Trump's presidency is proof that my fellow U.S. American citizens are very stupid. We elected a stupid racist, homophobic, sexist idiot.

Here is what bothers me. I am a medical professional, and my colleagues are medical professionals. It is amazing that my co-workers can exhibit the type of logic necessary to save and/or maintain the safety of human life, yet value the ideas of Trump daily. It's almost like when discussing politics they warp in time and lose all sense of reality.

completely agree, I get narcissistic, egomaniacs exist, the fact that otherwise normal people voted and after all this, continue to support one for POTUS amazes me.

The majority of voters didn't vote for him, though. The mechanics of the electoral college allow for the minority to impose their electoral will on the majority under certain circumstances. Democratic strongholds tend to be clustered in cities (low area/high population), whereas Republican strongholds tend to be more diffuse and rural (large area/low population).

If you look at a color-coded electoral map of the U.S., it is a sea of red with a few small blue islands sprinkled in. This phenomenon, inter alia, allows Republican candidates to prevail in some national elections, even when they lose the popular vote.

But it's marginal isn't it? So slightly less than half of US voters supported a complete tosspot. Hurrah for the good sense of US voters? I'd really like if complete tosspots lost by a country mile.

We needn't postulate a false dilemma between "US voters are smart" and "US voters are stupid." I'd also like it if tosspots (assuming that's something bad - I don't speak UK) lost by a country mile, but it's also important to keep in mind how the electoral college system works, and how the person elected to POTUS doesn't always reflect the will of (most of) the people.

how the electoral college system works, — Arkady

Or in this case did not work. It's the business of the college to overrule the voters when in their judgment the voter's judgment needs overruling. That they did not, and at the time there were news reports that suggested that some college members wanted to, suggests a significant failure of the system. It takes courage to stand against the crowd; they didn't have it, even when the popular vote was for Clinton.

Some states have laws mandating that their electors vote for the candidate that received the most electoral votes. I believe that electors voting for someone else is a rare occurrence, and I don't know to what extent such laws have been challenged in court. States are generally given broad latitude to run their elections as they see fit (even moreso in the light of the recent Supreme Court decision striking down provisions of the Voting Rights Act), but I don't know if such elector laws would be adjudicated to fall within the states' purview to conduct elections. If not, they could potentially be struck down.

This is no simple subject. But notwithstanding any law - and I believe the states control their electors - I cannot imagine any elector accepting the notion that his or her vote was purely a rubber stamp and nothing else. Pretty clearly almost all understand that crossing the popular vote is an invitation for trouble, but as I understand their purpose for being, it is exactly to take on that trouble, when and if it seems the better course. — Arkady

...suggests a significant failure of the system. — tim wood

You could add a whole load of stuff to complete that sentence. The U.S. needs a revolution.

The base debate at the creation of the US was the role/power of the the Central government in relation to the power of the individual states. The creation of the electoral college was in relation to this. The less populated states feared that the heavily populated states could dominate a popular election and thereby impose undo power on the less populated states. The electoral college was a way to mitigate that imbalance.

The base debate at the creation of the US was the role/power of the the Central government in relation to the power of the individual states. The creation of the electoral college was in relation to this. The less populated states feared that the heavily populated states could dominate a popular election and thereby impose undo power on the less populated states. The electoral college was a way to mitigate that imbalance. — Rank Amateur

Nevertheless, look what has happened. Clearly it has faults which warrant going back to the drawing board.

The New Zealand and Austrailian nazis need to settle down.

FYI - In 2016 there were 10 "faithless electors" who tried to vote against the candidate to whom they were pledged. 3 of these votes were invalidated, and 7 of them were validated. This Wikipedia article has the details.

Not so easy considering that white nationalism is a growing problem.

Trump not guilty. Appaz.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47688187

I never thought Trump literally conspired with Russia, so it doesn't surprise me. That only leaves obvious incompetence, narcissistic personality disorder, abandonment of conservative principles, and complete unfitness for office as sufficient causes to be removed.

The base debate at the creation of the US was the role/power of the the Central government in relation to the power of the individual states. The creation of the electoral college was in relation to this. The less populated states feared that the heavily populated states could dominate a popular election and thereby impose undo power on the less populated states. The electoral college was a way to mitigate that imbalance. — Rank Amateur

You're stuck with either tyranny of the majority or tyranny of the minority. I'll take the majority.

You're stuck with either tyranny of the majority or tyranny of the minority. I'll take the majority — ProbablyTrue

The issue is deeper. The fear is that a handful of populous states could, through an exercise of federal power, overrule issues states see as their job.

There is a designed tension between the federal government and the state governments. And on balance this is IMO a good thing.

That's a summary of the report from AG Barr, not from Mueller. The summary also said that Trump has not been exonerated. We need the full report.

How to access the full report?

You'll have to ask Barr for now lol

The fear is that a handful of populous states could, through an exercise of federal power, overrule issues states see as their job. — Rank Amateur

Again, it's one of two options. There are no other choices. The less-populous states get their balance from the senate and congress.

Barr, would I be able to look at the Mueller report please, thanks

So what the fuck has been going on in those secretive meetings (since 2017) between Trump and Putin?

The Special Olympics suck...waste of time and money!

Or at least, that apparently is what the Trump administration thinks.

Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos certainly feels okay with that sentiment…even though she was not able to estimate the number of kids who would be impacted by the $18,000,000 in cuts. (272,000 is the number.)

Hey…it was a worthwhile trade-off for the Trump people. The very wealthy got large tax cuts…and the kids, who don't even vote, got screwed.

Sounds like par for the course to me.

I understand that green fonts denote sarcasm in Internet postings.

Don't have font colors here...so, if it is not too much trouble, color this post GREEN!

- @Frank Apisa
What does anyone else think of this?

Or at least, that apparently is what the Trump administration thinks.

Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos certainly feels okay with that sentiment…even though she was not able to estimate the number of kids who would be impacted by the $18,000,000 in cuts. (272,000 is the number.)

Hey…it was a worthwhile trade-off for the Trump people. The very wealthy got large tax cuts…and the kids, who don't even vote, got screwed.

Sounds like par for the course to me.

I understand that green fonts denote sarcasm in Internet postings.

Don't have font colors here...so, if it is not too much trouble, color this post GREEN!

- Frank Apisa
What does anyone else think of this? — OpinionsMatter

I like it!

But that figures.

Thanks for posting it here, OM. I did not realize there was a single place for these kinds of posts.

No problem! I had it formatted to green for you as well, but unfortunately when I copied and pasted it didn't stay green.

No problem! I had it formatted to green for you as well, but unfortunately when I copied and pasted it didn't stay green. — OpinionsMatter

Thanks. (With a big smile on my face.)

How to access the full report? — Evil

You could ask the Russians.