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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I think this may be rather shrewd of Trump. By placing Bannon and hence the alt-right in an advisory role instead of an actual position of power, Trump prevents the alt-right from building a powerbase in the actual government and forces them to go thru him to have any influence. If Trump falls, they fall as well, so they have to keep supporting him. Meanwhile, Trump can play the alt-right and the establishment off against each other.
@Xopher: Who knows, but at this point I still really can't get a good read on Trump; he's either ridiculously lucky or a fair bit smarter (though no less vile) than people think he is. If nothing else, I think he intuitively understands the basic principles of power.
edited 13th Nov '16 3:18:35 PM by CaptainCapsase
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At this point we should stop underestimating the guy. Yesterday a few of you were saying he could be either president tyrant or president celebrity. It's probably better to assume he'll be the first, be prepared for that, and then be relieved after 4 (or, may the citizens of the US forbid, 8) years if he ended up being the second.
edited 13th Nov '16 3:18:58 PM by IFwanderer
1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KVCap, I'd say a bit of both. These rich and famous because they're rich and famous types tend to be savvy on how to capitalize on opportunities. Plus, he basically had most of the Republican establish fold over the primaries and try to make him look legit. (Or saw their own opportunities to capitalize on.)
It says something that he doesn't actually appear to be bragging about his win, though. This was probably not his end game.
edited 13th Nov '16 4:12:59 PM by AceofSpades
I agree with Ace Of Spades. I'm not sure that I'd call Trump a political mastermind or anything but it does seem to me that he caught onto a lot of things that he could tap into as part of his campaign (white resentment, economic anxiety, xenophobia, use of social media as a propaganda tool, etc) and figured he might be able to get away with campaigning on that platform. He might also have recognized that being a celebrity would mean a lot of instant publicity from people's baser instincts, when you have a media/tv figure running as a candidate people will immediately pay attention. If it didn't work out, then he would still get a load of attention for himself which is good for business.
I do think it's possible that he might have underestimated all those factors, which is why he didn't expect to (or want to) win.
edited 13th Nov '16 3:30:36 PM by Draghinazzo
That video on the previous page, I think, is a great one. I'm glad it's making the rounds. I'm seeing both conservatives and liberals in the comments section agreeing with it, and it's something that's frustrated me about my fellow liberals - and the echo chamber we've had in this thread. You can't just dismiss the other side as nothing but racists and bigots and the like - and if they are, you have to fucking talk with them and try to open minds.
It wasn't just bigots that won the election, but desperate people who didn't like being called "bigot" or "desperate" or being told that their jobs were going to disappear (something Hillary said about coal) as if it's a good thing.
Right now, the right feels they have reason not to get out of their echo chamber, since they probably feel vindicated by this big Republican win. We need to penetrate their echo chamber with ideas, and that's done by actually opening up dialog and talking.
A little at a time. We can start by providing personal stories of people who are/were affected negatively by Republican policies. Personal stories are harder to argue with than abstract concepts.
I'm currently debating between two interpretations of Trump and his recent actions. He could be either:
a) Someone who is uninterested in actually governing and just wants to do the fun POTUS events, rallies, parades etc. and change a few things to enrich himself. This is the less disastrous interpretation.
b) A Great Man who wants to do Great Things because that's how he imagines being the POTUS would be like. He is uninterested in the gritty details of everyday governance but wants to do cool stuff that will go down in history books. This is the much more dangerous interpretation.
Right now, it's unclear which one he'd be. But nonetheless, Trump is a charismatic man with a good instinct on how to manipulate people and power structures. It would be extremely foolish to think otherwise.
edited 13th Nov '16 3:37:29 PM by nightwyrm_zero
Fuck me. The Republic of Michigan seems very appealing now.
However, since we can no longer underestimate this smug ass troll, we have to ask ourselves, was this maybe the better choice? Cause Trump did say he would not have accepted a defeat, and he has the power to reach out to all the militia movements in America.
Please allow me to introduce myself, I am a man of wealth and taste. Nice to meet you, hope you can guess my name.More like people are banking on the idea that Trump doesn't necessarily want or is interested in doing much based on his personality and his history. People have made comparisons to Italy's Berlusconi, who I don't think did much besides passing a bunch of legislation to benefit himself, and I think there's a good chance that will be true of Trump as well.
That still leaves us with Pence doing most of the legwork though, which is horrible.
edited 13th Nov '16 3:41:59 PM by Draghinazzo
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However, if they manage to gain dominance over nationwide state legislatures (which they are perilously close to achieving), then they'll be able to ratify constitutional amendments.
Frankly, I am having a hard time seeing any other end than "we are all completely screwed." We are ticking off every box on the rise-of-fascism checklist, and even the best-case scenarios are horrifying.
edited 13th Nov '16 3:49:34 PM by RBluefish
"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."

Hmmm, looks like Bannon is only an advisor, so I'm not sure if he has a really position of authority or if he's just put in the WH to placate Trump's base.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.