The Trump Presidency – 2016

[JPhillips]

Is she the woman that thinks her adopted black son should be profiled because he's statistically more likely to commit crimes or is that a different RNC speaker?

[GrantDawg]

No, that is the same one that doesn't think women should vote. Only the "Head of the Household."

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[NobodyHere]

Nicolas Sandman does prove why the media can't be trusted.

I just went to a liberal forum and they still think that Sandman was an instigator in that whole incident.

[JPhillips]

Sandman, like many boys his age, is a little shit and doesn't need to be celebrated as a national hero by the GOP. There's quite a lot of space between all bad and all good.

This is very old man of me, but there was a time when jackass teenagers wouldn't be featured speakers at a national convention. And, yes, I know there are examples of the same happening at previous DNCs.

[NobodyHere]

How is he a jackass?

Sandman just stood there and smiled when Philips marched in banging drums and chanting in his face.

What would you have done?

[kingfc22]

Nick Sandmann, RNC 2020 speaker and Covington Catholic video star, explained - Vox

Bringing Sandmann to this stage is best understood as a kind of sleight of hand. Donald Trump is president of the United States, and is currently in charge of a country that has one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world. The economy is in free fall. Protests against racial justice still rage, sometimes even turning violent, and Trump has nothing to say about them but pro-police bromides and cultural demagoguery.

Don’t focus on the governance failures under our watch and the fact that we don’t have any meaningful solutions. Instead, join us in hating your enemies: the media and those horrible social justice warriors.

Remember that thing that happened in January 2019 that made you angry? Be angry again. Revel in your outrage. Breathe it in, and don’t forget to text “TRUMP” to 88022. It’s the best way to own the libs

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

How is he a jackass?

Sandman just stood there and smiled when Philips marched in banging drums and chanting in his face.

What would you have done?

Look at his social media. He's a right-wing troll looking for publicity. The confrontation was the best thing that ever happened to him.

[Lathum]

Hearing Trumps mail order bride say things like "our country" makes me want to puke

[Lathum]

She wouldn't even kiss him on the lips.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Look at his social media. He's a right-wing troll looking for publicity. The confrontation was the best thing that ever happened to him.

Interacts with neo-Nazis on Twitter. Think I can do the math on him even if some people play dumb.

[Brian Swartz]

I thought we were pro-immigration here. Or is it just pro-immigrants we like?

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

I thought we were pro-immigration here. Or is it just pro-immigrants we like?

I find it disgusting that an immigrant first lady of an administration that is so blatantly anti immigrant, and even anti citizens who come from certain countries, can stand up there and talk about "our" country. She is a hypocrite of the highest order.

[albionmoonlight]

Biden seems to have gotten no bump from his convention (which might be the new normal, or it might be a problem for him).

Trump's convention seems to be going pretty well.

Not a bad couple of weeks for the President, IMO.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

I thought we were pro-immigration here. Or is it just pro-immigrants we like?

That's certainly Trump's view.

[BillyMadison]

I hate to say this, but Dems should be very alarmed. I recall the '76 election when Carter had a massive lead over incumbent Gerald Ford. 33% lead in the polls. Ford waged a massive comeback and Carter still won, but with only 50.08% of the vote and 55% of the electoral college. Incumbents have a huge advantage is the point, and the convention is going well enough for Trump so far that he may have won some of the suburban women vote back.

The Republicans are is very very very good at gaslighting, distracting, and projecting. And that's what the RNC is all about so far. I worry that it's working.

[JPhillips]

Neither convention will matter. Even if Trump gets a bump, it won't last long. And I doubt he gets a bump.

Look at the polling averge going back to last summer. Nothing matters. It's astonishing.

[BYU 14]

I tend to agree with JPhillips. I think at this point there are very few people that are undecided, maybe more so than in any other recent election. And those that are probably won't provide enough of a bump to make a significant difference for either candidate.

[JPhillips]

I think there are still undecideds, but a smaller number than in the past. The thing is, the ones that are left are the least engaged and least informed. They won't make a decision in August, they'll wait to the week of the election.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Biden seems to have gotten no bump from his convention (which might be the new normal, or it might be a problem for him).

Trump's convention seems to be going pretty well.

Not a bad couple of weeks for the President, IMO.

Yesterday Biden was at his highest numbers by 538 and he's ticked up slightly by RCP. Convention bumps don't tend to last anyway so in a couple of weeks we're probably going to be right back where we were. This race will tighten, but there doesn't seem to be enough people willing to flip to make a significant difference.

The RNC is doing a great job of getting his base excited, but it's not doing much of anything to pull in moderates. That's evidence that this is 100% Trump driven as he's said he doesn't believe he needs moderates to win. He just needs his base.

He needs more than his base.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Atocep

He needs more than his base.

So saw we all! I can't even bear the thought of a second term for Trump.

[Lathum]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/26/healt...ing/index.html

So this is nothing but a blatant attempt to decrease the numbers going into November.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Lathum

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/26/healt...ing/index.html

So this is nothing but a blatant attempt to decrease the numbers going into November.

And, the money paragraph

A senior federal health official close to the process tells CNN the sudden change in CDC Covid-19 testing guidance was the result of pressure from the Trump administration. When asked by CNN whether the CDC was responding to pressure from the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services, the senior official said, "It's coming from the top down."

SI

[Ksyrup]

It's amazing to me how tone-deaf Trump, his administration and campaign (and followers) continue to be. Listening to someone chastise Biden for nepotism, for instance, is incredulous. Look at the speakers this week! Same goes for trying to make a campaign issue about Biden's age and mental acuity when Trump is practically the same age and has provided 1000X more hours of video saying incredibly stupid things or where he sounds like a 3rd grader reading a book report a doctoral candidate wrote for him, sight unseen. Or sexual harassment claims. This list goes on and on.

I just don't get the mental gymnastics required to make the anti-Biden case when compared to Trump.

[Ksyrup]

He told us - if there are no tests, there are no cases.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

to me, that means it's a jarring question... enough so that plenty of people are shaken from their predisposition (and yes, that's contrary to my rant, to a degree)... it feels kinda like an approve/disapprove question, but it's sharper-pointed... so even some of the Rs take a walk, I guess (more than just neverTrump Rs) and i suppose it splits true independents based on a variety of things

I salute you for a very fair response.

[Brian Swartz]

I still say it's not about that. I think Trump is hammering on those points precisely because they are his weaknesses. If Biden shares them, even to a lesser degree, it gives people less reason to vote Biden in a comparison between the two. It's a classic case of blurring distinctions; minimize your weak points and those where you are perceived to be strong will be the focus point.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I find it disgusting that an immigrant first lady of an administration that is so blatantly anti immigrant, and even anti citizens who come from certain countries, can stand up there and talk about "our" country.

That level of hypocrisy is shared by pretty much all politicians. She's not going to say it's *her* country; she's not going to not include herself at all and say *your* country; I mean, what's the proper pronoun for her to use here, seriously?

[JPhillips]

Wow. The WH story is that the Coronavirus Task Force met and signed off on the testing change, including Fauci. But Fauci has now come out and said the meeting was held while he was under anesthesia in surgery.

[QuikSand]

This is fine.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

That level of hypocrisy is shared by pretty much all politicians. She's not going to say it's *her* country; she's not going to not include herself at all and say *your* country; I mean, what's the proper pronoun for her to use here, seriously?

How about she doesn’t say it all since her husbands administration doesn’t preach it?

[thesloppy]

*the* country

[BillyMadison]

He'll have a speaking spot at the RNC tomorrow night...

The Kenosha Shooting Suspect Was In The Front Row Of A Trump Rally In January: https://t.co/R7HLlcu712

— Ellie Hall (@ellievhall) August 26, 2020

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by BillyMadison

He'll have a speaking spot at the RNC tomorrow night...

[sterlingice]

Fox is quite deliberate about who makes their front page stories. Of course, any negative story will be about someone with Democratic or liberal or Hollywood leanings since those are the obvious boogeyman. If they can have a tinge (or more) of racism, even better. If they can make the African Americans or Hispanics look scary - that's perfect. Pick the dumbest pose for the Dem. The GOP candidate needs to look forceful, in charge, masculine. Unless of course they need to take a bat to them like if Lindsey Graham says something against Trump - then they'll find the most effeminate or unflattering picture. Anyways, you get the idea - practically everything is filtered through a partisan lens to help.

So can someone help decipher this? I can't ever keep up. Is the Fox News crowd pro-Israel or anti-semitic? Honestly, I can't ever figure it out. Probably both whenever it serves their purposes.

Kullar told Fox News that “CDC recommendations should be based on science and these recommendations contraindicate the science behind what we know about this virus.” Dr. Fred Davis, associate chair of emergency medicine at Northwell /Long Island Jewish in New York, one of the hardest-hit regions during the outstart of the coronavirus pandemic, told Fox News that testing asymptomatic individuals, if they came into contact with someone who had COVID-19, is important for contact tracing.

“We know that someone can be infected and transmitting the virus and it can take 3-5 days after initial infection before they develop symptoms. It is suspected that upwards of 50 percent of transmissions occur during this time," he said. “Testing those that have possibly been exposed to someone with COVID is an important part of contact tracing to help identify and reduce spread. When we have the resources to test, we should be testing those with known exposure to help identify and recommend proper quarantine.”

Did they randomly pick a doctor at a hospital? Totally possible. Or did they find one where they had to go out of their way to call it a "Jewish" hospital? And, if so, does that mean he's part of the conspiracy trying to bring Trump down? Or should we trust him "more"?

SI

[JPhillips]

LIJ is one of the most visible hospitals in the NYC area. It doesn't look at all out of the ordinary to me.

[sterlingice]

Cool - I just wasn't sure and, yeah, I'm cynical of what Fox News puts out there so I was trying to calibrate my filter.

SI

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by Lathum

How about she doesn’t say it all since her husbands administration doesn’t preach it?

So where we are then is that she's not allowed to talk about the country at all because we don't like the administration's policies. All I can say is I'll remember that's the standard when Jill Biden becomes FLOTUS.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

So where we are then is that she's not allowed to talk about the country at all because we don't like the administration's policies. All I can say is I'll remember that's the standard when Jill Biden becomes FLOTUS.

The administrations polices are disgusting and you know it. Stop trying to be all edgy. you know these people and their thoughts on immigration are repulsive.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by BillyMadison

He'll have a speaking spot at the RNC tomorrow night...

The Kenosha Shooting Suspect Was In The Front Row Of A Trump Rally In January: https://t.co/R7HLlcu712

— Ellie Hall (@ellievhall) August 26, 2020

That kid is not going to do well in prison.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

So where we are then is that she's not allowed to talk about the country at all because we don't like the administration's policies. All I can say is I'll remember that's the standard when Jill Biden becomes FLOTUS.

I'm okay with Melania giving a speech. The problem to me is she is "do as I say but give Donald an exception".

I understand she is not in position to change Trump's mind but I would have more respect for her if she said "I agree with X, Y, Z but disagree with A, B, C".

I can't help but feel she could move the needle a little if she really wanted to.

Couple prime examples:

1) Cyber bullying. Not sure how she could approach it but she has a Chief of Staff to help her call out her husband

2) Immigration. I agree we have to reduce illegal immigration but keeping children locked up for a long time without their parents is wrong (and she needs to keep on saying it)

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Lathum

That kid is not going to do well in prison.

Even odds he'll do fine if he goes to prison. There are plenty of white supremacist groups that will make him a white supremacist (if not already, and honestly out of necessity to survive).

But yeah, life wasted if it was not a justified shooting.

[JPhillips]

No biggie. I'm not surprised, though, that a Dr. from LIJ would be in a news story. It happens all the time around NYC.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by Lathum

The administrations polices are disgusting and you know it. Stop trying to be all edgy. you know these people and their thoughts on immigration are repulsive.

I suppose it's been long enough since this red herring was brought up, it was probably about time. For the bazillionth time, my opinion on President Trump is he isn't qualified to be dogcatcher. I didn't vote for him (and no, nobody how many times people say it, voting third-party was not a vote for him) and I won't be voting for him this year. I've discussed immigration many times and the long and the short of that is my views on that subject are further from Trump's than most people on this board.

None of that has a single solitary thing to do with what I'm talking about here. This is about basic fairness and principled thinking.

Originally Posted by Edward64

I'm okay with Melania giving a speech. The problem to me is she is "do as I say but give Donald an exception".

I understand she is not in position to change Trump's mind but I would have more respect for her if she said "I agree with X, Y, Z but disagree with A, B, C".

I can't help but feel she could move the needle a little if she really wanted to.

You're absolutely right morally and ethically. The issue is, nobody expects anybody else to get up and do this at a political convention. Political actors at a political convention are traditionally given a pass for saying politically self-serving things.

Bill's affairs put Hillary in a tough spot, to put it mildly, but she wasn't expected to condemn him at the DNC. Laura and Michelle weren't expected to go up on that stage and rail against their president husbands. But hey, we really hate Trump so that's enough to demand that of Melania.

No it's not. I refuse to pretend that it's ok to invoke special criticism for both ethical and practical reasons that I've outlined multiple times in the past.

[thesloppy]

As always, you're labeling this argument an absolute and marching it up to the edge of a slippery slope. Nobody is criticizing her for not railing against Donald Trump, she's being criticized for relying on a narrative of immigration, while the GOP actively try to restrict it & because her & her family's immigration might not even meet the current GOP standards.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

Nobody is criticizing her for not railing against Donald Trump, she's being criticized for relying on a narrative of immigration, while the GOP actively try to restrict it & because her & her family's immigration might not even meet the current GOP standards.

TBF, I think I was the one that was criticizing her for not railing (to some level) against Trump. He was responding to me.

[thesloppy]

I stand corrected.

[Edward64]

Apparently there was a second pool boy.

Not quite MILFy for me but I can see how a 22-23 year old could get caught up with it.

As someone else said, I'm okay if you want to do your own thing (just as long as you don't hurt someone else) but com'on, your husband is President of Liberty College and you don't see the outrageous hypocrisy (even if he really was in on it).

Go get a divorce or agree on a separation or whatever.

[tarcone]

Okay Mr. Pence are we supporting the cops that shot an innocent man in the back or the 17 year old that murdered 3 people "protecting" a gas station?

[JPhillips]

The entire argument from the GOP is, you won't be safe in Biden's America, just look at what's happening!

I can see people being concerned about the violence, but it seems like a hell of a bank shot for a sizable number to see the violence, look at who is the President, and then blame it all on Joe Biden.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Apparently there was a second pool boy.

Not quite MILFy for me but I can see how a 22-23 year old could get caught up with it.

As someone else said, I'm okay if you want to do your own thing (just as long as you don't hurt someone else) but com'on, your husband is President of Liberty College and you don't see the outrageous hypocrisy (even if he really was in on it).

Go get a divorce or agree on a separation or whatever.

This story is headed in the direction anyone paying attention would expect. If we've learned one thing about anti-gay Christians it's that they're probably attracted to men.