2016 US Presidential Election Thread XIV: May This Entertainment Never End

[Popmartijn]

Originally Posted by bono_212

I wanted her to answer Trumps question, nothing more, nothing less. He makes the point that she could've self-funded as he did, I thought it was interesting, and I wanted to know what she said.

Ah, OK. (Except for the fact that he didn't self-fund either, is profiting when others are footing the bill and also has super-PACs working for him.)

[LuckyNumber7]

Originally Posted by Popmartijn

Ah, OK. (Except for the fact that he didn't self-fund either, is profiting when others are footing the bill and also has super-PACs working for him.)

In fairness, technical super PACs make up next to nothing from his funding. But yes, "self funding" is a bit misguided.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

[PhilsFan]

People spinning this like Trump "stopped the bleeding" when he rambled like a lunatic for 100 minutes makes no sense to me. He was horrific.

[LuckyNumber7]

The longer this goes on, the more it plays out Luke a reality tv show.

Which clearly only the moderators and Clinton weren't participating in, but sadly that wasn't enough.

[BEAL]

It's not like these debates have much of an impact on polls, or swaying people's minds.

In this case, it was more curiosity on how Trump would come out. Does he come out showing any remorse for his words? Does he attempt to focus on the plans he has for this country? Or does he come out full retard and attack, attack, attack.

Nothing he said made any sense at all. I have no idea what the Post Office thing was.....He answered the question about potential sexual assault with "ISIS". And his biggest show of class, he invited the mistresses of Bill Clinton in attendance.

How is that supposed to sway independents? How is it supposed to show he's not petty, or childish?

Any other candidate the GOP could have put up would have had a chance against Hillary. Factual or not, she has a ton of baggage and fodder that any other politician could have exposed.

Instead, Trump gets baited into petty shit and he cannot let it go.

This was a complete embarrassment for this country. The most powerful nation in the world, holding election for the most powerful office in the world, has it's debate reduced to a reality tv show bullshit show. Hillary at least talked about policy, and some plans for the country. Even if these plans had the usual political speak...

It was at least coherent, made some sense, and is possible.

On the other side. We got a sniffling, pacing, angry Orange Con Man just talking shit. We'll repeal ACA and replace it with something good. It'll be so good, you won't believe how good it'll be.

We go two ways after this election. We decide we want a little better out of our elected officials, or we go further into the trash and nominate more Trumps.

I hope it's the former, but fear it's the latter.

And one final note. I fear for Hillary's life when she's elected. The rhetoric during this cycle has been the worst I've ever seen/heard. Trump has made more than a few remarks to incite potential violence against her. The GOP has spent 30 years turning Clinton(s) into the devil.

Obama took some of this too, but I don't think it's ever been as bad as it has with Clinton.

Just three more weeks....

[BEAL]

Oh

And Bernie Sanders thinks I have bad judgement for watching the debate last night.

And he's right

[LuckyNumber7]

Originally Posted by BEAL

It's not like these debates have much of an impact on polls, or swaying people's minds.

In this case, it was more curiosity on how Trump would come out. Does he come out showing any remorse for his words? Does he attempt to focus on the plans he has for this country? Or does he come out full retard and attack, attack, attack.

I'm just really curious -- did anyone really expect him to do anything else? That much I don't understand.

Given who he is and what he's done, he had exactly two options: 1) what he ended up doing, or 2) quit the race.

And I don't think anyone thought he was about to quit last night. Trump sincerely apologizing and putting his tail between his legs doesn't do him any good, short of showing some humanity. And I'm pretty sure we all know he doesn't have humanity.

[gump]

Hillary +11 in the new NBC poll (taken after the tape was released). Was +6 in the previous one.

A +8 or +9 national margin on the elections probably puts Georgia into play. Maybe even Texas depending on turnout.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Originally Posted by gump

Hillary +11 in the new NBC poll (taken after the tape was released). Was +6 in the previous one.

A +8 or +9 national margin on the elections probably puts Georgia into play. Maybe even Texas depending on turnout.

And the tape really didn't fully set in when this poll was taken. It was taken the same day it was released.

Ryan has told House Republicans that he will no longer campaign or defend Trump.

[Diemen]

Originally Posted by Headache in a Suitcase

Ryan has told House Republicans that he will no longer campaign or defend Trump.

Won't unendorse him though. Just in case.

[gump]

So basically the election is going as everyone predicted 6 months ago...

[Headache in a Suitcase]

We are a complete and utter embarrassment. Thanks again, GOP.

[BVS]

Originally Posted by BEAL

We go two ways after this election. We decide we want a little better out of our elected officials, or we go further into the trash and nominate more Trumps.

I think we all hope this is a turning point, but given the fact that the entire world was warning them about Trump and their propensity to double down on stupid, I fear we'll get at least one more from the trash pile.

It's funny, they absolutely hate Hillary, and like you said almost anyone they put up against her would have had a chance due to her baggage(real or imagined), but they chose the one that almost guaranteed her the seat.

If it weren't so scary and embarrassing to the nation as a whole, their ignorance would be hysterical.


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

[gump]

It's interesting to think where the GOP goes from here. There really seems to be only two main possible outcomes.

- The GOP splits in two parties: a nativist one similar to the European extreme right, and a more traditional, conservative wing that resembles European Christian Democrats (Merkel, for example). The latter would undoubtedly appeal to many conservative Democrats, particularly in red states, which could compensate for the loss of the "deplorable" half (which is more like 30% probably).

- The GOP adopts a Ryan-style policy of trying to appease the two camps, which will ultimately fail (apart from local races) as demographic trends shift. The GOP then continues to lose popularity nation-wide, and America becomes Democratic-leaning for the foreseeable future. Democrats should be somewhat scared of this scenario, to be frank, as a vital opposition is important in any democracy.

I suppose there's a scenario, probably even more likely, that the GOP will try to deny that Trump ever happened ("it's the mainstream media's fault!!1!") and proceed to nominate a Pence-type of politician in 2020. But this would eventually become the second option above.

I hope #1 turns out to happen, but not holding my breath given how entrenched the two-party system is in this country.

[corianderstem]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

Seems like Pence is still in.

Yes, for now. Still loads of time for the next 180 Trump scandals.

Originally Posted by deep

She also,lied about not being there when Obama drew the red line. She was SOS then.

Not according to the fact checking of the NYT.

"Whatever the policy merits, it is false that Mrs. Clinton was part of the administration when this happened."

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...smtyp=cur&_r=0

[iron yuppie]

Originally Posted by BVS

If it weren't so scary and embarrassing to the nation as a whole, their ignorance would be hysterical.

I think it would have been embarrassing to the country if he were to get elected. If he gets trounced on election day, as all signs are indicating will happen, it's only an embarrassment to the small group of Republicans who continue to support him.

[BoMac]

Sent from my Nexus 5 using U2 Interference mobile app

__________________

[namkcuR]

Originally Posted by gump

It's interesting to think where the GOP goes from here. There really seems to be only two main possible outcomes.

- The GOP splits in two parties: a nativist one similar to the European extreme right, and a more traditional, conservative wing that resembles European Christian Democrats (Merkel, for example). The latter would undoubtedly appeal to many conservative Democrats, particularly in red states, which could compensate for the loss of the "deplorable" half (which is more like 30% probably).

- The GOP adopts a Ryan-style policy of trying to appease the two camps, which will ultimately fail (apart from local races) as demographic trends shift. The GOP then continues to lose popularity nation-wide, and America becomes Democratic-leaning for the foreseeable future. Democrats should be somewhat scared of this scenario, to be frank, as a vital opposition is important in any democracy.

I suppose there's a scenario, probably even more likely, that the GOP will try to deny that Trump ever happened ("it's the mainstream media's fault!!1!") and proceed to nominate a Pence-type of politician in 2020. But this would eventually become the second option above.

I hope #1 turns out to happen, but not holding my breath given how entrenched the two-party system is in this country.

In either of your first two scenarios, where does the big-business, Wall Street, Bush, Koch wing fit in?

In any case, I think if the GOP wants to win any presidential elections in the future, they need to ditch the 'Christian right' AND the nativists. It's all about demographics. The African-American demographic is already a powerful voting block, the Latino/a population is only going to keep growing, the gay population is more emboldened and open than ever before and the younger generations are far less likely to be swayed by religiously-informed homophobic positions on those issues, and the percentage of people nationally identifying as atheist, agnostic, or unaffiliated is rising, and now combine to make up a quarter of the population, and that could continue to rise and in turn decrease the acceptance of conservative social positions and increase the vitriol of the nativists/trumpists who still support said positions. Oh, and women generally support the party that wants to give them their reproductive rights and equal pay and more(no GOP candidate has won a majority of women since Bush 41 in 1988).

You simply cannot alienate that many demographics and expect to win national elections.

[corianderstem]

The post-debate #muslimsreportstuff hashtag on Twitter was gold.