# Stop Panicking! **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [June 28, 2024, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447 "2024-06-28T15:26:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 50
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2024, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/981 "2024-10-12T18:43:09Z")
Teamwork makes the apocalypse work. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2024, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/982 "2024-10-12T22:03:44Z")
FYI: You can’t hack the nuclear launching computers. They aren’t connected to any outside networks, and actually use 8-inch floppy disks, which were state of the art when the silos were built. The DOD has actually had to purchase them on eBay. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2024, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/983 "2024-10-12T22:09:24Z")
I too heard about the Marburg outbreak in Rwanda. Like mpox, it’s probably not going to leave the area, and if it does, people who know what they’re doing will deal with it. > **[Marburg Outbreak 2024 Info and Vaccine Trial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7NzfJhmpts%2F)** > > Roger Seheult, MD of MedCram explains the Marburg virus, the 2024 outbreak in Rwanda, and the current vaccine trial. See all Dr. Seheult's videos at: https:/... Here’s a TED Talk from the one known American case. TL : DW - while she doesn’t mention it here, she was treated in a pediatric ICU, not an isolation unit, because the hospital, which was in the Denver area, had no adult ICU beds. No secondary cases appeared. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xTMZJvfzxGY/hqdefault.jpg "An Unsolved Medical Mystery Sheds New Light on Ebola | Michelle Barnes | TEDxMileHigh") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTMZJvfzxGY&t=31s/) ---
**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:** [October 13, 2024, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/984 "2024-10-13T04:39:49Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Frankly, if tRump, the demented, narcissistic, rapacious, multiply-indicted, conviction felon and just _bad_ dancer actually manages to get over half of the United States of America to vote for him again, I am hacking NORAD and launching our nuclear arsenal…at us. We as a society are too sick to survive. Let the cockroaches do better. 100% agree with your despair and confusion if this really happens, but disagree with your solution. Can we limit it to the idiotic states that vote for the moron? I live on the ID/WA border, so I’ll be fucked, but why punish the sane locations? ---
**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:** [October 13, 2024, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/985 "2024-10-13T05:35:41Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Frankly, if tRump, the demented, narcissistic, rapacious, multiply-indicted, conviction felon and just _bad_ dancer actually manages to get over half of the United States of America to vote for him again\*\*, **I am hacking NORAD and launching our nuclear arsenal…at us.** …I think you may just given Putin more incentive to help Trump win… ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/986 "2024-10-13T06:07:46Z")
Fine. Drone strikes to the red states. > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > FYI: You can’t hack the nuclear launching computers. They aren’t connected to any outside networks, and actually use 8-inch floppy disks, which were state of the art when the silos were built. I knew my old Commodore 64 would be good for _something._ ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/987 "2024-10-13T06:09:06Z")
I’m not sure Putin could help tRump ad-lib a fart at a bean-eating contest. He’s a textbook definition of what Kissinger called “a paper tiger.” > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I too heard about the Marburg outbreak in Rwanda. Like mpox, it’s probably not going to leave the area, and if it does, people who know what they’re doing will deal with it. You guys are absolutely no help in planning a depressing apocalypse. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/988 "2024-10-13T06:33:57Z")
Paper tiger wasn’t Kissinger’s phrase, it was ChiCom: 纸老虎 _zhǐlǎohǔ_ ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/989 "2024-10-13T19:05:44Z")
Right. I knew it was from that era. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/990 "2024-10-14T18:46:31Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > I knew my old Commodore 64 would be good for _something._ Nope. Your C64 used 5 1/4" disks. Maybe 3 1/2" if you held out to the very end when they released the 1581 ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/991 "2024-10-14T20:20:09Z")
Mine mostly used cassette tapes. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/992 "2024-10-14T23:14:20Z")
During that era, I saw a cartoon where someone downloaded a report onto a tape but didn’t have a printer, so he brought the tape to his professor in a boom box and played it. “A bunch of scratchy noise came out.” ---
**Author:** ![SlipperyPete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@SlipperyPete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlipperyPete)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2024, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/993 "2024-10-15T18:22:30Z")
I’m panicking. I think everything is trending towards a GOP House and Senate. And Trump for president. Gonna be a huge mess. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2024, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/994 "2024-10-15T18:23:43Z")
There’s no real data that suggests this is the case. By the numbers, it’s been a close race since Aug, perhaps with a slight edge for Harris, and that remains true today. Nothing significant has changed. ---
**Author:** ![squidfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@squidfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squidfood)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2024, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/995 "2024-10-15T19:22:32Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Nothing significant has changed. It’s absolutely significant that time has passed. A close race in Aug when Kamala has apparent momentum and time to grow is very different then being stalled out in a close race in the final weeks. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2024, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/996 "2024-10-15T19:28:10Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Nothing significant has changed. And that’s the panic-worthy problem. An _insignificant_ change in favour of the Democrats isn’t good enough. Unless one is a wizard or a prophet, then you can’t say what the outcome will be one way or another. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/997 "2024-10-15T19:32:29Z")
Trump’s popular support can’t really grow past his 2016 & 2020 popular-vote percentage (46.1 and 46.8, respectively). But his support does have an apparent hard floor of maybe 43-45% of the electorate (MAGA + Rs holding their nose + never-Dems + a very few others). Given that, there’s never really been an avenue for Harris to dominate _in the national polling_ and start racking up +8s, +10s, +12s or anything like that. Harris getting _some_ national polling in the +5-6 range is about the reasonable limit – and IMHO, it’s been good news for her campaign that she’s been able to poll that high. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2024, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/998 "2024-10-15T20:00:11Z")
> [@SlipperyPete](#): > > I’m panicking. I think everything is trending towards a GOP House and Senate. And Trump for president. Gonna be a huge mess. I think Democrats will be slightly favored to take the House, riding Kamala’s coattails. The Senate, though - it’s difficult to envision any scenario where the R’s don’t take 51 seats. West Virginia is a lock for Jim Justice and Jon Tester is still trailing in Montana by 7%. Nothing the Democrats or Tester have done suggests that they will flip that 7% deficit by Election Day. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2024, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/999 "2024-10-15T20:02:09Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I think Democrats will be slightly favored to take the House. The Senate, though - it’s difficult to envision any scenario where the R’s don’t take 51 seats. Cruz could lose in Texas. It could come to a 50/50, certainly. Possible, not probable. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447/1000 "2024-10-15T20:13:13Z")
There’s no such thing as momentum in politics. We have to accept that the polls show a close race and that hasn’t changed and probably won’t change. That doesn’t mean it will be a close race - we’ll find out in a few weeks. But there’s no more reason to believe she should have gone up in the polls than gone down. That it hasn’t moved isn’t any more or less surprising. There’s no more reason to panic note than at any point in this race. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447.md?page=49) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-panicking/1003447.md?page=51)