About last night …

 

 

There’s a lot to say this morning, and with I certainly won’t be saying it all. I’ll leave most of it to people I respect. But I do wonder, can NZ taxpayers have our $7 miillion back from the Clinton Family Crime Foundation now?

Q: How did it happen?!

Dear Friends on the Left,
I hear your cries about the election of a bully. However, they seem insincere.
Your approach to politics has, for decades, been turning the entire government into a giant authoritarian bully. I get that Trump isn't the bully you wanted to see elected, but... I hope you see the issue from a different perspective.
    “So many people — confused by the Left's distortion of language and constant fight against freedom, individualism and practically everything they see as American — have finally decided to make a stand and grab what they think is the opposite.
    “Yes, they are mistaken.
    “Yes, Trump is a terrible choice.
    “Yes, we are probably doomed.
    “But YOU have helped make him the inevitable choice.
    “So, please don't cry.
    “Maybe the next, even worse, bully will be one from the Left again
Who made Trump? You did. – Mark Conway Munro, FACEBOOK

“It’s extremely early to draw conclusions about the 2016 election results, but here are five factors that at least partially explain what happened.”
Five Things That Explain Donald Trump’s Stunning Presidential Election Victory – FINANCIAL SENSE

“What every liberal who didn't see this coming needs to understand.”
Trump Won Because Leftist Political Correctness Inspired a Terrifying Backlash – Robby Soave, HIT & RUN

"If Trump wins, my hope is that it is a vote against [the left],
and not a vote for Trump per se. If you are [on the left],
some introspection on why you are so hated that people
are willing to roll dice on a creepy ignorant power-lusting
bully just to stick it to you might be in order."
~ Mark V. Kormes

“Hillary Clinton was exactly the wrong candidate: a technocrat who offered fine-tuning when the country wanted to take a sledgehammer to the machine.”
Donald Trump is moving to the White House, and liberals put him there – Thomas Frank, GUARDIAN

“Revealed: That the guiding spirit of the modern conservative movement is neither Burke nor Lincoln. It’s Marx. ‘These are my principles,’ Groucho once cracked, ‘and if you don’t like them, well, I have others.’ Everything Republicans once claimed to advocate—entitlement reform, free trade, standing up to dictators, encouraging the march of freedom around the world—turns out to be negotiable and reversible..”
2016’s Big Reveal – Bret Stephens, WSJ

"If you want to know why Trump won, just look at the response to his winning. The lofty contempt for ‘low information’ Americans. The barely concealed disgust for the rednecks and cretins of ‘flyover’ America who are apparently racist and misogynistic and homophobic. The haughty sneering at the vulgar, moneyed American political system and how it has allowed a wealthy candidate to poison the little people’s mushy, malleable minds. The suggestion that American women, more than 40 per cent of whom are thought to have voted for Trump, suffer from internalised misogyny: that is, they don’t know their own minds, the poor dears. This response to Trump’s victory reveals why Trump was victorious: because people have had enough of all the top-down, anti-democratic hatred."
The sneering response to Trump’s victory reveals exactly why he won – Brendan O’Neill, SPECTATOR

“But then it struck me.
    “In our sanctimony, our outrage, our righteousness, we overlook the way in which we appear to the other. The fact is that populism is not only rising on the right.
    “The hard left, too, is angry, scared and increasingly vitriolic. Many on the left are displaying the very traits they disparage the right for exhibiting. Fear is well and truly on the march...
    “Bigotry can exist against minorities but also by minorities. Human rights are a double-edged sword of justice. They work both for and against people, including for and against minorities. We should be able to hold two thoughts at the same time.
    “If Brexit and Trump’s win has failed to stop us in our tracks and reflect, then I humbly suggest we [of the left] are part of the problem.”
The fear that propelled Donald Trump requires no logic – Maajid Nawaz, JEWISH NEWS

“The election of Mr Trump is a further illustration that the old political certainties no longer apply.
    “This was America’s Brexit moment. The liberal consensus that has largely held sway since the end of the Second World War has been shattered. Many of the institutions that rose from that rubble, from Nato and the UN to the IMF and the EU, are fraying at the edges, struggling to fulfil the functions for which they were established.”
If Donald Trump really wants to be Mr Brexit, he must open America to the world, not pull up the drawbridge – TELEGRAPH

“The Democratic Party has only one thing to blame as it stares into the abyss of a Donald Trump presidency: itself.
    “For it wasn’t, as the Clinton camp tried to suggest in the dawn’s early light of a changed world, the whole FBI email saga which did for the party’s prospects of defeating the least qualified man ever to run for the presidency. It was the candidate, stupid.”
Hillary Clinton was a catastrophic candidate – and the Democrats' hubris in nominating her will go down in history – Rosa Prince, TELEGRAPH

Q: How come so much of the commentariat knew so little?

“One important lesson from tonight: The press completely, utterly blew this election.”
Shame on Us, the American Media – Brian Beutler, NEW REPUBLIC

“Trump’s triumph has shown once again how desperately out of touch much of the commentariat is with the mainstream.”
Trump's rise shows media out of touch – Rita Panahi, HERALD SUN (AUS)

“The British academic who led an official review into how pollsters failed to forecast the result of the 2015 general election said their' failure to predict Donald Trump's clear victory is a ‘massive disaster’ for the polling industry, ‘historic, epic,’ which is ‘high up the Richter scale’.”
US pollsters' failure to forecast Donald Trump victory a 'massive, historical, epic disaster' says British academic who led review into mistakes over 2015 general election – Christopher Hope, TELEGRAPH
How the pollsters got the US election wrong - just like Brexit – TELEGRAPH

“The bottom line of the 2016 presidential election is that black, Hispanic, and millennial voters just didn't vote for Clinton, or vote at all, in the numbers that were expected nor the number she needed to counter the older, whiter fan-club of Donald Trump.”
Trump Didn't Win Because He's Trump. He Won Because Clinton Is Clinton – Elizabeth Nolan Brown, REASON

“Women, black and Hispanic voters desert Clinton – the charts that show why she lost.”
Hillary Clinton failed to win over black, Hispanic and female voters - the charts that show why she lost the presidential election – TELEGRAPH

“Unrepresentative of the mood of the country.  Impotent in transmitting from survey design, to candidate's probability.  Most exposed human bias and lack of mathematical confidence; also vigorously feeding into the spineless narrative from mainstream media who have subtly advantaged Hillary Clinton whenever possible.  And specific pollsters overtly managed to distort an otherwise scientific process and renovate it into wild entertainment that was too extreme to ever consider worthwhile during the recent month.”
The Death Of Polling – Salil Mehta, STATISTICAL IDEAS

“Last night's surprising result has left Trump supporters elated, Clinton supporters dejected. Most libertarians have long given up hope that the electoral process can bring substantial improvements to US policies. But there is an important silver lining to this year's election...”
The Intelligentsia Takes a Hit – Peter Klein, MISES WIRE

“There is much to savor this morning, including the hysteria that is sweeping across the Left. We see it in ways large and small. At one of our local colleges, a class was canceled because the professor was crying too hard to teach. “I don’t feel safe here,” she said. The storm troopers were due any minute, apparently.”
Krugman Freaks Out, Vows to Keep Fighting – John Hinderaker, POWER LINE

“To put it bluntly, the media missed the story. In the end, a huge number of American voters wanted something different. And although these voters shouted and screamed it, most journalists just weren’t listening. They didn’t get it.” [Including the Washington Post itself who, fifteen days ago, gave Trump precisely “zero chance” of becoming President. Maybe that’s why this is on their ‘Lifestyle’ page? – Ed.]
The media didn’t want to believe Trump could win. So they looked the other way. – WASHINGTON POST

“The vile Mrs. Clinton lost. True. But did any ideas,
ideology or idealism win? If so, what were they, exactly?”
~ James Valliant

Q: What next?

“It'll be a busy day.…”
Here's Everything Donald Trump Has Promised to Do on His First Day as President – MOTHER JONES

“For the particulars of what he actually campaigned on…”
17 Pledges ... – Lydia De Pillis, TWITTER

“Additionally, some analysts have questioned whether Fed Chair Janet Yellen will remain in her job under the new administration given Trump’s pointed criticism of the central bank’s policies and her leadership in the the past.”
    “The future of Janet Yellen’s chairmanship and the accommodative nature of Fed monetary policy are in doubt…”
Donald Trump's election has Wall Street questioning the future of the Federal Reserve – BUSINESS INSIDER

““If there is any common theme to my predictions, it stems from Trump’s history in franchising his name and putting relatively little capital into many of his business deals. I think his natural instinct will be to look for some quick symbolic victories to satisfy supporters, and then pursue mass popularity with a lot of government benefits, debt and free-lunch thinking. I don’t think the Trump presidency will be recognisable as traditionally conservative or right-wing.”
Deciphering Trumponomics, Chapter One – Tyler Cowen, BLOOMBERG

“Will the left be interested in restraining government now?”
Trump Gives Victory Speech, Liberals Rediscover Appeal of Limited Government – REASON

“Donald Trump’s signature policy issue during his campaign was forcing unauthorised immigrants out of the United States. But it would be a mistake for Republicans in Congress to fund any effort to make this dream a reality…”
GOP Shouldn't Mistake Clinton Loss For a Nativist Mandate – David Bier, CATO

“Long after this election, the alt-right and its enablers in the 'alt lite' will continue to threaten the republic. They are more dangerous than Trump. It is not that they are Trump's puppets; it is that Trump was THEIR puppet.”
Alt-right were Trump’s enablers – Start Hayashi, FACEBOOK

“The era of Obama's Progressivism is over:
    "Obama didn't make history after all. He wasn't a teleprompter demi-god standing athwart of history. He was Carter and Ford. He was there to be forgotten. He didn't change the world. He wasn't the messiah. He was merely mortal. Just another politician who will sag and age. Who will, in the end, be photographed like Bill Clinton, lonely and lost in a world that has passed him by."
The Obama Era is Over – Daniel Greenfield, SULTAN KNISH

“What a waste of a candidacy: ‘Johnson is at just 3 percent of the national vote.’…"
Election Results Coverage – Harry Enten, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT

“When you build a gigantic state, and invite factions to struggle to battle it in real-life Hunger Games, there are going to be problems. One group wins and one group loses. Despite the election outcome, resentments persist. Acts of vengeance are already in the making.”
And the Election Winner Is…Enmity – Jeffrey Tucker, FEE

Truth in humour …
FBI Uncovers Al-Qaeda Plot To Just Sit Back And Enjoy Collapse Of United States – THE ONION

“The present state of the world,” Ayn Rand observed
decades ago, “is not the proof of philosophy’s
impotence, but the proof of philosophy’s power. It is
philosophy that has brought men to this state — it is
only philosophy that can lead them out.”
~ Yaaron Brook in ‘To Win the Battle of Freedom, We Must Win the Battle of Ideas’

Some good news…

“This presidential election produced the strongest showing in 20 years for third-party and independent candidates.”
Where the Third-Party Candidates Were Strongest – REASON

“It’s official! California just legalised marijuana! The end of federal prohibition is within reach now that the biggest state in the country has legalised it.”
California Voters Overwhelmingly Approve Marijuana Legalisation – DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE
Californians vote to legalise recreational use of marijuana in the state – L.A. TIMES

“Marijuana legalisation keeps rolling. The legalisation of recreational marijuana was on the ballot in five states yesterday. The people of California, Massachusets, and Nevada voted to legalize.  As of this writing, legalization maintains a slim, too-close-to-call lead in Maine as well. Legalization failed in Arizona by a small margin.
    “Beyond legalising marijuana in America’s most populous state, the vote in California also means the entire West Coast has now rejected marijuana prohibition. The vote in Massachusetts makes it the first state east of the Rocky Mountains to do the same.”
Drug Prohibition Was a Loser Last Night – Adam Bates, CATO
Pot legalisation marches on – Scott Sumner, THE MONEY ILLUSION

“Good on Clinton for being as gracious in defeat as Trump was in victory. That said, the Democratic Party is clearly in for a reckoning—the reckoning that many in the media thought the Republican Party would be facing the morning after Election Day.”
Hillary Clinton: 'This Is Painful, and It Will Be For a Long Time.' – Robby Soave, HIT & RUN

“Some priceless photos of Hillary supporters...”
Donald Trump has sensationally won the White House – MAIL ONLINE

I see you all shiver with anticipaaaaation ….
16 Celebrities Who Will Leave the U.S. if Trump Wins – BREITBART
Misery for Hollywood's megafans – MAIL ONLINE

“Women shocked by Trump win.”
I am woman, hear me sob – CATALLAXY FILES

“Schadenfreude Wednesday.”
Will Trump's Yuge Win Be a Win for America? – Amy Peikoff, BLOG TALK RADIO

 

And finally …

“The answer to all of this in our very diverse, deeply divided nation is tolerance and liberty, simple rules that treat everyone the same, as long as we don't hurt people or take their stuff.”
The Status Quo Must Go: Message of 2016 – Matthew Kibbe, FEE

“The establishment has crumbled. Now we must build a new politics from the ground up.”
Revenge of the deplorables – Sean Collins, SPIKED

And finally (almost), for all my American friends …
How to move to NZ – STUFF
Dear Americans, Want to migrate to Australia? – SBS
Canada's immigration website just crashed – BUSINESS INSIDER

All that said, and delicious though it is to see the commentariat proved wrong again, and delightful though it is to anticipate all those luvvies moving to Canada, I have two very big worries myself. First, Trump has promised to build a wall in more ways than one: an anti-immigrant, anti-free trade wall around the US that, he says, will Make American Great Again. It won’t, but it may export that brand of toxic nationalism around the world. That’s bad.

Second, we still have a crash to come. All the imbalances that caused the collapse of 2008 are still there, incubated and made worse by all the stimulunacy. If we cast our minds back, we might remember that the Great Depression was laid unthinkingly at the feet of the free market simply because America had a meddling Republican in the White House. I fear we will see the same again.

And the last word, on “what now for you and I?” …

 

[Pic from Mark Conway Munro and others, as noted]

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