The fact that the GOP isn't even bothering to come up with a platform for their convention may seem like small potatoes, but not in this case. What it signals is an absolute transformation into a cult of personality devoid of any actual policy or purpose. Hell, half the featured speakers this week are members of Trump's own immediate family:
Reacting to Bill Clinton's infidelity couldn't have been a straightforward process. It's complicated even for women outside of politics. A decades-long relationship with the father of your child is not an easy thing to let go of.
If my girlfriend cheated on me, I'd feel heartbroken and betrayed, but I don't know if that would be sufficient to convince me to leave her, and we're not even married.
Even if we assumed (reasonably, I think) that political and career considerations factored into Hillary Clinton's decision not to divorce her husband, it's not clear to me which one would have benefited her personally. Divorcing him would have been bad optics for the Democratic party in general, I think, but for her as an individual, I can see a practical value in both choices:
1. If she divorces him, she's an independent woman who doesn't take crap and is willing to stand up for herself.
2. If she stays with him, she's a faithful woman who puts her family first.
Regardless of whether emotion or ambition is more important, it's still not a straightforward problem with an obvious answer. I wouldn't draw many hard conclusions from her making the same choice that God knows how many other women have made.
Even if Hilary was a bad candidate (I had a problem with the big payday speeches to banks and possibly the parade of celebrity endorsements looked bad), Trump was an absolute dumpster fire. It feels like saying I won’t choose to live in the ok four bedroom house because it has a slightly leaky roof but hey let’s go and live in that hovel with no electricity, running water and a leaky cesspit.
@_Nightfall_ "Just have to look deeper, both sides are equally guilty of it."
Yeah, no. This is Trump's (and his bases) favorite excuse. Point out anything deeply wrong? "Well the libtards are just as bad." But can they provide an actual example? No.
This presidency has been UNIQUELY corrupt and incompetent. Unless you can point out a single liberal administration that had, what?, 6? 10? arrests of people appointed by the president for corruption? I actually can't remember off the top of my head because is it keeps happening. There's also the concentration camps built specifically for children, the president encouraging police brutality, and what else? Oh yeah, an unrestrained pandemic that has killed almost 200,000 Americans and killing almost 2,000 every single day. Give me one administration that matches all this. One, equivalent democratic administration.
Heck, I'll accept a Republican administration from back when they were the liberal party.
@_Nightfall_ "Just have to look deeper, both sides are equally guilty of it."
Yeah, no. This is Trump's (and his bases) favorite excuse. Point out anything deeply wrong? "Well the libtards are just as bad." But can they provide an actual example? No.
This presidency has been UNIQUELY corrupt and incompetent. Unless you can point out a single liberal administration that had, what?, 6? 10? arrests of people appointed by the president for corruption? I actually can't remember off the top of my head because is it keeps happening. There's also the concentration camps built specifically for children, the president encouraging police brutality, and what else? Oh yeah, an unrestrained pandemic that has killed almost 200,000 Americans and killing almost 2,000 every single day. Give me one administration that matches all this. One, equivalent democratic administration.
Heck, I'll accept a Republican administration from back when they were the liberal party.
I wont pretend that any of these *match* that (They dont), but the general consensus is that the three most corrupt administrations of all time were:
Ulysses S Grant's administration (Old school, but would be considered the liberal choice at the time)
Warren G Harding's administration (Very much Conservative faction of the GOP)
Richard Nixon (Yeah, Conservative)
There are others of course, but those three are usually taught in school as being the most corrupt sets. Ulysses is usually given half a pass since he seemed generally unaware of all the corruption in his administration. Trump doesnt get any such pass, since he's the instigating force for his administration's corruption.
None of this is meant to contradict your point - just adding context. In general, I agree with you.
Go look up criminal indictments by Administration from Nixon on. Democratic Administrations have had three in 50 years. Republicans have had HUNDREDS. A line you will hear almost universally from normal people excusing it is "they're all crooks". Well, no actually, that is not born out by the evidence. The evidence suggests that ONE side has a near complete monopoly on being formally charged with criminal behavior while in control of the Executive Branch. But something something Clinton Foundation, something something George Soros etc etc etc.
The current occupant of the office, even if you take away the Mueller investigation and impeachment, has ADMITTED to running a fraudulent university and is barred from running a charity in his home state because of malfeasance. He has used his access to high-priced attorneys and bankruptcy laws to screw regular people out of their money as standard business practice his entire life. What tax records we DO have prove massive fraud. His lawyer is in jail because Trump ordered him to pay hush money in violation of campaign finance laws. None of this is disputable.
So if people are gonna say "you only care because it's a Republican", I would be happy to care if my side ever did anything beyond lying about a blowjob.
The "ambition" word is now back in the lexicon now that Kamala Harris is the VP selection. You have only heard this word applied to 3 individuals in Presidential politics the last 5 years: Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, and Kamala Harris. Funny how that works, isn't it?? As if running for President doesn't mean you are insanely ambitious by default. Show me a time this adjective was applied as a pejorative in relation to Donald Trump, Joe Biden, or Bernie Sanders. I'll just sit here for the next 100 years waiting for an example. It's honestly a straight toss-up as to whether misogyny or racism is our biggest sickness.
No, no, you don't get to do that. Always on the attack, never accepting a point that doesn't agree with your political views, okay I can ignore people like that. Got a bit of experience ignoring people who don't agree with me and can't accept another point of view. You don't get to twist my words to make your point though.
I liked her ambition, her strength was motivational and I am no where near a Democrat. I like Kamala Harris and think she was the perfect candidate because of her intelligence, tenacity and ambition. Hillary Clinton was in a position to make the Me Too movement happen 20 years before it did and she sacrificed it for ambition. Ambition was the word I thought then and still do. She could have made a difference then and didn't, because of ambition. That's why she was a bad candidate, she would do anything to get what she wanted. Lexicon? I got to experience the thoughts first hand and came up with the word all on my own at the time. Spare me the arrogance of your monocular viewpoint.
When will I ever learn to keep my mouth shut? Think what you want, just don't use what you think I said to peddle your views.
Well, I never said anything about you, or I would have tagged your comment in my response. There is a reason whether I do so or not. Once the word ambition was brought into the conversation, I was going to offer my views on it, because, as I mentioned, it is almost ALWAYS used in a negative connotation. And, to be fair, your own use of the word was at the tail end of paragraph in which you were comparing her to a figure you don't like, and seem to be suggesting that the only reason she stayed with her husband was her own ambition to obtain power. So you may have meant it as a compliment, I'm not going to call you liar when you just said you meant it that way. But I don't really see how I was supposed to take that from what you wrote. In fact, I've gone back and read it three times to see if I'm missing something, and I STILL don't understand how it was supposed to be a compliment. But you have told me otherwise, so I'll leave it at that.
And my point is that men are NEVER called ambitious as a pejorative. Ever. Men seeking powerful positions are "taking the bull by the horns" or "grabbing the brass ring". Woman who do so are seen as conniving harpies. How do any of us know why she stayed with Bill?? First of all, they had a teenage daughter at the time, and perhaps she didn't want to make her life more difficult than it already was. Maybe she does, in fact, love her husband. I don't see how divorcing him would have had a NEGATIVE effect on her political career at all. Staying with him CLEARLY has had a negative effect. So if she was staying with him to fulfill her ambitions, that wasn't a correct calculus. But this seems to me to be nothing but a caricature of her. That she is some sort of soulless automaton who is programmed to seize power wherever she sees an opportunity. I mean, she has written quite candidly about why she stayed with him and addressed you exact concerns:
If you believe a system needs reforming, you can either try to work within the system to achieve that or attack it from the outside. You can justify either course, so I don't think someone should automatically be criticized for working within the system.
When considering Hillary's choices, you could consider the case of Margaret Thatcher. She was the first British woman PM and, like Hillary, got to her position by competing with men on their own terms. One result of that is that she's had plenty of criticism for not having promoted women's rights when she got the chance, but her example means millions of British women have grown up with the knowledge that they have the opportunity to lead their country. It's possible Thatcher would have had the same impact if she had campaigned outside the system (perhaps like a feminist Mary Whitehouse), but I doubt it.
I don’t know how to quote from two pages. A lot of good stuff there, hopefully I can cover some with this. I chose this page because I was a bit harsh and unfair to jjstraka34 and wanted to apologize. It was late for me but that is no excuse, sorry.
I had considered some of the points you all have made about Hillary, some I hadn’t. Seriously, I have spent way too much time on the subject for way too long. I said that the reason I did not like her was weird, what I didn’t say was that it was stupid and irrational. I am well aware of that, didn’t want to just come out and say I was being a putz. Yep, cats out of the bag on that one so might as well own it. Remember, I do in fact know how weird this makes me.
My life was not what anyone would consider normal, not unique and not the worst, just not normal. Broken family, unwanted by either parent, I was mostly raised by my grandparents. I have to be careful here because someone who reads this forum knows my story and my family, I don’t want to say anything that will cause problems for my family. Anyway I developed an unusual perspective about relationships, marriage in particular. In my late twenties my older sibling and two younger siblings had already been married, had children and gotten divorced before the whole Monica thing happened. Not assigning blame here, there was plenty to go around on all sides, but I was so disappointed in all of them. Stupid, I know that okay. Was not too vocal about it, everyone knew how I felt though. Everyone knew how this conservative felt about Hillary Clinton as well, I was very vocal about how much I respected her. Got a lot of crap about that at the time. I had never been in a relationship at that time, would still be another 20 years before I got into my first relationship. (I suppose that makes me the poster child for late bloomer) So now this woman that I admired so much was having relationship problems. Oh my god did my brothers and sister ever get on me then. They sat me down and read me the riot act. A lot was said but their biggest point was, It is easy to have the world figured out when you’ve never lived in it, never had a relationship. It wasn’t just our messed up family, marriages great and small have issues, best not to judge from the outside. It forced me to get over my delusional views on marriage. It was hard on me at the time, I was beginning to believe that there was no good in the world. I had faith in her still though, however she handled it, she has a chance to make a change for women everywhere. Then she didn’t. Still judging from the outside and I knew it at the time. Some hope that I always had, a light that I always held against the dark had faded and almost went out. I irrationally blamed her, and even though I no longer do, I have not been able to put any faith in her since.
As I said, weird. Didn’t want to get into all of that, but as I didn’t word everything as well as I should have and then got a little huffy, well... the least I can do is humiliate myself to make amends. Sorry
Going to hide away in embarrassment for a while. Take care all.
Thanks for sharing, that is absolutely not weird, and makes sense, in context. Hillary is not blameless in everything that happened and I still don’t understand or agree with a lot of what she has said about it
If you wonder why America cities are burning and people are protesting and rioting, look no further than this article where a police officer is shooting an unarmed black man in the back while the police officer grabs onto his shirt.
Those guns should not have been drawn. He was unarmed with nothing being remotely close to him being armed. This is attempted murder. Worse, his 3 kids were in the backseat. Police chief down needs to be held accountable, and by accountable, I mean charges pressed today. Anyone else did that, they'd be in jail by now. A badge shouldn't be immunity to these horrendous acts.
If you wonder why America cities are burning and people are protesting and rioting, look no further than this article where a police officer is shooting an unarmed black man in the back while the police officer grabs onto his shirt.
Those guns should not have been drawn. He was unarmed with nothing being remotely close to him being armed. This is attempted murder. Worse, his 3 kids were in the backseat. Police chief down needs to be held accountable, and by accountable, I mean charges pressed today. Anyone else did that, they'd be in jail by now. A badge shouldn't be immunity to these horrendous acts.
Well, the excuse you are going to get is the same one you got with George Floyd and every other person cops kill. They post their criminal rap sheet online and say they got what was coming to them. Nevermind that that isn't REMOTELY the issue. The issue is if you want to live in a world where cops are judge, jury and executioner. A very large segment of the population is totally on board with that scenario. If these people got their way, we might as well just have an army of Judge Dredd's roaming the streets pronouncing edicts and carrying out sentences. But it seems like that is basically what we do have. It was foolish to think this was going to stop. It's never going to stop. Seven shots by the way. As if one or two wasn't going to get the point across. But hey, this is not a new phenomena. Amaou Diallo was shot 41 times for attempting to reach for ID when cops asked him for it in the 90s.
Yes, this guy had some serious charges on his criminal record. So did George Floyd. Those are taken care of in a courtroom, not on the street. Or so we would be led to believe. But it wouldn't matter if he had less serious charges on his record. As we've seen time and time again, people will go so far as to claim that smoking pot at ANY POINT IN YOUR LIFE is reason enough to discard all your rights and be executed without charges or even an arrest.
I'm not at all sure that Trump is going to lose this election and that scares me. Most people in this thread are pretty intelligent from what I can see. That's a compliment to y'all. However, I'm not at all sure that non-conservatives can see things from the perspective of their opponents at all. I'm not talking about rationality, I'm talking about gut feeling. The left stokes emotions also, but only really of minorities. Minorities don't win elections when the majority emotions are stoked against them. I hope I'm wrong. Truly. I'm really tired of the current state of politics in this country...
There is a simple thing you can do to effect this outcome.
You're not helping your cause by being a dick...
FWIW, nothing I've said to you is as rude as your insult above.
No, just condescending, which is just disguised rudeness...
Regardless, I'm doing what I can with my conservative friends and family. I'm pretty much talking to myself though. You have no idea how entrenched these folks are.
I don't think it's condescending to provide a reminder that there is a thing you can *do* that makes a difference. You are correct above that it makes a small difference. That's the price of living in a large democracy.
I just don't see the point of *worrying* publicly when you're not going to *do* the bare minimum. Your vote may not be decisive, but it's also the only thing you have complete control over. However it does seem you're coming around to doing, imo, the right thing eventually.
I think of voting this way: a 1 in a million chance of earning 1 million dollars is the same as a 100% chance of earning $1. A single vote is a very small part of the total, but the total is nothing be those single votes put together. The impact is small but the potential influence is God knows how many times more important than whatever else I was going to do on voting day.
Plus, it would feel super disempowering not to exercise my right to vote. It would feel like a personal endorsement of the notion that I was powerless and my opinion was unimportant.
Well, I made it up to the point where Don Jr.'s girlfriend gave the speech equivalent of screaming directly in my face for two minutes, and now I simply can't take anymore and am going to do something else for the rest of the night. Like someone mentioned on Twitter, this convention is catered to the people who can't decide if they should switch to OANN because FOX News is too liberal for them.
It's the same thing I've noticed as well. The GOP's only remaining guiding principles are being against the Democratic Party. Its only consistent policy is tax cuts and regulation. There really isn't an answer to the question, what does the GOP really stand for?
If you asked me what the Democratic Party stood for, the answer would be easy. Equality. Economic and social inequality.
Win or lose, rich or poor, from everyday Democratic voters to its top leadership, the Democratic Party believes that the inequality in the U.S. is too high and isn't based on a fair or neutral system. They believe that the free market treats people unfairly unless the government regulates it and demographic majorities will discriminate against minorities unless the government prevents discrimination. Democrats disagree on which policies would best address inequality and there are other ideas that are common to Democrats, but one thing that unites Democrats is the idea of promoting economic and social equality.
That idea has not changed in my lifetime, no matter who was in charge of the Democratic Party or how each election year played out.
I read the Reuters account of the Kenosha vandalism/arsonist destruction of the black business district this morning. I wish I would have posted it now because I can't find the original article. CNN even commented on it and apparently retracted their article. This is the closest I could find.
The original article pointed out men in black masks initiating much of the destruction, and more of them white men than black. This is the kind of bullshit that's going to help Trump's cause. Say whatever you want about the police, but actions like this will NOT help. Not only that, but black business owners are the ones paying the price. It's absolutely insane!
I read the Reuters account of the Kenosha vandalism/arsonist destruction of the black business district this morning. I wish I would have posted it now because I can't find the original article. CNN even commented on it and apparently retracted their article. This is the closest I could find.
The original article pointed out men in black masks initiating much of the destruction, and more of them white men than black. This is the kind of bullshit that's going to help Trump's cause. Say whatever you want about the police, but actions like this will NOT help. Not only that, but black business owners are the ones paying the price. It's absolutely insane!
What is the logic in saying "this is what you'll have in Joe Biden's America" when it's already a daily reality in Trump's America?? What the fuck has he done about it except strut to a church and throw an entire tanker truck of gasoline on the fire at every opportunity?? The country has been in meltdown mode since late-March. Mass death and economic disaster for untold amounts of people. Tell me again who is in charge?? Is the pitch "give me 4 more years to fix the shit I couldn't handle the first time??" He'll stop it from happening, just not right now??
Why are we pretending that Joe Biden is the incumbent here?? This is all happening in Donald Trump's Presidency. And yet, I STILL hear people at the RNC spouting the "personal responsibility" line. Plenty of us warned how shit was going to fall apart. That the center couldn't hold with someone like this in charge. "It'll be fine" we were told. "This is all hyperbolic and paranoid" we were told. Well, that was, in fact, NOT correct. Throw a molotov cocktail into the gears of the system. The last 6 months, and everything that comes with it, is what you get.
We're talking about arson. Donald Trump lit the whole country on fire. On purpose. His only move is to fan the flames and spread them. Maybe he still wins. He'll be ruling over ashes and even further societal collapse. I said the moment he got elected that I was (for the most part) that I was mostly going to sit in my apartment and watch the world burn. It wasn't metaphorical.
I read the Reuters account of the Kenosha vandalism/arsonist destruction of the black business district this morning. I wish I would have posted it now because I can't find the original article. CNN even commented on it and apparently retracted their article. This is the closest I could find.
The original article pointed out men in black masks initiating much of the destruction, and more of them white men than black. This is the kind of bullshit that's going to help Trump's cause. Say whatever you want about the police, but actions like this will NOT help. Not only that, but black business owners are the ones paying the price. It's absolutely insane!
What is the logic in saying "this is what you'll have in Joe Biden's America" when it's already a daily reality in Trump's America?? What the fuck has he done about it except strut to a church and throw an entire tanker truck of gasoline on the fire at every opportunity?? The country has been in meltdown mode since late-March. Mass death and economic disaster for untold amounts of people. Tell me again who is in charge?? Is the pitch "give me 4 more years to fix the shit I couldn't handle the first time??" He'll stop it from happening, just not right now??
You're preaching to the choir with me. I actually know the kind of people you need to sway in order to pull off the Biden triumph you want, however, and most, if not all of them, will be terrified by this kind of anarchy. Chaos just helps the asshole. Biden should speak out against this kind of violence and BLM shouldn't be saying shit like "More of Kenosha will burn if you don't fire the cops right now". Burning down mostly black businesses is not going to help put Biden in the Oval Office (burning down white businesses also wouldn't help but that doesn't seem to be happening here).
Edit: Wisconsin is a swing state with a fairly low black voting population too. Do you think this shit will make white voters more likely to vote for Trump, or Biden. Honestly now...
The original article pointed out men in black masks initiating much of the destruction, and more of them white men than black. This is the kind of bullshit that's going to help Trump's cause. Say whatever you want about the police, but actions like this will NOT help. Not only that, but black business owners are the ones paying the price. It's absolutely insane!
Donald Trump gets extremely low remarks for how he has handled racism in the country, and it not seen by virtually anyone other than his core base as being capable of dealing with race riots.
It's sad that people are burning minority owned businesses. It's just as sad that Blake was shot multiple times at point blank range by police officers. I dont want the disaffected to suffer, but I understand that the disaffected are already suffering, and that needs to be brought to light.
To be frankly cynical - there is no way that race riots benefit Trump right now. Under no realistic circumstance will they help. The right has already tried their hardest to make Portland and other places sound like Antifa strongholds, and it hasnt worked. It wont work.
In less sobering news - The RNC was down a pretty substantial margin in viewership over the DNC (for night 1). In reality-world, that means very little. For Trump, that's got to be annoying. He's all about ratings, and even though he drives the majority of political discourse in this country, it turns out that his party isnt worth watching at the same clip as even boring old Joe Biden's.
The original article pointed out men in black masks initiating much of the destruction, and more of them white men than black. This is the kind of bullshit that's going to help Trump's cause. Say whatever you want about the police, but actions like this will NOT help. Not only that, but black business owners are the ones paying the price. It's absolutely insane!
Donald Trump gets extremely low remarks for how he has handled racism in the country, and it not seen by virtually anyone other than his core base as being capable of dealing with race riots.
It's sad that people are burning minority owned businesses. It's just as sad that Blake was shot multiple times at point blank range by police officers. I dont want the disaffected to suffer, but I understand that the disaffected are already suffering, and that needs to be brought to light.
To be frankly cynical - there is no way that race riots benefit Trump right now. Under no realistic circumstance will they help. The right has already tried their hardest to make Portland and other places sound like Antifa strongholds, and it hasnt worked. It wont work.
In less sobering news - The RNC was down a pretty substantial margin in viewership over the DNC (for night 1). In reality-world, that means very little. For Trump, that's got to be annoying. He's all about ratings, and even though he drives the majority of political discourse in this country, it turns out that his party isnt worth watching at the same clip as even boring old Joe Biden's.
I mean, I frankly don't know why Kenosha would be a tipping point for people when multiple other cities weren't, including basically trying to manufacture an even bigger issue in Portland for specifically this reason. As far as I can tell (and I've been watching for it), it MAYBE bought him a single percentage point in the polls. He's been playing this song for at least the last 40 days already. There isn't any real indication it's moved the needle at all. People expect a calming presence to chaos, Trump only offers doubling down on the current chaos. He isn't even remotely subtle about it. There just aren't as many undecideds as there were 4 years ago. 95% of people have made up their mind.
As for the RNC numbers, we've all seen a 100 Trump rallies at this point. The fact that people aren't interested in binging one for four nights in a row isn't all that surprising. It's overexposure, and the entire thing is basically every speaker jerking him off under the table. Yeah, we get it, you'll stop the godless communists from slitting the throats of suburban housewives. Anything else?? Can my kid go back to school this decade?? Can I go back to work?? When can I see my mother in person again?? All of these things seem far more tangible to me than graffiti on a courthouse, or even a burned furniture store. We've established the country is selfish. They give a fuck about their own lives being miserable right now.
The original article pointed out men in black masks initiating much of the destruction, and more of them white men than black. This is the kind of bullshit that's going to help Trump's cause. Say whatever you want about the police, but actions like this will NOT help. Not only that, but black business owners are the ones paying the price. It's absolutely insane!
Donald Trump gets extremely low remarks for how he has handled racism in the country, and it not seen by virtually anyone other than his core base as being capable of dealing with race riots.
It's sad that people are burning minority owned businesses. It's just as sad that Blake was shot multiple times at point blank range by police officers. I dont want the disaffected to suffer, but I understand that the disaffected are already suffering, and that needs to be brought to light.
To be frankly cynical - there is no way that race riots benefit Trump right now. Under no realistic circumstance will they help. The right has already tried their hardest to make Portland and other places sound like Antifa strongholds, and it hasnt worked. It wont work.
In less sobering news - The RNC was down a pretty substantial margin in viewership over the DNC (for night 1). In reality-world, that means very little. For Trump, that's got to be annoying. He's all about ratings, and even though he drives the majority of political discourse in this country, it turns out that his party isnt worth watching at the same clip as even boring old Joe Biden's.
I pray that you're right but chaos favors Trump right now IMHO. The only chance he has is to scare the living shit out of white voters and he's doing his best to do that very thing.
I hope you all realize that I'm not saying this because of any support for Trump whatsoever. This election is not a shoe-in for Biden right now and I'm just trying to point that out. I believe Michigan is a lost cause for Trump. Detroit's police chief has handled the protests/riots extremely well. I wish other municipalities would take note of how he's handled things. No bullshit chaos here = 0 chance for Trump's ass. I'll humbly tell all of you how wrong I was if Trump wins Michigan come November...
The original article pointed out men in black masks initiating much of the destruction, and more of them white men than black. This is the kind of bullshit that's going to help Trump's cause. Say whatever you want about the police, but actions like this will NOT help. Not only that, but black business owners are the ones paying the price. It's absolutely insane!
Donald Trump gets extremely low remarks for how he has handled racism in the country, and it not seen by virtually anyone other than his core base as being capable of dealing with race riots.
It's sad that people are burning minority owned businesses. It's just as sad that Blake was shot multiple times at point blank range by police officers. I dont want the disaffected to suffer, but I understand that the disaffected are already suffering, and that needs to be brought to light.
To be frankly cynical - there is no way that race riots benefit Trump right now. Under no realistic circumstance will they help. The right has already tried their hardest to make Portland and other places sound like Antifa strongholds, and it hasnt worked. It wont work.
In less sobering news - The RNC was down a pretty substantial margin in viewership over the DNC (for night 1). In reality-world, that means very little. For Trump, that's got to be annoying. He's all about ratings, and even though he drives the majority of political discourse in this country, it turns out that his party isnt worth watching at the same clip as even boring old Joe Biden's.
I pray that you're right but chaos favors Trump right now IMHO. The only chance he has is to scare the living shit out of white voters and he's doing his best to do that very thing.
I hope you all realize that I'm not saying this because of any support for Trump whatsoever. This election is not a shoe-in for Biden right now and I'm just trying to point that out. I believe Michigan is a lost cause for Trump. Detroit's police chief has handled the protests/riots extremely well. I wish other municipalities would take note of how he's handled things. No bullshit chaos here = 0 chance for Trump's ass. I'll humbly tell all of you how wrong I was if Trump wins Michigan come November...
If you're right, then if Trump can't rebound in Florida he's already cooked. Of course, this is Florida we're talking about. But people in Florida aren't dealing with civil unrest. It's a bunch of retirees who have been stuck in their houses for 5 months.
The original article pointed out men in black masks initiating much of the destruction, and more of them white men than black. This is the kind of bullshit that's going to help Trump's cause. Say whatever you want about the police, but actions like this will NOT help. Not only that, but black business owners are the ones paying the price. It's absolutely insane!
Donald Trump gets extremely low remarks for how he has handled racism in the country, and it not seen by virtually anyone other than his core base as being capable of dealing with race riots.
It's sad that people are burning minority owned businesses. It's just as sad that Blake was shot multiple times at point blank range by police officers. I dont want the disaffected to suffer, but I understand that the disaffected are already suffering, and that needs to be brought to light.
To be frankly cynical - there is no way that race riots benefit Trump right now. Under no realistic circumstance will they help. The right has already tried their hardest to make Portland and other places sound like Antifa strongholds, and it hasnt worked. It wont work.
In less sobering news - The RNC was down a pretty substantial margin in viewership over the DNC (for night 1). In reality-world, that means very little. For Trump, that's got to be annoying. He's all about ratings, and even though he drives the majority of political discourse in this country, it turns out that his party isnt worth watching at the same clip as even boring old Joe Biden's.
I mean, I frankly don't know why Kenosha would be a tipping point for people when multiple other cities weren't, including basically trying to manufacture an even bigger issue in Portland for specifically this reason. As far as I can tell (and I've been watching for it), it MAYBE bought him a single percentage point in the polls. He's been playing this song for at least the last 40 days already. There isn't any real indication it's moved the needle at all. People expect a calming presence to chaos, Trump only offers doubling down on the current chaos. He isn't even remotely subtle about it. There just aren't as many undecideds as there were 4 years ago. 95% of people have made up their mind.
As for the RNC numbers, we've all seen a 100 Trump rallies at this point. The fact that people aren't interested in binging one for four nights in a row isn't all that surprising. It's overexposure, and the entire thing is basically every speaker jerking him off under the table. Yeah, we get it, you'll stop the godless communists from slitting the throats of suburban housewives. Anything else?? Can my kid go back to school this decade?? Can I go back to work?? When can I see my mother in person again?? All of these things seem far more tangible to me than graffiti on a courthouse, or even a burned furniture store. We've established the country is selfish. They give a fuck about their own lives being miserable right now.
The pictures and videos of burning buildings in Kenosha are scary as fuck. You can't predict how scared people will vote. That's my main point...
The original article pointed out men in black masks initiating much of the destruction, and more of them white men than black. This is the kind of bullshit that's going to help Trump's cause. Say whatever you want about the police, but actions like this will NOT help. Not only that, but black business owners are the ones paying the price. It's absolutely insane!
Donald Trump gets extremely low remarks for how he has handled racism in the country, and it not seen by virtually anyone other than his core base as being capable of dealing with race riots.
It's sad that people are burning minority owned businesses. It's just as sad that Blake was shot multiple times at point blank range by police officers. I dont want the disaffected to suffer, but I understand that the disaffected are already suffering, and that needs to be brought to light.
To be frankly cynical - there is no way that race riots benefit Trump right now. Under no realistic circumstance will they help. The right has already tried their hardest to make Portland and other places sound like Antifa strongholds, and it hasnt worked. It wont work.
In less sobering news - The RNC was down a pretty substantial margin in viewership over the DNC (for night 1). In reality-world, that means very little. For Trump, that's got to be annoying. He's all about ratings, and even though he drives the majority of political discourse in this country, it turns out that his party isnt worth watching at the same clip as even boring old Joe Biden's.
I pray that you're right but chaos favors Trump right now IMHO. The only chance he has is to scare the living shit out of white voters and he's doing his best to do that very thing.
I hope you all realize that I'm not saying this because of any support for Trump whatsoever. This election is not a shoe-in for Biden right now and I'm just trying to point that out. I believe Michigan is a lost cause for Trump. Detroit's police chief has handled the protests/riots extremely well. I wish other municipalities would take note of how he's handled things. No bullshit chaos here = 0 chance for Trump's ass. I'll humbly tell all of you how wrong I was if Trump wins Michigan come November...
If you're right, then if Trump can't rebound in Florida he's already cooked. Of course, this is Florida we're talking about. But people in Florida aren't dealing with civil unrest. It's a bunch of retirees who have been stuck in their houses for 5 months.
He can win without Florida, but it's a long shot at best. He'd need Michigan for sure and probably Minnesota to boot. I don't see that happening. I hope you're right.
The original article pointed out men in black masks initiating much of the destruction, and more of them white men than black. This is the kind of bullshit that's going to help Trump's cause. Say whatever you want about the police, but actions like this will NOT help. Not only that, but black business owners are the ones paying the price. It's absolutely insane!
Donald Trump gets extremely low remarks for how he has handled racism in the country, and it not seen by virtually anyone other than his core base as being capable of dealing with race riots.
It's sad that people are burning minority owned businesses. It's just as sad that Blake was shot multiple times at point blank range by police officers. I dont want the disaffected to suffer, but I understand that the disaffected are already suffering, and that needs to be brought to light.
To be frankly cynical - there is no way that race riots benefit Trump right now. Under no realistic circumstance will they help. The right has already tried their hardest to make Portland and other places sound like Antifa strongholds, and it hasnt worked. It wont work.
In less sobering news - The RNC was down a pretty substantial margin in viewership over the DNC (for night 1). In reality-world, that means very little. For Trump, that's got to be annoying. He's all about ratings, and even though he drives the majority of political discourse in this country, it turns out that his party isnt worth watching at the same clip as even boring old Joe Biden's.
I pray that you're right but chaos favors Trump right now IMHO. The only chance he has is to scare the living shit out of white voters and he's doing his best to do that very thing.
I hope you all realize that I'm not saying this because of any support for Trump whatsoever. This election is not a shoe-in for Biden right now and I'm just trying to point that out. I believe Michigan is a lost cause for Trump. Detroit's police chief has handled the protests/riots extremely well. I wish other municipalities would take note of how he's handled things. No bullshit chaos here = 0 chance for Trump's ass. I'll humbly tell all of you how wrong I was if Trump wins Michigan come November...
I'd argue chaos doesn't favor Trump at all. If anything, what favored Trump were the conditions of the country back in January and February. No pandemic, no economic collapse, little unrest in the cities. All this chaos has foisted a bunch of hard-to-solve problems that have exposed how unqualified he is. That was far easier to hide when things were running smoothly.
The original article pointed out men in black masks initiating much of the destruction, and more of them white men than black. This is the kind of bullshit that's going to help Trump's cause. Say whatever you want about the police, but actions like this will NOT help. Not only that, but black business owners are the ones paying the price. It's absolutely insane!
Donald Trump gets extremely low remarks for how he has handled racism in the country, and it not seen by virtually anyone other than his core base as being capable of dealing with race riots.
It's sad that people are burning minority owned businesses. It's just as sad that Blake was shot multiple times at point blank range by police officers. I dont want the disaffected to suffer, but I understand that the disaffected are already suffering, and that needs to be brought to light.
To be frankly cynical - there is no way that race riots benefit Trump right now. Under no realistic circumstance will they help. The right has already tried their hardest to make Portland and other places sound like Antifa strongholds, and it hasnt worked. It wont work.
In less sobering news - The RNC was down a pretty substantial margin in viewership over the DNC (for night 1). In reality-world, that means very little. For Trump, that's got to be annoying. He's all about ratings, and even though he drives the majority of political discourse in this country, it turns out that his party isnt worth watching at the same clip as even boring old Joe Biden's.
I pray that you're right but chaos favors Trump right now IMHO. The only chance he has is to scare the living shit out of white voters and he's doing his best to do that very thing.
I hope you all realize that I'm not saying this because of any support for Trump whatsoever. This election is not a shoe-in for Biden right now and I'm just trying to point that out. I believe Michigan is a lost cause for Trump. Detroit's police chief has handled the protests/riots extremely well. I wish other municipalities would take note of how he's handled things. No bullshit chaos here = 0 chance for Trump's ass. I'll humbly tell all of you how wrong I was if Trump wins Michigan come November...
I'd argue chaos doesn't favor Trump at all. If anything, what favored Trump were the conditions of the country back in January and February. No pandemic, no economic collapse, little unrest in the cities. All this chaos has foisted a bunch of hard-to-solve problems that have exposed how unqualified he is. That was far easier to hide when things were running smoothly.
Agreed. I also think that because he is so meaningfully behind, that just sewing chaos isnt really to his benefit anymore. He needs to make smart and effective tactical moves to push himself into a winning position. It was enough for him to pull Clinton down and muddy everything up because she was so unliked (and it's hard for any party to hold the white house for 3 terms in a row right now).
Instead, he's behind in almost every category except with his base. He's losing among people who have a unfavorable view of both him and Biden. He wont win just by lowering Biden's numbers, but has to boost his own. Kenosha doesnt do that.
I won't argue against your point of view, just trying to tell you what you're up against. Did you watch Farid Zacharia's special report on QAnon and far right conspiracy theories Sunday night on CNN? That shit is for real and it scares the Hell out of me how many people are buying into that bullshit. This election isn't going to be a walk in the park by any means. I hope to God you're right and there are a majority of voters who won't drink the Kool-Aid of the 'new' GOP. I won't believe it until I see it though...
I won't argue against your point of view, just trying to tell you what you're up against. Did you watch Farid Zacharia's special report on QAnon and far right conspiracy theories Sunday night on CNN? That shit is for real and it scares the Hell out of me how many people are buying into that bullshit. This election isn't going to be a walk in the park by any means. I hope to God you're right and there are a majority of voters who won't drink the Kool-Aid of the 'new' GOP. I won't believe it until I see it though...
I mean, I just don't see the evidence that Trump and the current GOP is all that formidable. This isn't even Bush in 2004. They got wiped out in the popular vote in the midterms in 2018 by a historic margin -- and they were enjoying healthy economic numbers.
I think this intense focus on Trump's base and rightwing extremists is misguided. There is of course no doubt that there's a very excited base of support. But they're not at all sufficient in of themselves to win. Trump's 2016 victory, which was by one of the smallest margins possible, depended on keeping moderate conservatives in the party and getting a good chunk Obama-Trump independent voters. These are not the people who are going find QAnon compelling. The opposite.
As I've said to you before, in order for Trump to win, it would require that the polls are off by a factor of about three times as much as they were off in 2016. The reality is that Trump is a bad and incompetent politician. He under-performed congressional Republicans in 2016, and then later helped sink those same folks when he basically became the face of the party.
Trying to draw for an inside straight is a strategy that will win once in a while in poker. But it's a terrible strategy if you want to win consistently. That's basically what the party is trying to do.
I won't argue against your point of view, just trying to tell you what you're up against. Did you watch Farid Zacharia's special report on QAnon and far right conspiracy theories Sunday night on CNN? That shit is for real and it scares the Hell out of me how many people are buying into that bullshit. This election isn't going to be a walk in the park by any means. I hope to God you're right and there are a majority of voters who won't drink the Kool-Aid of the 'new' GOP. I won't believe it until I see it though...
I mean, I just don't see the evidence that Trump and the current GOP is all that formidable. This isn't even Bush in 2004. They got wiped out in the popular vote in the midterms in 2018 by a historic margin -- and they were enjoying healthy economic numbers.
I think this intense focus on Trump's base and rightwing extremists is misguided. There is of course no doubt that there's a very excited base of support. But they're not at all sufficient in of themselves to win. Trump's 2016 victory, which was by one of the smallest margins possible, depended on keeping moderate conservatives in the party and getting a good chunk Obama-Trump independent voters. These are not the people who are going find QAnon compelling. The opposite.
As I've said to you before, in order for Trump to win, it would require that the polls are off by a factor of about three times as much as they were off in 2016. The reality is that Trump is a bad and incompetent politician. He under-performed congressional Republicans in 2016, and then later helped sink those same folks when he basically became the face of the party.
Trying to draw for an inside straight is a strategy that will win once in a while in poker. But it's a terrible strategy if you want to win consistently. That's basically what the party is trying to do.
I'm a poker player. I've lost to inside straights before. It's usually because the opponent has more money to play with than I do and can go to the end regardless of the shit hand he has. This election is NOT over...
Comments
If my girlfriend cheated on me, I'd feel heartbroken and betrayed, but I don't know if that would be sufficient to convince me to leave her, and we're not even married.
Even if we assumed (reasonably, I think) that political and career considerations factored into Hillary Clinton's decision not to divorce her husband, it's not clear to me which one would have benefited her personally. Divorcing him would have been bad optics for the Democratic party in general, I think, but for her as an individual, I can see a practical value in both choices:
1. If she divorces him, she's an independent woman who doesn't take crap and is willing to stand up for herself.
2. If she stays with him, she's a faithful woman who puts her family first.
Regardless of whether emotion or ambition is more important, it's still not a straightforward problem with an obvious answer. I wouldn't draw many hard conclusions from her making the same choice that God knows how many other women have made.
Yeah, no. This is Trump's (and his bases) favorite excuse. Point out anything deeply wrong? "Well the libtards are just as bad." But can they provide an actual example? No.
This presidency has been UNIQUELY corrupt and incompetent. Unless you can point out a single liberal administration that had, what?, 6? 10? arrests of people appointed by the president for corruption? I actually can't remember off the top of my head because is it keeps happening. There's also the concentration camps built specifically for children, the president encouraging police brutality, and what else? Oh yeah, an unrestrained pandemic that has killed almost 200,000 Americans and killing almost 2,000 every single day. Give me one administration that matches all this. One, equivalent democratic administration.
Heck, I'll accept a Republican administration from back when they were the liberal party.
I wont pretend that any of these *match* that (They dont), but the general consensus is that the three most corrupt administrations of all time were:
Ulysses S Grant's administration (Old school, but would be considered the liberal choice at the time)
Warren G Harding's administration (Very much Conservative faction of the GOP)
Richard Nixon (Yeah, Conservative)
There are others of course, but those three are usually taught in school as being the most corrupt sets. Ulysses is usually given half a pass since he seemed generally unaware of all the corruption in his administration. Trump doesnt get any such pass, since he's the instigating force for his administration's corruption.
None of this is meant to contradict your point - just adding context. In general, I agree with you.
The current occupant of the office, even if you take away the Mueller investigation and impeachment, has ADMITTED to running a fraudulent university and is barred from running a charity in his home state because of malfeasance. He has used his access to high-priced attorneys and bankruptcy laws to screw regular people out of their money as standard business practice his entire life. What tax records we DO have prove massive fraud. His lawyer is in jail because Trump ordered him to pay hush money in violation of campaign finance laws. None of this is disputable.
So if people are gonna say "you only care because it's a Republican", I would be happy to care if my side ever did anything beyond lying about a blowjob.
I don’t know how to quote from two pages. A lot of good stuff there, hopefully I can cover some with this. I chose this page because I was a bit harsh and unfair to jjstraka34 and wanted to apologize. It was late for me but that is no excuse, sorry.
I had considered some of the points you all have made about Hillary, some I hadn’t. Seriously, I have spent way too much time on the subject for way too long. I said that the reason I did not like her was weird, what I didn’t say was that it was stupid and irrational. I am well aware of that, didn’t want to just come out and say I was being a putz.
My life was not what anyone would consider normal, not unique and not the worst, just not normal. Broken family, unwanted by either parent, I was mostly raised by my grandparents. I have to be careful here because someone who reads this forum knows my story and my family, I don’t want to say anything that will cause problems for my family. Anyway I developed an unusual perspective about relationships, marriage in particular. In my late twenties my older sibling and two younger siblings had already been married, had children and gotten divorced before the whole Monica thing happened. Not assigning blame here, there was plenty to go around on all sides, but I was so disappointed in all of them. Stupid, I know that okay. Was not too vocal about it, everyone knew how I felt though. Everyone knew how this conservative felt about Hillary Clinton as well, I was very vocal about how much I respected her. Got a lot of crap about that at the time. I had never been in a relationship at that time, would still be another 20 years before I got into my first relationship. (I suppose that makes me the poster child for late bloomer) So now this woman that I admired so much was having relationship problems. Oh my god did my brothers and sister ever get on me then. They sat me down and read me the riot act. A lot was said but their biggest point was, It is easy to have the world figured out when you’ve never lived in it, never had a relationship. It wasn’t just our messed up family, marriages great and small have issues, best not to judge from the outside. It forced me to get over my delusional views on marriage. It was hard on me at the time, I was beginning to believe that there was no good in the world. I had faith in her still though, however she handled it, she has a chance to make a change for women everywhere. Then she didn’t. Still judging from the outside and I knew it at the time. Some hope that I always had, a light that I always held against the dark had faded and almost went out. I irrationally blamed her, and even though I no longer do, I have not been able to put any faith in her since.
As I said, weird. Didn’t want to get into all of that, but as I didn’t word everything as well as I should have and then got a little huffy, well... the least I can do is humiliate myself to make amends. Sorry
Going to hide away in embarrassment for a while. Take care all.
https://globalnews.ca/news/7294568/police-shooting-back-jacob-blake-kenosha/
Those guns should not have been drawn. He was unarmed with nothing being remotely close to him being armed. This is attempted murder. Worse, his 3 kids were in the backseat. Police chief down needs to be held accountable, and by accountable, I mean charges pressed today. Anyone else did that, they'd be in jail by now. A badge shouldn't be immunity to these horrendous acts.
Well, the excuse you are going to get is the same one you got with George Floyd and every other person cops kill. They post their criminal rap sheet online and say they got what was coming to them. Nevermind that that isn't REMOTELY the issue. The issue is if you want to live in a world where cops are judge, jury and executioner. A very large segment of the population is totally on board with that scenario. If these people got their way, we might as well just have an army of Judge Dredd's roaming the streets pronouncing edicts and carrying out sentences. But it seems like that is basically what we do have. It was foolish to think this was going to stop. It's never going to stop. Seven shots by the way. As if one or two wasn't going to get the point across. But hey, this is not a new phenomena. Amaou Diallo was shot 41 times for attempting to reach for ID when cops asked him for it in the 90s.
Yes, this guy had some serious charges on his criminal record. So did George Floyd. Those are taken care of in a courtroom, not on the street. Or so we would be led to believe. But it wouldn't matter if he had less serious charges on his record. As we've seen time and time again, people will go so far as to claim that smoking pot at ANY POINT IN YOUR LIFE is reason enough to discard all your rights and be executed without charges or even an arrest.
I don't think it's condescending to provide a reminder that there is a thing you can *do* that makes a difference. You are correct above that it makes a small difference. That's the price of living in a large democracy.
I just don't see the point of *worrying* publicly when you're not going to *do* the bare minimum. Your vote may not be decisive, but it's also the only thing you have complete control over. However it does seem you're coming around to doing, imo, the right thing eventually.
I wish you luck in your efforts with your family.
Plus, it would feel super disempowering not to exercise my right to vote. It would feel like a personal endorsement of the notion that I was powerless and my opinion was unimportant.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/08/24/republicanmeltdown-trump-convention-400039
Well, I made it up to the point where Don Jr.'s girlfriend gave the speech equivalent of screaming directly in my face for two minutes, and now I simply can't take anymore and am going to do something else for the rest of the night. Like someone mentioned on Twitter, this convention is catered to the people who can't decide if they should switch to OANN because FOX News is too liberal for them.
If you asked me what the Democratic Party stood for, the answer would be easy. Equality. Economic and social inequality.
Win or lose, rich or poor, from everyday Democratic voters to its top leadership, the Democratic Party believes that the inequality in the U.S. is too high and isn't based on a fair or neutral system. They believe that the free market treats people unfairly unless the government regulates it and demographic majorities will discriminate against minorities unless the government prevents discrimination. Democrats disagree on which policies would best address inequality and there are other ideas that are common to Democrats, but one thing that unites Democrats is the idea of promoting economic and social equality.
That idea has not changed in my lifetime, no matter who was in charge of the Democratic Party or how each election year played out.
https://thepostmillennial.com/blm-rioters-set-much-of-the-black-business-district-ablaze-in-kenosha
The original article pointed out men in black masks initiating much of the destruction, and more of them white men than black. This is the kind of bullshit that's going to help Trump's cause. Say whatever you want about the police, but actions like this will NOT help. Not only that, but black business owners are the ones paying the price. It's absolutely insane!
What is the logic in saying "this is what you'll have in Joe Biden's America" when it's already a daily reality in Trump's America?? What the fuck has he done about it except strut to a church and throw an entire tanker truck of gasoline on the fire at every opportunity?? The country has been in meltdown mode since late-March. Mass death and economic disaster for untold amounts of people. Tell me again who is in charge?? Is the pitch "give me 4 more years to fix the shit I couldn't handle the first time??" He'll stop it from happening, just not right now??
Why are we pretending that Joe Biden is the incumbent here?? This is all happening in Donald Trump's Presidency. And yet, I STILL hear people at the RNC spouting the "personal responsibility" line. Plenty of us warned how shit was going to fall apart. That the center couldn't hold with someone like this in charge. "It'll be fine" we were told. "This is all hyperbolic and paranoid" we were told. Well, that was, in fact, NOT correct. Throw a molotov cocktail into the gears of the system. The last 6 months, and everything that comes with it, is what you get.
We're talking about arson. Donald Trump lit the whole country on fire. On purpose. His only move is to fan the flames and spread them. Maybe he still wins. He'll be ruling over ashes and even further societal collapse. I said the moment he got elected that I was (for the most part) that I was mostly going to sit in my apartment and watch the world burn. It wasn't metaphorical.
You're preaching to the choir with me. I actually know the kind of people you need to sway in order to pull off the Biden triumph you want, however, and most, if not all of them, will be terrified by this kind of anarchy. Chaos just helps the asshole. Biden should speak out against this kind of violence and BLM shouldn't be saying shit like "More of Kenosha will burn if you don't fire the cops right now". Burning down mostly black businesses is not going to help put Biden in the Oval Office (burning down white businesses also wouldn't help but that doesn't seem to be happening here).
Edit: Wisconsin is a swing state with a fairly low black voting population too. Do you think this shit will make white voters more likely to vote for Trump, or Biden. Honestly now...
Donald Trump gets extremely low remarks for how he has handled racism in the country, and it not seen by virtually anyone other than his core base as being capable of dealing with race riots.
It's sad that people are burning minority owned businesses. It's just as sad that Blake was shot multiple times at point blank range by police officers. I dont want the disaffected to suffer, but I understand that the disaffected are already suffering, and that needs to be brought to light.
To be frankly cynical - there is no way that race riots benefit Trump right now. Under no realistic circumstance will they help. The right has already tried their hardest to make Portland and other places sound like Antifa strongholds, and it hasnt worked. It wont work.
In less sobering news - The RNC was down a pretty substantial margin in viewership over the DNC (for night 1). In reality-world, that means very little. For Trump, that's got to be annoying. He's all about ratings, and even though he drives the majority of political discourse in this country, it turns out that his party isnt worth watching at the same clip as even boring old Joe Biden's.
I mean, I frankly don't know why Kenosha would be a tipping point for people when multiple other cities weren't, including basically trying to manufacture an even bigger issue in Portland for specifically this reason. As far as I can tell (and I've been watching for it), it MAYBE bought him a single percentage point in the polls. He's been playing this song for at least the last 40 days already. There isn't any real indication it's moved the needle at all. People expect a calming presence to chaos, Trump only offers doubling down on the current chaos. He isn't even remotely subtle about it. There just aren't as many undecideds as there were 4 years ago. 95% of people have made up their mind.
As for the RNC numbers, we've all seen a 100 Trump rallies at this point. The fact that people aren't interested in binging one for four nights in a row isn't all that surprising. It's overexposure, and the entire thing is basically every speaker jerking him off under the table. Yeah, we get it, you'll stop the godless communists from slitting the throats of suburban housewives. Anything else?? Can my kid go back to school this decade?? Can I go back to work?? When can I see my mother in person again?? All of these things seem far more tangible to me than graffiti on a courthouse, or even a burned furniture store. We've established the country is selfish. They give a fuck about their own lives being miserable right now.
I pray that you're right but chaos favors Trump right now IMHO. The only chance he has is to scare the living shit out of white voters and he's doing his best to do that very thing.
I hope you all realize that I'm not saying this because of any support for Trump whatsoever. This election is not a shoe-in for Biden right now and I'm just trying to point that out. I believe Michigan is a lost cause for Trump. Detroit's police chief has handled the protests/riots extremely well. I wish other municipalities would take note of how he's handled things. No bullshit chaos here = 0 chance for Trump's ass. I'll humbly tell all of you how wrong I was if Trump wins Michigan come November...
If you're right, then if Trump can't rebound in Florida he's already cooked. Of course, this is Florida we're talking about. But people in Florida aren't dealing with civil unrest. It's a bunch of retirees who have been stuck in their houses for 5 months.
The pictures and videos of burning buildings in Kenosha are scary as fuck. You can't predict how scared people will vote. That's my main point...
He can win without Florida, but it's a long shot at best. He'd need Michigan for sure and probably Minnesota to boot. I don't see that happening. I hope you're right.
I'd argue chaos doesn't favor Trump at all. If anything, what favored Trump were the conditions of the country back in January and February. No pandemic, no economic collapse, little unrest in the cities. All this chaos has foisted a bunch of hard-to-solve problems that have exposed how unqualified he is. That was far easier to hide when things were running smoothly.
Agreed. I also think that because he is so meaningfully behind, that just sewing chaos isnt really to his benefit anymore. He needs to make smart and effective tactical moves to push himself into a winning position. It was enough for him to pull Clinton down and muddy everything up because she was so unliked (and it's hard for any party to hold the white house for 3 terms in a row right now).
Instead, he's behind in almost every category except with his base. He's losing among people who have a unfavorable view of both him and Biden. He wont win just by lowering Biden's numbers, but has to boost his own. Kenosha doesnt do that.
I won't argue against your point of view, just trying to tell you what you're up against. Did you watch Farid Zacharia's special report on QAnon and far right conspiracy theories Sunday night on CNN? That shit is for real and it scares the Hell out of me how many people are buying into that bullshit. This election isn't going to be a walk in the park by any means. I hope to God you're right and there are a majority of voters who won't drink the Kool-Aid of the 'new' GOP. I won't believe it until I see it though...
I mean, I just don't see the evidence that Trump and the current GOP is all that formidable. This isn't even Bush in 2004. They got wiped out in the popular vote in the midterms in 2018 by a historic margin -- and they were enjoying healthy economic numbers.
I think this intense focus on Trump's base and rightwing extremists is misguided. There is of course no doubt that there's a very excited base of support. But they're not at all sufficient in of themselves to win. Trump's 2016 victory, which was by one of the smallest margins possible, depended on keeping moderate conservatives in the party and getting a good chunk Obama-Trump independent voters. These are not the people who are going find QAnon compelling. The opposite.
As I've said to you before, in order for Trump to win, it would require that the polls are off by a factor of about three times as much as they were off in 2016. The reality is that Trump is a bad and incompetent politician. He under-performed congressional Republicans in 2016, and then later helped sink those same folks when he basically became the face of the party.
Trying to draw for an inside straight is a strategy that will win once in a while in poker. But it's a terrible strategy if you want to win consistently. That's basically what the party is trying to do.
I'm a poker player. I've lost to inside straights before. It's usually because the opponent has more money to play with than I do and can go to the end regardless of the shit hand he has. This election is NOT over...