The Al Smith dinner

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I don't know if anyone here watched any of it, MSNBC carried it live and both HRC and Trumpster Fire were there.. Trump of course flopped spectacularly while Clinton did ok..
The thing that struck me about Trump is that from the very beginning of his campaign he had to out asshole every asshole among the republicans running for president. He had to prove to the base he was a bigger asshole than even Cruz, no easy feat.. Now it's painfully obvious that he is going to lose and lose big so the only thing left for him to do is to either take the gop down in flames with him along with any semblence of reputation or accept defeat and offer up a real heartfelt apology to the public for all of the bullshit he's spewed and created.
Personally if I were DJT at this point that's exactly what I would do, give a speech apologize for his behavior and for putting the legitimacy of the election into question and for undermining the entire democratic process.
That wouldn't win him the election ,but could salvage his reputation as a human being so he doesn't have to go through the rest of his entire life as a pariah and the guy who tried to destroy any sense of civility in our political system.
Think about it..Trump stands no chance of winning the election, but could potentially transform the sense of extreme partisanship in politics if he pointed out just how we got to where we are. I doubt he'll do it, but if he did it could potentially make the parties look at each other not as mortal enemies, but as parties with fundamentally different views capable of governing instead of the joke of what it's become.

[aitm]

No, it needs to slowly swirl so slowly that it is almost imperceptible except for a few who notice the sides of the toilet bowl moving. As Trump continues his bellowing a few on the outside start to tug on the shirtsleeves of those closer but they are too engrossed in hering every word so they can figure out a way to distance themselves and finally, they all hear the gush, look up as the sky starts to swirl faster and they try to clamor towards the edges all the while the look of panic as the whole thing collapses into the large sewer that first sprung them forth....

[AllPurposeAtheist]

No, it needs to slowly swirl so slowly that it is almost imperceptible except for a few who notice the sides of the toilet bowl moving. As Trump continues his bellowing a few on the outside start to tug on the shirtsleeves of those closer but they are too engrossed in hering every word so they can figure out a way to distance themselves and finally, they all hear the gush, look up as the sky starts to swirl faster and they try to clamor towards the edges all the while the look of panic as the whole thing collapses into the large sewer that first sprung them forth....

The problem with this aitm, and you know it is it does absolutely nothing to change the dynamic of the political discourse which as we all know is extremely toxic for everyone involved. I doubt Trump is interested in fixing a damned thing, but he actually has an opportunity to actually fix things up to a point. He could, if presented correctly bring back some level of civility to politics.
Our nation could definitely use some civilty back to both parties and imagine if the most toxic of all of them actually did bring civilty back to the congress and the white house..

Yeah, I occasionally do get optimistic about these things which is probably pie in the sky, but stranger things have happened.

[FaithIsFilth]

Personally if I were DJT at this point that's exactly what I would do, give a speech apologize for his behavior and for putting the legitimacy of the election into question and for undermining the entire democratic process.
That wouldn't win him the election ,but could salvage his reputation as a human being so he doesn't have to go through the rest of his entire life as a pariah and the guy who tried to destroy any sense of civility in our political system.

Trump wants to be a pariah. If he has plans to do Trump TV or whatever after the election, you are not the target market. The alt right is who he wants to appeal to. Since the Access Hollywood video came out, and perhaps even before that, he didn't seem to be trying to win. At this point, he's trying to save face what with all the sexual assault allegations out there, but he knows he doesn't really have a chance at this point, so he's making excuses. I don't have a problem with him saying that it's rigged though. How many people here have said it was rigged against Bernie? Countless people here accept that and have used that exact language, calling it rigged. It's rigged against Trump in the same sense that it was rigged against Bernie. The media has been doing all it can to make Clinton look good and to make Bernie and Trump look like shit. The corporate media talks about the Wikileaks releases very little, while spending so much more time talking about the allegations against Trump.

Something else that I find funny is that you seem to be saying that the legitimacy of US elections should never be questioned, while dozens of people here have claimed and some still claim that George W Bush never legitimately won against Al Gore. How soon we forget.

I watched Trump's routine at the Al Smith dinner and thought it was pretty darn entertaining. Calling Hillary out for the email leaks about her hating Catholics when she was sitting right next to a Catholic priest lol. Good stuff. Loved Hillary's reaction.

[Shiranu]

I honestly believe Trump is, like many spoiled brats like him, completely unaware that anything he thinks, says and does might have social ramifications. When he says, "I didn't do that. I didn't say that." when he is called on his treatment of women, his mocking of the disabled reporter, whatever... I really think he means it because he doesn't realise what he said was offensive or mocking.

I watched Joe Biden talking about Trump's political views, and I agree with him 100%... it really seems that Trump just doesn't have a single clue about anything he says. Be it he is just an idiot, he is spoiled, whatever, he just doesn't have the capacity to actually grasp what he is saying and realise why it's wrong.

I feel bad for Trump, honestly. It's one thing to be intelligent and be a shitty person and another to just be too stupid to realise you are, and I think that Trump falls into the second category.

[trdsf]

I don't know if anyone here watched any of it, MSNBC carried it live and both HRC and Trumpster Fire were there.. Trump of course flopped spectacularly while Clinton did ok..

As I've said before, there's not enough booze in the world for me to watch Donnieboy's presentation.

Think about it..Trump stands no chance of winning the election, but could potentially transform the sense of extreme partisanship in politics if he pointed out just how we got to where we are. I doubt he'll do it, but if he did it could potentially make the parties look at each other not as mortal enemies, but as parties with fundamentally different views capable of governing instead of the joke of what it's become.

The extreme partisanship is exactly what he wants -- he doesn't care about anything or anyone other than himself, certainly.  I think he wants to split off the teabaggers from the GOP and create his own party (or cult of personality, more or less the same thing) -- which suits me fine, since it'll be a kick in the balls to the Republicans.  On the plus side, that just might mean they'll have to grow up and be the party of Eisenhower, Ford, Michel and Baker again rather than hysterical obstructionist plutocratic Talebangelicals.

[Cavebear]

Trump is one of those people who has no thought that doesn't advance him, who has no thought that doesn't possibly enrich him, and who has no thought that he doesn't speak out loud.

In short, he is an annoying child.

[Sal1981]

Donald Trump is a democratic Poe.

He'll come out of the democratic closet and proclaim that he took GOP down in flames because he was secretly a democratic pundit all along.

Just as likely.

[Cavebear]

Trump is no more a Democrat than a snake is a flower...  You aren't going to foist him off on US!

[FaithIsFilth]

I honestly believe Trump is, like many spoiled brats like him, completely unaware that anything he thinks, says and does might have social ramifications. When he says, "I didn't do that. I didn't say that." when he is called on his treatment of women, his mocking of the disabled reporter, whatever... I really think he means it because he doesn't realise what he said was offensive or mocking.

He wasn't mocking the reporter for having a disability. I thought that was the case too, but that's been debunked as fake news.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBpkMCa_D50

[Baruch]

People hear what they want to hear, and believe what they want to believe.  Conservatives and liberals.  And yes, Mr Trump is no gentleman.