I think this argument is also misleading in a variety of ways. The election cycle proved, to me, that the entire presidential race -- from primaries to general

I think this argument is also misleading in a variety of ways. The election cycle proved, to me, that the entire presidential race -- from primaries to general -- is largely a popularity contest and heavily run on name recognition. There's also the concern that the states that didn't even go to Clinton in the general were largely the ones that carried her in the primaries. And then there's the superdelegate system that allowed the media to push the narrative that Clinton was winning by an insurmountable margin before that was actually the case. People who generally stayed out of politics and were largely unenthused about voting turned out to vote for a candidate who engaged with their concerns and ideologies. This was a really complicated election cycle that, (again) to me, highlighted the idea that this is all one big popularity contest and that, ultimately, the media picked the popular kids for us all before we knew it.