Trump

[zip accident]

So, before there was Hitler, what did people use to predict the worst case scenario?

The Vandals, Alaric the Goth, Gengis Kahn (spelt?) Attila the Hun, Alexander the Great ...

[F-ZeroOne]

Well, my guess for "Before Hitler" would be "Kaiser Bill", and before that "Napoleon"...

[pogo]

Trump has tried to undo some of the damage of the last couple of days. By releasing a statement:

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-rele ... university

Will this help? Hardly. It’s not a short clear soundbite that news bulletins can carry. Even if it were the videos of him making racist remarks will be with him for all of this campaign. Democrats will make sure of that.

Plus reading it he still seems to be trying to argue the legal case, questioning the fairness of the trial, suggesting he was right to raise the judge’s ethnicity. All it will take is one well prepared journalist to ask him about and, away from the advisers and editors that helped him with this, he will start making the same arguments but crudely, again in a overtly racist way.

It’s been a horrible few days for Republicans. Some were coming round to supporting him, even endorsing him. Now they find themselves having to decide whether to defend him or (more often) condemn his remarks and call on him to apologise. Of course they all find themselves answering questions about it, rather than the things they want to talk about.

[Orava]

So, before there was Hitler, what did people use to predict the worst case scenario?

The Vandals, Alaric the Goth, Gengis Kahn (spelt?) Attila the Hun, Alexander the Great ...

So what is an acceptable mas-murderer time-lag then for marketing? In the last weekend's Observer I saw a Napoleon brand of a BBQ grill being advertised. So that is about 200 years since, so I expect Hitler Holocaust grills to be around in about 2145.

[Little stoned kiwi]

"Now you're cooking with gas!"

[pogo]

The Democratic Party race is over. Clinton now has the majority of the delegates she needs. She actually had them on Monday, or at least Associated Press called the contest for her. But today was the last day of primaries, Sanders last chance to somehow stage a comeback and it did not happen. Clinton won the popular vote, and the pledge delegate count, quite comfortably in the end.

Sanders still has not conceded, but he has no reason to stay in the race now. Better to step aside and be a part of getting a Democrat back in the White House and defeating Trump.

[venusian]

I think he said he was going to stick it out right up to the end. I expect he still want to have his say on the issues which seems fair enough if he has the funding for it.

[pogo]

It doesn’t really work like that. All his funding was for fighting to be Democratic candidate. He should have spent it all – there’s no point keeping it in the bank if it could have made a difference in the contest against Clinton. Now the contest is over the money should dry up very quickly.

He has had a massive impact though. Before Sanders no-one took seriously the idea of a truly left wing candidate. The assumption was that anyone running on the left like Sanders would lose in the general election, wiped out by Republican attacks, on the wrong side of many issues compared to middle-American voters. But polls now suggest Sanders would win in November, if he were the candidate. A lot of that is down to Trump, but not all of it.

His main impact could be on Clinton’s presidency. She moved to the left on some issues and could stay there, to attract his supporters. She might choose a running mate on the left, such as Elizabeth Warren. And she could govern more to the left than Obama, relying on the same support as Sanders had to support her policies. Especially if Republicans spend the next few years trying to rebuild their party out of the wreckage Trump caused.

[venusian]

Not the quote I originally saw but..

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-t ... story.html

The bottom line for Sanders: At least for now he plans to fight for the support of delegates until the convention officially nominates a standard-bearer for the fall.

“At the end of the nominating process no candidate will have enough pledged delegates to call the campaign a victory. They will be dependent upon superdelegates,” Sanders said. “In other words, the Democratic National Convention will be a contested convention.”

For those who call Clinton the presumptive nominee before July’s meeting in Philadelphia, he had this message: “You are in error. You’re wrong.”

This was from a couple of days ago. He might change his mind but he's been saying for a long time that he's going to take it all the way to the convention.

[pogo]

The thing about superdelegates is he had a point, once. Early on Clinton’s lead consisted largely of superdelegates.

But now she has won the popular vote and the pledged delegates. Quite comfortably in the end. Although Sanders won a few states they were almost all small ones. Clinton won 11 of the 12 biggest states, often by quite wide margins. She also won in states that were more Democratic, while Sanders won more in Republican states, i.e. states with few Democrat voters that will probably vote Trump anyway.

So those superdelegates that supported Clinton from the start? They were right, she is the most popular candidate, the one with the most democratic legitimacy. Sanders is not going to persuade all them to change their minds now – and he would need all or almost all of them to overcome Clinton’s advantage in the popular vote. Sanders needed to win the popular vote. Only then would he have a strong case to put to superdelegates. Now he just looks like a sore loser.

He goes to meet Obama tomorrow. Maybe after that he will finally withdraw, though I would not bet on it.

Tonight, President Obama called both Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders. The President congratulated both candidates for running inspiring campaigns that have energized Democrats, brought a new generation of Americans into the political process, and shined a spotlight on important policy ideas aimed at making sure our economy and our politics work for everybody, not just those with wealth and power.
The President congratulated Secretary Clinton for securing the delegates necessary to clinch the Democratic Nomination for President. Her historic campaign inspired millions and is an extension of her lifelong fight for middle-class families and children.

The President thanked Senator Sanders for energizing millions of Americans with his commitment to issues like fighting economic inequality and special interests' influence on our politics.

In addition, at Senator Sanders' request, the President and Senator Sanders will meet at the White House on Thursday to continue their conversation about the significant issues at stake in this election that matter most to America's working families. The President looks forward to continuing the conversation with Senator Sanders about how to build on the extraordinary work he has done to engage millions of Democratic voters, and to build on that enthusiasm in the weeks and months ahead.

[Rubisco]

So, before there was Hitler, what did people use to predict the worst case scenario?

The Vandals, Alaric the Goth, Gengis Kahn (spelt?) Attila the Hun, Alexander the Great ...

So what is an acceptable mas-murderer time-lag then for marketing? In the last weekend's Observer I saw a Napoleon brand of a BBQ grill being advertised. So that is about 200 years since, so I expect Hitler Holocaust grills to be around in about 2145.

[KlaxonCow]

I bet Pepsi and 7-11 must love having their logos sitting right next to Hitler in his full red, white and black glory there.

Also, what the fuck is a "techno bar and cocktail show" when it's at home, and why would Hitler be the perfect avatar for its promotion anyway?

[Darkflame]

The thing about superdelegates is he had a point, once. Early on Clinton’s lead consisted largely of superdelegates.

But now she has won the popular vote and the pledged delegates. Quite comfortably in the end. Although Sanders won a few states they were almost all small ones. Clinton won 11 of the 12 biggest states, often by quite wide margins. She also won in states that were more Democratic, while Sanders won more in Republican states, i.e. states with few Democrat voters that will probably vote Trump anyway.

So those superdelegates that supported Clinton from the start? They were right, she is the most popular candidate, the one with the most democratic legitimacy. Sanders is not going to persuade all them to change their minds now – and he would need all or almost all of them to overcome Clinton’s advantage in the popular vote. Sanders needed to win the popular vote. Only then would he have a strong case to put to superdelegates. Now he just looks like a sore loser.

He goes to meet Obama tomorrow. Maybe after that he will finally withdraw, though I would not bet on it.

Tonight, President Obama called both Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders. The President congratulated both candidates for running inspiring campaigns that have energized Democrats, brought a new generation of Americans into the political process, and shined a spotlight on important policy ideas aimed at making sure our economy and our politics work for everybody, not just those with wealth and power.
The President congratulated Secretary Clinton for securing the delegates necessary to clinch the Democratic Nomination for President. Her historic campaign inspired millions and is an extension of her lifelong fight for middle-class families and children.

The President thanked Senator Sanders for energizing millions of Americans with his commitment to issues like fighting economic inequality and special interests' influence on our politics.

In addition, at Senator Sanders' request, the President and Senator Sanders will meet at the White House on Thursday to continue their conversation about the significant issues at stake in this election that matter most to America's working families. The President looks forward to continuing the conversation with Senator Sanders about how to build on the extraordinary work he has done to engage millions of Democratic voters, and to build on that enthusiasm in the weeks and months ahead.

Given he promised to stay in regardless I think he kinda has to, even if its pointless.

Also, while he has (to my knowledge) stayed clear of attacking Hillary on the whole email thing, there is at least a slim chance that could become a progressively greater problem for her. He thus might view himself as a "backup plan" even if he cant say so publicly.

[gumboot]

Given he promised to stay in regardless I think he kinda has to, even if its pointless.

Kasich said the same thing, and dropped out a couple of days later. I guess that's how long it took for somebody to find the embarrassing evidence or whatever.

What I didn't realise is that people can still cast votes against Trump even though other candidates have formally dropped out, so rather than defaulting to 100%, Trump has merely climbed to around 80%.

What I don't get about that is, if somebody originally supported somebody other than Trump, why would they bother to go in and vote for Trump when he's the only remaining candidate? That's not their own voice being heard, so it seems altogether pointless.

[Little stoned kiwi]

A percentage is only representative of those who voted. When there is only one candidate, it's possible only supporters of that candidate bother casting votes.
And what's the point in voting against Trump? Republican supporters are Republican supporters - they aren't about to quit in disgust to become Democrats that vote for Hillary in the election. Each party could be fronting an actual donkey or elephant and party supporters would still try to have their mascotte elected as President. The donkey/elephant would obviously do a better job than the elephant/donkey.