President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

Link?

 

The "agenda" is pissing off the other side. Yeah they'd like to get some tax cuts out of it, but that's not the primary driver here. Trump is a success because "Herp, derp, suck it libtards." That's what white trash America cares about.

 

What does black trash America care about?

 

I know I'm guilty of this, and it's usually done out of anger or frustration during a debate and I feel bad about it after. Speaking from anecdotal experience, I'm hopeful that the problem, while it exists, isn't as hard to fix as it seems. I fall back on the condescension when I'm confronted by a staunch conservative. That isn't to say I'm smarter than staunch conservatives, but I think it's often a crutch to try to claim some moral victory in a political stalemate. Don't get me wrong, I cringe at the douchiness of so many on my side of the aisle (praising Andy Murray for purposely ignoring context to embarrass a reporter, for example). I also know the power of perception. But I think those who receive the full brunt of the annoying liberal are those who Democrats wouldn't have a chance to win over anyway. So basically, I'm saying maybe we just need to dial it back to a 7 or 8 instead of a 2 or 3

 

Ask Gee.

 

Taking jobs from white trash America

 

That is classic.

 

I agree on all counts. But, again, this gets back to my point about the inherent tension between the lofty ideals of the liberal world view and the pragmatic realities of elections. I tend to err on the side of ends rather than means. At the end of the day, the best way to combat misogyny and bigotry within the framework of an election is to win that election.

I'm not suggesting liberals faced an either/or choice of condemning or condoning the ignorance that was on display throughout the campaign. I'm suggesting they would have fared better pursuing a strategy that accepted the fact that there was (and still is) a broad swath of voters who do not share their level of passion regarding that ignorance. Rather than Trump's base, I'm referring to the people who agreed with his and Bernie's message that establishment Washington no longer represents them, and who first and foremost wanted someone who sounded as if he would fight for their personal economic interests. If you were a bigot or a misogynist, then you weren't voting for anybody but Trump. But by the end of the campaign the left's message seemed to be that if you did vote for Trump, then that alone qualified you as a misogynist or a bigot. People do not act kindly to being labeled something they genuinely believe they are not. And, even if they are that something, insisting it to them only serves to drive them back into the safety of people who accept them for who they (believe) they are.

Perhaps people look at choosing a president the way they look at choosing a lawyer, or an agent. Give me the guy that seems to have my best interests at heart, the guy who is going to fight for me, even if I wouldn't want him to babysit my kids.

Personally, I think most people who voted for Trump outside of his base were guilty first and foremost of being either dangerously ignorant or helplessly naive. Either way, the remedy was not to yell at them and call them names. It was to educate them, and construct a coherent argument that explained exactly how your candidate would better address their concerns. That, more than anything, was HRC's failing. There were a lot of ancillary things that could've played a contributing role, from cultural misogyny to the DNC hack to Comey's handling of the personal email scandal. But all of those things were outside of the Dems' control, and yet they still seem to be the only things that anybody wants to focus on. What's the use of that? There's none. It's a defeatist's mentality: focus on all the reasons why life is unfair rather than identifying all of the factors that are within your control and figuring out a way to do them better.

The course of this thread is the same way things go amongst my fellow liberal friends: any suggestion that the election yielded some lessons on things Democrats could do better is met with a discouraging amount of resistance, which turns into the same old feedback loop: anger to defiance to self-pity. That ain't the way to keep it from happening again...

 

All righty, if you want to mull the usage of gender pronouns in 2019, have at it.
Don't come crying if the fat pig gets another term.
And then we get his children to succeed him.
Do you really think Ivanka wants to play house with her waxen husband forever? In some sad way she is being groomed for a presidential run.

 

Thoughts and prayers for the GOP's hopes of stripping millions of Americans of health insurance and jeopardizing their health in the process.

 

Surely they'll get there eventually. They've got till the midterms and a decent bet they'll have until 2020. But that's 0-for-2.

 

People don't take kindly to being called misogynists? I don't take kindly to them installing a man who bought a beauty pageant solely for the purpose of bursting in on teenage girls undressed. I guess we'll have to live with each other's opinions of the other.