Has U.S. Democracy Been Trumped? Bernie Sanders wants to know who owns America?
#8941
Posted 2018-January-22, 20:09
Edit: even if Trump gets the exact same number of votes in 2020 as in 2016, he would likely lose, as more Democrats may turn out, and some of the Ron Johnson/Jill Stein voters will reconsider their stance of promoting liberty/advancing leftist causes by not doing anything against electing an authoritarian racist to be president.
#8942
Posted 2018-January-22, 21:11
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If the ruling holds, it will be an enormous help to Democrats’ efforts to regain control of the House of Representatives in 2018 — because Pennsylvania’s House map was one of the most wildly biased toward Republicans in the country.
The ruling states that Pennsylvania’s government has until February 15 to get a new map through the legislature and signed into law. If they fail to do so — a likely prospect, since the state has a Republican-controlled legislature and Democratic governor — the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will take over the process and institute a new map. (The court has a Democratic majority.)
Republicans have appealed the ruling to the US Supreme Court, but it is unclear whether the justices will get involved with a matter of state law.
#8943
Posted 2018-January-22, 21:36
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The central political problem in American life, for years now, has been that the Republican Party is a dysfunctional institution that has abandoned principles of decent governance in order to please an ever more extreme base. I don’t have an answer for fixing that. But it would be doubly bad if their outrageous behavior drives Democrats to use the same tactics in response. American politics is, hopefully, an infinite game, not a finite game, and that means doing everything possible to steer away from retaliatory loops that clearly lead to the system crumbling.
Caved schmaved. The NYT Editorial Board gets this exactly right: "Shutdowns may make good partisan theater, but they don’t make any winners". This is about "putting the spotlight where it should be: on the failure of President Trump and Republicans in Congress to protect 700,000 so-called Dreamers, immigrants who were brought to this country illegally as children — legislation that almost nine in 10 Americans support".
#8944
Posted 2018-January-22, 22:13
helene_t, on 2018-January-22, 19:21, said:
But of course you are right, the democrats will have to field a pretty bad-looking candidate to lose next time. Unless Trump does something to unify the nation behind him, such as starting a nuclear war. He must be tempted. Another possibility is that the democrats actually find a very reasonable candidates but that the facebook trolls manage to make him/her toxic. We have seen that happening before .....
Although presidents typically drop in popularity, Fredo started below historical norms and has continued to plummet to new historical lows. Women and minorities have thus far shown themselves to be activated to participate, and that is bad news for Fredo and his family business.
The odd thing is that a healthy economy may actually be Fredo's undoing, as the wind will come out of the sails of many angry voters. Once the anger subsides, reality strikes - what the hell have we done! - and then we shall see who is right or wrong about the true Fredo base.
#8945
Posted 2018-January-22, 22:16
rmnka447, on 2018-January-22, 19:55, said:
Assuming MSNBC didn't pack the piece with Trump diehards (which is highly unlikely), the surprising thing was none had flipped because of Trump's flaws. So while progressive zealots are myopic about how unacceptable Trump is and Russian collusion, they may be a lot less of an issue for most everyday people. They're more worried about living paycheck to paycheck than anything else.
But then again there was a Dem President whose mantra was "It's about the economy, stupid." President Trump has certainly kept his word and concentrated on jobs and the economy. It'll be interesting to see where his approval ratings go when the full effect of the tax cuts kick in.
The only thing Fredo has concentrated on is his family business and his tv ratings.
#8947
Posted 2018-January-23, 10:54
ldrews, on 2018-January-23, 09:45, said:
1. "Executive time"
2. The fact that Trump doesn't actually know any of the specifics of the policy discussions happening around him
3. The fact that he is spending a quarter of his time golfing
#8949
Posted 2018-January-23, 13:37
ldrews, on 2018-January-23, 12:48, said:
http://www.politifac...r-barack-obama/
Trump made an issue of how much time Obama golfed while in office but remains woefully quiet about his own golf time relative to Obama. This doesn't prove President Trump's motives, but highlights his short sightedness and hypocrisy.
Is Trump's excessive amount of golf time while in office a non-issue because of moral superiority or executive privilege? Trump pointed the guilty finger at Obama and forgot there are three fingers pointing back at him for similar offenses.
Fair is foul and foul is fair in our alternative Macbeth universe.
#8951
Posted 2018-January-23, 14:48
RedSpawn, on 2018-January-23, 13:37, said:
Trump made an issue of how much time Obama golfed while in office but remains woefully quiet about his own golf time relative to Obama. This doesn't prove President Trump motives, but highlights his short sightedness and hypocrisy.
Is Trump's excessive amount of golf time while in office a non-issue because of moral superiority or executive privilege? Trump pointed the guilty finger at Obama and forgot there are three fingers pointing back at him for similar offenses.
Fair is foul and foul is fair in our alternative Macbeth universe.
What winstonm posted was:
Quote
I asked for evidence of that assertion.
How does your comment relate to that?
#8952
Posted 2018-January-23, 15:34
hrothgar, on 2018-January-23, 10:54, said:
2. The fact that Trump doesn't actually know any of the specifics of the policy discussions happening around him
Well, it seems the President has some feel for what the American people want.
The latest Harvard/Harris poll conducted 1/17-1/19 contained a section on immigration policy (before the shutdown). Here are the results
DACA --
78% think Dreamers should be given work permits.
77% think Dreamers should have a path to citizenship.
60% oppose letting the Dreamers bring their parents to the US. 40% support it.
Other immigration issues --
79% want merit based immigration based on the contribution the individual can make to the US.
81% favor 1 million or less immigrants per year. 19% favor more 1 million per year.
61% think border security is inadequate.
79% want secure borders.
54% support electronic or physical barriers at the border.
68% oppose the immigration lottery.
58% oppose a government shutdown for DACA
65% are for a DACA deal that includes a path to citizenship, ending chain migration, ending the immigration lottery, and providing funding for border security.
#8953
Posted 2018-January-23, 15:36
ldrews, on 2018-January-23, 14:46, said:
while ldrews focuses on princesses and fairy tales, no doubt the rest of us see the bigger picture.
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It's almost like these companies are doing exactly what they threatened with the tax cuts -- invest in automation, buybacks, and dividends.
bed
#8954
Posted 2018-January-23, 15:36
ldrews, on 2018-January-23, 14:48, said:
I asked for evidence of that assertion.
How does your comment relate to that?
President Trump presented his brand of leadership as better than Obama's. The jury is still out on the final assessment of that assertion.
Great leadership and hypocrisy don't make great bedfellows.
One should not condemn his opponent for having character flaws that he himself possesses. This honestly makes me wonder how self-aware President Trump is of his own character traits.
We know he loves the man in the mirror, but does he really know the man in the mirror when the red light on the camera goes off? Does he dismiss his hypocrisy as "fake news"? Does he ignore his hypocrisy hoping nobody will notice? Is he oblivious to his own hypocrisy? Does he own his bad outcomes or resort to playing the victim to rally his base? Does he even care about accountability and transparency or is he annoyed by it?
Is diversion, distraction, (unintentional) deception, and disinformation his modus operandi? Is this the new standard of leadership and damage control?
His charisma can influence people to demonstrate outrageous loyalty despite the fact pattern, but charisma can never camouflage the truth of the matter.
#8955
Posted 2018-January-23, 15:45
bed
#8956
Posted 2018-January-23, 16:54
rmnka447, on 2018-January-23, 15:34, said:
The latest Harvard/Harris poll conducted 1/17-1/19 contained a section on immigration policy (before the shutdown). Here are the results
DACA --
78% think Dreamers should be given work permits.
77% think Dreamers should have a path to citizenship.
60% oppose letting the Dreamers bring their parents to the US. 40% support it.
Other immigration issues --
79% want merit based immigration based on the contribution the individual can make to the US.
81% favor 1 million or less immigrants per year. 19% favor more 1 million per year.
61% think border security is inadequate.
79% want secure borders.
54% support electronic or physical barriers at the border.
68% oppose the immigration lottery.
58% oppose a government shutdown for DACA
65% are for a DACA deal that includes a path to citizenship, ending chain migration, ending the immigration lottery, and providing funding for border security.
I suppose I don't understand your post about Trump specifically, but these Harvard/Harris polls always seems very poorly conducted to me to the point of being meaningless. Do I want secure borders? Of course I do. Do I want physical barriers? Maybe, if the borders are unsafe without them. Do I oppose a government shutdown? I think so in most cases. Do I oppose a government shutdown for DACA? I didn't realize DACA had anything to do with government shutdowns except in Trump's government, but when was that context provided? And if that's the context, there are other things besides DACA that contribute to my answer. Similarly, if that's the context, do I want physical barriers at the border? No, of course I don't want Trump's borders, but that wasn't the question.
bed
#8957
Posted 2018-January-23, 17:40
RedSpawn, on 2018-January-23, 15:36, said:
Great leadership and hypocrisy don't make great bedfellows.
One should not condemn his opponent for having character flaws that he himself possesses. This honestly makes me wonder how self-aware President Trump is of his own character traits.
We know he loves the man in the mirror, but does he really know the man in the mirror when the red light on the camera goes off? Does he dismiss his hypocrisy as "fake news"? Does he ignore his hypocrisy hoping nobody will notice? Is he oblivious to his own hypocrisy? Does he own his bad outcomes or resort to playing the victim to rally his base? Does he even care about accountability and transparency or is he annoyed by it?
Is diversion, distraction, (unintentional) deception, and disinformation his modus operandi? Is this the new standard of leadership and damage control?
His charisma can influence people to demonstrate outrageous loyalty despite the fact pattern, but charisma can never camouflage the truth of the matter.
Again, you have not addressed the question.
winstonm said:
Quote
So what specific actions has Trump taken that has focused on his family business or his tv ratings. Please be specific with cited evidence.
#8958
Posted 2018-January-23, 17:45
jjbrr, on 2018-January-23, 15:36, said:
It's almost like these companies are doing exactly what they threatened with the tax cuts -- invest in automation, buybacks, and dividends.
Yes, businesses do fluctuate. But consider:
Lowest unemployment rate in 17 years
Lowest black unemployment rate ever recorded.
GDP growth 3%+ for last 3 quarters, projected to be 3+% for 2018.
Thousands of employees receiving bonuses.
Several companies announcing major investments in US.
Apple repatriating over 200 billion dollars to invest in US.
Consumer confidence at record highs.
Stock markets at record highs.
Why do you flippantly ignore all of the above?
#8959
Posted 2018-January-23, 17:45
rmnka447, on 2018-January-23, 15:34, said:
The latest Harvard/Harris poll conducted 1/17-1/19 contained a section on immigration policy (before the shutdown). Here are the results
DACA --
78% think Dreamers should be given work permits.
77% think Dreamers should have a path to citizenship.
60% oppose letting the Dreamers bring their parents to the US. 40% support it.
Other immigration issues --
79% want merit based immigration based on the contribution the individual can make to the US.
81% favor 1 million or less immigrants per year. 19% favor more 1 million per year.
61% think border security is inadequate.
79% want secure borders.
54% support electronic or physical barriers at the border.
68% oppose the immigration lottery.
58% oppose a government shutdown for DACA
65% are for a DACA deal that includes a path to citizenship, ending chain migration, ending the immigration lottery, and providing funding for border security.
I am going to applaud you for trying to present something as evidence. But what people think or feel about these issues - is that really germane? We do not live in a pure democracy but a republic. As for myself, I personally have no idea what the proper number of immigrants should be, so an arbitrary number like 1 million is meaningless to me and should be to anyone other than an expert or some other well-learned-on-that-subject person.
It is pretty well known that immigration is a net plus to a country, and an established country like the U.S. with an older population benefits from more not less immigrants. But how many? I have no idea.
We elect representatives who have the ability to hire experts to help them find these kinds of answers. For a poll to ask uninformed like me his opinion about the number of immigrants that should be allowed into the U.S. is about as meaningful and helpful to immigration policy as a poll about whether or not we like the Kardashians.
#8960
Posted 2018-January-23, 17:46
jjbrr, on 2018-January-23, 16:54, said:
It is legitimate to question any poll. Do you have a better poll to offer?
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