Capitalist: The Whole Truth

A European friend was living with us for several months whilst working locally on the Taieri Plains. He’s a right winger, a supporter of Donald Trump and distraught at the assassination attempt on the president in July. During July, August and September, he often expressed frustration at polling showing Kamala Harris ahead, often asking, ‘How is it that Trump isn’t miles ahead in the election race?’ Well the fact is – he was! The media in America simply lied and published fake polls to pretend Harris was a serious contender when she wasn’t. Now the truth has emerged from the Harris campaign itself, admitting they never once had her leading President Trump.

Clive Bibby: Sifting through the ashes - looking for signs of rebirth

After all major cataclysmic events throughout history that involve the wipeout of a large section of humanity or some other form of the animal species, those that remain are forced to sift through the ashes looking for signs of life that will mark a rebirth of something better than what we had before - more in tune with what is required to withstand the pressures of modern society. 

My guess is that this is the position the Democrat Party in the United States and all who supported them over the most recent election cycle will find themselves in.

Kevin: How Did They Get It So Wrong?

According to the polls, and the media, the US election was too close to call. Harris was going to win, but only just. All the swing states were 50/50. There was no way Trump was going win every swing state.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Trump’s victory - Golden age or fiscal reckoning?

In his victory speech, Donald Trump promised Americans a new “golden age”. While he had the numbers to win the election, the economic realities he faces will make delivering on his promise challenging.

Trump’s victory reflects many Americans’ frustrations with living standards and inflation during the Biden-Harris administration. Vice President Kamala Harris struggled to connect on these issues. Her campaign focused more on Trump’s legal troubles than on a clear economic plan of her own, leaving many voters unconvinced.

Peter Williams: It's Trump

Told you so!

This Substack predicted it 8 days out.

But to be honest you did not need to be Nostradamus to call it. That so many seemed surprised by the margin of Donald Trump’s victory shows (a) that the western population is split into parallel universes and (b) identity politics is dead and buried. (NB Green Party)

Robert MacCulloch: Kamala Harris mistake - taking advice from Ardern....

(One of) Kamala Harris' Big Mistakes: Taking Rubbish Advice from former NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Its hard to think of anyone more out-of-touch with American values and beliefs than our former PM, Jacinda Ardern. How come? An influential view in economics these days is that the US system of relatively ungenerous welfare and low taxation is supported by the beliefs of ordinary Americans. Most of them believe in "The American Dream" - namely that effort is rewarded in the market place and that folks like Elon Musk deserve their wealth. Not just high income Americans, but low income ones as well, including Latin American immigrants. The flip-side is that 60% of Americans believe the poor are lazy, and as such, undeserving of high levels of welfare payments. These beliefs support the American equilibrium that many of us consider is behind that country's status as being the world's largest economy, with high rates of innovation and entrepreneurship, together with high inequality.

Mike's Minute: Mike's wrap of Trump's win

The best thing about the result is you can't argue with it.

You can hate it, but you can't argue with it.

To win not just the College, but also the popular vote, gives the result a legitimacy that is rock solid.

Brendan O'Neill: The unbelievably hilarious meltdown of the centrists

Let us all enjoy the bewilderment of the podcast ponces in response to Trump’s victory.

I have found my favourite image from yesterday’s historic election in the US. It isn’t a too-bronzed Trump wobbling to ‘YMCA’ after his victory speech. It isn’t any of those candid shots of Kamala campaigners sobbing into their flags. No, it’s a still of Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell looking baffled beyond belief by the results. There they are, the two podcast ponces, a couple of bloviators who’ve somehow managed to convince the centrist dads of the turbo-smug suburbs that they know everything there is to know about politics, looking positively dumbstruck. Or perhaps just dumb. It’s delicious.

Simon O'Connor: He's back!

Early reflections on the results of the United States election, and how I think we can say that the results show a clear divide between the 'elites' and people at large.

A remarkable and definitive victory for Donald Trump and the Republicans. There is no doubt about this result – it was a thumping of the Democrats. Among many reflections, I think the most striking and relevant is that there is a huge gap between the Democrats and their ‘elite’ supporters including many in mainstream media, and the American people. I will expand on this later, but in short, the issues that Harris and friends thought were relevant are not except on college campuses, newsrooms, and among other left wing radicals. It will also be these same groups unable to comprehend the result and will seek to blame their failure on anyone but themselves.

Mike's Minute: Trump is full of bullsh*t - but I think he'll win

If you forget the politics for a moment, a trait of Donald Trump I admire is his unrelenting persistence and unwavering belief.

In a contest no one can confidently call based on fact, as opposed to feels, or gut, or hope, I think I can very confidently say if Biden had stayed in it, it wouldn't even be close.

Age for age, just the sight of Trump stampeding across the landscape in the way he does would have left Biden gasping.

Brendan O'Neill: They still don’t get it

Why the elites remain so mystified and horrified by Trump voters.

They still don’t get it. Eight years after Donald Trump was first elected president of the United States of America, the elites remain mystified that such an anomaly could occur. They still view his voters less as rational beings to be engaged with than as a far-flung tribe to be studied. They still approach this curious horde – if they approach it at all – as a Victorian anthropologist might have approached a pre-modern people in the densest forests of Africa. ‘I went to CPAC as an anthropologist to understand Trump’s base’, wrote a ‘distinguished professor’ earlier this year, breezily unaware of the offence such pseudo-scientific studies might cause to those being studied. That’s another thing they still don’t get: how creepy they seem to ordinary people.

Mike's Minute: The celeb trend for the election is a bust

One of the many things I have failed to truly understand about this election is just what is it they think Jennifer Anniston or Harrison Ford is going to do for your vote.

The celebrity endorsement has been a mainstay of the Democrat's campaign – mainly because there are very few so called “famous people” in places like Hollywood that aren't liberals. She has not been short of choice.

JC: Why Harris Is Going to Get Trumped

In terms of the position America holds as the leader of the free world, this election is without doubt the most important in our lifetime. It is the choice between freedom, peace and prosperity – or the risk of World War III brought about by the warmongers in the Democratic Party.

Harris is going to get Trumped, quite possibly in a big way.

Nick Clarke: Trump or Harris, how the US election matters to New Zealanders

2024 is a significant year for elections with over 60 countries having been to the polls or are going to the polls this year. The United States election on 5 November is without doubt the most consequential.

Polls of New Zealanders indicate a clear preference for Kamala Harris over Donald Trump. Our opinions carry no weight at the American ballot box, but the election result will have a big influence on New Zealand's economic and security landscape.

Barry Soper: Harris is reading from a familiar political playbook

As political promises go, they should be familiar to all of us- lifting children out of poverty, removing red tape and building much needed houses more quickly, and giving women the right to decide their fertility.

Kamala Harris told her audience she remembered sitting at her mother's yellow formica table as she struggled to put food on it and juggled household bills.

Peter Williams: It'll be Trump

Harris has serious limitations

The description of Democratic presidential candidate Karmala Harris by American-Australian actor/director Mel Gibson that she “has the intelligence of a fence post” is, while founded in some truth, still rather unkind.

Ms Harris is after all a person who has completed a legal education, albeit not from a highly regarded institution, and held various positions in public law offices until she entered politics as the San Francisco District Attorney in 2003.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Can we finally admit Kamala Harris was a mistake?

Can we say it now? It might be a bit early, but I'm going to say it - Kamala Harris was a mistake.

The Democrats should never have picked her to run against Trump. I mean, never say never, but it's becoming more and more likely that Trumpy's gonna win in a couple of weeks.

I said that last week, that he's too close behind her in the swing states - so he'll over-perform in them like he usually does on the night and then he'll win.

JC: The Things Media Won’t Tell You

A Trump win looks inevitable. Will Kamala’s friend Jacinda find a place at Harvard for her so they can spout their Marxist duologues?

Regarding the presidential election in America, listening, watching or reading about this in the mainstream media gives you no idea of what is really happening. The results of polling from those companies which have proven to be the most accurate at picking the winner, are painting a very different picture from what 1News (Pravda) and other left-wing media are delivering – they do this by employing a false narrative – a tactic they employ on many occasions. It is their go-to for spreading propaganda.

Bill Barr: I Oppose Trump—and Any Efforts to Ban Him From the Ballot

The 2024 election will pose the gravest of challenges to our institutions. Unconstitutional measures will take us down far more dangerous channels.

In Colorado and Maine, state officials have decided to remove Donald Trump from the primary ballot, claiming the need to protect democracy. A number of other states, including Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, New Mexico, and New York, are considering taking the same step.

Many who oppose the 45th president hail these legal maneuvers as a neat way to stop Trump—who they view as an existential threat to the country—without having to beat him at the ballot box.

Kate Hawkesby: The U.S voting system is a mess

 

So many questions.

Were the pollsters all wrong? Again? How? Do we just not understand America? Does America not understand America?
Has the media bias against Trump there eclipsed all rational thought around his actual support and the breadth of his base?
60 million Americans voted for Trump last time round, this time that number was even higher. Yes more people turned out to vote, but he still has 60-plus million Americans supporting him.. and that's after 4 years of his presidency, that's not even a punt on a newcomer, that's real support.

What a mess though this whole thing is. I feel for Americans, what an anxious and stressful time they've had, and continue to have. And this could go on for weeks yet. A president claiming victory before the votes are in, accusing the process of being rigged... calling it a fraud... meanwhile Biden also claiming he's on track to victory. Both claiming swing states that haven't even finished counting yet.