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I Don’t Mean to Alarm Anyone, But …
I reckon the only times in history we’ve seen this much geopolitical instability and danger were prior to the outbreaks of the First and Second World War, and it seems a goodly portion of the American electorate — of all age groups, education groups, racial groups, ethnic groups, and both genders — thinks Donald Trump is the man to navigate our Ship of State through these rocky shoals.
To me, this looks like a distinctly sub-par situation. But it hardly helps for me to run about like a headless chicken, does it?
Can anyone here think of anything I can do to improve this state of affairs? Me, personally, today?
Published in General
Someone needs to create a petition requiring him to submit to a psychological exam. Serious. Also attach a polygraph to him permanently. Must be heavy duty model.
I still view the ongoing Trump rompfest as a massive protest vote (same with Bernie, for that matter) and that he will get whacked badly in a general election against HRC. Too many Americans won’t pull the lever for this loutish rock star, too many independents, too many Republicans, too many teachers and accountants and nurses and landscapers and cashiers and anyone else with half a brain. The public may be fed up (and yes, MAYBE THEY FINALLY HEAR YOU!), but they’re not going to the mat for Trump. They know that we can’t have a President with crazy unleader-like reality TV show credentials, with such a spectactuarly spotty business career (I’ve had fun reading about the real story here), with such an overly simplistic & sound-bite attitude toward problem-solving. Imagine Trump—a November loser, making his typical poor sport excuses and promising candor about WHAT REALLY HAPPENED. The media cooperates because he’s a draw, a cartoon character who delivers the loot like some mob operation. Sometimes I think that we deserve this guy, like all of the mindless culture that we tolerate that passes for entertainment.
Maybe the Trump and Sanders phenomenon will open the crusty eyes of the status quo. Maybe they shudder a bit at night pondering President Trump. Maybe other outsiders will get involved and rock the political boat. We need rocking, don’t we???
That’s Trump’s problem. It’s not his floor; it’s his ceiling. His ceiling is rock hard.
Claire,
One day is like every other day. Then one day is not.
I think you should cover Brexit/EU. You can take a holiday and cross the channel (Claire invades England). I would be asking where will the funding for the huge increase in NATO military build-up come from? As things are presented now, England has little incentive to stay in the EU. If on the other hand, a true defense of Europe policy supported financially by EU was a major part of the program then there would be something to sell. Other than this there will be endless budgetary nickel & diming between EU members and Brexit will be the result.
I’d rather vote for Boris than Trump.
Boris Johnson’s Palestinian trip cut short after pro-Israel remarks
Boris is my kind of guy.
Regards,
Jim
This is the view I’m starting to come to. I was saying on the chat last night that this is a re-alignment election. The voters are saying, “words, words, words, I’m so sick of words.”
I prefer Rubio or Cruz, but Trump could, as you say, crush the Democrats. That might be worth it…I just hope it’s not a kamikaze mission.
Say what you will about Trump, but you are completely wrong about Sanders. Yes, the Dem base is pissed about their “Democratic Establishment”, and its attending cronyism, and everything Clinton stands for. But Bernie is preaching real ideas, real ideals, and his followers are eating it up. If you attribute the Sanders voters to simply anger and protest votes, you miss the open embrace on the Dem side for socialism.
Yes, we all know they’ve been doing it covertly since FDR. But now it’s open, and will remain so from here on out. There are going to be purges on the left like we have on the right, and the Occupy Wall Street movement will roar back stronger than ever in 2017, regardless of who wins. Don’t miss the signal in the noise.
With just the possibility that it could be Trump, I wonder how many illegal aliens are getting their affairs in order and/or applying for the proper paperwork to be here legally….
He’ll need to get in line – Hillary should be first.
Knock it off with the Reagan comparisons.
Trump isn’t Reagan – he’s Bonzo.
Non-sequitor.
The far left is capable of anything. After remaking the Supreme Court they’ll have 30 or 40 years to find more ways to take guns from citizens, bullying people to keep quiet, and now that voting is electronic, permanently stealing elections. So the left would have plenty of time to kill hope and freedom on this planet. Trump is not my preference, but I’ll vote for him if he is our nominee.
Maybe the Trump and Sanders phenomenon will open the eyes of the anti-establishment, “kick over the apple cart” people, to see what you get when you kick over the apple cart.
Hillary has a built-in polygraph. Her lips move.
I don’t think there’s much more than prayers. At least we’re near a national decision. We’ll know in a week or two at the most. If Trump sweeps this super Tuesday, then I think he’s got it. Even if he doesn’t sweep, he’s in the drivers seat.
Then we have a decision to make. Do we stay home or hold our nose (nose, eyes, mouth, ears and a few other unmentionable orifices) and vote for Trump?
For Pete’s sake, people: Volunteer.
Agreed, but is he neurotic or psychotic? Woody Allen as president is tolerable*; Charles Manson raises certain existential quibbles.
*make that barely tolerable. I had a scary vision of padding around the house in the middle of the night a year from now, turning on the TV and finding DT on every channel in his bathrobe having a schmear on a bagel in the Oval Office and muttering things like “many people are saying I’m the greatest president ever. EVER. Some of the very best people say that and often too… .” Better than going up in a multi-megaton blast? Arguable.
Yes, Claire, come to England. We’ll put you up :)
Bryan, I know that yours is the majority view around here, but I respectfully dissent. Our elected officials (which is, I assume, what you mean by “the elite”) have not ignored the people. They have done the exact opposite. They have pandered to the people. They have told the people exactly what the people want to hear. The politicians make promises they can’t keep, because that’s what the voters want. They promise to balance the budget, without cutting anyone’s benefits. They promise to win wars, without sending troops to fight. They promise free government goodies, without any way to pay for them. They promise to get people jobs, when they know that government can’t create jobs. They promise, in the words of Woody Allen, “this, that, and the other thing.”
Of course, the politicians fail to deliver on their impossible promises. It is preordained that they will fail. And when they fail, the voters get angry. But it is not the politicians’ fault. There are candidates who tell the truth, but they never get elected. It is the fault of the voters whose mantra has been, “Tell me lies, tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies.”
We get the leaders we deserve.
Lucy, living in New York state as I do, I don’t feel as though volunteering in the presidential contest would be much use.
Also, I think prayer is more effective than the Republican party here in NY…
There’s a primary. Don’t volunteer in the general, volunteer now.
And, of course, pray.
I also live in NY. We’re down to a week or two left of meaningful campaigning. At this point everything is baked into the cake. And no matter what the opposition say about Trump, his support seems to not care.
I guess I don’t see cultures that outlaw other religions as prepared to live as “Prepared to live as peaceful and relatively tolerant traders,”
Saudia Arabia is a foul dictatorship, that oppresses women, gays, Jews and Christians. It spends oil dollars to support and expand Islamic Terror. Now, they may be, on the surface, peaceful traders, but they are in no way shape or form “tolerant”. They are as intolerant as it is possible to be. They only thing keeping them from looking like Syria is that they are dictatorship in the first place.
Turkey might be a different story, but they appear to be sliding into being like every other Islamic dictatorship, and nothing seems to be stopping it. They may be more ready than Serbia now, but they are going in the wrong direction. Further, they are lousy allies that stood in our way when we needed them. Did the people of Turkey support their government in that, or was it unpopular? I can forgive the people if the growing dictatorship in their nation acted against their will.
Also, don’t the people of Turkey, more or less, support the ongoing attacks on the Kurds? It always has seemed to have a sectarian tinge to it to me. Is that tolerant?
If Trump takes the nomination, we need to get behind it – four more years of Progressive/socialistic governing is a far worse scenario – I know many very sane, decent older Democrats (even clergy), good people all around, not kids and not fringe extremists, but that literally follow the Occupy Democrats site – I’ve never gone to that site, but they post quotes from it on Facebook and it is beyond appalling. They laugh at Trump, laugh at Reagan, laugh about abortion – the working class, down to earth, middle of the road Democrat is gone. There is a sickness here called The Progressive Movement that has taken our country’s morals, values, strength, and has pretty much destroyed it. I’ll take my chances with Trump or anyone, other than Bernie or Hillary – it’s very scary the damage they will do.
Conservative Voters demanded the following:
I am sorry, when did Conservative voters demand all of that.
Examples, Larry, or your respectful dissent is a whisper in the wind.
Really, Bryan? That’s what you got? Light bulbs (and that other stuff you listed)? What Obama wanted was to close all coal fired power plants, implement cap and trade, impose massive taxes on energy production, end federal leasing of oil fields, outlaw fracking, and leave us all shivering in our hovels without heat. What he got was squiggly light bulbs. Oh, the humanity! The awful Republican “elites” only beat Obama on 99.9% of his agenda. Oh, how horrible they are. What sell outs they are! Let’s all vote for the socialists. That’ll show ’em!
You are moving the goal posts. You said we got what we voted for. We didn’t.
The thing about the light bulbs is that they have a tremendous (negative) impact on our individual liberty, and on the “environment “… How much can the government reach into our private choices? And the administration is working on closing coal fired power plants via the regulatory state, and addressing many other issues the same way. that is still in place, and growing with little blowback.
Well said Nancy. Lightbulbs are very intrusive and crony capitalism at its worst.
I wanted to come back to this one, because my television must be broken. When, exactly, did Republicans vote for amnesty? When did 11-20 million illegals become voting citizens? Because I think I missed it. Or is the problem that someone talked about it? Rubio talked to Chuck Schumer about amnesty? Oh, the horror just gets worse and worse.
No, Bryan, you’re so right – conservative voters never “demanded” amnesty. And there hasn’t been any amnesty. Even though the polls say that the majority of our democracy wants amnesty, those awful Republican elitists haven’t allowed it to happen. They need to be taught a lesson. Let’s vote them all out of office, and kick them in the butt on their way out the door. That’ll show them. Then the Democrats can decide on amnesty. Gee, I wonder what the Democrats will decide.
Nancy, I’m as disgusted by those squiggly light bulbs as anyone. But you miss my point. I’m not defending squiggly light bulbs. I’m objecting to blaming Republicans for failing to stop the Democrats 100% of the time, which is impossible. Half of the country is leftist. Maybe more than half. We can’t stop them all of the time. That doesn’t make us “sell outs.”