The General US Politics Thread

Trump is planning on withdrawing from the nuclear arms treaty with Russia that prevents the US from making more nuclear weapons: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/20/trump-us-nuclear-arms-treaty-russia

Edit: Ugh, what a pagetopper...

Edited by CookingCat on Oct 20th 2018 at 5:54:54 AM

Trying to work out what this is supposed to achieve in Trump's mind,does he truly believe they need more nuclear weapons or is this simply something Trump tearing up just because it involves Russia and they've likely suggested it to him?

New theme music also a box

There are people who seriously believe that the amount of nuclear weapons the US currently has is simply not enough. I disagree, but it's not like they're going to be used anyways, so I'm not opposed to it and it may create some jobs for example.

Life is unfair...

It’s not like Russia has even bothered to follow the INF. Their Iskanders have been a clear violation of the treaty since 2012 at least, possibly even before. Even Obama considered tearing up the INF, simply because it wasn’t doing anything.

That said, it is an unsettling precedent. The INF was one of the centerpieces of our disarmament framework.

The amount of warheads is pretty much immaterial, as they say above a certain level you’re just “making the rubble bounce”. Our arsenal as a whole is in dire need of modernization and restructuring though.

Edited by archonspeaks on Oct 20th 2018 at 6:12:29 AM

They should have sent a poet.

Here's some very interesting early voting information in Georgia.

482,500 People have voted early.

This is 197.1% higher than the same time in 2014.

Some noteworthy demographics:

What really excites me is the large number of African Americans and Women voting, if both demographics solidly go Democratic then we could see very good things come election day.

"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn

Don't count too heavily on the female vote. Conservative white women tend to vote in favor of their abusers, so even with an impressive black turnout, that White percentile is alarming.

I don't expect to win Georgia, but it'd be pretty cool if we actually put up a fight.

EDIT: Wait, that's 60.6%? Never mind what I just said. I read it as 80.6%. My bad.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Oct 20th 2018 at 7:39:57 AM

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.

NVM, I saw your edit.

That's a fair mixup, honestly, I don't think I formatted it very well.

Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Oct 20th 2018 at 9:43:35 AM

"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn

Also for reference, here's 538's forecasts for the Senate, House, and Governor races.

House.

Guess who lives in that one solid red spot in lower California. >_>

Senate.

Governors.

In case anyone is thinking about donating and wondering where their money would probably make the most difference, gray, light blue, and light red would be the best bet.

"What a century this week has been." - Seung Min Kim

Well, the Do D outright stated that increasing the nuclear stockpile is unneeded both due to the massive costs related with having a massive nuclear force and because pushing for nuclear disarmament is a sure way to increase America's soft power and avoid escalation thanks to other rivals and potential rivals to the US having less legitimate ground to pursue a larger nuclear force.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut...

None of this matters to Trump, the jingoistic assholes and the republican chickenhawks who want to enter the dick waving contest with Russia.

And the issue with the INF is, the US doesn't really need IRBM's to begin with, specially with all those air launched nuclear capable cruise missiles and the US having by far the largest SLBM Boomer fleet in the world being very capable of replacing the land based IRBM's Russia is actually more fond off.

IRBM's would require active US bases stacked with launchers and to develop IRBM platforms like the decommissioned Pershing II missile or the GLCM Tomahawk armed with a nuclear warhead.

That capability was important during Cold War due reaction times, but less so after the whole thing deescalated for the US. However Russia still can use that as their hard/soft bargaining chip against other regional powers, neighbours and its rivals within the weapon's range. As well encourage other countries to develop their own IRBM systems, which isn't something the US or the rest of the world would benefit from.

Anyway, fully abandoning the treaty has less weight for Russia, which was already breaking or circumventing it, but it saddles the US with the need to develop and expand the nuclear arsenal to fill a niche that doesn't need to be filled by the US and pushes everyone else who developed nuclear weapons, NATO aligned or not, to start developing their own systems on their own since the big players don't have to play by the same rule anymore.

Another fuhrer blunder from the blunder fuhrer

Edited by AngelusNox on Oct 20th 2018 at 11:09:48 AM

Inter arma enim silent leges

Better a single red section than a single red state. Idaho's Democratic candidate for governor has a 1 in 20 chance of winning, and the Republicans have a 99% chance of retaining their spots in the House. Senate seats are not up this year.

I can only really take consolation that Republican rep Raul Labrador took himself out by not running for re-election to the House and losing in the primary for Governor.

Edited by sgamer82 on Oct 20th 2018 at 8:11:39 AM

Thanks for that, I had to look up who a few of those Democrats are. However, I don't think we'll see a double-digit set of candidates for the primaries. Many states do that; Nevada mails them with the absentee ballot^note the booklets only cover whatever ballot initiatives are being voted on, but they include arguments both for and against, as well as budgetary analysis and Washington mails them before the ballot to everyone, not just absentee voters^note their booklet is similar to Nevada. But it's not a requirement, and in GOP controlled states, it's literally in their best interest to keep the electorate as ignorant of the issues and candidates as possible. I disagree. I voted for her and was proud to do so, and she might be the best qualified candidate for President. But the amount of hate towards her did play a part in the election as well, and putting her on the ballot twice in a row, despite her having more votes last time, would not be a good move politically. I know registered Democrats (like both my parents) who didn't vote for her because of the "Hillary is evil" shit spewed around.^note I don't know if they voted for Trump, one of the useless third parties, or just left it blank on their ballot. But neither of them voted for Hillary. The days of running the same candidate again after they lost last time seem pretty well gone. In the run-up to 2016, Warren said often and repeatedly that she didn't want to leave Congress. I don't know if her feelings have changed going into the next election. I honestly expect Bernie to be int he primaries in 2020. Unless he dies first, anyway. Then we'll have Zombie Bernie in the primary instead. Bernie might have gotten some funds from Russia during the primaries. But do you honestly believe he'd be as much of a puppet to them as Trump has been? Or a disaster in any of the other myriad ways Trump is? I don't, and while my admiration of him has been greatly tarnished since 2016, I'd still have preferred him to the Orange Menace. I'd guess lending institutions and HMOs really, given senior financial expenses. My home state has both a Senate and Governor in the toss-up range, but my absentee all-Democrat ballot has already been sent in.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw

It'd be awesome if Biden ran.

Sadly, I don't think he will.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

Nukes suck.

No, they nuke. Pay attention.

To pity someone is to tell them "I feel bad about being better than you."

I agree, but they exist and as long as they do we should have the best ones.

Tearing up the INF is something I wouldn’t mind if it was anyone other than Trump. It’s not a bad idea, per se, given Russia’s behavior, but Trump is not doing it for the right reasons and will doubtlessly botch the execution.

Edited by archonspeaks on Oct 20th 2018 at 8:37:13 AM

They should have sent a poet.

I think that nominating Hillary again would quite possibly be the biggest mistake the democratic party could make in the entire time they've existed.

I think it would be a mistake, too. I don't want a repeat of 2016.

I liked it better when Questionable Casting was called WTH Casting Agency

Well, then you'll be glad to know its unlikely to ever happen.

I think slavery trumps that.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

From here, it looks like 2020 is going to be a mirror image of 2016. The Democratic primary is going to be a complete circus with absolutely everyone trying to be one to take down Trump. Meanwhile, Trump will be marching to his inevitable nomination, probably only opposed by Romney campaigning on "the moderates are the real Republicans". I expect the Democratic candidate will be a surprise

I wonder if its possible that the candidate will be someone nobody knows until the primaries start. Right now it seems like everybody who's going to vote in the primary knows who the major players are going to be: Sanders, Gillibrand,Biden, etc. So it seems unlikely we won't know.

I'm just glad celebrities are backing away from running, the last thing we need is for the next election to become a straight up reality tv show.

You mean it wasn't last time?

Remember, these idiots drive, fuck, and vote. Not always in that order.

I believe Kayne would make a much better president than Trump. Let him run in the primary against him.

Or have Trump replace Pence with him.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

...no.

To pity someone is to tell them "I feel bad about being better than you."

I'm going to go with a "no" on that one. Kanye...no, no, no, no. We do not need another celebrity President. Especially not one who seems somewhat Trumpian.

The awful things he says and does are burned into our cultural consciousness like a CRT display left on the same picture too long. -Fighteer