Curb Your Authoritarianism? The 2016 Conventional Wisdom Thread (Elections, Part 6)

one bright spot in the mainstreaming of violence directed towards visible minorities as a de facto part of American politics is the creation of hilarious meme pictures

if someone jumps me on the way home today, I'll keep that thought close to my heart as they kick my head in

lol man alive

(I thought he was referring to Trump's loss, not Trump phenomenon in general...)

xp yeah I was talking about the result of a Trump loss

in other news: shenanigans!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/dozens-of-gop-delegates-launch-new-push-to-halt-donald-trump/2016/06/17/e8dcf74e-3491-11e6-8758-d58e76e11b12_story.html

In light of his statement suggesting he'd disappear if he didn't win. Sad.

I just want to remind everyone of what is actually happening here. Trump losing doesn't necessarily make the threat of violence go away, no matter how many hilarious viral memes it generates.

Trump never having existed at all doesn't make that go away.

It takes it off the front pages, and off the public face of one of the two main parties in the US.

Trump losing doesn't necessarily make the threat of violence go away

this is true, but it will serve as a rebuke to threats of violence against minorities being acceptable public policy

Trump's rise is a direct result of the GOP's willingness to court the votes of racists and bigots, while trying to finesse how directly their party services the expectations of those racists in terms of policies. If they just came out as the party of the KKK, they'd be quickly marginalized. Instead, they have tried to include KKK types as welcome members under their 'big tent'. They succeeded, but now them chickens are coming home to roost and the GOP is openly the party of bigots, racists and extremists, not just covertly.

xp it's equally likely that Trump supporters will feel a sudden and intense need to Get Revenge against Those People

I certainly don't want to minimize the danger of having a demagogue with a national media megaphone making these kinds of statements, which is very real even if he loses, although much lessened if he loses vs if he wins.

one bright spot in the mainstreaming of violence directed towards visible minorities as a de facto part of American politics is the creation of hilarious meme pictures

if someone jumps me on the way home today, I'll keep that thought close to my heart as they kick my head in

yeah, I don't think it's much of a bold prediction to say that trump's campaign will influence at least one person to kill somebody, it's surprising that it hasn't happened yet. things are just going to get worse as his campaign flounders.

good news everybody:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democrats-replace-debbie-wasserman-shultz-with-clintons_us_576318bae4b034ff3eef265a

I've acknowledged many times over that, win or lose, Trump's candidacy was a terrible thing to happen to this country, particularly for anyone who isn't a white hate monger. The fallout has been increasingly depressing. At times, the only way I can cope with the fact that this is really happening is with gallows humor, but please make no mistake that I find the rise of what's likely to become America's own special little nationalist party dread-inducing and terribly depressing.

The only balm that I've found is in acknowledging just how many people (and even a handful among the otherwise cowardly, ass-licking republican party) stand steadfastly against Trump and his mutant followers.

Oh do you not like trump?

found in tokyo:

http://i.imgur.com/gXSrdXC.jpg

tim canova is apparently strongly against the iran deal. what a world.

re. japan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbM6WbUw7Bs

at this point I'm just wondering what the hell is going to happen at the RNC, it's gonna be must see TV

that's not a real japanese commercial tho treezy

should we take odds on predicted level of violence?

xp

i think the threat of idea of trump unleashing hatred and violence is way worse than the idea of him ever being president. he won't be, not even close, but his effect on america will be felt for years

that's not a real japanese commercial tho treezy

― F♯ A♯ (∞),

wait what?

re: wapo:

"The delegates are angered by Trump’s recent comments on gun control, his racial attacks on a federal judge and his sinking poll numbers."

hmmm. i wonder which of these three things angers them most?

yeah, i think that one of the things that would actually make paul ryan, john mccain, et al get off the trump train is if he actually threw his weight behind gun control. he could scream about spics and hymies and greaseballs onstage and they'd find a way to still support him, but if he suggested repealing the second amendment he would be toast in 20 seconds.

what a country!

Trump is not going to get behind gun control. He's going to get behind gun control for minorities, which is different.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LhNjWoBZck

feel like we've had this discussion before but tossing around racial epithets even if they're meant to be in the mouths of our enemies isn't cool

xpost to amateurist

http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/all/2016/05/the-daily-trump/484064/#note-487301

James Fallows already burned out on chronicling The Daily Trump

Trump is not going to get behind gun control. He's going to get behind gun control for minorities, which is different.

― Οὖτις, Friday, June 17, 2016 2:15 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i didn't say he was going to get behind gun control, i was saying that was one of the few things he could do that would lose him his present token support, while all the racist shit he's said already (and the stuff he will continue to say) is somehow not a deal-breaker. just throwing GOP priorities into relief.

xpost

whatever

that's not a real japanese commercial tho treezy

― F♯ A♯ (∞),

wait what?

― Treeship, Friday, 17 June 2016 18:47 (48 minutes ago) Permalink

it's a parody video made by nonjapanese people/gaijin

ほんまに！

dude obviously

yeah, i think that one of the things that would actually make paul ryan, john mccain, et al get off the trump train is if he actually threw his weight behind gun control. he could scream about spics and hymies and greaseballs onstage and they'd find a way to still support him, but if he suggested repealing the second amendment he would be toast in 20 seconds.

― wizzz! (amateurist)

ha, actually i was referring to option #3. my take is that the republican party clearly has no scruples whatsoever at this point, and they would gladly throw the entire nra under the bus if they thought it would win them florida.

treesh

u xp'd my post which was an image of a real japanese shop in shibuya selling trump hats

that's why i'm clarifying

i like how amateurist's offensive ethnic slurs all appear to come from a 1955 true crime magazine

stuff it, frog!

haha have we done this

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/apple-wont-aid-gop-convention-over-trump-224513

^that's great and all (and fucking hilarious), but what exactly has Trump said that really doesn't comport the essence of the GOP in 2016? he might say it with more WWE-style panache, but it's not like he's that out-of-step with the party. there's a reason he clinched a fairly easy primary victory, and it wasn't just because of an overcrowded clown car.

after so many years of painstakingly crafting their message to obscure its crude scapegoating and intolerance, so as to present it as solemn statesmanship, gop heavyweights are shocked to discover that their base prefers undisguised bigotry and hatred.

^that's great and all (and fucking hilarious), but what exactly has Trump said that really doesn't comport the essence of the GOP in 2016?

A bunch of stuff from the left? GWB was to blame for 9/11, the Iraq War destabilised the region, Planned Parenthood does "wonderful things having to do with women's health."

also preserving social security & medicare iirc
something so desperate & illuminating & just kind of beautifully illustrative abt the simultaneity of everyone:
falling in line w/ policies they wouldn't abide in democrats;
transgressing from implicit to explicit identity politics wrt islamophobic legislation;
& then also being so egregiously flagrant abt scalia's seat, this transparently craven + selective adherence to the constitution from ppl who talk abt following the constitution all the fn time

Referencing it /= talking about it

A bunch of stuff from the left?

true. but in this instance I meant language and ideas that would drive Apple to bail on the convention

he's explicitly racist for one thing. GOP requires tacit racism.

Yeah that's the thing horrified mainstream Republicans won't admit or maybe just can't see, that he's more a difference in degree than kind. Some of the same people got squeamish about Palin, but not nearly enough.

he's definitely the end point of Michael Savage etc