IMO, nervousness about his election prospects is still allowed. Not because the chances seem good, but because the implications if he were elected are so huge. I get nervous standing at the edges of cliffs too; not because the chances of the ground spontaneously crumbling under me are so high, but because if they DID then I’d be f*cked.
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Again, call me Pollyanna, but I do like to think I’ll live to see their influence minimized to a fart in a high wind in my lifetime.
But it very likely could get worse before it gets that much better.
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And Walter Mondale breathes a sigh of relief, delighted his burden has been lifted.
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Yeah, he was the guy I had in mind at the ellipsis. But no. Nobody liked him, but the hatred wasn’t nearly so white-hot.
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George Wallace?
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Exactly the issue. Given the vote between the two, tons of people, myself included, are opting for neither. Hell, the Libertarian party’s polling at 15% if I recall right, when has that ever happened?
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She’s a woman?
And maybe some of what @bibliophile20 said…
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I’m down with Isaac’s sentiment, but that “false notion” is reinforced by the fact that my ignorant vote is counted precisely as many times as your knowledgeable vote. And that is what democracy means.
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Old school zing! Nice. I’d forgotten about his endless running.
Ah, but once I get dual nationality, I’ll have two ignorant votes.
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I was going to mention Andrews Johnson and Jackson but I don’t know how people felt about then at the time…
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Nah. Hell, in Birmingham, they love the governor. (Boo boo boo.)
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Well, yeah . . sure. On one hand he is mucking it up so ridiculously, at least from how we currently perceive Presidential elections to play out, that it seems guaranteed he will lose.
But then on the other hand he is so off the radar that anything could happen, like millions of people who have never voted in their life suddenly showing up at the polls.
I still feel pretty safe about him losing, but only because elections have been so close the last several cycles, and if Hillary fills the airwaves with all the irrefutable facts about what a con-man Trump is (the kind of stuff even some of his supporters know is true), he will go down in flames come November. There are some pretty well-known Republicans who have already said they will vote for Hillary over Trump.
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is this meant reassuring or as a threat? don’t you know the fable of the phoenix?
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I dunno. I’m not buying it. Obama in 2008 was a black man running against a white war veteran and closed at around the same lead Hillary currently has. A lot of the country was saying he was a secret Muslim (a lot still do.) I don’t think the country has become significantly more racist since then, and Trump has many more substantive problems than McCain, whose biggest mistake was his Baked Alaskan running mate. You know I’m not one to discount racism and sexism in America, but I can’t shake the feeling that there’s a gestalt phenomenon reminiscent of the Brexit vote, where racism might be the ignition point, but severe dissatisfaction with the effects of neoliberal policies (even if this isn’t articulable in the mind of the dissatisfied) gives continuous fuel. I just don’t think Hillary is doing enough to come out in front of it.
Don’t get me wrong, I know she’s smart, but she’s also relatively privileged, and if the Brexit vote is any indication, people in power have some election-sized holes in how they tend to view the electorate. The thing that gives me hope is that Hillary does seem to be teflon coated in a way that Trump seemed to be in the beginning. Trump is definitely seeing things stick to him while Hillary can walk out of scandals (mainly manufactured) squeaky clean. I’m worried that there’s still a lot of time for the election, and a lot can still happen to bump that margin. Hillary’s speeches could leak and we could see another 47% moment, for instance. Elections are also won by turnout, and that’s another factor that concerns me. I think people are genuinely starting to experience fatigue. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I worry the election is going to be too tight for comfort, and all because establishment Dems have a problem sticking their finger in the air and seeing which way the wind is blowing. I take Clinton’s adoption of a lot of Sanders’s college proposals as a good sign that I may be wrong. I hope I am.
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“Starting”? I’ve been fatigued with this election for a year now. God, we’re all so sick of it.
But I don’t think there’s anyone honestly on the fence anymore. We all know who we’re gonna vote for, and we all know that it’s vitally important that we go out and actually cast that vote. I expect turnout to be high.
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I’m still undecided. I have ruled out two candidates, though.
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In the high 60’s? Because that’s considered “high” for a Presidential year, which terrifies me.
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Agreed. This little bit of the NYT story serves, in my mind, to underscore your point. Two paras down from where (and I’m assuming this) Haberman wrote about Sessions being called a “loser”:
Two aides to Mr. Trump, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the meeting, insisted Mr. Trump never used the word “loser” and that Mr. Trump never threatened to harm Mr. Flake’s electoral chances.
There’s willful ignorance and then there’s trump-level willful ignorance. At the least, that quote sounds like trump’s aides want to push the narrative to their followers that the LameStream Media is making up quotes about Dear Leader.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday afternoon, Mr. Kirk shot back at Mr. Trump, calling him an “Eastern, privileged, wealthy bully.”“Our bullies are made of better stuff in Illinois,” he said. “We’re much more practical and polite.”
So trump isn’t cool, but those New York Values–they’re the real bullies!
Representative Adam Kinzinger, Republican of Illinois, said he could sense some hesitation in the room, his own included. Mr. Kinzinger, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Mr. Trump’s recent remarks about Saddam Hussein were not helpful.“I’m not a Never Trump guy, I’m a Republican — I want to support him,” he said. “But things like saying the Saddam Hussein comment are not helping me to get there.”
But those anti-Muslim, anti-Mexican, anti-immigrant comments–They’re A-Okay!
Asked if Republicans were becoming frustrated with Mr. Trump’s meetings and speeches ending in controversy despite venues that should be friendly, Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee paused and looked at the sky.“They end up being memorable,” he said.
Meeeeeeemories, pressed between the pages of a speech condemning people for their religious vieeewwwwssssssss
Meeeeeeemories, sweetened thru the ages just like women’s menstrual cccyyyyycccllleeesssssss
Wassat? Doesn’t rhyme? No. No it doesn’t.
Yet Mike Huckabee...
…did and said nothing worth mentioning because he’s a pandering, hypocritical boot-licking horse’s ass.
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And the vitriol from the right is beyond all reason. It’s one thing to debate with my yellow-dog Democrat, Bernie Sanders lovin’ husband about his legitimate issues with Hillary, but the rhetoric from the right about her is historically rooted in some serious misogyny. I’ve been fascinated for years by the hatred of her.
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