2016 Presidential Election Thread

[Steve9347]

Look, I'm not upset Sec. Clinton is not the President. She wasn't my favorite, and I think she would have done a fine job. What I AM upset about is that the GOP allowed this clown to get as far as he did and that we, as a country, actually allowed him to be elected. I have had visceral reactions seeing pictures of him, whether it's in the Oval Office with our current President or just walking down the hall with a headline stating "President-Elect." Will he ruin the country? No. Will he do all the things he said? No. Will he be impeached? Maybe. But, this country is no longer the gold standard. Other countries are mocking us. Ireland, Scotland, France and Germany have all denounced or lightly scolded our choice. It makes me sad that some of the same voters that chastised Carter, Clinton and Obama for lack of experience, didn't care with Trump. I will always respect the Office of the President, but this is the first time in my life that I haven't had ANY respect for the man that will occupy that office.

You summed up a lot of my feelings. I've lost respect for my country greatly.

[Steve9347]

How does cutting taxes not help the middle class?

 

Well lets say I give you a $10 coupon, thats great right? But lets say now you have to pay $100 for something you used to get for free. You are -$90. The problem is that what Trump sold you was snake oil and now your stuck with it for 4 years.

 

And I dont think everything Trump said was a lie, I think that I could probably find 1 or 2 things that were somewhat truthful, but for the most part he just flat out lied and no one even cared. They didnt care that he didnt release his taxes under false pretense (no one even talks about it), or that none of his plans made sense, or that he basically insulted the entire United States.

 

All that 49% of the population cared about was catchy slogans. BUILD THAT WALL, LOCK HER UP. This is your America Greg, an America where Hillary Clinton is less trustworthy than Donald Trump. Let that sink in, Donald Trump, someone who has repeatedly changed his mind on everything. I mean just a few years ago Trump was a Clinton supporter.

 

So what happened?

 

Oh yeah, people stopped caring about facts. Reap what you sow Greg.

Preach.

[caulfield12]

The irony is Trump wants to make it easier to get any new drug through the FDA pipeline.

 

That's great. Who cares about safety when there are quick profits to be made? Theranos isn't dead yet.

 

Of course, he doesn't want to make it easier for an American to go to Mexico, Canada or even Cuba and buy that same drug for 15-20 cents on the dollar.

 

But he will take care of those with preexisting conditions and those under 26 can stay on parents' plans without raising costs because medical savings accounts will save the day. Great!

 

We don't even need to have Medicare anymore, forget about President Bush's unfunded Plan B mandate that cost a trillion or two. Boom! Deficit reduction.

 

While we're at it....privatize Social Security!

 

But damn...the stock market has only done exceptionally well from 1993-2000 when Clinton was president and 2009-2016 when Obama was president. Oops. Might want to overlook that little detail.

 

Forget about 1987, 1998, the tech bubble, 9/11, 2008....we can blame all those problems on irresponsible tax and spend liberal Congresses.

Edited November 15, 2016 by caulfield12

[Jenksismyhero]

Look, I'm not upset Sec. Clinton is not the President. She wasn't my favorite, and I think she would have done a fine job. What I AM upset about is that the GOP allowed this clown to get as far as he did and that we, as a country, actually allowed him to be elected. I have had visceral reactions seeing pictures of him, whether it's in the Oval Office with our current President or just walking down the hall with a headline stating "President-Elect." Will he ruin the country? No. Will he do all the things he said? No. Will he be impeached? Maybe. But, this country is no longer the gold standard. Other countries are mocking us. Ireland, Scotland, France and Germany have all denounced or lightly scolded our choice. It makes me sad that some of the same voters that chastised Carter, Clinton and Obama for lack of experience, didn't care with Trump. I will always respect the Office of the President, but this is the first time in my life that I haven't had ANY respect for the man that will occupy that office.

 

Except for the bit about what the rest of the world thinks (1. who cares? 2. pot meet kettle) I agree with everything you say. This isn't the first time we've elected a bad President. And it won't be the last.

Edited November 15, 2016 by JenksIsMyHero

[LittleHurt05]

More than half of the Trump protesters arrested in Portland didn't vote

[NorthSideSox72]

More than half of the Trump protesters arrested in Portland didn't vote

I almost always avoid generational talk - it all seems artificial to me. But it puzzles me how reliably young people DON'T vote. Drives me up a wall.

 

[RockRaines]

I almost always avoid generational talk - it all seems artificial to me. But it puzzles me how reliably young people DON'T vote. Drives me up a wall.

I think for them its because their state is always going to go blue. Kind of like ours. Sometimes the electoral process disenfranchises people.

[NorthSideSox72]

I think for them its because their state is always going to go blue. Kind of like ours. Sometimes the electoral process disenfranchises people.

That's incredibly lame. First, there's a lot more than one office in an election (usually), and even in Illinois there are plenty that are red and blue. Second, red and blue is just one construct around bigger questions - I vote GOP a lot more often than DEM but there was zero chance I was going to vote for a dangerous bigot like Trump. Third, if they all voted, they could actually make changes to things they don't like. I find no valid excuse to not vote.

 

(I don't like the Electoral College either, but it's the current system)

 

[CrimsonWeltall]

I think for them its because their state is always going to go blue. Kind of like ours. Sometimes the electoral process disenfranchises people.

 

Even if their state is deep red/blue for the Presidential election, they can still make a difference in state/local elections. It's laziness.

[bmags]

I almost always avoid generational talk - it all seems artificial to me. But it puzzles me how reliably young people DON'T vote. Drives me up a wall.

 

Yes, it's infuriating. I think it's shedding the adolescent mindset. The institutions are inherited and present their entire lives, and seems almost parental. They don't realize it's theirs until they start property/taxes, etc and realize how affected they are.

 

That said, I also haven't known many young people who haven't voted.

[StrangeSox]

Didn't McGovern bank his '72 campaign on all the newly-empowered 18-20 year olds coming out to vote?

[RockRaines]

Even if their state is deep red/blue for the Presidential election, they can still make a difference in state/local elections. It's laziness.

Not saying its not, in fact the down ballot elections are probably MORE important. But some people think that way. It happens in IL like crazy.

[BigSqwert]

Everybody loves a sore winner.

 

 

via

 

 

EDIT: LOL. I forgot I have the Drumpfinator chrome extension enabled in case anyone was wondering about the screenshot.

Edited November 15, 2016 by BigSqwert

[bmags]

That's scary, need some people that know what they are doing there.

[Soxbadger]

Eh, I think the best case scenario (for me) is that Trump angers so many people that nobody wants to work with him. For 4 years our country is in stasis, it makes everyone realize how messed up things have become and in 2020 we start to move forward again.

[StrangeSox]

But stuff will still be happening domestically and globally that needs to be responded to competently.

 

I have zero expectations of that happening and every single day has brought only more evidence in favor of that view, but we shouldn't treat that like it won't have potentially dire consequences.

[Soxbadger]

But stuff will still be happening domestically and globally that needs to be responded to competently.

 

I have zero expectations of that happening and every single day has brought only more evidence in favor of that view, but we shouldn't treat that like it won't have potentially dire consequences.

 

But you have to face reality, and the chances that Trump wakes up as a different person tomorrow is very small, possibly 0. So when given 2 choices, a) Trump decisions or b) no decisions, I think the clear answer is b. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, they are going to have to live with the consequences of our choices.

[caulfield12]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/official-west-vi...-132100329.html

 

Trump is going to lose any remaining goodwill if he doesn't disavow this stuff immediately.

Yet another obvious partial consequence of the birth certificate nonsense we kept hearing year after year.

 

Already half the Chinese intl. students in my prep school are looking more closely at Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Not to mention they already have heard so many stories about gun crimes and robberies in major cities like zchicago, NYC and LA.

Edited November 15, 2016 by caulfield12

[greg775]

We are rebuilding, this doesn't matter.

 

 

How does cutting taxes not help the middle class?

 

Well lets say I give you a $10 coupon, thats great right? But lets say now you have to pay $100 for something you used to get for free. You are -$90. The problem is that what Trump sold you was snake oil and now your stuck with it for 4 years.

 

And I dont think everything Trump said was a lie, I think that I could probably find 1 or 2 things that were somewhat truthful, but for the most part he just flat out lied and no one even cared. They didnt care that he didnt release his taxes under false pretense (no one even talks about it), or that none of his plans made sense, or that he basically insulted the entire United States.

 

All that 49% of the population cared about was catchy slogans. BUILD THAT WALL, LOCK HER UP. This is your America Greg, an America where Hillary Clinton is less trustworthy than Donald Trump. Let that sink in, Donald Trump, someone who has repeatedly changed his mind on everything. I mean just a few years ago Trump was a Clinton supporter.

 

So what happened?

 

Oh yeah, people stopped caring about facts. Reap what you sow Greg.

But you say reap what you sow? It's not my fault Hillary was his opponent. Plus I'm one of those who didn't vote for either. No way I was gonna vote for Hillary or Trump. I'm sure there were a lot of people like me.

 

More than half of the Trump protesters arrested in Portland didn't vote

If they feel that strongly about it, they should have voted at least for a write in. I didn't vote for one of the 2 candidates but at least I'm not protesting.

 

[Soxbadger]

But you say reap what you sow? It's not my fault Hillary was his opponent. Plus I'm one of those who didn't vote for either. No way I was gonna vote for Hillary or Trump. I'm sure there were a lot of people like me.

 

 

If they feel that strongly about it, they should have voted at least for a write in. I didn't vote for one of the 2 candidates but at least I'm not protesting.

 

Greg,

 

Being complacent isnt an excuse. We all bear this cross, some of us more than others, but we are all responsible. You were duped. Can you even understand how impossible it was that almost no major newspaper endorsed Trump. We are talking about certain newspapers that NEVER endorsed a Democrat, not Bill Clinton, not Obama, not FDR, and they endorsed Clinton.

 

We have become a country of suckers, a country of fools. A country where we dont "trust" science, where we believe in "boogeymen."

 

And if you arent against it, youre for it. That is the America you helped to create, and now WE all have to come together to stop it.

[Soxbadger]

An American's best case scenario is the country to be middling for four years? Yikes.

 

Well I dont speak for every American which is why I said "for me."

 

Trumps economic ideas are (imo) lunacy. We are going away from everything that makes our economy run. Ending free trade, is beyond words. Slowing/stopping immigration, completely backwards. Increasing expenditures while decreasing income. And the list goes on.

 

The social issues, well see. I personally think that America is better when we dont have govt legislating morality/religion. If 2 adults want to marry, whatever. They want to have sex, whatever. They want to do drugs, again, not my problem.

 

But again in my opinion the best for America is that none of his policies are implemented. Almost every policy that he has proposed will at best do no impact, at worst will do negative. So when given the option of 1) losing a lot of money or 2) losing no money but gaining no money, I choose option 2.

 

This is where we are right now, no amount of blaming the media is going to fix what people bought from Trump.

[RockRaines]

He has pretty much coupled a great policy to a terrible one throughout his plan. Its pretty ridiculous.

[CanOfCorn]

Except for the bit about what the rest of the world thinks (1. who cares? 2. pot meet kettle) I agree with everything you say. This isn't the first time we've elected a bad President. And it won't be the last.

 

Because, like it or not, we are citizens of the Earth more than ever, Jenks. We can get to the other side of the world in less than a day. We can connect with people on the other side of the world instantly. We buy and sell goods around the world. If they lose trust, that's a problem. Did you see that France might charge a carbon tax on imports if Trump pulls out of the Paris Agreement? That's a problem. And that's why it matters.

[Jenksismyhero]

Because, like it or not, we are citizens of the Earth more than ever, Jenks. We can get to the other side of the world in less than a day. We can connect with people on the other side of the world instantly. We buy and sell goods around the world. If they lose trust, that's a problem. Did you see that France might charge a carbon tax on imports if Trump pulls out of the Paris Agreement? That's a problem. And that's why it matters.

 

It matters to a degree, sure. But we are still far and away the best military partner any of our allies have, we're still one of the best trade partners for a lot of these countries, and more to my point, it's not like these countries aren't themselves (1) being swept up in populist movements, (2) free of having made some embarrassing choices when it comes to their political leaders.

 

 

 

 

[Soxbadger]

It matters to a degree, sure. But we are still far and away the best military partner any of our allies have, we're still one of the best trade partners for a lot of these countries, and more to my point, it's not like these countries aren't themselves (1) being swept up in populist movements, (2) free of having made some embarrassing choices when it comes to their political leaders.

 

Jenks,

 

We shall see about being one of the best military partners. If Trump does not keep sanctions on Russia for their Ukraine invasion it will be a "Chamberlain" moment. I understand that its really hard to actually declare war on Russia over it, but at the same time we can not bend to Russia on this. Ukraine, US and Russia signed a treaty and it would be pretty horrific for us not to keep our word.

 

Trade partners, who knows. The Republican party is now anti-free trade. So I am not exactly sure what to expect.

 

As for what other countries do, I agree that most countries (if not all) have had their "Trump" moment.

 

Who knows what will happen, but if Trump keeps his promises than we are likely not going to be a reliable military partner or trade partner. If that is what the Republican party stands for, so be it, it can be their badge of honor.

Edited November 15, 2016 by Soxbadger