[ultramundane8]

I really can't grant that first paragraph in good faith without some evidence.

How could you possibly divine the intent of the 2016 Trump campaign? We still can't agree on a vast number of its actions, let alone its strategy.

[kthejoker2]

You want evidence that Trump

1) didn't try to win the popular vote i.e. specifically did not court the votes of certain people

2) In order to run as a populist i.e. shore up votes from his base

3) because the Electoral College system supports just such a strategy, such that winning 51% of a few states while only getting 45% of the vote

Well, other than his entire campaign, the clearest evidence I can give is this in the face of actual polling numbers indicating that #1 and #2 had come to pass in the summer of 2016, the campaign's advertising dollars focused almost exclusively on the Obama states he ended up flipping.

[rrauenza]

A fairer statement might be its a red herring to criticize any campaign for not getting the popular vote when that's not the game they are playing to win.

But you're right -- he might never have actually gotten a popular vote.