2016 Postmortem

The electoral college was put in place to stop the "tyranny" of the majority and protect lesser populated states. "States Rights" is a loaded political phrase, but that is essentially what is going on.

The Democratic Party, and Hillary, failed by dismissing these rural counties. Far from being capricious, the electoral college is operating exactly as designed. It is forcing major parties and candidates to take positions that are acceptable to a wide swath of the electorate, not just the majority.

And you are also exactly right that the DNC has failed to focus on rural areas and have instead dismissed them as "deplorables, racists, and ignorant". Talk about a failure of identity politics.