US Politics V - now with 20% more echo chamber

[DaveC]

do we have anyone here from hawaii? curious to hear about reactions to the missile alert.

 

[deep]

People spend way too much time online. I cut about 80% of my time down, and feel much better for it.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

13 minutes to bottom out, eh?

Sounds about right.

 

[Irvine511]

grade A quality content here:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/tomphillips/twitterstorm-2018?utm_term=.yiP23dZZw#.jh4MwPVVE

 

[anitram]

The disgusting Trump is braying on about the "right to life" on TV. Given what we know about him banging random women without birth control, it's only a matter of time before we start getting details about abortions being bought like candy.

 

[Nick66]

I think if it came out Trump paid for an abortion it's one of the few things that would have the potential of really hurting him with his base. They seem to be willing to overlook almost anything, but I think abortion might be a line.

He's such a hypocrite anyway. He doesn't care about abortion, and I doubt he cares whether gay people get married or any other social issue. He was a Democrat for most of his life for crying out loud. His pandering to evangelicals like he's one of them is so transparent, that I can only believe they see through it and don't care because 1) the Supreme Court and; 2) they hate Democrats. Anyone who believes he really believes all the things he's saying about these social issues is self-delusional.

I do believe the misogyny come from his core, along with most of the anti-immigrant stuff. Those things get him worked up, but I don't think he sits around stewing about abortion or gay people. His entire "ideology", such as it is, is self-promotion anyway.

 

[anitram]

I totally agree. I have no doubt he has a long history of abortions in his past and really doesn't care one way or another what people do in that respect. Likewise for gays and transgendered - I can see him thinking they are "icky" or "gross" in that juvenile Trump way but that's the extent of his thought process on the subject. No way is that the hill he's going to die on.

Mike Pence is a true believer in this regard though and I think that is also a large motivator for the evangelicals beyond the Supreme Court/hatred of Democrats. But beyond that the evangelicals have shown themselves to be amoral hypocrites more generally. It's not that they ever had some grand standing among the US public but I think 20, 30 years ago more people were willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Pretty much nobody is anymore.

 

[Nick66]

Pence is indeed a true believer, and absolutely committed to his ideology...the scariest kind of politician. Especially given he can carry it off with the veneer of competence.

And the bar is so low now, anyone will look competent after Trump. And while he wouldn't likely embarrass himself or America the way Trump has in terms of his personal behaviour and demeanour, in a way he's scarier IMO (though not as frightening as Rick Santorum, who I find to the be creepiest pol around).

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

So now some very glam photos and a very expensive ensemble qualify one to be President? Given the current situation, not surprising.

First femal President!

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Remember that time everyone hoped Ivanka was the saving grace of the Trump administration? Why, exactly?

Almost as absurd as Melania being innocent in all of this.

 

[Nick66]

I wonder if anyone actually qualified to be President can win the Presidency in 2020. People don't seem to care about that anymore.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

I wonder if anyone actually qualified to be President can win the Presidency in 2020. People don't seem to care about that anymore.

I wonder if anyone actually qualified to be president can win a nomination.

Sanders is posturing. Really hope Sanders and Warren don't go head to head in a tough primary.

 

[Nick66]

Battle of the Geriatrics! A 78 year old takes on a 70 year old to to try to defeat a 73 year old to decide the future of the country!

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Battle of the Geriatrics! A 78 year old takes on a 70 year old to to try to defeat a 73 year old to decide the future of the country!

I wish we could get past the superficial crap. Who cares how old someone is? Are we so simplistic to a point where we examine characteristics of a candidate that are largely irrelevant? I agree that someone's age may, perhaps, indicate something about them. Maybe they're less in touch with society? Maybe they're old school? Maybe they will fail to relate with the current major generation of the workforce, and the future generation?

Sure, all valid points. If you're reaching into a bag of old people and randomly pulling one out. As for a known politician of age x, I think the least we can do is accept their views and answer these age-related questions as a case by case basis. After all, it's the president of the United States. I don't think generalizations are even on the map.

 

[anitram]

Remember that time everyone hoped Ivanka was the saving grace of the Trump administration? Why, exactly?

Almost as absurd as Melania being innocent in all of this.

I don't want to defend Melania but I think we all know why she married him. And truthfully she mostly looks to me like she's surviving on Ativan or Valium or something similar and who can blame her. She is totally apolitical and disinterested.

Ivanka is an opportunist and totally knows what she's doing.

 

[Nick66]

I wish we could get past the superficial crap. Who cares how old someone is? Are we so simplistic to a point where we examine characteristics of a candidate that are largely irrelevant? I agree that someone's age may, perhaps, indicate something about them. Maybe they're less in touch with society? Maybe they're old school? Maybe they will fail to relate with the current major generation of the workforce, and the future generation?

Sure, all valid points. If you're reaching into a bag of old people and randomly pulling one out. As for a known politician of age x, I think the least we can do is accept their views and answer these age-related questions as a case by case basis. After all, it's the president of the United States. I don't think generalizations are even on the map.

You're reading a lot into a quip.

I'm not passing judgement on someone's age being an impediment to their being a good President (I didn't make any of the points you mentioned), just making an observation. The Democrats do after all fancy themselves the party of the young and minorities...so it's just a bit of irony. Though certainly there will be plenty of younger and more diverse candidates than those two looking to take on Trump.

Anyway, I tend to think things like leadership, temperament and experience are more important in a President than having a certain set of ideas. I frankly thought Obama had some good ideas but wasn't ready to be President (I wanted Clinton in 2008) and I thought it showed, particularly in his first term.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

The headline for the In Touch Stormy Daniels full interview says "I can describe his junk perfectly".

 

[anitram]

The headline for the In Touch Stormy Daniels full interview says "I can describe his junk perfectly".

There is no amount of $ in this world...

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

There is no amount of $ in this world...

Lol, same here. The best part so far is when she says " It wasn't like omg I love you. He wasn't like Fabio or anything". So far she actually hasn't described his junk, thank God.

And Ben Roethlisberger was at this golf tournament and Trump had him walk her back to her hotel room. She was really tempting fate, Trump and Ben R (pre him marrying and finding religion).

 

[Nick66]

I'd do it for 10 mil.

5 mil if he wore protection.

3 mil if he wore protection, an Ivanka mask & the whole thing went down after I had access to his wine cellar for a few hours.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

There is no amount of $ in this world...

There's always enough money in this world...

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I think if it came out Trump paid for an abortion it's one of the few things that would have the potential of really hurting him with his base. They seem to be willing to overlook almost anything, but I think abortion might be a line.

.

Yeaaaa... nah.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slat...trump_jokes_about_having_wanted_abortion.html

No wonder Tiffany hates him

 

[BVS]

I think if it came out Trump paid for an abortion it's one of the few things that would have the potential of really hurting him with his base. They seem to be willing to overlook almost anything, but I think abortion might be a line.

He's such a hypocrite anyway. He doesn't care about abortion, and I doubt he cares whether gay people get married or any other social issue. He was a Democrat for most of his life for crying out loud. His pandering to evangelicals like he's one of them is so transparent, that I can only believe they see through it and don't care because 1) the Supreme Court and; 2) they hate Democrats. Anyone who believes he really believes all the things he's saying about these social issues is self-delusional.

I do believe the misogyny come from his core, along with most of the anti-immigrant stuff. Those things get him worked up, but I don't think he sits around stewing about abortion or gay people. His entire "ideology", such as it is, is self-promotion anyway.

Nah, they’ll just say ‘that was when he was a dem’, just like the pussy grabbing.

 

[anitram]

Nah, they’ll just say ‘that was when he was a dem’, just like the pussy grabbing.

Just a little locker room procedure...

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I got an up and close look at those March for Life wackos this morning. Nothing brightens up your entrance to work like a little girl holding a poster of a fetus claiming that it's smiling

 

[BVS]

https://youtu.be/om4nRpstKYI

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

For the love of Oprah let there be abortion records from a porn star.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

They're in too deep. Such records would be dismissed as liberal conspiracy.

 

[DaveC]

They're in too deep. Such records would be dismissed as liberal conspiracy.

yup. i found a trumpist twitter profile yesterday where the guy (presuming it wasn't just a fake russian troll account) repeated several apparently totally seriously that literally every single media outlet in the world is colluding to publish totally fake negative articles about trump, and every single negative thing you hear about him from any media source in the world is 100% fake, a total fabrication. not that the reporting is unfairly critical, it's that anything negative trump supposedly did simply did not happen because donald trump cannot do anything negative. every single media outlet on earth is in on this conspiracy to bring down what is objectively the greatest leader the world has ever known. and this of course is all plainly obvious to anyone who is actually paying attention.

this man literally is more infallible than the pope and only matched by jesus christ himself, and anything bad you hear about him is completely made up by (((evil leftists))) working for the deep state or george soros.

there's no way these people would accept any sort of evidence whatsoever that their saviour is actually just a really awful human.

i'm fairly sure that believing so strongly in this sort of objectively false worldview is an actual mental illness. i'm honestly not sure what can be done about this sort of thing and it makes me pretty worried about what these people are going to do if he loses the next (surely very nasty and even more divisive) election...remember how there were so many threatening calls for an armed march on washington if hillary won.

 

[PhilsFan]

This piece from this past summer is the best I have seen at summarizing the appeal of Trump to his voters.

https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-president-of-blank-sucking-nullity-roth

It is not quite fair to say that Donald Trump lacks core beliefs, but to the extent that we can take apart these beliefs they amount to Give Donald Trump Your Money and Donald Trump Should Really Be on Television More. The only comprehensible throughline to his politics is that everything Trump says is something he’s said previously, with additional very’s and more-and-more’s appended over time; his worldview amounts to the sum of the dumb shit he saw on the cover of the New York Post in 1985, subjected to a few decades of rancid compounding interest and deteriorating mental aptitude. He watches a lot of cable news, but he struggles to follow even stories that have been custom built for people like him—old, uninformed, amorphously if deeply aggrieved.

There’s a reason for this. Trump doesn’t know anything or really believe anything about any topic beyond himself, because he has no interest in any topic beyond himself; his evident cognitive decline and hyperactive laziness and towering monomania ensure that he will never again learn a new thing in his life. He has no friends and no real allies; his inner circle is divided between ostensibly scandalized cynics and theatrically shameless ones, all of whom hold him in low regard and see him as a potential means to their individuated ends. There is no help on the way; his outer orbit is a rotation of replacement-level rage-grandpas and defective, perpetually clammy operators.

...

To understand Trump is also to understand his appeal as an aspirational brand to the worst people in the United States. What his intransigent admirers like most about him—the thing they aspire to, in their online cosplay sessions and their desperately thirsty performances for a media they loathe and to which they are so helplessly addicted—is his freedom to be unconcerned with anything but himself. This is not because he is rich or brave or astute; it’s because he is an asshole, and so authentically unconcerned. The howling and unreflective void at his core will keep him lonely and stupid until the moment a sufficient number of his vital organs finally resign in disgrace, but it liberates him to devote every bit of his being to his pursuit of himself. Actual hate and actual love, as other people feel them, are too complicated to fit into this world. In their place, for Trump and for the people who see in him a way of being that they are too busy or burdened or humane to pursue, are the versions that exist in a lower orbit, around the self. Instead of hate, there is simple resentment—abject and valueless and recursively self-pitying; instead of love, there is the blank sucking nullity of vanity and appetite.