Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[Badger]

Think the United States is divided now? Starting Trump's term with impeachment proceedings will make it worse.

 

I believe there's a good chance the best case scenario may be that Trump doesn't want to do the actual work of governance, and let's Pence handle it. I mean, Mike Pence probably isn't anyone's ideal of a leader... but he isn't Donald Trump.

 

EDIT: more or less echoing DasBroot.

 

Well, it was pretty much half-serious and wishful thinking more than anything else.   Mostly because out of all, the people who tried to run or ran or were VP candidates, he was literally the only one actually like   (and Kasich, to come to think of it)

[Badger]

I am crushed.

 

Full disclosure: I have been volunteering for the Hillary Clinton campaign this year. And I was a regular donor. Even today I made 100 calls to Ohio trying to get out the vote.

 

I decided not to get into this thread before today because the campaign had become too personal for me. Right now I feel that all my work and efforts have come to nothing.

 

Am I feeling suicidal? Maybe I bit. I really want to die right now.

 

 

For what it is worth,  I was in a pretty dismal with Obama winning in 2008, 2012.  (not happy this year, but there was no path for that this year).  Just take things slow and hope for 2020/that things don't go too out of control in 4 years.

[Pattern Ghost]

Looks like it's been called for Trump. Let the recounts begin!

[Pattern Ghost]

Also in the news: Canadian immigration website crashes.

[dmjalund]

the election was rigged!

 

 

well, someone had to say it

[Hermit]

Also in the news: Canadian immigration website crashes.

 

Not a coincidence, I'm sure.

[Hermit]

Well, I'm bummed. I'm bitter, and I'm burned out.

 

I tell myself it will only be 4 years, but God help us.

[Lord Liaden]

I find consolation in reminding myself that America is a strong country, with plenty of good people. Donald Trump isn't enough of a man to screw it up beyond repair.

[Heroic Halfwit]

I think the majority of Americans were faced with the choice of the less undesirable candidate of those available.  I include myself in that category of wishing we had other candidates from which to choose.  On the other hand, there is some upside, regardless of political preference, to a Donald Trump presidency.  If you, like me and others, believe that American politics has become to entrenched with the same people and the same families, donors, etc. wielding too much power creating a "political elite" or "ruling aristocracy" Donald Trump is certainly not part of that.

 

If Donald Trump becomes president regardless of who wins control of the House and/or Senate he will have to "reach across the aisle" to get anything done because large segments of both parties vehemently disagree with him.  This may be enough for Congress to muster the where with all to actually take back some of its Constitutional power from the previous two "imperial presidents."  Yes, I believe that both George Bush the Second and Barrack Obama have Unconstitutionally expanded the power of the presidency and Donald Trump is sufficiently hated by the entrenched members of Congress to encourage them to finally do something about that.

 

Fair warning.  The securities markets are likely to go a bit nuts in coming days as a Trump win was not expected and the markets always react negatively to uncertainty.  There are "talking heads" saying that a Trump presidency will be "catastrophic" but I will remind that the said the same things about "Brexit" and after the initial panic reaction in the markets, which was fully resolved in 2 weeks, we've come to realize that Brexit wasn't the tragedy for Britain it was alleged.  The long term viability of the EU with a British exit is perhaps a different story.

 

At this point we've all voted (or not) and we'll just have to see how it goes.

[Lord Liaden]

If you, like me and others, believe that American politics has become to entrenched with the same people and the same families, donors, etc. wielding too much power creating a "political elite" or "ruling aristocracy" Donald Trump is certainly not part of that.

 

 

I'm afraid I always have trouble swallowing that assertion. Donald Trump was not a professional politician, true. He just associated with them, endorsed them, contributed to their campaigns, for many years. Calling him an "outsider," as many people have, is downplaying his history in the corridors of power.

 

Similarly, he has not been part of the political class before now, but he is definitely what passes for "aristocracy" in the United States. He was born into great wealth, enough to insulate him from the numerous financial gambles he lost. How he convinced the American working class he understood them baffles me.

[Old Man]

GOP sweeps Congress, the White House, and shortly the Supreme Court. Congratulations America, you got the government you deserved.

[Old Man]

Oh, and say goodbye to fixing the gerrymander in 2020. The GOP is locked in for years now. Hold on to your butts!

 

Apologies to those of you who are not American. We did what we could.

[薔薇語]

It's a great day for America. Not because Trump was elected. Because Hillary WASN'T.

 

That is all.

Nah. It is a good day because the Libertarians managed to secure ballot access in quite a few states. Unfortunately the hardcore Blue and Red states still thwarted us in getting the 5% we needed to secure additional funding but perhaps next time. Good God knows who the Dems will try to field against an incumbent Trump. 

 

I am a bit sad that the Dems didn't manage to secure a majority in the House nor Senate. I would have vastly preferred them having the able to pose a stronger resistance to President-Elect Trump's agenda. But perhaps them and the Never-Trump Republicans can manage to rip back some power from the presidency as one poster already mentioned above. 

 

I am also glad the Democrats didn't nix the Filibuster. Now they still have at least one tool. Then again, perhaps we should listen to Mega and others here and just nix it now. It is afterall, extremely undemocratic. ^^

 

President Trump will likely be a bad president. I hold out no hope for us taking steps towards  a more Libertarian future. The President Elect is a big government, anti-trade, socially interventionist man. But then again, I think the same of Secretary Clinton. In the next four years we will have some hard times and probably a lot of funny times. But we will continue to go on. This isn't the end of the world. Nor the first step towards concentration camps and religious purity tests. No more than President Obama was the first step to an Anti-Gun UN takeover of the US before we became a one world government. Hopefully this serves as a lesson to us all. 

 

On the upside, I earn money in YEN and pay debts in USD, I am likely to get a great deal in the exchanges this month. Insta-pay raise!

 

Soar. 

 

[Nolgroth]

I think I am going to reserve judgment about Trump's presidency until I have some context to judge it against. I had even convinced myself to do the same for Hillary, had she won. Truth be told, I did not expect these results. I honestly expected that Hillary Clinton would be our next president. Life can surprise you sometimes. 

[薔薇語]

Oh, and say goodbye to fixing the gerrymander in 2020. The GOP is locked in for years now. Hold on to your butts!

 

Apologies to those of you who are not American. We did what we could.

 

I fear that this isn't a partisan issue. The Democratic party is not above gerrymandering by any means. And why would this be an issue at all in this election cycle? The Census isn't for 4 more years and unless your state is re-drawing lines twice in a census cycle, there isn't going to be any change leading into 2020.

 

Also, come to Tokyo in 2020 for the Olympics. ^^ It will help take your mind of the election cycle which should start in about 6 months. 

 

Soar 

[death tribble]

The idea was that America did not follow Britain in screwing up this year. However it did.

[death tribble]

Right which seal of the Apocalypse just got broken ?

[Badger]

Oh, and say goodbye to fixing the gerrymander in 2020. The GOP is locked in for years now. Hold on to your butts!

 

Apologies to those of you who are not American. We did what we could.

 

Yeah, I never really believed the Dems would do anything about that  (or rather I did, by counter-gerrymandering)

[Badger]

I think the majority of Americans were faced with the choice of the less undesirable candidate of those available.  I include myself in that category of wishing we had other candidates from which to choose.  On the other hand, there is some upside, regardless of political preference, to a Donald Trump presidency.  If you, like me and others, believe that American politics has become to entrenched with the same people and the same families, donors, etc. wielding too much power creating a "political elite" or "ruling aristocracy" Donald Trump is certainly not part of that.

 

If Donald Trump becomes president regardless of who wins control of the House and/or Senate he will have to "reach across the aisle" to get anything done because large segments of both parties vehemently disagree with him.  This may be enough for Congress to muster the where with all to actually take back some of its Constitutional power from the previous two "imperial presidents."  Yes, I believe that both George Bush the Second and Barrack Obama have Unconstitutionally expanded the power of the presidency and Donald Trump is sufficiently hated by the entrenched members of Congress to encourage them to finally do something about that.

 

Fair warning.  The securities markets are likely to go a bit nuts in coming days as a Trump win was not expected and the markets always react negatively to uncertainty.  There are "talking heads" saying that a Trump presidency will be "catastrophic" but I will remind that the said the same things about "Brexit" and after the initial panic reaction in the markets, which was fully resolved in 2 weeks, we've come to realize that Brexit wasn't the tragedy for Britain it was alleged.  The long term viability of the EU with a British exit is perhaps a different story.

 

At this point we've all voted (or not) and we'll just have to see how it goes.

 

 

THe one thing  do hope for is Congress finally grab their spheres back, after getting them stuffed in the locker by Bush/Obama.  Trump might actually be what they need for them to go like Back to the Future and stand up to the bully.

 

And I can breathe slightly easy for 4 years on the Supreme Court.  I don't like the idea of a heavy-conservative one.  But, a heavy-liberal one is one of the few things that could get me running screaming about the end of the world.

[Old Man]

Right which seal of the Apocalypse just got broken ?

The Browns are still winless. We are running out of seals though.

[death tribble]

And I can breathe slightly easy for 4 years on the Supreme Court.  I don't like the idea of a heavy-conservative one.  But, a heavy-liberal one is one of the few things that could get me running screaming about the end of the world.

As Franklin Roosevelt learned, a judge might not vote the way you think or hope he will.

[Starlord]

Hmm.

 

Never underestimate the power of terrified white people.

[Starlord]

Ok, seriously...anti-establishment and changing the broken system seems to be the order of the day.

[csyphrett]

Trump still has seventy lawsuits to get through while in office

 

CES

[TheDarkness]

I don't think there's been an election that can easily be compared to this one in many decades.

 

I don't expect Trump can actually fulfill any of his promises, even if he intends to, which I doubt he does.

 

I'm more concerned with the legitimizing of white nationalism and its current crop in alt-right(not even a debate- all the major leaders are white nationalists, every...single...one, and they got to see that they can pull not insignificant weight in an election, and publicly*), and the GOPs total loss of control of it. That is dangerous.

 

*So, an overtly white nationalist organization openly took leadership in aspects of a presidential campaign, had open ties to the candidate, openly practiced and preached their white nationalism, and that campaign won. You have to go back to the Jim Crow era to see that happening.

 

On the bright side, Poe's Law passed by a wide margin today.