Archive 2017-2019 Political Thread

[WesL]

Yup stealing this...

 

[gangstonc]

As I said before, the only point is lying about how many people showed up.

 

[Kory]

Madonna needs and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for inciting terroristic threats. Threatening to blow up the White House is definitely one. If I were a DA, I'd have a field day with these "protestors".

 

[Evan]

What I find even more disturbing than Trump "fibbing" about his Inaugural attendance numbers is the now relentless barrage on a 10 year old. A 10 year old child, who had no political leanings, no say, no hand in the game "per se" referring to his father's administration. But now, its open season on a CHILD by a vocal and sizable number on the left. Just disgusting.

Sizeable can be a vague description. I've only seen a few non-troll attacks on Barron, but even one is too many. He seems like a cool kid to me. Playing peek-a-bo with his nephew while Trump signed executive orders was a really neat.

I agree it is beyond the pale, but I think we should be precise about how we define "sizeable." For instance, I might say I saw a sizeable number of Trump supporters photoshop entire families into gas chamber memes (a lot of media members had to scrub their social media presence and close their kids' accounts due to improper use of their photos and targeted harassment). But how many is sizeable? Although Trump's anti-semitic fanbase on Twitter is extremely vocal and aggressive (even Fedexing journalists lampshades as a holocaust joke that Jews' skin was used to make lampshades), there has been research that only a handful of active accounts are actively tweeting, and botnets and trolls just amplify it.

I saw probably 3-4 jokes or inappropriate comments about Barron Trump on Twitter. I'm sure there were more, but it was just a few people.

 

[Evan]

Madonna needs and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for inciting terroristic threats. Threatening to blow up the White House is definitely one. If I were a DA, I'd have a field day with these "protestors".

That would be an extravagant waste of taxpayer money and an absolute loser of a case. No way Justice, even under Trump, would even attempt to.

She didn't threaten to blow up the Whitehouse. She said she thought about doing it. Here is exactly what she said:

""Yes, I'm angry. Yes, I am outraged. Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House. But I know that this won't change anything"

She went on to say:

"We cannot fall into despair. As the poet W. H. Auden once wrote on the eve of World War Two, 'We must love one another or die.' I choose love. Are you with me?"

It is clearly protected speech under the 1st amendment and it's not even close. You are seriously arguing she should be prosecuted for a thought crime? She "thought" about blowing up the White House. That's it. We cannot and should not ever consider mere thoughts to be a crime. Nor even the vocalization of said thoughts as long as the person refrains from any type of call to action, plan, or present/future statement.

"I've thought about blowing up the White House" is much different when compared to "I'm going to blow up the White House next week using (insert explosive and method), and my goal is (insert nutjob goal)."

Free speech is free speech no matter how repugnant the speaker is, how famous they are, or how hypocritical the media is.

 

[Evan]

I'm getting ready to go to Atlanta to see Perry, but I figured I'd toss this out there for everyone.

Thoughts on Spicer's press conference that was just basically a statement that flatly lied about the attendance at Trump's inauguration, picked a new fight with the media, and more or less completely torpedoed Spicer's credibility and reputation? While he wasn't loved by the media he was respected and people didn't believe he was any more or less dishonest than the usual comms person. Now? I don't see how he survives as press secretary.

 

[KoD]

I'm getting ready to go to Atlanta to see Perry, but I figured I'd toss this out there for everyone.

Thoughts on Spicer's press conference that was just basically a statement that flatly lied about the attendance at Trump's inauguration, picked a new fight with the media, and more or less completely torpedoed Spicer's credibility and reputation? While he wasn't loved by the media he was respected and people didn't believe he was any more or less dishonest than the usual comms person. Now? I don't see how he survives as press secretary.

Idk they may keep him up there saying ridiculous things to take attention off the upcoming executive actions and legislating.

 

[SASQUATCH]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Matt]

I'm getting ready to go to Atlanta to see Perry, but I figured I'd toss this out there for everyone.

Thoughts on Spicer's press conference that was just basically a statement that flatly lied about the attendance at Trump's inauguration, picked a new fight with the media, and more or less completely torpedoed Spicer's credibility and reputation? While he wasn't loved by the media he was respected and people didn't believe he was any more or less dishonest than the usual comms person. Now? I don't see how he survives as press secretary.

When are you going to see Perry ? I wish i could go with you. I just have so much going on right now. Give him my best.

 

[WesL]

I'm going to admit that I'm not the biggest Trump fan but I'm willing to give him a chance and as always I honor the office of the President. However, his adviser KellyAnne Conway is pretty awesome. She holds the line and now we learn that she can throw punches... I'm impressed. Would rather have her as first lady.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats...-inauguration.html?via=desktop&source=copyurl

 

[gangstonc]

I'm going to admit that I'm not the biggest Trump fan but I'm willing to give him a chance and as always I honor the office of the President. However, his adviser KellyAnne Conway is pretty awesome. She holds the line and now we learn that she can throw punches... I'm impressed. Would rather have her as first lady.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats...-inauguration.html?via=desktop&source=copyurl

I couldn't disagree with you more. She coined the ludicrous term "alternative facts" and now she may have gotten herself involved in an altercation? That's wild.

I don't think Trump has done that bad so far. He seems to be accomplishing things he set out to do rather quickly.

 

[WesL]

#BREAKING: President Trump will announce plans for a Mexican border wall on Wednesday


Sent from my iPhone using TalkWeather

 

[gangstonc]

#BREAKING: President Trump will announce plans for a Mexican border wall on Wednesday


Sent from my iPhone using TalkWeather

He's not playing around.

 

[WesL]

Pres. Donald J. Trump set to unveil executive actions on immigration and could move to suspend some immigration from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, sources tell ABC News.

 

[Evan]

When are you going to see Perry ? I wish i could go with you. I just have so much going on right now. Give him my best.

I went to see him on Monday. I will post the details later. Totally understand about being busy!

 

[KoD]

"Mexico will not pay for Donald Trump's border wall, the country's president has said in a message to the nation."

Darn, guess we'll have to move to plan B...

 

[WesL]

 

[Stormlover]

The truth about Obama's approval ratings...they are historically low, near the bottom going back to the 1940's
http://www.investors.com/politics/c...bama-was-an-historically-unpopular-president/

 

[Evan]

The truth about Obama's approval ratings...they are historically low, near the bottom going back to the 1940's
http://www.investors.com/politics/c...bama-was-an-historically-unpopular-president/

Your statement is highly misleading and doesn't include any context of what Gallup actually reported. You are just looking at an average, and the country is significantly more polarized than it has ever been. Your article claims the media has blacked out this information. Odd because in the link you posted, they don't mention any reasons for why Obama's average was lower than many other Presidents. That's ironic... almost as if they are slamming the media for only presenting one side and then going on to do the exact same thing.

Here is what Gallup said:

1. Obama did not have a major national sec event or threat occur, so this prevented him from having some of the "high" peaks like George W. Bush, Kennedy, Eisenhower, H.W. Bush, Clinton, etc. Many Presidents had periods of 75-90% approval due to such events. In fact, only Obama, Nixon, and Reagan never had approval ratings in the 70s or higher.

2. Obama started out with a higher approval rating than many Presidents do. He never dropped to extreme lows like Nixon or George W. Bush. In fact, other than Kennedy and Eisenhower(the two most popular Presidents per Gallup) , Obama is the only President to never dip below 38% approval. Several Presidents had approval ratings down into the 20's.

3. Obama experienced the largest partisan divide of any President ever measured. His partisan divide was higher by 30 points or MORE than every President except for Reagan, Clinton, and George W. Bush. Only George W. had anything near the partisan angst that Obama had, and his partisan divide was still nearly 10 points better than Obama.

Reagan and Clinton were at least 15 points better than Obama. Conclusion? Obama was historically unpopular among Republicans. Not at all among Democrats. He is 1 point from being tied with Kennedy (84%) as the most popular President among Democrats with an 83% approval rating.

Among Republicans, however, Obama had an average approval rating of 13%. Only other President even close was George W. Bush with a 23% rating among Democrats. But Democrats must just be sycophantically loyal, right? The three highest average approval ratings among each party are very similar: Republican (83, 84, 88) Democrats (82, 83, 84).

4. Gallup surmised that Obama's third tier ranking is due to a combination of partisanship, low historical satisfaction with government and institutions, the lack of a war/international indecent induced bounce/rally, and the divisiveness of the unpopularity of Obamacare and using executive orders to change immigration policy.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/202742/obama-averages-job-approval-president.aspx

http://www.gallup.com/poll/203006/obama-job-approval-ratings-politically-polarized-far.aspx

 

[Evan]

I strongly dislike Obama's policies and some of his personal traits, but I tire of each side presenting completely unbalanced and misleading information that only serves to widen the partisan gap in our country.

That's also the reason I have a huge issue with Trump's claims about voter fraud, and the size of attendance at his inauguration. I don't just have a problem with his claims, but I also have a problem with right wing media attempting to spin his claims to make them seem plausible. And, to be frank, I have as big of a problem with many MSM media outlets suddenly deciding they are going to fact check every Trump claim and opinion -- something they clearly didn't do to the Obama administration.

Now, part of that is because Trump and his administration have picked these kinds of fights with the media since he announced he was running and also because he is wasting his new Presidency honeymoon period on trying to satisfy his own ego. There is a reason the man loves beauty contests and always talks about ratings along with winners and losers. He evidently thinks everything is a popularity contest (which is true to an extent in politics), but what he is missing is that if you make the argument yourself you look like an egomaniac and a thin-skinned weakling.

There shouldn't be any doubt that Trump received less votes than Obama did or that his inauguration was less attended in person. But who cares? Evidently he cares a LOT, and is absolutely squandering a critical time in which he should be working with Congress to get his cabinet confirmed, legislative priorities aligned, fleshing out and publicizing policy goals, and making the agency and staff changes needed to implement his policy.

Now he has opened an additional battle front by rekindling his dispute with the Mexican government. Since Mexico's President called his bluff, this will now be the media narrative for several days or longer, combined with his voter fraud claims, and his inauguration attendance. Basically... everything but what actually needs to be talked about. I'd be more sympathetic to his claims of media bias (because Obama never faced this kind of united media heat) if it wasn't Trump himself handing the media the gasoline and a lit match, and daring them to drop it. What does he think they are going to do? If you think the media isn't on your side then why would you keep giving them EXACTLY what they want?