O noes! The theme is gone!

Lord Gonchar:
We currently live in a magical golden zone that has both White Castle and Krystal.

And I read the other day that In n Out has plans to headquarter their first-ever eastern region in Nashville.

Bakeman31092:

half the electorate could vote for Trump

To be clear, it was less than a third, given the folks who didn't weigh in at all.

Brian Noble:
"hellawack shiznit that happens in your brizzle"

Nothing to add here except that anyone who quotes Blue Man Group [naked people] has ascended to a place that few humans in my orbit can. +100 to you sir.

I have to admit that I haven't read most of these posts beyond Brian's BMG reference. Life has been challenging, in terms of work, parenting and, well, world stuff. I don't have any cognitive or emotional gas left to even look at it. That's where I'm at after a few days.

Let me also say that I love Gonch as a long-time friend. I find his seatbelt stuff to be performative and Gen-X-ish despite its perceived lack of empathy. More to the point, his kids seem to be amazing human beings, so who am I to question his actual moral compass? Those kids are gonna ****ing change stuff for the better. I may not get him, but I can't argue with the results.

Disclaimer: The following is just my opinion, and has nothing to do with my employer. That said, I'm on the DEI council of a publicly traded company, and liaison to the LGBTQ employee resource group at work. Probably kind of weird for a straight white guy raised in a "Christian" more or less middle-class home. I recently listened to a story from a colleague about a trans friend who committed suicide, and it led to a peripheral discussion about people who died in Orlando in the Pulse massacre. It's not unreasonable to understand why this left with me with a great many emotions that I can't reconcile. The autism doesn't help with the reconciliation.

But then we had the Nazis parading around the Columbus Short North. Reports of Black people getting messages about reporting to plantations to being work. Asian hate crimes on the rise. Anti-semitism happening nationally. I can't sit here and pretend that these folks haven't been empowered by the election of a racist and fascist.

Any of these things taken individually would be, meh, anecdotes, there will always be stupid, hateful people. I get that. But while I do want to hear about the explanations for all of this, I'm entirely uninterested in hearing excuses for it. I appreciate here that we have differences in opinion. It's the reason why long-time members that I don't agree with I consider valuable parts of our community. The idiots that I ban are not that, they're people trolling here to hate.

I appreciate the dialog, I really do. But when I hear people are killing themselves because of the politics, friends, that's not political discourse. That's hate manifest in death. It's not OK. Please consider this.

Jeff:

To be clear, it was less than a third, given the folks who didn't weigh in at all.

153 million people voted. There are 258 million adults in the USA. (59%)

If I've learned anything here at CoasterBuzz, it's that this is likely more than large enough a sample size to be representative of the total opinion.

And I'm really not looking to push buttons. There just seems to be this sense of denial.

The people chose this.

If you want an explanation, the best I can offer is that the majority of voters thought there were more important issues in play than the things you personally found unforgivable.

Whether that's the obvious, logical conclusion or my personal reconciliation of the results, is up to you.

Let me also say that I love Gonch as a long-time friend. I find his seatbelt stuff to be performative and Gen-X-ish despite its perceived lack of empathy. More to the point, his kids seem to be amazing human beings, so who am I to question his actual moral compass? Those kids are gonna ****ing change stuff for the better. I may not get him, but I can't argue with the results.

I appreciate this more than you can possibly understand. Hard stop.

76 million votes out of 258 million eligible voters is about 29%.

Jeff:

I'm entirely uninterested in hearing excuses for it

Excuses for what? It feels you can’t get over the fact that so many people voted for a poor character guy. This election was about a lot more than just Trumps character and thats why he won. I don’t know many people who think Trump is a “swell guy”. I didnt vote for any of them but I would say that both Kamala and Biden are probably both better ‘humans’ than Trump. But a majority felt Trump was a better candidate than Kamala. From a wide variety of racial backgrounds and economic backgrounds. Just because someone votes for Trump does not mean they are racist and support racism.

Reread what I said in context. If you can't figure out what I'm talking about, that's on you. If you voted for Trump, you do support racism, because he is a racist. That's where the excuses start flowing.

Jeff:

If you voted for Trump, you do support racism, because he is a racist.

I vehemently disagree. But thats ok.

Jeff:

76 million votes out of 258 million eligible voters is about 29%.

+ the other 76 million for the other candidates means we sampled a little over 59% of the adult population.

I expected someone the do the math for me to explain how this still puts it within the margin or error...or not.

Which means that roughly 40% of the population is walking around just saying...

But yes; getting a 60% response rate is way beyond what is needed to be considered a representative sample. You don't need to do any math, that's just basic stats.

OhioStater:

Which means that roughly 40% of the population is walking around just saying...

Yeah, and as we learned last election, that’s wrong too. Everyone who can must vote, and only vote for one of the candidates from the two main parties who isn’t Trump.

What’s a person to do who didn’t want Harris in the White House? Vote for Harris, obviously.

I don’t know that I’d say you support racism if you voted for Trump. Maybe more like you accept racism (still not ok). I certainly don’t think that people who vote for a candidate automatically support every one of that candidate’s policies, positions and character traits. I don’t see a lot of daylight between saying someone supports racism and saying someone is in fact a racist.

Yeah, I’ve had racist relatives, and loving them because they’re family doesn’t make me racist, nor does it mean I support or even accept racism. And I don’t see Trump enacting any inherently racist policies while he’s in office.

Bakeman31092:

I certainly don’t think that people who vote for a candidate automatically support every one of that candidate’s policies, positions and character traits.

The POTUS represents such a broad swath of polices, positions and character traits, you have to accept the bad with the good sometimes when choosing someone to support. There is rarely some perfect ‘unicorn’ candidate.

OhioStater:

Which means that roughly 40% of the population is walking around just saying... I don't care.

I think you could lower that percentage, but I'm not sure by how much. A significant portion of non-voters may not vote due to the challenges they face, particularly in urban areas where it can be much more time-consuming and complicated. For example, I live in a rural town called Winameg, OH, which doesn't even have a post office. It takes me less than five minutes to walk in and cast my vote at a polling machine.

Recently, my girlfriend, who is from Akron, moved in with me. She hadn't had the chance to change her address or register to vote here yet but still wanted to make sure she voted. She drove to Akron to vote on the Saturday before the election during early voting and had to wait almost three and a half hours to cast her vote.

There are many reasons for these disparities. Urban areas often have fewer polling locations per capita, leading to long wait times, especially during early voting and on Election Day. Conversely, rural areas tend to have smaller populations, so polling locations are less crowded and more accessible. Studies show that long wait times can discourage voting, particularly among those with less flexible schedules, such as working-class Americans.

The 2024 election results reflect these turnout dynamics. Approximately 10 million fewer Democrats voted compared to 2020 when Biden won, while turnout among rural Americans, particularly Trump supporters, increased. This shift played a significant role in Trump's victory.

However, it's worth noting that voting isn't just about willingness—it's also about accessibility. Many non-voters aren't apathetic; they face barriers like long lines, inflexible work schedules, or transportation issues. These challenges disproportionately affect urban voters, who tend to lean Democratic. We all know which party plays the game to make voting harder in urban areas.

Vater:

What’s a person to do who didn’t want Harris in the White House?

So, what's the reason we didn't want her in the white house. Sure, I've seen plenty of pointless answers. But what would be the negative talking points for her? Honest question, she seemed semi decent to me at least. Could even say perfect compared to the other option.

She laughed too much. She was a woman, so of course she slept her way to success. (That's the only explanation.)

I have no idea how she lost to a corrupt, disgusting, billionaire, geriatric bully mob boss criminal who wears orange clown makeup. Trump is probably the antichrist.

Don't forget her word salad answers and that she is week on what her plans will be.

Comparing that to "the weave" and his gibberish responses. And lest we forget he has a concept of a plan.

Chris R:

The 2024 election results reflect these turnout dynamics. Approximately 10 million fewer Democrats voted compared to 2020 when Biden won, while turnout among rural Americans, particularly Trump supporters, increased. This shift played a significant role in Trump's victory.

It’s not like there wasn’t long lines during the 2020 election. A lot of people just were not as passionate for Harris as they were for Biden in 2020. Plus a ton of voter burnout and apathy over politics of the last several years.

TheMillenniumRider:

So, what's the reason we didn't want her in the white house. Sure, I've seen plenty of pointless answers.

And offering mine would be just as pointless.

Shades:

she is week on what her plans will be.

All seven days or just Monday through Friday?