Did Trump win it, or did Hillary lose it? – @Rodsterino

IN STARK contrast to the 2008 and 2012 US presidential elections, this year’s political circus was defined by money, greed, hate and division. Fear, rather than hope, was the buzzword for 2016. Any lingering feelings of optimism were seemingly extinguished when it was confirmed that the USA would have either another Clinton or a bigoted Oompa Loompa as their next leader.

It is often the case that presidents are judged by their record, and both nominees had pre-candidacy backgrounds that were hugely questionable. As such, the USA was essentially asked to decide which candidate was the lesser of two evils – and they couldn’t even do that right. A whole 318 million Americans and it came down to Clinton and Trump... and Clinton didn’t win.

The Democrats somehow lost to the most offensive, buffoonish candidate in history. I mean, Donald Trump is bad, but LOSING to Trump? That’s a whole other level. Then again, when you consider the weak foundations of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 run, it wasn’t an entirely unforeseeable result.

Trump is an idiot, but the Democrats arrogantly assuming human beings don’t vote for idiots is itself extremely idiotic.

I simply cannot figure out how Democrats believed that promising the status quo with a worse leader was a viable presidential campaign. At a time when the supposed “unelectable” candidate is proving to be dependably electable around the world, coupled with a massive feeling of discontent in America, it seems astounding that the Democrats – the party that so passionately stood for “change” in 2008 – put forward somebody that so clearly represented business as usual.

Besides her gender and skin colour, there was very little to differentiate Hillary Clinton from Barack Obama. In fact, what little differences existed were predominantly viewed as negative, with Clinton’s irresponsible approach to overseas interventions frequently highlighted as a reason not to vote for her. That said, how any of these criticisms made Trump any less of a clown is beyond me.

“I voted for Donald Trump because he isn’t a war criminal,” cry many of his devoted followers. I really hope they can still say that in four years.

In Trump, we are dealing with a xenophobic bully who has demonstrated all the characteristics normally associated with warmongers and tyrants. His loyal supporters are notorious conspiracy junkies, but it seems these “alt-right” fools have halted their fictitious Illuminati enemy by electing a White House administration that resembles the Legion of Doom.

We appear to be in the baffling scenario where those wishing to stop the “New World Order” have elected a man who’d happily introduce a police state. It’s incredible how people that yell about crooked bankers, politicians and businessmen are now blindly standing by a man like Trump, who is about as anti-establishment as the kids that buy those “V For Vendetta” merchandise masks from Amazon.

Indeed, you only have to look at the mentality of Trump supporters to realise America is in a mess. Racial tensions are rising and those in charge of diffusing them are bigoted.

President Obama, arguably one of the most progressive leaders in memory, must now hand over to a sexist endorsed by the KKK. More troubling, Republicans are currently yelling that disrespecting President-elect Trump is wrong ... after many of them spent eight years claiming Obama wasn’t even American.

In my view, proposing we give Trump “the chance to lead” is like suggesting you give a great white shark the chance to not eat you. If you want history to remember you well, do not normalise Trump. Do not pretend he isn’t an offensive, lying, bigoted, xenophobic galoot.

Strachan or Farage, who is the most hated in Scotland? – @Procter866

WELL, on the basis that one runs the Scottish national team and the other was last seen running from an angry Scottish mob, I’d have to say that Nigel Farage wins hands down here.

After a promising start to his tenure as Scotland boss, the Gordon Strachan Express appears to have lost all momentum. While it’s true that results have not been good enough, some of the blame lies with underperforming players. However, the buck stops with Strachan and he himself must know that the vultures are circling overhead.

For all his faults, though, Strachan’s commitment to Scottish football cannot be questioned.

By contrast, Farage is unlikely to ever act in the interests of our nation. While Scotland has undoubtedly had a run of underwhelming managers in recent years, we should count ourselves lucky that Farage remains unelected.

I’ve long believed that Farage wants the British workplace to resemble the Death Star – all white, English males in love with an Empire – and his current political actions are giving further credence to this theory. As each day passes, he strikes me as being more and more like Emperor Palpatine, the sinister senator from Star Wars, who, through manipulation and fearmongering, lays the foundations for decades of intergalactic fascism.

The sight of Farage, the self-proclaimed “man of the people”, standing with Donald Trump, an inherited millionaire, in front of a big gold elevator at Trump Tower was enough to make anyone’s skin crawl, but it is the deceptive nature of Nigel that is most disturbing.

It is alarming that Trump, has met with a bunch of Ukip morons before he’s had a meeting with the British Prime Minister. From what I can see, Trump isn’t so much “draining the swamp” as he is refilling it.

Certainly, if the rumours that Farage could find a home in the Trump administration are true, these really are terrifying times. In politics, the contradictions never end – the leader of Ukip may soon become an economic migrant.

By contrast, Strachan is merely failing to utilise young Scottish players in a way that gets results. Strachan has never cosied up to establishment figures or attempted to whore himself to foreign powers.

Strachan is undeniably his own man and not a pawn upon the chessboard of world politics.

I don’t even know if we’d have a Scottish national side if Farage was PM.