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Why Trump Won (Victor Davis Hanson)
Hoover Institution ^ | November 11, 2016 | Victor Davis Hanson

Posted on 11/12/2016 9:16:45 AM PST by Semper911

Edited on 11/12/2016 11:53:24 AM PST by Jim Robinson. [history]

Throughout the course of the 2016 election, the conventional groupthink was that the renegade Donald Trump had irrevocably torn apart the Republican Party. His base populism supposedly sandbagged more experienced and electable Republican candidates, who were bewildered that a

(Excerpt) Read more at hoover.org ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2016election; 2016issues; election2016; mytruelove; trumpvictory; vdh; victordavishanson
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To: BobL

When one considers the Illegal Vote, the Dead Vote, the Proxy Voting, and the media bias - this was a BLOWOUT ELECTION. Clean up our system and media and Trump would have won by 15 points, if not more.


Correct. Just the people who voted Libertarian would have won him Maine, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Nevada in addition to what he won.

Worth repeating.


101 posted on 11/12/2016 12:48:02 PM PST by marktwain
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To: Semper911
Beyond that, even Trump’s admitted crudity was seen by many as evidence of a street-fighting spirit sorely lacking in Republican candidates that had lost too magnanimously in 1992, 2008, and 2016 to vicious Democratic hit machines.

I figured this out a year ago. I predicted that Trump would win the nomination and surmised that he had the best chance of winning the general election against Hillary Clinton. VDH hits two of the key reasons--(1) He could draw blue-collar voters who were not traditional Republicans (2) He is a street fighter. And we needed that to take on the Left Wing Hate Machine.

102 posted on 11/12/2016 12:51:09 PM PST by Lysandru
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To: Semper911

Wow, what a fantastic essay. Top notch.


103 posted on 11/12/2016 1:03:20 PM PST by Persevero (NUTS)
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To: Semper911

“The more Clinton played the identity politics card, the more she earned fewer returns for herself and more voters for Trump”

Very astute analysis from Mr. Hanson.


104 posted on 11/12/2016 1:11:18 PM PST by Senator Goldwater
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To: Semper911

this is a tremendous article. I think the NeverTrump types may not have all been necessarily anti-Trump at heart; they were so deathly scared of more Republican POTUS losses, and were just scared that the media would easily eviscerate Trump. Our record from 1992-2012 (inclusive) was 2 for 6; I can’t hate the ones for whom it wasn’t truly personal, but just wanted to avoid making it 2 for 7. 2 for 7 is less than a third: the kind of vote total Hillary got in West Virginia, which Bill Clinton won by double digits twice, most recently in 1996, 52%-37%.


105 posted on 11/12/2016 1:23:21 PM PST by ErikJohnsky
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To: Semper911
So, why couldn't Victor see this months ago, when he was NeverTrump? He speaks well now, but he was blind two months ago? Really?
106 posted on 11/12/2016 1:45:56 PM PST by ConservativeMind ("Humane" = "Don't pen up pets or eat meat, but allow infanticides, abortion, and euthanasia.")
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bump


107 posted on 11/12/2016 4:16:55 PM PST by foreverfree
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To: Semper911

It’s always great to have the perspective of people you respect and trust and who are consistent like Hanson and Rush to add perspective in good times and bad.


108 posted on 11/12/2016 4:22:01 PM PST by Eric Blair 2084 (I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer to drink a bunch of them. Stay thirsty my FRiends)
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To: sparklite2
Wasn’t VDH anti-Trump?

Nope.

Just not a trump supporter. Not the same thing.

109 posted on 11/12/2016 5:38:08 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: Semper911


110 posted on 11/12/2016 5:53:37 PM PST by Iron Munro (If Illegals voted Rebublican 50 Million Democrats Would Be Screaming "Build The Wall!")
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To: randita
Perhaps he was anti-Trump during the primaries, but during the general, he backed Trump. He was one of the lone wolves at NR to do so.

Seeing him as an erudite superior intellect, and considering also who the remaining opponent was, he literally didn't have a choice.

111 posted on 11/12/2016 6:08:18 PM PST by publius911 (IMPEACH HIM NOW evil, stupid, insane ignorant or just clueless, doesn't matter!)
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To: Semper911

Trump’s Republican critics variously disparaged him as, at best, a Huey Long or Ross Perot, whose populist message was antithetical to conservative principles of unrestricted trade, (open-border immigration???), and proper personal comportment. At worse, a few Republican elites wrote Trump off as a dangerous fascist akin to Mussolini, Stalin, or Hitler.

*********************************************************

Since when is it a conservative principal to ignore the immigration laws and permit open borders?


112 posted on 11/12/2016 8:19:43 PM PST by greeneyes
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To: Semper911

I can make it even shorter: “It’s the Economy Stupid”.

Obama’s ideology and policies didn’t do diddly about creating real jobs for a huge portion of the Democratic Party’s base. There are still people in this country who want to work, and not depend on a handout from Uncle Sam.


113 posted on 11/12/2016 8:23:45 PM PST by greeneyes
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To: cicero2k

A problem is that 1/2 of America lives in these ‘Rat Urban Utopias.


114 posted on 11/12/2016 9:56:40 PM PST by Paladin2 (No spellcheck. It's too much work to undo the auto wrong word substitution on mobile devices.)
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To: blueunicorn6
Donald Trump worked his behind off, and almost lost.

That's because he had a faction of the GOP fighting him and millions of illegals voting Hillary.

In 2020 the GOP will be 99% for Trump, the illegals will be gone, and any doubts about Trump's fitness for office will be banished by his economic boom.

115 posted on 11/13/2016 6:35:47 AM PST by MaxFlint
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To: Semper911

“The Democratic Party is now neither a centrist nor a coalition party. Instead, it finds itself at a dead-end: had Hillary Clinton emulated her husband’s pragmatic politics of the 1990s, she would have never won the nomination—even though she would have had a far better chance of winning the general election.”

Best part is, they did it all to themselves.

“The old blue-collar middle class was bewildered by the leftwing social agenda in which gay marriage, women in combat units, and transgendered restrooms went from possible to mandatory party positions in an eye blink. In a party in which “white privilege” was pro forma disparagement, those who were both white and without it grew furious that the elites with such privilege massaged the allegation to provide cover for their own entitlement.

Haha. He got their f@#$ing number.

In the aftermath of defeat, where goes the Democratic Party?”

STRAIGHT TO HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And good riddance.


116 posted on 11/13/2016 6:41:34 AM PST by Eleutheria5 (“If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.)
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To: randita
Perhaps he was anti-Trump during the primaries, but during the general, he backed Trump.

Millions of us ordinary working stiffs figured out who Trump really was, within weeks of his joining the race.

It's still amazing to me that so many of our 'betters' didn't figure him out until the end of the primary. Some took even longer (looking at you, Levin).

117 posted on 11/13/2016 12:50:29 PM PST by Windflier (Pitchforks and torches ripen on the vine. Left too long, they become black rifles.)
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To: Semper911

Suggestion for Article of the year! BTTT.


118 posted on 11/13/2016 7:05:38 PM PST by Pagey (HELL is The 2nd Term of a POTUS who is a MALICIOUS DIVIDER of humans)
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To: NFHale; Clintonfatigued; fieldmarshaldj; Impy; GOPsterinMA; randita; Sun; ExTexasRedhead

I’m just an “irredeemable......not quite “deplorable”. I need to step up my game a notch : )


119 posted on 11/14/2016 7:22:09 AM PST by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) since Nov 2014 (GOPe is that easy to read))
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To: Semper911
Cognitive Dissonance: This phenomenon is why a year ago I told you I was putting so much emphasis on PREDICTING the outcome of the election using the Master Persuader Filter. I told you it would be easy to fit any theory to the facts AFTER the result. And sure enough, we can fit lots of theories to the facts. At least 24 of them by CNN’s count.

Scott Adams Blog - The Cognitive Dissonance Cluster Bomb

Hanson's a rear running creep.

120 posted on 11/14/2016 7:28:21 AM PST by Stentor
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