It means that I’m not gonna change my mind and you’re not gonna change yours. You’re not going to make an argument for your side that I haven’t heard before, and I suspect the same is true for you. So what the fuck are we supposed to talk about?
It means your guy ran on a platform of smashing the whole thing, burning down the whole house, throwing out everything we like about America (freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of expression…) along with everything we’d like to improve about it. He asked you to bet that whatever rises from the ashes would be better than what we have now. Now, I’d call that a long shot, considering it took us two hundred years to get even this far. I’d much, much rather have built upon what we already had, trying to make it better.
But it’s not up to me. America voted smash-and-burn. So once again, begging your pardon, what is there to discuss? Should we keep pretending we can “compromise” after this? That we can “come to an understanding?” Or are we gonna take this shit out into the streets where it belongs? And I invite you to interpret that however you want; whatever you think I mean, that’s exactly what I mean.
I keep waiting for these emotions to go away, but the Troll-in-Chief and his followers keep saying and doing horrifying, embarrassing, and anger-inducing things.
My reaction at first, was bewilderment and disappointment. That so much of the American electorate would actively support giving complete control of the entire government to the party that made it clear that the Constitution was of zero importance to them, and that ONLY party loyalty mattered.
The fact that Trump is the most ignorant person to have won the Presidency in my lifetime was a problem as well.
On the other hand, I am very glad that Hillary Clinton did NOT win. Not because I bought in to any of the overblown lies that the Republicans plastered her with. I was pleased, because had Hillary won, the American people would STILL have put the Republicans in charge of Congress; and that would mean at least four years of NOTHING being done to address America’s real problems, as the Republicans mounted a non-stop effort to again overturn the decision of the American people.
Since Trump won, the Republicans have no excuses or cover stories to hide behind, for why they STILL aren’t going to do anything for the people they most revved up against the Democrats for the last eight years.
I have decided to hope for the best, rather than bewail the results. It will be interesting to see a Republican majority, have to deal with a President that officially leads their party, but who opposes their long established support for shipping industrial jobs overseas as fast as they can, and who believes in having the government directly meddle in the private decisions that corporations make.
My fears, are that Trump will allow the worst elements of the GOP to make the anti-democracy changes they have been intent on for decades now, and those changes will cause great destruction to personal liberty here.
If the Republicans succeed in implementing their complete “supply side economics strategy,” the American economy will be dealt a death blow that it wont recover from for decades.
Uh… no. Trump is quite literally owned by 150 different Wall Street firms. cite
[QUOTE=Wall Street Journal]
According to the examination of legal and property documents, “Hundreds of millions of dollars of debt attached to Mr. Trump’s properties, some of them backed by Mr. Trump’s personal guarantee, were packaged into securities and sold to investors over the past five years,” thus “broadening the tangle of interests that pose potential conflicts for the incoming president’s administration.”
[/quote]
We’ve had presidents beholden to corporate lobbyists, but Trump may be the first one who is literally financially owned by Wall Street. (Providing of course that you believe a liberal rag like the Wall Street Journal).
I had to go with ‘horror’ myself. Even before the hacking stories broke, it felt like 9/11, realizing the depth and power of the forces of hate and ignorance. Every morning I wake up and reassure myself that the inevitable nuclear winter will certainly put a halt to the global warming.
I originally felt a feeling of disgust–not at Trump, at both parties: we have so many possible good potential candidates on either side and we get Hillary and Trump to choose between? That’s the best both parties can do? Really?
However, since then, it’s more moved on to Schadenfreude. Look in the Pit for examples: I can’t mention Doper names here, but reading the frothing-at-the-mouth ravings of hysterical lunatic ninnies like Rachel Maddow (who honestly believes* that Trump is unilaterally going to put her into a death camp. cite) or other retards who make Trump/Hitler comparisons is a fun diversion from the mess that the tiny fingered, Cheeto colored carnival barker will probably make…when he actually is in a position of actual authority (which–hint–he’s not yet. Not for another 14 days.)
So, I’m kind of getting to the “amused at watching the complete mental breakdown of the far-fringe leftie” stage. (big note: most people here aren’t that. Being concerned with what his Cheeto-ness may do is completely understandable. I’m kinda worried myself. But there’s a small fringe of people who say things like (paraphrase, but close enough–I don’t want to break the rules and directly quote a specific moron) ‘Trump enjoys gleefully cackling with laughter when people suffer and die in front of him’, it’s fun to PALTR.
*Ok, she’s a not-too-bright partisan hack, so it probably should be “believes”
Donald Trump: “We’re gonna build a wall to keep people from coming into the country illegally.”
Donald Trump: “We’re gonna hold off on immigration of Muslims until such time as we can make reasonably sure no terrorists are among them.”
Meryl (The Sky Is Falling) Streep: “Screeeeech!!! OMG!!! Trump’s gonna kick out all the outsiders and all the foreigners and art will die and all that’s gonna be left is sports and MMA bouts!!”
And all the morons in that audience cheered and applauded and carried on like that was the greatest speech since the Gettysburg Address!
Anyone still want to claim facts have a liberal bias? Criminey!
If I may, you fabricated a quote, attributed it to Streep, and clapped yourself on the back for pointing out the facts. That’s a comically rich vein of irony there.
This Washington Postarticle has the full text of Streep’s speech. It also has a mention of Trump’s full time hyperbolic apologist, Kellyanne Conway, accusing Streep of being divisive despite their not being a single sentence in her speech to that effect. The strongest words are her statement about the need to protect the press and their ability to expose corruption and venality. In fact, the speech doesn’t mention Trump by name at all, so any explicit association or criticism is one that Trump and his team recognized of themselves.
*Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser to Trump and his former campaign manager, appeared on “Fox & Friends” Monday morning to criticize Streep for not trying to unite people.
“I’m concerned that somebody with a platform like Meryl Streep is also, I think, inciting people’s worst instincts,” Conway said on the show.*
Apparently, “inciting people’s worst instincts” is telling the truth and encouraging tolerance.
But I’m still an optimist, and I’m still a happy person overall. I just experience those emotions when I think about Trump being president. Hopefully these feelings will turn out to be not warranted.
My hope is that (a) Trump crashes and burns spectacularly, exposed as the bigot, bully and con artist that he is, while (b) doing no lasting harm to the country.
We have reached the point where truth is irrelevant. We’ve been fighting ignorance since 1973, but like the war on drugs and the war on terror it can’t be won. People will believe whatever anyone feeds them so long as it fits conveniently into their preconceived notions, and now that Republicans have the presidency the Congress and the Supreme Court, and an unyielding desire to do whatever it takes to keep them, along with a president who threatens to destroy anyone who is the least bit critical of him the truth is going to be harder than ever to get out.
The one sliver of hope I have is that we are actually alternate Earth #487. Alternate earth #143 is one where the Roman empire never fell. Alternate earth #762 is the one where the German’s won WW2. Alternate earth #676 was destroyed when the Cuban missile crisis went bad. So in a few decades, the Flash or the sliders or the Star ship enterprise, will come from Earth #1 to this weird alternate time line where Trump won the election and through improbable personal will and heroism set us back on the right track.