So here's how Brexit and Trump prevailed...and it's scarier than you think

[-Jrabbit]

This is a long read, because it's real journalism and a complex story.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...p-nigel-farage

TL/DR = Robert Mercer is the conservative computer genius billionaire who has figured out how to leverage social media to influence mass behavior. And if you actually read and understand the entire article, you will strongly consider deleting your social media accounts.

There's a lot more to it, including how the same people are funding - and weaponizing - legitimate investigative journalism.

Scary and depressing. Enjoy!

[Dr Strangelove]

I don't think you can attribute all of this to one man. Bear in mind that it's not just the US, there are signs of a right-ward turn in a number of countries in Europe also, Take France for instance. Mercer isn't the only one financing this. Russia is pouring millions into Le Pen's party and other right wing parties throughout Europe.

[Kidlicious]

The guardian?

[Aeson]

Trump won because he bowed to R interests after 16 candidates split the vote for R interests in the primary. And because Hillary was under FBI investigation the last week of the election... among other things.

Against a decent candidate he would have lost.

[-Jrabbit]

JonMiller

[-Jrabbit]

JonMiller

[-Jrabbit]

Mercer was a Cruz guy at the start of the campaign, then changed horses. Previously, he funded Bannon/Breitbart to the tune of $10mill. Safe to say, he's definitely a rich guy trying to manipulate things.

@DrStr - Good to see you posting! Don't confuse the writing of a provocative thread title with attributing everything to Mercer. Cuz yeah, elections are pretty multivariate by nature, duh.

WTF, this is like the ultimate JonMiller post. Multiple originals, and my "Good to see you" edit generated another set of JMs. Weird. Gnite all.

[Kidlicious]

I didn't know that politics is funded.

[Proteus_MST]

I didn't know that politics is funded.

Well, in the USA it surely is ... wiithout their billions of Dollars that the 2 large parties get from rich people with special interests, they wouldn't be able to have those 1.5 years of election campaigns they usually have
(and, who knows, if there were a real cap on donations to political parties, not only he election campaigns were shorter, but maybe the smaller parties in the USA also would stand a better chance against the Dems and Reps, than thy do now )

[Kidlicious]

Meh, that's a disconnected. People don't donate to third parties because they don't want to waste their money.

It should be said that I still haven't been arsed into reading the Guardian, as intriguing as it sounds, "weaponizing journalism."

[MJW]

Reasons why Trump got won

1. He got lucky that a Hillary scandal was in the news on election day not one of his. If fact his scandals helped him in a way by making Hillary overconfident and focus on the Senate. She could have easily squeezed out 2% in the Midwest.

2. Hillary being an unusually week candidate. I'll go with the biggest reason: it's been painfully obvious that she would be the Democratic nominee for President. Negative things were 90% of this election. So the GOP got effectively a ten-year head start in the race. It takes so much to blow that.

3. GWB's implosion and Obama being great at turning out minorities made the Democrats ditch the Blue Dogs too soon by pushing gay marriage. There's many Blue Dog House members who voted against it and won a district were Trump won by 20%+. Just because they had no chance of winning (because the GOP had an unfair advantage because they could see 20 years into the future because of Europe) when DOMA was passed (and there was a good chance of losing big by having the GOP pass an amendment that stops LGBT rights) doesn't take away the fact that they punted. If they thought there was a chance of losing to someone like Trump they would have punted again (it's much easier a second time) and won this election easily. (My belief is that punting a second time doesn't mean much so you might as well focus on winning elections and wait until support for gay marriage was over 50%.)

[The Mad Monk]

The guardian?

Kid, please change your avatar. I keep thinking you're Ben.