Interesting that turnout seems to have dropped so much, Trump looks likely to get less votes than he did in 2016 and 2020 in winning comfortably. Probably speaks to general dissatisfaction.

I've seen this posted a few times (mainly by Republicans) but the 2020 election numbers seem to be way higher than what they generally are. 81.2 million to Biden and 74.2 million for Trump.

2024 was 72.6 million and 68 million
2016 was 63 million and 65 million
2012 was 65 million and 61 million

Was 2020 because of Covid and the mail in ballots or something? I know its being posted as the Republicans think the numbers are hooky with all the dead people and illegal aliens voting etc but is there a viable explanation for the numbers?

Decent table of that here (although not including 2024 yet as it's not finished counting) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_United_States_presidential_elections

2020 definitely is higher, but we're talking about going from ~60% of the eligible voters turning out to ~65%, so it's not obviously suspicious. I could certainly believe that people might care a bit more about politics than average coming out of Covid, where politics had clearly had a huge effect on the lives of everyone, even those who wouldn't normally care. Vote by mail access was definitely expanded hugely relative to previous elections (and I think in some states has shrunk again this year).

The other flaw with the conspiracy theory side of that (rather than just finding it interesting and wondering why) is... if the Democrats did somehow fix the 2020 election, when they weren't in power, why on earth would they *not* do it this time round when they are?

Yes - the 2020 election had massive changes in voting methods, opening up voting to people who would otherwise not make the effort, or be able, to vote in person.  It was also at the inflection point of Covid being so obviously mismanaged in the USA (for many peoples perception) and the material impact that was having on lives.  Inflation this time around was the key driver, I have no doubt.

And if anyone wonders why someone would vote for an idiot like Trump just because of inflation - I pay about $6 for a loaf of sliced white bread (riddle with preservatives for extra fun).  I can well imagine people voting with their wallets.

$6? Haven't you got a local Walmart?

About $5

Be interesting to understand how much of that is actual economic inflation and the rest is corporate driven inflation (i.e. big business never lowering their prices despite a fluctuating cost of production), because the corporate driven side of it is only going to get worse.

EDIT: 8% inflation in 2022?! What is this, Trussonomics? No worse than UK inflation that year. 1.2% in 2020, otherwise hovering around 4. It's higher marginally than UK inflation as a comparator, but it's not widely out of step with it, probably as a result of the same global pressures affecting the world economy post-Covid.

Please see shrinkflation ( do they dare do that in the US?) and adulteration of products with cheaper ingredients (filling cadburys with veg fat i.e.), which having seen ingredients lists on American products is a tried and true story over in Yankee Doodle dandy land.

Cadburys owners were always going to dumb down the ingredients to max out margins and recoup their outlay ASAP. That’s why I don’t buy any ‘Mondolez’  products if I can buy something else.

It wasn't any worse than any other large Country, but heaven help the person in charge if petrol prices go up noticeably.  When most of your car stock runs at <30mpg they really do not like it.  Don't forget, trucking is massive over here with a rail network that stopped improving at Blazing Saddles.  Generally speaking the cost of living it pretty high already, so you'd do well to win an election as the incumbent in a two party system.  The result was heading for Labour type vibes at one point.  Harris at least made it a choice.

I thought the Republicans made a big deal about petrol prices dramatically increasing under Biden, as if he was specifically to blame?

They did, he wasn't really, it doesn't matter because perception is King.  They tied him to initial talk around the Green New Deal and then spent 4 years relating petrol prices to it.

I had an American girlfriend for many years, unfortunately I know the mindset of '30mpg is efficient!' all too well. I asked if we should take the train when we were over there once (east coast) and got confused looks as to why.

I'm not arguing with you at all you understand RobertT, perhaps just pointing at the self-obsession of the American psyche. Sometimes things have to change for the individual to improve conditions generally, or, heaven forbid, help out people worse off than you.

It's not a surprise that almost every Trump voter (even the reasonably sane ones) keep bringing why back to personal interest. Lots of 'mys' and very few "we"'s

Oh well, Gilead in the world cup in a couple of years, that'll be fun.

The I vs We is big, and I kind of get it.  Their culture is designed around pulling yourself up, the American Dream if you like.  On the one end, it creates mega wealth and huge strides in technology and science, on the other end, it leaves plenty behind with little care or planning.

It's another reason for the Trump win - despite the rhetoric used, the Hispanic community is split and not just some huge voting bloc for Dems.  A lot of them have escaped "Socialism" (which is never really Socialism, more dictatorships) and are religiously right wing, which has a huge impact in Politics here.  Fuck, I still can't buy spirits in a supermarket and have been rebuffed at 11.45am on a Sunday from buying the wine in my shop.

Despite all that, I actually quite like living here.

My Venezuelan fiance baulked when I told her me and my family were socialists.  After explaining the difference between European socialism and the brutal dictatorship of chavismo. She realised she was very much aligned with our way of thinking. She is very worried for the undocumented Venezuelans in the states who have fled a criminally under reported regime that maduro is brutally imposing on her poor country