President Donald Trump's Final Days...

[diamelsx]

Originally Posted by teamrican1

I don't really think people object to migrant workers of the type you describe. That has always existed in America and nobody much minds. What propelled Trump to victory was the wholesale importation of Third World citizens over the past few decades to live permanently in the United States.

Problem with this I have is that certain forces try to separate the Third World citizenseries from those workers I described.

Originally Posted by teamrican1

It is this massive demographic change that the elites foisted on an unwilling public that is responsible not just for the rise of Trump, but probably also Brexit, and the rise of nationalist parties throughout Europe.

I see the bigger factor being the voter apathy affeting the electorate in general. Almost 93million eligible voters did not vote.
Around 40% of the eligible voting populaton did not vote cause that population does not believe in either canindate enough to do so or worse they do not believe in the process as a whole. They feel the process is like Pryor illustrates here The psychological effects of voting today. How do we fix that problem is going to probably be easier said than done...

[Vaxter]

Originally Posted by diamelsx

I see the bigger factor being the voter apathy affeting the electorate in general. Almost 93million eligible voters did not vote.

I read an article the other day (went to look for it, but can't remember exactly where it was) that broke down some interesting numbers. If I remember correctly- 6 million+ people who voted for president in 2016 either had never voted or hadn't voted for 3 or more presidential election cycles (and were old enough to do so). Something like 4.5 million of those only voted for president (the majority going to Trump nearly 60%), but a surprising number, to me at least, voted only for Clinton and no other down ticket races.

I don't recall the number of overall votes that were only cast for a presidential ticket, but the article said it was one of the highest percentages since Eisenhower.

Among other things that were mentioned was that nearly 11 million people that had voted in all of the past 4 presidential elections (Bush, Bush, Obama, Obama) failed to vote this time. This number was largely hidden by the six million mentioned above.

The single vote people is what could destroy Trump in four years if they lose interest in him or feel like he's failed them. I bet they're gone.

The 11 million that failed to vote this time around is a massive deck of wild cards. Those are people that had to be at least 34 years old (16 years of presidential elections and 18 years before being eligible to vote). Those are the people that whoever runs in 2020 needs to figure out how to get energized and to the polling places.

[bloke57]

Originally Posted by Vaxter

I read an article the other day (went to look for it, but can't remember exactly where it was) that broke down some interesting numbers. If I remember correctly- 6 million+ people who voted for president in 2016 either had never voted or hadn't voted for 3 or more presidential election cycles (and were old enough to do so). Something like 4.5 million of those only voted for president (the majority going to Trump nearly 60%), but a surprising number, to me at least, voted only for Clinton and no other down ticket races.

Sorry if this has been asked of our US friends ad infinitum, but do you think things might have been different if Bernie Sanders had been up against Trump? We didn't see much of him over here but some of my US friends were quite keen on him.

[Vaxter]

Originally Posted by bloke57

Sorry if this has been asked of our US friends ad infinitum, but do you think things might have been different if Bernie Sanders had been up against Trump? We didn't see much of him over here but some of my US friends were quite keen on him.

I think Bernie would've won. This last election (and probably the next few) was kind of a perfect storm of dissatisfaction on so many levels. That said, I don't think Bernie would've impacted Trumps overall vote total. The people who voted Trump likely would've still voted Trump.

I do think Bernie would've swayed more from the third partiers and brought out a fair percentage of the people that couldn't bring themselves to vote for either Hillary or Donnie. That's the two places where Bernie probably would've swung states like Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

[diamelsx]

Originally Posted by bloke57

Sorry if this has been asked of our US friends ad infinitum, but do you think things might have been different if Bernie Sanders had been up against Trump? We didn't see much of him over here but some of my US friends were quite keen on him.

Maybe, it would depend how deeply in Hillary's camp her voters were and how sore the DNC would have been being that their preferred canindate would have just lost. Turnout among the base would be up, but how much of the establishment would he have lost? One other thing would be the media would try to marginalize him as much as possible, not bad press, but as little press as possible. All that being said he had a better chance being he was in far better touch with the voters overall.

[tsunamiSD]

Trump has appointed no one to help his Cabinet secretaries clean up after him

There are two things wrong with President Trump’s claim that Senate Democrats are delaying confirmation of his Cabinet picks. First, it’s not true; the pace of hearings, probes, and votes has been about the same as in previous administrations. Second, if Trump is suggesting that the delays are preventing his government from revving up, he’s the one to blame.
Three weeks into his presidency, Trump has not nominated any second-tier officials—the deputy, under, and assistant secretaries—in a major department. Whatever the merits of his various Cabinet secretaries, they are heading empty shells.

*****

Mike Pence isn’t just a VP. He’s the chief enabler of the president’s fascist ways

Last May, Robert Kagan of the Brookings Institution wrote a prescient essay about American fascism. He pointed to Donald Trump’s emphasis on “feelings of resentment” and his “disrespect for the niceties of the democratic culture.” Kagan discussed models of illiberalism around the world, including Russia, where Vladimir Putin reigned as “the tough man who single-handedly defends his people.” The classic fascist, in Kagan’s words, preached that “whatever the problem, he could fix it,” and drew support from politicians who “praise the leader’s incoherent speeches as the beginning of wisdom.”

On Sunday, Trump’s chief apologist, Vice President Mike Pence, completed Kagan’s scenario. In a round of TV interviews, Pence praised the wisdom and courage of the president’s comments. On ABC’s This Week, Pence was asked about criticism of the travel ban. He replied:

The early days of this administration are going to be described in the history books as days of action. And the American people welcome the decisiveness that President Trump has shown on this issue, putting the safety and security of the American people above the niceties of communicating with people in Washington, or in some cases around the world. He acted. He put the safety of the American people first. And I think this—that’s the kind of leadership the American people want to see.

*****

Andrew Sullivan: The Madness of King Donald

Trump’s lies are different. They are direct refutations of reality — and their propagation and repetition is about enforcing his power rather than wriggling out of a political conundrum. They are attacks on the very possibility of a reasoned discourse, the kind of bald-faced lies that authoritarians issue as a way to test loyalty and force their subjects into submission. That first press conference when Sean Spicer was sent out to lie and fulminate to the press about the inauguration crowd reminded me of some Soviet apparatchik having his loyalty tested to see if he could repeat in public what he knew to be false. It was comical, but also faintly chilling.

There is the obvious question of the president’s mental and psychological health. I know we’re not supposed to bring this up — but it is staring us brutally in the face. I keep asking myself this simple question: If you came across someone in your everyday life who repeatedly said fantastically and demonstrably untrue things, what would you think of him? If you showed up at a neighbor’s, say, and your host showed you his newly painted living room, which was a deep blue, and then insisted repeatedly — manically — that it was a lovely shade of scarlet, what would your reaction be? If he then dragged out a member of his family and insisted she repeat this obvious untruth in front of you, how would you respond? If the next time you dropped by, he was still raving about his gorgeous new red walls, what would you think? Here’s what I’d think: This man is off his rocker. He’s deranged; he’s bizarrely living in an alternative universe; he’s delusional. If he kept this up, at some point you’d excuse yourself and edge slowly out of the room and the house and never return. You’d warn your other neighbors. You’d keep your distance. If you saw him, you’d be polite but keep your distance. I think this is a fundamental reason why so many of us have been so unsettled, anxious, and near panic these past few months. It is not so much this president’s agenda. That always changes from administration to administration. It is that when the linchpin of an entire country is literally delusional, clinically deceptive, and responds to any attempt to correct the record with rage and vengeance, everyone is always on edge.
There is no anchor any more. At the core of the administration of the most powerful country on earth, there is, instead, madness.

[Arturo2nd]

The first of the ill advised appointments bites the dust. The red flags were 1) Flynn was censured for sharing classified information with Pakistani intelligence officials, 2) Flynn was relieved of his command as Director of the Defense Intelligence Service and discharged from the army, and 3) after his discharge Flynn worked as a lobbyist for Russia and had questionable interactions with Russian diplomatic, intelligence, and military officials. Is Flynn a man whose ego gets in the way of sound judgment or a traitor? I have no way of knowing but am glad he is out of such a sensitive post.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politi...id=mailsignout

[diamelsx]

Originally Posted by Brian249x

The first of the ill advised appointments bites the dust. The red flags were 1) Flynn was censured for sharing classified information with Pakistani intelligence officials, 2) Flynn was relieved of his command as Director of the Defense Intelligence Service and discharged from the army, and 3) after his discharge Flynn worked as a lobbyist for Russia and had questionable interactions with Russian diplomatic, intelligence, and military officials. Is Flynn a man whose ego gets in the way of sound judgment or a traitor? I have no way of knowing but am glad he is out of such a sensitive post.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politi...id=mailsignout

I guess Sally Yates is having the last laugh...

[Vaxter]

Originally Posted by rodak

Left wing media would have you believe that Trump's supporters are regretting his election and are preparing to abandon him in droves..

Amazon sales of Joy Villa's music after the grammys tell a different story.



http://www.dailywire.com/news/13420/...00-joseph-curl

According to initial sales reports from Nielsen Music, the artist’s album I Make the Static sold about 15,000 copies in the U.S. on Feb. 12 and 13.

So, Trump still has 15,000 hardcore supporters.

Also according to Nielson Music, the 50 shades darker soundtrack has sold 49,000 copies in 4 days.

Edit to add, what I see posted on 'other' celebrities that make political comments:

Why do singers have to get political, why can't they just keep their mouth shut and do their jobs. They don't have a right to force their opinion down people's throats just because they're famous. Now shut up and sing.

I copied that from Adele's twitter. It appears about 50 times. It also appears on Cher's, Demi Lovato's, Ellie Goulding, Jeezy's.... and on and on and on.

[movieman88]

Originally Posted by 31D1

I'm convinced that what propelled Trump to victory was actually hate, or dislike, for these four things: political correctness, SJWs, Islam, and feminism (all tie together by the way).

Here is the thing, I would consider myself a enemy of modern social justice & feminism. But feminism can be awesome, it can be incredible. The feminist who go out and free sex slaves & raise money for the victims of rape or acid attacks are saints and have my entire support.

The issue is the modern Internet/tumblr brand of them. Who are just so utterly lacking in priorities and are irrational to were it's impossible to discuss or negotiate anything with them.
A few months ago I had such a person dead seriously call me a dangerous predator because I casually defending wanting Wonder Woman to have cleavage.

And it's not just brats on the internet. Marvel comics has been leading the pack in doing diversity centric books and some of it is good like the most recent Black Panther series was great.
But on the flip side they have editors who allowed pic related to be published exactly as you see it. (The character has never been shown to be notably sexist before)

And even worse one of their social justice type artist Robbi Rodriguez basically implied physical threats against a fellow Marvel artist Frank Cho for drawing comissioned sexy fan art of Marvel characters (none of which was pornagraphic and 95% of didn't even have nudity)
And the freaking twitter crowd were so strongly on Robbi's side that the outrage didn't die down until Cho donated 1000$ of his hard earned money to a abused woman's shelter.