Juliajms

Lord. I was the typical angsty teen who thought most people were pretty stupid. I outgrew it late, but then I totally changed and started thinking most people have common sense. Looks like 16 year old me was right all along. How can anyone, ANYONE take this conspiracy theory spewing nut case seriously? I don't understand it, but it's happening right before out eyes.

^ Not everyone in this forum. I haven't underestimated Trump since about February/March. It doesn't matter if you are a good debater, when the person you are debating with keeps going off topic and mocking and insulting and people keep falling for it. It's worked for him so far and I'm very concerned it will continue to work.

I had more faith in Bernie than to think he wouldn't endorse. He made some mistakes, but he's never been a terrible person. He also never really hit Hillary as hard as he could have (nor she him for that matter) , which is part of the reason I like him. I think he gets how serious this election is.

Oh it must depend on the markets because I haven't seen any anti Trump Clinton ads here. I did see the one today with the kids watching Trump on TV. First one I have seen. That one is scary and effective. But I like the idea of simplification. That stuff sticks with people. And honestly I would love the answer to what would happen if we don't pay our debts because I really have no idea what would actually happen. I think trump thinks you can just screw other countries like he has screwed vendors and it's no problem. The US will just file bankruptcy. The global markets would plummet, if not crash. Interest rates would sky rocket and the countries that have lent us money would be seriously screwed. I wouldn't rule out world wide depression, but I'm not an expert.

I agree that The democrats have been running some effective ads. The one with children watching the TV while Trump says some of the awful things he's said is good. I also wish they would break it down for people in simple of terms though. What happens if we don't pay our debts? What happens if we don't honor are commitment to allies? What happens if we actually managed to deport 11 million people? Maybe even that wouldn't help, since I think Trump was on to something when he said he could shoot people and his followers wouldn't care. Maybe this is a little like Britexit in that there is a substantial portion of people who want to hurt the elite at any price.

I don;t understand how everyone isn't outraged. "yes the sysrem is rigged, that isn't news". And it wasn't news to Bernie either, and just because that is the way the system is rigged doesn't make him wrong for speaking out against it or his supporters for declining to go along with the rigging. If the democrats want to rig the system against a guy who got just 1 million votes less than Hillary, maybe two, then they are basically telling over 40% of their voters to shut up, they don't count, the primaries are meaningless, and vote all you want but the nominee is Hillary. Now I know some people don't care because they want Trump to lose, but for the less cynical, for the honest Bernie supporters for whom his religion is not an issue and who don't have NBC hosts shilling for their candidate, they would be perfectly in the right to sit the election out if they wanted. Maybe that guy who wrote the religion email and Chuck Todd can cast 10 million votes in their absence, since they are all about rigging things. "He's right but I don't care" is not an adequate response to Bernie's accusations of rigging. Wikileaks is shady? So what, they didn't tell a single lie. "This helps Putin and Trump"...that's right it does, so why do it in the first place? Was she not able to secure the nomination without shenanigans? I'm as outraged as I can be under the circumstances. As Marceline said, HRC didn't use that plan, thank goodness. I'll be honest, Hillary and Debbie could have convened a coven to put a hex on Bernie or stuck needles in a voodoo Bernie doll and I would still vote for Hillary. I liked him, even if didn't agree with all of his policies, but never Trump. Any liberal who sits out this election is cutting off their nose to spite their face. Trump has said he won't stand by our NATO allies, he's said he doesn't feel the need to pay our debts. I like Mr. Robot as much as anyone, but I don't want to live it. His surrogates have said he'll put troops on the ground to fight ISIS. All of those things are insane and will destroy us. Oh, and then there's that part where he said we should kill the children of our enemies. That's what gets the bulk of my outrage. I know some people here disagree with me, but not even Ted Cruz is as dangerous as this madman. He's close, but we'd survive him. I may be an atheist, but I do believe that a house divided against itself can't stand and Trump is doing his best to tear us apart. Even if he loses in the fall he's damaged our country with his hate.

I think the fact that they wanted to use Bernie's religion against him is news. In addition, what the hell was that person thinking writing that in an email? And while the system being rigged isn't very surprising to some of us, I think the internet is waking more people up to these shenanigans and they don't like what they are seeing. I'd say that's part of why Bernie got such a foothold. The Republican establishment tried to do the same thing to Trump. In fact they came at him even harder, it just didn't work. Hell, I'll even admit I wish it had.

Trump wants to fund a super pac to destroy Cruz and Kasich. http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-07-22/trump-would-fund-super-pacs-aimed-at-taking-down-cruz-kasich-iqyabvm7

Yes, he sent them to boarding school.

Nate Sliver is one of the people who keeps bringing up HRC's unpopularity. http://fivethirtyeight.com/live-blog/gop-convention-day-one/?#livepress-update-21056741 I don't want to be an alarmist. I do think HRC will win, but I'm not feeling complacent by any means. Utah is an interesting state. I would have thought that it'd be any easy win for Trump, but he's scared off the Mormons by targeting Islam. Makes sense. The more groups he scares/pisses off the happy I am.

I don't know what to believe. I agree that HRC is more polarizing than some will admit. My husband actually floated the idea of voting for Ben Johnson the other day. I was truly shocked. He's more liberal than I am and he's a feminist. He just thinks she's very dishonest. Hard to argue with that if we are really honest with ourselves. I convinced him that we have to rally behind HRC, but it made me wonder how many liberals out there are looking to a 3rd party candidate.

Carl- To address your post awhile back, I thank God that Trump came after women and Latinos. If he had only scapegoated Muslims I think he'd be doing much better. I'm really a little afraid right now. I think he could pull this off. Mostly I've been indifferent about America's changing demographics, so I've never been happier that we have a growing Latino population. With any luck they are about to save us from "the strong man", but we've shown ourselves vulnerable to this type of person. Terrifying, really.

^ Talk about the politics of fear, damn.

I read recently that while Hillary likes Julian Castro she feels he's not quite ready. Also isn't there a minor scandal involving him and HUD? I haven't paid enough attention to that to know if it has legs. I also would have liked to see Elizabeth Warren, but I think she's probably correct to go with a safe choice. I think the conventional wisdom is that the VP choice doesn't help much, but it can certainly hurt as we saw with Sarah Palin.

This take down of Trump really sums it all up. Also, the note from his doctor towards the end is hilarious. http://www.vox.com/2016/7/21/12218136/donald-trump-nomination-afraid

I'm going to laugh my ass off if Ted Cruz doesn't endorse Trump tonight. Don't do it Ted! He said your wife is ugly and your daddy helped kill JFK. More seriously, I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that this conspiracy theory nutter got the nomination. I will never fully understand how it came to this.

^ I'm talking about the degree of regulations involved. I've never run a small business, but I've heard the red tape is out of this world. I'm not saying it can be any different, but I do understand why some people are frustrated by it.

I was thinking this too, even though I legitimately feel for people who are running small businesses. I think part of it is these people tell themselves that there aren't any consequences to other people's racism. I think that's far from true this time around and that's why Justice Ginsburg spoke up. Maybe she shouldn't have, but I personally can see why a Jewish woman felt the need to speak out against the kind of danger Trump is unleashing on our society.

I sincerely believe it had to be sabotage. I thought so last night and then James Carville said it this morning. After Antonia Sabato Jr. came off as such a nut, I was really expecting Kimberlin Brown to be some angry raving lunatic, but I came away feeling a certain sympathy for her. She was funny and she didn't shy away from being a soap star at all. I felt bad for her when she talked about the hate she received on social media. If this were a speech for Mitt Romney I could have come away from it with a deeper respect for her, but I stand firm in my thinking that opposing Trump is a moral imperative given some of the insane things he's said about Muslims, women and Latinos. Oh, and the wink and nod to the white supremacists. OK, I stand corrected. She sabotaged herself. What was she thinking?!

Thank you for posting that Soapsuds. I was relieved that she didn't say anything particularly hateful or crazy. I can even see how someone who runs a small business would be pro republican. And let's be honest, HRC did call women liars when they were telling the truth. That's just a plain fact. It just so happens she's running against someone so much worse that it doesn't matter to me.

She's an avocado farmer. Thanks. Well, I disagree with her politics, but wish her well with her crops.

Did Kimberlin say anything of note?

^ So they are upset that a murderer and a wife beater didn't take the stage? The amount of crazy coming out of this election cycle is just unreal.

This makes me think it was sabotage. http://www.vox.com/2016/7/19/12221654/melania-trump-rickroll I'll also admit for feeling a bit of sympathy for her, although I think the commentators on CNN are right and Michelle Obama would have been skewered for this.

No. You'll get a "God bless America" at the end of plenty of speeches, but the endless chants of "USA" are antiquated and anachronistic. I don't know, I think we still have a sort of superficial patriotism going on that wouldn't be considered normal in Europe or Australia. I feel like I've been hearing that chant my whole life (as well as flag waving) that isn't really common in the western world. If someone says it's more malevolent right now, I'll agree with that, but I don't agree it's something unusual.