c Kwiple.com - Economic, political, social commentary

Home/Recent kwiples > Issues >

2016 Presidential election

Tuesday 31st of March 2026

2008 financial crisis Trump's rise, like Warren's and Sander's, wouldn't have happened without the 2008 financial crisis. They were all part of the political backlash that followed the crisis-like aftershocks from an earthquake. One thing Trump's victory made clear was that the Obama's administration's response was more costly than initially assumed. The decision to forgo what Tim Geithner called “Old Testament justice" and concentrate the government's firepower on recapitalizing disgraced banks might have kept the economy afloat, but it also bred a deep resentment. Trump won because he consciously evoked the disgust people had come to feel toward Wall Street and Washington and made himself into an instrument to strike back. Joshua Green, in Rebels © 2024 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election The 472 counties won by Hillary Clinton in 2016 spanned only a small part of the acreage of the United States, but they produce 64 percent of all US output. The 2,584 counties won by Trump produce only 36 percent of US output. David Frum, Trumocalypse  © 2020 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election After the election, I made a comment that I thought the idea misinformation on Facebook changed the outcome of the election was a crazy idea. Calling that crazy was dismissive and I regret it. This is too important an issue to be dismissive.  Mark Zuckerberg, after Facebook agreed to provide Congress with 3,000 ads paid for by Russian agents  © 2017 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election And now the gloves are off. The tiny, tiny gloves. Stephen Colbert, on Donald Trump's hiring of Steve Bannon, the ex-head of frothing Breitbart News, as CEO of his presidential campaign © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Anti-democracy Republican Party leaders including Jason Chaffetz, Trent Franks, Louie Gohmert, Ron Johnson, Peter King, Michael McCaul and James Sensenbrenner, and Fox News dumbass Sean Hannity openly call for a coup d'état by, impeachment if Hillary Clinton is elected president © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Despite their hemming and hawing most Republican leaders closed ranks behind Trump, creating the image of a unified party. That, in turn, normalized the election. Rather than a moment of crisis, the election became a standard two-party race, with Republicans backing the Republican candidate and Democrats backing the Democratic candidate. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die  © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Does it make sense to vote for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate for president? Sure, as long as you believe two things. First, you have to believe that it makes no difference at all whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump moves into the White House – because one of them will. Second, you have to believe that America will be better off in the long run in we eliminate environmental regulation, abolish the income tax, do away with public schools, and dismantle Social Security and Medicare – which is what the Libertarian platform calls for. Paul Krugman, New York Times, 09/19/2016 © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Eligible and actual voters   Eligible Actual Totals voters voters Eligible: 231,556,622 100%   Didn't: 95,214,088 41%   Voted: 136,342,534 59% 100%  Clinton: 65,514,395 28% 48% Trump: 62,853,497 27% 46% Others: 7,974,642 3% 6%   As of December 7, 2016.  Eligible based on data from heavy.com; actual on data from uselectionatlas.org © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Finally Someone With Balls Slogan on t-shirts for Trump supporters © 2019 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election For all the Republicans' talk of a top-down Democratic plot, [Christopher] Steele and [Glenn] Simpson appear never to have told their ultimate client –the Clinton campaign's law firm– that Steele had gone to the F.B.I. Clinton's campaign spent much of the sum- mer of 2016 fending off stories about the Bureau's investigation into her e-emails, without knowing that the F.B.I. had launched a counter-intelligence investigation into the Trump team's ties to Russia … As a top Clinton-campaign official told me, “If I'd known the F.B.I. was investigating Trump, I would have been shouting it from the rooftops!” Jane Mayer, New Yorker, March 12, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Fuck the law. I don't give a fuck about the law. I want my fucking money. Shut it down. Donald Trump, reacting to the news that his campaign was paying for its transition team members, as is required by federal law © 2019 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election I had NOTHING to do with making Trump president. That was Putin. – God God@thegoodgodabove, 2:53 PM · Feb 13, 2019  © 2020 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election I had nothing to do with Russia helping me get elected. Donald Trump, 7:57 AM – May 30, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election I think of this as echoing of the 2008 financial crisis. The marketplace for politicians just did something as weird as the marketplace for securities did, and it did it in part because of what the market did. Without the financial crisis, we don't get Trump as president. There are other necessary conditions. But it's definitely a necessary condition. Michael Lewis, Financial Times, December 10-11, 2016 © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election I will close by reiterating the central allegation of our indictments – that there were multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election. And that allegation deserves the attention of every American. Robert Mueller © 2019 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election I would like to promise and pledge to all of my voters and supporters and to all of the people of the United States that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election, if I win. Donald Trump, makig it clear once and for all that he's indisputably a modern Republican by promising to continue their attempts to deligitimize government and the presidency  © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election If Hillary wins, there will be widespread unrest, civil disobedience, badly divided government in which half the country believes she, her daughter, and her husband belong in jail. There'll be no goodwill. No honeymoon. There will be systematic inspection of all of her actions because someone who has been a crook in the past will be a crook in the future. It will be sad. I'll probably be forced to move to Costa Rica. Rober Stone, Trump adviser, promising Republican-led gridlock if Clinton becomes president © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election If you only focus on the toxic crap, you're not being fair to the Turmp voters. But if you deny all the toxic crap, you're not being fair to the rest of Americans. Van Jones © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election In a choice between two aging boomers, victory went to the older and less evolved of the two. It's as if, by electing Donald Trump, voters angrily decided, “Enough with all this ‘audacity of hope,’ let's give necrosis a try.” James Wolcott, Vanity Fair, September, 2017 © 2018 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election In the end, the Republican Party rallied behind Donald Trump because if that was the deal needed to regain power, what was the problem? Because it had always been about power. The rest? The principles? The values? It was all a lie. Stuart Stevens, It Was All a Lie © 2020 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election In the “world's greatest democracy,” the candidate with the most votes lost the election, yet again © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Ironically, for many of them [working-class whites], the America that they hope the president-elect can make great again is from an era in which unions were strong and incomes more equal, the mid-20th-century period that economists call the Great Compression. It was a time when the ancestors of today's Trump voters voted routinely for economic progressives, despised conservative Republicans and largely trusted the federal government to do right by them. Michael Kazin, Wall Street Journal, November 12–13, 2016 © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election It feels like we are in a world where, to me, some meaningful part of the electorate is beyond reasoning with – beyond fact, anti-science. Michael Lewis, Financial Times, December 10-11, 2016 © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to. Donald Trump, after dozens of leading Republicans withdrew their support for him following the release of a video in which he boasts about grabbing women by their genitals © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS. … The money's rolling in and this is fun. I've never seen anything like this, and this going to be a very good year for us. Sorry. It's a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going. Leslie Moonves, then CEO of CBS, on round-the-clock coverage of Trump during the election  © 2021 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election It's a mess — he's going to be subpoenaed [and] deposed. He's a litigation magnet and there's no relief because you're president. The Supreme Court has held that. Donald Trump's plight described by a former chief ethics officer for president George W. Bush, Financial Times, November 3, 2016 © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election It's exciting. I think you can feel we're resigned to this. An unnamed delegate to the Republican Party convention © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Jeff Jarvis @jeffjarvis Hey @Snowden, for context, how long would it take the NSA to dedupe 650k emails? — — — Edward Snowden @Snowden @jeffjarvis Drop non-responsive To:/CC:/BCC:, hash both sets, then subtract those that match. Old laptops could do it in minutes-to-hours. 5:19PM - 6 Nov 2016 Edward Snowden, responding to Jeff Jarvis, debunking Donald Trump's claim it would be impossible for the FBI to review 650,000 Hillary Clinton emails in 8 days, most of which were duplicates © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Make sure you get out and vote on November 28. Donald Trump's slip of the tongue revealing his worries about November 28, 2016, when he is scheduled to appear in court before judge Gonzalo Curiel in a civil suit accusing him of fraud related to Trump University, which is one of 75 civil suits he's facing for actions that took place before the election, from which even presidents are not immune © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Mike looks more like a vice-president — he's out of central casting. Donald Trump's explanation to Chris Christie of why he chose Pence as his running mate instead of him © 2023 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Most white  working-class people voted for Donald Trump and the through line that you find is whiteness, not class and not gender. It's not like he only got men; he got a majority of white women too. So if you look at categories of white people you find Trump being dominant among them, in part because of the appeal he made, but also in part because the Republican Party has effectively become in this country the party of white people. Ta-Nehisi Coates © 2017 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election My momma always said, “Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.” Forrest Gump, whose momma was a pollster © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Of course, the Russian effort affected the outcome. Surprising even themselves, they swung the election to a Trump win. To conclude otherwise stretches logic, common sense, and credulity to the breaking point. James Clapper, forner Director of National Intelligence, in his book, Facts and Fears  © 2018 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election On, Pfft! © 2018 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election The one piece of information that best predicts whether Mr. Trump won or lost a county in November was the degree of the opiod epidemic. Timothy Snyder, Malady © 2021 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Our back-up strategy is to fuck her up so badly that she can't govern. Steve Bannon, Trump's campaign manager, on the Republican Party's strategy if Hillary Clinton won the election  © 2021 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election People have talked about a miracle. I'm hearing about a nightmare. It's hard to be a parent tonight for a lot of us. You tell your kids don't be a bully. You tell your kids don't be a bigot. You tell your kids do your homework and be prepared. And then you have this outcome and you have people putting children to bed tonight and they're afraid of breakfast. They're afraid of, “How do I explain this to my children?” Van Jones, election night, 2016 © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election The president's intense resistance to the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia systematically interfered in the 2016 campaign – and the blame he cast instead on a rival country – led many of his advisers to think that Putin himself helped spur the idea of Ukraine's culp- ability, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. One former senior White House official said Trump even stated so explicitly at one point, saying he knew Ukraine was the real culprit because “Putin told me.” Washington Post, December 19, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Putin and Assange win big, aided by FBI, white insurgents, minority disenfranchisement — — — — — Canadian immigration website crashes after tallying begins — Trump will be told bit-by-bit what winners know and want © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Race definitely played a role in the 2016 election. I think race will always play a role in our country. It’s just sort of a constant fact of American life. And definitely some people who voted for Trump were racists, and they voted for him for racist reasons. J. D. Vance © 2024 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election The real job killer in America is auto- mation, robotics, artificial intelligence. You're not going to lose because your neighbor's child gets a chance to go to college. You're not going to lose because a hard-working immigrant family starts a small business. That's good for you! We never made that case. And the message from Trump was a retrograde message of nostalgia: “We can go back to the way things were. You don't have to compete with a woman for a job. Or with a striving young immigrant.” It's a falsehood that gave some comfort to people and gave them permission to scapegoat others. Hillary Clinton © 2017 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election The real issue is that, in area after area, raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour, the American people want it. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, creating 13 million jobs, the American people want it. The pay equity for women, the American people want it. Demanding that the wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes, the American people want it. Bernie Sanders, Democratic debate, Charleston, SC, Jan. 17, 2016 © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Regrettably, it appears that the platforms may have misrepresented or evaded in some of their statements to Congress. From a report published by the Senate Intelligence Committee about the responses submitted by Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media platforms to its requests for data about Russia's attempts to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election © 2018 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Rivals pounce on toxic mood to scorn US democracy — — — — — China, Russia, Iran and even Kyrgyzstan say they have nothing to be jealous about — — — — — headline, Financial Times, November 9, 2016 © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election She was asked. … Little bit difficult because of, you know, it's a long ways away. Donald Trump, explaining why Sarah Palin didn't travel from Alaska to the Republican convention in Cleveland, Ohio © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election That's right – lock her up! Damn right.  And you know why we're saying that? We're saying that because, if I, a guy who knows this business, if I did a tenth – a tenth – of what she did, I would be in jail today. Michael Flynn, responding to the audience when it began chanting “Lock her up!” after he mentioned Hillary Clinton in his speech at the Republican National Convention  © 2018 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election They came from the valleys, they came from the rivers, they came from the cities, they came from all over, they voted in one of the greatest elections in the history of our country. Donald Trump, March 22, 2018, reminiscing about his 2016 victory © 2019 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election This is a disaster, a total disaster. Women are going to hate me. Guys, they think it's cool, but this is going to be a disaster for the campaign. Donald Trump's reaction to the news that porn star Stormy Daniels was shopping her story of her brief affair with him shortly after the Access Hollywood tape had been released and shortly before the election, according to Michael Cohen and other witnesses at his hush money trial © 2024 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election This was many things. This was a rebellion against the elites. True. It was a complete reinvention of politics and polls. It's true. But it was also something else. … This was a whitelash. This was a whitelash against a changing country. It was whitelash against a black president in part. And that's the part where the pain comes. Van Jones, November 9, 2016 © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election To believe that Trump's presidency came out of nowhere, without warning, is the political version of creationism.  I, on the other hand, believe in devolution. The election of a serially bankrupt, functionally illiterate reality TV host was the logical consequence of the five decades preceding it, which, with apologies to Edith Wharton, I'll call the Age of Ignorance. Andy Borowitz, Profiles in Ignorance © 2023 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election To just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. ¶ Now some of those folks are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America. … the other basket of people are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they're just desperate for change. ¶ He seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won't wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they're in a dead- end. Those are people we have to under- stand and empathize with as well. Hillary Clinton © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Trump supporters, from most to least important: Vladimir Putin and his Russian hackers digging/creating dirt on Democrats ↓↓↓ Julian Assange and his Wikileakers distributing Russian-dug/made dirt ↓↓ Stephen Bannon, of Breitbart News, & Sean Hannity, Fox News dumbass, spreading conspiracy theories ↓ Uneducated blue-collar whites mistaking Trump for someone who cares for anyone other than himself © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Trump's rebellion was born at the intersection of two toxic American myths, the post-racial society and the classless society. Matt Taibbi © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Virginia had already removed 41,637 voters from the Crosscheck list—tens of thousands of voters whose only crime was having a common name. If all Crosscheck states follow Virginia's pattern, removing about 12 percent of the voters on their Crosscheck list, over one million voters will lose their right to vote by Election Day, November 2016. Greg Palast, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy [Interstate Crosscheck is a software package funded by Charles and David Koch and used by 30 states to identify nearly 7.2 million people with similar names who it deems “suspected double voters” that the states remove from their voter rolls without arresting or convicting the “suspects”] © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Vote your conscience Ted Cruz, at the Republican Party convention, reneging on his promise to support the Party's nominee, whoever it is © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election We got elected on Drain the Swamp, Lock Her Up, Build a Wall. … This was pure anger. Anger and fear is what gets people to the polls. Steve Bannon, in a 2018 interview © 2023 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election “We have three major voter suppression operations under way,” says a senior [Trump campaign] official. They're aimed at three groups Clinton needs to win overwhelmingly: idealistic white liberals, young women, and African Americans. Bloomberg BusinessWeek, October 27, 2016 © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election We know there's no other way it could've happened than the hand of God.  Steve Bannon's argument that convinced Jeff Sessions not to resign after one of Trump's humiliating put-downs © 2018 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election We Shall Overcomb Inscription on sheets of toilet paper sold at the Republican convention © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election We the people of the United States, in order to dissolve what unity we have, establish injustice, insure domestic idiocy, provide for the common offense, promote the general despair, and secure enmity toward ourselves by our posterity, do ordain and establish this obnoxious political spectacle, the election of 2016. “Preamble” to  P. J. O'Rourke, How the Hell Did This Happen? The Election of 2016 © 2017 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election Were you paid $1,500 to be a thug? Donald Trump, to a black rallier seated near the podium who he ordered to be removed without realizing the man was a supporter who sat up front so he could give Trump a note saying he'd get more black votes if he showed blacks more respect © 2019 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election What I'm saying is that I will tell you at the time. I'll keep you in suspense. O.K.? Donald Trump, when asked, if he were to lose the election, would he accept the results and concede to assist a peaceful transition of power © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election What is the T doing to that P? John Dingell, Democratic congressman, on the Trump-Pence campaign logo © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election What the geographic numbers do show is that the specific subset of Mr Trump's voters that won him the election – those in counties where he outperformed Mr Romney by large margins – live in communities that are literally dying. Even if Mr Trump's policies are unlikely to alleviate their plight, it is not hard to understand why they voted for change. Economist, November 19, 2016, commenting on the fact that an index of public-health statistics pertaining to life expectancy and the prevalence of diabetes, heavy drinking and obesity is an even better predictor of a county's change from 2012 to 2016 in the share of eligible voters that voted Republican than the % of non-college whites © 2016 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election When around 8 a.m. [1:00AM New York time] the most important result of our work arrived, we uncorked a tiny bottle of champagne … took one gulp each and looked into each other's eyes … We uttered almost in unison: “We made America great.” From an email the US government obtained from an employee of Russia's Internet Research Agency (IRA), which was responsible for manipulating the election in favor of Trump via posting to social media Quoted by Franklin Foer, The Atlantic, June 2020  © 2020 Kwiple.com
2016 Presidential election When you learn that the bank you borrowed money from is actually owned by a drug cartel, should your first reaction be, “Well, we got a good interest rate”? The simple reality is that the Republican Party was in buiness with Russian intelligence efforts, what used to be known as the KGB, and precious few leading the Republican Party seen to give a damn. Stuart Stevens, It Was All a Lie © 2020 Kwiple.com
2020 Presidential election It is almost impossible for Mr Trump to disappoint people. They never had hopes to dash. … Many others never believed that he or anyone else could, in that tellingly vague aspiration, make America great again. Their vote was more a howl against perceived national decline than a calculated attempt to arrest it. They are not standing over his shoulder with key performance indicators. That would imply some hope in the first place. Janan Ganesh, Financial Times, January 1, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Authoritarians When faced with a would-be authoritarian, established politicians must unambiguously reject him or her and do everything possible to defend demo- cratic institutions—even if that means temporarily joining with bitter rivals. For Republicans entering the general election of 2016, the implications were clear. If Trump threatened basic demo- cratic principles, they had to stop him. To do anything else would put democracy at risk, and losing democracy is far worse than losing an election. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die  © 2018 Kwiple.com
Bad news If that's what it took, I'm glad they did it.  citation Trump supporter quoted in New York Times, January 7, 2017, commenting on Russian efforts to help Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton © 2017 Kwiple.com
Bad news  In the face of Trump's fact-free denials, who is reminding the public of the basics – that Russia attacked, and that Trump aided and abetted the operation? … When it comes to framing the overarching story, Trump pracitcally has a monopoly. citation David Corn, Mother Jones, June 5, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Bad news It's too late for any of us [journalists] to fix this colossal misread and  lapse in professional caution. Now all we can do is wait to see how much this failure of vision will cost the public we supposedly serve. Just like the politicians, our job was to listen, and we talked instead. Now America will do its own talking for a while. The world may never forgive us for not seeing this coming. Matt Taibbi, on the press's failure to understand the “rage storm” behind the 2016 presidential election © 2016 Kwiple.com
Bad news Much of the media framing of the Russia scandal has followed Trump's lead and adopted his collusion-centric perspective. The debate, such as it is, has become whether Trump directly collaborated with Moscow's covert operation– and whether Trump, as president, tried to thwart the investigation and obstruct justice. The story is not driven by the serious offenses already established: Trump and his associates encourged and assisted an attack from a foreign foe. citation David Corn, Mother Jones, June 5, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Bullshitters say From day one I wanted a strong military. He doesn't want to see that. … He would like Hillary where she wants to have windmills. He would much rather have that, because energy prices will go up. And Russia as you know, relies very much on energy. Donald Trump, explaining why Vladimir Putin wanted Hillary Clinton and not him to be elected president © 2017 Kwiple.com
Bullshitters say I am the law and order candidate. Not only am I the law and order candidate, but I am also the candidate of compassion, believe it. The candidate of compassion. Donald Trump © 2019 Kwiple.com
Bullshitters say In addition to winning the electoral college in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally. Donald Trump discharging more dangerous bullshit © 2016 Kwiple.com
By the numbers Estimated number of votes by which Donald Trump won the state of Wisconsin: 27,000 Of registered Wisconsin voters who lacked voter identification: 360,000 Harper's Index, January 2017 © 2016 Kwiple.com
By the numbers In the 2016 presidential race, the 100 biggest donors have spent more than the 2 million smallest donors combined. Brennan Center for Justice © 2016 Kwiple.com
By the numbers In the year leading up to Trump's election victory, the word “transgender” appeared  in the New York Times 1,169 times. The word “opioid” appeared just 284 times.  Edward Luce, Financial Times, January 13-14, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
By the numbers Number of hours after the first U.S. election polls closed that the Canadian Immigration Services website crashed: 5 Harper's Index, January 2017 © 2016 Kwiple.com
By the numbers On all three issues overwhelming majorities of likely Republican voters supported his [Trump's] positions: almost three quarters (73 percent) favored banning Muslims from entering the US, 90 percent favored identifying and and deporting illegal immigrants as quickly as possible, and 85 percent favored building a wall on the Mexican border. Ronald B. Rapoport, Alan I. Abramowitz, and Walter J. Stone, New York Review of Books,  June 23, 2016 © 2016 Kwiple.com
By the numbers Perentage change in downloads of Signal, an encrypted text and calling app, since the presidential election: +400 Harper's Index, February 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
By the numbers Percentage of Republicians who believe millions of illegal votes were probably cast in last year's election: 52 Of Democrats who believe Russia tampered with the vote count: 59 Harper's Index, August 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
By the numbers Value of donations given to the American Civil Liberties Union in the week after the election: $7,200,000 In the week after the 2012 election: $27,806 Harper's Index, February 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
Christianity What has happened to American Christianity is there is this afterglow of what a candidate is supposed to represent. It is no longer moral character. It is policy positions on things that bother evangelicals. Wayne Flynt, reflecting on the overwhelming support among evangelicals for Trump in 2016  © 2017 Kwiple.com
Collusion [T]his is someone who said, “We have information on your opponent.” Oh, let me call the FBI. Give me a break. Life doesn't work that way. Donald Trump, defending his son, Don, Jr., who violated federal law by not reporting offers he received from Russians to meddle in the 2016 election to the FBI © 2019 Kwiple.com
Corporate welfare Congress grills flak clatchers from Facebook, Google and Twitter about subverting American democracy by enabling trolling by Russians in the 2016 presidential election and, shortly afterwards, plans to cut corporate tax rates nearly in half © 2017 Kwiple.com
Dead-in-the-heads say The only way we can lose, in my opinion — I really mean this, Pennsylvania — is if cheating goes on. I really believe this. Donald Trump, trailing in the polls, fearing becoming a loser and just another face in the crowd, doing what comes naturally to him: pissing in waters others must swim in © 2016 Kwiple.com
Democrats When you lose to somebody who has 40% popularity, you don't blame other things – Comey, Russia – you blame yourself.  Chuck Schumer © 2017 Kwiple.com
Duh obvious An overwhelming majority of voters are disgusted by the state of American politics, and many harbor doubts that either major-party nominee can unite the country after a historically ugly presidential campaign, according to the final pre-election New York Times/CBS News Poll. New York Times, November 3, 2016 © 2016 Kwiple.com
Election meddling My people came to me, Dan Coats [Director of National Intelligence] came to me and some others, they said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin; he just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be. Donald Trump, standing beside Vladimir Putin at the Helsinki summit press conference, siding with Putin over America's intelligence agencies © 2018 Kwiple.com
Election meddling Yes I did. Yes I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal. Vladimir Putin, responding to a reporter who asked him at the Helsinki summit press conference, “Did you want President Trump to win the election? And did you direct  any of your officials to help him do that?” © 2018 Kwiple.com
Elites say Why'd they ever vote for Trump? © 2018 Kwiple.com
Fake tears Look, this is terrible. It makes me mildly nauseous to think we might have had some impact on the election. James Comey, FBI Director and Republican, on his decision to disclose two weeks before the presidential election that the FBI had reopened its Clinton email probe without having yet studied the new emails, which it later said warranted no legal action © 2017 Kwiple.com
Fall guys say Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford [porn star Stormy Daniels], and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly. The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone. Michael D. Cohen, Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, claiming he paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels out of his own pocket just before Election Day to keep her quiet about her affair with Trump soon after his wife gave birth to their son © 2018 Kwiple.com
Kwiplers say I accuse Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes (CA), Chairman Paul Ryan (WI), Ex officio Mike Conaway (TX) Tom Rooney (FL) Rick Crawford (AR) I. Ros-Lehtinen (FL) Trey Gowdy (SC) Elise Stefanik (NY) Will Hurd (TX) Chris Stewart (UT) Peter King (NY) Mike Turner (OH) Frank LoBiondo (NJ) Brad Wenstrup (OH) of abrogation of duty in investigating the degree of Russian interference in the 2016 elections ——— Specific charges ——— • Failing to call key witnesses • Failing to verify witness statements • Failing to supboena uncooperative witnesses & witnesses who lied • Leaking secrets for partisan gain • Denying Putin favored Trump • Failing to inform Democratic committee members of meetings • Prohibiting Democratic input to written committee reports • Failing to await special counsel Robert Mueller's findings • Putting Republican Party interests above the nation's © 2018 Kwiple.com
Kwiplers say Not everyone who voted for Trump is a liar and a racist and a sexist, but everyone who did is someone who wanted one in the White House  © 2017 Kwiple.com
Liars say Hillary Clinton — I didn’t say, “‘Lock her up,” but the people would all say, “Lock her up, lock her up.” OK — then we won. And I said, pretty openly, I said, “Alright, come on, just let’s relax, we’ve gotta make our country great.” Donald Trump © 2024 Kwiple.com
Lies Mr. Trump knew of and directed the Trump Moscow negotiations throughout the campaign and lied about it. He lied about it because he never expected to win. He also lied about it because he stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars on the Moscow real estate project. Michael Cohen © 2019 Kwiple.com
Money in politics A 2015 Times report found that at that point fewer than 400 families accounted for almost half the money raised in the 2016 presidential campaign. Paul Krugman, New York Times, July 5, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Money in politics In the election cycle of 2016, the richest one-hundredth  of 1 percent of Americans — 24,949 extraordinarily wealthy people — accounted for a record-breaking 40 percent of all campaign contributions. By contrast, in 1980, the top 0.01 percent accounted for only 15 percent of all contributions. Robert B. Reich, The System © 2021 Kwiple.com
Money in politics Pfizer, whose donations to the GOP in 2016 totaled $16 million, would reap $39 billion [in savings from the tax cuts passed by Congress in 2017]. [2,437:1] GE contributed $20 million and will get back $16 billion in tax savings. [800:1] Chevron donated $13 million and received $9 billion. [692:1] Not even a sizzling economy can deliver anything close to the returns on political investments. Robert B. Reich, The System © 2021 Kwiple.com
Money in politics The president reimbursed it over a period of several months. Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump's lawyer, on Michael Cohen's $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 presidential election © 2018 Kwiple.com
Money in politics The president repaid it … He didn't know about the specifics of it, as far as I know, but he did know about the general arrangement that Michael would take care of things like this, like I take care of things like this for my clients. I don't burden them with every single thing that comes along. These are busy people. Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump's lawyer, on Michael Cohen's $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 presidential election © 2018 Kwiple.com
Obituary notice In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Shriners Hospital for Children at 2900 Rocky Point Drive, Tampa, FL 33607. Also, the family respectfully asks that you do not vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016. R.I.P. Granddaddy. April 15, 2015, obituary notice for Larry Darrell Upright, diehard Republican, Whitley's Funeral Home, Kannapolis, NC © 2015 Kwiple.com
Obituary notice NOLAND, Mary Anne Alfriend. Faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God on Sunday, May 15, 2016, at the age of 68. Richmond [Virginia] Times-Dispatch, May 17, 2016 © 2016 Kwiple.com
Partisanship In 1992, 38 percent of Americans lived in “landslide counties,” which went for a presidential candidate by a margin of 20 percentage points or more, the Times  has reported; in 2016, the number reached 60 percent. Sasha Issenberg, “Divided We Stand,” New York magazine, November 12-25, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Populism What does he think Trump has that the others lacked, I ask? The short answer is that Trump understood that that America's “aspirational” working class had become “desperational”. Edward Luce, from his interview with Anthony Scaramucci © 2018 Kwiple.com
Post-2016 Senate shituation 14 states (Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming) 2016 population: 38,597,448 Senators: 28 Republicans 1 Senator per 2,756,961 people — 1 state (California) 2016 population: 38,802,500 Senators: 2 Democrats 1 Senator per 19,401,250 people 19,401,250 / 2,756,961 = 7, therefore: average 14er's vote is worth 7 times a Californian's, a Californian's vote is worth 14% of an average 14er's — 1 state (Wyoming) 2016 population = 584,153, therefore: 1 Senator per 292,077 Wyomians, a Wyomian's vote is worth 66 times a Californian's, a Californian's vote is worth 1.5% of a Wyomian's © 2016 Kwiple.com
Punt returners say I love it. Donald Trump, Jr., fumbling the ball by eagerly accepting an offer to meet with a repersentative of the Russian government to discuss its desire to collude with his father's campaign to defeat Hillary Clinton instead of reporting it to the FBI © 2017 Kwiple.com
Reich wingers say Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory! Richard Spencer, who received stiff-armed salutes from attendees celebrating Trump's 2016 win at the annual conference of the National Policy Institute, which describes itself as “an independent organization dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world.” © 2022 Kwiple.com
Republican Party The second unforgivable sin is Trump's encouragement of a foreign adversary's interference in U.S. electoral processes. Leave aside the question of whether Trump's cooperation with the Russians violated the law. He at least tacitly collaborated with a foreign intelligence operation against his country–sometimes in full public view. This started during the campaign, when he called upon the Russians to steal and release his opponent's emails, and has continued during his presidency, as he equivocates on whether foreign intervention occurred and smears intelligence professionals who stand by the facts. Meanwhile, the Republican Party has confirmed his nominees, doggedly pursued its agenda on tax reform and health care and attacked–of course–Hillary Clinton. Jonathan Rauch and Benjamin Wittes © 2018 Kwiple.com
Republicans say So what if Donald Trump pays no federal taxes | thinks those who do are stupid | evaded the draft |  belittles POWs & go ld star parents | denies having supported the Ir aq war | calls Mexicans rapists | wants to build a wall, exclude Muslims | insults & lies incessan tly | interrupts critics to divert attention | perso nifies narcissism |  is an adulterer | stalks, grop es women  | can't tell banter from bragging abo ut sexual assault | delegitimizes government, li beral democracy, a free press | wants nuclear w eapons to spread, a trade war with China | prais es dictators | asked Russians to hack Americans | never apologized for birtherism | defrauded in vestors & students | called it “Two Corinthians” | increases disrespect for America abroad | brag s about making money by running for president? — — — — — — — He's for cutting taxes on the rich and packing the Court with right wingers  W H I C H   I S   A L L  T H A T  M A T T E R S © 2016 Kwiple.com
Republicans say So what if Donald Trump stiffs contractors who work for him |  uses only offshore manufacturers  |  hires undocumented immigrants  |  is a “business genius” who's had six bankruptcies and was bailed out by banks  | bans some news networks from his events | en courages libel suits against journalists | is only suddenly pro-life  | claims to read the Bible but can't name his favorite verse  |  is not an active member of any church | is among the least cha ritable billionaires ever  |  uses his foundation's money to buy things for himself and make polit ical contributions  |  is a fear mongerer | thinks saying things again and again makes them true | humiliates prominent Republicans  | is loweri ng support for us among groups our survival de pends upon | is killing our downballot chances? — — — — — — — He's for cutting taxes on the rich and packing the Court with right wingers  W H I C H   I S   A L L  T H A T  M A T T E R S © 2016 Kwiple.com
Resisters say If this march is about accountability 57% of white women voted 4 misogny Placard, New York City Women's March, January 20, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Resisters say No mandate Placard, Women's March on Washington, January 21, 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
Rural America Exit polls showed that 62 percent of the rural vote went to Donald Trump, compared with 50 percent of the suburban vote and only 35 percent of the urban vote. Robert Wuthnow, The Left Behind © 2018 Kwiple.com
The  scandal In 2016, Vladimir Putin's regime mounted information warfare against the United States, in part to help Trump become pres- ident. While this attack was underway, the Trump crew tried to collude covertly with Moscow, sought to set up a secret communications channel with Putin's office, and repeatedly denied in public that this assault was happening, providing cover to the Russian operation. Trump and his lieutenants aligned themselves with and assisted a foreign adversary, as it was attacking the United States. The evidence is rock-solid: They committed a profound act of betrayal. That is the scandal. David Corn, Mother Jones, June 5, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Selfie I'm worried that I will be the last Republican president. George W. Bush © 2016 Kwiple.com
Selfie I made a political decision eight years ago when I dropped out of the race in 2016. I looked at the polls and I decided that Donald Trump was going to be the nominee  and that since I'd known him for fifteen years, that I could make him a better candidate and if he won, maybe a better president. I knew his flaws, but I also knew he was going to win the noimination, so I decided I could get behind him and support him. I let the ambition get ahead of and in control of the decision-making, and after I figured that out, I promised myself and I promised  my wife that I would never, ever do that again. And I'm not going to. Chris Christie, Windham, NH, January 10, 2024 © 2024 Kwiple.com
Selfie I have often wondered how I missed the coming tragedy. It is not so much that I should have predicted that Americans would elect Donald Trump. It's just that I shouldn't have put it past us. Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Guardian, September 29, 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
Selfie I'll let you know how I fell about it after it happens. Donald Trump, failing to dispel rumors he may walk away from the Presidency if he wins it © 2016 Kwiple.com
Selfie I wouldn't want to be in a foxhole with a lot of these people. Donald Trump, a draft evader who left serving in foxholes to others, after singling out John McCain as one of “these people” — Republicans who don't avidly support him for president  © 2016 Kwiple.com
Sleepers at the wheel say Nobody saw it coming © 2018 Kwiple.com
Sleepers at the wheel say Trump won the 2016 election fair and square © 2018 Kwiple.com
Sleepers at the wheel say What is Aleppo? Gary Johnson, 2016 Libertarian Party presidential nominee, when asked what he would do, if elected, about Aleppo, the city under siege since 2012 in Syria's civil war © 2016 Kwiple.com
Snapshot This guy swung an election. He thought the wrong person would win. James Comey portrayed by Kellyanne Conway © 2018 Kwiple.com
Snapshot The big idea about Trump was that he was talking plain and telling it like it is, even though he was lying all the time. It was authentic lying. Donald Trump portrayed by Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign manager © 2019 Kwiple.com
Snapshot The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower on the 25th floor – with no lawyers. They didn't have any lawyers. Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad shit, and I happen to think it's all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately. Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort portrayed by Steve Bannon in a quotation from Fire and Fury, by Michael Wolff, about their meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who promised them damaging information about Hillary Clinton s © 2018 Kwiple.com
Snapshot Tailgating in parking lots. Vendors selling Hillary Sucks But Not Like Monica shirts. General awfulness. Donald Trump rally, Greensboro, North Carolina, June 14, 2016, portrayed by Jared Yates Sexton in a live tweet that triggered death threats against him © 2017 Kwiple.com
Snapshot He said he didn't meddle. I asked him again. You can only ask so many times. I just asked him again. He said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. He did not do what they are saying he did. Every time he sees me he says: “I didnt do that,” and I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it. I think he is very insulted by it, which is not a good thing for our country. Vladimir Putin portrayed by Donald Trump, November 11, 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
Southern border wall If my speeches ever get a little off, I just go: “We'll build a wall!” You know, if it gets a little boring, if I see people starting to sort of maybe thinking about leaving – I can sort of tell the audience – I just say, “We will build the wall,” and they go nuts. “And Mexico will pay for the wall!” But – ah, but I mean it. But I mean it. Donald Trump © 2019 Kwiple.com
State of the union Donald Trump has always benefited from the inability to imagine Donald Trump. It was unimaginable that a man who talked in public about having sex with his daughter would be the Republican nominee for president or that he would win. It was unimaginable to me that Republican Senators and elected officials would not concede an election that wasn't even close. North of 300 electoral votes, eight million more votes, but that's what happened. Stuart Stevens, April 20, 2022, once a Republican campaign adviser © 2022 Kwiple.com
State of the union For Europeans, today's America serves a useful function: a model for how not to run your society. The US has already demonstrated how easy it is to lurch into plutocracy, or to split a country into two hostile tribes. Now it is offering another cautionary lesson: how to let Russian interference succeed  by turning it into a partisan issue. Most Republicans are acting as if the problem isn't Russian meddling in the 2016 election but the FBI's handling of it. Simon Kuper, Financial Times, Feb. 8, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
State of the union c Sudden, widespread alarm at Russian attempts to sow doubt about America's leaders, institutions and electoral integrity, coming after decades of well-funded, comparable, widely-applauded Republican efforts led by groups like Breitbart News, Fox News and Judicial Watch, and by party leaders like Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump © 2016 Kwiple.com
Surely you jest In what promises to be a key issue in the 2016 general election, a majority of Americans now say that they want a President who can keep their families safe from Rudy Giuliani, a new poll finds. Andy Borowitz, Borowitz Report in New Yorker, July 19, 2016 © 2016 Kwiple.com
Surely you jest Trump plays the Rolling Stones' “You Can't Always Get What You Want” before officially introducing Mike Pence as his running mate © 2016 Kwiple.com
Television Never underestimate the power of being in people's living rooms for decades. That's what got Trump elected. This is now a as-seen-on-TV kind of country. Bill Maher © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpism In 2016, after several counties in North Carolina suffered severe flooding, the state tried to distribute federal disaster-relief food-benefit cards on the day of the presidential election, to give poor people a choice between eating and voting. Michael Lewis, The Fifth Risk © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpism … the most reliable predictor for who was a Trump voter wasn't race  but the combination of race and education. Among white people, 38 percent of college graduates voted for Trump, compared with 64 percent without college degrees. This margin —the great gap between Smart America and Real America — was the decisive one. It made 2016 different from previous elections, and the trend only intensified in 2020. George Packer, The Atlantic, July/August 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say As someone who's run for office five times, if the devil called me and said he wanted to set up a meeting to give me opposition research on my opponent, I'd be on the first trolley to Hell to get it. And any politician who tells you otherwise is a bald-faced liar. Jeanine Pirro, former judge and district attorney and Fox News' Justice with Judge Jeanine host, defending Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with emissaries of the Russian government even though he knew it wanted to help Trump win, and she knew it's illegal for foreigners to contribute, donate or spend funds on any election in the United States © 2017 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I do not believe that I've seen that conclusion that the specific intent was to help President Trump win. I'm not aware of that.  Kirstjen Nielsen, Homeland Security Secretary, claiming to be unaware the intelligence community concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 election to help Trump win © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I don't know. I'm not really focused on these things. Paul Ryan, when asked if he agreed with Trump's claim that millions of illegal voters voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016  © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I haven't seen any evidence that the attempts to interfere in our election infrastructure was to favor a particular political party. Kirstjen Nielsen, secretary of Homeland Security, days after Putin said “Yes I did” when asked if he ordered interference in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump win © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say The only possible violation there would be, was it a campaign finance violation – which usually would result in a fine, by the way – not this big stormtroopers [the FBI] coming in and breaking down his apartment and breaking down his office. Rudy Giuliani, on the FBI's warranted search of Michael Cohen's house, office and hotel room for documents related to Cohen's $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels [Cohen said they knocked on his door] © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say Thank God no one is accusing us any more of interfering in elections in the United States. Now they are blaming Ukraine. Vladimir Putin © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say There's nothing wrong with taking information from Russians. … They shouldn't have stolen it, but the American people were just given more information. Rudy Giuliani © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say Trump is fucking crazy, but I'll vote for him. The whole system is fucked. Why not vote for the craziest guy, to see the craziest shit happen? Jason Molina, an ex-Obama voter quoted by Politico in 2016 explaining why he'll vote for Trump © 2023 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say We got elected on Drain the Swamp, Lock Her Up, Build the Wall. … This was pure anger. Anger and fear is what gets people to the polls. Steve Bannon © 2020 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say We got ISIS, we got Zika, we got this, we got that. At least Trump is fun to watch. Jason Molina, an ex-Obama voter quoted by Politico in 2016 explaining why he'll vote for Trump © 2023 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say You look at what Russia did – you know, buying some Facebook ads to try to sow dissent and do it – and it's a terrible thing. But I think the investigations, and all of the speculation that's happened for the last two years, has had a much harsher impact on our democracy than a couple of Facebook ads. Jared Kushner © 2019 Kwiple.com
Twitter Would Donald Trump have become president in 2016 without his Twitter account? Edward Luce, Financial Times, November 7, 2022 © 2022 Kwiple.com
Undecided voters To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down tha aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. ”Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?“ To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked. David Sedaris, New Yorker, October 27, 2008 © 2016 Kwiple.com
 
Whites  As late as the 1996 presidential election, counties that were at least 85 percent white and earned less than the national  median income split about evenly between  Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican Bob Dole. In the 2016 election, such counties went 658 for Donald Trump and two for Hillary Clinton.  Robert Kuttner. New York Review of Books, July 21, 2022 © 2022 Kwiple.com