Today's the day

[carrie]

Well today the American's will go to the voting booths and vote for the next President of the USA, will it be Hillary or Donald?
I for one shall be glad it's all over. Fed up of all the news, just lately, being dominated by the American elections.
I do think though that such a huge country with a vast population could have found two more worthy candidates to stand.

[Ruby Slippers]

I feel sorry for the Americans having to make what essentially is Hobson's choice!

[HEPZIBAH]

I feel sorry for the rest of the world that the American people have let this choice come about in the first place.

[Major Thom]

It's a case of America going forward and taking stock
Or
America going forward and being the laughing stock

Here you have Donald J Buttblow promising to get rid of Obamacare for one example and not saying what he's going to replace it with and where the monies coming from.

You have Donald J Buttwind saying he will cut tax, and he has not paid Federal Tax for years.

You have Donald J Bubblebutt talking about limiting immigration when most of his building were built by cheap foreign labour

Personally I think the Americans have been radicalized.

He's a bit like the Scots leader Nasty Nich. We will radicalize the Scots and no tell them the costs.

[Dusak]

Often wondered when you see the placard wavers that under TRUMP it says pence, whats the pence suppose to mean? To my mind they both have ego problems, she more than him giving not much of a choice. It will be interesting to see, whoever wins, what they will achieve in the first year, or what they make a complete hash of.

[Horus]

Mike Pence is Trumps running mate for Vice President

[Horus]

When you consider 50% of voters are women then they are more likely to vote for Clinton, states like Florida will have a big Latino vote who will vote for Clinton and of cause the African American vote will go to Clinton inspired by Obama's support for her. A counter to this will be states like Pensylvania who industrial heartland will vote for Trump, either way I reckon it will be Clinton by a nose, a poor choice either way.

[HEPZIBAH]

I'm not so sure about the female vote going to Clinton. I an amazed, shocked, and saddened by the way so many women have been supporting Trump. Somehow they seem mesmerised by him. I don't understand it!

[Horus]

What I meant Hepzi is that he has alienated at least a good percentage of potential women voters by his sexist remarks, but of course he will have some female supporters who will forgive his failings. As in the Brexit vote it will probably be decided by voters who feel ignored by mainstream politics.

[carrie]

Hepzibah don't you find him attractive , do you think it's his hairstyle, his misogyny, his racism, his homophobia, that put you off?
How anyone, let alone women, can vote for this horrible man I have no idea. Brainless idiots. Him as well.

[HEPZIBAH]

From the very first time I saw the man on television, many years ago, I felt uncomfortable (very much in the way that Jimmy Saville made me feel uncomfortable from a young age).

I have never found any charisma with Hilary Clinton, and she has her well publicised failings, but I won't hang her out to dry on account of her husband's failings, and recognise the fact that she does at least have some understanding of politics on a national and international platform.

I like to think that, were I an American, I would have had better/stronger candidates throughout, and that the end result (now) offered a better choice for president.
As a citizan of the world, and given that the USA governs much of our lives one way or another, I think we should all have a say in who is president.

[newcastle]

What's happening?

Have I missed something?

[Horus]

The bottom line is that if people opt for change it will be Trump, if they realise the risks and opt for same old, same old politics then it will be Clinton.

[newcastle]

The bottom line is that if people opt for change it will be Trump, if they realise the risks and opt for same old, same old politics then it will be Clinton.

Just like Brexit really...

I wonder if the Americans will make any more sense of the pre-vote garbage and appreciate there are"risks"

[Horus]

I don’t wish to rehash that old chestnut with you, what I am saying is that the similarities are very much alike. A disillusioned electorate that are fed up with being ignored, all political parties singing from the same hymn sheet, so no choice. The demographics will be the same as here with the largest votes for remain in the UK, or in this case Clinton, will come from those states with large immigrant communities such as Florida as was the case with London which stood out starkly against the rest of England. We can dismiss the Scottish and Irish votes as their agenda was different. Either way that this particular vote goes it will have the same effect as Brexit has had here, the country will be divided with a significant minority not getting their wish whichever way they voted. Many areas of America as in the UK felt that they were not getting any of the so called benefits of current political policies and the wealth creation was going to one sector only and the rest were getting poorer as a result. These things do not occur overnight and many years of frustration have passed in order to get these sort of reactions which are of course intended as a kick in the teeth for our politicians.

[newcastle]

I agree with you...there are similarities and it's not only in UK & USA that the hoi polloi are making a protest vote against the status quo...the perceived rule of the elite & vested interest.

Doesn't necessarily make it sensible though.

"Be careful what you wish for" comes to mind.

[Horus]

There is another aspect to this election, if he wins then the system will be deemed legitimate (from his point of view). Now if he loses and does not concede defeat (highly likely) then there could be a huge ground swell of support for his “rigged system” claim and who knows where that will end?
Either way, keep an eye of Florida as the votes come in, if he loses that then he cannot hope to win.

[Brian Yare]

I agree with you...there are similarities and it's not only in UK & USA that the hoi polloi are making a protest vote against the status quo...the perceived rule of the elite & vested interest.

Doesn't necessarily make it sensible though.

"Be careful what you wish for" comes to mind.

I wish that people would not refer to "the hoi polloi". It is like saying "the the people". Hoi is a form of the definite article in Greek.

[Mad Dilys]

Like the Sahara Desert.

[newcastle]

I agree with you...there are similarities and it's not only in UK & USA that the hoi polloi are making a protest vote against the status quo...the perceived rule of the elite & vested interest.

Doesn't necessarily make it sensible though.

"Be careful what you wish for" comes to mind.

I wish that people would not refer to "the hoi polloi". It is like saying "the the people". Hoi is a form of the definite article in Greek.

I also did Ancient Greek at school and, yes, hoi polloi literally means "the many"'

But, in everyday use, and certainly in the sense I intended it, the words hoi polloi can be translated as "common people" which, to make sense if used in an otherwise English sentence, would require the definite article "the".

In fact, I cannot recall ever having seen hoi polloi used in an English sentence without the English definite article.

[Some linguistic prescriptivists and students of ancient Greek argue that, given that hoi is a definite article, the phrase "the hoi polloi" is redundant, akin to saying "the the masses". Others argue that this is inconsistent with other English loanwords. The word "alcohol", for instance, derives from the Arabic al-kuhl, al being an article, yet "the alcohol" is universally accepted as good grammar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoi_polloi]