These seem to be the three top areas of focus that most of the pundits in the media and on X are talking about
I’ve seen it said that the number of people in swing states who voted for Trump and nothing down ballot is greater than the amount he won by. Those people aren’t endorsing the Republican agenda, but rather are saying that they were better off under Trump, presumably due to lower prices and interest rates.
While I think it’s the economy that put Trump over the top, his viability as a candidate is a reflection of the nature of a significant portion of the American public garnished with frustration in the political status quo and changes in society.
That’s a good point… there is a critical mass of America that has always made Trump viable/ popular. We can try to figure out the incremental change since 2020 but it’s possible that that critical mass could have also declined modestly which was offset by the economic story for a net gain.
Trump is an unacceptable person. He is a liar, idiot, asshole, criminal, and cheater.
If this were some other job, or competition, or institution, he would have been kicked out. He would get disqualified because the people who care about that thing don’t want awful people in their club, and they especially don’t want an awful leader representing their club.
Doesn’t matter the club. Could be Actuaries, Doctors, Baptists, Bridge Players, Marines, whatever.
If he were elected the head of the SOA, we would all agree, “the SOA is fucked.” If some church appointed him to highest position, we’d say, “glad I’m not in that church.” If he were head of the Navy, we’d say “I don’t think it’s honorable anymore.” It’s the same way with everything.
Who you disqualify, and who you don’t disqualify is who you are.
Other matters come after the qualification process.
This is the problem with a two-party system.
Instead of voting for a party for rational reasons, people vote against the other party to punish them because they think things can’t get worse if they shake up the status quo.
We have seen this show before in the UK with Brexit and it doesn’t end well for the people who voted based on that view.
Also, its very likely that Trump-style policies will cause the US economy to overheat, so my expectation is that there is going to be an economic reckoning before his term is over.
Going to be interesting to see what the people who voted for Trump do when things don’t get better for them.
The Critical Mass actually reached Critical Mass in particular states. That is all.
She is a woman, and that is more than all of those “reasons” combined for these folks. Including plenty of women.
Several of them will blame the Deep State and similar bogeymen.
There are entire subreddits now dedicated to highlighting every reported instance (many of them likely apocrophal) of Trump supporters belatedly realizing the potential implications of a new Trump presidency.
For example:
That is the third time I have seen that story. Maybe it is the best story, or only story, but I am doubting there is a meaningful number of people at this time regretting their vote.
People have short attention spans and memory, and a large number of them are unable or unwilling to engage critical thinking and dig deeper than memes or short anecdotal videos. Forget something complicated like the economy.
There’s no barrier to entry for spewing whatever on social media, and those who trigger emotion are rewarded with clicks. Whip up fears of assorted boogeymen and nostalgia for a sanitized time that never was and/or never will be again with simplistic (but unrealistic/problematic solutions) and voila.
Everyone knows Trump lies, but his followers seem to think they can parse which he really means vs the ones he’s just saying, and they’re willing to turn a blind eye to unpleasantries like sexual assault if they think their eggs will be cheaper.
Amen.
The vote is a vote to “burn it down”. Not surprising, and even a bit welcomed imo.
40+ years of Neoliberalism, and it’s all proven to be horse manure. Trickle down. Rising tide lifts all boats. austerity. Globalization and bow to the god of free markets. The only obvious result was the rich got insanely rich, while the common man went deeper into debt. What’s to like about that?
The 2 western nations leading that charge were the UK (Thatcher) and USA(Reagan). Not a coincidence that it destroyed the working nd middle class in each. Nor that the voters are tired of the status quo.
And in the USA, we continue to behave as though the Constitution was delivered in stone tablets directly from god. Can’t pass an amendment to save our lives.(ERA anyone?) the system needs a reboot.
Now that NeoL era seems to passing as a sad experiment after the New Deal era, it’s up for grabs what the next ideological era will be. Tyranny? Socialism? Some new social compact we have yet to develop? I’d be fascinated to hear what other AOers imagine we are headed. Oligarchical tyranny is my favorite atm, but it’s by no means a slam dunk.
In any event, Trump will speed up the destruction.
A vote on the economy is simple though…how do I feel today when I check a box next to a candidate? It’s the economy stupid. Something like unemployment hits a subset of the voters while something like inflation hits everyone in some way. We are really talking about a small % of Americans who didn’t dig deeper or consider the impacts of actual policy proposals.
When you see Trump and Musk dancing on stage together, is there much left to wonder about?
All kinds of doubt. I do not dismiss autocratic strongman as casually as you
Read Oren Cass’s OpEd in the times and you will see how murky the future is. The Right is not of one mind, and hard to predict which faction will prevail. At lest for me.
Well, the plutocrats are lining up their money and resources for the bounty of a lifetime.
The MAGA crowd will go all-in on the inmigration side.
Unlike Trump’s first time his “side” are better prepared and they are appointing people that are loyal to Trump.
I just see a lot of chaos as they focus on being nasty on the immigration side while Trump causes chaos on the economic side.
The plutocrats will just stay in the background, let Trump be Trump, and quietly get even more rich via taxpayer money.
That tells me it is fake.
Need a company name.
Need the name of the person (first) posting this.
Then verify it.
Because Reddit and antisocial media are not news sources.
I saw this on The Guardian the other day. I was fascinated by how Harris being female was a really big issue.
But gender did play a role. Time and again, voters, very often women themselves, told me that they just didn’t think that “America is ready for a female president”. People said they couldn’t “see her in the chair” and asked if I “really thought a woman could run the country”. One person memorably told me that she couldn’t vote for Harris because “you don’t see women building skyscrapers”.
Sometimes, these people would be persuaded, but more often than not it was a red line. Many conversations would start with positive discussions on policy and then end on Harris and her gender. That is an extraordinary and uncomfortable truth
Harris didn’t pitch the Wuling EV Mini hard enough imo
Thus my caveat “probably apocryphal”. 
This particular story seems odd, but I did see another story about a company announcing plans to shift manufacturing away from China due to anticipated tariffs, and I was part of work at my company that looked at potential financial impacts from the election.
(Specifically, some mid-to-long-term planning assumptions we’re using were contingent on election outcomes. We essentially had “R trifecta”, “D trifecta” and “other” sets of assumptions ready to go. I’m working this afternoon to solidify the “R trifecta” assumptions in my work.)
I also doubt that very many people are, strictly speaking, regretting their votes. However, I suspect there may be a few people who are being introduced to potential adverse consequences and having mixed reactions thereto. For example:
