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I like Trump and will probably vote for him but we have to be honest. His supporters make me embarrassed to support Trump. They are old guys with beer guts from Middle America. Whenever they talk they spit. As a 21 year old California girl, it’s not good for my image to be associated with that. It's scary.
I am embarrassed for you too.
Just look at the people at the Trump rallies. Once in awhile you see a non-angry hillbilly type of person mixed in the crowd and they stand out. You feel sorry for them.
BTW, CA isn't a swing state and it will go to the Democratic candidate in the general election. So for the presidential election, your vote doesn't count all that much, other than a formality.
Its been Clintons election to lose for more than 4 years, she was the overwhelming favorite going in. You can't deny that Bernie has drummed up much more support than most gave him credit for. The anti-establishment sentiment is growing by leaps and bounds, hence Trump & Bernie.
I agree. Saw that early on when Trump and Bernie actually got some headwind.
It actually got both sides worried.
I think they figured Trump and Bernie were versions of Ron Paul that would fade off.
Its been Clintons election to lose for more than 4 years, she was the overwhelming favorite going in. You can't deny that Bernie has drummed up much more support than most gave him credit for. The anti-establishment sentiment is growing by leaps and bounds, hence Trump & Bernie.
Bernie's surprising appeal to young voters is foretelling a future meltdown in the Democratic Party -- the Obama coalition cannot last forever. I think it will last through this election, but there is trouble ahead. A side effect of the democrats getting so hammered in 2010 and 2014 is that the party leaders are aging, and the party is out of touch with its younger voters who want to see income inequality addressed.
The republican meltdown is in full swing and I truly hope the party re-emerges as a sane, governing party, which it hasn't been for 8 years now. But the democrats are in trouble too.
Bernie's surprising appeal to young voters is foretelling a future meltdown in the Democratic Party -- the Obama coalition cannot last forever. I think it will last through this election, but there is trouble ahead. A side effect of the democrats getting so hammered in 2010 and 2014 is that the party leaders are aging, and the party is out of touch with its younger voters who want to see income inequality addressed.
The republican meltdown is in full swing and I truly hope the party re-emerges as a sane, governing party, which it hasn't been for 8 years now. But the democrats are in trouble too.
I saw that up until the Nevada results. After that the Dems backed off because Hillary clearly took the lead.
The Dems pulled out all the stops in Nevada.
Other than his brand and his bank account, exactly what "ideals" does Don stand for?
Ideals? Oh please.
The republican and democrat parties are private organizations, businesses.
Uncle Johnny, of blessed memory, used to say, "Every country ... eh, eh, eh, ... is like a business."
Don stands for business and opportunism. What else? What else do you want? What else do you expect? Really?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oildog
The party just doesn't see the forest through the trees. They are not happy that Trump is winning, but they let him on the ticket. Instead of realizing he was the only one focused on the economy and generating American jobs, they kept their heads in the (special interest) sand.
Trump is no politician, but he knows how media works. Instead of adapting, the GOP has put heels in the sand and have moved to divisive tactics. Today some 'GOP strategist' stated that the party chooses the nominee, not the people. Making it public that the 'party elders will pick a candidate that supports their values' instead of who the people have chosen. This shows how out of touch the GOP has become. The reason Trump and Bernie have become popular is the high disillusionment with the current system... both parties had 8 years to develop candidates and they both failed miserably.
A few years ago, I was a card carrying member of the GOP. Now, I'm ashamed of the party, they are dead to me. FWIW I did not vote for Trump in the primary.
Let's imagine for a moment that the US had a proportional representation electoral system. Into how many separate parties would the republican party split up into, and in more or less what percentage of the current total?
I'm not sure, but to start I would venture to identify:
1) "pure" "conservatives" or "religious" "conservatives": featuring in-your-face social/personal-control-that-annoys-everyone-else issues, as well as pro-business, low taxes, limited government, strong defense;
I don't know, maybe 20%-30%.
2) "laissez-faire" "conservatives": featuring "laissez-faire" on personal issues, pro-business, low taxes, sound money, pro-economy overall, strong defense, but otherwise limited government;
I don't know, maybe 25%-40%
3) "establishment" "republicans": politics as control lever for personal and cliquish global business enterprises, sister company of the "establishment" democrats;
I don't know, maybe 25%-40%
4) "pure" libertarians: with some of the above "laissez-faire" features, but mainly featuring some realistically impossible kooky ideology that mostly annoys, and is possibly a great danger to, everyone else.
I don't know, maybe 2%.
Anyone care to flesh this out and provide more precise numbers?
Saying the voters don't choose the primary candidate is a tactic to discourage Trump voters from going to the polls. Don't believe this GOP strategist, there is a reason this was leaked out there.
Trump has a great chance of getting to the 1237 mark where no convention is needed.
Maybe you haven't listened to his speeches. He clearly states that he will be pulling out of these "free trade" deals that have devastated jobs in the USA and he states how this will be accomplished.
Of course this will put him up against the "establishment" in congress who will try to stop it. But in a congress vs Trump war, my money is on Trump.
I've listened to his speeches and hear mostly generalities. There is no specifics in Trump's speeches about trade agreements. He generalizes and says that they are bad for workers. But are they really?
Before TPP, 80% of the goods from the 11 TPP partners came into our country duty-free and our products were hit with tariffs in their countries. TPP eliminated 18,000 tariffs, resulting in keeping more production at home and sell more abroad. Our average applied tariff is already only 1.5% while the tariffs of these Pacific countries can range much higher -- Pre-TPP, Vietnam has/had peak tariffs of over 50% on cars and machines -- so getting rid of those tariffs our exports are poised to benefit.
Trump paints American manufacturing as one in decline but the fact is that America's total manufacturing output was nearing an all-time high at the end of 2015 -- and we created nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs since 2010.
Obama's TPP deal demanded that in return for free access to our markets the 11 other TPP countries had to agree, some for the first time, to freedom for their workers to form independent trade unions, to elect their own labor leaders, to collectively bargain and to eliminate all child and forced labor practices.TPP insists that they adopt laws on minimum wages, hours of work and occupational safety and health, again, precisely to level the playing field with U.S. workers.
TPP also prohibited all customs duties for digital products, making sure companies did not have to share source codes in order to get into new markets and ensure free access for all cloud computing services in all TPP countries, all areas of growing US strength.
TPP put restrictions on state-owned companies that compete with our private businesses, like Vietnam's oil company. These state-owned companies often get special benefits that enable them to undercut American companies. It also adds strong intellectual property protections for America's software and drug industries.
So yeah, Trump can try to win votes of the uninformed by casting trade agreements as the "establishment" enemy, but the reality about these agreements don't fit Trump's narrative. If voters knew the details, they wouldn't be so influenced by some charlatan pedaling snake-oil policy -- and steaks.
What also must be said, is that while you portray the "establishment Congress" as being for these trade deals, the TPP was harshly opposed by Republicans in Congress -- precisely because the labor protection stuff is strong -- which is good. What we have is Trump arguing against TPP as if establishment Republicans were for it, but they were really against it. Trump and establishment Republicans are on the same side on this issue.
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