Who is going to win this election in November?

[ichab]

He didn't attribute rape to every single Mexican on the planet. He was trying to make the point (not so eloquently) that illegal immigration from south of the border also imports crime (to include rape). He definitely could have chosen his words more wisely.

What does it mean to be "above politics?"

To me it means to not take criticism so personally and lash out. Trump does this on a regular basis and that's a bad quality for a candidate to have when he's asking to be President of the United States.

He's made many statements like these in the past. He has a bad tendency to shoot from the hip and that's why he makes stupid statements like "I know more about foreign policy than the generals." Give me a break. I don't trust him on "making america great again" because he failed so many times at making businesses he touched better.His most successful venture has been building his celebrity and convincing people he's this great businessman. He's the ultimate con artist

 

[locutus101]

I thought Hitler got credit for that too, and said "machen Deutschland wieder groß" (Make Germany Great Again).

Good one!

 

[ichab]

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I was a huge fan of the USFL. Back then the Bucs were the laughingstock of pro football so to have an exciting team like the Bandits in Tampa was nice. Then Trump came along, convinced the owners to move from spring to fall and PRESTO! the league had to fold.

 

[fonzob1]

Don't you find that a bit too apologetic? His words were incredibly irresponsible and dangerous in that they fuel xenophobia. I think somebody who does that is clearly unfit for presidency.

I agree that his choice of words has been irresponsible in a great many things he has said (although his campaign manager has drastically improved that lately). And, his comments did bring some people out of the woodwork with skewed opinions about how exactly illegal immigrants are impacting this country. That said, I agree with the premise of tightening our borders because if you don't know exactly who is coming into the country, you could be contributing to crime (and maybe even terrorism) down the road. If our economy is to absorb migrant workers, it should be done through a legal, organized process like Au Pair.

And regardless of Trump's faults, I am not a fan of Hillary. I think her handling of classified information on a private server was also irresponsible and not behavior you would expect from a Secretary of State (let alone potential President).

 

[fonzob1]

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I was a huge fan of the USFL. Back then the Bucs were the laughingstock of pro football so to have an exciting team like the Bandits in Tampa was nice. Then Trump came along, convinced the owners to move from spring to fall and PRESTO! the league had to fold.

I have studied the USFL quite a bit. I disagree that it was Trump's fault that the USFL folded though. The announcement to move from Spring to Fall was a last ditch effort to save a league that was already tens of millions of dollars in debt (a lot of money in the 1980's). The collapse didn't happen overnight, and it was already inevitable when the announcement was made to move to the Fall.

The reason why the USFL collapsed was overspending coupled with a lack of a market for professional football in the Spring. Spring is dominated by other sports (mainly baseball).

Did you also follow the UFL (United Football League) from 2009 to 2012?

 

[{ Emilia }]

I agree that his choice of words has been irresponsible in a great many things he has said (although his campaign manager has drastically improved that lately). And, his comments did bring some people out of the woodwork with skewed opinions about how exactly illegal immigrants are impacting this country. That said, I agree with the premise of tightening our borders because if you don't know exactly who is coming into the country, you could be contributing to crime (and maybe even terrorism) down the road. If our economy is to absorb migrant workers, it should be done through a legal, organized process like Au Pair.

And regardless of Trump's faults, I am not a fan of Hillary. I think her handling of classified information on a private server was also irresponsible and not behavior you would expect from a Secretary of State (let alone potential President).

Can we please, just for a moment, stop pretending that Hillary's "scandal" is even remotely as scary as the things Trump says?
Even the FBI didn't seem too impressed by the issue after all. I'll gladly take a politician who did the email server thing over a raging, xenophobic and misogynistic lunatic who can reasonably be described as a fascist, who is happy to poison civilized political discourse for years to come and who shows both an incredible lack of knowledge in many policy fields and a pathologic tendency to simply lie about things.

Nobody says Hillary is the perfect candidate (because no candidate is perfect) and I don't agree with all her policy ideas either. But she is clearly competent and a pretty unremarkable continuation of American policies of the last decades. For European standards she's pretty centre-right in many aspects.

This isn't even the point. The point is that Donald Trump is an absolute disaster. He hates, he lies, he is ignorant. Even when I analyzed his behavior back in late 2015 he already ticked all major boxes when it came to identifying him as a fascist (cult of personality, cult of action,...).

This isn't a choice between two equally valid options in a liberal democracy. Trump isn't a "normal candidate" and we should stop pretending that he is. We are normalizing his behaviour and his hateful views when we do that.

You don't have to love or even like Hillary Clinton to see that. If Trump ran against George W. Bush I'd hope people vote for George W. Bush (and I can't stand the fucker). Trump is a threat to American democracy, to civilized political/public discourse, to social peace within the US.
Yes, Bush was fucking awful... but Trump would be on a whole new level.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

If Trump had somehow, say, run in 2004 as the Democratic candidate challenging Bush, I would have reluctantly voted for Bush while also lamenting the probable demise of the Democratic Party for the foreseeable future. But, evidently unlike many, I put my country before the party I affiliate with.

 

[auntiehill]

.....................
You don't have to love or even like Hillary Clinton to see that. If Trump ran against George W. Bush I'd hope people vote for George W. Bush (and I can't stand the fucker). Trump is a threat to American democracy, to civilized political/public discourse, to social peace within the US and to the World.
Yes, Bush was fucking awful... but Trump would be on a whole new level.

You took the words right out of my mouth. Or post. Whatever.

I've always voted for the Democrat but I'd take a total fuck-up like Bush, Jr over Trump any day. Bush was incompetent, self-serving and uncaring, but he wasn't totally insane. Trump probably is; his fascination with using nuclear weapons should scare the crap out of all Americans. His racist, misogynistic ideas, his willingness to abandon all our allies, his total ignorance of other cultures and his professed admiration for dictators and tyrants...how is any of this OK with ANY SANE human being? Every position he now touts, he at one time supported the completely opposite view. He doesn't want to be President; he wants to the Emperor. He doesn't want to serve the public; he wants to be worshiped and feared. He's a repulsive megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur and no understanding at all of ethics, compassion and sacrifice. He's shown complete disregard for everyone that isn't HIM. He's a lunatic, plain and simple and for the first time in my life, I'm scared to death of what will happen not just to my country, but to the entire planet.

 

[locutus101]

There's only about seven weeks left before the moment of truth.

 

[Hugo Rune]

And The Truth will set you free.

Unless you are an immigrant, enjoy your first amendment rights, use the internet, worship at a Mosque, don't want to be sexually harassed at work, aren't part of the 1% and enjoy a darker skin tone to the new savior, Cheeto-Jesus.

Hugo - hoping the saner half of the US turn out in droves to quench the fires of this radioactive hate-monger

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Infraction for flaming. Comments to PM.

Infraction for Flaming. Comment to PM.

After receiving an appeal from Coloratura and having a productive discussion with ichab via PM earlier today, I have decided to reverse both of their infractions. Thanks all.

 

[locutus101]

I certainly hope that come election day on November, sanity will win the day.

 

[fonzob1]

Can we please, just for a moment, stop pretending that Hillary's "scandal" is even remotely as scary as the things Trump says?
Even the FBI didn't seem too impressed by the issue after all. I'll gladly take a politician who did the email server thing over a raging, xenophobic and misogynistic lunatic who can reasonably be described as a fascist, who is happy to poison civilized political discourse for years to come and who shows both an incredible lack of knowledge in many policy fields and a pathologic tendency to simply lie about things.

Nobody says Hillary is the perfect candidate (because no candidate is perfect) and I don't agree with all her policy ideas either. But she is clearly competent and a pretty unremarkable continuation of American policies of the last decades. For European standards she's pretty centre-right in many aspects.

This isn't even the point. The point is that Donald Trump is an absolute disaster. He hates, he lies, he is ignorant. Even when I analyzed his behavior back in late 2015 he already ticked all major boxes when it came to identifying him as a fascist (cult of personality, cult of action,...).

This isn't a choice between two equally valid options in a liberal democracy. Trump isn't a "normal candidate" and we should stop pretending that he is. We are normalizing his behaviour and his hateful views when we do that.

You don't have to love or even like Hillary Clinton to see that. If Trump ran against George W. Bush I'd hope people vote for George W. Bush (and I can't stand the fucker). Trump is a threat to American democracy, to civilized political/public discourse, to social peace within the US.
Yes, Bush was fucking awful... but Trump would be on a whole new level.

He certainly has his faults. Calling for "stop and frisk" is just the latest. It will probably end up in the Supreme Court, and undoubtedly get shot down. Stop and frisk didn't work out so well in Baltimore.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

He certainly has his faults. Calling for "stop and frisk" is just the latest. It will probably end up in the Supreme Court, and undoubtedly get shot down. Stop and frisk didn't work out so well in Baltimore.

Or New York or anywhere else. Plus, it's a massively racist policy that's a violation of the 4th and 14th Amendments, completely ineffective as a method of catching criminals or as a crime deterrent (not that it would be OK even if it had been effective), alienates the minority populace and visitors to the city and makes them feel like criminals on a daily basis, creates a culture of mistrust of the police which prevents people from turning to them in time of need or assisting them with stopping actual crime, endangers civilian lives by needlessly putting them into encounters with police who don't have the best track record of dealing with minorities, endangers police needlessly by increasing the risk of puncture wounds from hypodermic needles during unnecessary searches of drug addicts who weren't being violent, keeps police preoccupied with pointless busywork instead of actually patrolling the city looking for real crimes, and greatly increases the nonviolent drug offender incarceration rate.

So all around just a terrible, racist, alienating, unconstitutional, idiotic concept that's all about loudly pretending to be effective but has little actual substance to it, much like Donald Trump himself. It's no wonder he likes it.

http://www.abajournal.com/news/arti...ork_cops_violated_fourth_and_14th_amendments/
http://www.nyclu.org/node/1598

 

[locutus101]

He's all lies and pretense.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Hillary Clinton is accused (but never charged) of various vague scandals and conspiracies: fonzob confidently declares she's unqualified, unfit for President.

Donald Trump openly calls for unconstitutional and illegal policies: fonzob just thinks people are being too hard on him.

Definitely no double standard going on here!

 

[locutus101]

Hillary Clinton is accused (but never charged) of various vague scandals and conspiracies: fonzob confidently declares she's unqualified, unfit for President.

Donald Trump openly calls for unconstitutional and illegal policies: fonzob just thinks people are being too hard on him.

Definitely no double standard going on here!

You have a point.

 

[fonzob1]

Hillary Clinton is accused (but never charged) of various vague scandals and conspiracies: fonzob confidently declares she's unqualified, unfit for President.

Donald Trump openly calls for unconstitutional and illegal policies: fonzob just thinks people are being too hard on him.

Definitely no double standard going on here!

What she did is not in question though. Whether or not there was malicious intent is in question, and that is why the FBI says there are no charges. There is no doubt that she made some very poor choices. Hillary would have to kill someone in order for the FBI to bring charges against a former first lady, Senator, and Secretary of State.

I never said anyone was being too hard on Trump. Although, I do think the Hitler comparisons are over the top. Hitler's crimes were pretty significant.

 

[Amaris]

What she did is not in question though. Whether or not there was malicious intent is in question, and that is why the FBI says there are no charges. There is no doubt that she made some very poor choices. Hillary would have to kill someone in order for the FBI to bring charges against a former first lady, Senator, and Secretary of State.

I never said anyone was being too hard on Trump. Although, I do think the Hitler comparisons are over the top. Hitler's crimes were pretty significant.

It's not that Trump is Hitler, or that he has the history Hitler had, it's the mindset Trump possesses. He's a demagogue, he's notoriously thin skinned, he's utterly transparent in his naked grab of money, power, and influence. He openly threatens his detractors with harm. His message coalesces around the notion of discriminating against an entire class of people, putting the woes of the nation on their backs, and part of his political platform is to make them pay for that perceived crime.

Of course, some people believe he may be more akin to Henry Ford. It's something I've been reading up on recently, and I found this Salon article from 2015 that goes into greater detail. While I'm generally not a Salon reading kind of person, they cite their references, so it's at least worth a look: http://www.salon.com/2015/12/10/no_...is_real_historical_comparison_is_still_scary/

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Hitler's crimes were pretty significant.

He certainly has his faults. Don't hold back now, tell us how you really feel.

No one is saying Trump is literally going to follow in the path of Hitler. We're not saying he'll get in office and start lining up Muslims for mass genocide, though I certainly wouldn't put further devastating wars in the Middle East or elsewhere that may kill God knows how many hundreds of thousands or millions of people past him for a second. What we're saying is that he does fit all the criteria of a fascist, and he does have a groundswell of unquestioning and largely bigoted supporters, and that he is way too dangerous to be commander-in-chief of the most powerful military in the world and control an arsenal of nuclear weapons as a result.