Remembering an Old EA Insight

[Analytics]

As I recall, it was about five years ago that EAllusion had the following insight: If Hillary Clinton were to win in 2016, by 2020 the country would be experiencing severe Democrat burnout after 12 years of Obama/Clinton in the white house. Given that and the inherent weakness of Clinton as a candidate, this would be setting up a big red wave in 2020. This would be especially disastrous because the wave would spill over into state races in 2020--a census year--and put Republicans in the position of implementing even more massive gerrymandering as they so brazenly do.

When Trump won 4 years ago, the silver lining I saw was that his incompetence and reprehensible moral character would wake up the American people to the idea that character and competence matter. This would set us up for a big blue wave in 2020, which would allow Democrats the opportunity to undo some of the Republican gerrymandering from 2010.

As it turns out, a ton of Americans really like brazen dishonesty and incompetence in their president. It makes them feel patriotic somehow. So even though Trump barely lost, none of the state legislatures flipped. So we can expect Republicans to try to take the house in two years--not by trying to appeal to more voters, but rather via more radical gerrymandering.

[Moksha]

As it turns out, a ton of Americans really like brazen dishonesty and incompetence in their president.

I think they were just ripe for fascism and will remain so even if Trump vanishes. You can hear it in their rhetoric. They are longing for someone mighty and strong who can make the trains run on time. Unfortunately, they got Trump the boorish lout, narcissist, and pathological liar. Their desire was delayed by the first con man who happened to say the cherished words of white nationalism. A more competent evil leader will come along and lead them into a quest for lebensraum and world domination. They will be crushed by China and the rest of the world.