this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2023
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[–] Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world 47 points 11 months ago (11 children)

This actually concerns me a bit. Not that I believe Trump can actually coordinate anything, mind you.

But at the same time, Trump really didn't lose the election by several million votes. He lost the election by a few thousand key votes in key swing states. Many of those states have passed dranconian laws, took over election boards, and put in rules that would allow them to just throw the election Trump's way regardless of the actual vote count. It's very possible that he's simply banking on those to carry him through the day regardless of the actual vote totals. If Trump believes (or is led to believe) the fix is in in those key areas, telling ruby-red voters in ruby-red states to stay home is no big deal.

[–] DauntingFlamingo@lemmy.ml 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (8 children)

While I agree with the sentiment, Trump did lose by millions of votes. There was a 7.61 million vote differential. He also lost the popular vote to Hillary by 2.9 million votes.

Biden won 81,283,098 votes, or 51.3 percent of the votes cast. He is the first U.S. presidential candidate to have won more than 80 million votes. Trump won 74,222,958 votes, or 46.8 percent of the votes cast. More Americans voted for Hillary Clinton than any other losing presidential candidate in US history.

Going back further, incumbency aside, there hasn't been a Republican who has won the popular vote since GHW Bush in 1988..35 years ago

[–] hydrospanner@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Those numbers don't matter though.

What they were saying, accurately, was that the election was decided by a few tens of thousands of voters delivering swing states with tight races.

Trump lost by a few million votes in 2016 too, but that's not what mattered then either.

[–] DauntingFlamingo@lemmy.ml -1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Those numbers do matter for clarity. Saying he didn't lose by millions blurs the truth. Saying he lost by a few thousand votes is not at all accurate when electoral college votes are the only ones that matter, and adding "in a few swing states," only fuels those stop the steal Maga idiots

[–] hydrospanner@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Those numbers do matter for clarity.

They do not. They only matter in the context of a discussion of the election among those familiar with how the system works, where all parties specifically understand that the popular vote is a meaningless metric as it relates to electing a president.

Saying he didn't lose by millions blurs the truth.

Again that's just factually incorrect. By the same standards, you'd logically have to argue that Trump lost the 2016 election, which is obviously nonsense.

If anything, the opposite is true: using terms like "won" and "lost" based on the popular vote is what's really blurring the truth.

It's like talking about an American football game and who won and lost based on overall yards gained or time of possession instead of the final score.

Saying he lost by a few thousand votes is not at all accurate when electoral college votes are the only ones that matter

Interesting angle, considering this is the first possibly valid point you've made...but that it also completely contradicts the rest of your argument. You've been here arguing the popular vote matters then turn around and say the EC votes are the only ones that matter...bold strategy.

In concession, I'll admit you're right on this one and I stand corrected.

Trump lost by 74 votes.

[–] DauntingFlamingo@lemmy.ml 0 points 10 months ago

Yeesh you really don't know how to keep to a side. Thanks for the props, thanks for saying what I already said, thanks for rehashing what you already said, and thanks for not understanding the point and drawing this out. This whole exchange is unnecessary and has been a waste of my time

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