Countdown to Extinction: The 2016 Presidential Election

[San Antone]

I guess you don't have much sense of when someone is addressing you ironically.

Try using emotions.

[Brian]

Unlike most of my liberal friends, I thought Trump won that debate, despite how incoherent and hideous his speech was from start to finish. He won because Hillary gleefully jumped down in the mud with him - after she quoted Michelle Obama and vowed to take the high road, she spent the whole rest of the debate non-answering questions by saying, "Well, TRUMP this and that." Moreover, he won by turning the entire debate into a Trumpian spectacle. Everyone else agreed to play by his rules, with his interruptions, his name-calling, and his bitter contempt for the moderators, which they returned. In the first debate, Trump looked like a foreigner out of place; in this one, he made everyone else complicit, by making them partake in his language and demeanor. The audience seemed traumatized.

On the other hand, the victory will no doubt be Pyrrhic. It reminded me of trench warfare in 1916: nobody gained anything of substance, no minds were changed, no battle lines were shifted, and whatever points were scored were minuscule. Moreover, Trump no doubt was terrifying to undecided voters, both verbally (vowing to put Hillary in jail, spouting conspiracy theories 70% of Americans don't understand, reviving the Bill Clinton years) and physically (stalking behind Hillary with a horrible expression, shifting from one foot to the other).

For all the sheer insanity of what happened last night, the result may be pretty conventional: Trump rallied his base of die-hard supporters, while failing to win over many others. Just as has happened for the past 9 months.

Hillary did have one very nice moment when Trump accused her of never accomplishing anything and she responded with a proud, clear two-minute resume of her favorite achievements. If only she had taken the high road more.

[snyprrr]

"Bill, why do you rape?"

Don't Grab My Pussy, Mr. Clinton!!




Just so you're all prepared, the Trump "N*****" video will be coming out shortly. Remember that I told you, so you can't get all surprised when it happens. However, the Bill&Hill "blackface" pic is already up for those who haven't seen it.

PUSSY2016

[zamyrabyrd]

"Bill, why do you rape?"

Don't Grab My Pussy, Mr. Clinton!!

Just so you're all prepared, the Trump "N*****" video will be coming out shortly. Remember that I told you, so you can't get all surprised when it happens. However, the Bill&Hill "blackface" pic is already up for those who haven't seen it.

PUSSY2016

Meow!

https://www.youtube.com/v/_IGzuhOuz00

[Karl Henning]

. . . Trump no doubt was terrifying to undecided voters, both verbally (vowing to put Hillary in jail, spouting conspiracy theories 70% of Americans don't understand, reviving the Bill Clinton years) and physically (stalking behind Hillary with a horrible expression, shifting from one foot to the other).

And that's the guy who won 

[71 dB]

"Debate" . . . unanswered question . . . very nicely played, Poju!

Thanks Karl!  0:)

[(poco) Sforzando]

Try using emotions.

I think you mean emoticons, and they should not as a rule be necessary if the sentence is effectively constructed.

[San Antone]

I think you mean emoticons, and they should not as a rule be necessary if the sentence is effectively constructed.

LOL - I didn't notice the typo.  Anyway, I think we got it straightened out.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Unlike most of my liberal friends, I thought Trump won that debate, despite how incoherent and hideous his speech was from start to finish.

Andrew Sullivan, in full pessimistic mode only exceeded by my own:

"I'm horrified to say that Trump will survive this, even though he absolutely shouldn't. I suspect this performance will prevent a total meltdown in his campaign. His Breitbart-style attacks on Clinton will have riled up his base. Her defensive rebuttals were not crude enough to hit home. But it remains true that this man openly pledged to put his opponent in jail if he is elected – something that is truly destructive of a liberal democracy. He pledged to ally with Putin's Russia in global politics. He offered mere slogans when asked to provide substantive policy answers. And he took politics to a new low in his tabloid antics.

He's a disgrace and a national embarrassment. And he may still win this election."

To which I can only add: vox populi, vox populi.

[(poco) Sforzando]

LOL - I didn't notice the typo.  Anyway, I think we got it straighened out.

Oh, good!

[Spineur]

.......
All in all, Trump did well - almost as good as when he body slammed Vince McMahon:

https://www.youtube.com/v/TuesauNtqTU

This is a good one.  It fits perfectly the description given by a journalist on French TV referring to

"Les nouvelles frasques Trumpesques"

Untranslatable, but so cute...

[Karl Henning]

Andrew Sullivan, in full pessimistic mode only exceeded by my own:

"I'm horrified to say that Trump will survive this, even though he absolutely shouldn't. I suspect this performance will prevent a total meltdown in his campaign. His Breitbart-style attacks on Clinton will have riled up his base. Her defensive rebuttals were not crude enough to hit home. But it remains true that this man openly pledged to put his opponent in jail if he is elected – something that is truly destructive of a liberal democracy. He pledged to ally with Putin's Russia in global politics. He offered mere slogans when asked to provide substantive policy answers. And he took politics to a new low in his tabloid antics.

He's a disgrace and a national embarrassment. And he may still win this election."

To which I can only add: vox populi, vox populi.

Still no room for complacency: check.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Still no room for complacency: check.

Ain't over till it's over. OTOH, even if Hill wins, expect a Repub congress to make her life even more difficult than it did Barry's.

[drogulus]

Meow!

https://www.youtube.com/v/_IGzuhOuz00

     I'm getting an unsafe warning from my browser for this video. I'll do a malware scan and not report the results.

     He is reading from a book he wrote. He's discussing Malcolm X with a friend.

One of the guys sitting nearby must have overheard us because he leaned over with a sagacious expression on his face.

"You guys talking about Malcolm? Malcolm tells it like it is. No doubt about it."

"Yeah," another guy said. "But I'll tell you what. You won't moving to no African jungle anytime soon. Or some goddamn desert somewhere sitting on a carpet. With a bunch of Arabs. No sir. You won't stop me eating no ribs, either. Gotta have them ribs. And pussy too. Don't Malcolm talk about no pussy. Now you know that ain't gonna work."

I noticed Ray laughing and looked at him sternly.

"What are you laughing at?" I said to him. "You never even read Malcolm. You don't even know what he says."

     If you'd like to watch the whole video to get the context go to snopes.
     

[André]

Good riddance to that eyesore!

Your empathy for the 3000 workers who are losing their jobs is amazing.... . I don't mind about the eyesore, it could be worse. But the Taj Mahal shutdown points to two dire realities:

- gaming is a societal cancer. ALL gaming.
- lack of skills and education is the surest way to ignorance and mental decay, and the point of entry to a life of poverty. The kind of jobs Trump has created throughout his career.

Spencer philiosophy and economics (survival of the fittest) unfortunately seem to apply to Western society in direct correlation to the level of government involvement in these areas: equality in, and quality of education, development of skills, and higher forms of knowledge (arts, philosophy, applied and pure sciences, social sciences, politics).

Many Americans complain about their political system: Washington, the State Capitol, its "cast" system (in large part inherited from british aristocracy/emergent industrial bourgeoisie).

200+ years of economic, social disparities that have inevitably grown over the years, encroachment of the power centre to the detriment of the community, and the increasing bitterness and refusal of those communities to accept and adapt to the changing world around them. WWII was the great, unifying, federating event that assembled a group of disparate regions and states into a uniquely powerful superpower.

70 years later, very little of that fervour and collective élan toward the Common Good remains. Social darwinism and the subsequent rush toward attainment of material comfort have all but taken over the Western World, but nowhere more so than in the USA.

This election reveals a chasm between individuals and communities (towns, counties, states) that hanker to a past that is long gone but refuses to die, and those that will not build their lives on the rubbles of past generations. Looking at the american election and its Dallas, Dynasty, Days of our Lives upturns and downturns, is something at once surprising and fascinating. Like watching... well, I won't say it.

[San Antone]

Instead of polling Americans about Washington again, a pair of academics at Johns Hopkins tried something new — polling Washington about Americans. What they found was a combination of ignorance, contempt and disdain.

Survey data from the polled group — staffers from the White House and Capitol Hill plus career civil servants and the policy community of lobbyists and others who work closely with government from outside it — indicate that the functionary class thinks of itself as our betters. Our bosses, not our representatives. They see their own judgment as being far superior to that of the rest of us — the people whose wishes they are supposed to be carrying out.

Which is why Trump still might just win.

[Mirror Image]

Anyone saw this picture of Daugher Ogler/Child Molester with poor Ivanka?

http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2016/02/ivanka-trump-strokes-donald-trumps-face-in-creepy-throwback-pic/\

or this one:



I have THREE daughters and that picture does not look sane to me...

Was this on their honeymoon? Sorry, I had to say it.

There's this one too, which is even more provocative and absolutely disgusting:

[drogulus]

     The Orange Sniffer could release his medical records and erase all doubts about his alleged drug use. Isn't this why candidates are supposed to release them, just for situations like this? The sniffing was even worse in the second debate than the first, the agitation, pacing the podium, grimacing, nervousness all beyond the level where allowances can be made. He looks terrible.

Instead of polling Americans about Washington again, a pair of academics at Johns Hopkins tried something new — polling Washington about Americans. What they found was a combination of ignorance, contempt and disdain.

Survey data from the polled group — staffers from the White House and Capitol Hill plus career civil servants and the policy community of lobbyists and others who work closely with government from outside it — indicate that the functionary class thinks of itself as our betters. Our bosses, not our representatives. They see their own judgment as being far superior to that of the rest of us — the people whose wishes they are supposed to be carrying out.

Which is why Trump still might just win.

     Professional elites of every kind had better believe their judgment is superior. I certainly want people to be better at their jobs than some guy pulled in off the street, even if the luck of the draw is that the street person is intelligent and well educated.

     Trump might win, not because the elites think we are dumb, but because we are even dumber than they dare to think we are.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Your empathy for the 3000 workers who are losing their jobs is amazing....

At a time when the Donald is pretending to be a job creator, this is not the most propitious timing.

[Spineur]

Trump on DeNiro: "He is a bad actor, a clown".  He want to punch me in the face ? " I am waiting for him in front of the Trump tower"


Very high in the Trump tower and very deep underground...