Think He'll Win?

suspiciousminds

axisus;728774" said:

Trump is a moron, I fear for the world if he ever became president. I'd like to see Hilary Clinton as president, I think that she's a strong woman and hopefully would have a bit more spine than Obama.

Agreed.
Trump is a vile creature.

ICBM

Is Trump more ludicrous than Reagan?

Serious question.

He doesn't have Reagan's instinctive gift for communication, it's true…

Not sure about Hillary having more 'spine' than Obama either - more of a loose cannon. Obama has plenty of backbone - he's just intelligent enough to know the limitations of what he can do, and he thinks before he does anything. That doesn't seem to be a popular trait among Americans though.

Evilmags

He won't win. Annoyingly it's not looking good for Rand Paul. Hillary is a nasty, left wing warmonger. Seriously hope she looses.

Sibelius

Evilmags said:

 Annoyingly it's not looking good for Rand Paul.

You should enjoy this then!

Sibelius

THIS, EVEN!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/flora-nicholas/rand-paul-launches-absolutely-no-chance-of-winning-the-presidency-campaign_b_7025346.html

guitargeek62

Bernie Sanders is making some serious headway for the democrats, or so the polls would have you believe at least. Either way, his track record in politics is fantastic and I really hope he ends up in a seat of (substantial) power in the next election, if not the presidency itself.

Heartfeltdawn

equalsql said:

He's a 'patsy', the classic distraction so as to keep the flies off of 'Jeb'.  Without a whisper another Bush could end up being in the whitehouse... and that's some serious cause for concern.

He's not a patsy. He's far more entertaining than that. 

Not long ago, Nigel Farage dumped over to the Heritage Foundation, a think tank that was decidedly powerful during the Reagan era, to give a speech. Farage represents what a loose cannon can do, someone with the power to actively affect the policies of other parties without stripping power away from parties (as we saw in our election this year with the lack of UKIP success). The Heritage Foundation love conservative policies. They don't think the Republicans are conservative enough. Add in a group like the Freedom Caucus who believed the Republican Study Committee is drifting far too close to the centre.

There is the potential for a man like Trump to come in and upset the apple cart. He doesn't give a flying fuck what he says and there's the crucial anti-establishment element he can tap into. Here in the UK the anti-establishment lot are generally portrayed in the media as the hippies, Russell Brandites, diehard Trots, and confused souls that walk around London with badly painted signs and little awareness. Being anti-establishment is a left-leaning activity. 

In the US it's different. The Tea Party were anti-establishment. Donald Trump is anti-establishment. Your stereotypical NRA gay shooting sister fucking redneck will hold anti-establishment feelings. Being anti-establishment in America features a whole lot more of the right-wing vote than it does here. 

The Heritage Foundation see in Trump the potential to do what Farage did: someone who can put pressure on both parties and affect policies without fucking up the Republican chances of winning. Someone who can tilt the GOP more to the right and to leave the centre road. It's risky to say the least when you have The problem is a Republican landscape that is a complete fucking mess.

As Politico wrote the other day:

“The media narrative you guys are spinning isn’t specific enough—we have exactly one clown in the car,” says a top Republican official, referring to Trump. “So why did it explode?” the official added. “Because we have something in the Republican Party that the Democrats don’t have to deal with: a multibillion-dollar business in TV, political punditry and books and talk radio—we built up a ton of personalities, people that you guys in the media think are off the radar have been quietly gaining power. A whole slew of folks think they can, and should, run the party.”

The Republicans built up this media environment where the like of Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly walk like King Kong over most opposition. A world where intelligent reasoned debate is rare and the norm is the sort of shouty argument you'd have with a tramp on meths. This media world was designed to destroy those damn Liberals through shouting and attacks launched by media personalities because nobody on the Democrat side likes to shout back in such a way. 

With Donald, he does like to shout back. And he does it better than most of those shouting at him. The morons on Fox are suddenly looking up at an aged Godzilla in a toupe who could well have the power to drag in those Tea Party voters from the past, some hardcore Republicans, and that crucial percentage of the electorate known as 'morons'. 

If he wins the nomination, then all hell breaks loose. If he doesn't but stands as a independent in the manner of Ralph Nader, then the Republicans have a serious problem. 

ICBM

Evilmags said:

Hillary is a nasty, left wing warmonger.

I'll give you two out of three, but in what world is Hillary - or any American politician - left-wing?!

Sibelius

ICBM said:

Evilmags said:

Hillary is a nasty, left wing warmonger.

I'll give you two out of three, but in what world is Hillary - or any American politician - left-wing?!

)

Sibelius

Just heard he's actually in the lead according to the polls. :-O

Jalapeno

ICBM said:

Evilmags said:

Hillary is a nasty, left wing warmonger.

I'll give you two out of three, but in what world is Hillary - or any American politician - left-wing?!

LOL'd, but relatively speaking she's as about Left Wing as US politics can get.

Sibelius

Jalapeno said:

ICBM said:

Evilmags said:

Hillary is a nasty, left wing warmonger.

I'll give you two out of three, but in what world is Hillary - or any American politician - left-wing?!

LOL'd, but relatively speaking she's as about Left Wing as US politics can get.

Nah, there's always Bernie Sanders...seems to be pretty much a socialist.

Drew_TNBD

Evilmags said:

He won't win. Annoyingly it's not looking good for Rand Paul. Hillary is a nasty, left wing warmonger. Seriously hope she looses.

Agree with all of this.

Drew_TNBD

ICBM said:

Evilmags said:

Hillary is a nasty, left wing warmonger.

I'll give you two out of three, but in what world is Hillary - or any American politician - left-wing?!

She's left wing in that she panders to special interest groups through one side of her mouth, whilst at the same time pretending to be speaking for all.

The right-wing don't do that imho. They have more of a "fuck you, this is what we think" attitude.

chillidoggy

axisus said:

Trump is a moron, I fear for the world if he ever became president. I'd like to see Hilary Clinton as president, I think that she's a strong woman and hopefully would have a bit more spine than Obama.

Admit it: You fancy her a bit.

ICBM

Drew_fx said:

She's left wing in that she panders to special interest groups through one side of her mouth, whilst at the same time pretending to be speaking for all.

The right-wing don't do that imho. They have more of a "fuck you, this is what we think" attitude.

No, the right wing do that just as much. They tell everyone that making the rich richer benefits the poor - the 'trickle down effect'.

What it means in reality is pissing on those beneath them.

Drew_TNBD

I suppose that is true. Is why I don't prescribe to either "wing".

ICBM

Nor me. The problem is that the 'neo-liberal consensus' has moved so far to the right that even being mildly left-of-centre or even pretty much bang in the middle is now called 'socialist' by anyone on the right wing.

Drew_TNBD

Kind've the same with anything that is even mildly being right-of-centre. You get called a fascist for basic common sense a lot of the time.

Identity politics is the reason we're all in this mess.

Rocker

I fear all Republican presidents of the USA. Warmongers every one of them. War is the one thing that unites a nation and the Republicans know it.