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The majority of the country voted for this. Trump won the electoral vote. Trump asked why the US can't nuke other countries when it has so many nukes. Trump l

The majority of the country voted for this. Trump won the electoral vote. Trump asked why the US can't nuke other countries when it has so many nukes. Trump loves war ("department of war") loves bombing other countries - always has. That he is so eager to use nukes should frighten everyone.

tossandthrow 9mo ago
Especially in the US, this is a strawman. There is simply not enough granularity of choice that you can make voters accountable for every action Trump does.
- stouset 9mo ago
  Trump was wildly transparent about what kind of person he is. In this case, you can and should.
- KingOfCoders 9mo ago
  Guy: "Why do we have nukes if we don't use them?" Same Guy: "If Europe doesn't buy more weapons from us, Russia should invade Europe, torture, plunder and kill people and do their worst." People: "I guess I vote for that guy!" Guy randomly bombs Iran, Yemen, Nigeria, Venezuela, Iraq, Somalia and Syria - people "Huh? I didn't vote for this".
  - tossandthrow 9mo ago
    The US only has two parties and decisions are decoupled from the wishes of the people. It is already a stretch to call it a democracy - which is required to insist on democratic reasoning.
    - KingOfCoders 9mo ago
      The US only has two parties because people only want two parties. The "our team vs. other team" is so ingrained in US all thinking, people can't stop. Football is not played with three teams. The election system doesn't help, but there is nothing in the constitution that says "Only two parties".
      - tossandthrow 9mo ago
        The two party nature is a part of it - historically it might have worked. I currently it seems like oligarchic structures are what's ruining the democracy. Regardless, If allowed intellectual hoolahop, then most systems of governance can be argued to be democratic.
      - roenxi 9mo ago
        The polling indicates that the US is desperate for an alternative for something other than the two incumbent parties. They're wildly unpopular and there actually seems to be a political consensus that the US is sliding into ruin which reflects badly on the mainstream policy consensus the majors have been pushing over last few decades. Just a post ago you identified that Mr. "Why do we have nukes if we don't use them?" was the best available option. That doesn't mean he's a good option, it means there were two choices and the other one was generally seen as the same or worse than Trump. Which given all the stuff that got thrown at Trump is an impressive level of failure.
      - trymas 9mo ago
        It’s because of first past the post voting system.
  - m4nu3l 9mo ago
    I believe the problem with democracy is that it's affected by various problems analogous to the ones of markets, but often amplified. In this case, to me, it really seems a matter of extreme information asymmetry as you'd never see in a regular market. Does he actually mean those things, or is that some sort of joke? How do you even know? BTW, he didn't actually use Nukes, and I don't believe he will. On the other hand, he said he wanted to end wars and sounded like he was against starting new ones. I've seen people regretting voting for Trump because of tariffs, even though they supported tariffs in the first place. They had no idea that Trump's "tariff" would mean some blanket tariffs at those rates. They thought it was some small tariffs on "key industries". A further confirmation of the information asymmetry is that after a year, support for Trump is far below what would be needed to elect him. I'm not sure what the solution is.
420official 9mo ago
I agree with the rest of your point but I dont think its factual to say the majority of the country voted for trump. 77m/343m or ~20% of the country voted for trump, though I'm sure this is what you meant to say.
- KingOfCoders 9mo ago
  1. The majority of voters voted for Trump 2. People who don't vote are like fine with whoever wins like "What pizza? I'm fine with every pizza you bring" Yes, 5 year olds didn't vote for Trump.
  - tdeck 9mo ago
    Trump won less than 50% of the popular vote.
  - treetalker 9mo ago
    False. Comment demonstrates ignorance of the electoral college and disregard for fact. Even among eligible voters who did vote, Trump got less than 50% of votes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidentia...
    - justinator 9mo ago
      You don't need > 50% of the votes to make a majority when you're pool is more than 2, which it was. Weird thing to hang your hat on.
      - treetalker 9mo ago
        Majority means > 50%. Perhaps you meant plurality. Regardless, US presidential elections do not depend on getting a majority or even a plurality of popular votes, but rather on a majority of electoral votes. And Trump did not get a majority of popular votes as claimed. This being HN, the fact-check seemed appropriate and I stand by it.
lawn 9mo ago
> The majority of the country He did not win the popular vote.
- KingOfCoders 9mo ago
  Trump won the popular vote. Those who didn't vote, were "Nah can't be bothered, I'm fine with whoever wins"
- rawling 9mo ago
  He won the popular vote, but not a majority of it.

tossandthrow 9mo ago

Especially in the US, this is a strawman. There is simply not enough granularity of choice that you can make voters accountable for every action Trump does.

stouset 9mo ago
Trump was wildly transparent about what kind of person he is. In this case, you can and should.
KingOfCoders 9mo ago
Guy: "Why do we have nukes if we don't use them?" Same Guy: "If Europe doesn't buy more weapons from us, Russia should invade Europe, torture, plunder and kill people and do their worst." People: "I guess I vote for that guy!" Guy randomly bombs Iran, Yemen, Nigeria, Venezuela, Iraq, Somalia and Syria - people "Huh? I didn't vote for this".
- tossandthrow 9mo ago
  The US only has two parties and decisions are decoupled from the wishes of the people. It is already a stretch to call it a democracy - which is required to insist on democratic reasoning.
  - KingOfCoders 9mo ago
    The US only has two parties because people only want two parties. The "our team vs. other team" is so ingrained in US all thinking, people can't stop. Football is not played with three teams. The election system doesn't help, but there is nothing in the constitution that says "Only two parties".
    - tossandthrow 9mo ago
      The two party nature is a part of it - historically it might have worked. I currently it seems like oligarchic structures are what's ruining the democracy. Regardless, If allowed intellectual hoolahop, then most systems of governance can be argued to be democratic.
    - roenxi 9mo ago
      The polling indicates that the US is desperate for an alternative for something other than the two incumbent parties. They're wildly unpopular and there actually seems to be a political consensus that the US is sliding into ruin which reflects badly on the mainstream policy consensus the majors have been pushing over last few decades. Just a post ago you identified that Mr. "Why do we have nukes if we don't use them?" was the best available option. That doesn't mean he's a good option, it means there were two choices and the other one was generally seen as the same or worse than Trump. Which given all the stuff that got thrown at Trump is an impressive level of failure.
    - trymas 9mo ago
      It’s because of first past the post voting system.
- m4nu3l 9mo ago
  I believe the problem with democracy is that it's affected by various problems analogous to the ones of markets, but often amplified. In this case, to me, it really seems a matter of extreme information asymmetry as you'd never see in a regular market. Does he actually mean those things, or is that some sort of joke? How do you even know? BTW, he didn't actually use Nukes, and I don't believe he will. On the other hand, he said he wanted to end wars and sounded like he was against starting new ones. I've seen people regretting voting for Trump because of tariffs, even though they supported tariffs in the first place. They had no idea that Trump's "tariff" would mean some blanket tariffs at those rates. They thought it was some small tariffs on "key industries". A further confirmation of the information asymmetry is that after a year, support for Trump is far below what would be needed to elect him. I'm not sure what the solution is.

420official 9mo ago

I agree with the rest of your point but I dont think its factual to say the majority of the country voted for trump. 77m/343m or ~20% of the country voted for trump, though I'm sure this is what you meant to say.

KingOfCoders 9mo ago
1. The majority of voters voted for Trump 2. People who don't vote are like fine with whoever wins like "What pizza? I'm fine with every pizza you bring" Yes, 5 year olds didn't vote for Trump.
- tdeck 9mo ago
  Trump won less than 50% of the popular vote.
- treetalker 9mo ago
  False. Comment demonstrates ignorance of the electoral college and disregard for fact. Even among eligible voters who did vote, Trump got less than 50% of votes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidentia...
  - justinator 9mo ago
    You don't need > 50% of the votes to make a majority when you're pool is more than 2, which it was. Weird thing to hang your hat on.
    - treetalker 9mo ago
      Majority means > 50%. Perhaps you meant plurality. Regardless, US presidential elections do not depend on getting a majority or even a plurality of popular votes, but rather on a majority of electoral votes. And Trump did not get a majority of popular votes as claimed. This being HN, the fact-check seemed appropriate and I stand by it.

lawn 9mo ago

> The majority of the country He did not win the popular vote.

KingOfCoders 9mo ago
Trump won the popular vote. Those who didn't vote, were "Nah can't be bothered, I'm fine with whoever wins"
rawling 9mo ago
He won the popular vote, but not a majority of it.