so Donald Trump

[GoBigBlue88]

Originally Posted by Brylok

It's more sad that the Republican party has turned politics into a my-team-versus-your-team type of sporting event. They now support a vulgar, Russian agent conman as POTUS. The latest reports I've read state that Trump was recruited by the Russians way back in 1986. Putin recently had Trump's recruiter killed. They're trying to get rid of the ties to his treason. I'm no Reagan fan, but he must be spinning in his grave right now, if corpses could spin.

Are the Democrats any less guilty of that divide, though? Believe me, I personally think GOP obstructionism is a huge reason we find ourselves in many of the sinkholes we do now (AKA the butchering of Obamacare from its original form).

But during Hillary's campaign, it was still, more or less, "us versus the deplorables". Now, Hillary had a little more ground to stand on there because a lot of the Trump groundswell was literally Russian trolls hiding being anonymous social media accounts, stoking fires and generating buzz around their candidate so as to most sully (through memes, of all things) Hillary's name, while keeping Trump hypervisible.

It was still presented as the good guys vs the bad guys though.

I feel contradictory talking/typing about Trump/this political environment, because I really do believe this election is such an outlier in American history. Whereas I never believed in a "wrong" candidate in past elections, I really do believe Trump was the wrong guy elected for the wrong reasons in this one.

It sounds contradictory, I know, but I still feel that while trying to be mindful of partisan divide and realizing the only way to really maximize what America can be is to get everyone to agree that A) we need to be better working together on many things and B) we probably shouldn't elect self-serving, incompetent, ratings/election results-obsessed lunatics to office and expect a better America.

[Brylok]

Originally Posted by GoBigBlue88

Are the Democrats any less guilty of that divide, though? Believe me, I personally think GOP obstructionism is a huge reason we find ourselves in many of the sinkholes we do now (AKA the butchering of Obamacare from its original form).

But during Hillary's campaign, it was still, more or less, "us versus the deplorables". Now, Hillary had a little more ground to stand on there because a lot of the Trump groundswell was literally Russian trolls hiding being anonymous social media accounts, stoking fires and generating buzz around their candidate so as to most sully (through memes, of all things) Hillary's name, while keeping Trump hypervisible.

It was still presented as the good guys vs the bad guys though.

I feel contradictory talking/typing about Trump/this political environment, because I really do believe this election is such an outlier in American history. Whereas I never believed in a "wrong" candidate in past elections, I really do believe Trump was the wrong guy elected for the wrong reasons in this one.

It sounds contradictory, I know, but I still feel that while trying to be mindful of partisan divide and realizing the only way to really maximize what America can be is to get everyone to agree that A) we need to be better working together on many things and B) we probably shouldn't elect self-serving, incompetent, ratings/election results-obsessed lunatics to office and expect a better America.

Instead of using the term "deplorables", Hillary should have just called them "white supremacists and neo-nazis". Call them what they are. He'll, we fought a world war against their type of thinking before. Their platform has already been ruled unacceptable, and they simply aren't deserving of equal time. There would be fewer idiots on twitter if they had to post under 'NeonaziMike' instead of 'DeplorableMike' etc.

[Pez]

Originally Posted by Brylok

Instead of using the term "deplorables", Hillary should have just called them "white supremacists and neo-nazis". Call them what they are. He'll, we fought a world war against their type of thinking before. Their platform has already been ruled unacceptable, and they simply aren't deserving of equal time. There would be fewer idiots on twitter if they had to post under 'NeonaziMike' instead of 'DeplorableMike' etc.

She shouldn't have called them anything, she shouldn't have mentioned them at all. What purpose could possibly be served by insulting Americans? "Oh, Hillary Clinton hates me, maybe I should vote for her..."

Trump more or less handed Hillary the high ground and dared her to walk on it. She didn't do it and she failed.

There's a scenario in my head where Trump has an epic meltdown and falls flat on his face, and the disaster that follows is what ends the completely illogical polarization that is killing this country.

I know I'm late to this thread, but it's important to see all the details... Trump is a magician, he wants us to look at something so we dont see something else. For instance, he wants liberals to focus on travel bans that look like he hates muslims, or deportation orders that everyone knows are logistically impossible.

Meanwhile, an executive order rescinds the stream rules that called for:

1. no coal mines within 100 feet of a stream (just over three first downs)
2. any coal mines that have polluted a stream have to clean it up
3. streams near coal mines must be tested before, during and after mining operations

The coal mining industry gave $13.5 million dollars to conservative candidates last year, including $70,000 to Paul Ryan himself.

Nothing to see here folks, nothing to see here....

[Brylok]

Originally Posted by Pez

She shouldn't have called them anything, she shouldn't have mentioned them at all. What purpose could possibly be served by insulting Americans? "Oh, Hillary Clinton hates me, maybe I should vote for her..."

Trump more or less handed Hillary the high ground and dared her to walk on it. She didn't do it and she failed.

There's a scenario in my head where Trump has an epic meltdown and falls flat on his face, and the disaster that follows is what ends the completely illogical polarization that is killing this country.

I know I'm late to this thread, but it's important to see all the details... Trump is a magician, he wants us to look at something so we dont see something else. For instance, he wants liberals to focus on travel bans that look like he hates muslims, or deportation orders that everyone knows are logistically impossible.

Meanwhile, an executive order rescinds the stream rules that called for:

1. no coal mines within 100 feet of a stream (just over three first downs)
2. any coal mines that have polluted a stream have to clean it up
3. streams near coal mines must be tested before, during and after mining operations

The coal mining industry gave $13.5 million dollars to conservative candidates last year, including $70,000 to Paul Ryan himself.

Nothing to see here folks, nothing to see here....

I'm not going to argue with any of that. You're right. The Democrats once again pulled defeat from the jaws of victory. Trump is a distraction from what is going on in the background, but he's still a dangerous cult of personality. My biggest fear is for the country/republic/democracy itself. I'm afraid that the political divide is too big and too bitter to ever be bridged. More than half of the electorate doesn't bother, and the remaining people are split in half and hate each other. It's a perfect recipe for disaster and I think it's coming. I'm hoping for the best but... Yikes.

[Pez]

It's really hard to be optimistic. I've been blowing up Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnel's twitter feeds. They are both cowards, happily smiling as we exhume Joseph McCarthy.

[rcubed]

Sean Spicer held his daily briefing in-formally in his office (called a gaggle) today. The WH picked the news outlets allowed in when the pool was expanded. They blocked CNN, NY Times, LA Times.

Suppression of a free press is not right.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/24/medi...gle/index.html

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017...ing-event.html

[omahacolt]

Originally Posted by rcubed

Sean Spicer held his daily briefing in-formally in his office (called a gaggle) today. They WH picked the news outlets allowed in. They blocked CNN, NY Times, LA Times.

Suppression of a free press is not right.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/24/medi...gle/index.html

a complete and utter shit show

the dude is a man baby and has no desire to do things by the constitution

[nate505]

So Spicer has intimated that the Feds will crack down on the legal weed laws in the states that legalized weed recreationally.

This seems like an odd political move to me. For one, the GOP and conservatives profess to be for state's rights. This seems to be opposite to that position. For two, Trump himself said this was a state's rights issue when he was campaigning. He would come across as a liar if he let this happened. For three, the latest polls for the past 2-3 years (yes, I know, in TrumpLand all polls are fake, but anyways) have shown that the majority of this country agrees with legalization in general, and a larger majority shows that even if people don't agree with legalization they believe it's a state's rights issue (which would be consistent with the conservative position).

So I'm just missing the boat here on why he'd do this. Politically it seems like a stupid move to me. I guess the only way it sorta makes sense is that other than Alaska all the states that have recreational weed voted against him, so perhaps he is that petty.

[GoBigBlue88]

Originally Posted by nate505

So Spicer has intimated that the Feds will crack down on the legal weed laws in the states that legalized weed recreationally.

This seems like an odd political move to me. For one, the GOP and conservatives profess to be for state's rights. This seems to be opposite to that position. For two, Trump himself said this was a state's rights issue when he was campaigning. He would come across as a liar if he let this happened. For three, the latest polls for the past 2-3 years (yes, I know, in TrumpLand all polls are fake, but anyways) have shown that the majority of this country agrees with legalization in general, and a larger majority shows that even if people don't agree with legalization they believe it's a state's rights issue (which would be consistent with the conservative position).

So I'm just missing the boat here on why he'd do this. Politically it seems like a stupid move to me. I guess the only way it sorta makes sense is that other than Alaska all the states that have recreational weed voted against him, so perhaps he is that petty.

Because the man has zero consistency to his logic (where there is any logic). He's making abortion and transgender bathroom laws states rights issues, with weed having federal oversight. And guns ... heh.

It still remains the most insane to me that there are Conservatives who feel A) Trump is representative of them/their values and B) Trump is really something they want to tie their careers (GOP politicians) or country's future (GOP base) to.

[omahacolt]

Originally Posted by nate505

So Spicer has intimated that the Feds will crack down on the legal weed laws in the states that legalized weed recreationally.

This seems like an odd political move to me. For one, the GOP and conservatives profess to be for state's rights. This seems to be opposite to that position. For two, Trump himself said this was a state's rights issue when he was campaigning. He would come across as a liar if he let this happened. For three, the latest polls for the past 2-3 years (yes, I know, in TrumpLand all polls are fake, but anyways) have shown that the majority of this country agrees with legalization in general, and a larger majority shows that even if people don't agree with legalization they believe it's a state's rights issue (which would be consistent with the conservative position).

So I'm just missing the boat here on why he'd do this. Politically it seems like a stupid move to me. I guess the only way it sorta makes sense is that other than Alaska all the states that have recreational weed voted against him, so perhaps he is that petty.

big pharma is getting to him.

you really think politicians stand for anything other than what their big corporate backers want?