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46747. judithathome - 11/23/2016 11:29:16 PM Trust me, we have a President Elect now that has no idea what the Constitution means....he has never read it and wouldn't understand if he HAD.
He thinks he has/soon will attain Tzar status when he is sworn in...he bragged years ago that were he to run for and win the Presidency, he would be the first President to MAKE MONEY off doing so. 46748. arkymalarky - 11/23/2016 11:46:30 PM I'm encouraged by several things. First of all, I agree with Obama, who's the smartest president certainly in my lifetime and possibly since FDR, in my opinion, that it isn't the end until it's the end. I like the fact that he's got an open line of communication with Trump. Secondly, there's a lot of work being done already on the foundational level in the media and in the Democratic Party that is going to help tremendously. Third, Trump is as far short of any kind of mandate as any president in history, and people are being very Vigilant about every move he makes. Not just the press and Democrats, but Republicans like McCain and other moderates. Support of white nationalists is not going to help him unite the rest of the country behind him either. It's very polarizing, but it's also a huge negative that's going to cost him support among people who voted for him because they didn't like Hillary or they thought he'd bring jobs to the struggling rust belt or whatever marginal reasons they voted for him. Most people who voted for him in Arkansas I know thought he was an idiot, but they were so sure that Hillary was going to take away their guns and make abortion free and available for all, they voted like they always do.
The thing that bothers me the most right now is the Republican majority in both houses, and my only hope there is that if they overplay their hand that will get adjusted in 2018 post haste. That's happened to Democrats and Republicans alike when they've overreached. It's not like we haven't had that kind of situation multiple times.
My bogeyman is a naziesque move to commit some newsworthy act and blame it on opponents, using such an event to the same effect. Hate and fear are despicable human qualities, but they are very effective for herding masses. When it comes down to it, we've got to count on those institutions we've always counted on to get us through tough times. There's nothing else to do, and I'm certainly going to enjoy my personal circumstances regardless. I don't intend to live this 24/7. I'm still working on things that I was working on before, but I'm not going to be wallowing in this like I have for the past month. Life is too short, and if it's not helpful it's a waste of time. I'd rather be doing other things. 46749. judithathome - 11/24/2016 12:00:04 AM Hate and fear are despicable human qualities,
Yes but they are what seems to be running this country right now. 46750. judithathome - 11/24/2016 12:06:23 AM Well, keep us posted on the grandbaby, at least! 46751. arkymalarky - 11/24/2016 1:16:07 AM "Yes but they are what seems to be running this country right now"
They can be, but if you look at why most people voted for Trump based on polls they really weren't in this election. I read an interesting article but after the election about Carrier employees in Ohio voting for Trump because he said he'd bring their jobs back. Everyone knows it's not going to happen, apparently except the Carrier employees, but people's thinking along those lines is so simplistic. It amazed me how basicly people were thinking about it that I talked to personally. 46752. arkymalarky - 11/24/2016 1:17:08 AM And that gets to big part of the Clinton campaign's problem. People need simple messages that they can remember. Obama may have elaborated for people who were paying attention, but his basic message was very simple and positive. 46753. arkymalarky - 11/24/2016 1:27:47 AM If you look at what happened in this election, considering the popular vote being overwhelmingly in Hillary's favor, the DNC has to take a lot of responsibility. If the Democratic party does not get its shit together, they're going to be in deep doo-doo. If they do, they can do very well in the future. They may not do well in the South and fly over country, but where the vast population of the country is they can continue to improve. They're far more unified than the Republican party is right now. They just don't have a unified simple message for voters. 46754. iiibbb - 11/24/2016 2:49:13 AM I'd love to crawl into my personal space and ignore it, but it's a coin flip whether I'll still have a job in 3-5 months. 46755. iiibbb - 11/24/2016 2:52:19 AM Re- Democrats and a unified message. I worry about that because
A- they're kind of full of themselves
B- a progressive on my newsfeed essentially called Bernie Sanders a racist today. I mean, the inability of enough of them to temper their outrage against would-be allies is a problem. 46756. arkymalarky - 11/24/2016 4:35:23 AM Most Republicans aren't thrilled that white nationalists are acting like they just won the election either. You have to deal with the Extremes in any political organization, and that kind of stuff is not really as important as what the party leadership is doing. 46757. arkymalarky - 11/24/2016 4:37:53 AM When the market crashed in 08 my dad lost $300,000 overnight of his retirement. I was more worried than he was. He's been without before and he said he could do that again and he said he just grabbed walden and read it and lived his life. My problem is my apocalyptic fantasies. But the solution is the same. Live my life. 46758. arkymalarky - 11/24/2016 4:41:14 AM Howard Dean caught a lot of flack for his 50-state strategy, and I found a lot of the blue dog Democrats Beyond annoying. I was glad to see blanch lincoln hit the pasture even though her seat went Republican. But the fact is he was right. I've organized enough at the local and state level to know that you have to hold your nose and find what you have in common with people in order to get things moving forward. 46759. winstonsmith - 11/26/2016 9:49:34 PM I have been thinking a lot about the election and all the what-ifs.
1. Would Benie have beaten Trump. My guess - probably. It would have been a very different election (commie Bernie vs billionaire Trump) and different states would have been in play. I am guessing, after seeing the results of the election, that maybe people would have been unfazed by the commie/socialist rhetoric and supported Bernie. it seems like people were willing to overlook anything this year. I think I was wrong about Bernie's viability this election cycle, especially against Trump. But still, who knows. I think a lot of Republicans were motivated by 8 years of Obama, just like we were by Bush.
2. Would Clinton have won if she had picked Bernie as her VP? My guess- maybe. Bernie could have helped her with millinials and in the rust belt. Hard to say If it would have been enough.
3. Did Comey cost Clinton the election? MY guess, maybe. It's hard to say how much that actually mattered to the voters in the rust belt. Maybe the combination of no Comey antics and picking Bernie for VP would have been enough?
4. Could Bernie have won the primary if he had gone full out against Clintion from day one of the primary? Boy, it would have gotten nasty. They would have both gone nuclear and Clinton would have been even more damaged. I think maybe the only way he would have actually won the primary was if Comey would have done his thing earlier and helped Bernie instead of trump.
5. Is the recount a good idea? - I guess, why not, but in the end it could just bolster Trump by proving that he won.
46760. judithathome - 11/27/2016 12:23:40 AM Nothing will help until we go about this in another way...the Electoral College has to be sworn to vote the way the popular vote goes. And we need to hnow the names of the people IN the electoral college.
Of course, we have another 4 years of a Republican Congress...before, they could blame Obama although they blocked 9/10ths of his agenda....with Trump, it will be harder to justify the reasons for the country going into the tank, year after coming year.
But you can bet your ass the rich in this country will become richer and the environment will get worse, as will the lives of everyday Joes...and I can't wait to see who garners the blame...somehow, it will ALL be the Democrats fault...just wait. 46761. arkymalarky - 11/27/2016 4:11:59 AM This trend will continue as struggling states in the South and Midwest continue to depopulate and people move to the coastal areas where the vast majority of the votes are going to be centered.
When the Constitution was established several things had to be done to keep the small states and slave states on board, and as our populations have dramatically shifted as the country has dramatically grown those those compromises are hobbling the whole country to the benefit of a ever smaller economically weak part of the population.
It's also important in looking at the results to understand that the difference was just a little over a hundred thousand votes in a total of 3 states. We're talking about very little in the way of shift in a very specific area that would have changed the outcome. Shifting message, increased Focus on the Rust Belt, not making assumptions because you were polling ahead that you're going to win the state like Pennsylvania, the Comey email statement, any number of things contributed to what happened. I was reading it article in the New Yorker about Obama and the journalist, Remnick, asked Obama right before the election when they were on Air Force One whether he felt good about it and Obama said nope. They knew things had tightened and changed in a very few days, and it's hard to attributed to anything except Comey. If the trend had been a long-term trend it would be one thing, but the tightening occurred within a very short time frame.
There are some other Oddities and anomalies about the actual voting that the Rolling Stone reported, including questions about when provisional ballots were used and what went into deciding which ones were invalid and why rural turnout in some areas was 90%, but those would not be addressed with a recount.
Jill Stein is a really unsavory character when you look a little bit more closely at her. Her connection with rt is less than impressive for one thing, and her connection to energy industry is questionable considering she's nominee of the green party. 46762. judithathome - 11/27/2016 7:33:09 PM I heard a couple of her speeches and she sounded like an absolute loon in them...really off the wall stuff. 46763. winstonsmith - 11/30/2016 7:40:42 PM Yeah, Jill Stein seems like a jerk.
I find myself fervently hoping Trump will pick Romney for SOS. Talk about lowered expectations.
Rudy G seems like an unhinged ass-clown. That dickhead would be a horrible SOS. 46764. judithathome - 11/30/2016 8:47:53 PM I think both Trump AND Rudy have severe cases of sundowners every evening....Rudy seems like a raving moron and Trump a raving idiot. Or both...their pontifications after the sun goes down sound insane. (Luckily, Rudy is rumored to retire by 9pm.)
I have said it before...the worst thing about Trump, for me personally, is that he makes GWB look almost sane.
Hell...he makes Ted Nugent look sane.... 46765. judithathome - 12/3/2016 6:52:33 AM My god...it just gets more and more demoralizing....day by day...I dread even turning on the news. 46766. robertjayb - 12/6/2016 5:19:59 AM Pentagon buries evidence of $125 billion in bureaucratic waste (The Washington Post)
By Craig Whitlock and Bob Woodward December 5 at 6:47 PM
...and what will the new Prez do to fix this?
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