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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
The only reason to vote Trump I can sort of rationalize that isn't based on bigotry or ignorance is all the old people who emigrated from Communist regimes and are basically lifelong Republicans because of the GOP's anticommunist stance in the Cold War. Being Chinese American my family has a surprising amount of them for living in blue states, but I can't entirely hold it against all of them.
I still think it's wrong and closeminded of them but many of them are fundamentally decent people who went to decent schools, who work hard and care about their families and who've basically been suckered in by GOP propaganda preying on their histories. It's really ironic because if anything the Democrats have done more for them in their lives, since it was JFK and LBJ who actually allowed us into the country, and the Democrats who pushed for civil rights and opportunities for the poor, but for someone who escaped totalitarianism I can see how they'd be drawn by the Republicans' words.
Any other reason though, while I can sort of get economic concerns from an emotional perspective and I don't think it's helpful to ignore them, it's really hard to wrap my head around anything else.
edited 9th Nov '16 12:48:38 PM by AlleyOop
From Trump's victory speech:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/us/politics/trump-speech-transcript.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=span-abc-region®ion=span-abc-region&WT.nav=span-abc-region
"If you can vote for Trump despite all that then guess what—you are being bigoted. If whatever you think he's going to give you matters more to you than his treatment of your fellow citizens, there's a problem there."
Now, more than ever, a line in the sand must be drawn. If you can casually vote for such an unrepentant xenophobe, you are one by association. You're saying you believe this cretin is worthy of possessing the most powerful position of leadership in the Western world. No amount of prevarication will erase that. Future generations will remember that when the decision fell in our laps, half of us chose to side with evil because we felt we could safely ignore the implications.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."Too much of the "it wasn't about racism" stuff sounds like neo-Confederate BS I've heard online. "They didn't secede over slavery, they did it for economic reasons." Yeah, economic reasons to do with slavery.
@speedy boris
And why wouldn't it mean that? He'll just put a different name on it and have Steve Bannon run it.
edited 9th Nov '16 12:47:06 PM by AmbarSonofDeshar
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I'd still hedge my bets on that happening, with Trump giving control of that to his family.
It'll be ghoulish.
There was a picture on my twitter timeline of vandalism somewhere with TRUMP 2016 and a swastika next to it.
It's frustrating that people can be so blind.
edited 9th Nov '16 12:47:57 PM by Draghinazzo
Reading tropes such as You Know What You Did
This may be comforting.
Short version is Trump, cannot actually change or interpret the Constitution to his liking, that is up to the Supreme Court. Trump cannot actually elect the Supreme Court, he can only put up nominees should one be needed. He cannot take away any form of support or social security, this is locked to Congress. Trump is subject to the same laws as everyone else. Changes to welfare must go through Congress.
I'll break here because this is a big one: executive orders. There appears to be a big fear over Trump's ego and how he'll use executive orders, or not, and go, "Fuck you I'm Donald Trump, we're forcing the (insert racist label here) to pay for and build the wall, fuck you I'm Donald Trump, we're building internment camps for blacks and deporting all Muslims out, fuck you I'm Donald Trump, gimme the launch codes." No. Absolutely not. Trump cannot exercise executive orders, not on this level anyway and were he to try we would likely see a coup.
Trump cannot take your guns away, neither could Clinton. The laws would have to be changed first for there to be legitimate legal reason to do so. Nor can he outlaw same sex marriage. Trumps idea of playing global Monopoly with real countries where he could buy Britain for 35 billion, France for 70 billion, Africa...he wouldn't want because he is racist, that's all fiction. He cannot make trade policy, it has to be authorized through Congress. Trump cannot take away Obamacare, much as all as he like to. Nor can he declare war. Trump dearly wants a race war but this as well as changes to the Constitution have to go through Congress.
To put it very short, America and the world is much safer from Trump than we may fear, and if he does get uppity impeach the son of a bitch.
Currently reading up My Rule Fu Is Stronger than YoursOkay, after reading all of this thread...I think I'm going to have to take a break from it for now. There's only so much I can handle at this moment.
I'm probably going to need to start seeking therapy soon, to be honest.
Despite everything, I'm going to try to have hope for the future.
Bye for now.
Oh God! Natural light!Sure there is, you think Pence isn't going to be the one carrying the nuclear codes? I'd be shocked if Trump wasn't permanently assigned a minder to basically keep him under control at all times and make sure he doesn't order anyone in the military to do anything bonkers.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranThere's a difference between being actively bigoted and being complicit with bigotry. Helping to perpetuate prejudice doesn't require personally holding bigoted views.
I don't believe for a second that all Trump supporters were voting for him based on bigotry. However many of them are, and those are for voting for him for other reasons are basically sending a message that they find his bigotry acceptable.
This doesn't mean we can't try to understand the possible non-racist reasons why people would vote for him, or the valid problems that they have, but we can't be intellectually dishonest about what has been done or act like what they did was valid.
This isn't rocket science.
edited 9th Nov '16 12:58:22 PM by Draghinazzo
I really hope the 24-hour news stations sack everybody who didn't take Trump seriously as a candidate, yet still gave him ample airtime and discussed him ad nauseum. They don't deserve their jobs.
And on a related note, I'm not watching late night talk shows for a while. They're going to make jokes about a subject which I don't consider funny in the slightest, and it's just gonna be really uncomfortable and queasy.

So I'm not saying we should invade the good universe and take their stuff but....
Oh really when?