Discussing American politics as civil human beings

Discussion in 'Off-Topic' started by BurnPyro, Sep 13, 2015.

  1. BurnPyro

    BurnPyro Forum Royalty

    She was governor, which seems pretty special. Not sure what she's doing now, but the Tea Party seems to dig her and she's still got a pretty high following. Yeah she isn't a senator, but she isn't Macy on the corner either.
     
  2. Baskitkase

    Baskitkase Forum Royalty

    Lol Sok. Who the Firk cares about Bush? I live about 30 minutes from his home and I sure as hell don't

    That is the typical liberal rhetoric, though, any time Trump comes up, they want to pretend he is/was Bush and start talking about Bush as if he is/was Trump.

    Trump is going to run Repub so he can win. It's a strategic alliance IMO.

    I'm drawn to him for a couple reasons but mostly I believe that he just doesn't give a Firk what the Washington Machine thinks of him and most importantly he doesn't give a Firk what the world thinks of him or America. Now I realize that some of that is showmanship to present his platform as a nonconformist but some of its real.

    Secondly he's a smart businessman. He's going to make smart fiscal decisions with a grasp on the big picture that GWB or Obama do not even come close to having. I want a POTUS that will do what's right for America and not just what's right for his 4 or 8 years, but for my legacy. And that's no small task because he's going to have to get buy-in from a bunch of dipshits (gen pop) and beauty pageant contestents (cap hill) on this vision that we're mostly incapable of understanding.

    He's no messiah, he's not the greatest person I can imagine for president, but he's a whole damn lot better than any of the others on either side.

    This is my opinion as of now.

    If he was this hothead blowhard that the media is trying to make him out as, he'd have come no where close to his current success, as pride is an anchor 10 times the size of its ship.
     
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  3. darklord48

    darklord48 Forum Royalty

    Trump has a reasonable shot at the Whitehouse for the same reason that Kim Kardashian is famous. As George Carlin said “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."
     
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  4. Baskitkase

    Baskitkase Forum Royalty

    Agreed, they did put Obummer up for a 2nd term after all.
     
  5. Pedeguerra

    Pedeguerra I need me some PIE!

    To expand on this notion:

    "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." Albert Einstein

    I always thought: who the firk is this Kim Kardashian and why the firk is she famous? Why the firk people keep giving her money and why the firk all of her sisters/nieces are famous as well and get a lot of money thrown their way? Its mindblowing.
     
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  6. Dagda

    Dagda Forum Royalty

    pretty sure the last US president to run and be elected on the premise of being a Washington outsider has been considered one of the more useless presidents of our times, likely in part because he *wasn't* a part of the inner workings of DC and had little political sway there before his election.



    also, out of curiosity, if Trump *were* elected president (i doubt it happens, but it's not the most unlikely thing i can think of), what would happen to his business(es)? would he have to renounce them? hand them over? is he allowed to maintain them while holding such a high office?
     
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  7. Ragic

    Ragic I need me some PIE!

    He converts them all to military applications then starts drawing lines in the sand. He'll also probably go starship troopers on your ass and offer citizenship to anyone who serves in the military.
     
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  8. newsbuff

    newsbuff Forum Royalty

    A brief review of the history of presidential campaigns indicates that major parties have very rarely chosen a candidate who has never held elected office or a prominent executive position, and even more rarely have such candidates won. You can see why. You don't send someone to the World Series who has never played a Major League game, much less won one. Of the non-politicians who did win, virtually all were military commanders who won major wars (e.g., Grant and Eisenhower), and there's no one like that in the current contest.
    [From Robert Tracisnki via http://thefederalist.com/2015/09/11/the-not-trump-not-bush-republican-primary/]
     
  9. Ohmin

    Ohmin Forum Royalty

    Donald Trump might think Donald Trump would be a good president... maybe... Probably not.

    One of the linked articles had a side-bar thing talking about how "Outsiders are all the rage" (with relevant poll data showing Trump polling well, though I'm not sure the source of the poll off hand).

    I feel like this might be relevant as well: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...ss-has-11-approval-ratings-96-incumbent-re-e/

    (Gallup Polls re Congressional Approval: http://www.gallup.com/poll/1600/congress-public.aspx

    http://www.gallup.com/poll/181580/new-congress-slightly-higher-ratings-unpopular.aspx )
     
  10. Sokolov

    Sokolov The One True Cactuar Octopi

    The point is that just because someone outside the US sees a President or individual one way, doesn't mean those within the US see them the same way. Bush is a good example of this.

    It isn't "rhetoric."
     
  11. Baskitkase

    Baskitkase Forum Royalty

  12. Sokolov

    Sokolov The One True Cactuar Octopi

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  13. Vote Kanye 2020

    Vote Kanye 2020 Better-Known Member

    Meh, whoever wins this election is just going to be a glorified seat warmer for Kanye anways.
     
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  14. Sokolov

    Sokolov The One True Cactuar Octopi

    If you don't think approval ratings can provide insight into whether people think someone made an "extremely good president" why did you link to an article that provides a bunch of approval ratings and other such statistics?

    Anyway, point is, people outside the US tend to think he was a moron, but those within the US, on average, like him more, mostly along party lines. Way to miss the point, dude. Ciao.
     
  15. Ohmin

    Ohmin Forum Royalty

    Of course. But YOUR MISSING THE POINT! :p

    Rather my point was that I think some people are getting desperate to get an "outsider" in since they can't seem to get the incumbents out, in spite of the low numbers of approval (even considering different metrics).

    Heck, even this has become a thing: https://www.termlimits.org/

    The sad part is that Trump is NOT an outsider in the first place. He's got close ties to both the Clintons and (to a lesser degree) the Bushes and several other politicians, and has been bandying about the idea of him becoming a politician directly (rather than just through campaign finance) for decades.
     
  16. Sokolov

    Sokolov The One True Cactuar Octopi

    That's probably true, tho it seems silly to try and fight incumbent Congressman out by... voting in a different President who already has a term-limit and tends to swap between the 2 main parties anyway.

    Just seems like an awkward response.
     
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  17. Dagda

    Dagda Forum Royalty

    It's my understanding that Carter ran on (and won on) the premise that he wasn't part of the Washington "in-crowd". I don't believe I was alive for his presidency, so this is mostly hearsay.


    To clarify.
     
  18. Ohmin

    Ohmin Forum Royalty

    Based on at least this: http://millercenter.org/president/biography/carter-campaigns-and-elections

    You're absolutely correct (well, I've no idea how old you are or aren't, so I don't know about the alive-ness of you during that period).

    I believe several Presidents have run on the idea of them being an "outsider" (some making more accurate claims than others). In fact a large part of Bush Jr.'s campaign was about being a "Compassionate Conservative" that was different from your usual Republican (but still "true" to those "core values" of the party). Which, while not quite the same tone and tenor as Carter or Trump, is still setting himself somewhat "outside" the supposed mainstream of the party.
     
  19. Sokolov

    Sokolov The One True Cactuar Octopi

    I do admit that he makes a lot of great sounding promises, but I am so far, not convinced that he knows how to, or will be able to do any of it.

    It also seems suspect that someone who plasters his name all over the world is going to be in it to "do what's right for America" instead of his own legacy tho I feel this is a major problem with term-based democracies (and is one of the reasons regular Chinese people don't trust the US). Lastly, I think a great deal of the state of the US is due to "smart businessmen" being involved in politics, so Trump seems like a strange way to try and fix things.

    That said, I personally generally feel people think the office of the President has far more influence over the course of the country and history than it really does, at least in the last 10-12 years or so that I've been paying attention to US politics, it seems like the President is more someone to blame for the failures of Congress than someone who can actually get things done.
     
  20. SPiEkY

    SPiEkY King of Jesters

    Well think of it this way: How awesome of a legacy is it to be a great President?

    Not to say that that's his own view of it, so who knows how it'll actually turn out, I guess.
     

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