Politics The 2016 US Presidential Election

He is a thin-skinned, short-fingered, vulgarian.

 

Apparently Trump is ignoring the fact that the legal shield protecting normal citizens from being the focus suspect/questionable news reports was removed when he placed in himself in the public eye, especially as a presidential candidate.

If he thinks that he's being treated unfairly by the news media now, just wait until the actual presidential race starts. The media coverage might not be fair, depending on your views, but a man as successful as Trump didn't get where he is without doing some questionable things. At the very least some of his dealings were unethical, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some were illegal.

I've been out of school a very long time and have forgotten a lot, but I can't recall a time in recent US history (let's say starting with The Great Depression since that brought about many new government regulations on businesses) where a major industrialist and/or business leader has ran for POTUS. And I think that there is good reason for that: They knew better than to subject themselves to the intense news media scrutiny. It was, and still is, much safer to back a candidate rather than be a candidate.

 

This ^ supports my thought that Trump would start WWIII over something minor. A terrorist attack on the US by a radical Islamic group with Trump as POTUS? He'd have the answer: Just obliterate the entire Middle East.

 

I really think Sanders can't win.
It's no secret I am pretty much to the left of most people and I like a lot of what he stands for, but I just dont think you can win from outside of the mainstream capitalist orthodoxy. He will have 25% of people who support him passionately and the rest will be scared off voting for him if the mainstream media and state apparatus really focuses the attack.

I'm afraid to say I really think Hillary can't win. She just fails the likeability test. I dont worry about the 5% of people who think Obama is a radical muslim and Ted Cruz is too left wing because they arent going to vote for any Dem (any more than the left wing will vote for any Republican) - but I think she can't to appeal to people who really aren't into politics. She is haughty, dishonest and secretive, not especially competent, she is tainted by plenty of scandals, and she isn't a good speaker. A presidential candidate can get away with some of those failings (LBJ was widely known to be incredibly dishonest, but he was likeable and very very competent; George W was seen as intellectually lightweight, but he had an easy charisma and charm...) People are just not going to vote for someone who hasnt had to drive her own car since 1996 (let alone there is a realistic chance of her being indicted)

Trump I keep thinking at some point he *has* to start talking about policy and talking about something other than soundbites and memes, but his momentum isn't running out yet. The longer it goes the more seriously I am taking him.

_

The best hope for me is that Hillary has some progression of the email situation that rules her out and they persuade Joe Biden to run. He isn't a young guy but he's a year younger than Bernie and only 4 years older than Trump I think. He is a genuinely moderate Democrat (unlike Hillary who is really a moderate Republican running as a Democrat). He has a bit of that "speaking without any filter" that would appeal to people in the same way that Trump does, but he also has a background of getting a lot done in his political career. He is a genuinely nice guy who is liked by nearly all his political opponents. He is a little bit quirky (the inappropriate touching, the fact he probably copied a few people's work to get through college, the whole "Diamond Joe" joke) but it just makes him more human.

I think in a debate Trump will crucify Hillary, but Biden will at least hold his own (he basically ethered Paul Ryan simply by laughing at him, and made people realise how weak Sarah Palin was). I also think he is a moderate but someone who genuinely has achieved progressive advancements in politics, and is someone who can make the govt less partisan and less confrontation overall (in a way Obama failed to do and that will mark his legacy as one of underachieved potential). I really think Hillary or Bernie will mean a Trump presidency. And that is kind of scary, not because I believe Trump will genuinely engage China in a trade war and build a giant wall between the US and Mexico, but because Trump is just in over his head. He is a brilliant debater and brilliant manipulator of public opinion who I believe never thought he would get this far. He really has *no* idea what he wants to do as president, and he is easily going to fall under the influence of the wrong people if he gets in.

 

I also don't think Bernie can win at this point. I'm still supporting him, both because I think he's the best candidate (right up until the moment HRC is nominated, anyhow), and because by staying in, he's forcing the progressive agenda to remain part of the news cycle, and part of voter awareness, and thus forces HRC to eventually be willing to make concessions to a progressive agenda as overtures to win over Bernie supporters after the nomination goes through.

I do actually believe Hillary can (and will) win, but certainly not because she's likeable. She isn't. And if the GOP were running a traditional candidate like Marco Rubio or Chris Christie, I think she'd be up shit creek without a paddle. She might've even been in trouble if it were Kasich, though he's radical conservative and an Olympic-level asshole. But Trump is so utterly beyond the pale, so completely nuts, and is so widely loathed, that I don't believe for a moment that he can beat her.

 

I don't buy the "Hillary is unlikeable so she can't win" theory as it ignores the "Trump is even more unlikeable" part

 

I just don't buy the argument that Hillary is responsible for Bill's inability to keep his dick in his pants. There's lot's of things to detest about Hillary (and I share many of them); but Bill's infidelity isn't relevant. I'd extend the same reasoning to Ivana Trump or Marla Maples. The Donald's affairs are his issue, not theirs.

Warren Buffet endorses Hillary

I'm not a Hillary fan; but Bernie's gonna lose and Hillary > Donald in my world.

 

I tend to agree: I have little inclination to blame Hillary for Bill's personal sexual ethical failings. I am much more interested in blaming her for failing to be adequately invested in fair labor practices, for draconian attitudes about drug/vice laws but insufficient dedication to gun control, for hawkish defense positions and accordant foreign policy, and most of all to carrying on far too close relationships with corporations-- especially Wall Street, the prison-industrial complex, the military-industrial complex, and Big Pharma/Big Medical as well.

And yet...still not as bad as Trump.

 

Such a ringing endorsement, "Not as bad as Trump!"

My stars and garters, sign me up!