Re: Trumpocalypse Now
Posted: November 19th, 2018, 3:43 pm
It would be ridiculous to back Hillary again. I hope it's going to be someone else.
Discussion forums for the premiere fan community for and by fans of film director Christopher Nolan.
http://www.nolanfans.com/forums/
If Donald Trump has one undisputable achievement during the first two years of his presidency, it's that he has succeeded in increasing the political engagement of a large share of the American public.
Preliminary figures for nationwide turnout in the 2018 mid-term elections are in, and they've reached a mark not seen in more than a century. Across the US, 49.2% of the voting age public cast ballots. In 2014 that number was 37%, and the average over the last few decades has hovered around 40%.
The last time turnout for a mid-term topped 50% was 1914 - before women had the vote in the US.
In some states, the numbers were even higher. Washington and Colorado, which heavily utilise voting by mail, topped the list at 69.4% and 65.5%, respectively. Minnesota, always a high-participation state, came in at 64.3% this year.
Even states with lower 2018 turnout saw sharp increases over recent mid-terms. In Texas enthusiasm generated by Democrat Beto O'Rourke (who was narrowly defeated) helped boost turnout to 46.1%, compared to 28.3% in 2014. Georgia, which had a contentious governor race, saw an increase from 38.6% to 55%.
In California, where several prominent Republican congressional incumbents have been unseated, turnout rose from 30.7% to 47.8%
The numbers across the US still fall short of the roughly 60% voter participation seen during recent presidential elections, although 2018 does come close to the 51.7% mark for Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign. And digging back farther into the historical records, it surpasses the levels of the 1920 and 1924 presidential years.
TJ Cox (D) has just now taken the lead in CA CD21. This would be the net +40 pickup for House Democrats if he and the others ultimately wins instead of the 34-36 estimated early in the above quote.MagnarTheGreat wrote: ↑November 8th, 2018, 7:38 amThe Week - This graph shows how brutal the 2018 midterm really was for Trump
Because of the disparity of the president's party losing seats during a time of strong employment and inflation conditions as well as rising home prices, the JPMorgan analysts determined that Trump actually had "the worst House retention rate" of anyone in his position in a century. Not exactly what you would call a "tremendous success," perhaps.
Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort held secret talks with Julian Assange inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and visited around the time he joined Trump’s campaign, the Guardian has been told.
Sources have said Manafort went to see Assange in 2013, 2015 and in spring 2016 – during the period when he was made a key figure in Trump’s push for the White House.
It is unclear why Manafort wanted to see Assange and what was discussed. But the last meeting is likely to come under scrutiny and could interest Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor who is investigating alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
A well-placed source has told the Guardian that Manafort went to see Assange around March 2016. Months later WikiLeaks released a stash of Democratic emails stolen by Russian intelligence officers.
Mueller investigating 2017 meeting between Manafort and Ecuador's President - CNNPoliticsA separate internal document written by Ecuador’s Senain intelligence agency and seen by the Guardian lists “Paul Manaford [sic]” as one of several well-known guests. It also mentions “Russians”.