There were a lot of crazies on the right who expected to die with an Obama presidency. They were wrong.
There’s no need to stress kids out with a message that bad stuff is likely to happen. Bad stuff may or may not happen. Until it actually does, I’d let it go. If they have questions, I’d answer them honestly, but I wouldn’t plant a seed of fear.
Every 2 years, really. I think there’s a good chance the Senate flips to the Democrats in the next midterms. That, historically, has been what we’ve seen. Unless, of course, Trump is either really lucky or really good.
In the last 36 years you’ve lived through 20 years of Republican Presidents who did just that. You’ll make it through another 4-8 just fine.
As for gerrymandering, I love how this is now a tier 1 Democratic issue. We’ve had gerrymandering for 225 years, but now it’s a basic issue of fairness even though Democrats maintained their majorities for decades in the 20th century through gerrymandering. Not to mention Democrats STILL can’t win Congress very easily without gerrymandering in Democrats’ favor. There is no fair system that doesn’t hurt Democrats, just as the 50 state boundaries hurt Democrats.
Life is 25% what happens to you and 75% what you make of it. Who the president is at any given point might be 1% of that 25%. Take control of your own life and don’t give the president any thought.
Maybe it’s better to have an incompetent buffoon than a standard conservative, but I don’t think so. I’ve been voting since 1980, this year is different, and much worse. But when my kids were freaking out, I did try to give them some historical perspective and some hope. And challenged them to work for what they believe in.
I tell the kids not to worry about the future. We’ll all die in the wars soon enough.
I’ve told my seven year old that the incoming president is a bad human being, and that we should work to make sure that the next president is a good human being. And to make sure that he’s a better human being than the president. That’s all he needs to be burdened with.
My five and a half year old doesn’t even know that there was an election, or who the current or outgoing president is. Sometimes a little sheltering is not a bad thing.
Don’t burden them with it if you don’t have to.
Trump might be able to hurt us as a population - but only for a few years and less than we fear he will. Inertia is powerful, for better or worse.
But as individuals, we control our own fate more than the government does. Trump is irrelevant to children. There is no one in the US who cannot get a college education if they work at it. Some will have to work harder than others, but their level of success in their hands.
False equivalency. The Democrats are not the same as the Republicans, nor is fear of Obama rational while fer of Trump & the Republicans is.
Really, this irrational dogma that “both sides are just as bad” is a major part of what has helped the fanatics on the right become so powerful, and helped elect Trump.
Absolutely this.
Not. The. Same.
I haven’t burdened my 92-year old mother, currently residing in Assisted Living, with the news. I just hope no one comes in to give her one of those cognitive awareness tests (“I’m going to say three words and in a few minutes, I’m going to ask you what they were.”), because one of the questions is usually, “Do you know who is President of the United States?”
Unlikely. Senate elections are every 6 years and the 2006 and 2012 cycles were good for democrats. In 2018 the dems are defending 25 seats vs 8 seats for the GOP.
Even if Trump is a gigantic failure (terror attack, recession, tons of crime and corruption, incompetence, petulant and petty, etc) the GOP will probably pick up some seats in 2018.
Agree with most of the above. However …
I’d suggest a terror attack is almost certainly good for whoever is prez. It provides an incentive for people to rally round the flag and rally round the chief. So people do that en masse. GWB was mildly popular on 9/10 and all-but universally adored on 9/12.
This is true of a prez of either party. Though especially true of Rs.
For Ds the partisan narrative is “That lazy weak-on-security D guy got us attacked. We need more security sub[/sub]!!” For Rs the narrative is more like “Despite our stalwart all-out security preparations they weren’t enough to stop this one despicable sneak attack. We need more securitysub[/sub]!!”
I don’t have kids, but sister & BiL are not being negative around theirs. They, correctly IMO, figure the kids will endure enough negativity in the culture at large. Kids are pretty damn perceptive & can sense all the tension/drama; they see & hear the hate speech uttered in public places. Instead, they are trying to teach their kids their values of independent thought & charity, primarily. I don’t think there’s much more that can be done.
Isn’t that why he did it? Sometimes history repeats itself with intent.
We might quibble about those numbers a bit, the overall idea is spot on. Some people, though, seem to get some emotional satisfaction out of picturing themselves as being some sort of oppressed victim.
I do not have an optimistic outlook for the immediate future, but that’s not the same thing as hope. Of course I have hope. In the darkest of times, when nothing else is left, that’s all you have.
This is perfect. So perfect, in fact, that I’ve posted it on Facebook, where my kids will see it.
Maybe I’m just dense, but it’s impossible (for me) to know if you’re making what you think is a serious claim or are being sarcastic to my comment or are making a joke abut the crazy world we live in.
I assume no malice, but I honestly don’t know which you mean.