Amidst all the finger-pointing and self-immolation on the left, we need to acknowledge that the main cause of Hillary's loss was the formidable propaganda machine of the Republican Party.
And the ignorance, gullibility and hatefulness of so many Americans.
After all, the most shocking thing about the 2016 election is that Donald Trump could win despite his many obvious negatives.
Don't Blame Trump: He did everything he could to prove hte was unfit to be President
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No matter who won the Democratic nomination, a large proportion of Republican voters would have voted for the Republican nominee.
The same could be said for the election of 2004, when George W. Bush won re-election, despite the disaster of the war in Iraq and the scandals and corruptions surrounding his administration. Even in 2008, 45.7% of voters voted for John McCain.
Of course, Hillary was a perfect target for GOP hatred. Her hawkishness, friendliness to Wall Street, flip-flops, carelessness, and dirty tricks towards Sanders made her vulnerable and suppressed Democratic turnout. But millions of voters believed that Hillary was far worse than she is.
For this, Trump can thank Fox News, AM talk radio, Breitbart News, and other conservative media outlets, which were able to rouse up their base to a frenzy of hatred of Hillary, of government, and of liberals. In contrast, Trump was able to escape accountability for his outrageous statements and scandals: Trump University, Trump Foundation, bankruptcies, shady business dealings, not paying contractors, failure to release tax returns, likely tax evasion, lies during the debates, racist comments, sexual escapades, conspiracy mongering about Obama's citizenship, denial of established scientific consensus, etc.
On not paying contractors see Donald Trump's Business Plan Left a Trail of Unpaid Bills, Hundreds Allege Donald Trump doesn't pay his bills, and Dozens of lawsuits accuse Trump of not paying his bills, reports claim.
Aside from claiming that global climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese, Trump has said that vaccines cause autism, that environmentally-friendly light bulbs cause cancer, and that fracking "poses zero health risks" while wind farms are "bad for people's health". The list of outrageous statements goes on and on.
Hillary was swift-boated about her private email server, about the Clinton Foundation, and about Pizzagate. The hatred towards her and bias against her were pathological.
How to explain the toxic hatred of Hillary and liberals? I agree with the conclusion of Amanda Marcotte, who says, in Conservatism turned toxic: Donald Trump's fanbase has no actual ideology, just a nihilistic hatred of liberals, "Trump's victory was the result of decades of right-wing hate rhetoric, curdling into a totally negative worldview."
Even many progressives have bought into the toxic hatred of Hillary.
Using a private server was careless, but it was trivial compared to George W. Bush and Trump's wrongdoings and scandals. "Clinton's email habits look positively transparent when compared with the subpoena-dodging, email-hiding, private-server-using George W. Bush administration. Between 2003 and 2009, the Bush White House "lost" 22 million emails." (The George W. Bush White House 'Lost' 22 Million Emails)
The Clinton Foundation received a 4 out of 4 rating from Charity Navigator and an A rating from Charity Watch.
Concerning Pizzagate, Nearly 50% of Donald Trump voters believe Hillary Clinton is involved in pedophilia ring: poll.
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