Donald Trump for President Thread
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Sorry you are trolling the wrong Americans.
We know there are a ton of stupid people in this country.
A bit pot/kettle when you look at the Brexit vote though.
To be fair, it's really only getting worse for uneducated, poor whites (which is the Trump appeal in large measure.) It's not like blacks had it good in the past. And wealth for Hispanics is increasing on par with whites as a whole, so I don't think it's getting worse for them.
Even our Trump supporters are extremely intelligent and thoughtful (although nobody's mentioned guns yet.)
I think there's a massive intelligence gap in the USA going by the polls, which is a bigger problem than the wealth one. To put it bluntly, it seems anyone with a degree becomes immune to being stupid enough to vote for Trump, whereas you really do seem to see some bottom of the barrel idiots supporting Trump.
http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presi...cent-among-white-men-without-college-degrees/
Breitbart try and spin that as "working class", but I think that's too broad - I think there's a level below what we'd traditionally class as working class who are truly dumb, as in have barely functioning brains.
Like this:
Don't like calling people with other views stupid but... no, they're stupid. Just completely stupid. About 45% of America are officially stupid.
Stop being stupid.
Dock the flatboat and pull in your line.
Part of me wants to just let this stand on its own. It's a perfect example of why I'm progressive, "worst case, we stand still and everyone is still screwed".
But I still disagree. We're broken. It's a mix of trying to make everyone entrepreneurs and millionaires while pulling the line in behind us. We tell everyone they HAVE to go get a bachelors for any job. Then we raise the price excessively. We use tradesmen as examples of stupidity or poor work ethic and close of natural avenues to those careers.
We expect our people to do everyone and we give them nothing. And then we worship at the feet of those that succeed, or succeeded through birth and give them everything.
The gap is increasing because we started worshiping wealth in the 80's. So because we cut taxes on all those go-getters, and they realized they could make profits through layoffs and moving production overseas, all while villianizing trade unions and the trades themselves...well we end up in a world where the power lies with wealth.
And that's before we begin talking about how far the dollar goes and how much we're expected to work compared to 40+ years ago. That era was awful too, though, especially for minorities and the Devil's Poor. But just because it was crap doesn't mean it has to be crap. We must try and make it better, time and again...because stagnation is death for society.
Can you believe someone would put that many Trump signs so close together on our roads? It’s so rude. Who is this jerk?
We felt assaulted by the number of signs. The idea of “cleansing” our streets seemed like the fastest way to restore balance and alleviate our election stress — at least, that night it did.
The escapade was not premeditated: We simply jumped into my Jetta wagon, drove down to the strip and got to work. In all, it took less than 20 minutes. We grabbed about 40 signs and threw them in the hatchback. I hadn’t really thought about what I would do with the signs; I just wanted them gone. At the time, we believed we were doing the right thing. There were so many Trump signs up and down our main drag — it was destroying all sense of equilibrium in our community.
But the Falmouth police happened to spot us as we were preparing to leave the scene of the crime. The officer was kind, informing us that we had stolen someone else’s personal property, which had not really entered into my mind while I was doing it. He took the signs and sent us home.
The next day, I received a summons to appear in court. The officer informed me that the signs belonged to a local Falmouth business owner and chairman of “Making Maine Great Again,” a PAC supporting Donald Trump. He had been told about our little escapade, and he was pressing charges. (Maine law allows for a civil fine of up to $250 for taking political signs.) Reality began to set in. But there was no going back.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/post...-make-me-angry-enough-to-steal-40-trump-signs
We felt assaulted by the number of signs. The idea of “cleansing” our streets seemed like the fastest way to restore balance and alleviate our election stress — at least, that night it did.
The escapade was not premeditated: We simply jumped into my Jetta wagon, drove down to the strip and got to work. In all, it took less than 20 minutes. We grabbed about 40 signs and threw them in the hatchback. I hadn’t really thought about what I would do with the signs; I just wanted them gone. At the time, we believed we were doing the right thing. There were so many Trump signs up and down our main drag — it was destroying all sense of equilibrium in our community.
But the Falmouth police happened to spot us as we were preparing to leave the scene of the crime. The officer was kind, informing us that we had stolen someone else’s personal property, which had not really entered into my mind while I was doing it. He took the signs and sent us home.
The next day, I received a summons to appear in court. The officer informed me that the signs belonged to a local Falmouth business owner and chairman of “Making Maine Great Again,” a PAC supporting Donald Trump. He had been told about our little escapade, and he was pressing charges. (Maine law allows for a civil fine of up to $250 for taking political signs.) Reality began to set in. But there was no going back.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/post...-make-me-angry-enough-to-steal-40-trump-signs
also - A popular local variation is blacking out the T and P in Trump.
The signs now say RUM. I'd vote for that. (you may drink now, if you have one)
The signs now say RUM. I'd vote for that. (you may drink now, if you have one)
I'd tag team with Bill.
It's too polarizing of a topic, and I simply don't understand why.
I have to take a test and prove my skills to drive a car.
I have to have my background checked and credit checked to get a job or live somewhere.
I don't have to prove my skill, competency, or background to buy a gun.
Nobody on this Earth can convince me that makes sense.
So, at least for me, there is nothing to debate.
Some people are strict Constitutionalists.
I believe it was designed as a living document, the mere fact that a right is in the Constitution does not prevent that from being changed. Also, the wording of the Amendment is questionable.
But yeah, I really don't understand the mindset of being for unrestricted access to guns beyond the intellectual adherence to strict Constitutionalism.
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Takes all sorts.
I won't argue with "it's broken" or "it needs fixing," but the line of argument that talks about the widening wealth gap has specific problems an I think conflates issues. First, the wealth comparisons are very difficult because America's wealthiest are also the world's wealthiest, and don't really compare to anyone. That's to say they are excusable in their actions, but let's begin by comparing Gates and Buffett, give away or otherwise charitably use the majority of their wealth, to others like Cuban, Ballmer, and Jobs, who variously reinvest or keep the majority of their wealth. Let's also distinguish whether these are doing harm or help to the US and World economies. Nobody is doing more to try and solve malaria in Africa than Gates, and without his obscene resources, I'm pressed to figure out who else can do such. No doubt there are those who use their obscene wealth in obscene and oppressive ways (which, itself, is not new), but how and when are they making life worse off for the average American.
So use data that cuts out the very wealthy and compare the 4 remaining classes and compare these: poor, working poor, working middle, and upper middle. Or compare wealth inequality between ethnicities. Show me this data and long-term trends and we'll have something to talk about (but not in nominal values, only in % changes). There are real issues: housing, cost of health care, cost of education. But let's not forget where we start.
Here are two graphs that show more or less the same data in different formats:
Quick breakdown: the US poor (actual poverty and/or near the poverty line) equal (in purchasing power), the Chinese middle class (if such truly exists) and the Indian elite. Granted, both are large nations, which skews the deciles, but still the point should stick. The baseline for wealth in the US is very high. Do we have issues? Yes, and I would argue these are largely present on racial lines vs class lines, but let's not get carried away to quickly on the inequality = bad before we understand exactly what inequality is and isn't. Unless we're just going to fit the data into a narrative/political framework, and if so then go ahead. The issues are much more complex than "we shipped all the jobs overseas," because that also means "we have access to cheaper materials and services and we're able to provide basic goods to more people for cheaper."
I'm just old enough to remember the classic Bell/AT&T phone and I live in a town with a defunct AT&T factory, so I have some memory of this. We're not actually worse off losing poor jobs/business, although the results are certainly "lumpy," if that's an appropriate term. The loss of the US Steel industry might be lamentable, but some losses are gains.
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