2016 United States presidential election

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[[File:ElectoralCollege2016.svg|right|thumb|300px|
The biggest electoral win since [[Reagan]]!
<ref>[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/02/16/trump-falsely-claims-biggest-electoral-win-since-reagan/98002648/ Trump falsely claims biggest electoral win since Reagan] Cummings, William. ''USA Today''. FEB.16.17</ref>]]
{{hatnote|We're sorry, were you looking for [[Brexit]]?}}
{{cquote|A general Dissolution of Principles & Manners will more surely overthrow the Liberties of America than the whole Force of the Common Enemy. While the People are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their Virtue they will be ready to surrender their Liberties to the first external or internal Invader... [T]he Necessity of supporting the Education of our Country must be strongly impressd...|||American [[Founding Father]] {{wpl|Samuel Adams|}}, 12 February 1779.<ref>{{cite web | last=Cushing | first=Harry Alonzo | title=The Writings of Samuel Adams | website=The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Writings of Samuel Adams | date=2024-10-01 | url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2094/pg2094-images.html | access-date=2024-11-25}}</ref>}}
{{uspolitics}}
The '''2016 United States presidential election''' took place on November 8, 2016, pitting [[Democratic Party]] candidate '''[[Hillary Clinton]]''' against [[Republican Party]] candidate '''[[Donald Trump]]'''. After an extremely negative, mud-slinging campaign from both sides,<ref>{{cite web | title=3. Voters’ evaluations of the campaign | website=Pew Research Center | date=2016-11-21 | url=https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2016/11/21/voters-evaluations-of-the-campaign/#campaign-viewed-as-heavy-on-negative-campaigning-light-on-issues |}}</ref> Trump won an upset victory with 306 votes in the [[Electoral College]]{{efn|He only received 304 due to faithless electors|}} despite losing the popular vote by almost three million.<ref>{{cite web | last=Krieg | first=Gregory | title=It’s official: Clinton swamps Trump in popular vote | website=CNN | date=2016-12-21 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/12/21/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-popular-vote-final-count/index.html |}}</ref> By appealing to dissatisfied voters in the Rust Belt who were being hammered by rising joblessness and poverty, Trump narrowly won the longtime Democratic stronghold states of [[Pennsylvania]], [[Wisconsin]], and [[Michigan]] while handily winning the longtime swing states of [[Iowa]] and [[Ohio]].<ref>{{cite web | last=Longworth | first=Richard C | title=Disaffected rust belt voters embraced Trump. They had no other hope | website=the Guardian | date=2016-11-21 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/21/disaffected-rust-belt-voters-embraced-donald-trump-midwestern-obama}}</ref> Clinton, on the other hand, lost ground in rural areas compared to her predecessor [[Barack Obama]] in [[2012 United States presidential election|2012]] while turnout for Democrats significantly dropped in critical urban areas.<ref name="urbturnout">{{cite web | title=Hillary Clinton’s Urban Turnout Problem – National Committee for an Effective Congress | website=National Committee for an Effective Congress – Contributing Valuable Campaign Analysis and Planning Tools to Progressive Candidates | date=2018-02-23 | url=https://www.ncec.org/analysis/20161116-urban-turnout-problem/|}}</ref> Trump's victory was the fifth time a candidate lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College.<ref>{{cite web | title=EXPLAINER: They lost the popular vote but won the elections | website=AP News | date=2020-10-31 | url=https://apnews.com/article/ap-explains-elections-popular-vote-743f5cb6c70fce9489c9926a907855eb}}</ref> This election was also the first in recorded history where both major candidates had negative popularity in the polls.<ref>{{cite web | last=Gallup | first=Inc. | last2=Saad | first2=Lydia | title=Trump and Clinton Finish With Historically Poor Images | website=Gallup.com | date=2016-11-08 | url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/197231/trump-clinton-finish-historically-poor-images.aspx |}}</ref>

From start to finish, 2016 was a chaotic election. Trump's successful attempt to seize control of the Republican Party as a [[populist]] outsider candidate caused uproar from within the party and a prolonged battle in the primary season.<ref>{{cite web | title=Anti-Trump Delegates Cause Chaos on Opening Day of GOP Convention | website=NBC News | date=2016-07-18 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/anti-trump-delegates-cause-chaos-opening-day-gop-convention-n611996|}}</ref> Over on the Democratic side, [[Bernie Sanders]], a [[progressive]] senator from [[Vermont]], staged his own populist outsider attempt to win the party nomination before being stonewalled by the Democratic establishment.<ref>{{cite web | last=Klein | first=Ezra | title=Was the Democratic primary rigged? | website=Vox | date=2017-11-14 | url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/14/16640082/donna-brazile-warren-bernie-sanders-democratic-primary-rigged|}}</ref> 

As accusations of a rigged primary mounted,<ref>{{cite web | title=Elizabeth Warren agrees Democratic race 'rigged' for Clinton | website=BBC Home | date=2017-11-03 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41850798}}</ref> Hillary also faced an American public that increasingly viewed her as being untrustworthy and corrupt.<ref>{{cite web | last=Gallup | first=Inc. | last2=McCarthy | first2=Justin | title=Americans' Reactions to Trump, Clinton Explain Poor Images | website=Gallup.com | date=2016-07-01 | url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/193418/americans-reactions-trump-clinton-explain-poor-images.aspx |}}</ref> Her campaign dismissed a scandal concerning Clinton's mishandling of classified emails, while many voters viewed it as evidence that Clinton saw herself as a political elite to whom rules did not apply.<ref>{{cite web | last=Cillizza | first=Chris | title=The mistake Hillary makes in diagnosing her biggest mistake of 2016 | website=CNN | date=2017-09-11 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/11/politics/hillary-emails/index.html |}}</ref> Clinton's campaign was also dragged down by her own self-entitlement,<ref>{{cite web | last=Berke | first=Jeremy | title=Clinton staffers toyed with using 'because it's her turn' as a campaign rallying cry | website=Business Insider | date=2017-04-22 | url=https://archive.is/BBe2P|}}</ref> her lack of charisma and authenticity,<ref>{{cite web | last=Keneally | first=Kristina | title=I can't get excited about Hillary Clinton's campaign – it lacks a raison d'etre | website=the Guardian | date=2016-02-03 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/03/i-cant-get-excited-about-hillary-clintons-campaign-it-lacks-a-raison-detre |}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Linker | first=Damon | title=Hillary Clinton's authenticity problem | website=theweek | date=2014-06-17 | url=https://theweek.com/articles/446064/hillary-clintons-authenticity-problem |}}</ref> and her failure to break away from the popular perception that she was a status quo establishment candidate during a time where much of the country was struggling with decreasing living standards and a sluggish economy.<ref>{{cite web | last=Schneider | first=Howard | title=Much of 'Trump country' was in recession during 2016 campaign | website=Reuters | date=2019-12-18 | url=https://archive.is/2BbnE}}</ref> The last nail in the coffin for Clinton's presidential aspirations came in the form of an [[FBI]] announcement 11 days before the election that it had discovered "pertinent" information in the ongoing investigation into Clinton's emails—just in time for early voting to start.<ref>{{cite web | last=Jacobs | first=Ben | last2=Siddiqui | first2=Sabrina | last3=Ackerman | first3=Spencer | title=Newly discovered emails relating to Hillary Clinton case under review by FBI | website=the Guardian | date=2016-10-28 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/28/fbi-reopens-hillary-clinton-emails-investigation |}}</ref> The investigation wrapped up with no evidence of wrongdoing by Clinton, but only two days ''after'' the election took place.<ref>{{cite web | last=Yuhas | first=Alan | last2=Siddiqui | first2=Sabrina | last3=Jacobs | first3=Ben | last4=Ackerman | first4=Spencer | title=FBI has found no criminal wrongdoing in new Clinton emails, says Comey | website=the Guardian | date=2016-11-07 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/06/fbi-director-hillary-clinton-email-investigation-criminal-james-comey |}}</ref> Hillary has been pissed about this ever since, by the way.<ref>{{cite web | last=Haner | first=Joanne | title=Hillary Clinton: Harris doesn’t have Comey ‘waiting in the wings to kneecap her’ | website=The Hill | date=2024-10-25 | url=https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4953253-hillary-clinton-harris-james-comey-kaitlan-collins-trump/ |}}</ref>

Trump, meanwhile, ran a [[racist]]<ref>{{cite web | last=Marcelo | first=Philip | title=Donald Trump was accused of racism long before his presidency, despite what online posts claim | website=AP News | date=2023-07-28 | url=https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-trump-racism-election-obama-018824651613 |}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Henderson | first=Nia-Malika | title=Race and racism in the 2016 campaign | website=CNN | date=2016-08-31 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/31/politics/2016-election-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-race/index.html |}}</ref> and [[xenophobia|xenophobic]]<ref>{{cite web | last=Lind | first=Dara | title=The real costs of Donald Trump’s anti-Mexican slur controversy, explained | website=Vox | date=2015-07-08 | url=https://www.vox.com/2015/7/8/8911467/donald-trump-immigrants-boycott |}}</ref> campaign based on building a [[Great Wall of America|wall across the southern border]] and somehow getting [[Mexico]] to pay for it,<ref>{{cite web | last=Giles | first=Christopher | title=Trump's wall: How much has been built during his term? | website=BBC Home | date=2019-01-05 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46748492 |}}</ref> banning [[Muslim]] refugees and immigrants from entering the United States,<ref>{{cite web | last=Lind | first=Dara | title=Donald Trump proposes “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" | website=Vox | date=2015-12-07 | url=https://www.vox.com/2015/12/7/9867900/donald-trump-muslims |}}</ref> opposition to [[globalization]] and free trade,<ref>{{cite web | last=Jackson | first=David | title=Donald Trump targets globalization and free trade as job-killers | website=USA TODAY | date=2016-06-28 | url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/28/donald-trump-globalization-trade-pennsylvania-ohio/86431376/|}}</ref> and vague condemnations of "[[political correctness]]."<ref>{{cite web | last=Weigel | first=Moira | title=Political correctness: how the right invented a phantom enemy | website=the Guardian | date=2016-11-30 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/30/political-correctness-how-the-right-invented-phantom-enemy-donald-trump |}}</ref> His campaign—along with the entire Republican Party—was thrown into bedlam in October<ref>{{cite web | last=Collinson | first=Stephen | title=Trump throws GOP into chaos | website=CNN | date=2016-10-08 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/08/politics/donald-trump-gop-chaos/index.html |}}</ref> after multiple audio examples surfaced of Trump crudely demeaning women and bragging about sexual assaults he had allegedly committed: "They let you do it. You can do anything. Grab 'em by the pussy."<ref>{{cite web | last=Nelson | first=Libby | title="Grab ’em by the pussy”: how Trump talked about women in private is horrifying | website=Vox | date=2016-10-07 | url=https://www.vox.com/2016/10/7/13205842/trump-secret-recording-women |}}</ref> Unfortunately, this was not enough to halt Trump's momentum or prevent his victory in the election.

The atmosphere of chaos persisted during and after election night. While polls seemingly predicted that Hillary had a 90% chance to win, Trump unexpectedly overperformed the polls in many key states.<ref>{{cite web | last=Picciotto | first=Rebecca | title=Why election polls were so wrong in 2016 and 2020 | website=CNBC | date=2024-05-04 | url=https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/04/why-election-polls-were-wrong-in-2016-and-2020-and-whats-changing.html |}}</ref> During the official voting of the Electoral College in December, protests swept the nation<ref>{{cite web | title=Trump wins electoral college amid nationwide protests | website=BBC News | date=2016-12-19 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38374749 |}}</ref> while seven faithless electors broke away from both candidates. Clinton lost three votes to [[Colin Powell]], one to Faith Spotted Eagle, and one to Bernie Sanders, while Trump lost one vote to [[John Kasich]] and another to [[Ron Paul]].<ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/which-candidates-did-the-seven-faithless-electors-support-election-2016/ Which candidates did the seven "faithless" electors support?] Boccagno, Julia. ''CBS News.'' DEC.21.16</ref> For years afterwards, allegations swirled that [[Russia]] had launched a major effort to interfere in the election on behalf of Trump and that [[Trump-Russia connection|Trump's campaign directly coordinated with the Russians]]—these allegations were confirmed by a [[US Senate|Senate]] report in 2020.<ref>{{cite web | last=Sherman | first=Mark | last2=Press | first2=Associated | title=Senate panel finds Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election | website=PBS News | date=2020-08-18 | url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/senate-panel-finds-russia-interfered-in-the-2016-us-election |}}</ref> 

All in all, a pretty wild election. It's really quite a shame, then, that the [[2020 United States presidential election|next]] [[2024 United States presidential election|two]] were even crazier. 

==Background==
===Voter suppression===
Lots of minorities were effectively banned from the polls. In 2013, the [[John Roberts|Roberts Court]] struck down a crucial part of the [[Voting Rights Act]], which mandated the DOJ to review changes in states with a history of voter discrimination (i.e., the entire South), to make sure they don't disproportionately affect people of color (and poor whites). This freed up Republicans to prevent as many Democrats from voting as possible.<ref>[http://www.brennancenter.org/voting-restrictions-first-time-2016 "New Voting Restrictions in Place for 2016 Presidential Election"], Brennan Center for Justice (1/5/17 at 7:31 am).</ref> Several hundred polling places were closed in these states, disproportionately in areas with non-white residents, and many had to wait hours in line to cast a vote—if they bothered to show up at all.<ref>Berman, Ari, [https://www.thenation.com/article/there-are-868-fewer-places-to-vote-in-2016-because-the-supreme-court-gutted-the-voting-rights-act/ "There Are 868 Fewer Places to Vote in 2016 Because the Supreme Court Gutted the Voting Rights Act"], ''[[The Nation]]'' (1/5/17 at 7:37 am)</ref> [[Voter ID]] laws, which disproportionately affect people who lack time to register for them (e.g., poor people), also played a role.<ref>Dayanite Ramesh, Coleman Lowndes, and John Kerr, [http://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/11/03/video-strict-voter-id-laws-are-new-jim-crow-laws/214228 "Strict Voter ID Laws Are The New Jim Crow Laws - Right-Wing Media Falsely Cry “Voter Fraud” To Keep Citizens From Voting"], Media Matters (1/5/17 at 7:27 am)</ref> 

Not to be outdone, Governor [[Rick Scott]] (R-FL) announced they wouldn't reschedule the deadline for voter registration, even after a [[hurricane]] swept the state just days prior. A federal judge overruled him.<ref>[https://theintercept.com/2016/11/07/hurricane-matthew-called-the-republicans-bluff-on-voter-registration/ A federal judge overruled him] (1/5/17 at 7:16 am)</ref> 

==Party nominations==
[[File:Trump announces his candidacy in Trump Tower.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Donald Trump announces that he will run for president at Trump Tower in [[New York]], June 16, 2015.]]
{{cquote|Contented countries don’t produce politicians like Trump. For many years now, a majority of Americans have told pollsters that they believe the nation is on the wrong track. A decade and a half marked by [[Afghanistan War|foreign]] [[Iraq War|wars]], [[Terrorism|terrorist]] threats, [[Great Recession|recession]], slow growth, political gridlock, culture wars, and (for many voters) declining incomes have further undermined faith in the political system, creating space for insurgent candidates like Trump and Bernie Sanders.|||{{wpl|John Cassidy (journalist)|John Cassidy|,}} ''The New Yorker'', 4 May 2016.<ref name="trumpnyer">{{cite web | last=Cassidy | first=John | title=How Donald Trump Won the G.O.P. Nomination | website=The New Yorker | date=2016-05-04 | url=https://archive.is/3dnjL}}</ref>}}
===The Republicans===
{{main|2016 Republican Party presidential nomination}}
The 2016 Republican presidential primaries had the greatest number of candidates running at the same time in the party's history,<ref>{{cite web | last=Linshi | first=Jack | title=More People Are Running for Presidential Nomination Than Ever | website=TIME | date=2015-07-08 | url=https://time.com/3948922/jim-gilmore-virginia-2016/ |}}</ref> reflecting the discord and discontent into which the party had been thrown following [[Mitt Romney]]'s [[2012 United States presidential election|decisive loss]] to incumbent president [[Barack Obama]]. Major contenders were extremist [[Texas]] senator [[Ted Cruz]], disliked by his colleagues but beloved by [[Tea Party]] conservatives for being an uncooperative and unproductive obstructionist in [[US Congress|Congress]],<ref>{{cite web | last=Enten | first=Harry | title=Let’s Be Serious About Ted Cruz From The Start: He’s Too Extreme And Too Disliked To Win | website=FiveThirtyEight | date=2015-03-23 | url=https://archive.is/NYDBF}}</ref> the safe and moderate [[Ohio]] governor [[John Kasich]], who had no chance at victory for those reasons,<ref>{{cite web | last=Enten | first=Harry | title=John Kasich: A Jeb Bush In Jon Huntsman Clothing | website=FiveThirtyEight | date=2015-07-21 | url=https://archive.is/h01qc}}</ref> [[Florida]] senator [[Marco Rubio]], also safe and well-liked<ref>{{cite web | last=Enten | first=Harry | title=The Official 2016 GOP Field Gets Its First Real Contender: Marco Rubio | website=FiveThirtyEight | date=2015-04-13 | url=https://archive.is/L6W48}}</ref> and possessing no chance at victory because of those qualities,<ref>{{cite web | last=Silver | first=Nate | title=Marco Rubio Never Had A Base | website=FiveThirtyEight | date=2016-03-09 | url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/videos/marco-rubio-never-had-a-base/ |}}</ref> and un-charismatic former Florida governor Jeb Bush, whose only claim to fame was being the brother of the disgraced [[George W. Bush]].<ref>{{cite web | last=Enten | first=Harry | title=Pols And Polls Say The Same Thing: Jeb Bush Is A Weak Front-Runner | website=FiveThirtyEight | date=2015-06-15 | url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/pols-and-polls-say-the-same-thing-jeb-bush-is-a-weak-front-runner/ |}}</ref> A host of minor candidates dropped out before the voting started due to abysmal polls ([[Bobby Jindal]], [[Rick Perry]], [[Scott Walker]], etc) while others just totally faceplanted with humiliatingly small vote totals as the states started voting ([[Lindsey Graham]], {{wpl|George Pataki||,}} [[Rick Santorum]], [[Rand Paul]], etc).<ref>{{cite web | last=Bialik | first=Carl | title=How The Republican Field Dwindled From 17 To Donald Trump | website=FiveThirtyEight | date=2016-05-05 | url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-the-republican-field-dwindled-from-17-to-donald-trump/ |}}</ref>

[[File:Republican Party presidential primaries results, 2016.svg|thumb|right|350px|States won by each candidate. {{legend|#283681|Donald Trump}}{{legend|#D4AA00|Ted Cruz}}{{legend|#C60E3B|Marco Rubio}}{{legend|#29AB87|John Kasich}}{{legend|#555555|Uncommitted}}]]

The big name, of course, was [[Donald Trump]]. On 14 June 2015, Trump came down the elevator to the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City to deliver a meandering 45-minute speech in which he declared the "American dream" to be "dead" before making his iconic promise to "Make America Great Again."<ref>{{cite web | last=Diamond | first=Jeremy | title=Donald Trump jumps in: The Donald’s latest White House run is officially on | website=CNN | date=2015-06-16 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/16/politics/donald-trump-2016-announcement-elections/index.html |}}</ref> With the benefit of hindsight and having just reviewed the other candidates in the race, it now seems pretty inevitable that Trump was going to prevail. Aided by support from far-right scumbag media figures like [[Rush Limbaugh]] and [[Ann Coulter]], Trump presented himself as an alternative to the failed Republican establishment.<ref name="trumpnyer"/> His skills at demagoguery and his willingness to crassly insult his opponents helped him tap into the growing fury of the Republican voter base towards professional politicians, a stagnant economy, and the mere existence of President Obama.<ref name="trumpnyer"/> He turned [[undocumented immigration]] into the central issue of the Republican nomination by insulting [[Mexico]] and Mexican-Americans while promising to [[Great Wall of America|order a wall built along the southern border]],<ref>{{cite web | title=Donald Trump Announces Presidential Bid By Trashing Mexico, Mexicans | website=NBC News | date=2015-06-16 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/donald-trump-announces-presidential-bid-trashing-mexico-mexicans-n376521 |}}</ref> differentiating himself from the other Republican politicians with an easy-to-grasp policy and his willingness to embrace the [[xenophobia]] of the Republican base.<ref name="trumpnyer"/> 

The Republican primaries saw their highest voter turnout since 1980.<ref>{{cite web | last=DeSilver | first=Drew | title=Turnout was high in the 2016 primary season, but just short of 2008 record | website=Pew Research Center | date=2024-04-14 | url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/06/10/turnout-was-high-in-the-2016-primary-season-but-just-short-of-2008-record/ |}}</ref> The disunited field of Republican candidates stood no chance against the popular enthusiasm behind Trump, and he won early contests in [[New Hampshire]], [[South Carolina]], and [[Nevada]].<ref>{{cite web | last=Pinto | first=Jennifer De | title=The Republican Convention: How Trump got here | website=CBS News | date=2016-07-19 | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-gop-convention-2016-how-he-got-here/ |}}</ref> Ted Cruz and John Kasich belatedly teamed up to halt Trump's momentum, but it was far too little and far too late.<ref>{{cite web | last=Jacobs | first=Ben | title=Ted Cruz and John Kasich team up in deal to stop Donald Trump | website=the Guardian | date=2016-04-25 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/25/ted-cruz-and-john-kasich-team-up-in-deal-to-stop-trump |}}</ref> Kasich, Cruz, and the other Republicans were swamped by the massive voter turnout from Republicans inspired by Trump's candidacy.<ref>{{cite web | last=Chinni | first=Dante | title=The Trump Effect: Millions More Have Voted in GOP Primaries | website=NBC News | date=2016-05-10 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-forces-didn-t-just-beat-establishment-they-overran-it-n570851 |}}</ref>

Trump's victory was reflected in his receiving an overwhelming 1,441 delegates at the Republican National Convention, whereas his closest competitor Ted Cruz only got 551.<ref>{{cite web | title=Republican Convention 2016 | website=The Green Papers | date=2016-07-19 | url=http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P16/R |}}</ref> This was the first time, but far from the last, in which Trump's willingness to embrace the ugly side of America boosted him to an election victory. It was clear that Trump had successfully tapped into ''something'', and that said ''something'' wasn't good.

<center><gallery widths=225px heights=225px>
File:GOP Primary debates October 2015.jpg|The crowded GOP primary field during the October 2015 debates.
File:Trump at plane door 2015Dec16.jpg|Trump emerges from his plane before a rally in [[Arizona]], December 2015.
File:Trump taco bowl 2016 crop.jpg|Trump poses with a taco bowl in May 2016.
File:Trump at the 2016 RNC.jpg|A smug Trump at the [[2016 Republican National Convention]].
</gallery></center>

===The Democrats===
[[File:Democratic Party presidential primaries results, 2016.svg|thumb|right|385px|States won by each candidate. {{legend|#D4AA00|Hillary Clinton|}}
{{legend|#228B22|Bernie Sanders|}}]]
{{main|2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination}}
{{cquote| At a time when millions of American workers have seen declines in their incomes and are working longer hours for lower wages, the wealth of the billionaire class is soaring in a way that few can imagine. If you can believe it, between 2013 and 2015, the 14 wealthiest individuals in the country saw their net worth increase by over $157 billion. We live in the one of the wealthiest countries on earth, yet children go hungry, veterans sleep out on the streets and senior citizens cannot afford their prescription drugs. This is what a rigged economic system looks like.|||Bernie Sanders, June 2015.<ref>{{cite web | last=Noriega | first=Margarita | title=Bernie Sanders is right about income inequality: it kills | website=Vox | date=2015-06-02 | url=https://www.vox.com/2015/6/2/8713319/bernie-sanders-income-inequality |}}</ref>}}
Former senator and Secretary of State [[Hillary Clinton]] was the first candidate to announce that she was running for the Democratic nomination.<ref>{{cite web | last=Keith | first=Tamara | title=Hillary Clinton Expected To Go Small With Big Announcement | website=NPR | date=2015-04-10 | url=https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/04/10/398729582/hillary-clinton-expected-to-go-small-with-big-announcement |}}</ref> She had previously sought her party's nomination in 2008, but she lost due to her ties to the unpopular Iraq War and a groundswell of grassroots support for Barack Obama.<ref>{{cite web | last=Prokop | first=Andrew | title=7 charts that explain why Hillary Clinton lost in 2008 | website=Vox | date=2015-02-20 | url=https://www.vox.com/2015/2/20/8062125/hillary-clinton-lost-2008 |}}</ref> That's foreshadowing, by the way. 

Although Clinton was considered the frontrunner from the get-go, [[Vermont]] senator (and self-described [[democratic socialism|democratic socialist]]) Bernie Sanders jumped into the race with a platform advocating for [[universal healthcare]] and lambasting longstanding economic inequality.<ref>{{cite web | title=Bernie Sanders 2016 Presidential Election Candidate | website=NBC News | date=2015-11-02 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/candidates/bernie-sanders/ |}}</ref> His anti-establishment campaign won him major support from voters under 30 years old,<ref>{{cite web | last=Blake | first=Aaron | title=74-year-old Bernie Sanders’s remarkable dominance among young voters, in 1 chart | website=Washington Post | date=2016-03-17 | url=https://archive.is/59VA3}}</ref> and powered his momentum against Clinton to the point where the press started talking about "the Summer of Bernie."<ref>{{cite web | last=Page | first=Clarence | title=The summer of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump | website=Chicago Tribune | date=2015-07-14 | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2015/07/14/the-summer-of-bernie-sanders-and-donald-trump/ |}}</ref> Sanders attacked Clinton for taking money from Super-PACs while both candidates were pledging support for campaign finance reform,<ref>{{cite web | last=Overby | first=Peter | title=Fact-Check: Clinton And Sanders On Campaign Finance | website=NPR | date=2016-02-06 | url=https://www.npr.org/2016/02/06/465781632/fact-check-clinton-and-sanders-on-campaign-finance |}}</ref> but his campaign wasn't completely the "underdog" bid he described it as. Riding a wave of small dollar donations, Sanders impressively outspent Clinton by 50% across many states in early 2016.<ref>{{cite web | last=Overby | first=Peter | title=Sanders Campaign Has Spent 50 Percent More Than Clinton In 2016 | website=NPR | date=2016-04-29 | url=https://www.npr.org/2016/04/29/476047822/sanders-campaign-has-spent-50-percent-more-than-clinton-in-2016 |}}</ref> 

After almost tying Clinton in the [[Iowa]] caucus, Sanders easily won the [[New Hampshire]] primary, lending credibility and momentum to his outsider campaign.<ref>{{cite web | last=Prokop | first=Andrew | title=Bernie Sanders just easily won the New Hampshire primary. It's a remarkable achievement. | website=Vox | date=2016-02-10 | url=https://www.vox.com/2016/2/9/10955298/new-hampshire-primary-results-bernie-sanders-wins |}}</ref> New Hampshire was the state that kept Clinton in the running against Obama in 2008, and it was the state that started [[Bill Clinton|her husband's]] momentum in 1992.<ref name="clintonnh">{{cite web | title=N.H. Loss Reveals Underlying Weaknesses of Clinton Candidacy | website=NBC News | date=2016-02-10 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/n-h-loss-reveals-underlying-weaknesses-clinton-candidacy-n515536 |}}</ref> This loss was seen as a major warning sign of Democratic discontent with Clinton,<ref name="clintonnh"/> and she indeed came within a razor's-edge of losing the state to Trump in the general election.<ref>{{cite web | title=New Hampshire Election Results 2016 | website=CNN | url=https://www.cnn.com/election/2016/results/states/new-hampshire |}}</ref>

Sanders ultimately fell short with Black, Hispanic, and older voters as his coalition was primarily composed of white and young people.<ref>{{cite web | last=Prokop | first=Andrew | title=Poll: White Democrats are feeling the Bern | website=Vox | date=2016-01-15 | url=https://www.vox.com/2016/1/15/10770524/who-supports-bernie-sanders |}}</ref> As a result, Sanders fell behind on pledged delegates on Super Tuesday as Southern states with high numbers of Black Democrats all fell in behind Clinton.<ref>{{cite web | last=Nelson | first=Libby | title=Super Tuesday 2016: 12 states are voting. Here are the results so far. | website=Vox | date=2016-03-01 | url=https://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11135770/super-tuesday-states-polls-results-2016 |}}</ref> Worse, the Democratic Party establishment locked ranks behind Clinton and funneled more money into her campaign as the primaries went on, while Democrat-supporting pundits wrote hit pieces against Sanders.<ref>{{cite web | last=Karp | first=Matt | title=The War on Bernie Sanders | website=Jacobin | date=2014-01-24 | url=https://jacobin.com/2016/02/bernie-sanders-democratic-party-primary-president-iowa-caucus-new-hampshire-primary/ |}}</ref><ref>Michael D. Shear and Matthew Rosenberg, [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/23/us/politics/dnc-emails-sanders-clinton.html22 "Released Emails Suggest the D.N.C. Derided the Sanders Campaign"], NYT July 2016.</ref><ref>Borchers, Callum, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/25/emails-show-debbie-wasserman-schultz-pressured-morning-joe-to-no-avail/25 "Emails show Debbie Wasserman Schultz pressured ‘Morning Joe’ — to no avail"], WaPo July 2015.</ref> Party staffers even decided to highlight the fact that Bernie wasn't a [[Christian]] right before key Bible Belt states went to vote.<ref>East, Kristen, [http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/top-dnc-staffer-apologizes-for-email-on-sanders-religion-226072 "Top DNC staffer apologizes for email on Sanders’ religion"], Politico (23 July 2016, 6:15 PM EDT.</ref> 

There were a few moments of accord as well. During a debate in October 2015, Sanders and Clinton laughed together after Sanders told her, "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!"<ref>{{cite web | last=Condon | first=Stephanie | title=Bernie Sanders: People are sick of hearing about Hillary Clinton's "damn emails" | website=CBS News | date=2015-10-13 | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-people-are-sick-of-hearing-about-hillary-clintons-damn-emails/ |}}</ref>

The Sanders insurgency did have an impact on the race. In response to his popularity, Clinton adopted some of his language attacking income inequality and abruptly decided to oppose the [[Trans-Pacific Partnership]] trade deal that she had spent previous years pushing.<ref>{{cite web | last=Stein | first=Jeff | title=5 legacies: how Bernie Sanders changed 2016 | website=Vox | date=2016-06-07 | url=https://www.vox.com/2016/6/7/11871794/bernie-sanders-2016 |}}</ref> The Democratic primary season also contained the first great warning sign of events to come. While polls showed Clinton ahead by 21% in [[Michigan]], Bernie actually went on to win it by 1.5%—"among the greatest polling errors in primary history," as [[Nate Silver]] put it.<ref>{{cite web | last=Bialik | first=Carl | title=Why The Polls Missed Bernie Sanders’s Michigan Upset | website=FiveThirtyEight | date=2016-03-09 | url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-the-polls-missed-bernie-sanders-michigan-upset/ |}}</ref> This was the first big warning that Clinton was in real trouble in the Rust Belt. Unfortunately, that warning was ignored.

With the help of the controversial superdelegates,<ref>{{cite web | last=Keith | first=Tamara | title=How Hillary Clinton Locked Up The Democratic Nomination In 10 Steps | website=NPR | date=2016-06-07 | url=https://www.npr.org/2016/06/07/480673009/how-hillary-clinton-locked-up-the-democratic-nomination-in-10-steps |}}</ref> Hillary locked up the Democratic nomination at the Democratic National Convention in July.<ref>{{cite web | title=Democratic National Convention, 2016 | website=Ballotpedia | date=2016-04-14 | url=https://ballotpedia.org/Democratic_National_Convention,_2016 |</ref> The Convention proceedings were clouded by the aftermath of a Russian hack of the Democratic National Committee and the publishing of emails showing that the DNC had mocked the Sanders campaign, and Sanders delegates frequently booed and jeered at mentions of Clinton's name.<ref name="dnchack">{{cite web | last=Phillip | first=Abby | last2=Sullivan | first2=Sean | title=Democratic National Convention: Bernie Sanders pleads with supporters to back Clinton | website=Washington Post | date=2016-07-25 | url=https://archive.is/WPWMr}}</ref> 

<center><gallery widths=225px heights=225px>
File:Hillary Clinton Iowa April 2015 20160802092059!.jpg|Hillary Clinton speaks to the press in Iowa, April 2015.
File:Bernie and Hillary at second debate November 2015.jpg|Sanders and Clinton on the debate stage, November 2015.
File:Bernie Sanders by DW Nance 25.jpg|Bernie Sanders addresses supporters in [[Alabama]], January 2016.
File:Clinton DNC 2016.jpg|Clinton at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
</gallery></center>

===The real winner of the primaries: Populism===
{{cquote|Trump has positioned himself as the anti-elite candidate, which to some voters has made him more or less immune to criticism from the mainstream parties or the mainstream media. When the press slams him for saying shocking (and often untrue) things, that only heightens the us vs. them dynamic... The fact that Trump been so singularly successful perhaps has less to do with him and more to do with this political moment. From the Tea Party surge in 2010 to the present you can trace an arc of mounting impatience among voters in part of the GOP. That pent-up frustration may be finding its moment — and its voice — right now, in Donald Trump.|||Jeff Guo, ''[[The Washington Post]]'', 12 December 2015.<ref name="trumppopul">{{cite web | last=Guo | first=Jeff | title=The real reasons Donald Trump’s so popular | website=Washington Post | date=2015-12-12 | url=https://archive.is/WdoE5}}</ref>}}
Sanders and Trump showed that if you convince the people you're out to take on the system, you can get a lot further than your actual political acumen would otherwise take you. Trump never had a coherent plan, but it's not like anybody who won this election could have gotten very much through a deadlocked Congress.  In terms of policy, Trump and Sanders were on the opposite ends, but very similar in campaigning and tactics.<ref>Bier, Daniel, [http://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-immigrants-silly-tribal-and-economically-illiterate-358369 "Bernie Sanders on Open Borders: Silly, Tribal and Economically Illiterate"] ''Newsweek'' (7/30/15 at 12:43 PM).</ref>  

They both made economically populist appeals to the working class and railed against the political establishment.<ref>[https://www.sanders.senate.gov/download/tbtfleg?inline=file Proposed legislation on TBTF.] Four whole pages of legislation on how to deal with the largest financial system in the world!</ref><ref>Kruger, Allan B., [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/opinion/sunday/the-minimum-wage-how-much-is-too-much.html "The Minimum Wage: How Much Is Too Much?"], 10.9.15.</ref><ref>Sanders, Bernie, [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/23/opinion/bernie-sanders-to-rein-in-wall-street-fix-the-fed.html?_r=1 "To Rein In Wall Street, Fix the Fed"], NYT op-ed 12.23.15.</ref><ref>Carey, Kevin, [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/upshot/the-trouble-with-hillary-clintons-free-tuition-plan.html "The Trouble With Hillary Clinton’s Free Tuition Plan"], NYT 7.19.16.</ref><ref>Wolfers Justin, [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/27/upshot/uncovering-the-bad-math-or-logic-behind-bernie-sanderss-economic-plan.html "Uncovering the Bad Math (or Logic) of an Economic Analysis Embraced by Bernie Sanders"] NYT 2.26.16.</ref> They both sold themselves as  anti-"insider".<ref>Wagner, John, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/an-expensive-reminder-that-sanders-still-hasnt-dropped-out-his-secret-service-detail/2016/06/19/a3f717c6-3555-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html "An expensive reminder that Sanders still hasn’t dropped out: His Secret Service detail"], WaPo 6/19/16. It's costing taxpayers $38,000 every day he remains in the "race".</ref><ref>Debenedetti, Gabriel, [http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/bernie-sanders-roman-holiday-222048 "Bernie's Roman holiday"], Politico (Updated 04/17/16 11:42 AM EDT). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fQESUBMwGg#t=70s Hit the music!]</ref> Both claimed to be a victim of the media.<ref>Patterson, Thomas E., [https://shorensteincenter.org/pre-primary-news-coverage-2016-trump-clinton-sanders/#_ftnref22 "Pre-Primary News Coverage of the 2016 Presidential Race: Trump’s Rise, Sanders’ Emergence, Clinton’s Struggle"], Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy (6/13/16 at 6:00 am).</ref> They both presented themselves as the only man who can clean up D.C. and serve the American people. They both presented their opponents as stooges/sell-outs.<ref>Ye Hee Lee, Michelle, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/02/11/sanderss-claim-that-he-does-not-have-a-super-pac/ "Sanders’s claim that he ‘does not have a super PAC’"], WaPo 2.11.16.</ref><ref>Berman, Richard, [http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/278881-the-democrats-dark-money-hypocrisy "The Democrats' dark money hypocrisy"], The Hill (05/09/16 09:00 AM EDT).</ref><ref>Mac, Tim, [http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/09/bernie-sanders-loves-this-1-trillion-war-machine.html "Bernie Sanders Loves This $1 Trillion War Machine"], Daily Beast (02.08.16 9:01 PM ET).</ref> They both had vociferous and loyal supporters.

==Campaign issues==
[[File:Donald Trump with supporters (30354747180).jpg|thumb|right|350px|Trump with his supporters at a rally in [[Arizona]], a border state.]]
===Immigration and the border wall===
{{cquote|When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best.... They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.|||The infamous quote from Trump's candidacy announcement in Trump Tower.<ref>{{cite web | last=Wolf | first=Z. Byron | title=Trump basically called Mexicans rapists again | website=CNN | date=2018-04-06 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/06/politics/trump-mexico-rapists/index.html |}}</ref>}}
From the earliest moments of the race, Trump successfully made [[undocumented immigration]] a central topic of discussion during this election cycle. He presented himself as an immigration hawk who would build a wall to stop Mexican "rapists" and "criminals" from illegally entering the United States, and he appeared at a 2015 rally in Arizona with Sheriff [[Joe Arpaio]], who was known for his [[authoritarian]] measures against both crime and undocumented immigrants.<ref>{{cite web | last=MJ Lee | first=Pat St. Claire | title=Trump draws thousands in Phoenix, continues immigration theme | website=CNN | date=2015-07-11 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/11/politics/donald-trump-phoenix-rally/index.html |}}</ref> Trump also attacked other Republican primary candidates as being too soft on immigration<ref>Easley, Jonathan, [http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/247326-trump-bushs-wife-influences-his-immigration-positions "Trump: Bush’s wife influences his immigration positions"], WaPo (07/08/15 11:23 PM EDT).</ref><ref>Sean Sullivan and Katie Zezima, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/its-on-rubio-and-cruz-clash-over-immigration-and-the-gops-future/2015/11/19/2b6f6104-8d59-11e5-baf4-bdf37355da0c_story.html "It’s on: Rubio and Cruz clash over immigration and the GOP’s future"], WaPo 11.9.15.</ref> and raged when they tried to co-opt his wall idea.<ref>Strauss, Daniel [http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/ted-cruz-donald-trump-border-wall-mexico-217372 "Trump fumes as Cruz steals wall mojo"], Politico (Updated 01/06/16 02:43 PM EST).</ref> During the primaries, Trump was criticized for politicizing and sensationalizing the death of a woman who was murdered by an illegal immigrant—by her brother, no less.<ref>{{cite web | last=Wagner | first=Meg | title=Kate Steinle’s brother slams Donald Trump for ‘sensationalizing’ San Francisco murder | website=New York Daily News | date=2015-07-15 | url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2015/07/15/kate-steinles-brother-slams-donald-trump-for-sensationalizing-san-francisco-murder/ |}}</ref>

His claim that he would make Mexico "pay for it" was very light on details until Trump came up with a half-baked plan to use the [[PATRIOT Act]] to cut off remittance payments to Mexico from Mexican-Americans.<ref>{{cite web | last=Gonyea | first=Don | title=Trump's Plan To 'Make Mexico Pay' For The Wall | website=NPR | date=2016-04-05 | url=https://www.npr.org/2016/04/05/473109475/trumps-plan-to-make-mexico-pay-for-the-wall |}}</ref> This, of course, ended up being completely infeasible, and Trump started insisting after he won the election that he never said Mexico would pay for the wall "with a check."<ref>{{cite web | last=McGraw | first=Meridith | title=Trump claims he 'never said' Mexico would pay for wall with a check | website=ABC News | date=2019-01-10 | url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-claims-mexico-pay-wall-check/story?id=60290146 |}}</ref>

Nonetheless, Trump's hardline anti-immigration platform was an effective way to motivate the Republican base; for much of the Twenty-First Century, partisan opinions on undocumented immigration had been sharply diverging.<ref>{{cite web | last=Jones | first=Bradley | title=Americans’ views of immigrants marked by widening partisan, generational divides | website=Pew Research Center | date=2024-04-14 | url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/04/15/americans-views-of-immigrants-marked-by-widening-partisan-generational-divides/ |}}</ref> Views on why the nativist backlash started among the Republican base range from the voters being more worried about competition for jobs post-[[Great Recession]] to the idea that Republican voters just always had harsher views against immigration than the party's politicians had realized.<ref name="repevol">{{cite web | last=Gonyea | first=Don | title=The GOP's Evolution On Immigration | website=NPR | date=2018-01-25 | url=https://www.npr.org/2018/01/25/580222116/the-gops-evolution-on-immigration | access-date=2024-08-04}}</ref>

It should also be noted that Republicans have traditionally avoided addressing those who employ illegal immigrants and gone after the employees.<ref>Tuttle, Ian, [http://www.nationalreview.com/article/431933/donald-trump-foreign-workers-american-workers-arent-good-enough "Donald Trump Thinks American Workers Aren’t Good Enough for the Trump Organization"], ''[[National Review]]'' (2/25/16 at 4:58 PM).</ref> Going after employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers actually ended up being a Clinton idea,<ref>McAlone, Nathan, [http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-vows-to-crack-down-on-worker-misclassification-2015-7 "Uber may become an issue in the US presidential race as Hillary Clinton vows to crack down on worker 'misclassification'"], ''Business Insider'' (7/13/15 at 1:09 PM ).</ref> while Bush and Rubio's idea for mandatory E-Verify was laughed out of the debates.<ref>[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=110489 Transcript] of Republican Candidates Debate in Cleveland, Ohio 6 August 2015.</ref>

===Globalization and free trade===
[[File:Trump Pittsburgh scrap metal yard speech.jpg|thumb|right|375px|Trump speaks to supporters at a scrap metal facility near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in June 2016.]]
Somehow sensing an opportunity to expand the Republican Party's electoral appeal in the Rust Belt, Trump co-opted leftist arguments against [[globalization]] and free trade to present himself as a defender of blue-collar workers.<ref>Jobson, Barney, [http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5d0eb7ba-1c78-11e6-b286-cddde55ca122.html "FT survey shows US business balks at backing Trump"], ''Financial Times'' (5/18/16 at 9:15 am).</ref> He did so by promising to rip up the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] (NAFTA), which was extraordinarily unpopular with Rust Belt auto-industry workers, for example.<ref>{{cite web | last=Long | first=Heather | title= NAFTA is 'killing the American Dream,' Michigan workers say | website=CNNMoney | date=2017-02-16 | url=https://money.cnn.com/2017/02/16/news/economy/donald-trump-nafta/ | access-date=2024-12-02}}</ref> Trump called NAFTA "the worst trade deal in history," and blamed Mexico's role in the trade agreement for the loss of 800,000 jobs from the Rust Belt.<ref>{{cite web | last=Gillespie | first=Patrick | title=NAFTA: What it is, and why Trump hates it | website=CNNMoney | date=2016-11-15 | url=https://money.cnn.com/2016/11/15/news/economy/trump-what-is-nafta/index.html |}}</ref> He even went as far as to publicly pledge to stop eating Oreo cookies to protest the Nabisco company's transfer of Oreo production from Chicago to Mexico.<ref>{{cite web | title=Trump says he'll bring jobs back to America. Economists are skeptical | website=PBS News | date=2016-03-14 | url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/trump-says-hell-bring-jobs-back-to-america-economists-are-skeptical |}}</ref>

The underlying causes behind the Rust Belt's decline were quite a bit more complex than that,<ref>{{cite web | last=Trubek | first=Anne | title=Our Collective Ignorance About the Rust Belt Is Getting Dangerous | website=TIME | date=2018-04-03 | url=https://time.com/5225497/rust-belt-history/ |}}</ref> and American manufacturing had and has little chance of returning to the heights of decades past, but Trump's attacks on free trade resonated strongly with Rust Belt voters. The vitriol Trump launched at the concept of globalization proved extremely successful at winning over disaffected Democrats in the region who felt left behind by the Obama administration's commitment to free trade agreements.<ref>Cohn, Nate (2017-08-15). [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/upshot/the-obama-trump-voters-are-real-heres-what-they-think.html "The Obama-Trump Voters Are Real. Here's What They Think".] NYT 2017-08-15. Retrieved 2018-12-19.</ref> For example, free trade was extremely unpopular in Ohio, where it was blamed for years of manufacturing job losses.<ref>Torry, Jack, [http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/03/20/0320-senate-race-issues.html "Free Trade is Key Issue in Race for U.S. Senate in Ohio"], ''Columbus Dispatch'' (3/20/16 at 7:16 PM).</ref>

[[China]] was another particular target of Trump's ire. He (truthfully) said that China was manipulating its currency and engaging in unfair labor practices to gain an edge over American manufacturing, and he went on to say, "We can't continue to allow China to [[rape]] our country, and that's what we're doing."<ref>{{cite web | title=Trump accuses China of 'raping' US with unfair trade policy | website=BBC News | date=2016-05-02 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-36185012 |}}</ref> Trump also attacked Clinton for supporting the proposed [[Trans-Pacific Partnership]] (TPP) agreement, which was a very flawed trade agreement that would have reduced various regulations and expanded free trade between the United States, Mexico, and various countries in Asia.<ref>{{cite web | title=TPP: What is it and why does it matter? | website=BBC News | date=2015-04-29 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-32498715 |}}</ref> 

Although Clinton backed away from supporting TPP, Trump cynically said "She will betray you again."<ref>{{cite web | last=Corasaniti | first=Nick | last2=Burns | first2=Alexander | last3=Appelbaum | first3=Binyamin | title=Donald Trump Vows to Rip Up Trade Deals and Confront China | website=The New York Times | date=2016-06-28 | url=https://archive.is/cQzpE |}}</ref> His attacks on Clinton on the issue echoed Bernie Sanders' criticisms towards her during the Democratic primaries.<ref>{{cite web | last=Qiu | first=Linda | title=Clinton voted for 'virtually every' trade agreement, killing millions of jobs, Sanders says | website=Politifact | date=2016-04-10 | url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/apr/10/bernie-sanders/clinton-voted-virtually-every-trade-agreement-kill/ |}}</ref>

===Terrorism and the Muslim ban===
[[File:Love Trumps Hate at Clinton Kaine rally Aug 2016.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Clinton supporters in [[New Hampshire]], August 2016.]]
The 2016 election took place during the peak of [[DAESH]], a terrorist organization that had seized control of large tracts of territory in [[Iraq]] and [[Syria]]. By July 2016, Pew Research found in a poll that terrorism was the second-highest prioritized issue for voters likely to participate in the election.<ref>{{cite web | title=4. Top voting issues in 2016 election | website=Pew Research Center | date=2016-07-07 | url=https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2016/07/07/4-top-voting-issues-in-2016-election/ |}}</ref> In the 12 months leading up to the election, Trump [[Twitter|tweeted]] about "radical Islamic terrorism" almost twice as often as he did about immigration and the border.<ref>{{cite web | last=Farivar | first=Masood | title=Once a rallying cry, 'radical Islamic terrorism' fades from Trump rhetoric | website=Voice of America | date=2024-06-25 | url=https://www.voanews.com/a/once-a-rallying-cry-radical-islamic-terrorism-fades-from-trump-rhetoric/7670050.html |}}</ref>

Clinton struggled to outline a strategy against DAESH due to the 57% public disapproval of how Obama handled the situation, and she had the added challenge of balancing the Democratic base's distaste for foreign wars with the popular expectation for a strong response.<ref>{{cite web | title=Toughness triangulated: Hillary Clinton’s policy on the Middle East | website=Brookings | date=2017-09-28 | url=https://www.brookings.edu/articles/toughness-triangulated-hillary-clintons-policy-on-the-middle-east/ |}}</ref> Noting the difficulty in forming a coherent Democratic campaign message on DAESH, Clinton instead focused on attacking Trump's views.<ref>{{cite web | last=Beckwith | first=Ryan Teague | title=Read Clinton's Speech Criticizing Trump's Muslim Ban | website=TIME | date=2016-06-14 | url=https://time.com/4368907/hillary-clinton-muslim-ban-donald-trump-orlando-shooting/ |}}</ref> To be fair, Trump's proposals were quite abhorrent.

Trump responded to the DAESH crisis with a call for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on," and he then endorsed the creation of a database to register Muslims living in the United States.<ref>{{cite web | last=Taylor | first=Jessica | title=Trump Calls For 'Total And Complete Shutdown Of Muslims Entering' U.S. | website=NPR | date=2015-12-07 | url=https://www.npr.org/2015/12/07/458836388/trump-calls-for-total-and-complete-shutdown-of-muslims-entering-u-s |}}</ref> He also said his administration would "strongly consider" forcibly closing down mosques.<ref>{{cite web | last=Shabad | first=Rebecca | title=Trump: U.S. should "strongly consider" shutting down mosques | website=CBS News | date=2015-11-16 | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-u-s-should-strongly-consider-shutting-down-mosques/ |}}</ref> In terms of dealing with the terrorist group itself, Trump said the US should "take out their families,"<ref>{{cite web | last=LoBianco | first=Tom | title=Donald Trump on terrorists: ‘Take out their families’ | website=CNN | date=2015-12-02 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/02/politics/donald-trump-terrorists-families/index.html |}}</ref> and pledged to "quickly and decisively bomb the hell out of ISIS."<ref>{{cite web | last=Lister | first=Tim | title=Is bombing the s*** out of ISIS a strategy? | website=CNN | date=2016-11-15 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/15/middleeast/donald-trump-isis-strategy/index.html |}}</ref> Trump even was as far as to praise [[Saddam Hussein]] for his apparent skill at killing Islamic terrorists: "He killed terrorists. He did that so good. They didn’t read them the rights. They didn’t talk. They were terrorists."<ref>{{cite web | last=Diamond | first=Jeremy | title=Trump offers praise for Saddam Hussein’s efficient killing of ‘terrorists’ | website=CNN | date=2016-07-06 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/05/politics/donald-trump-saddam-hussein-iraq-terrorism/ |}}</ref>

===Healthcare===
[[Image:Hillary trolls Donald.png|thumb|right|375px|American politics in the late 2010's, everybody.]]
Hillary was already bleeding badly on the issue of healthcare upon entering the general election campaign against Trump. During the primaries, Clinton lambasted Sanders' plan for [[universal healthcare]] as being costly and unrealistic, thereby frustrating and alienating a large portion of the Democratic base.<ref>{{cite web | last=Cook | first=Nancy | title=Clinton’s health-care assault on Sanders backfires | website=POLITICO | date=2016-01-14 | url=https://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-health-care-217789 |}}</ref> For context, a Kaiser Health poll from December 2015 found that an astonishing 81% of Democrats at least somewhat supported the concept of universal healthcare (52% were strong supporters) while only 7% of Democrats reported strong opposition to the idea.<ref>{{cite web | title=Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: December 2015 | website=KFF | date=2017-01-03 | url=https://www.kff.org/health-costs/poll-finding/kaiser-health-tracking-poll-december-2015/ |}}</ref> Clinton instead proposed marginal and uninspiring improvements to the [[Affordable Care Act]] and [[Medicare]].<ref name="healthplans">{{cite web | last=Kludt | first=Tom | title=What Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton have promised to do to Obamacare | website=CNN | date=2016-10-25 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/25/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-obamacare/index.html |}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Kodjak | first=Alison | title=Fact-Checking Hillary Clinton's Medicare Buy-In Proposal | website=NPR | date=2016-05-12 | url=https://www.npr.org/2016/05/12/477836054/fact-checking-hillary-clintons-medicare-buy-in-proposal |}}</ref>

In contrast, Trump said the Affordable Care Act was a "disaster" and issued a vague promise to repeal the law and replace it with "the finest health care plan there is."<ref name="healthplans"/> What scant details he offered were just standard Republican talking-points.<ref name="healthplans"/> Importantly, while Clinton staked out a position against universal healthcare that only 7% of Democrats supported, Trump's repeal-and-replace proposal appealed to the over 52% of Republicans who wanted the law repealed and hedged bets with the 24% of Republicans who wanted the healthcare plan scaled back rather than eliminated.<ref>{{cite web | last=Gonzales | first=Richard | title=Only 26 Percent Of Americans Support Full Repeal Of Obamacare, Poll Finds | website=NPR | date=2016-12-02 | url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/02/504068263/kaiser-poll-only-26-of-americans-support-full-repeal-of-obamacare |}}</ref> Trump's dumbass talking points ended up being a stronger appeal to his own base than Hillary's half-hearted reform proposals. 

Also, a huge number of Americans got a big letter one week before the general election showing their health care costs increasing due to the self-inflicted October surprise of an [[Obamacare]] rate hike.<ref>Demko, Paul, [http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/obamacare-rate-hikes-a-looming-political-headache-for-democrats-222663 "Obamacare's November surprise"], Politico (05/02/16 05:22 AM EDT).</ref> Nice one!

===Political correctness===
[[File:Trump supporters South Carolina 2016.jpg|thumb|right|365px|Trump supporters in [[South Carolina]], February 2016.]]
The 2016 election also took place during a broad cultural backlash against the right-wing's much-derided concept of "[[political correctness]]"; a study by the London School of Economics during the election found that moderate (and even left-wing) voters were less likely to say they supported Clinton if they had been reminded about the political correctness debate just prior to the question.<ref>L. C. Conway, M. Repke, and S. C. Houck. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317217285_Donald_Trump_as_a_Cultural_Revolt_Against_Perceived_Communication_Restriction_Priming_Political_Correctness_Norms_Causes_More_Trump_Support Donald Trump as a Cultural Revolt Against Perceived Communication Restriction: Priming Political Correctness Norms Causes More Trump Support]. ''Journal of Social and Political Psychology'' (May 2017): 5(1):244-259.</ref><ref>{{cite web | author=About the author | title=How a cultural revolt against “political correctness” helped launch Trump into the presidency | website=USAPP | date=2018-02-28 | url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2018/02/28/how-a-cultural-revolt-against-political-correctness-helped-launch-trump-into-the-presidency/ |}}</ref> An October 2015 poll cited by PBS News found that two-thirds of Americans (and 81% of Republicans) somehow saw political correctness as a "big problem" for the country.<ref name="pcpoll">{{cite web | title='No more political correctness' for Trump supporters | website=PBS News | date=2016-04-10 | url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/no-more-political-correctness-for-trump-supporters |}}</ref> 

Trump invested a great deal of time and effort into making political correctness an issue in the campaign, exemplified by his attacks on Obama for not using the term "radical Islamic terrorism" to describe current events.<ref>{{cite web | last=Zelizer | first=Julian | title=Why Trump is wrong on ‘political correctness’ | website=CNN | date=2016-06-20 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/20/opinions/trump-political-correctness-zelizer/index.html |}}</ref> He proceeded to harp on the topic throughout the campaign with statements like, "[T]his political correctness is just absolutely killing us as a country. You can’t say anything. Anything you say today, they’ll find a reason why it’s not good."<ref>{{cite web | last=Cillizza | first=Chris | title=The dangerous consequences of Trump’s all-out assault on political correctness | website=CNN | date=2018-10-30 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/30/politics/donald-trump-hate-speech-anti-semitism-steve-king-kevin-mccarthy/index.html |}}</ref>

As dumb as the anti-PC language might seem, it actually served a critical role in rendering Trump effectively immune to criticism from Clinton or the press. The argument re-contextualized Trump's bullying and vile behavior as being expressions of defiance against the political establishment and as part of a crusade to defend [[free speech]].<ref>{{cite web | last=Taub | first=Amanda | title=How Donald Trump uses "political correctness" to make sexist bullying seem like heroism | website=Vox | date=2016-01-29 | url=https://www.vox.com/2016/1/29/10871310/trump-political-correctness |}}</ref> A lot of voters ended up buying it. ''[[The Washington Post]]'' noted that Trump supporters in polls and focus groups consistently said they liked him because "he says the things they feel they can't say."<ref name="trumppopul"/> A study by the RAND Corporation also found that voters who affirmed the statement, "people like me don't have any say about what the government does," were 86.5 percent more likely to back Trump.<ref name="supportpred">{{cite web | last=Thompson | first=Derek | title=Who Are Donald Trump's Supporters, Really? | website=The Atlantic | date=2016-03-01 | url=https://archive.is/hRFOY}}</ref> In other words, a general feeling of being unheard and not prioritized by politicians was a better predictor of Trump support than many other commonly-cited factors such as age, race, college attainment, income, or attitudes towards Muslims or undocumented immigrants. 

===Other issues===
*<u>The Supreme Court</u>: Trump won a lot of support from angry conservatives by promising to appoint conservative (and especially anti-[[abortion]]) judges to the Supreme Court.<ref>Michael Boorstein and Julie Zauzmer, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/06/20/how-can-trump-win-the-many-undecided-evangelicals-we-asked-them/ "Thrilling Christian conservative audience, Trump vows to lift ban on politicking, appoint antiabortion judges"], WaPo 22 July 2016.</ref><ref>Montgomery, Peter, [http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/trump-turns-far-right-heritage-foundation-future-supreme-court-nominees "Trump Turns To Far-Right Heritage Foundation For Future Supreme Court Nominees"], [[Right Wing Watch]] (3/22/2016 1:53 pm).</ref> 
*<u>Climate change and green energy</u>: Saying "Because we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business, right, Tim?" in the middle of coal country is actually all the media's fault!<ref name="coal">Strauss, Daniel, [http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/sanders-looking-to-rack-up-west-virginia-win-over-clinton-222952 "Clinton haunted by coal country comment"], Politico (05/10/2016 05:14 AM EDT).</ref><ref>Kennedy, Brian, [http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/10/31/clinton-trump-supporters-deeply-divided-over-use-of-fossil-fuel-energy-sources/ "Clinton, Trump supporters deeply divided over use of fossil fuel energy sources"], Pew Research 31 October 2016.</ref> (The context behind that quote is not that great, really.)<ref>Goode, Darren, [http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/hillary-clinton-aid-coal-communities-215789 'Clinton's coal aid plan leaves critics cold"], Politico (Updated 12 November 20151, 6:42 PM EST).</ref><ref>Schor, Elana, [http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/wikileaks-hillary-clinton-climate-230177 "Climate lessons from the Clinton campaign's hacked emails"], Politico 22 October 2016.</ref>
*<u>Net Neutrality:</u> [[Eisenhower|Ike]] attacked the military. Nixon opened China. Reagan fucked the elderly.  Bush turned Texas brown.  Trump, the first meme President: NET NEUTRALITY MUST GO!<ref>[http://gizmodo.com/the-2016-presidential-candidates-views-on-net-neutralit-1760829072  "The 2016 Presidential Candidates' Views on Net Neutrality and Broadband"], Gizmodo (3/01/16 at 6:00am).</ref>
*<u>Campaign finance and ''Citizens United''</u>: In exchange for Bernie's endorsement, Hillary pledged to introduce an amendment to overturn [[Citizens United]] in her first 30 days as President.<ref>McGough, Michael, [http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-citizens-sanders-20160726-snap-story.html "Democrats united in (over)promising to reverse Citizens United "], ''LA Times'' (7/26/16, 2:05 PM).</ref> First of all, the lion's share of her big-money donations came from corporations; approximately  27% of it was dark money coming through SuperPACs.<ref>{{cite web | title=Summary data for Hillary Clinton, 2016 cycle | website=OpenSecrets | date=(Undated) | url=https://www.opensecrets.org/pres16//candidate?id=N00000019|}}</ref> This was not the profile of a person who was ever going to turn off the spigot.

==The campaign trail==
{{DemTicket16}}
===The Clinton campaign: status quo centrism wasn't a winning message===
Clinton had a war chest of $1.2 billion (compared to Trump's $600 million),<ref>{{cite web | last=Arnsdorf | first=Isaac | title=Trump won with half as much money as Clinton raised | website=POLITICO | date=2016-12-08 | url=https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/trump-clinton-campaign-fundraising-totals-232400 |}}</ref> had virtually the entire political establishment behind her,<ref>{{cite web | last=Friedersdorf | first=Conor | title=Of Course Hillary Clinton Exemplifies the Establishment | website=The Atlantic | date=2016-02-05 | url=https://archive.is/3ZEH4}}</ref> and she still lost the walking dumpster fire that is Donald Trump. The ubiquitous question being asked for months afterward: how the fuck?

The inevitable answer: Clinton ran an arrogant and complacent campaign that had no focus on any substantial message. Take Michigan, for example. During the primaries, her supporters in the state such as Representative {{wpl|Debbie Dingell|}}<ref>{{cite web | last=Dingell | first=Debbie | title=Opinion: I said Clinton was in trouble with the voters I represent. Democrats didn’t listen. | website=Washington Post | date=2016-11-11 | url=https://archive.is/gaLRO}}</ref> were sounding the alarm bells that [[labor union]]s were turning against Clinton due her stance on free trade, and then Bernie Sanders won the state in a massive upset.<ref name="compmich">{{cite web | last=Stein | first=Jeff | title=A new tell-all about the Clinton campaign is a searing indictment of the candidate herself | website=Vox | date=2017-04-24 | url=https://www.vox.com/2017/4/24/15369452/clinton-shattered-campaign |}}</ref> Instead of learning the proper lesson from this, her campaign staffers came to the strange conclusion that Clinton's campaigning in the state amounted to "poking the sleeping bear of the white working class" and that she should campaign ''less'' in Michigan.<ref name="compmich"/> When she did belatedly campaign in the state, she avoided the topic of trade and earned criticism from local press because of it.<ref name="compmich"/> Her campaign's over-reliance on "data analytics" rather than polling or on-the-ground intelligence led her to mistakenly believe that the Democratic base was enthusiastic about her and that the Rust Belt states were solidly in her camp and therefore did not need much effort.<ref name="gberg">{{cite web | last=Book | first=the | title=How She Lost | website=Stanley B. Greenberg | date=2017-09-21 | url=https://www.greenbergresearch.com/his-thinking/2017/9/21/how-she-lost?ct=t(How+She+Lost+-+Prospect+Review) |}}</ref> Her campaign's complacency left local Rust Belt Democrats in the lurch.<ref>{{cite web | last=Dovere | first=Edward-Isaac | title=and blew the election | website=POLITICO | date=2016-12-14 | url=https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/michigan-hillary-clinton-trump-232547 |}}</ref> These local organizations, many of which relied on volunteers, understood the way the wind was blowing and tried to hastily cobble together their own fundraisers and campaign efforts with no help from Clinton's own organization.<ref>{{cite web | last=Stein | first=Sam | title=The Clinton Campaign Was Undone By Its Own Neglect And A Touch Of Arrogance, Staffers Say | website=HuffPost | date=2016-11-16 | url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/clinton-campaign-neglect_n_582cacb0e4b058ce7aa8b861 |}}</ref>

It's not like Trump had some grand and compelling vision for the future of economy that would help the working class; Clinton just failed to establish a competing message about economics and political power that would appeal to disaffected Americans.<ref>Stranage, Niall, [http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/286336-hillary-struggles-with-going-big-in-campaign-message "Hillary struggles with going big in campaign message"], ''The Hill'' (3 July 2016, 6:25 PM EDT).</ref> A microcosm example: her campaign's struggle to find a slogan. Her campaign tried and rejected various slogans such as "I'm With Her," or "Breaking Down Barriers," before finally settling on "Stronger Together."<ref>{{cite web | last=Keith | first=Tamara | title=How 'Stronger Together' Became Clinton's Response To 'Make America Great Again' | website=NPR | date=2016-08-08 | url=https://www.npr.org/2016/08/08/489138602/trump-comment-gives-clinton-a-campaign-slogan-with-layered-meaning |}}</ref> The common thread, of course, was that no slogan even hinted at an actual vision for the country. Voters saw Clinton as the status quo candidate and a defender of the global [[capitalist]] system,<ref>{{cite web | last=Bittman | first=Mark | title=Hillary Clinton is the status quo candidate, and Trump is capitalizing on it | website=the Guardian | date=2016-07-28 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/28/hillary-clinton-status-quo-candidate-donald-trump |}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Trending | first=BBC | title=Hillary Clinton: "Secretary of the Status Quo"? | website=BBC News | date=2016-07-21 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-36856690 |}}</ref> and her campaign's vague and muddled messaging on the economy gave voters no reason to see her as anything else.<ref>{{cite web | last=Barro | first=Josh | title=Hillary Clinton's economic message is muddled because she is the status quo candidate | website=Business Insider | date=2016-06-22 | url=https://archive.is/A1MDI}}</ref> Her campaign, particularly her advertisements, focused more on attacking Trump than explaining any real policy objectives.<ref>{{cite web | last=Stein | first=Jeff | title=Study: Hillary Clinton’s TV ads were almost entirely policy-free | website=Vox | date=2017-03-08 | url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/8/14848636/hillary-clinton-tv-ads |}}</ref> The Clinton campaign left a vacuum. What policies Clinton did run on were uninspired "market-driven incentive" type stuff that played well with donors and fell flat with voters.<ref>Linskey, Annie, [https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/08/11/clinton-criticized-for-being-too-vague-policy/1zgxrZK1tUf9m5JYGCQU3J/story.html "Clinton criticized for being too vague on policy"], ''Boston Globe'' 12 August 2015.</ref><ref>Grunwald, Michael, [http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/donald-trump-policy-2016-hillary-clinton-214058 "Donald Trump’s One Unbreakable Policy: Skip the Details"], Politico 17 July 2016.</ref><ref>Lee Fang and Andrew Perez, [https://theintercept.com/2016/10/18/hillary-superpac-coordination/ "Hacked Emails Prove Coordination Between Clinton Campaign and Super PACs"], ''Intercept'' (18 October 2016, 6:28 a.m.).</ref>

[[File:Hillary Clinton and Katy Perry (30805063465).jpg|thumb|right|185px|Clinton campaigns with pop star {{wpl|Katy Perry|}} on 5 November.]]

She made little or no attempt to connect with people outside her base of middle-class professionals and wealthy donors. When one reads the post-mortem from the campaign, it's like they're trying to assemble this simulacrum half-blind, whereby whatever they decide will be what the candidate (most qualified of all time) not only has always been, but is also [[Dunning-Kruger effect|ipso facto evidence of her being the most qualified of all time]].<ref>Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, [http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/328405-clinton-campaign-plagued-by-bickering "Clinton campaign plagued by bickering"], ''The Hill'' (04/12/17 at 6:00 AM EDT).</ref> Clinton accidentally insulted the people who she wanted to vote for her ("...put coal out of business..." "...basement dwellers....", "...basket of deplorables...")<ref name="coal" /><ref>Lee Fang and Alex Emmons, [https://theintercept.com/2016/09/30/hillary-clinton-center-right/ "Hacked Audio Reveals Hillary Clinton Sees Herself Occupying “Center-Left to Center-Right”"], ''The Intercept'' (30 September 2016, 2:31 p.m).</ref><ref>Nakamura, David, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/09/21/trump-makes-deplorable-joke-in-meeting-with-south-korean-president/ "Trump makes ‘deplorable’ joke in meeting with South Korean president"], WaPo 21 September 2017.</ref> because she thought it was going to be a massive blowout win.<ref group="note">In ''Shattered'', they said that her crew hastily wrote a concession speech that they hadn't prepared yet, so her supporters had to wait until the next morning. The arrogance of not preparing a concession speech and also not be willing to improvise in front of her adoring cult is classic HRC.</ref>

More Democrats voted for Trump than Republicans voted for Clinton,<ref>Jon Juang, Samuel Jacoby, Michael Strickland, and K.K. Rebecca Lai, [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/08/us/politics/election-exit-polls.html "Election 2016: Exit Polls"], NYT 8 November 2016.</ref> despite the "Never Trump" noise.<ref>Waldman, Paul, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/05/05/beware-of-this-new-nevertrump-scam/ "Beware of this new #NeverTrump scam"], WaPo 5.5.16.</ref><ref>Salaky, Kristin, [http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rubio-nevertrump-means-never-vote-for-trump-in-the-primary "#NeverTrump to Rebrand as #EventuallyTrump"], TPM (3/4/16, 1:19 AM EST). Mitt Romney appears to be the only actual member of the #NeverTrump 'movement'. Small movement.</ref> Clinton mistook damage control for party disloyalty, and it cost the Democrats big throughout this entire election cycle.

Clinton's conceited handling of the classified e-mail scandal also told voters some damning things about her. If it was a subordinate of hers, they would have been 100% charged. Still, because she was an "Original Classifying Authority" (as per an {{wpl|Executive Order 13526|Executive Order}} Obama signed), she tried to justify moving the goalposts whenever it was convenient and made rhetorical exercises like there being no proof of intent (which is impossible unless she was dumb enough to put it on paper), even though she was an OCA for the wrong department.<ref>Allen, Jonathan, [http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-clinton-email-idUSKCN0ZO2FB "Clinton says she relied on State staff for classification decisions"], Reuters (8 July 2016, 1:48 PM).</ref> Her lawyer husband decided to have an "impromptu" meeting with the attorney general,<ref>Wilber, Del Quentin, [http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-trailguide-updates-attorney-general-loretta-lynch-defends-1467311246-htmlstory.html "Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch defends meeting with Bill Clinton amid email probe"], ''L.A. Times''.</ref> prompting Lorretta Lynch to recuse herself. FBI Director James Comey confirmed the sketchiness in a July press conference. Nate Silver did the analysis and came back saying that the Comey Letter (which [[Rudolph Giuliani|Giuliani]] boasted about knowing was coming for weeks until people pointed out that it was illegal for him and the FBI to be sitting on) was enough to push Trump over the top at precisely the right time.<ref>Savransky, Rebecca, [http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/309871-nate-silver-clinton-almost-certainly-wouldve-won-if-election-were-before "Nate Silver: Clinton 'almost certainly' would've won before FBI letter"], The Hill (12/11/16 01:52 PM EST).</ref> Clinton collapsed from a 4% lead to 2% in the week following his little stunt.<ref>Wang, Sam, [http://election.princeton.edu/2016/12/10/the-comey-effect/ "The Comey effect"], Princeton Election Consortium (12/10/16 at 10:06pm).</ref>

Finally, it's worth noting that Trump entered the race after a meeting with [[Bill Clinton]], where he was encouraged to "have a bigger role in shaping the future." Hillary and her husband quite possibly handpicked her opponent, and they still lost to him.<ref>Robert Costa and Anne Gearan, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bill-clinton-called-donald-trump-ahead-of-republicans-2016-launch/2015/08/05/e2b30bb8-3ae3-11e5-b3ac-8a79bc44e5e2_story.html?utm_term=.27cbc528766d "Donald Trump talked politics with Bill Clinton weeks before launching 2016 bid"], WaPo 5 August 2015</ref> She even signal-boosted him because she thought he would be easy to beat.<ref>Debenedetti, Gabriel, [http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/hillary-clinton-2016-donald-trump-214428 "They Always Wanted Trump"], Politico 7 November 2017.</ref> And she fucking lost to him.

===The Trump campaign: appealing to America's worst impulses===
{{GOPTicket16}}
Trump's campaign rejected many of the Republican Party's orthodox positions, and he won a lot of support by doing so. Gone was the party's support for free trade, [[neoconservatism|interventionism]], and small government.<ref name="goptransf">{{cite web | last=Cassidy | first=John | title=Donald Trump Is Transforming the G.O.P. Into a Populist, Nativist Party | website=The New Yorker | date=2016-02-29 | url=https://archive.is/2aoBI}}</ref> His emphasis on protecting [[Social Security]] and his various personal foibles did nothing to alienate the Republican base.<ref name="goptransf"/> Also unusually for a Republican, 47% of Trump's party saw him as being either very [[secular]] or outright [[Atheism|irreligious]],<ref>{{cite web | title=Poll: Trump Not Widely Viewed as Religious - Even By His Own Party | website=NBC News | date=2016-01-27 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/poll-trump-not-widely-viewed-religious-even-his-own-party-n505131 |}}</ref> but [[evangelical]] voters were still firmly behind him.<ref>{{cite web | last=Mitchell | first=Travis | title=Evangelicals Rally to Trump, Religious ‘Nones’ Back Clinton | website=Pew Research Center | date=2016-07-13 | url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2016/07/13/evangelicals-rally-to-trump-religious-nones-back-clinton/ |}}</ref> Trump's celebrity status, his high popularity with previously disengaged voters, and his propensity for making outlandish statements won him huge amounts of media attention—and therefore free advertising—that was valued at about $5.9 billion.<ref>{{cite web | last=Sultan | first=Niv M. | title=Election 2016: Trump's free media helped keep cost down | website=OpenSecrets News | date=2017-04-13 | url=https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/04/election-2016-trump-fewer-donors-provided-more-of-the-cash/ |}}</ref> That phenomenon helped offset the fact that Clinton massively outspent Trump on the campaign trail.<ref>{{cite web | last=Pramuk | first=Jacob | title=Trump spent about half of what Clinton did on his way to the presidency | website=CNBC | date=2016-11-09 | url=https://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/09/trump-spent-about-half-of-what-clinton-did-on-his-way-to-the-presidency.html |}}</ref>

Of course, the defining feature of the Trump campaign was its ugliness. His message appealed strongly to [[racism]],<ref>{{cite web | last=Waldman | first=Paul | title=Donald Trump is running the most explicitly racist campaign since 1968 | website=theweek | date=2015-11-25 | url=https://theweek.com/articles/590711/donald-trump-running-most-explicitly-racist-campaign-since-1968 |}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last=Schaffner | first=Brian F. | last2=Macwilliams | first2=Matthew | last3=Nteta | first3=Tatishe | title=Understanding White Polarization in the 2016 Vote for President: The Sobering Role of Racism and Sexism | journal=Political Science Quarterly | volume=133 | issue=1 | date=2018-03-01 | issn=0032-3195 | doi=10.1002/polq.12737 | doi-access=free | pages=9–34}}</ref> and Trump was even denounced for this by other Republicans (who naturally still supported him anyways).<ref>{{cite web | last=Steinhauer | first=Jennifer | last2=Martin | first2=Jonathan | last3=Herszenhorn | first3=David M. | title=Paul Ryan Calls Donald Trump’s Attack on Judge ‘Racist,’ but Still Backs Him | website=The New York Times | date=2016-06-07 | url=https://archive.is/uKDHv}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Schleifer | first=Theodore | title=Romney says Trump will change America with ‘trickle-down racism’ | website=CNN | date=2016-06-10 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/10/politics/mitt-romney-donald-trump-racism/ |}}</ref> Trump's accusations that Clinton was playing "the woman card" spiraled into overt [[sexism]], which his supporters both embraced and promoted with the slogan, "Trump that bitch."<ref>{{cite web | last=Keith | first=Tamara | title=Sexism Is Out In The Open In The 2016 Campaign. That May Have Been Inevitable | website=NPR | date=2016-10-23 | url=https://www.npr.org/2016/10/23/498878356/sexism-is-out-in-the-open-in-the-2016-campaign-that-may-have-been-inevitable |}}</ref> Trump even earned the endorsement of the [[Neo-Nazi]] [[Ku Klux Klan]] leader [[David Duke]], who went on to say that his own supporters were the same as Trump's supporters.<ref>{{cite web | last=Domonoske | first=Camila | title=Former KKK Leader David Duke Says 'Of Course' Trump Voters Are His Voters | website=NPR | date=2016-08-05 | url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/05/488802494/former-kkk-leader-david-duke-says-of-course-trump-voters-are-his-voters |}}</ref> To Trump's credit, he rejected and denounced the endorsement,<ref>{{cite web | last=Scott | first=Eugene | title=Trump denounces David Duke, KKK | website=CNN | date=2016-03-03 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/politics/donald-trump-disavows-david-duke-kkk/index.html |}}</ref> but to his ''dis''credit, that was only after he tried to weasel out of doing so.<ref>{{cite web | last=Coleburn | first=Christina | title=Donald Trump: 'I Don't Know Anything About David Duke' | website=NBC News | date=2016-02-28 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/donald-trump-racist-endorsement-i-don-t-know-anything-about-n527576 |}}</ref>

After audio tapes were released of Trump bragging about sexually harassing women and three women came forward to claim that he assaulted them,<ref>{{cite web | last=Nelson | first=Libby | title=Donald Trump's history of misogyny, sexism, and harassment: a comprehensive review | website=Vox | date=2016-10-08 | url=https://www.vox.com/2016/10/8/13110734/donald-trump-leaked-audio-recording-billy-bush-sexism |}}</ref> many Republican politicians tepidly distanced themselves from his campaign.<ref>{{cite web | last=Liptak | first=Kevin | title=Obama on Republicans disavowing Trump: Too little, too late | website=CNN | date=2016-10-14 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/13/politics/barack-obama-republicans-donald-trump-criticism/index.html |}}</ref> While the so-called "Never Trump" movement from anti-Trump conservatives attempted to win support for their cause from elected Republicans,<ref>{{cite web | last=Isenstadt | first=Alex | title=Stop Trump movement goes to work on GOP leaders | website=POLITICO | date=2016-04-22 | url=https://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/stop-trump-movement-gop-222315 |}}</ref> the movement fizzled out, and most "Never Trumpers" ended up supporting him in the end.<ref>{{cite web | last=Peters | first=Jeremy W. | title=The ‘Never Trump’ Coalition That Decided Eh, Never Mind, He’s Fine | website=The New York Times | date=2019-10-05 | url=https://archive.is/yM0dd}}</ref> 

The crowded and raucous rallies for which Trump became known frequently featured assaults by his supporters against protestors.<ref>{{cite web | last=Nguyen | first=Tina | title=Donald Trump’s Rallies Are Becoming Increasingly Violent | website=Vanity Fair | date=2016-03-11 | url=https://archive.is/thmZ7}}</ref> Trump personally encouraged violence at his events with statements like, "Knock the crap out of him, would you?" or "We have some protesters who are bad dudes, they have done bad things."<ref>{{cite web | last=Jacobs | first=Ben | title=Trump campaign dogged by violent incidents at rallies | website=the Guardian | date=2016-03-11 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/11/donald-trump-campaign-claims-violence-rallies |}}</ref> He even at one point promised to pay legal fees for any of his supporters who might end up arrested for physically attacking a protester. Trump's campaign manager, {{wpl|Corey Lewandowski|}}, personally assaulted a reporter from ''[[Breitbart]]''.<ref>{{cite web | last=Phipps | first=Claire | title=Donald Trump accuses reporter in assault row of 'making the story up' | website=the Guardian | date=2016-03-11 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/11/donald-trump-reporter-assault-michelle-fields-corey-lewandowski |}}</ref> 

Due to the disgusting nature of his campaign, Trump successfully tapped into a growing phenomenon in the United States: white racial resentment. Post-election analysis consistently found that a sense of "white vulnerability" was a better predictor that someone would back Trump than was genuine economic insecurity.<ref>{{cite web | last=Lopez | first=German | title=The past year of research has made it very clear: Trump won because of racial resentment | website=Vox | date=2017-12-15 | url=https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/12/15/16781222/trump-racism-economic-anxiety-study |}}</ref> Trump's promise to "Make America Great ''Again''" appealed strongly to voters who felt alienated by social progressivism and changing values and drove enthusiasm for Trump among a large group of white voters.<ref>{{cite web | last=Brownstein | first=Ronald | title=The Rhetoric of White Nostalgia | website=The Atlantic | date=2016-06-02 | url=https://archive.is/Gwusz}}</ref> Republican political strategist Steve Schmidt described the phenomenon as "a cultural backlash," and said that, "Millions and millions of people in this country, blue-collar people, feel that their values are under assault, that they’re looked down upon, condescended to by the elites."<ref name="pcpoll"/> Patricia Aufderheide, a professor of communication at American University, put it differently: "Trump has given people permission to say things out loud that are usually tucked in until after the third drink at [[Thanksgiving]] dinner. But I think they’ve always been there."<ref name="pcpoll"/> 

Therefore, Trump's ability to tap into the underlying instinct for ugliness in American society, both in 2016 and future elections, is indicative of a serious structural problem within American culture. People ''liked'' that Trump's rhetoric racist and sexist. People ''liked'' that he repeatedly said idiotic things. People ''liked'' that Trump slung playground insults at his opponents. This says a lot about the state of the United States, and none of it is good.

==Results==
[[File:Clinton watch party 2016.jpg|thumb|right|415px|Horrified attendees at Clinton's Election Night watch party react to the growing certainty of Clinton's defeat.]]
{{cquote|Donald Trump did not win this election. Hillary Clinton lost it. [N]ot enough Democrats could find it in themselves to choose her. I can see why... Financially dubious and politically cynical, peddlers of liberal values that they do not apply to themselves, the Clintons have done whatever it takes to obtain and retain power... Self-interest prettied up with the rhetoric of social justice: people have had enough of it.|||Ed Smith, ''The New Statesman,'' 16 November 2016.<ref>{{cite web | last=Smith | first=Ed | title=Hillary Clinton deserved to lose | website=New Statesman | date=2016-11-16 | url=https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2016/11/hillary-clinton-deserved-lose |}}</ref>}}

Clinton's failures delivered this election result as much as did Trump's luck. The major headline was that Trump flipped the longtime Democratic states of [[Pennsylvania]], [[Wisconsin]], and [[Michigan]]. Key to those developments was low Democratic turnout from urban areas: she got almost 36,000 fewer votes in Philadelphia than did Obama, and her vote count total dropped by almost 15,000 in {{wpl|Milwaukee County|}} and over 93,000 (!) in {{wpl|Wayne County|}}.<ref name="urbturnout"/> By themselves, the vote dropoff from Philadelphia and Milwaukee account for about half of Clinton's statewide deficit in their states, while the Wayne County dropoff is many times larger. Clinton did significantly improve on Obama's margins in a few places, but those were counties home to the very wealthy.<ref>Frank, Robert, [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/business/rich-vote-republican-not-this-election-maybe.html "The Rich Vote Republican? Maybe Not This Election"], NYT October 2016.</ref> This is the opposite of the kind of support a Democrat should be getting.

Trump slightly improved from Romney's margins with minority voters: he gained about 2 points with both Black and Hispanic voters compared to 2012.<ref>{{cite web | title=Trump did better with Blacks and Hispanics than Romney in 2012 | website=NBC News | date=2016-11-09 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-election-day/trump-did-better-blacks-hispanics-romney-12-exit-polls-n681386 |}}</ref> It is a myth, however, that Trump's victory was completely powered by the white working class—turnout from these voters was actually lower than usual even though Trump won them by a significant margin.<ref name="brooknum">{{cite web | title=A reality check on 2016’s economically marginalized | website=Brookings | date=2024-02-01 | url=https://www.brookings.edu/articles/economic-marginalization-reality-check/ |}}</ref> Clinton did do worse than Obama had with lower-income voters of all races; she won 52% from voters who made less than $50,000 annually, while Obama had won 60%.<ref name="brooknum"/> However, this cohort of voters made up 41% of the electorate in 2012 and only 34% of the electorate in 2016.<ref name="brooknum"/> These are more pieces of evidence indicating that Clinton failed to turn out the Democratic base. 

Trump's real win came through driving up margins from rural, conservative parts of the country. In counties that Obama lost in 2012, Clinton got ''crushed,'' showing that many Obama supporters from rural regions actually flipped to Trump.<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/hillary-clintons-surprising-vote-deficit/509174/ Where Hillary Clinton Fell Short], Andrew McGill, the Atlantic, December 2, 2016</ref> Still, that there was some crossover from Democrats to Republicans was hardly surprising given that the Democrats had controlled the White House for eight years already and that the economy wasn't exactly spectacular.<ref>[https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/08/sure-there-were-some-obama-trump-voters-who-cares/ Sure, There Were Some Obama-Trump Voters. Who Cares?], Kevin Drum, Mother Jones, August 15, 2017</ref>

The media was stuck on a very contrarian idea that Trump's win had nothing to do with the economy and that the Electoral College stole the election. They also pretended that Trump's economic message played no part. Still, a state-by-state survey showed that the people who actually matter in Presidential elections care more about economics than people in safe states.<ref>Pacewitz, Josh, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/12/20/heres-the-real-reason-rust-belt-cities-and-towns-voted-for-trump/20 "Here’s the real reason Rust Belt cities and towns voted for Trump"], WaPo December 2016.</ref> In her book about this election, Hillary instead blamed Russia, blamed the FBI, blamed other people generally, and sexism.<ref>Engel, Pamela, [http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-blame-for-election-loss-to-trump-2017-4 "New book suggests Hillary Clinton blamed everyone but herself for her humiliating defeat to Trump"], ''Business Insider'' (1618 April 2017, 6:30 PM).</ref><ref>Sanders, Linley, [http://www.newsweek.com/hillary-clinton-sexist-losing-2016-election-what-happened-book-664295 "What Happened? In Interview, Hillary Clinton Gives Sexist Argument for Why She Lost the 2016 Election"], ''Newsweek'' (13 September 2017, 1:08 PM).</ref><ref>Soloski, Alexis, [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/theater/he-said-she-said-gender-bending-the-presidential-debates.html "He Said, She Said: Gender-Bending the Presidential Debates"], NYT 30 January 2017.</ref>

===Table===
All candidates who received over 1% of the popular vote.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Candidate
!Electoral vote
!Popular vote
!States carried
!Percentage
|-
|style="background:#FF0000 ; color:#FFF"|'''Donald Trump'''
|306 (304 actual)
|62,984,828
|30 + [[Maine]]-2
|46.1%
|-
|style="background:#0000FF; color:#FFF"|'''Hillary Clinton'''
|232 (227 actual)
|65,853,514
|20 + [[District of Columbia|DC]]
|48.2%
|-
|style="background:#FFFF00; color:#000000"|'''Gary Johnson'''
|0
|4,489,341
|0
|3.28%
|-
|style="background:#008000; color:#FFF"|'''Jill Stein'''
|0
|1,457,218 
|0
|1.07%
|}

===Maps===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="300">
File:ElectoralCollege2016.svg|[[United States Electoral College|Electoral College]] votes from each state and the District of Columbia.{{efn|[[Maine]] and [[Nebraska]] both allocate their electoral votes by congressional district, with two votes going to the state at-large. Trump won Maine-2.}} There were seven faithless electors.
File:2016 United States presidential election results map by county.svg|Results by county, shaded by the winner's vote share. 
File:2016 U.S. presidential election margins.svg|Results by margin of victory in each state.
File:U.S. 2012 to 2016 presidential election swing.svg|Swing in county margins from 2012 to 2016. You can see that the Midwest ''really'' didn't like Clinton.
</gallery>

=== Close states ===
States where the margin of victory was under 1%:
#'''<span style="color:darkred;">Michigan, 0.23% (10,704 votes) – 16 electoral votes</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:darkblue;">New Hampshire, 0.37% (2,736 votes) – 4 electoral votes</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:darkred;">Pennsylvania, 0.72% (44,292 votes) – 20 electoral votes</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:darkred;">Wisconsin, 0.77% (22,748 votes) – 10 electoral votes</span>''' (tipping point-state) 

States/districts where the margin of victory was between 1% and 5%:
#'''<span style="color:darkred;">Florida, 1.20% (112,911 votes) – 29 electoral votes</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:darkblue;">Minnesota, 1.52% (44,765 votes) – 10 electoral votes</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:darkred;">Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District, 2.24% (6,534 votes) – 1 electoral vote</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:darkblue;">Nevada, 2.42% (27,202 votes) – 6 electoral votes</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:darkblue;">Maine, 2.96% (22,142 votes) – 2 electoral votes</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:darkred;">Arizona, 3.50% (91,234 votes) – 11 electoral votes</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:darkred;">North Carolina, 3.66% (173,315 votes) – 15 electoral votes</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:darkblue;">Colorado, 4.91% (136,386 votes) – 9 electoral votes</span>'''

States where the margin of victory was between 5% and 10%:
#'''<span style="color:darkred;">Georgia, 5.16% (211,141 votes) – 16 electoral votes</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:darkblue;">Virginia, 5.32% (212,030 votes) – 13 electoral votes</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:darkred;">Ohio, 8.13% (446,841 votes) – 18 electoral votes</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:darkblue;">New Mexico, 8.21% (65,567 votes) – 5 electoral votes</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:darkred;">Texas, 8.99% (807,179 votes) – 38 electoral votes</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:darkred;">Iowa, 9.41% (147,314 votes) – 6 electoral votes</span>'''

===Electoral College vote===
After Trump was confirmed as the winner of the 2016 presidential election, Democratic electors pledged to Clinton (including Bernie Sanders, funnily enough) attempted to lobby Republican electors to abandon their pledges to Trump—a long-shot effort intended more to erode the legitimacy of the Electoral College than it was a genuine attempt to overturn the election.<ref>{{cite web | last=Cheney | first=Kyle | title=Democratic presidential electors revolt against Trump | website=POLITICO | date=2016-11-22 | url=https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/democrats-electoral-college-faithless-trump-231731 |}}</ref> Several referred to themselves as the "[[Alexander Hamilton|Hamilton]] Electors" in reference to {{wpl|Federalist No. 68|}} and its assertion that the Electoral College exists to ensure that "the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications."<ref>{{cite web | last=O&apos | first=Lilly | title=Meet the 'Hamilton Electors' Campaigning for an Electoral College Revolt | website=The Atlantic | date=2016-11-21 | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/meet-the-hamilton-electors-hoping-for-an-electoral-college-revolt/508433/ |}}</ref> As the atmosphere around the upcoming Electoral College became uglier, a Republican elector from Michigan complained that he was receiving death threats even though he was bound by state law to honor his pledge to Trump.<ref>{{cite web | last=King | first=Alexandra | title=Electoral College voter: I’ve had threats | website=CNN | date=2016-11-30 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/30/politics/banerian-death-threats-cnntv |}}</ref> Not great. A Change.org petition begging electors to make Clinton president gained over 4.8 million signatures.<ref>[https://www.change.org/p/electoral-college-make-hillary-clinton-president-on-december-19-2017 Electoral College: Make Hillary Clinton President.] Change.org</ref>

68 electors from 17 states did request an intelligence briefing from the Obama administration regarding the intelligence community's concerns that Russia had manipulated the election results.<ref>{{cite web | title=The 'real' presidential election takes place Monday at the Electoral College | website=NBC News | date=2016-12-15 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/coming-soon-real-presidential-election-n696556 |}}</ref> {{wpl|James Clapper|}}, the Director of National Intelligence, denied the request.<ref>{{cite web | last=Hensch | first=Mark | title=Electors won’t get intelligence briefing: report | website=The Hill | date=2016-12-16 | url=https://thehill.com/homenews/news/310820-electors-wont-get-intelligence-briefing-report/ |}}</ref>

For the first time since the {{wpl|1872 United States presidential election|}} (and that time was because the electors' pledged candidate literally died after the election), multiple electors voted against the candidate for whom their state voted. The campaign to sway Trump's pledged electors backfired somewhat, as most of the faithless electors were from Clinton's states. Just to give you an idea of how much chaos there was during this process, here are the details:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!State
!State won by
!Political party of elector(s)
!Description
!State's final vote
|-
| [[Colorado]]
| Hillary Clinton
|style="background:#0000FF; color:#FFF"|Democratic
|Voted for [[John Kasich]] in a frankly bizarre attempt to convince Republican electors to defect from Trump for an alternative Republican; Colorado immediately threw out his vote and replaced him.<ref>{{cite web | title=A 'faithless elector' betrayed his state's voters. You won't believe why. | website=NBC News | date=2020-01-23 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/faithless-elector-betrayed-his-state-s-voters-you-won-t-n1120551 |}}</ref>
|9 votes for Clinton
|-
| [[Hawaii]]
| Hillary Clinton
|style="background:#0000FF; color:#FFF"|Democratic
|Voted for [[Bernie Sanders]] due to personal preference; despite the violation of state law, the vote stood.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Latest: Hawaii's 'faithless elector' vote will count | website=AP News | date=2016-12-20 | url=https://apnews.com/general-news-f257bfa03cef45c3a68cd6fb6f8b8fb6 |}}</ref>
|3 votes for Clinton, 1 vote for Sanders
|-
| [[Maine]]
| Vote split by Congressional district
|style="background:#0000FF; color:#FFF"|Democratic
|Voted for [[Bernie Sanders]] to encourage Sanders supporters to stay active with the Democrats; ruled out-of-order and subsequently voted for Clinton.<ref>{{cite web | last=Mistler | first=Steve | title=Despite Protests, Maine's Electoral College Votes As Expected | website=Maine Public | date=2016-12-19 | url=https://www.mainepublic.org/politics/2016-12-19/despite-protests-maines-electoral-college-votes-as-expected |}}</ref>
|3 votes for Clinton, 1 vote for Trump
|-
| [[Minnesota]]
| Clinton
|style="background:#0000FF; color:#FFF"|Democratic
|Voted for [[Bernie Sanders]] (and [[Tulsi Gabbard]] for Vice President) to disrupt the process or some such thing; immediately replaced with a backup elector.<ref>{{cite web | last=Salisbury | first=Bill | title=Minnesota electors vote for Hillary Clinton, after one goes rogue | website=Twin Cities | date=2016-12-19 | url=https://www.twincities.com/2016/12/19/minnesota-electoral-college-bittersweet-votes-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/ |}}</ref>
|10 votes for Clinton
|-
| [[Texas]]
| Trump
|style="background:#FF0000 ; color:#FFF"|Republican
|One pledged ahead of time to vote against Trump due to personal opposition,<ref>{{cite web | last=Pilkington | first=Ed | title=First Republican 'faithless elector' announces intent to vote against Trump | website=the Guardian | date=2016-12-05 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/05/faithless-electors-republican-electoral-college-trump |}}</ref> voted for Kasich and was counted.<ref name="faithlesse">{{cite web | last=Boccagno | first=Julia | title=Which candidates did the seven "faithless" electors support? | website=CBS News | date=2016-12-21 | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/which-candidates-did-the-seven-faithless-electors-support-election-2016/ |}}</ref> <br> Another voted for [[Ron Paul]] because something something [[Founding Fathers]].<ref>{{cite web | last=Svitek | first=Patrick | title=Rogue Texas elector explains decision to back Ron Paul | website=The Texas Tribune | date=2017-01-09 | url=https://www.texastribune.org/2017/01/09/rogue-texas-elector-explains-decision-back-ron-pau/ |}}</ref>
|36 votes for Trump, 1 for Kasich, 1 for Paul
|-
| [[Washington]]
| Clinton
|style="background:#0000FF; color:#FFF"|Democratic
|The big one: four electors went rogue. The founder of the "Hamilton Electors" movement and two supporters voted for [[Colin Powell]] in another bizarre attempt to get other electors to line up behind an alternate Republican.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Latest: Powell gets 3 Washington electoral votes | website=AP News | date=2016-12-19 | url=https://apnews.com/general-news-65eb7dd49548417a8f0b92f101eb049a |}}</ref> </br> Another voted for [[Native American]] activist {{wpl|Faith Spotted Eagle|}} because Clinton was a "criminal."<ref>{{cite web | last=Graham | first=Ruth | title=The Strange History of Faithless Electors Casting Their Votes for Women | website=Slate Magazine | date=2016-12-22 | url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2016/12/the-strange-history-of-faithless-electors-casting-their-votes-for-women.html |}}</ref> Spotted Eagle is the first Native American to receive an electoral vote for president.
|8 votes for Clinton, 3 for Powell, 1 for Spotted Eagle 
|}

Faithless electors reduced Trump's total vote to '''304''' and Clinton's to '''227'''.

During Congress' official certification of the Electoral College results on January 6th, 11 House Democrats attempted to object to electoral votes from various states due to the growing evidence of Russian interference in the election.<ref>{{cite web | last=Williams | first=Brenna | title=11 times electoral vote count was interrupted | website=CNN | date=2017-01-06 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/06/politics/electoral-college-vote-count-objections/index.html |}}</ref> Due to the lack of support from any Democratic Senators, Vice President and presiding officer [[Joe Biden]] gaveled them down.

==Russian interference==
[[File:NSA Report on Russia Spearphishing.pdf|thumb|right|235px|An [[NSA]] report from May 2017 about Russian hacking efforts during the 2016 election.]]
{{main|Trump-Russia connection}}
During the closing days of the campaign, Clinton's team raised their suspicions with the press that Russia had contacts within the Trump campaign and was using illicit means to influence the election in Trump's favor.<ref>{{cite web | last=Cohen | first=Marshall | title=Hillary Clinton personally approved plan to share Trump-Russia allegation with the press in 2016, campaign manager says | website=CNN | date=2022-05-20 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/20/politics/hillary-clinton-robby-mook-fbi/index.html |}}</ref> This culminated days before Trump's inauguration with the release of the so-called "Steele dossier," compiled by retired British spy Cristopher Steele and alleging that Trump personally colluded with the Russians to swing the election in his favor.<ref>{{cite web | last=Cohen | first=Marshall | title=The Steele dossier: A reckoning | website=CNN | date=2021-11-18 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/18/politics/steele-dossier-reckoning/index.html |}}</ref> Trump rejected these findings, of course, and the dossier was later discredited while the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee were fined large sums of money by federal elections regulators for failing to disclose their financing of the report.<ref>{{cite web | last=Cohen | first=Marshall | title=FEC fines Hillary Clinton campaign and DNC over Trump-Russia dossier research | website=CNN | date=2022-03-30 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/30/politics/clinton-dnc-steele-dossier-fusion-gps/index.html |}}</ref>

However, that wasn't the end of the story, or even the beginning. During the campaign, Trump "joked" that Russia should hack Clinton's e-mails and release them to the public.<ref>{{cite web | last=Cohen | first=Marshall | title=Trump says he joked about wanting Russian help in 2016. The facts tell a different story. | website=CNN | date=2019-03-05 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/05/politics/trump-emails-joke/index.html |}}</ref> At least 12 of Trump's associates had contacts with Russian officials (including a secret meeting to get "dirt" on Clinton), and there were a total of 19 personal interactions and 51 communications.<ref>{{cite web | last=Cohen | first=Marshall | title=Trump says he joked about wanting Russian help in 2016. The facts tell a different story. | website=CNN | date=2019-03-05 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/05/politics/trump-emails-joke/index.html |}}</ref> Trump's campaign chair Paul Manafort even handed the campaign's polling and strategy information to Russian intelligence.<ref>{{cite web | title=U.S. has new intel that Manafort pal gave Trump campaign data to Russia | website=NBC News | date=2021-04-16 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/u-s-has-new-intel-manafort-friend-kilimnik-gave-trump-n1264371 |}}</ref>

Through federal intelligence efforts that included the Mueller investigation, it came to light that a Russian operation codenamed "Project Lakhta" had been operating since 2014 through dozens of Russian entities to manipulate discourse on [[social media]] for the purpose of spreading mistrust in institutions and spread disinformation.<ref name="lakhta">{{cite web | last=Ewing | first=Philip | title=Here's How Russia Runs Its Disinformation Effort Against The 2018 Midterms | website=NPR | date=2018-10-23 | url=https://www.npr.org/2018/10/23/659545242/heres-how-russia-runs-its-disinformation-effort-against-the-2018-midterms |}}</ref> Project Lakhta reached "millions" of people during the 2016 election season.<ref name="lakhta"/>  [[YouTube]], [[Tumblr]], [[Instagram]], [[Facebook]], and [[Twitter]] were all targeted.<ref name="twfacyt">{{cite web | title=Russia 'meddled in all big social media' around US election | website=BBC Home | date=2018-12-17 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46590890 |}}</ref> Russian-made posts sought to rile up conservatives with [[fake news]] about immigration and Islamic terrorism and tried to suppress [[African-American]] turnout by undermining their faith that their votes would be counted.<ref name="twfacyt"/> 

It's probably unknowable, and still debated, how much impact the Russian "troll farms" had on the election result.<ref>{{cite web | last=Mayer | first=Jane | title=How Russia Helped Swing the Election for Trump | website=The New Yorker | date=2018-09-24 | url=https://archive.is/RvjkU}}</ref><ref name="ruoverhype">{{cite web | last=Prokop | first=Andrew | title=A new study says Russian trolls didn’t sway the 2016 election. Was the threat overhyped? | website=Vox | date=2023-01-20 | url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/1/20/23559214/russia-2016-election-trolls-study-email-hack |}}</ref> [[Nate Silver]] declared himself "[[agnostic]]" on the issue and noted that Russian disinformation efforts were consistent with what Trump-leaning voters already believed—that Hillary was dishonest and corrupt.<ref>{{cite web | last=Silver | first=Nate | title=How Much Did Russian Interference Affect The 2016 Election? | website=FiveThirtyEight | date=2018-02-16 | url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-much-did-russian-interference-affect-the-2016-election/ |}}</ref> 

Probably more impactful were the series of Russian hacks into the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign, followed by the release of numerous memos that cast Clinton and her party in a negative light.<ref>{{cite web | last=Swaine | first=Jon | last2=Roth | first2=Andrew | title=US indicts 12 Russians for hacking DNC emails during the 2016 election | website=the Guardian | date=2018-07-14 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/13/russia-indictments-latest-news-hacking-dnc-charges-trump-department-justice-rod-rosenstein |}}</ref> E-mails released in July 2016, for example, showed that Democratic Party insiders were mocking and belittling Bernie Sanders and his supporters during the primary season, vindicating Sanders' claim that the party had been against him and further dividing Democrats before the election.<ref>{{cite web | last=Shear | first=Michael D. | last2=Rosenberg | first2=Matthew | title=Released Emails Suggest the D.N.C. Derided the Sanders Campaign | website=The New York Times | date=2016-07-23 | url=https://archive.is/QWbAp}}</ref> Committee Charwoman Debbie Wasserman Schulz resigned on the eve of the Democratic National Convention,<ref>{{cite web | last=Martin | first=Jonathan | last2=Rappeport | first2=Alan | title=Debbie Wasserman Schultz to Resign D.N.C. Post | website=The New York Times | date=2016-07-24 | url=https://archive.is/J2Hb6}}</ref> and 2018 findings by Robert Mueller showed that the hacks were indeed deliberately timed to cause maximum chaos ahead of the Convention.<ref>{{cite web | last=Nilsen | first=Ella | title=The Mueller indictments reveal the timing of the DNC leak was intentional | website=Vox | date=2018-07-13 | url=https://www.vox.com/2018/7/13/17569030/mueller-indictments-russia-hackers-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-democratic-national-convention |}}</ref> This led to a tense and uncomfortable Convention in which Sanders supporters frequently booed at Clinton's name.<ref name="dnchack"/> Trump, for his part, went on to mention this and other revelations from the Russian hacks over a hundred times on the campaign trail.<ref>{{cite web | last=Healy | first=Gabrielle | title=Did Trump mention WikiLeaks over 160 times in October 2016? | website=@politifact | date=2017-04-13 | url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2017/apr/21/jackie-speier/did-trump-really-mention-wikileaks-over-160-times-/ |}}</ref> The Trump campaign also utilized [[Roger Stone]]'s contacts with [[WikiLeaks]] to gain advance knowledge of when various stolen emails and memos would be released.<ref>{{cite web | last=Katelyn Polantz | first=Marshall Cohen | title=What Roger Stone’s trial revealed about Trump and Mueller | website=CNN | date=2019-11-14 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/14/politics/roger-stone-trial-takeaways-mueller-report/index.html |}}</ref>

A bipartisan Senate report released in August 2020 confirmed that Russia sought to help Trump win the election, and it confirmed that many of Trump's campaign officials had knowing or unknowing contact with Russian intelligence.<ref>{{cite web | title=Why the Senate's Russia report should be one of America's biggest stories | website=NBC News | date=2020-08-22 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/senate-russia-report-proves-trump-was-wrong-mueller-was-right-ncna1237743 |}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Senate panel backs assessment that Russia interfered in 2016 | website=AP News | date=2020-04-21 | url=https://apnews.com/article/d094918c0421b872eac7dc4b16e613c7 |}}</ref>

==Concurrent elections==
[[File:US House 2016.svg|thumb|right|325px|2016 House results. Solid colors are flipped seats.]]
===House of Representatives===
House elections were a disappointment for Democrats; they gained only 6 seats.<ref>{{cite web | title=House Election Results 2016 | website=CNN | url=https://edition.cnn.com/election/2016/results/house |}}</ref> This left the total at '''241''' Republican seats and '''194''' Democratic seats, a comfortable Republican majority. Republicans won 55.2% of the seats with only a plurality of the popular vote at 49.9%, meaning that [[gerrymandering]] played a role in this result, albeit a smaller one than past years.<ref>{{cite web | title=Republicans in Congress got a “seats bonus” this election (again) | website=Brookings | date=2017-01-27 | url=https://www.brookings.edu/articles/gop-seats-bonus-in-congress/ |}}</ref> Of course, it was always going to be a tough ask to win a House majority in 2016 considering the absolute shellacking Democrats received during the 2010 and 2014 midterms thanks to the Obama-era party's negligence in supporting its candidates whenever Obama wasn't on the ballot.<ref>{{cite web | last=Liasson | first=Mara | title=The Democratic Party Got Crushed During The Obama Presidency. Here's Why | website=NPR | date=2016-03-04 | url=https://www.npr.org/2016/03/04/469052020/the-democratic-party-got-crushed-during-the-obama-presidency-heres-why |}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Cillizza | first=Chris | title=President Obama never cared all that much about downballot Democrats. Until now. | website=Washington Post | date=2016-11-15 | url=https://archive.is/wR7yt}}</ref>

Disappointment in the House results inspired a major leadership challenge against [[Nancy Pelosi]]. {{wpl|Tim Ryan|}} of [[Ohio]] won the support of a third of the party's caucus by arguing that coastal Democrats like Pelosi had caused the party to lose touch with working-class voters.<ref>{{cite web | last=Huetteman | first=Emmarie | title=Nancy Pelosi Beats Back House Democratic Leadership Challenge | website=The New York Times | date=2016-11-30 | url=https://archive.is/oePe3}}</ref> 

===Senate===
[[File:2016 United States Senate elections results map.svg|thumb|right|325px|2016 Senate results. Solid colors are flipped seats.]]
The Senate was an even more bitter pill for Democrats to swallow because they had actually expected to flip the chamber during Clinton's triumphant rise to the presidency.<ref>{{cite web | last=Arkin | first=James | title='Still a fresh wound': 2016 loss fuels Senate Democrats' 2020 takeover strategy | website=POLITICO | date=2020-08-27 | url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/27/senate-democrats-2020-takeover-strategy-402877 |}}</ref> Instead, Democrats flipped two seats, and those were both on home turf for Democrats: Republican {{wpl|Mark Kirk|}} was obviously not going to win again in [[Illinois]],<ref>{{cite web | last=Silver | first=Nate | title=2016 Senate Forecast | website=FiveThirtyEight | date=2016-09-20 | url=https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/senate/illinois/ |}}</ref> and Democrat {{wpl|Maggie Hassan|}} scraped by in [[New Hampshire]] to unseat {{wpl|Kelly Ayotte|}}.<ref>{{cite web | title=New Hampshire Election Results 2016: Senate Live Map by County, Real-Time Voting Updates | website=Election Hub | date=2017-05-04 | url=https://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/senate/new-hampshire/ |}}</ref> This left the headcount in the Senate at '''52''' Republicans and '''46''' Democrats. 

Not a great result, especially since there were vulnerable Republicans in other theoretically winnable states on the menu, like [[Pennsylvania]], [[Wisconsin]], and [[Florida]]. All of these seats were held by the Republicans with varying degrees of narrowness. Democratic underperformance is attributed to Trump dragging several Republican Senate candidates across the finish line, and weak campaigns from Democrats in states like [[Indiana]] and Wisconsin.<ref>{{cite web | last=Taylor | first=Jessica | title=Republicans Keep Control Of The Senate As Democrats Largely Falter | website=NPR | date=2016-11-09 | url=https://www.npr.org/2016/11/09/500711970/republicans-keep-control-of-the-senate-as-democrats-largely-falter |}}</ref> 

Kirk's loss in Illinois, inevitable as it was, was at least satisfying to watch after he made a flippant and incorrect comment making fun of his opponent {{wpl|Tammy Duckworth|}}'s parents for being immigrants from [[Thailand]].<ref>{{cite web | last=Lopez | first=German | title=Mark Kirk’s racist attack on Tammy Duckworth’s patriotism was all too familiar to people of color | website=Vox | date=2016-10-28 | url=https://www.vox.com/identities/2016/10/28/13454046/kirk-duckworth-debate-racism |}}</ref> Duckworth's mother was Thai, but her father was an American Marine.<ref>{{cite web | last=Taylor | first=Jessica | title='Your Parents Came All The Way From Thailand': Senator Wrongly Hits Rival On Heritage | website=NPR | date=2016-10-28 | url=https://www.npr.org/2016/10/28/499739422/gop-sen-kirk-incorrectly-hits-opponent-duckworth-over-heritage-military-service |}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[2016 Republican Party presidential nomination]] 
*[[2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination]]
*[[2016 Republican National Convention]] 
*[[2020 United States presidential election]]
*[[2024 United States presidential election]] - they fucking lost to him again

==External links==
* ''[[New York Times]]'' - [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/upshot/election-2016-voting-precinct-maps.html An Extremely Detailed Map of the 2016 Election]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9oUnC8JtXY Ice Cube - Arrest The President]
*''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo2ew5ltadM Captain America: Uncivil War]''

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|3|80%}}

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[[Category:2016 US presidential election| ]]
[[Category:The Clintons]]
[[Category:Government incompetence]]
[[Category:United States presidential elections]]
[[Category:Trumpism]]
[[Category:United States politics]]

Categories: 2016 US presidential election, The Clintons, Government incompetence, United States presidential elections, Trumpism, United States politics