2016 US Presidential election thread

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by Oberon

It's ok everyone, Trump has figured it out, the election is being rigged by Mexicans, Muslims, Hillary, Obama, Women, Democrats, Republicans, Jews, George Soros, Cthulhu [Delete as Appropriate] and so when he loses everyone will rise up and overthrow the government.

It's all good.

<pic snip>

Obama...hurry up with those nukes, will ya?

"Speak American". Priceless.

Well, the wingnuts all said the same thing when Obama was about to be elected, so it appear to be action replay. I wonder if Texas will talk about seceding again. In any case, it would appear that the "stall out Obama" strategy for the Supreme Court has met with predictable failure. Now Hillary Clinton can pick the new justice. I'm sure they'll find that much more palatable.

[Takeda Shingen]

In slightly related news it would appear that the heirs of the late Joey Vento, former owner of Geno's Steaks and perennial darling of the far right, have finally decided to remove the must-speak-English sign from their establishment. It would appear that the current management didn't find aligning themselves with the policies of the Republican nominee or waiving off potential business on ethnic and racial lines was a good idea. Thumbs up to them.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/philadel...oversial-sign/

Pat's still makes better steaks.

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by Oberon

It's ok everyone, Trump has figured it out, the election is being rigged by Mexicans, Muslims, Hillary, Obama, Women, Democrats, Republicans, Jews, George Soros, Cthulhu [Delete as Appropriate] and so when he loses everyone will rise up and overthrow the government.

It's all good.
Obama...hurry up with those nukes, will ya?

Since his recent plunge in the polls, Trump has become even more strident and outspoken in his claims of a pending rigged election. At the very least, we can expect many instances of self-deputized Trumpniks staking out voting places to help uncover the "armies of illegals", being sent over the border to vote for Clinton.

When Clinton wins, I fear we may have a ugly backlash in the making. However, if Trump wins it could be even uglier in the long run.

In Washington state, we vote by mail, so no polling places to stake out. Which has brought the charge from some of more deranged corners of the internet that all such votes are automatically fraudulent.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

When Clinton wins, I fear we may have a ugly backlash in the making.

I fear you may be right, a lot of it will depend on how Trump reacts to his defeat, presuming of course that he is defeated. Could certainly see some ugly backlash.
After that, well, what next for the GOP? Can they get their overzealous far right under control so that they can actually field an electable candidate for the next election? Or will they split?

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by Oberon

I fear you may be right, a lot of it will depend on how Trump reacts to his defeat, presuming of course that he is defeated. Could certainly see some ugly backlash.
After that, well, what next for the GOP? Can they get their overzealous far right under control so that they can actually field an electable candidate for the next election? Or will they split?

The Republicans are in an awkward position now. They primed their voter base election cycle after election cycle to be contemptuous of government and to be suspicious of authority, which admittedly is a strange thing for a political party whose very rationale for existence is rooted in the concept of governmental authority to do. The GOP created a Frankenstein, but the Frankenstein isn’t Trump. The Frankenstein is the GOP’s base. Trump is the guy who stole their creation from them, took it on a joyride and might decide when this is over to keep it.

Trump was never about being a Republican. He was just looking to expand his brand. As it turns out, like apparently so many things Trump does, he’s done a terrible job of it. The Trump brand, formerly merely associated with gaudiness and bankruptcy, is now synonymous with white nationalism, sexual battery and the daily denial of reality. But I predict he'll keep his dedicated followers all the same. The ironic thing is if the GOP had succeeded in nominating a more low-energy candidate, they would probably be in a winning position right now with the Wikileaks releases.

[mapuc]

I can very well imagine that many people, who feel an obligation to do their democratic duty, will stand in the "voting box" and cry, because they will do their duty, but none of these two candidate is worth a vote.

Markus

[Oberon]

Honestly in that case, I'd be tempted to draw an angry face or vote for Queen Elizabeth or something, unless you want to vote against a candidate which is what I suspect most voters will be doing.

[Tchocky]

Hello all. Been a while.

For all this Trump talk of a rigged election, and your consequent worry about backlash, think of it this way.

He does not follow through on his rhetoric. It's part of what makes him a bad candidate. His supporters are the same. Sound and fury signifying little, if anything. He'll complain and whine but that can be safely ignored. Supporters talking up a big game about rigging and consequences thereof haven't the guts to put skin behind their tweets.



I wouldn't worry. Vocal Trump supporters might kick off in the media but I doubt this will last longer than a fart in the Hebrides.

Peace.

[August]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

When Clinton wins, I fear we may have a ugly backlash in the making. However, if Trump wins it could be even uglier in the long run.

I begin to hope so. Regardless of which one wins I believe that the schism in this country is no longer repairable. It is only going to get bigger and the longer the reckoning is postponed the more destructive it will be.

[Tchocky]

You might be correct August, but the schism you describe affects a shrinking portion of the country. Shrinking in influence and capability, to the point where their influence approximates to their relative size.

It's a correction, I think.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by August

I begin to hope so. Regardless of which one wins I believe that the schism in this country is no longer repairable. It is only going to get bigger and the longer the reckoning is postponed the more destructive it will be.

Do you think that once this outpouring of...whatever form it takes...has run its course, say for example after the election, that America will be able to move on from it? It doesn't strike me that this is something that's just going to go away, even if a load of angry people burn a city down, it might reduce the tension, like an earthquake does on a faultline, but that faultline is still going to be there and that energy will build up again.

I get where you're coming from, and if it's going to come out, it's probably best now as a few riots than later as a civil war, but the underlying problems I don't think can be fixed in any manner or form.



Oh, and good to have you back Tchocky!

[Mr Quatro]

The Democrats will win their election!

I don't like it, but I've just received a word from the Lord that the Democrats will win the next election.

The exact word of knowledge was simply this: "The democrats will win their election, but then comes the knife".

I don't like to add anything when the Lord gives these words of knowledge. I'm no prophet ... just a normal nobody.

I wonder what that means though, "Then comes the knife"?

A knife can cut things apart ... a knife in the back perhaps?

Some revelation that would've kept her from being elected, perhaps?

Does this mean Hillary won't be partaking in the inauguration Friday, January 20th, 2017?

If it is about Hillary's health ... Trump couldn't do anything about it that's for sure even if he took it to the supreme court.

I have had these words in the past ... not all the time, but they have always been right so far.

I am not into any vain glory. You can make fun of me if you want to ... I know it is opening me up to ridicule. Time will tell ...

Sort of sad in a way ... I thought Donald Trump still had a chance.

[Torplexed]

If you look back four years at the eruption of tweets by Trump after Mitt Romney's defeat in 2012, you do see a lot of heated rhetoric. It proved to be empty rhetoric at the time, but if it's his personal defeat in this election I imagine the Trumptrum level will intensify. But like before it could just be a lot of sound and fury signifying Trump has left the building.

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by Mr Quatro

Sort of sad in a way ... I thought Donald Trump still had a chance.

If Hillary keels over in an even more dramatic fashion than she did at the 9-11 remembrance, he certainly could make a major comeback.

[August]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

You might be correct August, but the schism you describe affects a shrinking portion of the country. Shrinking in influence and capability, to the point where their influence approximates to their relative size.

It's a correction, I think.

Well I think you underestimate the breath of the disaffection. There are a lot of people unhappy with the direction the country is taking and according to nearly every poll they number pretty consistently in the 70-80% range. That is not a shrinking portion.

Although the corporate media would have you think otherwise this isn't just a few good old white boys unhappy that they lost their blue collar jobs at the factory. If it were then Clinton would be leading by 30 points instead of the near tie that it continues to be.