I've had people say it's a hardening, actually ~ US presidential election 2016 part 9/11 never forget

That's pretty cynical.

schwantz, you are welcome

Almost every decision people make is made through opaque means and then justified post hoc through rationalization, imo, nobody sits down and thinks through anything

My thoughts on the upcoming debate, gathered in one spot for convenience:

Trump's gonna look really stupid on Monday night. He's got several major problems going in:

1) He does well in a group situation where he can let other people do most of the talking and every once in a while, interject a mean jab at his chosen victim for the evening (Rubio, Jeb(...), Cruz, etc.). In a one on one debate, where he's gonna have to talk a lot more, he won't do as well because

2) His speeches, if you watch them at full length (they're on YouTube), are terrible and boring. He has a couple of big lines, which are the bits that get picked up by the nightly news, but they're stuck in the middle of 45 minutes of rambling, empty bluster. Yes, he draws biggish crowds, but there's plenty of reporting documenting the fact that a lot of people leave halfway through the "show." On debate night, he's not gonna have the video editor on his side to pluck out the one halfway-cogent (in a horrible, racist, thuggish sort of way) bit and spotlight it. It's gonna just be word salad upon word salad. And

3) If he goes straight at Clinton on the stage, he's gonna look like a bullying asshole, for several reasons, including the fact that he's about a foot taller than she is. If he pulls some shit like Rick Lazio pulled during her Senate campaign, actually entering her physical space, he'll fuck himself completely.

4) Also, as has been repeatedly stated here, a major part of his act is feeding off the crowd. There are TONS of call-and-response bits in his usual act - everything from asking the crowd who's gonna build the wall to his repeated refrains of "Believe me!" The debate audience is under STRICT orders to remain completely silent at all times. Without that sounding board, Trump is gonna flounder, and will probably have at least one "lost-in-the-weeds" moment not that far from when Rick Perry forgot which parts of the government he wanted to shut down.

x-post I feel like everyone says that but secretly thinks they are the exception.

didn't realize it was monday night. maybe i'll watch atl-no instead

Phil OTM.

yea good post 誤訳侮辱

"Donald Trump: How many branches of government are there, what are they called and what do they do?"

"Donald Trump: How many Senators can each state have?"

"Donald Trump: What is the name of the first ten amendments to the Constitution?"

"Donald Trump: If the government started supporting one religion over another, it would be in violation of which amendment?"

"Donald Trump: What amendment gave African Americans citizenship?"

"Donald Trump: The rights of speech, press, assembly, and petition are often grouped together under what term?"

lol

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/trump-rival-cruz-to-throw-support-to-gop-nominee-228584

Evan, that's exactly what I've been saying reporters should've been doing for months. Ruthlessly reveal his basic ignorance, on every level, of how our country and our government functions and demonstrate just how mindblowingly unfit he is for office.

Most of America can't answer those questions, are you trying to make them look stupid

Most of America isn't angling to run the country for four years.

I don't know shit about HVAC repair but you better believe that I want the dude I'm hiring to fix my heater to be able to answer a pop quiz on the matter.

(But, yes, I know, 'fuck an expert' and that whole willful ignorance trip America is seemingly on.)

A goodly percentage of the white population of the USA harbors delusions that they would make a good president, despite their profound ignorance concerning almost everything a president does. They conceive of the job much as Trump seems to conceive of it, as sitting in a big chair in a fancy office being in charge of the government and whatever you say goes, similarly to how children conceive of being an adult.

some people who kinda know how our country functions

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cq4QRPXUkAAchM6.jpg

I wish the debate was 90 minutes on one question, i.e. a debate. Jumping topics every 15 minutes, you're guaranteeing superficial responses.

I don't know shit about HVAC repair but you better believe that I want the dude I'm hiring to fix my heater to be able to answer a pop quiz on the matter.

sadly becoming an HVAC tech requires much more certification and testing than becoming POTUS

i wish the debate was on Batman v Superman

My suggestion would be replacing one of the debates with something like a model UN sesh. Give the candidates a complex hypothetical problem and let them explain how they would go about trying to solve it.

https://frinkiac.com/img/S09E14/137636.jpg

i mean, everyone's right that he's going to be out of his element if it really is a silent auditorium and he's expected to expound on his "ideas" and "policies" and stuff.

i'm imagining a donald trump shreds video now. someone must have done this.

There are also record numbers of undecided and third-party voters, and the candidates are unpopular to record levels - so variability abounds.

this is a good point.

a preview of the upcoming debate:

https://vine.co/v/553HYQBZvjg

https://twitter.com/BillCorbett/status/779383929669169156

More baffling to me than the idea that people agree with Trump is that anyone who's been exposed to Trump's rhetoric could have no strong opinions for or against him. Feel like the undecideds this year have been paying basically zero attention to election coverage and/or have no strong convictions about anything at all.

This thread moves too fast for me to remember if I saw the Daily Kos piece I'm about to quote here. So if I'm posting info everyone already has, sorry.

Trump remains underwater in too many key battleground states to be truly viable: Colorado (38 percent), Michigan (37 percent), New Hampshire (37 percent), Pennsylvania (39.8 percent), Virginia (38 percent), and Wisconsin (37 percent).

Trump could win every other battleground state, but without winning at least one of the above, he cannot win. Or put another way, to get to 270, Trump needs to win at least one state in which he is mired below 40 percent.

link

I genuinely do not understand what Cruz has to gain by endorsing Trump.

ignominy

he thinks he has a chance now so he doesn't wanna get left behind?

More baffling to me than the idea that people agree with Trump is that anyone who's been exposed to Trump's rhetoric could have no strong opinions for or against him. Feel like the undecideds this year have been paying basically zero attention to election coverage and/or have no strong convictions about anything at all.

this is why I think Hillary will get more of the undecideds. a lot of people I know hate both but at least recognize that Hillary would probably not be a disaster while with Trump everything up to and including nuclear war is on the table

anyway while I'm on the subject I think this is the greatest vine I've ever seen

https://vine.co/v/5qJzmjUrzqv

okay so, case in point

http://i.imgur.com/cHekK4r.png

yeah but what % of those ppl like the idea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mwAntNGz9k

have been having weird microfantasies of trump calling for the red button and his generals just straight up turning round and executing him julius caesar style, and everyone celebrating, and oprah is president now

at which point of that fantasy do you cum

Ok good thread *everyone picks up and leaves*

yeah but what % of those ppl like the idea

― Mordy, Friday, September 23, 2016 3:27 PM (fifteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Among those who say they will vote for Trump, 48 percent say he’ll create a database to track Muslims; 36 percent say there will be race riots; 33 percent say the government would default on its debt; and 32 percent say Trump would punish his political opponents and authorize internment camps for illegal immigrants.

Only 22 percent of Trump supporters believe he will start a nuclear war.

presumably his voters think those are all good things.

Doug Henwood, in his book, on why "Hillary is not The Problem."

https://twitter.com/leducviolet/status/779355983793446912

Please let those % be joeks

Xxp

Nerp. As I keep asserting, most Trump supporters are basically self-loathing nihilists.

ted cruz, everybody

Purely as a piece of trivia, I wonder at what point in Trump's political "career" he started wearing a flag pin on his lapel whenever he appears in public. Wearing the flag pin has now become 100% obligatory when running for any office higher than school board and it could provide a marker for when Trump became serious about trying to win.

what a hideous person in every respect

xp

I'm going to tell you what I really think of Donald Trump. This man is a pathological liar. He doesn't know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth.

but i'm going to vote for him because of his promises https://www.facebook.com/tedcruzpage/posts/10154476728267464

wonder if he made some deal w/ trump or something. dunno what he gets from this otherwise, he's throwing away a lot of future credibility.

Can't wait for the first presidential candidate who shows up onstage wearing a red white + blue crocheted dick cozy and challenges his opponent's patriotism because he (or she, tbf) isn't likewise wearing a red white + blue crocheted dick cozy because naturally that's been an indicator of one's patriotism since time immemorial or maybe since five minutes before the debate when a dude spontaneously decided to put on a red white + blue dick cozy and make a thing that had never been a thing into a thing and pretend it had always been a thing.