General US Politics

[Rezzy]

Speaking of being born outside of the US, isn't Trump's wife currently under suspicion of being an illegal immigrant?

Even if she was, by virtue of marrying a citizen, she could stay.

you guys seem to forget that bloomberg was going to join the race if bernie won the nomination and not every democrat is as far to the left as you are lol

This guy, who would have appealed to the centrists.

Bloomberg is hardly a centrist. I'd never vote for a guy telling me how big of a soda I can drink.

[Crysta]

Bloomberg is hardly a centrist. I'd never vote for a guy telling me how big of a soda I can drink.

dat's some fierce ideological purity right thar

Okay, without arguing the details because I don't think it'll really get anywhere, the point is that he would attract people away from Bernie and I'm fairly confident he would do much better than Stein or Johnson as an independent.

[Nobody]

Bloomberg is hardly a centrist. I'd never vote for a guy telling me how big of a soda I can drink.

"Some of the policies Bloomberg advocates parallel those of either the Democratic or the Republican party platform. He is socially liberal or progressive, supporting abortion rights, same-sex marriage, strict gun control measures, and citizenship for illegal immigrants, for example. On economics, foreign, and domestic issues, Bloomberg tends to be conservative. He opposed a timeline for withdrawal from the Iraq War, and criticized those who favored one. Economically, he supports government involvement in issues such as public welfare, while being strongly in favor of free trade, pro-business, and describing himself as a fiscal conservative because he balanced the city's budget.^[74] He is concerned about climate change and has touted his mayoral efforts to reduce greenhouse gasses.^[75] Bloomberg has been cited for not allowing many emergency officials who responded to the September 11, 2001, attacks to attend the tenth anniversary observation of that day.^[76] He also is at odds with many around the United States for not inviting any clergy to the ceremony marking the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks."

Sounds like a centrist to me.

I mean, regulating food portions size is not a centrist view, but having a view that is not centrist does not mean you aren't one. He being pro business, free trade, and balanced budges while being in favor of public expenses on welfare and being socially liberal sounds really centrist.

And by the way, Libertarians are far from being centrist tbh.

I mean, I think regulated soda is such a minor issue, that even if I disagree with it, it wouldn't stop me from supporting a candidate whose other, more important policies I supported.

Edited November 12, 2016 by Nooooooooooooooooooooobody

[Just call me AL]

Well, I feel like I should mention that my dad made a pretty interesting observation about the President-Elect. Like he seems more mature and/or that he kinda expected Hillary to win, himself. For starters, he has dropped my governor from his list of potential cabinet members. And he's seeming to like the parts about Obamacare that works. I'm hoping and praying that this is a sign of something good. Any efforts to restructure Obamacare as opposed to repeal it are welcome efforts in my book, for one. Even if I already have initial misgivings about the guy that might very well do the restructuring.

Edited November 12, 2016 by Just call me AL

[Res]

I'm still not convinced that Trump WANTED to be president. He wanted to win, certainly. But now his every movement will be watched. He'll have to attend long-winded meetings and actually pay attention. His twitter rants will be curtailed (his tweets have already subdued quite a bit). He can't just spout off catchy sound bites.

But in a way, that doesn't matter. What'll matter is who he appoints to his cabinet and Supreme Court. What matters is that he's been a mouthpiece for many people.

[UNLEASH IT]

I'm still not convinced that Trump WANTED to be president. He wanted to win, certainly. But now his every movement will be watched. He'll have to attend long-winded meetings and actually pay attention. His twitter rants will be curtailed (his tweets have already subdued quite a bit). He can't just spout off catchy sound bites.

But in a way, that doesn't matter. What'll matter is who he appoints to his cabinet and Supreme Court. What matters is that he's been a mouthpiece for many people.

This is what makes me uneasy. While I still disagree with your claim that racism/sexism and homophobia won this election for Trump, the fact still remains that a large portion (not the majority) of his support base have these views and him winning gives them validation to spout their hateful rhetoric. I can only hope that Trump comes to openly condemn this part of his support base, but that seems unlikely to me.

Edited November 12, 2016 by UNLEASH IT

[Anacybele]

God damn it, the third night of rioters and protesters over the election. It's happening mainly in the west (Hillary did win a lot of those states), but it's despicable. These salty idiot people claim to want to get rid of hate (one person was holding a sign that said "no hate"), but they're creating hate by doing this bullshit.

And some people think only Trump had some awful supporters. No, hundreds of Hillary's supporters are being shitheads right now.

Trump says he "likes the passion" these people show. I guess that's one way to put it, but still, this rioting is plain stupid and wrong and is making our country look piss poor. He needs to say something more serious. I'm literally ashamed right now to say I love this country when this crap is happening...

Edited November 12, 2016 by Anacybele

[Time the Crestfallen]

This is what makes me uneasy. While I still disagree with your claim that racism/sexism and homophobia won this election for Trump, the fact still remains that a large portion (not the majority) of his support base have these views and him winning gives them validation to spout their hateful rhetoric. I can only hope that Trump comes to openly condemn this part of his support base, but that seems unlikely to me.

He might do it for PR reasons, but I wouldn't count on it.

[Water Mage]

I'm still not convinced that Trump WANTED to be president. He wanted to win, certainly. But now his every movement will be watched. He'll have to attend long-winded meetings and actually pay attention. His twitter rants will be curtailed (his tweets have already subdued quite a bit). He can't just spout off catchy sound bites.

But in a way, that doesn't matter. What'll matter is who he appoints to his cabinet and Supreme Court. What matters is that he's been a mouthpiece for many people.

I still fully believe that Trump doesn't know what being a president.

I think he genuinely believes he will be able to do anything he wants as a president.

I don't think he realizes that, as a president, his freedom will the most limited than it ever was his entire life.

Trump says he "likes the passion" these people show. I guess that's one way to put it, but still, this rioting is plain stupid and wrong and is making our country look piss poor. He needs to say something more serious. I'm literally ashamed right now to say I love this country when this crap is happening...

Of course he will praise their passion.

The worser and more violent the riots get, the better and easier it will get for him.

He's not saying anything to stop this riots because he doesn't want them to stop.

Edited November 12, 2016 by Water Mage

[Lord Raven]

God damn it, the third night of rioters and protesters over the election. It's happening mainly in the west (Hillary did win a lot of those states), but it's despicable. These salty idiot people claim to want to get rid of hate (one person was holding a sign that said "no hate"), but they're creating hate by doing this bullshit.

And some people think only Trump had some awful supporters. No, hundreds of Hillary's supporters are being shitheads right now.

Keep in mind, if Hillary Clinton won, then there would be a lot of Trump supporters doing the same thing. He planted the seed by saying the election would be rigged unless he won it.

You should also keep in mind that there are quite a few Trump supporters out there doing/saying pretty awful things. Just the other day my friend had someone scream at her and say "N----! Go back to Africa where you belong!" It's a fraction of Trump supporters, but in many ways it's an enabled party. It's just like how we were talking about Jill Stein's position on vaccines - she may not have outright said that she's against vaccines, but she entertains the thought and skirts around it, which ends up encouraging it despite taking a non-committal stance. This is equally dangerous to encouragement.

Trump says he "likes the passion" these people show. I guess that's one way to put it, but still, this rioting is plain stupid and wrong and is making our country look piss poor. He needs to say something more serious. I'm literally ashamed right now to say I love this country when this crap is happening...

Some of the protests are peaceful. Riots are bad, but protests are not. If Trump were to silence the protesters, it would look bad on him as a president, since he has to be the #1 advocate of the first amendment.

EDIT: And I'm speaking of the protests. Riots are another thing entirely, and Obama has actually spoken ill on riots before while praising certain parts of protest.

“The overwhelming majority of people who have been concerned about police-community relations [are] doing it the right way,” Obama said. “Every once in a while you see folks doing it the wrong way. Looting, breaking glass, those things are not going to advance the cause.”

lol someone in a chat I'm in was mentioning some conspiracy about how Pence is basically assassination insurance because of his fuck-crazy beliefs. I wouldn't take this TOO seriously, but it is kind of a funny theory.

Edited November 12, 2016 by Lord Raven

[UNLEASH IT]

lol someone in a chat I'm in was mentioning some conspiracy about how Pence is basically assassination insurance because of his fuck-crazy beliefs. I wouldn't take this TOO seriously, but it is kind of a funny theory.

Kek. I guess I can see where it comes from. Basically saying to liberals "Go on, try to impeach or kill me. I fucking dare you. Just know that you'll have him as your alternative". But if it is actually true, this man truly is playing 4D chess :^).

Edited November 12, 2016 by UNLEASH IT

[Time the Crestfallen]

Kek. I guess I can see where it comes from. Basically saying to liberals "Go on, try to impeach or kill me. I fucking dare you. Just know that you'll have him as your alternative". But if it is actually true, this man truly is playing 3D chess :^).

Plans within plans.

[Augestein]

Kek. I guess I can see where it comes from. Basically saying to liberals "Go on, try to impeach or kill me. I fucking dare you. Just know that you'll have him as your alternative". But if it is actually true, this man truly is playing 4D chess :^).

Actually that would be a lousy idea tbh. It literally means that you just make everything around you and the other person a kill zone at that point. At least if you had someone really good next to you, there's a reason for people to not get really violent and kill crazy on the off chance that whatever they do-- if they take any sort of explosives into account or any sort of spraying weapon of some sort, that has a chance of nabbing the good one. So I'd still say that would be a really dumb move.

Edited November 12, 2016 by Augestein

[Anacybele]

Keep in mind, if Hillary Clinton won, then there would be a lot of Trump supporters doing the same thing. He planted the seed by saying the election would be rigged unless he won it.

You should also keep in mind that there are quite a few Trump supporters out there doing/saying pretty awful things. Just the other day my friend had someone scream at her and say "N----! Go back to Africa where you belong!" It's a fraction of Trump supporters, but in many ways it's an enabled party. It's just like how we were talking about Jill Stein's position on vaccines - she may not have outright said that she's against vaccines, but she entertains the thought and skirts around it, which ends up encouraging it despite taking a non-committal stance. This is equally dangerous to encouragement.

Some of the protests are peaceful. Riots are bad, but protests are not. If Trump were to silence the protesters, it would look bad on him as a president, since he has to be the #1 advocate of the first amendment.

I haven't heard anything about these protests being peaceful. There have been dozens of arrests. And you're probably right that some Trump supporters probably would've done the same thing (my stepdad doesn't think so because "Republicans don't do that" and maybe in the past they didn't, but I don't agree with him in this case. This election has been very different from past ones.), but it's still wrong and awful.

Whether Hillary or Trump supporters are doing the rioting/violent protesting, it doesn't make it right at all. I've already heard some stories of innocent people getting hurt. It makes me fear for my own safety as a Trump supporter.

I will admit that I never foresaw any of this though, the hate some of his supporters expressed, the violence, the protests and riots... I just never saw it coming.

Edited November 12, 2016 by Anacybele

[eclipse]

I haven't heard anything about these protests being peaceful. There have been dozens of arrests. And you're probably right that some Trump supporters probably would've done the same thing (my stepdad doesn't think so because "Republicans don't do that" and maybe in the past they didn't, but I don't agree with him in this case. This election has been very different from past ones.), but it's still wrong and awful.

Whether Hillary or Trump supporters are doing the rioting/violent protesting, it doesn't make it right at all. I've already heard some stories of innocent people getting hurt. It makes me fear for my own safety as a Trump supporter.

I will admit that I never foresaw any of this though, the hate some of his supporters expressed, the violence, the protests and riots... I just never saw it coming.

Life lesson time~!

I'll take your word for it that you feel fear for being a Trump supporter. Do you like that feeling? The same fear you feel is what minorities feel - unsure of whether or not they'd be the target of harassment (or worse). Though using fear is a horrible way of relating to people, it's a start. They feel it, and you feel it, too. The question is. . .what will you do with this knowledge? Make those feeling of fear worse for others? Nod, knowing that perhaps the two of you aren't quite as different as you thought? Completely ignore me because it sounds like I'm talking out of my ass?

[Emperor Petitt]

That feeling when you hated both candidates, and wanted Harambe to win it all. Make bananas great again

[UNLEASH IT]

Actually that would be a lousy idea tbh. It literally means that you just make everything around you and the other person a kill zone at that point. At least if you had someone really good next to you, there's a reason for people to not get really violent and kill crazy on the off chance that whatever they do-- if they take any sort of explosives into account or any sort of spraying weapon of some sort, that has a chance of nabbing the good one. So I'd still say that would be a really dumb move.

Fair point.

Now THIS is going to sound like a conspiracy theory, especially since I somewhat believe it. Personally, I actually don't think that Trump hates minorities, women and LGBT people simply because he doesn't care enough about their existence to hate them (which may actually be much worse). He just decided to single them out and make the most outrageous statements possible towards them to:

1) Gain free publicity from the media, which simply could resist not covering him because of the ratings boost it gave them.

2) Shift the media's focus away from his economic policies (which have glaring flaws that should've been pointed out) he proclaimed would help the working class and more towards his character. (And it seems like Hillary's campaign fell for that as well, doing the same thing)

3) Curry favor with hate groups that exist within the conservative sphere.

Edited November 12, 2016 by UNLEASH IT

[Anacybele]

Life lesson time~!

I'll take your word for it that you feel fear for being a Trump supporter. Do you like that feeling? The same fear you feel is what minorities feel - unsure of whether or not they'd be the target of harassment (or worse). Though using fear is a horrible way of relating to people, it's a start. They feel it, and you feel it, too. The question is. . .what will you do with this knowledge? Make those feeling of fear worse for others? Nod, knowing that perhaps the two of you aren't quite as different as you thought? Completely ignore me because it sounds like I'm talking out of my ass?

Of course I don't like the feeling. But I don't know what I'd do, really... I don't want to do anything bad, of course. But I just don't know. I didn't see this fear coming at all, for either side, so I didn't prepare or anything... I understand why both sides feel fear, but nobody should have to live in fear.

And I never thought that those minorities were extremely different, at least not in bad ways. I like to listen to a quote Meowth said in the first Pokemon movie: "If we started looking at what's the same instead of what's different...well, who knows?" It's so powerful and relevant right now.

What I really don't like is when people claim or act like those minorities are the only ones being fearful and that all Trump supporters are shitty haters.

Edited November 12, 2016 by Anacybele

[Augestein]

Fair point.

Now THIS is going to sound like a conspiracy theory, especially since I somewhat believe it. Personally, I actually don't think that Trump hates minorities, women and LGBT people simply because he doesn't care enough about their existence to hate them (which may actually be much worse). He just decided to single them out and make the most outrageous statements possible towards them to:

1) Gain free publicity from the media, which simply could resist not covering him because of the ratings boost it gave them.

2) Shift the media's focus away from his economic policies (which have glaring flaws that should've been pointed out) he proclaimed would help the working class and more towards his character. (And it seems like Hillary's campaign fell for that as well, doing the same thing)

3) Curry favor with hate groups that exist within the conservative sphere.

I'm actually more worried about his business policies tbh. As for the angry marches? I think this is something that I can do without. It hasn't happened in my area (yet), and hopefully it never starts. I'm glad that people are protesting things that they don't like, but riots are becoming far too commonplace nowadays.

[Crysta]

It's a terrible plan/theory because there's quite a few Republicans who would -prefer- a Pence presidency lol.

[Anacybele]

It's a terrible plan/theory because there's quite a few Republicans who would -prefer- a Pence presidency lol.

God please no. He's one of those stupid idiots that believes in and wants gay conversion therapy and crap. He actually hates LGBT+ people and shit and I won't stand for that. Trump isn't the most LGBT+ friendly guy either, but at least he's not as bad as Pence about it. I really don't think he hates them at all, he seems more neutral on the matter than anything.

[Crysta]

Oh I'm not supporting the idea.

But I know the Republican party is not hostile to Pence and Trump will be falling short on quite a few of the promises he made.

[eclipse]

What I really don't like is when people claim or act like those minorities are the only ones being fearful and that all Trump supporters are shitty haters.

I can get behind this!

Still, acting out of fear doesn't lead to the best outcomes. Ideally, the world would go about its business, which I believe mostly everyone did. I really wish the media would find something that's more relevant and less controversial to cover, like Veteran's Day parades!

[Rezzy]

Trump is probably the most pro-LGBT Republican there is right now. I think it's just the baggage of Republicans that makes everybody say he's anti-LGBT.

Trump actually had a gay Silicon Valley businessman Peter Thiel speak at the Republican convention during prime time. He's been endorsed by the Log Cabin Republicans (The LGBT wing of the Republican party). Trump held a Rainbow LGBT Flag at a Colorado rally. People may very well say that he's just pandering to us, but that fact that he's willing to do that at all is a sign that he's not going to be at the forefront of taking away any gay rights. There's many things I don't like about Trump, but being anti-LGBT is not one of them.

And on gay rights, Trump's at least on par, if not better than Hillary, who was against LGBT when it mattered. Back in the early 2000's when we were fighting for gay marriage, Hillary was against it, and she only flipped on the issue in 2013, when it was politically expedient to do so. So, yeah, I'm bitter about that. Back in 2007, when I was in a serious long-term relationship, and thought about maybe not being able to ever marry my girlfriend, it was politicians like Hillary that kept it away from us, not Trump, so if people want to know why I never trusted Hillary, it's stuff like that. She seems to think we have no memory, but I do.

[Ein]

-A lot more non-white citizens voted for Trump this time around.

Trump gained a decent amount votes from Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and such.

-As for concerns of the LGBT community.... video

Theirs and other's fears are unfounded.

-The mainstream media has planted the idea of Trump and Trump supporters being racist, misogynist, homophobic, islamophobic (which is not an unfounded fear) into many of the left that in their minds it's okay to shout down and harass and even beat anyone who even has an inkling of Trump support.

-The people rioting and protesting are definitely a symptom of just how far gone the left is and has gotten and quite frankly it is just depressing to see these people act this way but it's not unsurprising given how Trump has been portrayed and what kind of person they believe him to be thanks to the mainstream media.

The anti-white sentiment is becoming even more obvious from the outcome of the election and it will only continue to divide the people in the Western world.