[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by peter12

What Sanders, and Trump both do (in somewhat different ways) is capture the despair of their voting base. A despair that the political establishment can never be reformed or revolutionized. That every four years will come along another grey individual in a grey suit making the same promises that turn grey after three years in office.

A "manufactured despair," but I guess despair is still despair, as long as you believe in it hard enough.

The National Review had a great article about Trump's mockery of political correctness, and his surprising astuteness in judging, and characterizing the moronic inefficacy of his fellow Republican candidates. I don't know if Trump will win, but part me of thinks that he has to win, or at least come close.

His negatives far surpass his support, so as other candidates fallout of the race and those votes move to other candidates you'll see Trumps support stagnate, flounder, then disappear. We are still in the traditional silly season of the primary process. The pretenders will fall by the wayside soon enough, Donald Trump being one of them.

Looking at the USA from 30,000 feet, one really sees a country in total disarray. The middle class is split, with the upper half doing quite well, or at least holding steady, and the lower half falling more, and more into the squalor of an underclass. One only has to look at the utter destruction of the American family to know how difficult it is to live a dignified, relational life as an average American these days. This hopelessness feeds into all of the other Trump flashpoints, like immigration, employment, and the military.

Trump is the original empty suit. He is not going to change anything if elected. He's the type of guy that Washington continues to write laws that support. He's not going to go to Washington and change that. He talks a good game by making all of these culture war references, but in reality he knows these issues are bull#### and they don't matter.

All we've heard from Trump are ignorant talking points. He has provided no substance behind his positions. He has no plan or strategy for dealing with these complex issues because he knows he won't be around to have to deal with any of these complex issues. He's getting people to donate all that money to his "campaign" when he knows full well he is not going to really campaign. He'll continue to use the media by saying outrageous things and continue to collect the money people pledge to his PAC. As soon as he sees his popularity begin to flag he'll withdraw and walk away with that bag full of PAC money for doing essentially nothing.

Meanwhile, Sanders seems like the kind of populist that might actually tax the crap out of the wealthy American oligarchs.

How exactly would Sanders, or anyone else for that matter, do that? The Oval Office does not get to decide who gets taxed. That is decided in Congress. Because of the belligerence that exists in Congress it is ever difficult for a president to affect change from the Oval Office. The only way the presidency could have that type of impact is if the electorate sends a bunch of like-minded people to Congress. Thanks to gerrymandering and the intellectual laziness of the average American that is pretty well impossible. The system is setup to send the same personalities and mindsets to Washington, making change like you suggest almost impossible. To raise taxes on the rich you need a Bernie Sanders to drop the bill in the hopper, another 218 Bernie Sanders in the House to read and pass the legislation, another 60 in the Senate to approve and forward the bill on, and Bernie Sanders in the White House to sign it into law. Never going to happen in this country.