Trump

[Neon360]

I feel like the heat from the protesters will be dialed up a few notches now that he has all his delegates and is just that much closer.

[gumboot]

Ah, but hes solved that one as well, remember? Japan should have nuclear weapons.

It certainly is a shame we didn't have Trump's insight when Afghanistan was being hassled by the USSR.

[F-ZeroOne]

No, wait! Problem is now unresolved again!

http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/201 ... na/016000c

Also, "Who cares." is going to be an interesting catch-all policy statement.

[Darkflame]

Along with "it was a joke!" or "he doesnt lie, he just hyperbole's"

(that last one I see from his supporters anyway)

[PumaG]

Is the idea that having someone apologize unnecessarily is somehow worse then someone keen to bomb everyone?

we're on the same page right? those 'someones' both being Obama

Only a pacifist American government shunning the arms trade and abandoning Nukes has any business apologising to Japan.

[Darkflame]

You seem to have forgotten what you said:

Also, PumaG, given Trumps previous statements about "bombing every inch", killing the families of terrorists, and showing his sublime grasp of international politics by suggesting that Japan - Japan - acquire nuclear weapons, then presumably he'll be joining the "untouchables" upon becoming President?

meanwhile the liberal do-gooders have been asking Obama to apologise for Hiroshima

So, I repeat;
What makes a apology so bad in your mind its comparable to "Bombing every inch" and "killing families of terrorists" ?

[KlaxonCow]

Thing is, if America doesn't acknowledge its war crimes, then what right does it have to criticise Japanese denial of their war crimes?

[gumboot]

Well, the US does generally admit that the obvious ones happened, but tried to frame them as being OK. Some in Japan have more of a Trump-style "that never happened" thing going on.

[F-ZeroOne]

Although there is no doubt a "they deserved it" attitude among some in the US, I think its fair to say in general the US is probably more honest about what happened during World War II than Japan generally has been (one of the other places I've been to there is the infamous Yasukuni shrine, and again though many of the labels were in Japanese I did not get the impression of a whole lot of background context). Given local political attitudes in that region, though, its likely no apology would ever be quite enough, and neither is it likely that Mr. Trumps friend Mr. Putin is going to be apologising for Russian war crimes against Japanese civilians anytime soon either...

[Rubisco]

I don't think Trump is either a Nazi or Facist - at least not consciously, I just think hes completely unaware that hes acting and saying things that make him virtually indistinguishable from one. Its kind of hard to tell, what with his habit of changing his mind on things, sometimes in the midst of the same sentence.

He's like any one of thousands of historical figures who have said distasteful xenophobic things, why jump straight to Hitler?

If he were to start targeting a group perceived as 'privileged', and attempting to silence opposition to such ideology then we should start worrying as that's real proto-Nazi behaviour.

[pogo]

Don’t forget that the allegation Obama apologises for US foreign policy is a complete fabrication, by Republicans. It was a theme they came up with in 2008, when Obama, the former community leader, was up against John McCain the genuine war hero. Supposedly Obama was unfit to be President as he did not have the balls to be Commander in Chief. Instead of taking on America’s enemies, like Bush or McCain, he would apologise to them.

It clearly did not persuade voters then, and was quickly refuted by Obama’s actual behaviour in office, ordering the raid to catch or kill bin Laden, playing a major role in Libya, and being heavily involved in the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan and ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Outside of conflicts there has been the anti-nuclear agreement with Iran, a major improvement in relations with Cuba, and a much greater focus on and commitment to East Asia.

But Republicans keep using the “ Obama apologises” nonsense. Not just Trump but other candidates tried to portray Obama as weak and ineffective, rather than very active and effective as he has been. History will tell how well his achievements last, but to accuse him of apologising is nonsensical. It only appeals to Republicans, and then only to those so out of touch with reality that they can believe such guff.

[gumboot]

It only appeals to Republicans, and then only to those so out of touch with reality that they can believe such guff.

Is that supposed to narrow things down? Did you not see who they nominated to represent them in the presidential election this year?

[pogo]

Yes. And until the rally near the end, when he became inevitable and started to gather wider support, he could not break 30-40% of Republican primary voters.

The “Obama apologises” theme came up in the primaries as the aim in them is to appeal to your own party. A significant proportion of Republicans simply do not accept Obama should be president. They think that he cheated to get elected (hence the belief, still widely held, that he was not born in the US), and is more generally unqualified. And they believe any nonsense said about him that fits this worldview.

The problem is they are a minority, certainly of all voters, maybe even of the Republican party. To appeal to the general electorate Republicans need to pivot, adopting policies and attitudes that appeal to centrists, independents, even Democrats.

But there’s every reason to think this will be impossible for Trump. He seems uniquely ill suited temperamentally. E.g. his statements on Obama in Japan are still recycling this old Republican theme, when he should be pivoting to the centre. Democrats have won the popular vote in five of the last six elections. Trump needs to persuade some of those voters, who supported Obama, to vote for him. He won’t do it spouting obvious nonsense like this. Demographics are against him too: Whites make up an ever smaller proportion of the electorate, and his racist platform has driven away the vast majority of non-white voters.

[pogo]

This is too “good” not to share.

Trump Time Capsule #7: ‘The Judge, We Believe, Is Mexican’

It’s increasingly evident that something is seriously wrong with Donald Trump.
...
Reid Epstein of the WSJ has a riveting account of Trump’s speech yesterday in San Diego. Epstein’s account is the more powerful because he is so obviously trying to keep it deadpan, and let the facts and words of Trump’s statements speak for themselves.

The three crucial facts the story conveys are: 1) that Trump spent a full 12 minutes of his speech, an eternity in rally-time, in a personalized complaint about an ongoing fraud lawsuit against his Trump University; 2) that he did not argue the merits so much as dismiss the legitimacy of the suit and the judge hearing it, and in fact threatened retaliation against the judge; and 3) that among his complaints was that the federal judge was “Mexican.” That judge, Gonzalo Curiel, was born in Indiana, received his undergraduate and JD degrees from Indiana University, and has spent his entire life and career in the United States. That career includes working as an assistant U.S. Attorney in California and as a drug-offense prosecutor there.
...
Imagine a comparison: suppose this case went to the Supreme Court, and Trump got a ruling against him written by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And suppose he then said, “she happens to be, we believe, a Jew, which is great, I think that’s fine. Actually, though people don’t like to talk about it, three of the Democrat appointees on the Court who voted against me are Jews. Nothing wrong with it, I’m just saying.”

This is crazy. He is so self-obsessed he drags up this relatively small case to bang on about it. And then, as his legal arguments are worthless, and his opponents are nobodies, he rounds on the judge, slinging a ridiculous racist slur at an American judge.

There are ways to finesse immigration, by focussing on the issues and policies, not on the people and demographic groups. That way you in theory win support from nativist Republicans without offending too many minorities. Trump is not even trying. He is going for the crudest, most appalling racist approach every time, no matter if it makes any sense. Imagine the effect this will have on Hispanic Americans, who now know Trump is happy to think them the same as the rapist Mexicans he plans to build a wall to keep out.

[gumboot]

All this idiocy seems to do nothing but added to his appeal among people who think that being too stupid to lie well is a form of honesty.