_its_baddude wrote:
Let me ask you a few questions to focus your thoughts.
Do you think Hillary lost to Obama because of Russian bots? Why or why not? Why do you think Hillary lost to Obama? Why do you think Hillary lost to Trump?
You're going back 10 years for Hillary vs Obama.
I don't think Russian bots were as sophisticated then and I don't know if they preferred Obama.
But Obama was a better candidate than Hillary. He had better grass roots and on the ground campaign. And Hillary had been damaged by Republican propaganda.
Hillary mostly lost to Trump because of a geographical concentration of Democrats in fewer states. She lost because of the design of the electoral college while receiving millions more votes across the country.
But why did she lose PA, MI and WI? Or Ohio and Florida for that matter? (And how did Trump lose Virginia?)
Those states were all close.
You have to believe that money and advertising affects people's votes, right?
Otherwise why would so much money be spent in campaigns?
Trump got tons of free advertising because every news outlet kept playing or commenting on his outrageous remarks. And those remarks, that antagonized many also intrigued many would be supporters. Nothing illegal about that.
And the promotions of Russian bots with fake news stories also gave Trump tons of free advertising. Not illegal either if Trump was not involved. But if he was aware and helped in away, that is treasonous.
In the end, people are responsible for making up their own minds when they vote.
More people in those swing states, for whatever reason, chose to vote for Trump.
There was a very effective smear campaign on Hillary that had been in place for over a decade leading up to the 2016 election. The Democrats didn't put anyone against her in the primaries (Bernie is an Independent).