Trump's Republican primary campaign

Politics & Elections
1485

Okay, here are some poems from those who appeared just at the first (of 7) White House “poetry jams”:

(Osorio’s CV includes an interest in “critical race theory” and a work history that includes “Stanford Feminist Studies Student Coordinator”, oddly listed along with stints at Jamba Juice and Subway, as well as a proud citation of her having been mocked by Jon Stewart for the poem she performed at the White House. I can’t find video of what Stewart said, but I did find footage of that performance itself, which I liked just fine but I guarantee you is more radical than anything the WH had seen before 2009–unless the Clintons snuck something similar in, in which case good for them.)

I couldn’t find any transcripts of poems by Mayda Del Valle, but I did find her Artist Statement, which concluded with this sentence:

This is not cherry-picking: feel free to set me straight if I missed them, but I sure didn’t see any white poets or poets with Robert Frost-style poetry. Which, again: very cool IMO.

ETA: Hang on, just after posting I did find video of Del Valle’s performance at the actual WH jam. Hopefully I can get this in before the editing window closes. I would say it continues an anticolonial theme, though that is only made explicit in one sentence. However, the entire thing would, I dare say, make not just your average Republican white dude uncomfortable to hear, but probably a solid majority of Americans overall. But I would call it an awesome poem, very effectively performed. Maybe what Stewart was critiquing about Osorio was just that she didn’t have these kinds of performative chops?

1486

I assume the barricades are now taken down and my horse and I are free to go? :stuck_out_tongue:

1487

Even worse, he top-posts.

1488

Lemme just validate your parking…

1489

Thanks!

1490

Could be that all this time, they’ve been quietly setting the stage for a Palin/Trump ticket.

1491

There isn’t enough popcorn in the world for this.

1492

If a sacrifice must be made, I will forgo my share of popcorn. On with the show! (No need to thank me, helluva deal!)

1493

One thing about Trump, he may not be popular, he may not be able to win, but the guy can take anyone down. Even Bill Clinton:

http://pollingreport.com/clinton1.htm

Clinton’s popularity is down 10 points since Donald decided to make him an issue.

You do NOT want to get in this guy’s crosshairs. Maybe the candidates laying off him are smart.

1494

Oh come on, that’s a single poll, almost 2 years since the last one. Who knows what caused the drop (or the big jump between the '14 poll and the previous one), though I’d suspect one thing is the simple fact of a major political campaign, which tends to bring out partisan feelings in everyone.

1495

Don’t forget to “validate” the horse he rode in on! :smiley:

1496

Done. Don’t worry, the ink will wash out of horsehair.

1497

To help this not be a hijack, I’ll say that I doubt very much that Palin’s endorsement will do anything to improve Trump’s odds. We’ll know in a few weeks, but I’d hardly be surprised if the Trump bubble gets popped a wee bit.

Surprised that no one called you out on this chunklet of logical fallacies. So, I guess I will, risking a hijack, I know.

It does not follow that because the parents are one way, even when well-respected and loved, that their children will turn out the same. My parents are wonderful, honorable people: gifted and intelligent. They are also both fundamentalist, evangelical Christians, and Republicans: I am not. I was raised as such, but turned a different direction many years ago. This is hardly uncommon.

To say that Obama “hung out” with Bill Ayers is a gross exaggeration. They were involved in some of the same circles, and were certainly acquaintances, but there is not a shred of evidence of anything further than that. But besides that, we all hang out with people for various reasons while not necessarily sharing all, or even many, of their values. I, for one, “hang out” with a “Second Amendment Enthusiast” who is a capital-L Libertarian. I identify with neither of those. I have some friends who are capital-M Marxists. Not one of those, either. This is also hardly uncommon.

In other words, “guilty by association” is not evidence.

Obama has been a fairly prolific author, since before he was elected to political office. Dreams from my Father, for example, is from 1995. If there is a secret, radical agenda that Obama is carrying around, can you please to point to some relevant passages in Obama’s own writing, particularly those that, like Dreams, predate his election to public office? If you can, the best thing to do is to start a new thread rather than continue to hijack this one.

1498

I think I’ve sufficiently made my case, and I don’t know what board such a post would go on; but I’ll just quickly rebut one point: per Wikipedia, Dreams from My Father was published three weeks after it was announced that Obama was running for the state Senate. So it’s essentially his first campaign book.

Also, I do wish responses to my points would stop taking the tone that I’m attacking the president or trying to insinuate something, as you say, “guilty” about any of this. I’m defending him as *not *guilty of being a centrist in his heart!

1499

I think your perceived offense is more in the nature of ideological goalpost-shifting: If Obama is really a radical, then Hillary must be one too, and Rubio a moderate, and Sanders too far beyond the Overton Window to take seriously.

1500

So, you’re saying that for 20+ years, Obama has been a sort of Manchurian Candidate? :rolleyes:

Whatever you think of his book, it comes across as entirely sincere. He may have been thinking of running for office when he was writing it—note that the process of writing and editing a book takes a looooong time, usually months at least—but surely it’s ludicrous to think that, 20 years ago, his cynically crafted non-radical public persona (that you are adamant exists) was already in full swing, well before he even announced running for office. Wow, that’s … well. It’s special is what it is.

No, you haven’t made a case. Seeing as you didn’t open a new thread (really, you can’t think of where it should go?), the valid conclusion is that you have only wild conjecture, and no evidence, that Obama is a closet radical.

(Edit to keep on thread topic: there’s more evidence that Trump is cynically faking it, than that Obama has been!)

1501

Jesus Christ, no. For fuck’s sake, how many times do I have to emphasize that for me, this is a good and meritable thing about Obama, not an accusation of perfidy or treason?!? Sheesh.

1502

See post #1495.

1503

Which has no conceivable connection to an accusation of being a “Manchurian Candidate”.

1504

Donald Trump shares another bizarre Jeb Bush image — this time from a ‘White Genocide’ account.

Trump Shares 'White Genocide' Twitter Post?

Going to the twitter feed of the account he’s been following and it’s worse than the article made it out to be.