USA 2016 Presidential Election Thread

[leicsmac]

I think the female vote hit to Trump will be more of a factor in November than now, if he wins the nomination.

 

Speaking of which, it does look increasingly likely there will be a contested convention for the Repubs as Cruz will get close enough to ask questions. I wonder what the GOP establishment will do? 

[Guest MattP]

I think the female vote hit to Trump will be more of a factor in November than now, if he wins the nomination.

 

Speaking of which, it does look increasingly likely there will be a contested convention for the Repubs as Cruz will get close enough to ask questions. I wonder what the GOP establishment will do? 

 

Anything they can to get Ted Cruz over the line.

[leicsmac]

Anything they can to get Ted Cruz over the line.

 

You'd think so, but he's not exactly Mr Popular with women either given his own views. It's funny really - what Trump has said about abortions, Cruz has believed for years.

 

I think it comes down to a choice between either Cruz, who is solid conservative option but unless he runs a stellar campaign he's not going to make enough of the swing states ala McCain/Romney, or Trump, who is the maverick who could easily gaffe his way into a massive loss but also has hideous charisma and PR appeal over a broad base that Ted can only dream of.

 

Sounds like a Mortons Fork to me...though I guess they could (and probably will) choose Cruz and hold out the hope that they can get enough dirt on Clinton to derail her campaign. Probably their line of thought, though it would need to be something huge.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

I'm too drunk to reply properly but Obama change was all bollocks anyway wasn't it? It was all "Yes we can" with no substance to anything, people seemed to ride with it as he was black.

From watching the last few years the Senate seems to rule over anyway, stops anything radical. Seems to be a Worldwide trend having a body over another making sure no one does anything silly.

From what I've witnessed and true this is probably a self congratulory produced series that has appeared on the Beeb of late, it seems the Democrates didn't have the basis in either chamber to make easy policy decisions and that what was intended ended up being largely watered down to appeal to the numbers they needed to get the overall legislation through both houses.

I did however, find it interesting that the US decided to go the fiscal stimulus route rather than austerity (not surprising given who was in power I guess) following the global financial crisis.

[Robin JD Popley]

Don't know if any of you saw this, but worth a watch. I really like John Kasich. My sort of Conservative.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdySjkoxXME

[leicsmac]

Kasich is actually quite a reasonable, evenhanded candidate on the GOP side.

 

Which of course is the reason he's getting nowhere near the nomination.

[The Railway Man]

Kasich is actually quite a reasonable, evenhanded candidate on the GOP side.

 

Which of course is the reason he's getting nowhere near the nomination.

 

The Republicans seem to now be the exact equivalent of the Labour party here, talking to themselves and picking ridiculous candidates that no one will vote for but themselves.

[leicsmac]

The Republicans seem to now be the exact equivalent of the Labour party here, talking to themselves and picking ridiculous candidates that no one will vote for but themselves.

 

I think @@MattP made that same argument on here a while back. I think it's pretty accurate.

[SMX11]

Kasich is a terrible warmonger he is just more moderate in terms of social and economic issues.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

The Republicans seem to now be the exact equivalent of the Labour party here, talking to themselves and picking ridiculous candidates that no one will vote for but themselves.

Yet, the actual policy / belief make up of the party is more in line with the Conservative party

[Webbo]

Yet, the actual policy / belief make up of the party is more in line with the Conservative party

There are plenty of Conservatives in the Democratic party.

[leicsmac]

Yeah, in the general scheme of things most of the Dems (even/especially Hillary) would be considered moderate conservatives in the Hague/close to Cameron mould over here. And Cruz and Trump make our Tories look milquetoast in terms of right-wing policy.

 

It says a lot about the mindset there that either of those (plus the possibly even more extreme nutjobs in the GOP structure) can run a party that commands the vote of at least around 45% of the population who turn out.

[Webbo]

Yeah, in the general scheme of things most of the Dems (even/especially Hillary) would be considered moderate conservatives in the Hague/close to Cameron mould over here. And Cruz and Trump make our Tories look milquetoast in terms of right-wing policy.

 

It says a lot about the mindset there that either of those (plus the possibly even more extreme nutjobs in the GOP structure) can run a party that commands the vote of at least around 45% of the population who turn out.

I've learnt a new word today.

[Guest MattP]

The Conservatives of today are far far closer to the Democrats than the Republican party.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

The Conservatives of today are far far closer to the Democrats than the Republican party.

But aren't republicans more in favour of de-centralised government / lower taxes / less regulation?

[Guest MattP]

The Democrats are in favour of those things as well.

And the current Conservative party certainly hasn't managed to achieve lower taxes or less regulation.

Although this Conservative party is starting to look very different from anyone we have ever seen before.

[leicsmac]

I've learnt a new word today.

 

Ha, yeah. I've learned far too many Americanisms in my time over there. That's just one.

[Merging Cultures]

Trumps private jet registration had expired, nothing to do with him, he pays people to deal with that obviously.

The funny thing is it only costs $5 to register a plane for 3 years! I'm more annoyed about that given the cost of registering a car in the US!

[Mike Oxlong]

Donald Trump may be wishing he'd used one of the teleprompters he so often derides after his gaffe during a speech in Buffalo on the eve of the New York primary.

The Republican front-runner mistakenly referred to the convenience store chain 7-Eleven when speaking of the September 11, 2001, terror attack on the World Trade Center.

"It's very close to my heart because I was down there and I watched our police and our firemen down on 7/11, down at the World Trade Center, right after it came down, and I saw the greatest people I've ever seen in action," Trump said. "I saw the bravest people I've ever seen, including the construction workers, including every person down there."

Trump didn't seem to notice the error and he went on to praise the "New York values" that his GOP rival Ted Cruz had referred to pejoratively earlier in the campaign.

Trump told the crowd it is those "values that makes us love this state despite it's problems. We love this state. We know it's going to come back. If I am president, it's going to come back so fast you won't even believe it," he said.

Trump is heavily favored to win New York's primary Tuesday, and he desperately wants to take the state by a wide enough margin to sweep its 95 delegates.

[leicsmac]

New York results coming in.

 

Trump wins handsomely - could well get a full house of delegates, which gives him a chance of avoiding blood on the floor at the convention. On the Dem side, Sanders took the state but Hillary took the city - and everyone knows which of those is more important.

[leicsmac]

And Cruz chooses not to take the fight to the Republican convention after getting stomped in Indiana, leaving Trump with the nomination in hand. Can't help but think there was some kind of deal he agreed to for that. 

[DJ Barry Hammond]

Does anyone get the distinct feeling that 'President Trump' will happen?

[SMX11]

Does anyone get the distinct feeling that 'President Trump' will happen?

 

I think it will and it won't be as bad as the MSM believes. 

[DJ Barry Hammond]

I think it will and it won't be as bad as the MSM believes.

Possibly not as he'd need to get things through the senate and congress - which as Obama found out, ain't that easy if the numbers aren't in your favour.

It'll certainly feel different to Obama (an election battle between these two would have been very interesting - think Obama has a style that would have really got under Trump's skin)

[Detroit Blues]

Does anyone get the distinct feeling that 'President Trump' will happen?

 

I had that this same epiphany several weeks back. My wife and I we're watching the election results for our home state, and Trump absolutely crushed the competition (Rubio and Cruz at the time). Meanwhile Hilary lost in a rather shocking upset. We just looked at each other and started laughing because at that moment we knew we were F'ed.

 

That being said, I've been trying to come to terms with it, but every time I hear Donald Trump speak I just can't believe that it is really happening. It's like a joke that was taken too far. At first it was funny to watch Trump make a mockery out of the system, but now it's too late to hit the emergency breaks and come to a full stop in time. I suppose he is exactly what we deserve.