POTUS Donald Trump

[TheLeviathan]

Personally, I think most candidates fall into the Futurama John Jackson vs. Jack Johnson range.  I guess you could call that milquetoast, but I don't think that's the problem entirely.

 

Part of the problem is that the Dems don't drive people out to register, but another part of it is that the Republicans do a great job not losing people either.  The Dems are quick to dismiss voting segments because their policy priorities shift.  Rather than finding a way to keep everyone and change priorities, they willfully drive people away.  

 

Example: Republicans dog whistle racists and xenophobes in, but send out their religious stooges to assure the social conservatives about the Supreme Court.  Everyone stays, add more people. Dems?  They care about inequality so "Screw you white rural males".  As if you can't have both in your voting bloc.  The creation of infighting and division within their own voting blocs has long been the left's biggest problem.  Cut your nose off to spite your face kind of thing.

[jimmer]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-engaged-in-suspect-tax-schemes-as-he-reaped-riches-from-his-father/ar-BBNQIfU

 

[ashbury]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-engaged-in-suspect-tax-schemes-as-he-reaped-riches-from-his-father/ar-BBNQIfU

I like the accompanying photo. Looks like a painting, say by Vermeer on a bad day, of some 17th century Dutch bureaucrat.

[PseudoSABR]

You mean he didn't pull himself up by his bootstraps?!

[USAFChief]

Is the New York Times fake news again? It's hard for me to keep up.

[jimmer]

 

I like the accompanying photo. Looks like a painting, say by Vermeer on a bad day, of some 17th century Dutch bureaucrat.

I think you spelled the word that I put in bold incorrectly :-)

[howeda7]

 

You mean he didn't pull himself up by his bootstraps?!

Why would you when you can pay someone else to do it. At $150,000 per pull.

[jimmer]

And now the Orange One mocks Dr. Ford

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-mocks-kavanaugh-accuser-christine-ford-at-rally-%E2%80%98i-had-one-beer%E2%80%99/ar-BBNRi3j

 

 

[D. Hocking]

 

And now the Orange One mocks Dr. Ford

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-mocks-kavanaugh-accuser-christine-ford-at-rally-%E2%80%98i-had-one-beer%E2%80%99/ar-BBNRi3j

 

Mocks Dr. Ford -- has now spoken multiple times about the poor boys who are victims of false accusations, never speaking of how hard it is for the women who are assaulted, which is much more likely to happen then false accusations.      He once said Ford sounded  credible, that is about his only statement on assault that is sympathetic to women, and even then he went on about how great Kavanaugh was.    Almost everything out of his mouth is an ad for why women don't report - and he is our president.

 

Couple this with his sneering, condescending "you never think?" to Cecilia Vega (which is so much worse when you hear the tone of his voice in the actual audio) with all the male sycophants grinning behind him when he said it, it is amazing he has any female support (or really any support in general).

 

Not to minimize the sexual assault claims, but there are so many red flags with Kavanaugh, that he should be disqualified even if those were not a factor.

 

[Mike Sixel]

It makes me sad that POTUS mocks people.......it makes me more sad that millions cheer him on.

[D. Hocking]

 

It makes me sad that POTUS mocks people.......it makes me more sad that millions cheer him on.

 

I just heard a more extended clip of his mocking.  Not only does he sound more vile with the extended audio, but the crowd's cheering getting louder and louder with each taunt is incredibly disheartening (and disgusting).

[Badsmerf]

There truly is a deplorable portion of our population. I pointed out to someone on Facebook that Ford sent her testimony into Feinstein because she is the minority chair in the committee that sends Kavanaugh to the full chamber. That's it. A 76 year old man replied and said how stupid my comment was... I wanted to point out the irony... but chose to ignore it.

[TheLeviathan]

 

There truly is a deplorable portion of our population. I pointed out to someone on Facebook that Ford sent her testimony into Feinstein because she is the minority chair in the committee that sends Kavanaugh to the full chamber. That's it. A 76 year old man replied and said how stupid my comment was... I wanted to point out the irony... but chose to ignore it.

 

Feinstein is also her Senator.

 

But yeah, we are in a cozy little echo chamber here and I wonder how much people truly understand Trump voters.  But the divides in this country are real and stark and those of us that can occupy somewhere in the middle are the ones that are really screwed politically.  We're shouting into the void.

[Mike Sixel]

Be careful, Cthulhu lives in the void.....

[TheLeviathan]

 

Be careful, Cthulhu lives in the void.....

 

I'm pretty sure he crawled out, put on a bad toupee, and has been making awkward passes at his daughter until he found the right moment to become President.  

[Mike Sixel]

"Even Jeff Flake is backtracking" on maybe not voting for him....I am shocked, shocked I say, that Jeff Fake will vote with Trump. He never does that....

[D. Hocking]

Then there is this:

 

Manchin seems to say he's going to ignore Kavanaugh's conduct in high school and college: "I'm looking at the gentleman as an adult from 22 to 53, 31 years of professional service. I'm looking at him as a father, as a person in the community, how he interacts with his community."

 

 

Um - how about the time when he was evasive at best lying at worst on the stand, confrontational and rude (esp to the women senators), and incredibly partisan while giving testimony.  I think he was older than 18 at that time, since it was last week.

[Craig Arko]

[Squirrel]

It makes me sad that POTUS mocks people.......it makes me more sad that millions cheer him on.

The millions cheering him on is what makes me pretty hopeless about the outcome of our country.

[Craig Arko]

The millions cheering him on is what makes me pretty hopeless about the outcome of our country.

It’s only hopeless if we lose ourselves to despair and give up. I don’t think you’re one to do that.

 

“Never cowardly or cruel. Never give up. Never give in.” - The Doctor (just prior to committing double genocide, but hey, nobody’s perfect.)

[Mike Sixel]

I've certainly posted here and elsewhere that we may be at an impasse, and we may need to divide the union. Just because divorce used to be evil, doesn't mean it is now......

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

I've certainly posted here and elsewhere that we may be at an impasse, and we may need to divide the union. Just because divorce used to be evil, doesn't mean it is now......

It's simply impossible. How many countries? A half dozen? Because how do you connect Illinois (and Minnesota) with the coasts? How do you connect the coasts together? What do you do with places like Michigan and Wisconsin, who float back and forth between conservative and liberal?

 

What we need are political solutions. Both sides have done a piss-poor job of even proposing solutions that impact more than half the nation.

 

It doesn't have to be even half as hard as we're making it right now.

[Brock Beauchamp]

And as bad as things are now, we're not even close to the acrimony of the mid 19th century (which ultimately led to war largely because of, again, ineffectual leadership leading up to Lincoln, who inherited a country that basically needed to be slapped around for a few years).

[PseudoSABR]

The division is not geographical.  I still think the route of our divide is wealth-related.  The wealthy are very good at mobilizing the GOP on a few hedge issues like guns, abortion, immigration, terrorism to engender the fearful ignorant into supporting their tax cuts and economic tomfoolery.   I'm not sure how you bring the country together in short order.  I do think over the long run as people will gain technological and media literacy, the ignorant won't be so duped. 

[Mike Sixel]

 

The division is not geographical.  I still think the route of our divide is wealth-related.  The wealthy are very good at mobilizing the GOP on a few hedge issues like guns, abortion, immigration, terrorism to engender the fearful ignorant into supporting their tax cuts and economic tomfoolery.   I'm not sure how you bring the country together in short order.  I do think over the long run as people will gain technological and media literacy, the ignorant won't be so duped. 

 

I'm guessing Marx thought the same thing, and the Socialists of the 50s, and the protesters of the 60s and 70s, and the people that thought the internet would free us......the union leaders of the 20s and 30s.....

 

All we have to show for that hard work is 30+% of the nation thinking that rich people should rule them.

[Mike Sixel]

 

And as bad as things are now, we're not even close to the acrimony of the mid 19th century (which ultimately led to war largely because of, again, ineffectual leadership leading up to Lincoln, who inherited a country that basically needed to be slapped around for a few years).

 

So you'd rather have another war? Just buy out the northern states and merge with canada already.....

 

and yes, I'm mostly not serious, but more than 30% of the populace is ruled by fear and anger, despite "worshiping a god of love"

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

So you'd rather have another war? Just buy out the northern states and merge with canada already.....

No, I'd prefer actual leadership.

[Mike Sixel]

 

No, I'd prefer actual leadership.

 

How do you plan to unbrainwash people that have been taught something since the 80s? By their government, schools, churches and parents? Because leadership isn't going to do that.....

 

edit: and the media

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

How do you plan to unbrainwash people that have been taught something since the 80s? By their government, schools, churches and parents? Because leadership isn't going to do that.....

 

edit: and the media

You don't. You find someone who can appeal to the ~70% of the country that isn't insane and let the fringes on both sides continue to be insane, ignoring them entirely.

 

That's the way it has worked up to this point. The country didn't just suddenly go insane, it has fragmented for some pretty lousy reasons, which has allowed the fringes to take a larger portion of control than their population warrants.

 

If we had a parliamentary system, we'd be in much better shape because one party wouldn't need to capture 50% of the population by catering to the crazies.

[Mike Sixel]

 

You don't. You find someone who can appeal to the ~70% of the country that isn't insane and let the fringes on both sides continue to be insane, ignoring them entirely.

 

That's the way it has worked up to this point. The country didn't just suddenly go insane, it has fragmented for some pretty lousy reasons, which has allowed the fringes to take a larger portion of control than their population warrants.

 

If we had a parliamentary system, we'd be in much better shape because one party wouldn't need to capture 50% of the population by catering to the crazies.

 

The right has been playing the long game for 3-4 decades......and in the US it has NEVER been true that 70+% of the people vote (which you'd need to consistently win), let alone in mid terms or at the state level.....The other side(s) needs to motivate people over and over and over, that aren't unified at all, to agree and participate. That won't happen over night.....hell, Obama was supposed to be a great leader, and the dems lost control of the government right away......

 

None of this accounts for gerrymandering, stacking the judiciary with lifetime opponents of free elections, and laws at the state level that make it harder and harder to vote.....

 

We also don't have a parliamentary system, and never will, so I'm not sure how that helps the discussion.