Trump will win?

[gillianren]

They haven't marched yet; the majority of marches are today.  We're much more worried about their disruption by Trump supporters and their use as a tool who just want an excuse to break stuff, honestly.  That's probably what happened in Portland in the first days after the election--there's a certain amount of suspicion that the people breaking stuff didn't vote for Clinton, possibly didn't vote at all, and are just anarchists looking for an excuse to participate in behaviour that they believe will break down society.  I knew people in college who were that sort at the WTO protests in Seattle at the time.  I agree that it makes the movement look bad, and so do my friends--with one or two exceptions, who believe a little social breakdown is necessary to enact change.  Which, you know, that's a conversation I'm done having.

I am still okay with that guy getting punched, at least a little, because literally neo-Nazi.  Apparently even his awful haircut is intended to evoke his politics, and he was talking about them at the time it happened.  It's hard to be upset when someone punches a Nazi, even if it doesn't do any good for the movement.

[Glom]

Anarchists always live up to their name.

But the most amusing was when they joined in the protest against tuition fees. Anarchists claim to be upset that the government isn't supporting the higher education more. Everything about that is a contradiction.

[Obviousman]

I can't.  I just can't.  I've got a lot of friends around the country who are marching tomorrow, though.

With the greatest of respect, I hope none of them were involved in violent protest.

I mean, I fully support people having their say (doing so is better protected in the USA than here in Australia), but the reports I've seen of damage to private property and assaults on people (coward-punched while being interviewed on TV, no less) are not going to do anything to garner sympathy.

I agree totally. Protest, yes. Civil disobedience, yes. Violence & destruction of property, no.

[Halcyon Dayz, FCD]

Anarchists always live up to their name.

At least those you see on TV.

[gillianren]

It's also worth noting that there were no arrests at the protests in most cities; I have yet to hear of any arrests, even though the crowds were far, far larger than anticipated.  The city I live in has 50,000 people.  They were estimating 2500 would attend, and they are now estimating over 10,000 did.  There was no violence and no destruction of property (the grass at the capital probably got shredded again, but 10,000 people will do that), and the biggest problem I know of from the LA march is an overcrowded public transit system.

[smartcooky]

I can't recall ever seeing so much public outrage over the election of a US Presdident

[gillianren]

The polls indicate there has never been this much.  He's going into office with the lowest approval rating ever recorded of an incoming President.  It's not just that he lost the popular vote by nearly three million people.  Though that is a lot of it; the last election I can remember that was even close to this controversial was 2000, the other time in my life when the popular vote and the EC had different results.  It's that a lot of us are saying, "Well, I didn't like Romney or McCain or even W, but I didn't fear they'd strip my rights as much as I fear it from Trump."  I'm scheduled for a tubal ligation on the third.  For what I think are obvious reasons, I literally cannot have it any sooner.  Under most Republicans, I'd be saying, "I don't think they could make that a problem for me that soon; laws take time to pass."  But Trump is already signing damaging executive orders, and I am already worried that I won't be able to get the procedure early next month.

[twik]

I can't recall ever seeing so much public outrage over the election of a US Presdident

Nope, last time there was this much political rancor was the 1960s.

[smartcooky]

I wonder how many people who voted for him now wish they had not (like Brexit) ?

I also wonder how much damage he will be able to do before the mid-terms take away his power?

[Ranb]

I can't recall ever seeing so much public outrage over the election of a US Presdident

As far as I know only about 58% of registered voters bothered to vote in 2016.  I wonder how many of those protesters (if registered  voters) filled out a ballot for president.

[ka9q]

Obviously not everyone who protested voted; I presume most of the protesters in other countries were not US citizens (even though they are still affected by everything the US does), and there were more than a few children even in the US marches.

But the latest crowd estimates (available at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xa0iLqYKz8x9Yc_rfhtmSOJQ2EGgeUVjvV4A8LsIaxY/htmlview?sle=true#gid=0) show the number of US protesters alone somewhat exceeding Hillary's popular vote margin over Trump.

So yeah, I can reasonably assume that most of those eligible did vote. Not that it did any good, of course.

[gillianren]

I'm also curious how many of them marched because voter suppression efforts prevented them from voting.  Certainly enough people are likely to have been prevented from voting to have turned the election.

[LionKing]

Is Trump Straussian?

[twik]

bknight, I wonder what your assessment of your earlier prognostication is, having seen Trump in power for five days?

While trying to stay out of the firing line that seems to be forming, I believe that Trump is not the hair trigger that many have portrayed.  He will no doubt sound better now that the opposition is narrowed.

...

I will repeat my earlier pose.  I believe all of us will see a much more pragmatic and can do type attitude towards the polices.

...


I rather doubt that the decision for child bearing will be taken from women, but we shall see.
 

All I can say is, I hope you didn't enjoy NPR or PBS too much. Or the National Parks Service being allowed to tweet about global warming.

[gillianren]

And there's already been an anti-abortion executive order.