Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Wild Hoss]

Its just an excuse to avoid standing at the center of the bullseye, but it does raise the rather humorous question of whether FOX is now part of the notorious MSM.

[lineygoblue]

I think this is the beginning of the end of the Trump campaign.

I don't think he's ever been serious about being President. I think he's a billionaire who is having the time of his life in the political spotlight. Problem for Trump is, if he wins both NH and Iowa, then comes out on top on Super Tuesday, .. then he's basically GOT to stay the course, and go on to nail down the Repub nomination. Right now, he can still cut bait and run, which I think he will do very soon.

The guy I favor probably won't be in the race by time I get to vote in the primary ...

[Mike]

The Bundy terrorists have been arrested in Oregon. One person was killed in the process. FBI has not released the name of the deceased but it is someone from the Bundy gang. They were picked up in a traffic stop on their way to a meeting in another town in NE Oregon. About goddamn time!!

[WingsFan]

Trump's feud with Megyn Kelly has no sign of yield. He knows she's a bulldog who will hit him with hard questions like nobody else at the debate. Trump dishes it out like no other political person in history, but also is a narcissistic with really thin skin, this should be interesting.

[hack]

I agree that he's here for the limelight and doesn't want to actually be president. But goddamn he's good at the rhetoric.

[Ghengis Jon]

I think he wants to be President. Its an ego thing. He's got all the money he can spend and now it's for the power and prestige. He's the GOP's unfiltered Nancy Pelosi. Sorry, I want an adult as President, not a spoiled petulant child.

I lay the blame for this at the Republican's feet. They have a bright yellow clown car that 16 bozos magically emerge from in the center ring. The crowd cheers as they slapstick and bitch slap each other, throwing mud/poo and falling down in comical ways. And just like the circus, the most pathetic of them all gets the biggest applause. Polarization, encouraged by the political class, has given the electorate a choice between pompous buffoons and idiotic extremists. While cognizant Americans cry, the world laughs.

So what does that leave us? Clinton vs Trump? That's Manson vs Dahmer. America loses. This illustrates how crucial primaries are. With less than 2% of the electorate selecting the final candidates, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

I won't sit home, I'll vote. But not for the two shitheads offered. I'll write in Doc Hodgeman for Prez. Anyone here who knows him think that he's less than 100x better than all the other candidates combined?

[lineygoblue]

Doc would have my vote as long as Ghengis runs as his VP.

[froot loops]

The image of them coming out in a clown car for the debate cracks me up.

[iam416]

Credit where credit is due....this is all Trump....this isn't an "R issue" or anything else. The guy has managed to put himself in a position to actually win the nomination...I still don't think he will, but it's now a very credible possibility. We can go into all the reasons why he's dominating the ENTIRE political landscape -- (he's relegated the awful D show to super market shopper backpages) -- I mean, it's fucking unfathomable.

He may be a right time/right place candidate, but fuck, man, give the dude his due...he's killing it....much to my chagrin, as I would actually like a credible voting option from the Rs....

[froot loops]

The best thing about the Trump versus Fox News feud is Trump is the perfect candidate for Fox news. if you were to come up with a perfect campaign for Fox the ingredients would include anti-Obama, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrants, birther and most importantly machismo. He is hitting all of those beats. Like I said before, he doesn't participate in dog whistle politics. The other candidates hit some of those ingredients but they couch them in code.

He truly is playing by his own rules, all of the other candidates are all acting in a certain way like they are in debate club. Trump responds with insults and mocking and they don't know how to respond.

[Hannibal]

People are in denial about the reasons for Trump's popularity. He will continue to surprise people as long as his success gets solely attributed to "racism" or his demeanor as a clown. Understanding Trump's success so far begins with acknowledging that there are real, significant issues at play, and the Republican base desperately wants to cling to the best candidate that they think will stem the tide of growing government. The fact that the candidate is Donald Trump is a loud testament to the astounding incompetence and arrogance of the Republican party.

If you don't brush your teeth, you will get tooth decay. If you don't put on deodorant, you will stink. If you eat cheeseburgers all day every day, you will get fat. And, if you repeatedly take a gigantic shit on your ideological base, you will inevtiably get a Donald Trump.

[lineygoblue]

Great analogy Hanni. ... :-)

[Wild Hoss]

JMO but froot?s take is the most accurate. Trump isn?t filling a vacuum left by the abandonment of core GOP values; he riding a wave of issues the GOP has spent years stoking with conservative low-info voters. Now that dog has gotten off the chain and is chasing them around their backyard.

Something similar is happening on the other side, less the reality-show theatrics. Populism is the flavor of the day, and IMO both parties had best take note.

[whodean]

Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

It's scary, the swing toward populism could easily go too far, it has happened before.

As for Trump, he's a lot smarter than most people give him credit. He is running his campaign not as a politician, but rather as a salesman. He's doing what he needs to do this far to become the Republican front runner, it will be interesting to see how his tactics change if/when he becomes the nominee.

One of the things I like is that he isn't beholden to any special interest. The same cannot be said of Hillary, she's been bought for many years.

[Mike]

JMO but froot?s take is the most accurate. Trump isn?t filling a vacuum left by the abandonment of core GOP values; he riding a wave of issues the GOP has spent years stoking with conservative low-info voters. Now that dog has gotten off the chain and is chasing them around their backyard.

Something similar is happening on the other side, less the reality-show theatrics. Populism is the flavor of the day, and IMO both parties had best take note.

Exactly. They fed the gremlin after midnight.