"Donald Trump won because Hillary was such a terrible candidate".

[kentuck]

How many times have you heard that?

But, we should keep it in perspective. Donald Trump defeated 16 Republicans before he ran against Hillary Clinton, including Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Marco Rubio, who was to be the new GOP savior. Were they all terrible candidates also?

It was much more than that, and we all know it.

[guillaumeb]

1. And if the "terrible candidate" actually received more votes,

what does that make Trump? The worst candidate?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

2. And she's head by almost 3 million votes

[LisaL]

34. Which doesn't count under the electoral college.

Which is not going to change any time soon.

[mtnsnake]

3. Trump did the same thing in the republican primary that he did in the general election

He lied about himself and he insulted everyone, and the fools bought into it.

[dionysus]

18. You know there's two guys who never bought that pack of lies...

Brewer and Shipley!

One toke over the line sweet mtnsnake, one toke over the line...

[StevieM]

4. She won all the debates and had a great convention. But the fake email scandal was devastating.

The most successful fake scandal in world history.

By the time Comey interfered in the election to help the Republicans there was nothing more that could be done.

I am sure he would have found a way to do the same thing somehow to Bernie Sanders or Martin O'Malley.

[LisaL]

35. I also believe Comey cost us the election.

Unfortunately as he isn't punished what is going to stop the same thing from happening in the future?

[unblock]

5. donnie won first and foremost because the horrendous media.

and then aided by multiple disenfranchisement laws and regulations.

would fdr or jfk or anyone else have done better? honestly? fdr, the media would have blasted as a "cripple" who can't "stand up" for america, and a communist to boot. and something about goldman sachs. and jfk could have given the speech of the century, and the media would have cut away to donnie's empty podium.

[LisaL]

36. You know what else didn't help? The idea that election was "in the bag."

This site also bought into it.
So some people felt perfectly fine writing in Bugs Bunny or staying home (or voting for third party) because election was in the bag.
Only it wasn't.

[HoneyBadger]

6. He took down Jeb

The Republican darling with all the funding and a swing state in his back pocket. I think that is when people started freaking out.

Lets remember that through the summer and past the first debate, Trump was Hillary's dream opponent. There was zero chance of losing.

[BlueCaliDem]

9. Don't forget - the RNC was hacked by Russian intelligence. So were individual candidates. I often

wondered why the other Republican candidates didn't come out swinging against Trump while he was swinging hard against them at all the debates. My only logical answer is: they knew that they were hacked and their e-mails and information would be used against them if they tried to fight back hard.

Putin wanted Trump from the get-go. He was the one he wanted elected as POTUS. The other Republicans weren't as friendly toward the dictator of Russia.

And now Trump won.

Coincidence? Don't think so.

[HoneyBadger]

12. So Kasich is the only one with no Russian oppo file?

He was the last to go. And still had plenty to say after that.

[BlueCaliDem]

17. Could be. OR he really DGAF. eom

[Alekzander]

7. No, Trump won because Clinton not only had to run against Trump but had to fight the media,

FBI, a completely foreign power & adversary-Russia & their leader Putin, WikiLeaks & our very own media that was complicit in allowing Trump to downplay his bribing of State Attorney Generals, his own so-called charity foundation, the Trump University which should have been covered more as well with its fraud, non-release of Trump tax returns, Trumps conflict of interests while constantly going after Clinton saying she had to divest herself of their charity.

I mean, good candidate or not, who could go up against all of the things Clinton had to fight & win. Even with all of that, she still won the American people's vote which to me is more honest than the other EC.

[oasis]

22. +1

[jalan48]

8. The media was able to present Trump as a political outsider running against the corrupt

Washington Establishment. Issues were always secondary to personality. Let's face it, most American's aren't politically savvy.

[libtodeath]

10. He didnt win anything

he stole enough states to be installed by a racist system laid out by a racist country.

[melman]

11. Well yeah

Actually they were all terrible candidates. Can you name one that wasn't?

[Emilybemily]

13. I am going to punch anyone

Who says that shit to me.

[BigBoss26]

14. Trump won because of many reasons.

Bigotry, voter disenfranchisement, garbage media, Russian influence and, yes, some mistakes from Hillary.

It's ok to acknowledge that our candidate had some baggage/shortcomings and also acknowledge that there were outside influences too. People looking for one singular answer are way off the mark.

[randome]

15. Absolutely.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[uponit7771]

21. It was mostly Comey, voter suppression and Russia and HRC isn't perfect but doesn't bear the onus

[Generic Brad]

16. There was not a better candidate out there

If there were, that person would have won the party's nomination.

[Kentonio]

30. Not really.

The party apparently forgot we were supposed to be picking the candidate who would be most likely to win nationwide, not just with the Democratic base. Hillary's unfavourables showed that she was going to go into that race with serious problems even before the Republicans started campaigning properly against her.

[Axolotls]

19. "Both of the party's nominated the only person the other side could beat"

I forget which gop official/insider said that, but I think it's right on the money. Yes, Trump took out 16 other candidates in the primaries, some of which were experienced and/or well-funded so it's obvious they all weren't crappy...but keep in mind the republican rank-and-file were hungry for someone like Trump. He came along at just the right moment...the time was ripe for him. Doubtful if any other cycle he would've gotten off the ground and in such a big way.

[uponit7771]

20. Comey, Voter suppression, Russia... !!!!

[LaydeeBug]

23. "Donald Trump won because the KGB hacked our democracy and committed an ACT OF WAR"

Republicans helped them, and Obama rolled over for it

[Paladin]

24. Fuck this shit. (nt)

[PragmaticLiberal]

25. I don't think Hillary was a terrible candidate.

But with that being said, I think she had certain weaknesses.....weaknesses which Trump exploited.


I think Hillary would have been a fine President but honestly, I just don't think she was a great campaigner....and unfortunately for her, that's part of the game as well.

[emulatorloo]

28. Trump was a "better campaigner" because he was willing to say ANYTHING

to get elected. Made promises he cannot keep regarding Coal and Manufacturing. Demonized the other, etc etc. He told people lies they wanted to hear.

And yes he has a certain charisma that few people have. That counts a lot with some voters.

[Exilednight]

26. She lost because she's a terrible campaigner.

Trump was a terrible candidate, but knew how to campaign.

[Exilednight]

41. tell me Hillary's ecomomic message in 3 to 5 words.

Go to my website doesn't work,

[Midwestern Democrat]

27. Republican self-destruction in primaries was hardly a new phenomenon.

They flirted with it in 2012 when multiple un-electable candidates traded the polling lead before they finally bowed to reality and nominated Romney. They threw away at least three guaranteed Senate seats (Indiana, Delaware, Nevada) in past cycles by nominating the worst candidate possible. I don't think there's any doubt that Bush, Kasich, or Rubio would have been much more formidable candidates than Trump - all of them would have had the full support of their party; would have had far more money; would have had far better campaign operations. I think 3 million Gary Johnson voters (his increase between 2012 and 2016) would have voted for these guys. My own guess - these three men all would have won the national popular vote, would have won all the Trump states (with the possible exception of Michigan), and probably would have also won NH, MN, VA, CO, and NV.

[geek tragedy]

29. Democrats failed to recognize 2016 was a change election even with Obama being popular.

Parts of the country have done very well over the past 8 years. Others did not do so well and were eager for change of any kind.

[okieinpain]

31. she wasn't a terrrible candidate but she was a terrible

campaigner. this mess about playing psych games with trump about which states they were going to campaign in and not going to your must have states was just total bullshit.

also i have to admit seeing sen. sanders doing that town hall with chris hayes is just something i don't think hillary could do.

[okieinpain]

32. and don't let me forget the deal

with how they spent money. the african-american community saved her ass in the primaries and for them to not be able to spend more then 2% of their campaign dollars with african american businesses is a freakin embarrassment.

[LisaL]

33. Well, lets face it. She had high negatives (due to years and years of republicans going after her)

to begin with.
That was a known fact.
Trump also had high negatives but republicans apparently fall in line no matter what their candidate is.

[djsunyc]

37. just numbers

trump is president and hillary isn't b/c alot of liberals couldn't think of the bigger picture and couldn't get over their own sh t.

[andym]

42. The thing is that Hillary Clinton almost won in a landslide

After the Access Hollywood revelations she was about 10% ahead and at about 50% of the voters according to the polls. The biggest problem in the election was that Hillary Clinton was a vulnerable candidate, because her favorability was around 35%. That allowed the Comey letter and to a lesser extent the Wikileaks stuff to hurt her campaign. Her favorability was low because of a concerted effort by the GOP to neutralize her over several years and they then got very lucky (unfortunately for us) with the FBI investigation of the email server.