How America Made Donald Trump Unstoppable

Started by mauricio, February 29, 2016, 07:51:38 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

widdershins

Quote from: DeltaEpsilon on March 01, 2016, 07:11:40 AM
Yes. Donald Trump may be a horrible politician but he is a great salesman.
Hey!  Donald is going to make America great again!  You'll see!  There's going to be so much winning if he gets elected that you're going to get bored with all the winning!  And those aren't stupid things to say, having no meaning whatsoever.  No, those are smart things to say.  And they probably mean something, too!
This sentence is a lie...

Gerard

He said anything is negotiable. That's more than we heard from any conservative in the last six to eight years......

Gerard

Mike Cl

Quote from: SGOS on March 02, 2016, 10:47:59 AM
I think you might be right.  He may be very good at manipulating, but just to play Devil's advocate, it's possible his antics are just natural and off the cuff, as they seem to be much the way he has always behaved publicly in the past.  It just might be that his natural buffoonishness, belligerence, and "Fuck You" offensive attitude is simply something many people naturally relate to, identify in themselves, and find appealing.  In other words, he's just a naturally perfect fit with many Americans.  Does he have handlers and advisors, or is who we see, exactly who he is?  I don't know.
You could be right.  But I see him as fitting the zeitgeist of the times--anger at the standstill in DC.  He is a sort of modern day Mussolini, who wanted to take Italy back to the days of Roman times of greatness.  Trump seems to be pushing all those buttons.  Trump is a nationalist of the worst sort--as are the racists of this country.  Both Trump and Mussolini want to take their countries back to a time of 'greatness' again.  It just feels like it is time to break out the brown/black shirts and start marching up and down the streets in them.  Disturbing.
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

GSOgymrat

I want Trump to win the GOP nomination. I would much rather have Trump as POTUS than Ted "Christian First" Cruz.

widdershins

I seriously believe he's just fucking around because he's rich and bored.  Like last time, he never thought he would get this far and it amuses the hell out of him that he can do no wrong.  He seriously acts like a guy who's just trying to push things as far as he can to see what the American people will put up with.  And look at his history.  He has a history of frivolous lawsuits, a reality TV show, a bigger-than-life personality, but not the same personality people who have met him personally on a professional level describe.  His history clearly shows he's not as far right as he's playing right now, bordering on being a Democrat from some perspectives.  I'm pretty sure he doesn't give a rat's ass about being president and he has tried repeatedly to sabotage himself, but the likes of Faux News has the redneck white supremacist right wing whipped into such a frenzy about how the world isn't like it was back when it was perfect the day after we won WWII that they've actually made their own audience too dumb to make an intelligent decision on election day.  They'll vote for any asshole who says we need to "take America back" to...you know...that one time...back then...when America was perfect...and great!  Don't forget great!  Rupert Murdoch, I think, has played a very big role in driving the Republican party to utter insanity, so much so that even his one juggernaut can't actually control it.  And I think Trump is just along for the ride, laughing his ass off every time he says something that should disqualify him but instead drives up his numbers, waiting to see how many "intelligent" people will eventually endorse him.

Quote from: GSOgymrat on March 02, 2016, 03:57:09 PM
I want Trump to win the GOP nomination. I would much rather have Trump as POTUS than Ted "Christian First" Cruz.
Definitely Cruz would be the scarier candidate.  But I want Trump to win because the Republican party's biggest fear for months has been a Trump/Clinton lineup.  Those are EXACTLY the two candidates they did not want, and I want EXACTLY what the Republican party desperately does not want.
This sentence is a lie...

Hijiri Byakuren

Quote from: widdershins on March 02, 2016, 04:08:44 PMDefinitely Cruz would be the scarier candidate.  But I want Trump to win because the Republican party's biggest fear for months has been a Trump/Clinton lineup.  Those are EXACTLY the two candidates they did not want, and I want EXACTLY what the Republican party desperately does not want.
If the Republicans are that scared of Trump, they might be willing to use their version of super delegates (not sure of their actual title) to skew the numbers. People forget that the parties are private organizations, and at the end of the day can put forward any candidate they damn well please. It might ruin their credibility with the base if they blatantly toss Trump aside like that, but if Republican leadership is scared enough they might be willing to eat the fallout if it means not having to support him.
Speak when you have something to say, not when you have to say something.

Sargon The Grape - My Youtube Channel

TomFoolery

Quote from: widdershins on March 02, 2016, 04:08:44 PM
Definitely Cruz would be the scarier candidate.  But I want Trump to win because the Republican party's biggest fear for months has been a Trump/Clinton lineup. 

I dunno. I think the determination of who would be worse depends on the situation. Ted Cruz is the last guy I would want with veto power when it came to signing into law bills that prohibit discrimination. However, Donald Trump is the last guy I would want to sit down with world leaders and talk about nuclear arms.

I've heard a lot of people say they refuse to vote for Hillary if she gets the nomination. THAT scares me if Donald Trump is on the other side of the ballot. I don't like Hillary, but between Trump and Hillary, I imagine a scenario where the American president is sitting down with the shah of Iran to discuss <whatever> and what phrases like "dirty Muslim terrorists" and "camel jockeys with funny beards" would do to global relations.
How can you be sure my refusal to agree with your claim a symptom of my ignorance and not yours?

Mike Cl

Quote from: Hijiri Byakuren on March 02, 2016, 04:16:43 PM
If the Republicans are that scared of Trump, they might be willing to use their version of super delegates (not sure of their actual title) to skew the numbers. People forget that the parties are private organizations, and at the end of the day can put forward any candidate they damn well please. It might ruin their credibility with the base if they blatantly toss Trump aside like that, but if Republican leadership is scared enough they might be willing to eat the fallout if it means not having to support him.
I desperately hope you are right.  For if Trump gets dumped at the convention, he will, I think, run as an independent out of spite.  And that would be wonderful!
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Gerard

Don't worry about Chris Christie. Chris has a masterplan to steal Donalds wig and become MASTER OF THE UNIVER...... uhhhhh President...

Gerard

_Xenu_

Quote from: josephpalazzo on March 02, 2016, 01:33:36 PM
Well, he's going to make a deal. And he'll have a bigger army to convince any of those people who are stealing our jobs he means business.
Hate to say it, but there's a little truth to that. There's no denying that a Trump presidency would be

...

entertaining.
Click this link once a day to feed shelter animals. Its free.

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/ars/home

_Xenu_

Quote from: GSOgymrat on March 02, 2016, 03:57:09 PM
I want Trump to win the GOP nomination. I would much rather have Trump as POTUS than Ted "Christian First" Cruz.
Yeah, that would be very bad. And not in an amusing train wreck kind of way Trump would be.
Click this link once a day to feed shelter animals. Its free.

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/ars/home

Gerard

I think that the quality of political discourse (not just in the USA but worldwide) has reached a substandard level. It's easy to blame the media and the internet, although they are certainly to blame. People (and politicians) are now encouraged to become lazy thinkers because they can creep under their own little ideological stone. We don't eat food for thought anymore. It's much easier to just switch on FOX news or visit some website or whatever and just listen to the things we already agree with. And to complain about bias when we hear things that might not immediately comply with out isolated ideologies....

Gerard (pessimistic mood)

GSOgymrat

Quote from: _Xenu_ on March 02, 2016, 05:58:13 PM
Yeah, that would be very bad. And not in an amusing train wreck kind of way Trump would be.

This is a selection from the linked article, which is very interesting.

Does Ted Cruz Think He’s The Messiah?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/14/does-ted-cruz-think-he-s-the-messiah.html


Rafael Cruz, father of Ted Cruz, is a preacher of the far-right doctrine of dominionism, which holds that Christians should take over the government and save it from the wicked.

When Ted Cruz announced his candidacy for president, many assumed he would quietly distance himself from his father, Rafael Cruz, since the elder Cruz has long been extreme in his religious views, and outspoken in proclaiming them.

But the opposite has been the case. Rafael Cruz has been the senator’s primary surrogate on the campaign trail, particularly with the evangelical voters who are now Ted Cruz’s base. The two have frequently spoken together, prayed together, campaigned togetherâ€"even shot highly awkward “slice of life” videos together.

The reason Ted Cruz might be reluctant to embrace his father so publicly is that Rafael Cruz subscribes to what is known as dominionism, which holds that Christianity should exercise “dominion” over all of society, not just the traditional boundaries of religion.

Historically, dominionism began as an offshoot of Christian Reconstructionism, the sect founded in the 1960s by defender-of-slavery R.J. Rushdoony that seeks to replace secular law with Biblical law, stonings and all. More moderate versions of Reconstructionism began to take hold in the New Christian Right, which began in the 1970s as an effort to re-engage evangelicals in politics and fight back against the sexual revolution and the civil rights movement. Dominionism was one such version.

The etymological and Scriptural roots of dominionism are God’s command that Adam and Eve should “have dominion over all the earth” and Isaiah 2:2, which says, “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains.” Those “mountains” are interpreted not literally but figuratively (evangelicals are actually only selectively literalistic) as referring to the “seven mountains” of society, specifically family, religion, arts and entertainment, media, government, education, and business.

...
Now, everything I’ve said so far is about Rafael Cruz, not Ted Cruz. We don’t really know how much of this Ted believes. But it is interesting that even anodyne statements by Ted Cruz can be read in multiple ways, the classic indicator of dogwhistling. For example, Sen. Cruz wrote an epilogue to Rafael Cruz’s book, in which he said, “If our nation’s leaders are elected by unbelievers, is it any wonder that they do not reflect our values? … If the body of Christ arises, if Christians simply show up and vote biblical values, we can restore our nation.”

Read one way, this is just a Christian version of “make America great again.” Read another way, “restoring our nation” has a very specific dominionist meaning of one believes that America was once a Christian quasi-theocracy. And not many candidates describe their campaign as trying to get the body of Christ to arise.

Whatever Ted Cruz’s religious views, however, those of his father are relevant in their own right. He stumps for his son all the time, Barton has his hands on some of the largest purse strings in Republican politics, and many of Ted Cruz’s supporters are animated by a theological vision of America that will restore “kings” to power at the End of Days, of whom Cruz is apparently one.

The word “dominionism” may not roll of the tongue of political pundits, but given its shocking ambitions, maybe that’s part of the point.


Gerard

Quote from: Mike Cl on March 02, 2016, 05:31:23 PM
I desperately hope you are right.  For if Trump gets dumped at the convention, he will, I think, run as an independent out of spite.  And that would be wonderful!

Sure, but that won't help the GOP to get their act together again... Which may or may not be a good thing.... I think that the GOP is unsalvageble at this point. And they've got themselves and their intransigent stance on extreme ideology to thank for it. The GOP grassroots know that and that's why they vote for Trump. They may complain about how the party elite can't stand up to Obama, but that's not really the point. Their politicians in Congress felt too good and too proud and too holy and too ideologically perfect to seek an understanding with the executive branch. That is substandard behavior for any politician worth it's salt and that is why they are getting punished right now. If they had even tried to formulate a legislative agenda and even tried to find a compromise with the executive branch to get some of that through, the GOP grassroots would not be as angry as they are right now... They don't call it a do nothing congress for nothing.

Gerard (another rant from me)

Mermaid

Quote from: GSOgymrat on March 02, 2016, 03:57:09 PM
I want Trump to win the GOP nomination. I would much rather have Trump as POTUS than Ted "Christian First" Cruz.
I am not so sure anymore. I used to think that.
A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticise work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life’s realities â€" all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority but of weakness. -TR