US Politics Thread 2016-2020

[u crank]

"I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman — not me, not Bill [Clinton], nobody — more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America,"

-President Barack Obama

Unfortunately he had that wrong. The Democrats could not have had a worse candidate. They should have known better. They only have themselves to blame for Trump. The email thing alone should have been enough to raise serious questions about her chances. Her behavior since the election seals the deal. Almost any body could have defeated Trump except her. I hope somebody learned something.

[vienna]

Originally Posted by u crank

-President Barack Obama

Unfortunately he had that wrong. The Democrats could not have had a worse candidate. They should have known better. They only have themselves to blame for Trump. The email thing alone should have been enough to raise serious questions about her chances. Her behavior since the election seals the deal. Almost any body could have defeated Trump except her. I hope somebody learned something.

Actually, if it hadn't been for the existence of the Electoral College and the use of a "winner takes all" apportioning of that vote, Trump would not be the royal thorn he is to this country; as Trump has continuously carped and stewed about, he was not the direct choice of the voters themselves; he knows his office is held only by the machinations of the Electoral system and he did not have the confidence and support of the majority of the individual voters and has seen whatever support he did have slipping away as time has gone on; to say anyone could have defeated Trump is also indicative of another truth: the GOP could not field a viable candidate in 2016...







<O>

[MaDef]

Originally Posted by vienna

Actually, if it hadn't been for the existence of the Electoral College and the use of a "winner takes all" apportioning of that vote, Trump would not be the royal thorn he is to this country; as Trump has continuously carped and stewed about, he was not the direct choice of the voters themselves; he knows his office is held only by the machinations of the Electoral system and he did not have the confidence and support of the majority of the individual voters and has seen whatever support he did have slipping away as time has gone on; to say anyone could have defeated Trump is also indicative of another truth: the GOP could not field a viable candidate in 2016...<O>

You do understand that the U.S. is not a straight democracy and never has been, right?

[u crank]

Originally Posted by vienna

Actually, if it hadn't been for the existence of the Electoral College and the use of a "winner takes all" apportioning of that vote, Trump would not be the royal thorn he is to this country;

Hey it's your system. Ours isn't any better. Unless I live in the same riding (district) as the candidate for Prime Minister I can't vote for or against him. I can only vote for my candidate for Member of Parliament. If I like my candidate but don't like the PM candidate I'm in a quandary. I think your system is much better.

I also understand why the Electoral College system exists. Without it, your state, California would decide the Presidency every time. Hardly fair wouldn't you say. No system is perfect. I don't see the American system changing any time soon.

That being said I would ask you a question Vienna. Knowing all that we now know about Hillary and Bill (and I think we are going to find out a lot more in the weeks and months to come), would you want them in the White House?

..to say anyone could have defeated Trump is also indicative of another truth: the GOP could not field a viable candidate in 2016...

Oh I couldn't agree more. Trump is a clear indication that both parties are corrupt and have lost their way. Neither party has any idea or cares what the people really want. It's something like a ...um...er...swamp.

[vienna]

Originally Posted by MaDef

You do understand that the U.S. is not a straight democracy and never has been, right?

Yep, I certainly do, but that still does not refute the fact the current sitting holder of the Oval Office never had and still does not have the majority support of the voting public and that his support is waning. Funny thing about being a leader: sometimes you become one, not because of talent or intelligence, or popularity, but because of some happenstance of a process; sometimes through inheritance (kings, sons of company founders, etc.), sometimes through freak circumstances (the fall or death of the existing leader, etc.), sometimes because there has been a dilution of viable alternatives; however it happens, the assuming of a leadership role does not, by any means, automatically mean the person in the leadership role is in any way qualified to lead, merely that some happenstance has placed the person in that position. Take Jimmy Carter, for whom I have much respect for his humanitarian efforts, as an example: Carter became President, not because he was necessarily the most qualified candidate, but because virtually no one the GOP could have run for the office could avoid the taint and stench f the Nixon debacle (there were, actually, a good number of GOP members who could have run, but chose not to, mainly because they did not want to put in the position of having to 'clean up' after Nixon); Carter didn't win because he was the best or most qualified, but because he wasn't associated with Nixon or the GOP that defended Nixon. The fact Carter's administration was a fair sized disaster makes the point. I think Jimmy Carter is a very fine, honest, moral, and principled man (something, oddly, making him inherently ill-suited for politics) and he has done and continues to do great humanitarian work. But Carter should never have been elected President...

The Trump and his Trumpettes fallback claim that he 'won' the election is hollow because, in his case, winning does not mean he enjoys the support of a majority of Americans nor has he ever had a clear mandate for his and his followers views and ideas. The current situation reminds me of situations I observed over the decades of my working life. There were a few times where I would be in a company where a person would find themselves as a supervisor or executive, not because they were qualified, but because of some circumstance. They would fumble and bumble along, often to the detriment of the company, and, ultimately, find themselves being shown the door. A lot of the employees could see the writing on the wall for the hapless victim and we just sort of sat back and made book on how long the dethroning would take; such is the feeling I get about Ol' Tiny Hands...







<O>

[August]

Simply put the electoral college puts the united in the United States.

[vienna]

Cheap sloganeering is often the sign of a paucity of the ability for logical standing and substance, but, if that makes it easier for you to try to justify gross incompetence, good for you...


Roy Moore seems to have been naughty fiscally as well as sexually; from the 13 Nov 2017 issue of the National Review magazine's "The Week" section:

Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for Senate in Alabama, set up a charity with a wonderful name: the Foundation for Moral Law. According to report in the Washington Post, he said that he would not take a "regular salary," not wanting to be a burden to the foundation. In truth, he took more than $1 million over five years, undisclosed on tax forms. Sometimes his salary amounted to a third of all contributions to the foundation. At least two of his children and his wife were on the payroll too. We'd say that members of the Moore family were doing well by doing good, except that it isn't clear what the positive contribution of the foundation was besides lining their pockets.

That name, "Moral Law"...







<O>

[Platapus]

Hillary's legacy is being probably the only candidate that could lose to a buffoon like Trump.

2016 was a race to the bottom of the barrel.

I think the Republicans could have put anyone up and they still would have beaten Hillary.

I like to think that if the Democrats had put anyone but Hillary that Trump would have lost.

Picking Hillary was the Democrat's version of the Republicans nominating Palin. It was one of those "what were you thinkin?" moments that governs our politics.

[Dowly]

Myeah, Hillary especially was faced with a lot of dirt. Dirt that to this day has not been proven to be true. Hell, even AG Sessions said on Tuesday (or Wednesday?) that there needs to be a proper base for any special council on her (in response to why there has been no special council appointed to investigate Hillary.)

[Catfish]

^ But Trump said it, so it must be true. Like everything else he said.

Is there no law against reputational damage based on obvious lies b.t.w.?

[u crank]

Originally Posted by Dowly

Myeah, Hillary especially was faced with a lot of dirt. Dirt that to this day has not been proven to be true.

Depends what you mean by dirt. The Clinton email controversy is pretty much fact. As United States Secretary of State she used her family's private email server for official communications, rather than official State Department email accounts maintained on federal secure servers. That's a fact. Over 100 emails ere sent which contained classified information at the time they were sent. That's a fact. By her own admission this hurt her in the election. That's a fact as well.

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by u crank;2525721[...

The Clinton email controversy is pretty much fact. [...] Over 100 emails ere sent which contained classified information at the time they were sent. [...]

Who sits in a glass house should not throw stones.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-s...at-hillary-did
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...illary-clinton
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/u...er-bannon.html

[Jimbuna]

The Pentagon accidentally retweets call for Trump to resign

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-42023605

How embarrassing

[Catfish]

^or maybe they knew exactly what they did
Trump has not yet all staff exchanged with his yes-men.

[Jimbuna]

Possibily but I can imagine one or two heads might roll after this.