The New American Politics thread

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Hahaha are you trying to cast yourself as some sort of visionary who saw the crazy that was Trump before others? Pretty sure there's no one here who was ever on board that train that just de-railed (again).

I don't know about the visionary part, but there are definitely posters on this board who were (are) on the Trump Train at one point. I think they are just generally avoiding the thread with all the Trump talk.

Hell, someone was complaining in another thread that this was a "leftie love-fest" or something because we have the audacity to not take Trump seriously as a candidate.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Yeah I guess there have been a couple of crazies, you're right. But like, two. And they vanished. Plus Resurrection, who's obviously crazy, but crazy in a different way in that he was pro-Trump out of spite. I'm actually mildly surprised there haven't been a few more, what with internet anonymity and all that.

[Buster]

We have an authoritarian blowhard, with no idea how government works.

running against

A career politician, compulsive liar, and warmonger.

And our concern is campaign decorum?

[Senator Clay Davis]

I think there's probably a good chunk of Trump supporters who don't like him and aren't thrilled to be voting for him. They just hate Hillary that much more. That Paul Ryan hasn't outright revoked his endorsement of Trump kind of tells you that, Trump is walking all over Ryan and he's still going to vote for him (or so he says). I think maybe there needs to be more examination of why the people who hate Hillary hate her so much. We talked about Biden easily winning, but if he were the nominee right now he might be up by 20%, Trump would be in the high 20s polling wise, and the GOP would probably just shun Trump completely and focus totally on down ballot.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Hahaha are you trying to cast yourself as some sort of visionary who saw the crazy that was Trump before others? Pretty sure there's no one here who was ever on board that train that just de-railed (again).

I wouldn't say I or anyone else was a visionary, just that we were pointing out some very bad bahaviors and inconsistencies in the Emporer, which were ignored by a few vocal posters, who always demanded proof of said observations. No need to get your pantaloons in a bunch.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

You're forgiven owing solely to your visionary decision to use the word "pantaloons".

[troutman]

Trump Reflects White Male Fragility

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/op...e-iphone-share

He appeals to something deeper, something baser: Fear. His whole campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” is in fact an inverted admission of loss — lost primacy, lost privilege, lost prestige.

And who feels that they have lost the most? White men.

He appeals to a regressive, patriarchal American whiteness in which white men prospered, in part because racial and ethnic minorities, to say nothing of women as a whole, were undervalued and underpaid, if not excluded altogether.

White men reigned supreme in the idealized history, and all was good with the world. (It is curious that Trump never specifies a period when America was great in his view. Did it overlap with the women’s rights, civil rights or gay rights movements? For whom was it great?)

There is a portion of the population that feels threatened by unrelenting change — immigration, globalization, terrorism, multiculturalism — and those people want someone to, metaphorically at least, build a wall around their cultural heritage, which they conflate in equal measure with American heritage.

In their minds, whether explicitly or implicitly, America is white, Christian, straight and male-dominated. If you support Trump, you are on some level supporting his bigotry and racism.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Trump is crazy, so that sort of argument is becoming less and less likely to alienate people to the degree required to put him in office, but I swear, it's eventually going to lose the left some elections unless they dump it.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Buster

We have an authoritarian blowhard, with no idea how government works.

running against

A career politician, compulsive liar, and warmonger.

For accuracy sake, we have an authoritarian blowhard, sociopath, compulsive liar, with no idea how government or diplomacy works, and is begging to get his hands on nuclear weapons, which he sees as a solution to the many foreign issues that challenge our country.

running against

A career politician, compulsive liar (this is redundant as you already stated she is a politician, and politicians lie non-stop), and accused as a warmonger (I would like to see some support of this claim).

And yes, campaign decorum is important. This is the job interview for the person that will be the leader of the United States, who is responsible for international diplomacy. I would say that if you can't behave like an adult on he campaign trail it is highly unlikely you are going to behave as one negotiating with another world leader during tense times.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Warmonger is certainly a bit much, but it's a bit much applied to just about any mainstream politician. She's certainly as hawkish as many Republicans, not far off the GWB cabinet in the early 2000's. Now, the degree to which that's bad if it is at all depends on your view of the role of the US Military and inteventionism generally, so it certainly isn't equivalent to the ignorance of not knowing what the nuclear triad is.

[PsYcNeT]

Pro-Trump is pro-meme.

https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump...7425747050725/

[Senator Clay Davis]

So Trump is basically the living incarnation of 4chan. Makes sense.

[Buster]

Originally Posted by New Era

For accuracy sake, we have an authoritarian blowhard, sociopath, compulsive liar, with no idea how government or diplomacy works, and is begging to get his hands on nuclear weapons, which he sees as a solution to the many foreign issues that challenge our country.

running against

A career politician, compulsive liar (this is redundant as you already stated she is a politician, and politicians lie non-stop), and accused as a warmonger (I would like to see some support of this claim).

And yes, campaign decorum is important. This is the job interview for the person that will be the leader of the United States, who is responsible for international diplomacy. I would say that if you can't behave like an adult on he campaign trail it is highly unlikely you are going to behave as one negotiating with another world leader during tense times.

I would agree with you in normal campaigns. But this isn't a normal campaign because of the quality of both candidates.

[Tinordi]

Saying that Clinton is a compulsive liar is, in itself, a lie.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Buster

I would agree with you in normal campaigns. But this isn't a normal campaign because of the quality of both candidates.

It's become very irritating to see people talk about Trump and Hillary as though they're equal kinds of awful. One candidate isn't particularly likeable or warm. The other is a human zeppelin.

If Hillary Clinton was a man, this would not be a close race. Nobody told Bill Clinton to smile more. Or that when he laughs, he sounds like he just inhaled a Willie Nelson fart.

Clinton has been preparing for this position for 20+ years. Predict Hillary's legacy if she wins; is she going to rank among the worst Presidents ever? I don't know how that could be argued at this point. On the basis of some emails, speeches (that every politician who's able to give gives) and Benghazi, this is what disqualifies her for office?

A man with that record would show up to debate Trump wearing a crown.

[Looch City]

I think this needs to be reposted:

Originally Posted by peter12

I think, moving forward, any attempt to line up the capabilities of the two candidates should be ignored. Clinton is far more qualified than Trump to the point of farce and satire.

This election should simply be a referendum on Clinton's abilities to hold to her promises, and govern with excellence. Voters should place their trust in Mrs. Clinton, observe, and punish her severely during the next cycle if her actions do not meet the standards of rhetoric.

[Drak]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Saying that Clinton is a compulsive liar is, in itself, a lie.

Clinton has been hammered for decades by the right wing noise machine. Although she is a politician, fact checking shows she's not as dishonest as she's made out to be, and is more truthful than many others.

[DiracSpike]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

It's become very irritating to see people talk about Trump and Hillary as though they're equal kinds of awful. One candidate isn't particularly likeable or warm. The other is a human zeppelin.

If Hillary Clinton was a man, this would not be a close race. Nobody told Bill Clinton to smile more. Or that when he laughs, he sounds like he just inhaled a Willie Nelson fart.

Clinton has been preparing for this position for 20+ years. Predict Hillary's legacy if she wins; is she going to rank among the worst Presidents ever? I don't know how that could be argued at this point. On the basis of some emails, speeches (that every politician who's able to give gives) and Benghazi, this is what disqualifies her for office?

A man with that record would show up to debate Trump wearing a crown.

Candidates get coached on that stuff all the time. Appearance, being likable, all that stuff matters and Hillary shouldn't be immune to that just because she's a woman. Just look at the presidents throughout history, most have a high base level of handsomness. Almost none of them have been obese, despite high rates of obesity. Doing a quick check in my head I think the only bald president since 1900 was Ford and he didn't even win an election, which is insane considering how prevalent baldness is. None of that is an accident. Hillary isn't all that likable and it's not because she's a woman.

[nik-]

This has nothing to do with her being a woman. It's because she's a Clinton, and to the Republicans and their voters, the Clinton's are basically Nixon. If another qualified woman was running, this would be a landslide too. Howard Dean's campaign imploded because he said "byah". So lets not pretend this is a woman only thing.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I don't think Dean's campaign imploded because of "BYAHH!!!!", he was already on his way out at that point (he did byahh after finishing 4th in Iowa I think...). That was just his gift to us as he was leaving.