Il Douché and His Discontents: The 2016 Primary Voting Thread, Part 4

Frank rich correctly pointed out the bullshit duplicity of romney's speech but yeah probably

Xp

Warren going in on Trump on twitter fwiw

that's awesome, but i can't help but lament how successfully trump has dragged everybody down with him. not that politics hadn't been about scoring quick and nasty points before, but that seems to be just about everything this cycle.

also, kids these days.

damn it's good tho

alfred have you been to vermont

― jason waterfalls (gbx), Monday, March 21, 2016 2:24 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

even the rednecks have progressive politics and drive subarus

― jason waterfalls (gbx), Monday, March 21, 2016 2:25 PM (1 hour ago)

lol as someone who lived in burlington for 2 years until recently, and traveled all over the state for work, this is so otm

is that actually her account? because her official account didn't tweet anything (warren)

https://twitter.com/elizabethforma

yeah i can imagine trump losing a lot of votes in western/mountain states but gaining nearly as many in the rust belt. and places like ohio and michigan carry more electoral votes than those mountain states....

in other words, yeah, who knows.

There's a recent NBC/WSJ poll that has Clinton winning 12% of Republicans and Trump winning 5% of Democrats. Assuming this was nationwide.

alfred have you been to vermont

― jason waterfalls (gbx), Monday, March 21, 2016

failed joek on my part

I'd like to thank lots of you, particularly Neanderthal, for throwing out some vital history and stats I can relate to hand-wringing friends. The very notion of Trump makes me angry, but having numbers to back up my hope that the math really doesn't work in his favor makes me feel a little better, even if his name alone makes me oscillate between rage and depression.

On the other hand, I find it hilarious that Trump is garnering a historically diverse plurality of people who hate him. Women, minorities, immigrants, and now apparently Mormons.

all you have to say is "There aren't enough white people in Vermont to vote for Trump"

I wouldn't vote for that asshole for all the white people in Vermont.

lol Trump not so into NATO apparently

nate-toe as Bush I said

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/03/21/donald-trump-reveals-foreign-policy-team-in-meeting-with-the-washington-post/

as usual there's like this tiny kernel of a legit point buried in with a bunch of poorly thought out (or not thought out at all) nonsense

can u c+p the list, i've been paywalled

xpost I understand why, but how annoying is it that all papers are going paywall? So much for the internet as great collector and collator of information. But screw paying for several papers, especially given how much they seem to be sharing stories these days.

For the first time, Trump also listed members of a team chaired by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) that is counseling him on foreign affairs and helping to shape his policies: Keith Kellogg, Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, Walid Phares and Joseph E. Schmitz.

Trump praised George P. Shultz, who served as President Ronald Reagan's top diplomat, and was harshly critical of current secretary of state John F. Kerry. He questioned the United States’ continued involvement in NATO and, on the subject of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, said America’s allies are "not doing anything."

Trump said that U.S. involvement in NATO may need to be significantly diminished in the coming years, breaking with nearly seven decades of consensus in Washington. "We certainly can’t afford to do this anymore," Trump said, adding later, "NATO is costing us a fortune, and yes, we’re protecting Europe with NATO, but we’re spending a lot of money."

Trump sounded a similar note in discussing the U.S. presence in the Pacific. He questioned the value of massive military investments in Asia and wondered aloud whether the United States still was capable of being an effective peacekeeping force there.

ooo i guess under prez trump we'll get to find out whether the US has been keeping the peace or not

SCHULTZ?!

The guy must need a bib

Trump should have gone all in and name checked Kissinger.

"China has got unbelievable ambitions," Trump said. "China feels very invincible. We have rebuilt China. They have drained so much money out of our country that they’ve rebuilt China. Without us, you wouldn’t see the airports and the roadways and the bridges. The George Washington Bridge [in New York], that’s like a trinket compared to the bridges that they build in China. We don’t build anymore. We had our day."

my neighbor's Pomeranian is sharper

http://i.imgur.com/AuNdw2H.png

But ... but ... China has a wall! A great, big, beautiful wall!

that wall should've been built in America!

pretty depressing day, given Hil's Likudnik raving as well.

xxxxpost the women's vote can also swing this, as they have in recent history voted more liberal - the margins have ranged from thin (a few percentage points) to comfortable (11%), but the last Republican to win the women's vote was George H.W. Bush in 1988.

although it's obv possible to win without the women's vote (Dubya - twice!), a candidate that significantly loses the women's vote could find himself in a hole.

Recall in the last election, Romney (who is by all means a dick and socially awkward, but nowhere near the creep Trump is re: women), lost the women's vote 55% - 44% (a sharp contrast to the 52% - 45% advantage he had among men). In an opinion poll taken right before the 2012 election, Romney's net favorability rating among women was -2%.

Trump's, currently? -33% (source: https://theintercept.com/2016/03/21/women-hate-donald-trump-even-more-than-men-hate-hillary-clinton/).

It's very difficult to translate that into numbers (and we're also a ways away from the Gen Election, which gives ample time for him to improve his stature among women), but if he stays that unpopular among women, he could lose their vote 60-40, which would be hard to overcome.

morbz that must've been a real heartbreaker finding out that a personal hero of yours is pro-israel

Likudnik raving

picturing her waving glowsticks on a beach in Haifa

more like her idolators and voter-flunkies do not give a flying shit what she says for 7-1/2 coming months, nor can they fake it

xp

"pro-israel"

i saw what ya did there

don't worry, Morbs: the ice caps are melting

i can't use that alone for security

i thought about saying pro-likud but i don't really believe that she is and i'm not sure you actually know what the likud is

I likud like that

but lol @ voter-flunkies 👍

ooooh I likud
I get chills down my spine every time I take likud at you

I thought that was Webster's dad

xpost

Going to see Bernie tomorrow in San Diego!

Sanders or Billingham

kevin drum on the dream team:

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/03/oh-wait%E2%80%94donald-trump-decides-he-has-foreign-policy-team-after-all

So....this is a helluva C-list crew Trump has assembled. A guy who worked for Paul Bremer; the son of John Schmitz; a former Ben Carson advisor; a Fox News talking head; and a guy who specializes in torts.

As for Trump's actual foreign policy, apparently it's the same as always: he's super militaristic, but he doesn't want to actually use the American military for much of anything. He'd like other countries to start taking care of Ukraine and NATO and the South China Sea—or, if they insist on America doing it, he'd like them to pay us for it. Apparently Trump's ambition is to sit at the head of a vast American tribute empire.

Donald Trump as a real-life President Snow makes some sick amount of sense

i'm not sure you actually know what the likud is

yes just as i know A. Sharon is their Lincoln

David Ben-Washington

sharon left likud in 2005 to form kadima

and i'm pretty sure likud considers the gaza withdrawal a disaster so

Phares, who is probably the objectively worst human being on that list, was also part of Romney's team iirc.

kasich pronounces natan as nay-ton

funky cold kadima