Sound The TRUMPets! A Thread for Presidential Pondering 2016-2020(?)

[bwv 1080]

How clueless is the DNC for thinking that people want another Kennedy in office?  The response was excruciating.  That was the best they could come up with?

Last night's Trump should breeze through reelection in 2020, will have to see if he stays around.

[Todd]

That was the best they could come up with?

Yes. 

[Todd]

Gowdy gone.

A federal circuit court position in South Carolina opened yesterday.  The two stories are likely unrelated.

[Baron Scarpia]

How clueless is the DNC for thinking that people want another Kennedy in office?  The response was excruciating.  That was the best they could come up with?

+1

[Pat B]

Guess the plot wasn't as self-explanatory as I thought.  The point is that black unemployment has been going down steadily for the past 8 years or so.  DJT started on 3rd base and thinks he hit a triple.  Pretty much the story of his life.

The point was clear to me. But maybe not to those who are not regularly exposed to Our Glorious President giving himself sole credit for every piece of positive news.

[milk]

Guess the plot wasn't as self-explanatory as I thought.  The point is that black unemployment has been going down steadily for the past 8 years or so.  DJT started on 3rd base and thinks he hit a triple.  Pretty much the story of his life.

Yes I'm with you. This is not an honest argument. I assume broad economic changes are somewhat cyclic. Presidential politics probably makes many people on all sides a bit dumber?

[zamyrabyrd]

How clueless is the DNC for thinking that people want another Kennedy in office?  The response was excruciating.  That was the best they could come up with?

For sure, we don't need a Bernie blob stuck to his chair during the National Anthem:

[milk]

For sure, we don't need a Bernie blob stuck to his chair during the National Anthem:

Did they do hava nagila this year? I don't know, I didn't see it but we always clapped like that to hava nagila.

[Turner]

US national pride tends to be generally in the lead, compared to other countries. #45´s speech pretty much illustrated it too.


https://yougov.co.uk/news/2016/11/17/international-survey/
Data from 2016.

[Marc]

Did they do hava nagila this year? I don't know, I didn't see it but we always clapped like that to hava nagila.

No matter what tune the entire bunch clapped to, there was no reason not to join in. Sanders's behaviour is politically incorrect, IMHO. And I don't like that. It's even more foolish when you consider that his Group worked so hard and never resorted to violence, which made them so respected. Now he's putting that on risk. Sad.

[Florestan]

US national pride tends to be generally in the lead, compared to other countries. #45´s speech pretty much illustrated it too.


https://yougov.co.uk/news/2016/11/17/international-survey/
Data from 2016.

The comment under the graph is priceless.

This is all very bad news for those who fear a victory for the far right in France's upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections – not least when coupled with the results of a major new YouGov study showing that 63% of French voters hold "authoritarian populist" views.

Yeah, right! (pun) 

[Florestan]

Looks like the two guys behind him tried to make him come to his senses: Come on, Bernie, even Cory is standing up! 

It was not during the National Anthem, though, but after Trump had mentioned the flag.

[Turner]

The comment under the graph is priceless.

This is all very bad news for those who fear a victory for the far right in France's upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections – not least when coupled with the results of a major new YouGov study showing that 63% of French voters hold "authoritarian populist" views.

Yeah, right! (pun) 

Yes, interesting, and faulty. Maybe they worked with a somewhat widened definition of 'authoritarian', the results are somewhat insulting, at least.
https://yougov.co.uk/news/2016/11/16/trump-brexit-front-national-afd-branches-same-tree/

However the data set is from September 2016, before Macron launched his candidateship in France, which was in November.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/16/emmanuel-macron-outsider-bid-french-presidential-race-election

[milk]

No matter what tune the entire bunch clapped to, there was no reason not to join in. Sanders's behaviour is politically incorrect, IMHO. And I don't like that. It's even more foolish when you consider that his Group worked so hard and never resorted to violence, which made them so respected. Now he's putting that on risk. Sad.

I'd have to see a video to judge. I've no idea what this is a picture of.

[Marc]

I'd have to see a video to judge. [...]

My politically (in)correct advice is: don't.
It's a complete and utter waste of your time.

[zamyrabyrd]

Someone else was not very happy, rather "down at the mouth":

[Karl Henning]

(* chortle *)

President's appeal for unity faces a reality check at Republicans' annual retreat

[milk]

My politically (in)correct advice is: don't.
It's a complete and utter waste of your time.

[Florestan]

Yes, interesting, and faulty. Maybe they worked with a somewhat widened definition of 'authoritarian', the results are somewhat insulting, at least.
https://yougov.co.uk/news/2016/11/16/trump-brexit-front-national-afd-branches-same-tree/

According to them Romania leads the trend in the EU with 82% and all Romanian authoritarian populist groups are pro-EU.

Since we don't know what they mean by "authoritarian populism" (for all their talk about it they not once define it --- or at least I didn't find the definition) I can offer but general comments.

A sentiment which could be losely defined as AP is certainly not unkown in Romania, but in this respect the country is literally split in two, the rural and the urban areas. In the former, especially among people over 60 the AP sentiment is probably majoritarian; in the latter, much less. I really doubt the overall 83% figure.

But --- and this is the key point --- this sentiment does not translate into politics: there is no political party which can be defined as AP (fringe parties in Romania are completely negligible; we call them "apartment parties"). There is no Romanian equivalent to FN, UKIP or AfD in the Romanian parliament and I doubt there will ever be one. It is highly unlikely that a Romxit referendum will ever be contemplated, let alone effected; all polls have shown Romanians to be among the staunchest pro-EU (and pro-NATO, for that matter) peoples of Europe. There is simply no AP group in Romanian politics.

This is not to say that the parties do not exploit this sentiment during electoral campaigns; first and foremost in this respect is the Social-Democratic Party (member of the EU Socialist party), strongly seconded by ALDE (same meaning as the EU party with the same name, to which they belong); together they have a strong governmental majority. The National Liberal Party (member of the EU People's Party), the main opposition party, is less prone to electoral AP, although not entirely free of it. Once in power, though, each and every one of these parties act more or less as expected from their ideology.

The main problem in Romania is not AP, be it a sentiment or an electoral tactics; it is (1) massive and widespread corruption, which has been created, fostered, aided and abetted by all parties together, although the lion's share goes to the Social-Democrats, which have been by far the most corrupt, and (2) the attempt of the SDP and ALDE to limit the independence of the judiciary in order to save their liberty (many of them, including their top leaders, are either convicted or prosecuted for corruption or corruption-related crimes, such as perjury, taking bribes and falsifying records) and saveguard their vested interests. The urban civil society (including yours truly) has been strongly and actively opposed to that and will continue to be; so is the NLP President Klaus Iohannis (the mere fact that an ethnic German and a Lutheran has been elected as President in a country where the vast majority is ethnic Romanian and Eastern Orthodox should give a moment of pause to those who claim that nationalism and populism is on the rise in Romania; also consider that ethnic Hungarians have their own party which has been part of government more than once). The battle goes on.

[Karl Henning]

Democrats' behavior at the State of the Union was embarrassing