The General US Politics Thread

@Draghinazzo

One way I can see this happening is pushing the promotion of minority rights to the backside of the Democratic platform in place of class-based economic issues. It's unfortunate for marginalized groups who need a visible push now, but it's kind of like how the Republicans put the creationism and abortion issues at that turn off non-evangelical white voters to the back of their campaign. That kind of message shift might be possible under Warren.

Okay, then, I changed it.

@CDRW I really don't understand if you're saying Trump is the lesser asshole or if Hillary supporters are the biggest ones: some people here go a bit overboard, but that's a bit too much, no?

In any case, Jill Stein was definitely the least assholish candidate for me, even if she had some crazy views.

edited 9th Nov '16 1:52:20 PM by Grafite

That it would come to this is really depressing to me but nothing says promotion of minority rights can't still be on the platform even then.

@Grafite

Stein wanted Trump to win so they could burn down the system. She's a raging ass.

What would be more at stake in 2020? At least that would be after 4 years of shoring up Obama's work.

@Eschaton

Agreed. Now all Obama achieved will get undone by Trump and co.

Yeah Stein has ties to Russia, Big Business, is pro-Brexit, an anti-vaxer and pro-Trump. Not exactly non-asshole to me.

Not that I disagree with you about how we'd be going through this whole song-and-dance with someone even crazier in 2020, but how would there be more at stake after four years of Clinton not turning back the clock?

EDIT:

edited 9th Nov '16 1:52:02 PM by Reflextion

Hopefully next election's candidates will be better.

Right now I've moved past the denial and sadness parts of the seven stages of denial and into reluctant acceptance. I don't trust him, and I don't trust Pence, but hopefully he will turn out not to be completely awful.

Forget about 2020. Forget about 2024.

It doesn't fucking matter.

If Trump gets his Supreme Court Justices, it doesn't fucking matter WHO we put up.

Every single progressive action will be challenged by the GOP and struck down by the far-right Supreme Court.

Ties to big businesses? I thought she was vehemently against Wall Street and the sorts. But again, I think the reason she holds most of those positions is not because of evil, but because she's simply misguided.

edited 9th Nov '16 1:55:45 PM by Grafite

But surely Republicans will stick to their stance on states' rights, so when state legislatures make decisions expanding certain rights, at least those wont be at risk!

....

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

edited 9th Nov '16 1:57:59 PM by Eschaton

X3 Trump will currently get to replace one justice, one who was already a diehard conservative. We just need all the other justices to stay alive for two years until the Dems can regain the Senate in the midterms.

Publicly she's against them but she's been found out to have private ties to some pretty nasty cooperation.

edited 9th Nov '16 1:58:30 PM by Silasw

So in state-level news, guess who got elected to the House in my state of MN? Jason Lewis.

Did I mention how disgusted I am with these election results?

I feel like referencing Colbert's old bit about "Truthiness".

@The Librarian

What i am really frustrated about is that Trump was such an easy candidate to defeat according to the polls and history, but instead what happened was just division, when it could have been a landslide win.

edited 9th Nov '16 2:01:36 PM by Grafite

Some Imgurman has compiled an analysis on why exactly Trump "has already won" (note it's from March) and the follow-up from recently.

I'm not sure if I agree with decrying Trump a master strategist (he didn't win a popular vote, though it doesn't really mean anything), but... it does seem to make some sense. He is not a politician and thus does not play by the usual politician rules.

As for me, well, all I can express is some cautious - if really bitter - optimism. American Minorities (and American Muslims) will probably feel Trump Presidency the hardest, but from an European (Polish) standpoint it might be some shaky status quo. Yes, his win empowers the right-wing nutters and makes stuff for our own Minorities - or Minorities and people of color elsewhere - that much tougher, but there's a chance to definitely crush ISIS and, hopefully, limit the worldwide terrorism now that USA and Russia would look up to making out a deal built on Syrian Rebels and other such groups (Kurds, I presume)' backs.

European NATO members might actually field a proper army - or even a unified European Army - in light of Trump's desire to leave Europe to its own devices on that matter. That would likely be enough to hold off any Russian expansionism, hopefully, at least as long as Putin and people of his association hold office.

To sum up, Political Situation - at least for us - might see stability. Social Situation is going to the gutter and that is terrible, but I have hopes that if not Trump himself, then the Senate/Representatives will rein him in on more outrageous ideas. Ideally - from what I understand - Trump's whole campaign is just a giant publicity stunt and he himself - even if a reproachable human being - will tone down to less of the bad. It's a cold comfort, but I guess it's all we have.

Census, redistricting, undoing gerrymandering, that whole spiel.

As for Trump undoing everything Obama did, probably not.

Reagan never got rid of the Department of Education or Energy from Carter, Obama never got everything erased from Dubya, Clinton never erased Bush Sr entirely, so there's no way Trump can do that, especially not when he doesn't have the popular mandate.

More likely than not that gridlock is still gonna happen, since Schumer will likely [and Reid had he stayed on would have] just do exactly what Mc Connell did and stonewall everything and then blame it on trump.

The polls were wrong and history said it would be close, Trump won where no other Republican could, he convinced the white rural folks who want change to come to his side, no establishment Republican could have done that.

I was thinking about who should run on the Democratic ticket in 2020, and I think we would be limiting ourselves if we only talked about Elizabeth Warren. We also need to consider any up and coming Democratic politicians that might not of had the resume to run this time around^note well might not of had the resume for a logical election, which the Democratic party mistakenly assumed this was going to be, but could in 2020.

What about Tammy Duckworth? She landslided her way into the Senate against Mark Kirk, who was an incumbent, which counts for something right there.

She was born in Thailand, but it's generally understood^note well generally understood since Cruz was a serious contender that the "natural born citizen" requirement includes anyone that was automatically conferred citizenship at the time of their birth, which she was thanks to her father.

While this might still be a problem for a different candidate, her military service and the injuries she sustained during it makes it fundamentally ludicrous to question her "Americaness". Probably also helps that Thailand isn't a country we have very complicated relations with.

It's just an idea I'm throwing out there and I can't really pretend to know enough about her to be sure if she would be the right person for the job, but I am going to be keeping a close eye on her Senatorial career over the next few years nonetheless.

I'll believe that when I see it.

I am still expecting to see what the hell Trump and his team will do to the US economy. Those fuckers are set to make the world enter another recession when we're barely recovery from the last one.

I would say that at least perhaps the Republicans in Congress will hold up their previous opposition to Trump... but then I remembered that that hope would entail them putting their jobs on the line, and I laughed for a while at the thought of a Republican Congress with principles.

@ Grafite: I agree wholeheartedly with a lot of what's being said. Trump, his espoused policies (when they're coherent enough to be called policies), and his supporters are in every way, shape, and form, terrible. Racism, bigotry, LGBT issues, class issues, and a whole host of other outright evil problems are running rampant.

But those same issues are right here too. The people here are showing themselves no better. Every bit as bigoted, every bit as unsympathetic to anyone who doesn't support their cause, and every bit as willing to write off huge sections of the American populace as subhumans who don't deserve the slightest consideration. If I have to choose between an open evil and an evil that (badly) wears the mask of good, I'll go with the open one. It's easier to keep track of what they're doing.