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

because he gets to treat them all like his own cable-access show

You're listening to CNN? It's amazing how he handles these post-debate interviews--he turns back into Jimmy Olsen.

can the Repubs choose not to nominate anybody this year

They have been talking about trump on msnbc and cnn for like a week straight nonstop

They have been talking about trump on msnbc and cnn everywhere on the motherfucking planet for like a week straight nonstop

fixed

nice to reaffirm that lazy liberals are into fat-shaming AND homophobia

this 3-day-old thread's about to hit 1300 posts and there ain't a lotta kasich talk in it

admittedly there was the interlude where we all listed generals

When msnbc branded themselves as "The Place for Politics," they finally threw out the misconception once and for all that they're a 24-hour news channel. They're a politics channel now, plain and simple. I guess maybe that's okay? It's basically what Fox News has been for twice as long.

Poor CNN. Nobody knows what they are.

iirc the joke goes if you watch msnbc you're a liberal and if you watch fox you're a conservative and if you watch cnn you're in an airport

I usually don't watch these channels but i've been hooked this week

Trump is creating compelling television

how are we ever going to go back?

True. I remember a few years ago I caught The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer one afternoon when he had Ted Turner in as a guest. Wolf asked Ted what he thought of CNN now and Ted could barely contain his contempt, though he managed to blurt out some word salad that seemed vague enough to be polite.

Americans really have no interest in an actual news network anymore. Obvs Al Jazeera had other problems besides just being named Al Jazeera, but they were the model of something I'd like to watch a lot more of and it bums me out that it could be a really long time before anyone tries that again.

I can't let go of cnn. I find myself liking them.

lobotomies are not usually reversible

i watched 2 episodes of The Americans (the good old days), i beat alla you sick, sick bastards.

I never really got "news" from tv and don't think many other people my age look to these channels for news. It's sportscenter, essentially. You learn a lot about how to be a good pr rep if you pay attention.

Good choice xp

yeah my mom's clearly been planted in front of msnbc for literal weeks now and i try to scold her but of course i'm clicking on ilx every ten seconds

I watch CNN too, collardio. (Only basic-cable option in Canada, anyway.) They're all over the place--some good people, some bad.

I like watching Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow at least a couple nights a week, but during election season there's always an increased chance I'll be exposed to Chris Matthews and that just fucking ruins my day.

all over the place is right.

I just listen to thrash metal and imagine the talking heads on CNN are saying the mean lyrics I'm hearing

I'm very racist when it comes to cnn. Give me Jones, Sellers & Brazile and I'm set.

ilx u are my coverage i literally lasted like 2 minutes of that shitshow

i mean, that was like a bunch of old dudes shouting each other down at a leopard lodge meeting, "presidential" "debate" my ass

two of the candidates are now getting post-debate spongebaths

(xposts) I like Jones, like Brazile (I realize she's a party hack, I just find her funny), and like Nia-Malika Henderson. I'm drawing a blank on Sellers. I think David Axelrod's very good.

Been gone most of the day. I wanted to post this earlier

http://georgelakoff.com/2016/03/02/why-trump/

Which deconstructs some of Trump's support. I particularly like the bit on how these guys use "political correctness" when they loudly complain about it.

I kinda realized today that we will be explaining this moment to future generations who will look at us with confusion and shock no matter how this goes down. Its a unique time in american history here folks! Take copious notes!

oh please we're all going to die in the Fracking Disaster of 2022

The frack u say

it'll be a gas

The talk above about a brokered convention / whether it will become one-on-one before that: the problem when this came up before was always Ted Cruz - the party establishment hates him and would (a month or two ago) have rathered a collapse and rebuild under Trump than the reign of Ted (if those are the only two options). And he won't back down in favour of another candidate because that would reduce rather than increase his options for being an asshole.

The nauseating thought occurs to me though that one or two months ago, they didn't have a vacancy on the Supreme Court that may not be filled until the next president.

I kinda realized today that we will be explaining this moment to future generations who will look at us with confusion and shock no matter how this goes down. Its a unique time in american history here folks! Take copious notes!

i tell my 18-19-year-old students that they will be voting for the first time in the nuttiest presidential election in a century, and they seem confused, like this is always how it is. which of course, it is for them! but that in and of itself is crazy.

how are we ever going to go back?

― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour),

nude shots of Chris Hayes

speaking of MSNBC: I'm getting dressed and I hear "Mika" and Joe read a Peggy Noonan column allowed.

Still two more Republican debates. Maybe this happened earlier--I don't think so, I think there was still a chance that something might come up--but I felt like they officially reached the point last night where nothing they throw at Trump has any effect. Wouldn't be at all surprised if he skips the one scheduled for March 21 (don't think he'd risk March 10), or if it's cancelled altogether.

did this debate change anything? i'm trying to find results at large, and i'm seeing a bunch of 'rubio and ted stepped up and laid the smack down!' but i don't know if I believe that story

there will be maaaaybe 3 more presidential "elections"

why what's gonna happen

I will die and you will cease to exist.

That's all that future Emperor Trump will allow before he brings the whole charade to a halt.

the robots take over?

I thought Rubio's two yoga-related jokes last night were pretty great.

nothing they throw at Trump has any effect

See, in one sense that's true - his support will not wane - but you can't measure or detect future non-happenings.

No, I don't think the stop-Trump movement, #nevertrump, and Romney stuff will decrease his poll numbers or prevent him from accumulating a majority of delegates.

But it WILL ensure that when he takes the nomination with an asterisk. It won't make anyone get OFF the Trump train, but it will make some people more reluctant to get on. He'll get the nomination but come out of the convention sullied by the messy process that got him there. He'll be further diminished in the eyes of moderate middle voters, and most definitely women (many of whom found a full campaigning day devoted to dick-talk offputting). Most Democrats, and even some Carson-type Republicans who want more "civility" might be a bit more reluctant to jump on the bandwagon after the juvenile petty bullshit of the primary race.

The bickery middle-school food-fight stuff - especially added to highly publicized defections like McConnell, McCain, Sasse, NRO, etc. - makes all Republicans look bad and makes it very easy for Democrats to look dignified in comparison.

fwiw the FB friend i quoted above who was going to vote for trump if it came down to trump v clinton followed up by saying that, after last night's debate, he won't be voting at all

fivethirtyeight (i know, what is this, 2009) keeps stressing a couple things:

i. almost everyone voting for trump, pace exit polling, says they decided to vote for him months ago. nothing that has happened since january has broadened his base.

ii. a. the percentage of republican voters who actually voted for trump as their first preference, averaged over all states, is in the mid 30s. b. the percentage of republican voters, exit polled, who answered positively to 'would you be happy to vote for him if trump were the candidate' was less than 50 percent.

these are kind of reassuring things to remind yourself of, i think

it is kind of hilarious to think that trump is actually the republicans' best shot in the general (even though trump winning is extremely unlikely), seeing romney's desperate attempt to convince people to get behind cruz or rubio is so funny because i can't imagine either of them fairing any better in the general election against clinton. cruz is even more unlikable than trump and rubio is such a lightweight

If Rubio magically becomes the nominee, I am going to repost the water lunge video from the 2013 SOTU response everywhere I physically can until the day of the election.