This is the cancer that gerrymandering has wrought. In the effort to make comfortable districts the GOP wouldn’t have to fight for, they no longer have the support of moderates who would both stop Nazi candidates cold and support candidates who would stand up to them. Instead, he’s going to face a primary candidate who will tow the Trump line and win that carefully cultivated Nazi vote.
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Oh, come on now. I don’t believe that. Only for the simple fact that I couldn’t see Trump taking the time to read a speech. I doubt he could even get past the first three pages of “The Cat in the Hat”.
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I mean, you’re probably right about his reading, but @beschizza linked to the comments his former wife made about it, so at least he used to, even if he wasn’t aware that it wasn’t Mein Kampf. Given his current deteriorated mental state I doubt he even could anymore though.
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You may have personal reasons for saying that. 100% your prerogative and right. Unfortunately, a large number of Americans also have the same “I would never vote for Party X.” This means that no candidate from either party has much incentive to stray far from the fringes. They can’t gain votes and they could lose votes. Polarization is reinforced.
I don’t have a good solution except to at least praise politicians when they at least try. Unfortunately, the sentiment of so many people on this thread of “Screw Kasich, you didn’t go far enough” only sends the same message that moving towards the middle is unrewarded.
Treat politicians like dogs. Give them praise when they do something in the direction you like, even if it’s only partly right. Avoid scolding unless they really poop on the floor.
And yes, some dogs are bad dogs. You’ll never get them to do the right thing. But maybe you can guide them to being a little less bad. But not if all you EVER do is scold.
You might think the dog analogy is a stretch. But remember that politicians have huge egos. They crave positive reinforcement.
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violent rallies from Trump’s base with torches.
In what universe are the Democrats even close to a fringe? They aren’t even the left wing of capitalism.
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It’s a relative term. Try “base” if you prefer.
I have no hope whatsoever that Kasish reads bbs comment threads.
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I agree with you. The fact that so many Republicans are criticizing Trump is good. Maybe it’s not a perfect world, but it’s better with them criticizing him.
I wish people would be more careful with Nazi analogies. This is a current, a real, a NOW-problem - not any first-as-tragedy-then-as-farce bonmot about a time most living people can’t remember.
Learning from the past, that would be a different story.
That’s his former trophy wife sharing info about his trophy book. I’m sure he just liked the supple calfskin whatever skin it was bound in and the pretty eagle design.
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Backbone in 1941: declaring war on Germany.
Backbone in 2017: not supporting a president who’s a Nazi-apologist.
How many GOP congresscreeps can manage even that much?
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Maybe they should look at their British counterparts for inspiration
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These guys are not scared yet.
Set up a PAC to support opponents to Trump and his enablers, particularly in swing districts and states, at every level. Then sign up pledges to donate every time Trump says or does a variety of things. Write up a fairly clear list of definitions (so it doesn’t just turn into a money hose that people don’t trust).
-Every time he mentions the electoral college, $1 donation to the PAC.
- Every time he attacks Hillary Clinton (10 months after the election) - $1
- Every time he tweets about something he just watched on Fox - $.50
- Every time he says, tweets or blames ‘Fake News’ - $.50
- Every time he says or tweets an attack on the judiciary - $2
-Every time he defends Nazis - $5
Potential donors could choose from a list of options, and set a maximum donation as well (in case Trump goes on a random tweetstorm on a particular topic).
It would be great fun to follow each of his crazy ass tweets with a summary of the total donations to his political opponents that he has triggered with his idiocy. A reasonably simple twitter bot could procide a running update to each of his posts or statements within seconds.
Heck, if it was carefully set up the PAC could directly target Republicans who are in vulnerable ridings that have not yet turned against Trump. Send them a tweet or email every time Trump does something offensive listing how much more money is being raised for their opponents. That could happen several times a day. They are clearly not going to grow spines and oppose him, might as well get them worried about their jobs.
If enough people signed up Trump could be raising a million bucks for his opponents with every boneheaded, racist or fascist statement he makes. That would get the attention of Congressional Republicans, since clearly common decency holds no sway over them.
In the best case it would cause him to think twice before fundraising for his opponents with every utterance. But let’s be serious here…
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It’s kind of one of those pointless things like asking what was worse, slavery or the Holocaust? Max bad all around.
I don’t think Kasich is as disgusting as some of the others, but he’s still full-bore Wall Street, still supports even further stratifying society into the mega-wealthy and everyone else. He still supports the Republican Party platform, which is an abomination.
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The problem with this post is that it seems to lack real-world understanding of where the two parties stand on the actual political spectrum. The Democrats are moderate in social policies, and somewhat conservative on economic policies. The Republicans are extreme far right Libertarian-anarchist-oligarchs on economic issues, and far right on social issues. There is no actual mainstream left wing party in the United States, not even close. So to imply that there is really much of a far-left fringe at work in the Democratic Party is somewhat ludicrous.
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The problem in US politics is not, and has never been, “polarisation”.
The problem in US politics is fascism.
When polled on the issues, the centre of US political opinion is slightly to the left of the Democrats.
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Yes, if he can’t say “I no longer support Donald Trump” then he’s part of the problem.
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Not to forget that he’s also a hardcore forced-birther misogynist.
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And I’d been this close to supporting Kasich. [Arms outstretched, hands 300 yards apart.]
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