The American Politics Thread!

[DiFan]

On 3/26/2020 at 6:02 PM, RWG said:

 

Yup. He and Fox News spent weeks potty training their base not to take the virus seriously.

 

 

Apparently they've backed off.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/canada-objects-to-u-s-plan-to-put-troops-at-border-11585247654

 

I don't know the supposed reasoning was, but I'm guessing it was part of a larger campaign to equate the virus with migrants in general.

Hopefully this virus puts things in perspective for the "open border" supporters on the left. With people crossing borders illegally that have various diseases and unvaccinated migrants. Maybe the money and resources that are wasted can go to the homeless in various countries instead. 

 

I won't hold my breath though.

[Guest]

The way he conducts himself in these settings still annoys me. I think what it really is that what he says and how he behaves doesn't always match the policy, as if the two things aren't in sync. It's as if he's saying, watch what I do but not what I say and everyone ends up confused. Glad he's listening to the doctors. 

[TeamAudra]

 

 

[TeamAudra]

 

 

[sneaky]

On 3/30/2020 at 4:42 PM, TeamAudra said:

 

i think its true if Trump or Sanders did this it would be ahead of the virus on news cycles.

 

Wonder where all the Democrats are now that like to say Sanders hates women.

[mercfan3]

Sanders does hate women - and does not have a great track record there. 

 

I think it's hilarious that people think this would be a big deal if Trump or Sanders did it. Trump has 20+ allegations of sexual assault against him. And he admitted to doing it. Sanders 2016 campaign had sexual harassment lawsuits filed against it - and he rehired the people in the lawsuit. Most people don't know about either. 

 

Accusers credibility is actually questionable here. Apparently she took her story to both Warren and Harris and neither took the bait. But this is wait and see..I've always been someone who truly thinks that sexual assualters sexually assault. If Biden did this to her..he did it to other women as well. And it'll come out. (The reason I give..say..Kobe Bryant the benefit of the doubt..who had one allegation against him - and a history of active feminism...vs..say...Bill Cosby..who was another 20+..) 

 

On another note, I really don't like Biden's wife. (For more reasons than this) Regardless of whether the accusers claims are credible - not okay. If her husband didn't do it then there is no reason to walk back on the idea that women should be believed. As in..they're allegations shouldn't be dismissed because they are women, and allegations should be investigated.  

Edited April 1, 2020 by mercfan3

[sneaky]

5 minutes ago, mercfan3 said:

Sanders does hate women - and does not have a great track record there. 

 

I think it's hilarious that people think this would be a big deal if Trump or Sanders did it. Trump has 20+ allegations of sexual assault against him. And he admitted to doing it. Sanders 2016 campaign had sexual harassment lawsuits filed against it - and he rehired the people in the lawsuit. Most people don't know about either. 

 

Accusers credibility is actually questionable here. Apparently she took her story to both Warren and Harris and neither took the bait. But this is wait and see..I've always been someone who truly thinks that sexual assualters sexually assault. If Biden did this to her..he did it to other women as well. And it'll come out. (The reason I give..say..Kobe Bryant the benefit of the doubt..who had one allegation against him - and a history of active feminism...vs..say...Bill Cosby..who was another 20+..) 

 

On another note, I really don't like Biden's wife. (For more reasons than this) Regardless of whether the accusers claims are credible - not okay. If her husband didn't do it then there is no reason to walk back on the idea that women should be believed. As in..they're allegations shouldn't be dismissed because they are women, and allegations should be investigated.  

I'm gonna need some documentation that Sanders is hates woman. I dont see several sexual ( not just 1)assault charges against him but I do against Biden and Trump.  Warren's little quarrel with Sanders doesn't count.  She lied about her race so its plausible she would lie about that. And just saying you don't believe a women could beat Trump doesn't mean you hate women anyway. 

 

And though Trump is a sexist the media ate up the Stormy Daniel's saga with 100 times the rigor of the Biden accusations.

 

 

I recall Sanders making a point this go around to be more careful who they hired actually 

[Guest]

The DNC is moving the convention to August due to the Coronavirus. 

[mercfan3]

3 hours ago, Drew said:

The DNC is moving the convention to August due to the Coronavirus. 

 

They really shouldn't have an audience.

 

Hopefully, we get through the peak in mid-April, and things can resume semi-normally (with caution), in May. But you just don't do things like putting thousands of people from different parts of the country into one area. 

 

 Even still, once NYC gets this under control, they better shut their borders as much as possible. A flare up can and will happen again. 

Edited April 2, 2020 by mercfan3

[RWG]

The governor of Georgia says he learned in the last 24 hours that asymptomatic and preymptomatic people can spread the virus...

 

 

I realize he's probably pretending to be ignorant so as not to seem negligent/responsible for thousands of deaths, but what a statement.

[sneaky]

9 hours ago, RWG said:

The governor of Georgia says he learned in the last 24 hours that asymptomatic and preymptomatic people can spread the virus...

 

 

I realize he's probably pretending to be ignorant so as not to seem negligent/responsible for thousands of deaths, but what a statement.

Brian Kemp is a piece  of sh--. He stayed on as supervisor of elections in GA even on election day in GA. Of course he would do this

[sneaky]

Joe Rogan, who has a comparable size audience to anyone on CNN or MSNBC, just said he would have to vote for Trump over Biden.

Not a good sign. He is probably the largest independent political commentator.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, sneaky said:

Joe Rogan, who has a comparable size audience to anyone on CNN or MSNBC, just said he would have to vote for Trump over Biden.

Not a good sign. He is probably the largest independent political commentator.

I'm not an expert on Joe, but I know he's a Libertarian. I don't think it means much of anything. I think it depends on where your priorities are. Some people want a return to normalcy, decency, etc. Those people are going for Biden. Some prioritize low taxes, deregulation, burn it all down, etc. Those will go for Trump. I think a lot has to do with how the next couple months shake out with Coronavirus. 

 

Parents, who are avid Fox News watchers (spirit of full disclosure, I do like Dana Perino, Bret Baier, etc but can't stand many of the evening hosts except Shannon Bream - not that you asked, lol) seem to think Biden could be replaced somehow, but I think that's wishful thinking. A handful of more primary wins and he's the presumptive Democratic nominee. To everyone, do you think that's out of the realm of possibility or plausible? 

[mercfan3]

Joe Rogan switching from Bernie to Trump - is exactly why Bernie lost. He went after the wrong demos. 

 

When Rogan endorsed Bernie, and Bernie accepted..even AOC side eyed. 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by mercfan3

[sneaky]

12 hours ago, mercfan3 said:

Joe Rogan switching from Bernie to Trump - is exactly why Bernie lost. He went after the right demos. 

 

When Rogan endorsed Bernie, and Bernie accepted..even AOC side eyed. 

 

 

I dont understand.  So Democrats are supposed to try to get swing votes but only certain kinds?

[sneaky]

16 hours ago, Drew said:

I'm not an expert on Joe, but I know he's a Libertarian. I don't think it means much of anything. I think it depends on where your priorities are. Some people want a return to normalcy, decency, etc. Those people are going for Biden. Some prioritize low taxes, deregulation, burn it all down, etc. Those will go for Trump. I think a lot has to do with how the next couple months shake out with Coronavirus. 

 

Parents, who are avid Fox News watchers (spirit of full disclosure, I do like Dana Perino, Bret Baier, etc but can't stand many of the evening hosts except Shannon Bream - not that you asked, lol) seem to think Biden could be replaced somehow, but I think that's wishful thinking. A handful of more primary wins and he's the presumptive Democratic nominee. To everyone, do you think that's out of the realm of possibility or plausible? 

Could Biden be replaced? I don't think so. How would we choose who gets the crown?  I guess it could be Bernie since he' s runner up that would set off fireworks. 

 

Here's a bit of an unpopular opinion.. To me the only possible advantages Biden has over Trump are environmental protections, climate change and the supreme court.  The latter I'm not even sure of his judgement anymore to pick.

 

From the left there is a lot of Trump- fascist Hitler comparision.  I'm actually of the mind that, crazy as he is, I would rather have Trump than an old school evangelical Republican like Bush or Pence

[mercfan3]

11 hours ago, sneaky said:

I dont understand.  So Democrats are supposed to try to get swing votes but only certain kinds?

 

What Bernie Sanders has labeled as "the corrupt establishment" is literally the only institution in this country of minority power. 

 

Bernie tried to gentrify this. He tried to win without that coalition. Accepting Joe Rogans endorsement even brought side eyes from people like AOC, because of Joe's known racism and sexism. One of the biggest reasons that Democratic voters came out as strongly as they did - against Bernie - was because of this threat. 

 

If you can jump from Bernie to Donald, your Bernie support was never about Bernie's policy ideals - economic justice. 

 

edit: Sneaky..I would do anything to have Bush back. Again, competency matters. Outside of the pure evil and greed of Donald, he literally does not know how to do this job. Admittedly, I wasn't paying attention to what he was doing to the CDC and Pandemic Response team, but professionals were predicting that a Pandemic would be Donald's "Katrina" for about two years now. 

 

Bush Jr, on the other hand..literally started the task force against Pandemics. There was also at least a sense of human decency with him. (Not so much Cheney - ) I can point to some positive things Bush has done. 

Edited April 7, 2020 by mercfan3

[Jonathan]

4 hours ago, mercfan3 said:

 

What Bernie Sanders has labeled as "the corrupt establishment" is literally the only institution in this country of minority power. 

 

Bernie tried to gentrify this. He tried to win without that coalition. Excepting Joe Rogans endorsement even brought side eyes from people like AOC, because of Joe's known racism and sexism. One of the biggest reasons that Democratic voters came out as strongly as they did - against Bernie - was because of this threat. 

 

If you can jump from Bernie to Donald, your Bernie support was never about Bernie's policy ideals - economic justice. 

 

edit: Sneaky..I would do anything to have Bush back. Again, competency matters. Outside of the pure evil and greed of Donald, he literally does not know how to do this job. Admittedly, I wasn't paying attention to what he was doing to the CDC and Pandemic Response team, but professionals were predicting that a Pandemic would be Donald's "Katrina" for about two years now. 

 

Bush Jr, on the other hand..literally started the task force against Pandemics. There was also at least a sense of human decency with him. (Not so much Cheney - ) I can point to some positive things Bush has done. 

 

I agree. I voted for Gore in 00 and Bush in 04. That was the only time I voted Republican for President.  But I have never thought Bush or McCain and Romney would have been a human disease on America like Trump always has been.  Before Trump a Generic Republican was policy disagreements with me, not life threatening evil and incompetence like the party has become under Trump. I grew up with Reagan and Bush Sr as men to look up to in my household as a child.  I would never want any child to look up to Trump or any Republican today defending his brand. This is not how the Republican party, once a truly great one, was supposed to end up.  Trump would have fired Eisenhower too.

[sneaky]

7 hours ago, mercfan3 said:

 

What Bernie Sanders has labeled as "the corrupt establishment" is literally the only institution in this country of minority power. 

 

Bernie tried to gentrify this. He tried to win without that coalition. Excepting Joe Rogans endorsement even brought side eyes from people like AOC, because of Joe's known racism and sexism. One of the biggest reasons that Democratic voters came out as strongly as they did - against Bernie - was because of this threat. 

 

If you can jump from Bernie to Donald, your Bernie support was never about Bernie's policy ideals - economic justice. 

 

edit: Sneaky..I would do anything to have Bush back. Again, competency matters. Outside of the pure evil and greed of Donald, he literally does not know how to do this job. Admittedly, I wasn't paying attention to what he was doing to the CDC and Pandemic Response team, but professionals were predicting that a Pandemic would be Donald's "Katrina" for about two years now. 

 

Bush Jr, on the other hand..literally started the task force against Pandemics. There was also at least a sense of human decency with him. (Not so much Cheney - ) I can point to some positive things Bush has done. 

I dunno. He went along with a lie to get us involved in a never ending war. I think he has more blood on his hands than Trump. And he probably ruined a lot more lives with his admin's handling of the economy. I dont think I would vote for Trump but I think old school Republican policies are inherently harmful. At least Trump isnt so married to the label 

[Guest]

So after reading an op-ed by Max Boot indicating President Trump is indeed worse than James Buchanan, it begs two questions. One, do you agree with that assessment or do you think it's still too early to say? Two, will the voters give him a second term and buy what he's selling in terms of how he's trying to revise the response to the pandemic? 

[Guest]

Sanders is suspending his campaign. 
 

Joe Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee. 

[mercfan3]

3 hours ago, Drew said:

So after reading an op-ed by Max Boot indicating President Trump is indeed worse than James Buchanan, it begs two questions. One, do you agree with that assessment or do you think it's still too early to say? Two, will the voters give him a second term and buy what he's selling in terms of how he's trying to revise the response to the pandemic? 

 

1.  It's funny who you label as "worst" throughout history. Is Buchanan worse than Jackson? I don't know. For me though, Donald is worse than both. There are three ways a president can be awful, IMO. They can be incompetent (Bush Jr.). They can be corrupt (Nixon). And They can horrifically violate human rights. The last one is the worst - IMO. And certainly Buchanan and Jackson are terrible because of that last one.

 

I'd also say, that I think most presidents show signs of all three. There's no job like the Presidency..

 

I outspokenly love Bill Clinton. Yet, Black Hawk down happened (incompetence), Monica Lewinsky situation happened (corruption), the Crime Bill happened (violation of human rights). 

 

FDR is almost universally considered the best President ever. If he's not listed as #1, he's in the top 3. And yet..he allowed Pearl Harbor to be bombed in order to get into WWII (incompetence/corruption depending on whether you believe he knew about it), and he started Japanese concentration camps (violation of human rights.)..

 

All three are just part of the job.

 

That being said, Donal is awful because Donald is ONLY those three things..and he is those three things in spades. 

 

2. God knows what voters will do. Biden has actually produced a high turnout - continuing trends from 2018. The economy is going to be in a terrible state, and we'll have all lost a good chunk of 2020 because of Donald's incompetence. But I'm not going to predict anything this time. It should have been a 50 state loss last time..

 

1 hour ago, Drew said:

Sanders is suspending his campaign. 
 

Joe Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee. 

 

This is my favorite day since lockdown started. 

Edited April 8, 2020 by mercfan3

[Smoochy]

Well I'm f*cking disappointed.

[ButterflyEffect]

On 4/8/2020 at 1:00 PM, Drew said:

Sanders is suspending his campaign. 
 

Joe Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee. 

I'm more surprised by the fact that Bernie Bros are surprised. The writing has been on the wall since just after Super Tuesday. 

[Guest]

Vermont Sen.

Bernie Sanders

has officially endorsed former Vice President

Joe Biden

for president.

"We need you in the White House. I will do all that I can to see that that happens, Joe," Sanders said to the former vice president during a livestream broadcast by Biden's campaign.