Electoral battles

Trump almost certain to win Electoral College vote, but nothing's sure in 2016 elections

The Electoral College is expected Monday to select Donald Trump as the next president of the United States, despite efforts to disrupt the 227-year-old process that so far appears to have resulted in just one openly rogue voter. Still, Democrats and Republicans on Sunday spoke with some uncertainty about the anticipated outcome.

“We expect everything to fall in line,” Reince Priebus, White House chief of staff in the incoming Trump administration, told “Fox News Sunday.”

In most presidential election years, the Electoral College vote would essentially be a formality after the popular vote is cast in November.

Electoral battles

Austrian presidential campaign echoes Donald Trump, U.S. election

Norbert Hofer of Austria’s right-wing Freedom Party, narrowly lost the country’s presidential election last May to Alexander Van der Bellen, a more mainstream, pro-Europe candidate. But a court nullified the results after reports of irregularities, and a new election has been set for Sunday.

Founded by a former Nazi officer, the Freedom Party campaigned hard on an anti-immigrant platform. That hasn’t changed, but what has is the U.S. election.

“The Trump factor is here,” said political commentator Thomas Hofer.

Electoral battles

I will give Austria an EU referendum: Nobert Hofer to allow Austrian people to LEAVE EU

THE far right-wing politician campaigning for the presidency of Austria has said he would push for a referendum on EU membership if he wins the post on Sunday.

...Increasing fears of crime and terrorism stoked by the arrival of refugees in Austria has served to give him an electoral boost he might not otherwise have enjoyed.

Mr Hofer, 45, will send shockwaves throughout the political establishments of Europe if he does win the race.  

He has enthused supporters, and horrified critics,  with comments against Muslims - "Islam is not part of our values" and "Islam has no place in Austria" - and has promised to increase criminal penalties for immigrants committing crimes like rape while cutting back on assistance to newcomers.

Electoral battles

Under the Hood: How Donald Trump Has Cut Around Corporate Media to Reach Millions Directly Online

Trump’s social media director Dan Scavino, who is now running social media operations for the presidential transition team, provided Breitbart News with the core statistics on the Trump team’s massive social media reach.

His Facebook page reached more than 21 billion impressions—21,031,446,611 to be exact—from the day Trump launched his campaign until November 22, 2016. There were more than 485 million engagements on his Facebook page during that timeframe, and nearly 50 million “likes.” On videos his team posted on Facebook, they have had, Scavino told Breitbart News, more than 1.3 billion views.

On Twitter, Trump achieved similar numbers. Scavino told Breitbart News that between June 2015 and November 2016, Trump’s Twitter posts have had nearly 9 billion impressions and more than 400 million engagements.

Trump’s Twitter account now has 16.2 million followers, and his Facebook account has 15.6 million likes. His Instagram account has 4.2 million followers. Between the three, that’s 36 million people his personal social media accounts reach.

Electoral battles

Like Trump, Austria’s Norbert Hofer Attracting Disillusioned Working Class Voters

The victory of Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election has political analysts predicting a boost for Hofer and other populists across Europe in what they call the “Trump-effect.”

A new poll has shown that 53 per cent of Austrians believe Hofer has directly benefited from Trump’s victory. Hofer has extended his lead in the polls by another percentage point from his opponent, former Green party leader Alexander Van der Bellen.

Critics of the populist politician worry that Hofer will dissolve the grand coalition government in Austria, which consists of the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and the Socialists, if he becomes president. Despite the FPÖ leading in the polls, Hofer has said he wouldn’t consider such a move until at least the summer of next year.

“I’m not going to dismiss the government at every opportunity,” he told Austrian broadcaster ORF. However, Mr. Hofer did make it clear that if the government didn’t continue on the path of border security and integration legislation he would very likely consider new elections.

Electoral battles

Kellyanne Conway: the secret weapon that won the war

Enter Kellyanne Conway. The 49-year-old political strategist and pollster became the Trump camp’s third campaign manager, the first woman to do that job for a Republican presidential campaign – and its most effective weapon. The notoriously egotistical president-elect appeared to acknowledge this on Tuesday night when the pictures from his victory party showed him with one arm casually draped around the beaming Conway’s waist as he pointed to her with the other as though saying: “Guys, it was all down to her.” A job as the White House’s next press secretary is strongly rumoured to be her reward.

So what was her secret? Conway feminised the Trump campaign, giving it an acceptable face amid the blustering machismo. A TV veteran, she hit the airwaves relentlessly, diffusing all criticisms of Trump with a sunny smile and a continued insistence that “Mr Trump has a positive vision for America”.

Electoral battles

A series of strategic mistakes likely sealed Clinton’s fate

Clinton’s failure to attract enough supporters in Michigan and its Rust Belt neighbors Wisconsin and Pennsylvania cost her the election — and shocked the world. And while many reasons have been offered up, both inside and outside the campaign, one reality has emerged in the days since Clinton’s stunning loss, according to many Democrats interviewed for this article: a series of strategic mistakes, including some made in the final two weeks, probably sealed the deal.

One error was to stick with a long-standing, one-dimensional campaign strategy: attacking Donald Trump. That strategy had been devised despite overwhelming evidence, not only in Trump’s rise but also in Clinton’s struggles during the Democratic primary against Bernie Sanders, that the electorate was looking for political and economic change.

Electoral battles

US election 2016: Immigration may decide the winner

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump's plans for immigration couldn't be more different.

Trump has called for a wall to be built on the country's southern border with Mexico, while Clinton has talked about "open borders," making immigration a key issue in this year's US presidential election.

Latino voters, who have faced a series of disparaging remarks by Trump, are expected to turn out in record numbers on Tuesday with their numbers having spiked during early voting these past few weeks.

They normally vote democrat - and this year is no exception.

Polls suggest Trump is expected to get fewer Latino votes than any other Republican candidate in 35 years.

So why has immigration played such a key role in this year's US election campaign?

Electoral battles

Shifting demographics in battleground states alter old rules

The rapid demographic changes that are giving traditional battleground states more of a blue hue in the 2016 presidential race have yet to sweep through Ohio, where white working-class voters have embraced Donald Trump’s brash style and populist message.

But Mr. Trump’s appeal has been less resonant in booming states like North Carolina and Virginia, where a rush of minorities and young professionals has poured in to score jobs and earn college degrees.

The shifting demographics have reshaped the presidential map and taken some of the shine off Ohio’s status as a bellwether in presidential elections: The state has picked the president in every election since going against John F. Kennedy in 1960.

“Ohio is both A) historically a little more Republican than the nation and B) demographically friendly to Trumpbecause it’s whiter than the nation, and its white electorate has a slightly lower education level than the white electorate nationally,” said Kyle Kondik of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics and author of “The Bellwether: Why Ohio Picks Presidents.”

Electoral battles

Donald Trump targets Hillary Clinton and immigration in Denver speech

The Republican presidential nominee, who has made immigration a centerpiece of his campaign, again promised to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and — as motivation — cited a 2005 “ambush” in which an immigrant named Raul Gomez-Garcia killed Denver Det. Donald Young and wounded his partner, Jack Bishop.

“Thousands of Americans would be alive today if not for the policies of Obama and Clinton,” Trump said.

Electoral battles


Will a British big data company win Trump the U.S. election?

Donald Trump and his campaign for the Presidency of the United States has turned to a UK based big data analytics firm to try and win over voters.

Cambridge Analytica has been paid large sums of money, $5m in September alone, to try and help influence voters and how they will vote.

With data on 230 million adults in the U.S. and around 4,000 data points on each of them, the hope is that all of this information can help the Trump campaign understand how individuals will lean politically, and how to potentially influence a change of mind.

The data includes things like transaction information from loyalty card, charity donations, gym memberships and more that the Trump campaign is using.

Electoral battles

Clinton’s top priority? Fighting her own worst instincts.

Hillary Clinton’s top priority, if she is elected president, shouldn’t be enacting an infrastructure plan or pushing immigration reform. It should be — must be, if she is to succeed on any substantive front — to combat her own worst instincts.

To be clear, I desperately want to see Clinton elected, not only because the alternative is Donald Trump and not only because it is time for a woman in the White House. Clinton has the experience, intelligence, skill and discipline to be an excellent president.

But she has also repeatedly displayed tendencies, overlapping and toxically reinforcing, that could undermine all those positive attributes:

To believe — correctly, in my view — that she is the victim of an implacable political opposition, and to respond by hunkering down and lashing out.

Electoral battles

Election Day near, Americans weigh divide, look for healing

The idea had never occurred to the Rev. Adam Hamilton at the conclusion of past presidential campaigns. But this Election Day, the megachurch he leads in the Kansas City suburbs will invite congregants, and anyone else who chooses, to stop in and pray for the nation to heal itself.

“There’s plenty of division in our country every year, but this year’s election is different,” said Hamilton, founding pastor of the 20,000-member United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, where two of four campuses will serve as polling stations. “Our families are divided. We’re divided sometimes from our friends. Even when we’re in church here our politics are different. And I think we have to be reminded that there’s a bigger picture here.”

Electoral battles

Post-ABC Tracking Poll: Trump 46, Clinton 45, as Democratic enthusiasm dips

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are all but tied in the latest Washington Post-ABC News Tracking Poll, which finds Clinton backers slipping behind in enthusiasm even as the Democrat has an edge in early voting.

The tracking poll finds little shift in Clinton's overall support following news of the FBI's renewed look at Clinton emails, but strong enthusiasm among her supporters fell behind Trump in combined Saturday and Sunday interviews. By 53 to 43 percent, more Trump supporters say they are "very enthusiastic" about him, compared with Thursday and Friday when Trump's edge was negligible (53 percent vs. 51 percent).

Electoral battles

Foreigners Want Hillary Clinton for President: A Good Reason to Vote for Donald Trump

Is Hillary Clinton the world’s candidate for president? One headline even read: “The World is Pulling for Clinton.”

Part of that reaction reflects Donald Trump’s ugly populism. America is not unique in that respect, however. Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines is more like “Trump” than Trump himself. In Europe a gaggle of populist parties are on the march, some having entered government and others threatening to win upcoming elections. A French President Marine le Pen likely would be more extreme than Trump.

Of greater concern is the fact that Trump cannot be counted on to continue Washington’s bipartisan policy of subsidizing the rest of the world. Much of the Third World expects U.S. financial assistance. Although he has not talked about “foreign aid,” he would be unlikely to continue funding countries which he views as stealing American jobs and flooding the U.S. with illegal immigrants.

Electoral battles

Backed by Military-Industrial Complex and Neocons, Clinton Goes Nuclear on Trump

The Democratic hopeful has released a new ad that warns of the possible nuclear consequences of a Trump presidency. It’s a curious choice, given Clinton’s own standing with prominent neoconservatives.

In 1964, Lyndon Johnson released a campaign ad that featured a 3-year-old girl casually picking flowers. Played by Monique Luiz, the “daisy girl” warned of a nuclear devastation if Republican rival Barry Goldwater were to win the election. Fifty-two years later, Luiz has now appeared in ad for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Electoral battles

Will Hillary sack her top aide to save herself? Huma in hiding as she pleads ignorance about emails on Weiner's laptop and faces jail if it's proved she lied. And new poll puts Trump a POINT behind




Questions are mounting about Huma Abedin's future in Hillary Clinton's campaign after FBI director James Comey announced the agency is investigating potentially classified emails on her disgraced husband Anthony Weiner’s laptop.

Abedin is in hiding at her Manhattan apartment while her boss continues to campaign – as a new ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll, taken after the revelation, shows her campaign in crisis with Trump just one point behind Clinton, with 45 percent support to her 46 percent.

Last week, Clinton was up 12 points, meaning that she lost a double-digit lead in a week's time.

A third of the likely voters polled said they were less likely to cast a vote for Clinton because of this additional email probe.

Clinton’s closest aide has reportedly pleaded ignorance about how the emails ended up on her husband’s laptop – and were subsequently found by FBI agents after DailyMail.com exposed him sexting a 15-year-old girl.

And even worse for her situation, Abedin swore under oath that she had handed over all of her devices that could hold emails relevant to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. If she’s found to have lied she could face up to five years in jail.

Electoral battles

US election daily dig: Clinton's Death Row chic

Mr Trump mixed business with politics at the opening of his latest venture, Trump International Hotel in Washington DC today, but the celebrity chef who was meant to draw stars to his restaurant was elsewhere - campaigning for Hillary Clinton in Florida. Jose Andres, who pulled out of the project after saying he was incensed by Mr Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric, said: "We're not supposed to mention him until he apologises to every Latino… every Mexican and every person he has insulted."

The Republican nominee has, however, seen a small rebound in some polls in his uphill climb to the White House - among Republican-leaners, according to Gallup, and in the closely-fought Sunshine State, according to Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, Mrs Clinton may have spent her 69th birthday on the campaign trail, but it seems she was keen for it not to go uncelebrated, tweeting this morning: "Happy birthday to this future president". It seemed to do the trick.

Electoral battles

Former CIA Head: 'Why I Now Support Donald Trump'

James Woolsey was the CIA Director under Bill Clinton. He was a lifelong Democrat but is now member of the transition team for the Republican Party and a security advisor to Donald Trump.

He told Maajid why he underwent a political conversion as he excoriated President Obama’s foreign policy.

“My political party has kind of ambled away from me but my views, pro-environmentalism, strong defence, are what the party used to stand for for 50 years or more.”

“One of the reason why I am supporting Donald Trump, is that i think is going to re-build us a strong and flexible military.”

Electoral battles

Clinton vs. Trump: Implications for Defense 

Defense analysts expect that Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump would push for higher levels of defense spending if elected president, but it’s less clear which programs would benefit or suffer during their tenure in the Oval Office.

Both candidates have said they want to increase Pentagon funding beyond the amounts set by the Budget Control Act caps, which are slated to go back into effect in fiscal year 2018.

On her campaign website, Clinton called for “ending the sequester for both defense and non-defense spending in a balanced way.” 

She would also prioritize “defense reform initiatives, curbing runaway cost growth in areas like health care and acquisition, and stretching every dollar.”