USA 2016 Presidential Election Thread

[Webbo]

I happen to know he shaves down there.

[Dr The Singh]

6 minutes ago, Webbo said:

I happen to know he shaves down there.

, you are well known to be well be deep in with political circles

[foxy boxing]

clinton has massively outspent trump and can't compete with him sound bite wise, trump is good at the brash statements and getting the publicity from it but does he know enough of how government works or will he leave that to others and just be the face and the image

[GazzinderFox]

"Hillary Clinton has shown that any woman can be President, as long as your husband did it first" - Michelle Wolf

[leicsmac]

22 hours ago, foxy boxing said:

clinton has massively outspent trump and can't compete with him sound bite wise, trump is good at the brash statements and getting the publicity from it but does he know enough of how government works or will he leave that to others and just be the face and the image

He won't get the chance, precisely because publicity alone won't win him this election.

 

27 minutes ago, GazzinderFox said:

"Hillary Clinton has shown that any woman can be President, as long as your husband did it first" - Michelle Wolf

Don't forget the intern being 'shown the cigars' in the Oval Office too, of course. Absolute necessity.

 

In all seriousness though, the fact that Hillary is probably going to win this one when even a couple of decades ago the idea of a woman successfully campaigning for President was long-odds at best and anathema at worst shows at least some progress.

[Vacamion]

 

The Channel 4 documentary on Trump last night was chilling, especially the speech excerpts.

 

I would recommend it.

 

The conclusion - that whatever the result, the other side will not accept the winner as "our president", seems about right.

 

If Indyref and Brexit have taught us anything, it's that no one any more shrugs their shoulders after an electoral defeat, says "ah, well" and gets on with it.

 

America will be bitterly divided after this election.  More than it was already bitterly divided.

 

I'm going to be in NYC on election day and when the result is announced, so I'll get to see the start of the aftermath...

 

 

 

 

[GazzinderFox]

 

1 hour ago, Vacamion said:

 

The Channel 4 documentary on Trump last night was chilling, especially the speech excerpts.

 

I would recommend it.

 

The conclusion - that whatever the result, the other side will not accept the winner as "our president", seems about right.

 

If Indyref and Brexit have taught us anything, it's that no one any more shrugs their shoulders after an electoral defeat, says "ah, well" and gets on with it.

 

America will be bitterly divided after this election.  More than it was already bitterly divided.

 

I'm going to be in NYC on election day and when the result is announced, so I'll get to see the start of the aftermath...

 

 

 

 

Channel 4 on Trump eh? I bet that was nice and balanced. It's not just the US that is bitterly divided, all of post modern western society is. We no longer have any desire for rational debate and for the truth to be reconciled. On a whole range of issues you have two groups of people shouting over the top of each other trying to convince the passer by that their point of view is the correct one. Two groups of people who refuse to answer difficult questions that are asked of them. And two groups of people who revert to falsehoods and ad hominem arguments to disguise the fact that they won't answer the question.

 

The US elections are a disgusting, nakedly anti-meritocratic, brazen attempt at political bribery by billionaires, millionaires and the proxy's of presidential dynasties.     

 

By the way, does Donald Trump remind anybody else of the bad guy out of the Lego movie?

[Vacamion]

2 hours ago, GazzinderFox said:

 

Channel 4 on Trump eh? I bet that was nice and balanced.

 

Actually, it was.  They gave voice to Trump supporters, Republicans who are both for and against Trump and they gave plenty of air to viewpoints which criticised Hilary Clinton.

 

Maybe you could watch it before commenting on how balanced or otherwise it was.

 

 

[Guest MattP]

3 hours ago, Vacamion said:

 

The Channel 4 documentary on Trump last night was chilling, especially the speech excerpts.

 

I would recommend it.

 

The conclusion - that whatever the result, the other side will not accept the winner as "our president", seems about right.

 

If Indyref and Brexit have taught us anything, it's that no one any more shrugs their shoulders after an electoral defeat, says "ah, well" and gets on with it.

 

America will be bitterly divided after this election.  More than it was already bitterly divided.

 

I'm going to be in NYC on election day and when the result is announced, so I'll get to see the start of the aftermath...

Doubt you'll see much but celebration in New York given how pro Clinton Wall street is.

 

[GazzinderFox]

1 hour ago, Vacamion said:

 

Actually, it was.  They gave voice to Trump supporters, Republicans who are both for and against Trump and they gave plenty of air to viewpoints which criticised Hilary Clinton.

 

Maybe you could watch it before commenting on how balanced or otherwise it was.

 

 

I've had my fill of the incredulous tone used by journalists whilst watching and listening to BBC and channel 4 news reports on the republican party. So much so that I refuse to pay the license fee to watch their leftist propaganda. I don't really admire either Trump or Clinton though, so to be honest, I don't really care whether or not it was balanced.  

[Dr The Singh]

4 hours ago, Vacamion said:

 

The Channel 4 documentary on Trump last night was chilling, especially the speech excerpts.

 

I would recommend it.

 

The conclusion - that whatever the result, the other side will not accept the winner as "our president", seems about right.

 

If Indyref and Brexit have taught us anything, it's that no one any more shrugs their shoulders after an electoral defeat, says "ah, well" and gets on with it.

 

America will be bitterly divided after this election.  More than it was already bitterly divided.

 

I'm going to be in NYC on election day and when the result is announced, so I'll get to see the start of the aftermath...

 

 

 

 

I recommend staying in Trump Towers for that day!!!

[Vacamion]

 

There was a suggestion last night that the polls have it wrong and a silent majority of disaffected mainly working class voters will carry Trump to victory.

 

My best friend from school, who has taken US citizenship and can't abide Hilary, tells me something similar.

 

I don't know who will be President after its all finished.

[Guest MattP]

16 minutes ago, Vacamion said:

 

There was a suggestion last night that the polls have it wrong and a silent majority of disaffected mainly working class voters will carry Trump to victory.

 

My best friend from school, who has taken US citizenship and can't abide Hilary, tells me something similar.

 

I don't know who will be President after its all finished.

It's very possible, I still don't think it will be enough to win though.

 

You have a shy Tory vote here and I imagine with the public castigation you would get for admitting to voting Trump a very large shy Republican vote there.

[leicsmac]

30 minutes ago, GazzinderFox said:

I've had my fill of the incredulous tone used by journalists whilst watching and listening to BBC and channel 4 news reports on the republican party. So much so that I refuse to pay the license fee to watch their leftist propaganda. I don't really admire either Trump or Clinton though, so to be honest, I don't really care whether or not it was balanced.  

Given that large swathes of the Republican party believe both that under some circumstances two consenting adults should not be able to be married or have any of the security or benefits it entails, and believe that in certain other circumstances a woman should give up her right to bodily autonomy (a right, I hasten to add, sacrosanct in every other situation), can some incredulity not be forgiven? Not to mention the smaller but equally vocal number of them who believe the Earth to be thousands rather than billions of years old, and that the words in an ancient book written by men cannot be fallible - even though that same text explicitly covers that said men and thus their interpretation of the words of a divine entity are indeed inherently fallible, as only a God is allknowing? I do believe they call that pride - and that text has something to say about that, too.

 

I do totally agree with you about the unfavourability of the candidates though, and by extension your views on debate. Views are becoming more polarised, which is never a good thing. But looking at the party policies rather than the candidates themselves, I simply couldn't bring myself to support a party who a reasonable majority of members thereof believe in the above.

 

10 minutes ago, Vacamion said:

 

There was a suggestion last night that the polls have it wrong and a silent majority of disaffected mainly working class voters will carry Trump to victory.

 

My best friend from school, who has taken US citizenship and can't abide Hilary, tells me something similar.

 

I don't know who will be President after its all finished.

Wishful thinking from Trump supporters that is, as of right now anyway.

 

The polling used over there tend to be much more reliable than ours, and even if they weren't Trump would need a 6-8 point swing across a good half-dozen states to even make it close.

 

Of course, there's a long way to go yet, but if things stay they way they are I honestly can't see even a reasonably large 'shy Republican' effect making a difference.

 

4 minutes ago, MattP said:

It's very possible, I still don't think it will be enough to win though.

 

You have a shy Tory vote here and I imagine with the public castigation you would get for admitting to voting Trump a very large shy Republican vote there.

I'm reasonably sure that publicly admitting you're voting for Trump won't get you castigated across at least 50% of the land area and a good 40% of the population of the US. You know as well as I the US isn't that much of a liberal stronghold, or even close to it.

[Dr The Singh]

11 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Given that large swathes of the Republican party believe both that under some circumstances two consenting adults should not be able to be married or have any of the security or benefits it entails, and believe that in certain other circumstances a woman should give up her right to bodily autonomy (a right, I hasten to add, sacrosanct in every other situation), can some incredulity not be forgiven? Not to mention the smaller but equally vocal number of them who believe the Earth to be thousands rather than billions of years old, and that the words in an ancient book written by men cannot be fallible - even though that same text explicitly covers that said men and thus their interpretation of the words of a divine entity are indeed inherently fallible, as only a God is allknowing? I do believe they call that pride - and that text has something to say about that, too.

 

I do totally agree with you about the unfavourability of the candidates though, and by extension your views on debate. Views are becoming more polarised, which is never a good thing. But looking at the party policies rather than the candidates themselves, I simply couldn't bring myself to support a party who a reasonable majority of members thereof believe in the above.

 

Wishful thinking from Trump supporters that is, as of right now anyway.

 

The polling used over there tend to be much more reliable than ours, and even if they weren't Trump would need a 6-8 point swing across a good half-dozen states to even make it close.

 

Of course, there's a long way to go yet, but if things stay they way they are I honestly can't see even a reasonably large 'shy Republican' effect making a difference.

 

I'm reasonably sure that publicly admitting you're voting for Trump won't get you castigated across at least 50% of the land area and a good 40% of the population of the US. You know as well as I the US isn't that much of a liberal stronghold, or even close to it.

Very few people in big cosmopolitan city's admit to being either Clincunt or Trumpass supporters.  There is a great feeling of adjectivity to US politics at the mo, however people will say whether they are republican or democrats, and some cities eg Boston is a democrat city but when you ask them whether they will vote Clincunt, they tend to avoid answering that question.

[leicsmac]

2 minutes ago, Dr The Singh said:

Very few people in big cosmopolitan city's admit to being either Clincunt or Trumpass supporters.  There is a great feeling of adjectivity to US politics at the mo, however people will say whether they are republican or democrats, and some cities eg Boston is a democrat city but when you ask them whether they will vote Clincunt, they tend to avoid answering that question.

 

There's something in that. Again, parties rather than candidates.

[IrememberBobHazell]

It is difficult to be objective about another country's politics, especially one over 3,000 miles away.

 I do know people in America and they are pretty evenly split between natural Republican and Democrat however neither camp seem particularly happy with the figurehead that party has chosen.  I suspect Mrs Clinton was there for the taking,and maybe still is, but the Republicans have picked a character that evens up the score.

 I do wholeheatedly agree with something Vacamion said above, the days of taking electoral defeat gracefully seem to be long gone, and I hate it. All this post vote protesting about the referendum (or even the violent scenes near Downing Street after the General Election) remain totally alien to me. If you can't play nicely then don't play at all.

[Guest MattP]

1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

I'm reasonably sure that publicly admitting you're voting for Trump won't get you castigated across at least 50% of the land area and a good 40% of the population of the US. You know as well as I the US isn't that much of a liberal stronghold, or even close to it.

Singh has already explained my answer but  I've got a friend being casitaged for giving off any support for him in Austin, that's right in the heart of a hard republican state, so imagine what it's like being a white working class person in a place like Las Vegas or Maine.

 

[leicsmac]

13 minutes ago, MattP said:

Singh has already explained my answer but  I've got a friend being casitaged for giving off any support for him in Austin, that's right in the heart of a hard republican state, so imagine what it's like being a white working class person in a place like Las Vegas or Maine.

 

Can imagine it would be similar to a Dem voter of any demographic in downtown Birmingham or Salt Lake City. It really does depend on where you are.

[foxy boxing]

if Donald becomes president will he bang Hilary up on trumped up charges?

[Smudge]

1 hour ago, MattP said:

Singh has already explained my answer but  I've got a friend being casitaged for giving off any support for him in Austin, that's right in the heart of a hard republican state, so imagine what it's like being a white working class person in a place like Las Vegas or Maine.

 

Austin is culturally liberal and the Democrats are quite strong there.

[Detroit Blues]

3 hours ago, Smudge said:

Austin is culturally liberal and the Democrats are quite strong there.

It's a liberal oasis in an otherwise conservative state. 

[Dr The Singh]

6 hours ago, foxy boxing said:

if Donald becomes president will he bang Hilary?

Well she's not getting any from Bill, so that will be a bonus for her

[Guest MattP]

Watching Anderson Cooper last night and Farage suddely walks onto stage

[leicsmac]

Can anyone give me an idea of what Farage brings to the table for Trump in terms of eating into the considerable gap between himself and Hillary? Or is it just a good chance for a photo-op for them both?