Quick reminder: you need to call out people who say "Trump won" or "Clinton lost"

[Bucky]

Narrative is truth, sadly, more than truth is truth. It's not enough to just remind yourself that Trump lost the vote and only got "elected" by the twisted Electoral College system. You have to remind everyone you hear mention it: Trump was rejected by the voters; the American voters chose Clinton by a margin of two million votes.

Personally, I plan to leave the Greens and Libertarians out of the discussion, because in 2018 I hope to win those idiot schmucks over to our side... you know, with charm.

[Else You Are Mad]

1. I am really getting tired...

Of having to tell Trump supporters that Californians and New Yorkers are Americans too everytime I hear them say "well if it weren't for New York and California Trump would have the popular vote".

[msongs]

2. that's a lost cause on DU sorry to say nt

[Coyotl]

3. Show them this graphic:

First ask them to guess how many states worth of Trump voters all added together it takes to match Hillary's victory.

[Bucky]

7. I don't understand that graphic.

Sorry, but too much extrapolation doesn't have the emotional impact it takes to wake up the unwoke

[Coyotl]

8. Clinton's margin exceeds all the Trump voters in 10 states.

See the numbers and addition on the right side. The pie is eleven states, DC, and the 2.5 million projected Hillary victory.

[Bucky]

9. sorry, that's apples to oranges

It might've been fun for a statistician to figure this out, but it obscures the real point -- two million more Americans votes for Clinton than Trump.

One thing I've learned this year: in political arguments, keep it simple

[Coyotl]

12. It illustrates what 2 million more Clinton votes is equivalent to, eleven red states.

It is not apples to oranges, it is how many apples. No statistician required, just addition.

Albeit, I'll grant you this, calling Trump votes oranges is pure genius.

[TimeChaser]

4. Ask them if they like their vote counting less than voters in other states (depending, obviously

on what state you live in) Even if we don't throw out the electoral college, all votes should be worth the same amount of electoral votes. No votes for empty space.

[Bucky]

6. This is Texas, so we're underrepresented in the EC, but have our money & influence to fall back on

Or allow me to introduce you to our new state anthem

[JI7]

5. Hillary won the PEOPLE'S VOTE

[TheFrenchRazor]

10. yep, Hillary won the PEOPLE, Trump won the square miles. nt

[mythology]

11. That's just silly

The race is to win the Electoral College. Pointing to the popular vote isn't much better than pointing to the number of states won or the amount of land.

The acknowledged rules were getting to 270 Electoral College delegates. Whining that we won on some other metric makes it seem like being a sore loser.

[NobodyHere]

13. Trump won and Clinton lost

Unless Jill Stein's recounts show differently those are the facts

[Yo_Mama]

14. Trump won the election but lost the popular vote.

Trying to pretend that he didn't win is just going to make us seem stupid or, worse, disregardful of the fate of too many people.

I know we won't change the electoral college (it would take a constitutional amendment to do so). So we need to address this - it would not take much to move those traditionally Democratic counties back to blue. NOT MUCH AT ALL.

I think it is great to talk about the significance of the popular/electoral college split in this election. It is a really a theme that works FOR Dems when properly addressed. This is so because this is another way that the widening split between the economic losers and the economic winners in this country has manifested. We lost the election because we didn't properly address this, and if we let Trump own this issue, we could lose the NEXT election.

This split should worry everyone in the country. It has always been a Democratic goal to redress it, and we must make redressing this it our heart and soul again. Democrats are supposed to be the big tent people. Democrats are supposed to be the populist party.

Democrats have historically been for the average person and for those left out.

So let's talk about this, but talk about it in a way that's not pejorative, but that recognizes reality: The economy has improved, but not for some. It has improved mostly for the prospering. We want to broaden and strengthen the economic benefits, so that most people will prosper. And when we do that, we will be able to give more help to those who aren't prospering (also a Democratic theme. We'll then be able to move from strength to strength.

The narrative is important, but we must give our narrative evocative power by addressing reality and what reality could be, and that has to be backed by solid policy. It's important to get this right.