The Politics Thread

[marceline]

I'm terrified about what will happen at the convention this summer. Between the Trump fascists and Cleveland cops still freaking out about the consent decree, it's just a powder keg waiting to blow. I was going to leave town that week but part of me thinks I should stay. 

[GregNYC]

After Melissa Harris-Perry's ouster, questions about a less-diverse MSNBC

http://www.nola.com/tv/index.ssf/2016/02/after_melissa_harris-perrys_ou.html

[DramatistDreamer]

In the potential Hillary Veepstakes another name is being floated around:

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/tom-perez-the-dark-horse-vice-presidential-pick-203317556.html

 

[NothinButAttitude]

Gonna be brutally honest, but I feel that Trump got far in this race b/c he plays of the fears of many white people, who fear and realize that they are quickly becoming the new minority in America. That'll also lead to an unwanted power shift in the corrupt structure here where whites typically prosper and the rest of us don't. There is a bright light being shined on inequality a lot in this country and recent years and many don't wanna talk about it or change it for that matter. Donald is the perfect candidate for those who favor white privilege. 

 

I don't think those American expats can quickly come back and vote in the elections now if I am mistaken. Especially, if they have citizenship and votes in the countries that they live in. I think you are only restricted to vote in the country you live in, so they'd have to up and move back here, which I doubt they'd wanna do anyways. 

 

Regan is a bit before my time (as I was born in one of the last years of his 2nd term), but from what I collected, Regan is renowned because he was so called fiscally conservative, but what I see is that he was another power figure that was driven by greed. 

[DRW50]

Reagan was good at PR. The '70s were a dark time for America and he exploited that, especially the late '70s (which had a bad economy, gas lines, power cuts, the Iran hostage crisis, etc.). He also exploited racial strife and prejudice (he was one of the people who popularized the "welfare queen" stereotype). Then he sold himself on "morning in America," taking credit when the economy did finally start to improve. 

 

He became an icon to the right because of the image of him, more than who he actually was. And his policies on issues like amnesty would be anathema today. 

 

As for Trump - the candidates running against him are among the worst if not the worst for a major party. He exploits racism and xenophobia. He also taps into the fears of those who keep seeing their jobs go to other countries. He says whatever the hell he likes, in a country that has been taught that this means you're strong and brave. 

 

He's a demagogue, and he's far more powerful than he should be. Even now that jackass Moonves is cackling about how much good Trump is doing the networks in terms of money. They will keep pushing him and he will just grow stronger. 

[NothinButAttitude]

I saw that sh-t yesterday when he said that as people were reacting on Twitter. I found that to be disgusting and everything wrong with the media nowadays. I wonder if he'll have the same sentiments if Donald wins given that Donald wants to basically strip away the First Amendment. 

[Vee]

Since Addie asked, I think Trump is a simple end result of a long-standing phenomenon: The Republican establishment in America was fine with courting the ignorant, the bigots and the crazies so long as it worked for their ends. They kept their segment of the electorate dumb, scared, poor and angry and used that to keep Bush in office even as he fleeced them, then used them to block Obama's initiatives and take the Congress. They nurtured and cultivated a new base of deranged nativists while all the while working against their interests, and kept fanning talk of Obama not being American, being Muslim, etc. I'd wager most of the existing GOP did not believe it but it worked for their voting bloc.

 

The tide began to turn as the Tea Party rose, and Tea Party candidates began ousting them from their own seats in government. They began to realize they'd created something in the Tea Party movement that they couldn't control, but they couldn't stop - the Republican Party is all about winning at all cost and lock-step voting to 'beat' the other guy without actually thinking strategically or rationally about what that win will cost or result in. So they kept going all in with a new kind of voter base that they did not fully understand and increasingly could not hold at bay - these people had begun voting in more of their own kind as opposed to more relatively rational longtime GOP hands. They'd begun voting in lunatics whose only interests were ideology, paranoia and simmering anger.

 

The logical endpoint of that is Donald Trump, who has no morality beyond himself (and, the base thinks, them) and no platform besides anger, bigotry and a bully pulpit. He's what years of the GOP courting the crazies and creating the Tea Party has given them. First they got a base they couldn't control, then various House and Senate candidates, and now a top ticket candidate who may bring them all down - even after eight years they didn't realize just how crazy their new base was, how it would reject every other candidate as not extreme or deranged enough. They should have seen it coming but they never do, and now Trump is poised to fracture their entire party in two in civil war. As always, the GOP does not realize they are the only ones to blame. Trump is the worst part of their id made flesh - that's why their voters love him. He gives voice to everything they thought none of their leaders would say.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Vee

[Soapsuds]

Seriously WTF with Rubio? Trump is a loser plain and simply but whats with Rubio and Trump's hands? Dear….really Rubio? You are running for President and the only way you think you can get votes is by comparing Trump's hands to his *&^^%((()&?? Insane!

[NothinButAttitude]

Vee, you summed it up beautifully. Better (and more in depth) than what I tried to do. 

[Juliajms]

I see people say this a lot and I agree it's one of the fears Trump is playing on. It's not exactly true though. It relies on the idea that all non white people are some monolith, which is so far from true.  I spent 8 years living in Daly City California (supposedly one of the most liberal areas in the country), which has very few whites and I have never seen more open racial hatred in my life.  Plus, whites are set to be a plurality for a good long time, but maybe perception is all that really matters here, which is why the Trumps of the world can manipulate people.

 

Still, I always find it weird when people see Mexican's as the scary "other". People of European descent, who speak a romance language and follow a Christian religion. If that's the "other" people are going to be in for one hell of a shock in about 20 years, since demographics predict a huge rise in the number of Asians coming to the US.

 

[Juliajms]

I've been worried for months. This isn't just about Trump. He's a buffoon who stumbled into being a demagogue. Now we see that there is a huge pool of authoritarian voters out there. The next  demagogue is bound to be smarter and more strategic. He won't make it white nationalists against "the other". It'll just be all of "us" against some vulnerable smaller group like Muslims. I can only imagine what would have happened if Trump had done that. Even now, he's only behind HRC about 10 points in national polls.

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

You can overanalyze but i think it's a combination of factors that are driving Donald Trumps rise. It's not just hate or fear. It's a lot more than that. some if it is anti-Obama hysteria and hatred no doubt. another part is nationalism which there is nothing wrong with that. Another part is jobs and the economy. Another part is foreign policy and Americans strength/role in the world. 

 

MHP is so dramatic and completely unreasonable so I'm not gonna shed tears over her. It's a freaking election season so of course they need more airtime to cover it and you should be a team player.

 

glad they're getting of useless agenda driven Jose Diaz Balart tho...thank you Lord. All his show was immigration 101 and "illegal immigrants are 100% innocent" day in and day out. I can do without him on my screen. Keep Joy Reid (whom I love), Tamron Hall, Kate Snow, Richard Liu, Craig Melvin, and Steve Kornacki and I'll be good. 

 

For the love of God please get rid of Joe and Mika....

[Soapsuds]

I guess it time for Rubio and the rest to leave the race but it won't happen. So sad that Rubio can't accept reality. 

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

Somewhere Jebbie is gleefully cackling...;)

 

quietly I'm at least happy for that. Marco was a traitor and should have waited his turn. No matter how hot or charming he is. 

 

Hillary is destroying this guy all across the south. I wish he'd just stop so Hillary can rest recoup and get ready for the fall.

 

meanwhile how does Chris Christie look at himself in the mirror after standing behind Donald trump these days? This is just pitiful and a clear cut example of "you do for me....I do for you" 

Edited March 2, 2016 by ThePrinceOfSunspear

[Vee]

 

No one's overanalyzing, these are plain facts we've all known for years. Please don't make excuses for the disgusting xenophobic bigotry and antiquated breast-beating of the right wing.

 

It's because of Obama's administration that we're far more respected worldwide now than the absolute bottom of the barrel we were in thanks to Bush II. The Republicans just don't like it because they prefer swagger and hawkishness to any kind of humility or acceptance of mistakes. They refuse to deal in reality - they want a nonstop glory train where everybody is always rich, always powerful, always on top, never losing. But we're not always rich. We have gone down in the eyes of the world, we haven't always won. It took our facing what we'd become to begin to dig ourselves out of it, financially, internationally, morally.

 

The Tea Party base couldn't handle facing it. That's why they gravitate to an ignorant fascistic oligarch who tells them that they, like him, can always be great, powerful and on top just like their dewy dreams of the Reagan era or the '50s - even though Trump is historically a failed, debt-ridden huckster with a lot of bluster. They value bluster and fantasies over honest, hard solutions. And that's their fatal flaw.