|
|
|
#1
29th July 2016, 01:19 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
The 2016 Presidential Campaign
Watching CNN -- The Donald speaking at a rally in Colorado Springs. He's blasting CNN, "They're so dishonest, disgusting, and oh look, the red light on that camera just went off." Implying, I suppose, that it was a CNN camera and they CNN was shutting him down.
Not hardly. CNN knows tRump's a viewer magnet. Sounded like either the crowd was small or bored -- very little applause. 
|
|
#2
29th July 2016, 01:50 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
One of the things we can say about Trump for sure is that he is as evil as they get
Just like Hitler he can be someone we love to Hate
|
|
#3
29th July 2016, 02:16 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Speaking of Hitler, I'm still reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. We're in the first Russian campaign. Hitler isn't pleased with how it's going, so he's fired all his top military staff and put himself in charge. He's going to do all the planning from now on -- his staff just doesn't recognize his genius!
He believes only what suits his preconceived, ill-informed ideas, and won't hear anything that even hints that he won't destroy Russia. And he knew what happened to Napoleon! I can so see tRump doing that, as Commander in Chief.
|
|
#4
10th August 2016, 11:34 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#5
10th August 2016, 11:39 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#6
29th July 2016, 03:27 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Here's a really good article (and hold on to your hats, it's from The American Conservative and yes, I'm linking it!) that goes an incredibly long way toward explaining the appeal Trump commands in certain demographics. As someone who has spent her adult life living in a socioeconomic class very far below where she was raised I can attest that there's a massive load of truth in there that progressives need to comprehend and appeal to in order to bring these voters more into line with candidates that stand a chance of actually doing something positive that would improve their lives.
And Hillbilly Elegy is going onto my "to read" list. 
|
|
#7
29th July 2016, 05:13 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
That's an interesting article. But if I'm reading it right, it sounds like Vance's solution would be for politicos to get way more personal about the solutions to their problems than the lower class would tolerate.
For example, they can't talk about the lack of success of families being raised by single mothers because people who were raised by single mothers would feel like they were being patronized. "Hey! I was raised by a single mom and I'm doing just fine." It's too personal. The Dems can't talk about the real things that keep poor people poor. How will you do in a job interview if you're missing teeth, if you're 200 pounds overweight, if your clothes are from Goodwill, and you haven't had a good haircut since picture day at school? How will you keep a job if you don't have reliable transportation or good child care. You can't tell poor people they need a better education. They'll take offense. You can't tell poor women that they need to use birth control. Things that keep poor people down are often very personal, and they don't like to hear it. So the Dems talk about health care, nutrition, free college tuition, supporting Planned Parenthood, day care, paid family leave, consumer protection -- things that would help people rise out of poverty. But it's like they have to speak in code -- telling people they what they need without being personally insulting or coming off as critical of their life choices. The Donald will never speak to those things because he doesn't know poverty or poor people. So he does the one thing they appreciate -- he promises that he will save them, just like Jesus.
|
|
#8
29th July 2016, 06:01 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I keep hearing that Bernie Supporters, Independents, Greens and Libertarians together have a much larger voting bloc than either T-rump or Hilarity.
But this is split between Jill Stein and Gary Johnson, isn't it? It's the majority, but I don't see it lining up behind a single popular candidate.
|
|
#9
29th July 2016, 08:28 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#10
29th July 2016, 07:03 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Johnson is much more likely to split votes off from Trump than from HRC. One thing we've learned this cycle, though, is that a solidly populist message resounds and appeals across socioeconomic, geographic and racial boundaries and the candidate who's most in line with Bernie's populism is Jill Stein--she just doesn't have the recognition.
As for getting personal with poor people, it can be done but you HAVE to speak the language. Like when you talk about cutting down on the military budget--you have to make it crystal clear that you're talking about defense contractors, not soldiers. That GI Bill is the only chance a lot of poor kids have to go to college and they're willing to risk their lives for that chance at the brass ring and a lot of them go career for the pension too. So we have to emphasize that we want the military there as an employer and a set of auxiliary bootstraps for the impoverished but that maybe we don't need to be spending billions and billions on planes that don't fly. We need an internal version of the Peace Corps, where kids from dirt poor areas get paid to go back home as outreach workers, teaching and guiding and pointing people toward areas of opportunity. Something as simple as filling out a form can be daunting to someone whose reading skills are rudimentary--if I had a dollar for every time I drafted and typed a letter to a governmental agency on behalf of a neighbor, well, I'd be able to afford a really nice dinner. Being able to communicate effectively on a level that won't be dismissed out of hand isn't something you learn in a poor community, especially in writing. I've also been a staunch advocate for growing your own food and medicinal plants, having lived for decades with no health insurance meant I had to teach myself how to stay well and to access folklore methods of dealing with illness--not perfect, but a lot cheaper than the emergency room or urgent care. Being able to navigate WebMD and parse out diagnoses is something I take for granted but it's not so easy for those who don't live online, who don't read with good comprehension and who don't have enough of a background to know what it is they're reading. Neighbors have been coming to me with "WTF is this, should I go to the doctor?" for decades and I do my best to give them accurate information and a voice of some authority when I say "Git that shit to the doc NOW!" because oftentimes all that's needed is a sense of urgency to override the antipathy to going anywhere near the medical world. There are no end of ways the problems of systemic poverty could be addressed on a peer level but it takes some imagination and, most of all, some understanding of what you're dealing with. Seems to me a good start would be recruiting "natives" to give the benefit of their knowledge and lived experience to figure out how best to set up effective outreach efforts. Just listening and not making assumptions is a pretty good start.
|
|
#11
29th July 2016, 08:44 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#12
29th July 2016, 09:01 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Seems to me that making state colleges and universities tuition/fee free in exchange for a couple years (or X number of part time hours for those who can't afford to work without a paycheck, to be fulfilled within five years of graduation) public service work would be a great compromise that would resound well with both sides of the aisle--the bootstraps are there and so is the social benefit angle. Sure better than being saddled for life with crippling student loan debt. It would also be damned useful for our communities too.
|
|
#13
31st July 2016, 12:12 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Trump is whining about the scheduling of the debates. Two of the debates are scheduled at the same time as televised NFL games.
I was wondering what excuse he'd come up with to get out of debating.
|
|
#14
1st August 2016, 01:33 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
I still think they need to ensure that all the debate moderators are women. Watching him stroke out onstage could be highly entertaining. And I don't like football anyway.
|
|
#15
1st August 2016, 03:59 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#16
1st August 2016, 05:19 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
WTF is going on with Hillary? She keeps saying no, she didn't lie about sending classified emails, when Comey's right there answering "No" when asked "Was she telling the truth when she said she sent no classified emails?"
That's not stonewalling. That's something else entirely.
|
|
#21
31st July 2016, 03:23 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
As for the leaders of Britain, Canada and China? Crap. That new woman in Britain, Patricia something -- Murray? Shit, maybe I'm thinking of Patty Murray from Washington State. Okay -- Canada -- last name Trudeau, he's young and kinda cute. China -- damn. Not a clue.
|
|
#24
31st July 2016, 04:57 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
China is more difficult -- they have a Premier and a President. A friend insists that since our politics are so corrupt, the only choice for people of conscience is not to vote at all, Bernie's a sellout (the fix was in from the start), and there's no difference between Clinton and Trump.
|
|
#25
1st August 2016, 03:43 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#26
1st August 2016, 06:53 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
She's exceptionally averse to it. It's one of the major things I can't stand about her. She'll lie and look like she believes it, she says it with conviction and no matter how much proof you bring to bear she just keeps up with it. Nothing's ever a mistake, nothing's ever her fault, when she absolutely is pushed to the limit she just finds someone else to throw to the wolves then gives them a sincecure to make up for it. I mean, how many times has she repeated the "landing under sniper fire in Bosnia" bullshit? I've seen a YouTube video of her repeating that one intercut with the actual footage of the event in question and it's such blatant bullshit you'd think she'd figure out some way to make a bullshit nopology but nope, she just gives that fishy stare like she's trying to change reality with the power of her mind and gahhhhh. Reminds me of the horrible ex, who was also a never my fault gaslighter of renown.
|
|
#27
2nd August 2016, 04:22 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Trump says he loves babies then tells mom the crying baby's got to go.
Was that his only tone-deaf misstep today? Nope. If Ivanka were sexually harassed at work, well, she's a strong woman, she wouldn't put up with that. Because that's the choice for women in 2016 -- don't report it to HR, don't file a lawsuit -- quit.
|
|
#28
3rd August 2016, 03:13 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
For me, the last straw (of the many last straws) was his comments on accepting that poor, deluded, enthralled veteran's purple heart. Trump's remarks upon receiving it were not only tone-deaf, but revealed the paucity of his understanding of basic human decency.
He has also bit the hand that fed him--he tit-for-tatted Paul Ryan by supporting Ryan's opponent. It's like he doesn't know how this game is played (and in many ways, getting elected IS a game). IF he gets into the WH, he will be a POTUS that has no friends in Washington, no influence of the kind that gets things done, no power structure that ditto. I really don't know which is worse at this point: watching Trump decompensate (the man needs--and will never enter into--therapy, IMO) or watching the GOP twist itself into amoral pretzels in order to cling to whatever power they think they may retain. Is there any spine to the GOP at all? I admit to at least nodding in recognition to those few Republicans who have come out to say they're not voting for Trump. I can't say admire because it's due to the GOP's appeal to the basest part of human nature for years that has created this mess, but at least they show they have consciences.
|
|
#29
3rd August 2016, 05:17 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
It's a statement usually said just before taking some action that is unexpected or uncharacteristically large. Are you gonna bomb his rally, or assassinate him? I'll drive the getaway car. 
|
|
#30
3rd August 2016, 03:39 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
No. It means I no longer think of him a human being worthy of any type of respect or consideration. It's not like this was a big change for me re him, but I will say my opinion of him has spread to his supporters. I don't have a problem with differences on policy or even differing opinions on personality traits of politicians as held by the public. I do have a problem with this mindless thrall that Trump has over these people whom he could not care less about. They are colluding in their own destruction--it's like a cult. Sickening. So much hate. Of course he wanted a PH. I'm sure he's already conjuring up "the fact" that he "earned" it. 
|
|
#31
3rd August 2016, 05:42 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Oh, god, the Purple Heart thing. The Purple Heart is the one medal you don't want. That creature has the unmitigated gall to joke about something like that while simultaneously being a hateful hunk of dewatered sluge to Humayun Khan's parents, after Captain Khan earned his Purple Heart the hard way
 Quote:
Quote:
|
|
#32
3rd August 2016, 07:40 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#33
3rd August 2016, 08:24 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#34
3rd August 2016, 07:01 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I'm more worried about the upcoming State of Emergency, which will last "until we figure out what's going on". I also think he might start his own political party, "America First" or something equally ominous.
|
|
#35
3rd August 2016, 08:54 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Trump says the fire marshals are against him
The crowd at a rally was too large for the venue, so the fire marshals did their job and enforced the capacity limit.
|
|
#36
3rd August 2016, 11:39 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Here's my current CT regarding this election. The GOP is super duper regretful they ever got in bed with the Teahadists because they are vocal and unpleasant and rile up the base, and they demand an ever stricter set of purity requirements of their representatives. This leads to the situation where no laws get passed, which also riles up the base and even more importantly, it chokes off the flow of sweet sweet lobbyist cash from the corporate oligarchy because why should they pay good money for favorable laws when nothing gets passed?
The Democrats really hate the progressives. Progressives keep agitating for expensive shit like health care for all and a drastically improved minimum wage and worker's rights and a social safety net and tuition free college and renewable energy and climate change amelioration and to cut the fuck outta the defense contractor's budgets. To give the progressives what they want in exchange for their votes would mightily piss off the corporate oligarchy, which does not want to spend one thin dime on stupid shit like that because dammit, there are solid gold toilet seats to be had! Since Congress is tied up in endless gridlock anyway, the sweet sweet lobbyist cash does not flow freely to the Democrats either. What's the way to fix this? Why, you convince the craziest, richest, blow-hardiest son of a bitch on the planet to run for office and basically ramp up his asshole reality show persona to nuclear levels. Then you run against him the most bought and sold corporate money grubbing four decades of power consolidating political influence peddler on the planet--but (such a twist!) she's a WOMAN so it's HISTORIC! Slight problems arise on the Dem side as an actual honest populist makes a run that turns out to be overwhelmingly popular with hoi polloi--have to cut that shit off at the knees pronto, no matter what it takes to do it. Mission accomplished! Now the Dems have effectively told the progressives to fuck off and Hillary has Jeb!s donor list and email list and is marketing the fuck out herself via proxies as the "Well, at least I'm not SATAN" candidate. The GOP can lacklusterly "endorse" their crazy batshit insane cheeto man until he loses, then in a spirit of "bipartisanship" and "doing what's right for the country" they jettison their own crazy Teahadist wing to do whatever it was they were doing before they got political, the Dems rally around "Our Preznit!" and they all go back to center right where the corporate oligarchy puts out the feeding troughs again and all is well! The Congresscritters get richer, a couple sops are thrown out to "the people" with a muttered "Now fuck off, losers" and the fracking and warmongering and defense spending and resource depletion and predatory banking continues apace, blissfully untroubled by any meaningful legislation OR by troublesome factions from the left OR right. Sure, the planet won't survive the process and millions will die from the fallout of their policies (maybe even literal fallout, why not!) but so long as they're making money, who cares, right? I suspect I'm on the money here. Because that's what you do, you follow the damned money.
|
|
#37
4th August 2016, 09:42 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#38
3rd August 2016, 12:21 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
SmartAleq, whether that's actually the way the gears turned behind the scenes or not (I think it's not too far fetched) I think the end result you posted is our inevitability.
|
|
#39
3rd August 2016, 12:45 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Smartie. I'm not sure you will agree with this [pre-conventions] article from the Atlantic. But it does make an interesting read.
|
|
#41
3rd August 2016, 11:46 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Holy shit, the RNC is scrambling to figure out what the fuck they do if Trump does just drop out. Apparently it's not even a little bit far fetched a possibility.
|
|
#42
4th August 2016, 01:45 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Unless some actual evidence of Trump's intent to quit emerges, I'd file that under wishful thinking, just like all the other plans to get rid of him.
|
|
#43
4th August 2016, 05:54 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
If he does quit, I'd imagine it'd be right before the election just to create the biggest clusterfuck possible (he's already claiming it's rigged, 3 months before showtime). I'm sure the ballots have to be made up well in advance so his name would still be on them, the RNC would have to scramble to find another candidate, unless they'd just shove Pence into the driver's seat.
|
|
#44
4th August 2016, 07:55 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#45
4th August 2016, 05:59 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I can't see quitting right before the election as anything other than admitting he was a spoiler for the dems all along.
|
|
#47
4th August 2016, 09:51 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Well, I would too, but then I've seen way too many of their "Oh, it's gonna be easy-peasy!" plans turn into a shit sammich with a buttfuck milkshake on the side to ever believe the bullshit. Remember "We'll be welcomed as LIBERATORS!" when we invaded Iraq? Yeah, me too.
|
|
#48
4th August 2016, 02:13 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Why won't the GOP politicians like Ryan and McCain for example unendorse Trump? It'll make their criticism of him more credible.
__________________
I taught John Travolta to dance.
|
|
#49
4th August 2016, 02:21 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
They want him to stay in long enough to lose "fair and square" so they can go back to their batshit crazy wing and shrug their shoulders and say "Well, what could we do, it was a mandate!" Their hands are "clean," and they have their excuse to move back toward center. If they get anyone even marginally more competent in there than Trump, the certainty of Her Heinous being crowned is lessened and they don't wanna fuck up the plan. So they "endorse" about as enthusiastically as Bernie did Her Heinous because their feet are pretty much to the fire right now.
Plus, if they denounce Trump it riles up the Teahadists and those assholes are fucking crazy and have guns--they might decide to go to local town halls and do a little congressional house cleaning for reals.
|
 |
|
|
Hybrid Mode
