What one single action could have prevented election of Trump?

[AndJusticeForSome]

Say you have to advise a time traveler, to go back and alter just one simple thing to prevent today's situation.

For example, would it be something to change Trump's mind about running? If so, would Putin then have time to elevate another of his compromised GOPers, that would then be elected by much more vote hacking?

I believe the best action, with the fewest unintended consequences, and with little time left until election day, would be the most obvious one: Comey. Just get him to change his mind and not read that letter.

Can you think of any other ones? If someone were writing a script ala "1963" (James Franco), and you were an advisor and needed to provide clever twists on what would have changed history, what would you suggest?

[SWBTATTReg]

1. vote...nt

[CrispyQ]

3. This.

[ismnotwasm]

11. +1000

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

26. +1

[AndJusticeForSome]

12. A single action by a single person

One time traveler gets to try to change things.

[dem4decades]

2. Fred Trump pulls out.

[AndJusticeForSome]

14. But that gives Putin a lot of time to groom another nt

[Ferryboat]

56. What single action

It would have been more effective if Murduchs daddy did the same.

[bearsfootball516]

4. You mentioned what I would have said. Remove they Comey letter.

Her lead in critical swing states evaporated after that, and Trump won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania by incredibly slim margins. I have no doubt the letter likely swung those states.

[NewJeffCT]

47. agreed - maybe Jason Chaffetz

falls and breaks a knee getting the Comey letter over to the NY Times or Washington Post or wherever it was published and the letter falls out of his briefcase and down a sewer.

If you look at the daily tracking polls, Clinton had just broken past 50% for the first time and led Trump 51-38% after Lil Donny embarrassed himself in the 3rd debate. Her lead was surging. If nothing changed, it likely would have kept increasing by small amounts.

The day after the letter was released, it was 44-43% for Trump, a 14 point swing in ONE DAY! While Clinton recovered a few days later and had a small lead, it just wasn't the same.

[dalton99a]

5. No Comey letter, no President Trump.

[mr_lebowski]

6. Michael Cohen, instead of paying off Stormy, instead breaks ranks and goes public

Like a week before the election, loudly proclaiming that Trump was attempting to make him (Cohen) break Election Finance laws by secretly paying off, through phony shell corps, a Porn Star that Trump boned while Melania ... was at home with newborn Barron ...

I'm thinking that could've been big enough to swing the deal, esp. if it got enough press. Oh, and he had tapes to prove it and they got played on the news.

By the time it became truly factually known, he was already 'elected' and people had suspected/known it was true for like a year. Impact was completely dulled.

[AndJusticeForSome]

15. That's a good one! nt

[NewJeffCT]

43. That likely would have done it

evangelicals voted heavily for Trump, but I got a feeling that a good amount of them held their noses and voted for him. yes, they've been happy since the election because of RW judges and the transgender military ban, but before the election, it was a little different. Or at least I got that feelling.

if Cohen came forward with tapes the day before the Comey letter, it likely would have killed Trump's chances. (not to mention if Cohen has evidence of the up to 8 rumored abortion payouts were true...)

Even 5 or 10% of the evangelicals staying home or voting 3rd party likely swings PA, WI and MI to Clinton, and maybe Florida or NC?

[Baitball Blogger]

7. Comey should have either shut the fuck up, or he should have been

fair and told us there was an investigation on Russian interference.

[MineralMan]

8. Is this time traveler armed?

[Hekate]

13. Ha. Many have posited that about "Hitler in his cradle," but Heinlein pointed out that he was just

...the tip of the inflamed boil, and had he been removed at early point in his career, the disease that caused him would have spawned someone else.

In the current context, we have to ask about the disease that now infects America and who else it might spawn.

[A HERETIC I AM]

9. What SINGLE ACTION?....

Ensuring we had a strong, cutting edge SECULAR public school system from the 1940's through today.

A largely ignorant, uninformed and disinterested population gets exactly the government it deserves.

[AndJusticeForSome]

16. How does one time traveler achieve that?

It's obviously what we needed, but how can one person set that in motion?

[A HERETIC I AM]

19. Shoot every Republican that voted to reduce the effectiveness of public schools.

So now we are into multiple items, but there you go.

[JonAndKatePlusABird]

71. If we're talking about a single action.....

......then preventing John Wilkes Booth would be the main priority.

[Brawndo]

36. Nailed It!

Defunding public education and not teaching civics for decades created an ignorant electorate that would be susceptible to propaganda and therefore, a demagogue.

[bdamomma]

54. Educating the masses

would have helped us but people voted in a TV scumbag who doesn't know shit about politics, or the Constitution, or how the world works.

I hate the fucking thing, there is no good reason why he is still holding us and the office hostage. Just go.

[Brawndo]

55. His ignorance is a reflection of their ignorance

Providing a quality public education, including civics, would've prevented the strain of anti-intellectualism from growing in America. They conflate competency/qualifications with elitism. I doubt they would apply the same "logic" to picking a surgeon to operate on them.

[bdamomma]

58. Welcome to

DU!!! Yes, they have been "dumbing down the masses" for many years. It's their way of manipulating and controlling people, thrown in propaganda and fear, right wing radio and there you have it. Their greed is another factor, why not work together as one people?? we would be a fine tuned machine, but there is that selfishness I got mine, you get yours mentality, and they do not live by the Golden rule.

I finished my rant.

[Brawndo]

59. Thanks!

I agree. At least most of his base are of senior age, this is a problem which will fix itself. Tick tock...

[Hekate]

10. First and foremost, the RNC could have done its traditional job in smoke-filled rooms...

When the convention finally took place they had one last chance to put country over party by having a knock-down drag-out fight behind closed doors and then on the floor to stop Donald Trump for being anathema to traditional conservative values and for being corrupt and utterly unfit for the office.

(If they really wanted someone to manipulate, they could have chosen spineless Mitt Romney.)

You think that in itself is corrupt and against the "will of the people"? That's what "party fathers" are for: to be one last check on the will of the mob.

[NRaleighLiberal]

17. far more assertive airing of Russia's hacking efforts by the Obama administration

I know this is complex and highly political - but there was a lot they knew, and they were too cautious with how it was handled.

[eShirl]

18. Grandpa Trump is unsuccessful in dodging the draft?

Settles down with a local girl and never comes to the Americas.

[FiveGoodMen]

20. Killing Rush Limbaugh

[fierywoman]

21. The media could have decided that good journalism was more important than

obscene profits.

[FiveGoodMen]

25. They really can't

They are corporations.

And a corporation's only purpose is to rake in cash from wherever and hand it over to do-nothings that have bought stock.

Fiduciary Responsibility essentially outlaws any kind of moral behavior on their part.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

28. CORPORATE REFORM NOW.

Nobody ever said corporations were gods blessed child. Set up a business the old way and do it the hard way. So then when youre rich, and tell everyone how hard you work, it'll be true.

[Deb]

22. Interrupt his parents

[beachbum bob]

23. Hillary calling trump a liar and thief to his face at any of the debates.

That would sealed the deal

[Hekate]

62. Really? She called him a Putin Puppet to his face on national tv. smh

[zipplewrath]

24. Steele Dossier

Break in to the office of of Christopher Steele and get a copy of the dossier and drop it off at the Washington Post.

[Eliot Rosewater]

27. Dont say "hold my nose" and dont whine about our candidate over and over and over.

[malchickiwick]

29. Anthony Weiner could have been less of a ...well ...you know.

[customerserviceguy]

88. And Hillary

should have either cut Huma loose after the first signs of Weiner's egotistic perversions came to light, or insisted that Huma cut Weiner loose immediately, if she wanted to still work for her.

Then, the laptop would have never figured into this. But, I still don't think that would have made a difference in the result.

[ginnyinWI]

30. Jill Stein.

If she had not run, and if those votes had gone to Hillary in PA, MI and WI, she would be President today.

[customerserviceguy]

89. Stein was never going to win

and everybody who voted for her knew that. Johnson would have picked up those votes, because Stein and Johnson were a way of saying "none of the above", while still being able to vote on down-ballot races.

[Snotcicles]

31. Persuade Bill Clinton not convince Trump to run. nt

[Clash City Rocker]

32. Pass a law requiring every candidate to release five years of tax returns

Probably prevents either Trump or Bernie from running, in which case Hillary would be President.

[pnwmom]

33. Bernie could have stopped campaigning in May -- when the numbers showed he had lost --

in order to ENTHUSIASTICALLY support Hillary, so that millions of his young supporters weren't disappointed when the convention arrived and it finally became clear to them that nothing would overturn the primary results.

[LisaM]

51. I agree with this. I'd still go with Comey not interfering...

but I think my runner up (by a whisker) would be Bernie behaving towards Hillary the way Hillary did towards Obama - leave the race earlier, and come out and give a fired-up speech at the convention about the candidate. Instead, he sat there glowering and refusing to do anything while his supporters harassed civil rights heroes and put tape over their mouths.

[njhoneybadger]

78. What she said

[trueblue2007]

84. yeah .... Bernie's fault.

actually it is Trump's DADDY"S fault. He created the monster who is today in the WH

[pnwmom]

85. His father probably had the same personality disorder, which sucked the soul out of his son.

Tiffany is the lucky one because she was never a favorite of DT's.

[earthside]

34. A Different Nominee

If Hillary Clinton had done the right thing and not sought the Democratic Party nomination in 2016, Trump would not have been elected.

An open field in 2016, in my opinion, would have produced a woman nominee that would have easily won the general election.

[jalan48]

64. +1

[shanny]

73. I think so too.

I think even a different choice for veep could have done it.

[Midnightwalk]

35. Wrong way of thinking

When complex systems fail there are almost always multiple factors. There might be a publicly disclosed single reason but any good organization goes after all the reasons.

It might be comforting to think we can just fix one thing like removing trump but we’ll still have the systemically broken gop. We’ll still have a system where 90+% of wealth is taken by less than ine percent.

Don’t take this as defeatist. You often can’t fix hard problems in one go. I’ll almost always take motion over stagnation. Once you have motion you can direct it towards progress. Bold steps are easier when you can see you are heading the right way.

[Perrenial Voter]

91. I agree. I think there are dozens of single things that could have

potentially kept this from happening. For one, if Dems had decided to either impeach or prosecute Bush and Cheney for their crimes, I doubt Trump would have ever run. If he thought high-level politicians were subject to prosecution, and understood the kind of scrutiny he would be under, he would have been crazy to run -- or else, Putin had something really, really bad he was holding over his head.

[Maru Kitteh]

37. Abortion. Go back and tell Fred Trump the baby will be "defective."

He would order Mrs. Fred to abort immediately.

To be fair, he did in fact turn out to be quite defective.

[samnsara]

38. abortion

[iamateacher]

39. Comey

If Comey had stayed out of it. Also if Nunes had stayed out of it, but that was impossible.

[muntrv]

40. No Jill Stein.

[lpbk2713]

41. He shouldn't have been permitted to participate in the GOP Primary Debates

The rethugs should not have taken him seriously as a viable candidate for the office of President. He had no political experience and at best he was a mediocre reality TV host.

[uponit7771]

42. MSM not focus 60%of thier time on Clinton emails

[SidDithers]

44. If I answer, I'll get hidden for "refighting the primaries"...nt

Sid

[NurseJackie]

46. Bingo!

[LongtimeAZDem]

94. +1 /nt

[NurseJackie]

45. I can't say. I know the answer to that...

... but for obvious reasons, I think it's best that I just keep my mouth shut and my keyboard fingers motionless. People who know me have a good idea of what it is I'm thinking anyway.

[LongtimeAZDem]

93. Yep; no guarantee, of course, but it probably would have done it. /nt

[FM123]

48. Mark Burnett giving trumpy the extra money he asked for to stay on the Apprentice...

Trumpy was very happy to be a "TV Star" and just threaten from afar to run for president, I wish he had just stayed on television.

[lastlib]

49. Castrate Fred when he was 12......

Problem solved.

[woofless]

50. Hillary Clinton, having been defeated once,

decides to forgo another run.

[inchhigh]

82. Ding ding ding

[akraven]

52. Voting machines that weren't rigged by his friends (if he has any). nt

[tonedevil]

53. I don't know there is just one thing...

something I have not seen get much discussion was the decision not to release the Wall Street speaking transcripts. Every time donald was asked about his taxes those damn transcripts came up. She already had released her taxes and was 100% more transparent than him so it isn't fair that she should be asked for more. If she had posted the transcripts it could have made a very clear line and his push back might not have been given the legitimacy that it kept getting.
I know we are only supposed to list one, but I can think of another thing. When Secretary Clinton said that half of donald's supporters were deplorable she got a lot of guff from Democrats while donald's supporters were making it clear that the estimation of half was far too modest. It would have been nice if the Democratic party could have stood with her and said something like it seems the deplorable component of donald supporters is much higher than originally estimated.

[karynnj]

57. Clinton having someone get all her work emails to the State Department before she left

Then the SD would have used them to answer FOIA and Congress. We might never have heard private server accusations and no question of confidential or secret emails. Remember nothing in any email, likely to meet any request, was controversial.

No email scandal means no Comey investigation and no monthly dump of new SD emails, which HRC asked happen maybe because she knew otherwise Republicans would leak only negative ones.

The story and how she handled it hurt her in spring 2015. Her favorable never recovered.

[smb]

60. Keep Him Away From The 2011 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner nt

Set him up with a bimbo, slip him some stomach-cramping bad oysters, whatever.

[diva77]

61. Multi-faceted election fraud stole the election for Dump

-voters were purged from the rolls
-gerrymandered districts favoring rethugs and where machines were deployed and functional
-malicious code altering votes cast and tabulated
-disinformation
-Voter ID laws
-nonverifiable DREs
-Optical Scanners
-Central Tabulators
-Condensed precincts

etc. -- am sure I left out several

[scarytomcat]

63. the media doing in depth reporting on dumps life

instead of free air time every day

[Gothmog]

65. If time travel is on the table, I would go back and block Palm Beach butterfly ballot in 2000

If there was no butterfly ballot in Palm Beach County, there there would be no W, Iraq War, Citizens United, gutting of the voting rights act or CJ John Roberts.

[Polybius]

68. Roberts and Alito were nominated and confirmed early into Bush's second term though

There is no guarantee that Gore would have been re-elected. 12 year one-party rule is very uncommon. 16 year one-party rule hasn't happened since FDR. And even Gore was re-elected and got to appoint two liberal SC Justices, it would be almost certain that a Republican would have won in 2008 and appointed the other two that retired in Obama's term.

[lunamagica]

66. Do you think if Hillary had been Obama's VP would have made a difference?

No Benghazi, no emails, no Comey

[Polybius]

69. I was furious (at first) that she wasn't his VP

I loved the job she did as SoS and loved Biden as VP, but in hindsight, picking her as VP would likely have won 2016.

[BluesRunTheGame]

67. If the fairness doctrine had not been eliminated...

[Mariana]

70. Prohibit tax exempt churches from preaching politics.

If they want to preach politics, they should pay taxes.

[FiveGoodMen]

74. I think that one's already on the books

although no one every seems to enforce it.

[Mariana]

75. So, change my Single Action to enforcing that.

Many, many Christian churches defied the law and told their congregations straight out to vote for Trump. Many more were careful with their language, but still made it perfectly clear which way they expected their members to vote. And it worked. The majority of Christian voters cast their ballots for Trump.

[FiveGoodMen]

81. Yeah, I wasn't arguing with you at all.

And they DON'T enforce it.

During Dubya's reign, there was some church that kicked out anyone who didn't vote for Bush.

[shanny]

72. Comey letter.

[gopiscrap]

76. voting

and Comey coming clean on investigating trump

[Marthe48]

77. Paper ballots

Voting rect.

[Hoyt]

79. Get out the vote, and vote for the Democratic nominee not the

opposition because your favorite wasn’t the nominee.

[trueblue2007]

80. the sex act between trump's mother and father. no sperm ..... no Don the Con

[trueblue2007]

83. push him SO HARD as he is going down the escalator he flies across the room and cracks his head

**** like humpty dumpty****

[customerserviceguy]

86. This may offend a few people here

but if Hillary had chosen a person of color to be her VP nominee instead of probably the most boring man in Virginia, things might well have turned out differently. We'd have picked up votes in a number of Rust Belt states that would have denied Trump his victory.

[The Wielding Truth]

87. Don't forget RW media. FOX (not) NEWS.

Propaganda and the loss of the Fairness Doctrine.

[tenderfoot]

90. Had he been laughed off the public landscape and forgotten when the USFL failed in 1985.

eom

[Talitha]

92. Intensive background check, vetting, or whatever you call it.

Not only for presidential candidates, but for ALL people seeking public office.
IMO, if you're not willing to be investigated, we don't want you running our country.