Countdown to Extinction: The 2016 Presidential Election

[Karl Henning]

The major takeaway from the three pages of Trump's 1995 returns that the Times made public is that Trump is right when he says the system is rigged. What he doesn't say is that it's rigged in his favor and in the favor of people like him — and against regular people, those of us who earn money, pay income tax on it, and financially support the country in which we live.

[Karl Henning]

The major takeaway from the three pages of Trump's 1995 returns that the Times made public is that Trump is right when he says the system is rigged. What he doesn't say is that it's rigged in his favor and in the favor of people like him — and against regular people, those of us who earn money, pay income tax on it, and financially support the country in which we live.

If Trump were truly smart — and wanted to lead by example — he would have disclosed his tax returns, showed the loopholes he used, and vowed to close them.

[(poco) Sforzando]

SLOAN: If Trump were truly smart — and wanted to lead by example — he would have disclosed his tax returns, showed the loopholes he used, and vowed to close them.

But of course he wouldn't and won't. Because bottom line is: he's out only to enrich his own coffers. This is what makes the whole situation so pathetic and sad. His supporters have legitimate grievances, as Chris Matthews has pointed out:

A lot of this support for Trump, with all his flaws which he displays regularly, is about the country — patriotic feelings people have, they feel like the country has been let down. Our elite leaders on issues like immigration, they don't regulate any immigration it seems. They don't regulate trade to our advantage, to the working man or working woman's advantage. They take us into stupid wars. Their kids don't fight but our kids do.

It's patriotic. They believe in their country. .... [There is a] deep sense that the country is being taken away and betrayed. I think that is so deep with people that they're looking at a guy who's flawed as hell like Trump  and at least it's a way of saying I am really angry about the way the elite has treated my country. And it's so deep that it overwhelms all the bad stuff from Trump. It's that strong. It's a strong force wind.

But they've hitched their wagon to a con-man who talks a good game but in the end couldn't care less about them. One story I read about Trump long ago was that he contracted for a fleet of limousines, but rejected all of them solely because they were a quarter-inch too long or short. The case came to court and sad to say, he won. This is the man, so petty, so lacking in self-control, so ill-informed, so obsessed with a woman's weight that he issues tweets in the middle of the night about it, whom some of you want to see in the White House.

[Karl Henning]

[...] His supporters have legitimate grievances, as Chris Matthews has pointed out:


[...]

But they've hitched their wagon to a con-man who talks a good game but in the end couldn't care less about them.

Yes, and yes.

[Mister Sharpe]

Sure scares the hell outta me and I'm a ghost!

[drogulus]

     I have great sympathy for Christians. If they cast their lot with Trump, who am I to be critical?

     
     "would you fuck her?"

                                              - Rev. Trump to men on the set of The Apprentice

     Also, from time to time Trump opposes legal abortion. So he's got that going for him along with total consciousness.
     

[Pat B]

Democrats had two or three acceptable choices. Republicans had 17 to choose from, easily a half dozen of whom would have been credible candidates. Instead it chose to nominate what in any other cycle would have been one of its joke candidates: this walking piece of human stench, this nauseating piece of garbage, this gigantic sociopathic turd.

I disagree. The R field was large but aside from Kasich, very weak. Their runner-up was a whiny extremist with a thin record.

[zamyrabyrd]

The problem with nice guys like Romney (whom I supported back then) is they finish last. Candidates for political office are more a packaged item concocted to appeal to the masses. An astute observer noted that Obama played the underdog card better than Hillary so easily trounced her. The effect is psychological, has little to do with issues or reason. She's doing that now vs. Trump - her father was a working man, declared they were "flat broke" when sitting on pricey properties back then - seems to be a recurring theme with her.
She knows how to play the victim card that can very well turn out to be the Ace in the end.

[drogulus]

I disagree. The R field was large but aside from Kasich, very weak. Their runner-up was a whiny extremist with a thin record.

   With each election cycle the Repub base feels more persecuted and more ignored by the establishment powers, recently directing its fire against the Repubs. As Repub officeholders try to respond by becoming more extreme they become even less effective. They can't favor economic expansion, they painted themselves into the opposite corner. Immigration reform is likewise out of bounds. The "hoaxification" of science blocks any effort to deal effectively with rising sea levels. It's a perfect storm of bad leaders and bad followers encouraging each other to be worse.

[Karl Henning]

I disagree. The R field was large but aside from Kasich, very weak.

It might be that if the field had been only poco's half dozen credibles, they might possibly have waxed better over the course of the primary process.  (I remember early on in the 2000 season, a co-worker responding to a televised appearance by essentially dismissing Geo. W. Bush as "an empty suit."  And, like Jn Cleese, he got better.)

OTOH, Ernie's point about bad leaders and bad followers is, I think, very well taken.

[Rinaldo]

She knows how to play the victim card that can very well turn out to be the Ace in the end.

She doesn't need an Ace when her opponent keeps slapping himself with the full deck.

In other news, Clinton's Former Prosecutor Endorses Her for President.

Over the weekend, Chertoff -- the former secretary of Homeland Security -- told me his decision came down to national security. "I realized we spent a huge amount of time in the '90s on issues that were much less important than what was brewing in terms of terrorism," he said. For Chertoff, Clinton "has good judgment and a strategic vision how to deal with the threats that face us."

Whitewater has not come up much in this election season. But it was the Benghazi of the 1990s. Just as the Benghazi investigation begat a Congressional probe into Clinton's e-mail server, the Whitewater investigation led Congress to President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. So it's significant that an investigator from that era is now in Hillary Clinton's corner.

"People can go back decades and perhaps criticize some of the judgments that were made," Chertoff said. "That is very, very insignificant compared to the fundamental issue of how to protect the country."

Just as Chertoff does not think Clinton's dodgy friendships from her Arkansas days disqualify her from the presidency, he says the same thing about Clinton's use of a private e-mail system. It was a mistake, he said, but "she did not intentionally endanger national security."

[drogulus]

     During HRCs tenure as Sec. of State it became much easier to potentially endanger national security through the use of private communication channels. HRC got caught in the switch. I'd rather not excuse her mistake on the grounds that her need for privacy from her army of pursuers is real (it certainly is), it's just not an excuse. Sorry Mrs. Beast, you got caught.

[Karl Henning]

The problem with nice guys like Romney (whom I supported back then) is they finish last.

As a resident of Massachusetts, I was not crazy about Romney;  and part of my quarrel with him in his run for the presidency is, he allowed the base, or the national-Republican mean, to draw him into a waffling reversal on the health care issue, which was a bipartisan success here. Perfect? No; but a success.

And be fair:  it was Romney's race to lose, and he did.  Part of that reason is the same la-la-land Fox "News" bubble with which El Tupé is insulating himself from inconvenient facts.  Up through Election Night, Romney thought he had it in the bag.

She knows how to play the victim card that can very well turn out to be the Ace in the end.

With El Tupé doing his "impersonations," there is nothing "victim cardish" about it.  El Tupé is every bit as nasty as any sober observer has known him to be.

[Karl Henning]

As a resident of Massachusetts, I was not crazy about Romney [....]

(And, as a resident of Massachusetts, I was not crazy about Kerry, either, FWIW.)

[zamyrabyrd]

"Over the weekend, Chertoff -- the former secretary of Homeland Security -- told me his decision came down to national security. "I realized we spent a huge amount of time in the '90s on issues that were much less important than what was brewing in terms of terrorism," he said. For Chertoff, Clinton "has good judgment and a strategic vision how to deal with the threats that face us."... So it's significant that an investigator from that era is now in Hillary Clinton's corner.

"People can go back decades and perhaps criticize some of the judgments that were made," Chertoff said. "That is very, very insignificant compared to the fundamental issue of how to protect the country."

Just as Chertoff does not think Clinton's dodgy friendships from her Arkansas days disqualify her from the presidency, he says the same thing about Clinton's use of a private e-mail system. It was a mistake, he said, but "she did not intentionally endanger national security."

In other news, Clinton's Former Prosecutor Endorses Her for President.

Going backwards, ignorance of the law is no excuse. She did not "make a mistake'. In all probability, Russians could have gotten more than a peek at the emails, so that is already endangering "national security". Terrorism came as a DIRECT result of the void left in the Middle East by pulling out of Iraq and preparing the ground for the Arab Spring. In terms of security, the past 8 years have been a disaster. Also factor in the holes in the bucket immigration policies. They need to be patched up. Only one person (as much as he is personally flawed) is squarely facing that issue. Also let's not forget the goofy, self-destructive deal with Iran that does impact an ally of the US, Israel.

[Karl Henning]

"The Trump Foundation must immediately cease soliciting contributions or engaging in any other fundraising activities in New York," Sheehan wrote to the foundation, of which Trump himself is still president. The Trump Foundation has no paid employees, and its board consists of Trump, three of his children and one Trump Organization employee. They all work one half-hour per week, according to the charity's most recent IRS filings.

A heckuva businessman.

A heckuva businessman.

[André]

Are the donators expecting a charitable donation receipt ? 

[Karl Henning]

And more on the steaming turd topped by a hairpiece:

The headline alone would send a shudder down the spine of most elected officials: "'Apprentice' cast and crew say Trump was lewd and sexist."

That's the top of a story from the Associated Press posted Monday morning that details Trump's often-inappropriate behavior toward women who both appeared and worked on his hit TV show "The Apprentice." The AP talked to 20(!) former contestants or crew members on the show including 12(!) who spoke on the record to the news organization. That's remarkable.  And what's as remarkable is that they all told a very similar story about Trump: He would openly discuss women's looks and whether or not he would sleep with them while on the set of the show.

[André]

As the WP writes, don't worry. None of that dreck will stick. The man's a genius after all.

While Hillary (the dark witch of Endor) is so evil, evil...

How else are you to explain to the country, the world, and future generations that 100 million Americans, some of them otherwise informed - educated even - still intend to vote for Trump  ?

[Madiel]

I thought this had a lot of insight into American politics.

nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/10/barack-obama-on-5-days-that-shaped-his-presidency.html