Trump

[pogo]

What was wrong with what I wrote? I wrote he is a secular Jew. It is correct and relevant that he is Jewish. Especially if Trump is Republican candidate as I can’t believe he will choose to ignore Sanders’s background. They are both elderly white males from New York, religion is one of the few things that divides them. He is secular so does not make a big deal of his religion but others do and will.

Mazel Tov to Bernie Sanders, the First Jew to Win a Presidential Primary

[venusian]

I thought pogo was on your ignore list (length 1) tufty.

I've no idea how Mr Saunders self-describes but "secular jew" is a piece of plain speaking (which for sake of argument I'll assume is true) where as having a "jewish background" is vague and sounds like code for all kinds of behind-the-scenes shenanigans.

[tufty]

He is, but I am weak...

I might be a bit too sensitive about these things though; I'm surrounded by fucking racists over here.

It struck me as a phrase that could be considered racist, particularly when taken in the context of a post criticising the man for everything from his views to his age. Effectively, pogo could be taken as criticising the man because of his religion.

That's how it felt to me, anyway.

And yes, I know, religion isn't race.

[gumboot]

One way or the other, the USA will end up with the president they deserve.

Gotta love democracy!

You know we have nukes over here, right?

[pogo]

I’m not criticising him. The best thing for the US would be Bernie Sanders as President with Democrats in control of Congress. But that would take a political landslide, and a Sanders presidency is more likely to end in permanent deadlock. Clinton is more likely to win and will certainly be more able to get along with Congress, or at least as well as Obama.

[Little stoned kiwi]

You know we have nukes over here, right?

Well, the World gets the USA we deserve.

[PumaG]

For me the blind terror at the idea of Trump as a president

You know we have nukes over here, right?

Well, the World gets the USA we deserve.

I vaguely remember Ronny Reagan pissing off the establishment, being derided as being a stupid unelectable extremist, saying "wacky things" and worries of him getting his finger on the 'Nuke button'.
Probably the best US president in recent decades.

[pogo]

It’s odd how often Reagan comes up among Republicans. It’s understandable as both Bushes are seen as failures. The elder did not make it to a second term and so ushered in Bill Clinton, while the younger presided over the Iraq misadventure.

Reagan is seen as the last successful Republican, and he is compared to those two. But it’s a sign of how far the Republican party has shifted, that what are now seen as core Republican policies would be unrecognisable to Reagan. He raised taxes and had an amnesty programme for immigrants. As Colbert points out below a politician with Reagan’s record would have no chance in today’s Republican party. Apart from that it is an interesting insight into Cruz.

[PumaG]

It’s odd how often Reagan comes up among Republicans. It’s understandable as both Bushes are seen as failures. The elder did not make it to a second term and so ushered in Bill Clinton, while the younger presided over the Iraq misadventure.

Reagan is seen as the last successful Republican, and he is compared to those two. But it’s a sign of how far the Republican party has shifted, that what are now seen as core Republican policies would be unrecognisable to Reagan. He raised taxes and had an amnesty programme for immigrants. As Colbert points out below a politician with Reagan’s record would have no chance in today’s Republican party. Apart from that it is an interesting insight into Cruz.

you don't have to look into their policies, it's the fear mongering, Ronnie was called a right winger and there were people like Gumboot above living in "terror" at him being elected making up all sorts of scenarios.
I can't see Trump living up to any of his boasts. They're not even workable to me and theres already a massive wall and spiked iron fence program to stop Mexicans migrating. A big mouth shouting off for votes who will be shuffled and steered around by 100s of aids with no drastic changes if he makes presidency.

How happy are the Black voters with Obama who surged to the polls in unprecedented numbers to get him elected? How much of a difference did a Black president make after all the hype? hash Oscars So White

[pogo]

There is a massive change happening in US politics that mirrors the UK to do with the political establishment losing some of their shine.

Matt O’Brien went into this in some depth today:

Donald Trump represents the end of the end of history
The great working class stagnation and the rise of Trumpism around the world.

The point is that while globalisation has been great for those in China and India, and for the 1% who own and run the firms that have expanded into those markets, it has not been so great for those in the middle to lower classes in the much of the developed world whose jobs have gone overseas. It does not matter whether they are in work as in the US or out of work as in France, the response has been the same, the rise of populists with seductive but false answers.

I don’t think we have experienced it so badly here. We don’t have the economic malaise of continental Europe, or the gross inequality of the US, where if you are poor you are denied access to healthcare and education. UKIP has not had any real impact, and Labour at the other extreme is just going through one of its periodic excursions into unelectability, not populism.

[(o)(o)]

There is a massive change happening in US politics that mirrors the UK to do with the political establishment losing some of their shine.

Irrespective of their chances of power the relative popularity of UKIP, a socialist Labour leader, further right wing GOP presidential candidates and a self described socialist winning a democratic caucus are all things no one would have believed less than a decade ago. See also having a coalition in 2010 and the current government's very narrow majority.

The trend is pretty obvious, wonder where it'll lead.

War.

[gumboot]

I can't see Trump living up to any of his boasts.

The risk of him doing anything he says is fairly low. The problem is that he's stupid enough to say them. That and his relentlessly childish behaviour.

How happy are the Black voters with Obama who surged to the polls in unprecedented numbers to get him elected?

You got any data on that? I did a quick search and the first stats I found completely failed to validate it.

[gumboot]

It struck me as a phrase that could be considered racist, particularly when taken in the context of a post criticising the man for everything from his views to his age. Effectively, pogo could be taken as criticising the man because of his religion.

I called him a Jew first; but I meant it to sound racist. That was the joke.

I also said I heard someone say he was likely to grab Republican votes, but now I can't think why anybody would say that.

Possibly just more than Hilary, because he has a penis?

(or most of one, at least)

[pogo]

Scalia is dead. Who? One of the justices at the US Supreme Court. A very conservative one. As it happened now Obama gets to name his replacement, and so change the balance of the court. Republicans will protest but there is little they can do, except win in November and wait for their turn to nominate someone.

[funkstar]

Scalia is dead. Who? One of the justices at the US Supreme Court. A very conservative one. As it happened now Obama gets to name his replacement, and so change the balance of the court. Republicans will protest but there is little they can do, except win in November and wait for their turn to nominate someone.

I think there's a lot the Republicans can do: they can refuse to confirm anyone that Obama nominates, and that will work, since they have control of the senate. Sure, it would be ugly as fuck, especially since Obama is unlikely to nominate someone who isn't a brilliant jurist and thus fit for the office, but since this appointment will tip the balance of power towards democratically appointed justices 5-4, I wouldn't put it beyond them to simply stall.

(Also, I just realized that I know a lot more about SCOTUS than about the equivalent structure at home.)