Grailknight

Which makes it okay, right?
 
It's just incredible how people keep setting the bar lower for this guy.  Well, of course he lies, but it's okay, everyone lies, right?  Of course he steals, and defrauds, and rapes, but it's okay, because they all do that, right?
 
 
 
You know, even if you're right, I really think the current president elect takes it to a new, frighteningly unacceptable extreme.

What you just did was list a bunch of criteria for diagnosing Narcissistic Personality Disorder. I think it did ring alarm bells, but a lot of people thought "Oh, the alarm's gone off, so we don't need to call the firefighters," and proceeded to neglect to vote.
 
 
 
 This is probably true. Doubly so if you define "benefits for himself" as "increases my chance of reelection", whether their base motivation for reelection was the pure joy of being In Charge or the fervent and honest wish to be able to continue to do the best for the country as they see it.
 
 
 
Like most absolutes, this holds little water. Many politicians, possibly even a large majority just want to be In Charge, but there are certainly some who are trying to make the world a better place (however much you disagree with their definition of "better"). That they have to play the political game doesn't alter their motivation, though it does tarnish their image.

If Trump wants to get on with his life, he shouldn't have run for President

It was really Avengers 2.5.

It was really Avengers 2.5.

What does he want? The things you said, and to persuade the Russians that he's "Making Russia Great Again", so they continue to ignore the theft of their national assets by Putin and his cronies for their personal enrichment.
 
There really isn't any need to try and put any benevolent motives into Putin's actions. Malice and greed (extreme self-interest) will pretty much provide accurate general classes of reasons for anything that gangster does.

Note that if we'd caught the Russians tampering with an election in Bananistan, we'd be loudly shouting about the illegitimacy of the result and demanding a new election.

Indeed. Which worries the bejazus out of me. Nothing I've seen of Clinton suggests she's worse evil than Trump. He's a bigger liar than her, a bigger philanderer than her husband. He's less consistent in his beliefs and even more hypocritical. And he's a racist narcissist who's doing it for the attention. What makes these people think that Hilary is worse than Trump? Mostly big lies, told often and loudly. And unsupported by evidence. Don't get me wrong. I don't think Hilary is anywhere near perfect President material. That'd be Barack Obama, for my money. But Trump? Worse? I thought Brexit was bad, over here, but he has taken "lying your way into office" to another level completely.
 
 
And for every one of those thousands of reasons, they decided that racism didn't matter enough to stop them voting for the man, implicitly sanctioning with their only civic input, his racist mindset, along with the same attititudes in others.

Sydney schoolboys take down Martin Shkreli, the 'most hated man in the world'
 

I think that's one common excuse given, but it doesn't explain why the writing for a show like The West Wing is so uniformly excellent while the writing for most superhero shows isn't. Both are hour-long dramas with the same season lengths and production deadlines.

On the contrary, such analogies are the best way to explain to Trump voters why some people equate their votes with racism, by taking the charged aspects of the situation out of the analysis.  I see many Trump voters loudly trying to convince themselves that they didn't just support racism by shouting "I'm not racist!" at the top of their lungs.  Well, as with many things, there are degrees of racism, and while they may not be tying nooses they're looking the other way at best.  I'd have a lot more respect for them if they'd man up and own their vote, the way I knowingly voted for (and thereby supported) homophobia, surveillance states, and hawkish foreign policy in the past. 
 
Not that any of those issues, frankly, carry the weight that racism does, given our country's history.  There is no clearer sign that the GOP has no moral compass than white nationalists in the White House.

This pretty much says it for me.
 
https://www.facebook.com/OccupyDemocrats/videos/1315508435208874/

I'd like to think that we don't have to wait until there's a body count to be concerned about any rise in hate speech, harassment and intimidation.

I vote with the well-being of the people of the country in mind, particularly the most vulnerable. Who will be the best president to help the most vulnerable, and if that option is not available, who will do the least harm? Whether the best candidate has a realistic chance of being elected is also a very practical consideration. I don't want to let down people I care about by wasting my vote. So, realistically, that's almost always going to come down to the two major party candidates. Sometimes, it's who's the best, and others, it's who does the least harm. I see voting as a practical decision. Occasionally we get lucky and our ideals are on the ballot. Most of the time we're not so lucky, but our principles and interests are still at stake, as are those of people who matter to us. Some of those people are differently situated, so we have to think beyond how an outcome will affect us personally. How will it affect my friends, my family, my neighbors, my coworkers and people in my city and state and country and world? I am not an island. I am defined, in part, by the people I am connected to. Everyone is. So why should voting be a selfish or self-centered decision? Sure, I think about how it affects me, but that's not my only consideration. YMMV.

It doesn't, of course. But explaining to third party voters not to waste their vote isn't blaming them, it's trying to up their game. Third party voters are the guy at the blackjack table who routinely hits on 20 and then wonders why he and the rest of the players are losing to the house. They're the guy who takes three-point shots whenever he gets the ball and wonders why his accuracy is low. I get that people don't like either candidate--none of us do, really. But you're still better off picking the least bad candidate, policywise.
 
We're not even a week in and there is serious talk of repealing Medicare, and do not for a second think that GOP voters are going to penalize the GOP if they do, because that is what the GOP voters want. Oh but Hillary is too uninspiring, I just can't bring myself to save Medicare, I'll vote for Giant Meteor instead. Or something.

You ducked the question, in my view. Do they care about what happens to other members of the political coalition, or not? The harm that will be done is arguably greater than that from any of the things you mentioned. Is it because it's not happening to them directly?First they came for the Muslims, and I said nothing, because I'm not a Muslim.
Next they came for the Latinos, and I said nothing, because I'm not a Latino.
Then they came for African-Americans, and again I said nothing, because I'm not African American.
Finally they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.

Politics is the art of compromise. Your favorite isn't always going to win. BUT REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT YOU VOTE, YOUR INTERESTS AND PRIORITIES ARE ALWAYS AT STAKE. Not voting, or voting in a way that won't materially advance those interests and priorities any time in the near future, is not the optimal, rational choice imho. Your interests and priorities are going to be harmed, likely tremendously, due to the outcome of the election.

Electing Trump is another great American idea. You know like Prohibition. And look how that turned out.

Rather than comment on the outcome of the election, I'll simply share what my 20 year old daughter said this morning. After reading several friends' posts on Facebook, saying they wanted to leave the country, she said, "Too many people have sacrificed too much for this country to just lay down when things get hard."

I think screwing up has many degrees before apocalyptic tragedy. That still doesn't make it the best course.

No matter who wins I think we need to find Barry Allen and convince him to go back and undo whatever he changed that resulted in this election cycle and restore the timeline.

Is Trump Your Fault?
 
Twenty-four percent for me.  Apparently I could have done more to stop him.

It's an earlier era, but Pulp Hero specifically talks about how Western characters may have Boxing, Dirty Infighting, Fencing, or even Savate, but Eastern martial arts will be the exclusive schtick of a character who has it as part of their background and character archetype.
 
"The Gadgeteer has his Weird Science, the Aviator has his plane, the Masked Crimefighter has his eerie laugh; the Character Raised In The Orient has Martial Arts."