Well it truly seems to be the year of the underdog !

Against all the odds and with a little help from the FBI, we have THE most volotile world leader in modern times.
I'm going off to start building a nuclear bunker !

Imo i think Hillary would have been a bigger worry in that regards. Donald may not turn out to be the white knight the average american man is hoping he will be, be he sure as hell scares me a lot less than her on the world stage.

Apparently, the Canadian immigration website crashed as this news started to emerge.

I understand what you mean although Trump seems like the kind of bloke that will want to "prove" himself and he may not be able to resist the chance to "show the world" that he's in charge.
It's certainly livened thing up and it's clear that, both in the US and over here, people generally have had enough of "the establishment".
All of this appears to have come out of the banking crash of a few years ago, which was never really dealt with and the folk at the bottom of the pile ended up being squeezed because of the actions of a few greedy bankers.

I'm not surprised in the slightest.

The similarities to our own referendum scenario are quite apparent, especially regarding him rallying the disaffected to the cause.

Interesting times ahead, my main concern is that he's going to allow the Americans to continue polluting the hell out of the planet.

Good news for Russia

Bad news for Mexico nand Canada

Bad news for the Chinese economy but good news for their military


Bad news for western free marketeers but possibly good news for the EU as people will feel safer for a united Europe at the time of political uncertainty.

Bad news for the uk as America will become a lot more isolationist.

That's assuming Trump is not assassinated !!!

Absolutely, and anyone who didn't see this or Brexit coming must have either been walking round with their eyes shut for the past 8 years or profited hugely in the fallout.

Trump's victory, just like Brexit, is the result of protest voting against capitalism and globalisation where many people feel the much spouted economy isn't working for, and more recently, isn't intended to work for them. It's not really a vote [ifor[/i Trump but a vote against Clinton and a big two fingers up to her in the process.

To quote Major Clipton from BOTRK : [i"Madness! Madness!"[/i

So to demonstrate their ire at the capitalist masters of the universe who don't have their best interests at heart, they vote for a tax-dodging billionaire who also happens to be a racist, misogynistic sex offender who is happy to mock disabled people in the style of an 11 year old boy? It beggars belief.

I expect a Farage style round of speeches very soon, backpedalling on his promises to build a wall, ban Muslims from the US and send Hillary to jail.

The world is proving in 2016 that democracy is not always a good thing; a benevolent dictatorship would probably be a better arrangement.

Or put another way, if one has enough money and the right connections and one can lie, cheat, if necessary scream sexist and racist messages and most importantly, shout the loudest for longest [itelling people what they want to hear[/i, it really is possible to provoke mass numbers of people into complete and total stupidity.

After the general election & Brexit I wanted to leave England, now I want to quit the planet.

It doesn't say much for Clinton does it?!

Where next, France, Holland, Germany........EU?? the people are speaking.

Maybe people don't want borders to be broken down, maybe they like what they had in the past.

Short memories some people or on the other hand those with memories of 1939-45 aren't around anymore.

Indeed.
The saying about keeping friends close and enemies closer seems to have no relevance.
We are shrinking back into our little island and expecting to be listened to by the rest of the world.
Our voice may not have had huge significance within the EU but, we were one on the larger players.
Now, we have given that voice up and we will still have to dance to their tune and obey their rules and get zero input.

Politicians used to get grief and ridicule if they changed their minds or broke promises but, we seem to have entered a new era, where you can say whatever comes into your head, without consequence.

Talk about be careful what you wish for ?

I think you will find we had plenty of clout. Now we don't.



Post-factual democracy is the term. It would be interesting if it wasn't so scary. People are easily manipulated and are so because IMO many are just too lazy to bother to find out of there is any basis in what politicians are saying. Far too ready to accept the first thing they read and given the immediacy of the Internet and on-line propaganda from the likes of the Mail far too ready to accept the written word as gospel.

What ever happened to the adage "That just because it is written on a web page doesn't mean it is true?"

https://medium.com/@tessmadera/donald-t ... 6469e5d4b9

https://medium.com/@tessmadera/donald-t ... 6469e5d4b9

Trump can give it all the big'uns he wants he will be like most before him ...a puppet for Israel and the 1% and if he doesn't tow the line he end up just JFK did !!!

John Lennon saw all this coming when he penned ' Nobody told me '

Strange days indeed

That used to be the case but in this age of information overload we have 24/7 news, social media, bloggers, online opinion pieces, forums, message boards, comments sections and celebrities wanting in on the action. There are literally thousands of different versions of the same story. Everyone has become a self certified political expert. Just look at recent events; Russell Brand's crusade against capitalism, Lily Allen as the representative of the Calais migrants and Gary Linekar seems to have taken it upon himself to be the mouthpiece of the liberal left. We live in bat crazy times and politics is reflecting them, if anything Trump isn't nuts enough!

It's ok, Lily Allen is starting a revolution tomorrow apparently

Surely the point is that it is STILL the case and even more so[i because[/i all these outlets are setting themselves up as self proclaimed experts scepticism should be even greater. It clearly isn't and the problem is people want to be fed information instead of going to have a look for themselves. A case in point being just about anything to do with how the EU works. It's all there on the EU web sites to go and find out how democratic (or not) the thing is or how it works but people could not be d because farage or whoever told them it was some sort of German led dictatorship. Does my head in people can't be bothered to go and question things for themselves.

I honestly can't see Trump lasting the full four years - either he'll resign (doubt it) or will get shot.

7% of Americans have a passport. Around 70% of Americans have never travelled more than 30 miles from wher they were born. Most American TV stations don't show a news programme.
The terminally stupid voted and won, just like happened here.
Somehow, as an example, you get the feeling that in America the voters now believe their factories will reopen overnight, they will get a job and continue to produce the kind of crap that caused the problem in the first place.
2017 will be a " fun " year.

LeagueFan - its exactly that sort of patronising and insulting attitude that makes so many want to make a protest vote, and sod the consequences. Like telling all people who voted for Brexit that they are racist morons, the effect when they next vote may well be the exact opposite of what you want.

DaveO - when has it ever been the case that any but the smallest number of people 'educated themselves in the facts' of important issues? I'd suggest people are no lazier than they were, and if anything are probably bombarded by more information than ever before. The problem is the bias and factual distortion that goes on all over the place. When it came to Brexit, for example, why would you think any more than a tiny minority would have looked at all the facts in detail? The majority never does anything of the sort.

IMO its a lot to do with people (both right or left) ONLY soliciting information and views from sources that already tally with their world view. Any attempt to engage in discussion in even the most neutral of tones is met with outrage and insults, rather than attempts to persuade by reasoned argument. We used to see a lot of that on this very board and many of Corbyn's supporters show exactly the same total and utter disdain for anyone who thinks differently.

Its hugely elitist IMO to write Trump supporters and 'Brexiteers' off as uneducated fools. Or to expect people to educate themselves in some way totally at odds with the way information is now generated and used in society. The real challenge then is to work out how to engage more people at the centre, as if anything we seem to be moving more and more towards red and blue corners with no room for compromise. I have literally no idea if/how this can be done, but its time for sensible people to lay off the insults and work out how to re-engage the huge number of people who feel left behind by the modern world.