Politics The 2016 US Presidential Election

Rant: On.

One of our local right-wing radio personalities--I'll refer to him as SRA for Sucking Republican Ass--is at it yet again.

The Trump 'this is how I sexually harass women' tape story broke on Friday after SRA had finished his morning show. So on Monday SRA is dismissing the tape as "just guy talk, all guys do it," "it happened years ago," and yet another example of liberal news media bias. SRA is full of shit. If the story was about Hilary making similar comments about men, SRA would've been screaming loud and long for her to withdraw from the race.

SRA is now trying to plant election fraud conspiracy seeds before the election. What I find interesting is he's is making up excuses for Trump's loss before the election has even taken place. (Intentional redundancy.)

Rant: Off.

 

This attempt to defend an apparent sexual predator by claiming that "all guys do it" is not only contemptuous toward women but also an insult to the great many men who do not boast about committing sexual assault, as well as an affront to the social value that humanity overall places on consensual sex. Here's a more humanist take on pussygate, from a radio host in the UK: http://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/james-obrien/james-obrien-worrying-reason-trumps-comments/

It seems to me that the Republican presidential nominee's bid in this election is still supported by the Republican establishment due to status and prestige: the legitimizing effect of him obtaining the party's nomination for the highest office in the nation. Republican US Senate candidate Todd Atkin's "legitimate rape" comment in 2012 was uninformed, unfeeling, and offensive, but it wasn't damning on a criminal level. Yet Reince Priebus, Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell all called for Atkin to drop out of the race over it, while now they each continue to support their presidential nominee in spite of comments from him that are far more reprehensible than Atkin's.

 

Of course today, after having every Republican in the country call him to say that he has officially screwed the pooch with his comment, Trump has now said of course he will accept the results of the election.
Kind of funny what kind of clarity a new day brings, along with the wraith of all the down ticket members of your party.

 

Watched the debate and seeing the public reaction currently, and a couple things that stood out for me as an outside observer:

1. Why is the media going crazy about Trump's claim that Russia has taken over the Middle East? I mean, sure, they haven't completely taken over, but certainly the past 2 years in particular were disastrous for US regional influence whereas Russia has made massive inways (Iran's economy strengthening, turning the tide in Syria, Turkey's Erdogan switching allegiances after the failed coup, people becoming increasingly aware of Yemen, the surge in political influence in Afghanistan in recent months), much of which can be traced back to a (very) long line of bad US policy decisions. His claim may be exaggerated, but he's not far off given the way things are developing.

2. I get the "Made in America" angle as a domestic buzzword during the race, but the whole Chinese Steel "issue" (?) seemed such a benign non-issue to bring up and be witty about unless suddenly every US company should now come under fire for using Chinese-made materials and equipment. Really didn't get that one.

3. Why the focus and outrage on Trump's position regarding the election outcome, especially given his anti-establishment political platform? I'm noticing a lot of non-NA people stating similar levels of confusion on something that apparently is exceedingly obvious to NA residents. Puzzling outcry, to say the least.

Anyway, the presidential debates were super entertaining. Pretty disappointed there's not going to be more of them.

 

On number three it's mostly about how in the US there has always been a tradition of passing over the keys of power with decorum and the understanding that the next time round it could be your parties turn.
Even the most bitter enemies have kept this polite fiction and have never pulled the crap Trump pulled.
Of course, the next day after getting phone calls from probably every down ballot Republican running, he backed off and said that he would accept the results.

 

Redravin, what is the source of your claim that the Republican candidate said he will accept the results of the presidential election? I have only witnessed his pronouncement that he will accept the results under the condition that he wins.

Remixer, there's more to the controversy than simply isolationist aversion to buying foreign goods. Last year, Japan and the EU accused Chinese steel mills of long-standing "dumping" (exporting a product at a price below its production costs or below its domestic market price in order to gain foreign market share and eliminate competition), a practice which is in violation of World Trade Organization policy. Since then, the US and EU, among others, have imposed additional anti-dumping duties to counter the resulting steel glut. Legal purchases of steel made prior to these measures have been subjected to critiques of business ethics related to engagement in predatory pricing, including that presented by the Newsweek article which was first to expose the Republican presidential nominee's purchase of Chinese steel for his most recently constructed hotels: http://www.newsweek.com/how-donald-trump-ditched-us-steel-workers-china-505717

 

I stand corrected.

There were some reports that must have jumped the gun and missed the bullshit at the end.

 

My condolences, I did the same by mail yesterday. At least I could shower off immediately.

 

That makes me sick, and ashamed .

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Yesterday the first-day turnout for early voting here is Houston was tremendous. I'm guessing that a lot people want to avoid the crowds on 11-08-16.

 

A new coworker who doesn't know me that well made the mistake of asking me who I was voting for.
She had expressed dismay at there not being anyone she felt comfortable being able to vote for.

I started out with how since we lived in Alaska it really didn't matter she could vote for herself for president and it wouldn't effect the actual race but ...
something started to come up in me from there.
It was a feeling that has been around for a while but I hadn't been able to articulate very well.
I said I was going to vote for Hillary, not because I liked her (I don't) or because of how important the Supreme Court justices she would appoint would be (they are) or countless other reasons that have been hashed over here and other places.

What struck me is that it is so damned important that Hillary win and win large because the people who have crawled out from under the rock and cracks of America to support Trump must be told that they don't get to be mainstream.
The Alt Right, the KKK and all their slimy brethren are lining up to the dog whistle politics that have been pushed out by Trump's Breitbart editors and his Beavis and Butthead sons.
They are certain that Trump will provide them with their place in the sun and the power to inforce the disgusting screeds.
I'm sorry, the racists have a right to free speech as anyone else but we have the right to mock and insult them for being dirtbags.
The only way to make it clear that what they think is unacceptable in a free nation, is to slap them down so hard they have no choice but to crawl back into their holes and under their rock.

Hopefully the good people who have been suckered into the bullshit will get a clearer view down the road

 

One of our local TV stations presented a Fact Checking comparison between Clinton & Trump done by Politifact. I admit that I know nothing about the leanings and/or neutrality of Politifact, but I find their results interesting.

The scorecard for Trump.

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/


The scorecard for Clinton.

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/hillary-clinton/

 

Interesting word choice !