# I'm an old Canadian and America is starting to freak me out **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 3, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546 "2016-11-03T18:40:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2016, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/141 "2016-11-08T07:54:32Z")
Eat your heart out. ---
**Author:** ![HeweyLogan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heweylogan/32/547_2.png) [@HeweyLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeweyLogan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2016, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/142 "2016-11-08T08:24:57Z")
Love to know what you were getting at earlier elucidator. You had something in mind, you coy boy you, but you just never quite come out and say it. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/143 "2016-11-08T15:07:36Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > That’s complete bullshit, and Dana Milbank is a contrarian troll who shouldn’t be taken seriously. > > It’s not that “not all boomers are Trump fans”, it’s that there’s very little correlation there at all. One would have to be a complete moron to believe that boomers are “his base”. It’s true that old farts of the baby boomer variety are slightly more likely to be Trump supporters than snot-nosed kids, but it’s a weak correlation compared to much stronger demographic factors, like stupid uneducated white men of any age. > > More precisely, the _Atlantic_ breaks the Trump demographic down into these categories, taken directly from the article section headings: > > [ul] > [li]They Didn’t Go to College[/li][li]They Don’t Think They Have a Political Voice[/li][li]They Want to Wage an Interior War Against Outsiders\*[/li][li]They Live in Parts of the Country With Racial Resentment[/li][/ul] > \*Meaning they want an authoritarian style of government to deal with perceived issues like illegal immigrants and Muslims > [Who Are Donald Trump's Supporters? - The Atlantic](http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/who-are-donald-trumps-supporters-really/471714/) Yes, white, male boomers 🙂 I think the boomer preference is more than “slightly”. Here is graph that shows some of the demographics: [http://www.people-press.org/2016/07/07/2-voter-general-election-preferences/7-7-2016-2-30-10-pm-2/](http://www.people-press.org/2016/07/07/2-voter-general-election-preferences/7-7-2016-2-30-10-pm-2/) ---
**Author:** ![Debillw3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Debillw3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debillw3)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/144 "2016-11-09T05:37:47Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Chill the fuck out already. Trump is not going to win. Even if he somehow does win, it will make no perceptible difference in your daily life. Well, the first part of your prediction doesn’t seem to be working out, so I have a few doubts about the accuracy of the second part. For the record, it’s the “that’ll never happen” talk that allowed it to happen in the first place. Blue voters grew complacent and Red voters went out to prove everyone wrong. Analysts are indicating both assisted in the current outcome. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Surely checks and balances will keep Trump from getting us into too much trouble. There are surprisingly few checks & balances with regards to the use of nukes. In fact, there aren’t really any. Now, if as many members of the current Congress dislike the presumptive President-elect as people claim, maybe that’s something they and Obama could come together on changing before the term ends. Not sure what exactly they can actually do in that regard, but, hey, maybe something good. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/145 "2016-11-09T05:47:19Z")
> [@Debillw3](#): > > There are surprisingly few checks & balances with regards to the use of nukes. In fact, there aren’t really any. > > Now, if as many members of the current Congress dislike the presumptive President-elect as people claim, maybe that’s something they and Obama could come together on changing before the term ends. > > Not sure what exactly they can actually do in that regard, but, hey, maybe something good. I am trying to polish a turd here but Trump is not an interventionist. One of the only serious policy statements that he ever made clear and seemed the least bit sincere was that he didn’t support the war in Iraq. Putin also seems to like him because they are brothers from a different mother. The POTUS can’t initiate a nuclear strike on anyone in isolation There are lots of controls in the middle and they can’t give the launch order directly. The Secretary of Defense or Joint Chiefs of Staff can block an unusually bad decision until the POTUS can be impeached by Congress (that is certainly not out of the question even with a Republican controlled Congress). As best I can tell, he wants to be Head of State and leave the details to people that actually know what they are doing. It is a very good thing that the U.S. Presidency has limited powers. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/146 "2016-11-09T05:57:22Z")
> [@Debillw3](#): > > There are surprisingly few checks & balances with regards to the use of nukes. In fact, there aren’t really any. Given Trump’s reputation for being eccentric and unreliable, I’m sure that nuclear commanders/technicians would hesitate - a long time - and second-guess and stall many times - before launching a nuclear attack on Trump’s orders. Uh, I hope. ---
**Author:** ![Debillw3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Debillw3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debillw3)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/147 "2016-11-09T06:43:38Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > The POTUS can’t initiate a nuclear strike on anyone in isolation There are lots of controls in the middle and they can’t give the launch order directly. The Secretary of Defense or Joint Chiefs of Staff can block an unusually bad decision until the POTUS can be impeached by Congress (that is certainly not out of the question even with a Republican controlled Congress). Keep in mind that both the SecDef and the JCS are appointed by the President. One would hope that sanity would win out (or, at the very least, that the crazy yes men would be denied confirmation), but that’s not ideal for a checks and balances situation, nor does it really fit our general use of the term, as they’re all within the single branch, and, thus, under the command of the president. I’d prefer, just in general, that there be a little more external controls in place in that regard–regardless of who the president is. Saying “no” to any order, regardless of how insane it is, would be a lot easier for someone more removed from the chain of command. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/148 "2016-11-09T07:02:52Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Given Trump’s reputation for being eccentric and unreliable, I’m sure that nuclear commanders/technicians would hesitate - a long time - and second-guess and stall many times - before launching a nuclear attack on Trump’s orders. > > Uh, I hope. That asshole can’t even be trusted with a fucking Twitter account. Now guess what… He’s been handed the fucking nuclear codes. What the fuck. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/149 "2016-11-09T14:02:53Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > He will win. He always wins. He wins more than anyone. He wins yuge. he wins bigly. When he loses, it isn’t because he lost, because he always wins… it’s because he was cheated. Emmy awards, Oscars, Nobel, Preakness, he wins all of them all the time - except that he always gets cheated 😃 :smack: _Prophet on the burning shore_ ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/150 "2016-11-09T15:11:40Z")
I for one Welcome President -Elect Comacho. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/151 "2016-11-09T15:47:37Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Used to know. Way back when I was but a lad, I knew. I knew that all around the world, wherever there were the hopeless, the fearful, the poor and oppressed…that when they heard the glad news…“The Americans are coming!”… they knew that the greatest military power in human history was coming to break their chains and gladden their hearts. > > Nothing wrong with that, except that it just wasn’t so. > > “I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.” > > - Bob Seegar That’s the plot of Bienvenido Míster Marshall, a 1953 movie, albeit focusing on “greatest economic power” rather than on the military side (a village in Southern Spain is getting ready to receive the American visitors which arrive as part of the Marshall Plan, only it never included Spain and there is no such visitors). Maybe I should mention it in the “Hollywood got it right” thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546.md?page=7)