TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

The General US Politics Thread

Go To

Nov 2023 Mod notice:


There may be other, more specific, threads about some aspects of US politics, but this one tends to act as a hub for all sorts of related news and information, so it's usually one of the busiest OTC threads.

If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations and the On-Topic Conversations debate guidelines before posting here.

Rumor-based, fear-mongering and/or inflammatory statements that damage the quality of the thread will be thumped. Off-topic posts will also be thumped. Repeat offenders may be suspended.

If time spent moderating this thread remains a distraction from moderation of the wiki itself, the thread will need to be locked. We want to avoid that, so please follow the forum rules when posting here.


In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.

Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

MadSkillz Destroyer of Worlds Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: I only want you gone
Destroyer of Worlds
#174201: Feb 13th 2017 at 9:54:16 PM

@kkho It'd be Ryan stabbing Pence in the back.

It'd continue his theme of falling upwards from Representative to Speaker of the House to President without ever being elected.

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#174202: Feb 13th 2017 at 10:08:16 PM

Considering the hot potatoes game that the Republicans played with that position I don't think they could have found someone to run at the time. Boehner was long gone, and is probably relieved to not have to deal with this Trump induced travesty.

As for Bannon: one thing that can be said for the guy is that he's stubborn enough to stick it out and follow through on his agenda. It would take a hell of a lot to get him out of the White House at this point. Trump would have to lose a lot of faith in him.

Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#174203: Feb 13th 2017 at 10:18:02 PM

Bannon will go only when Trump does. They're too closely connected at this point. And the same likely applies to all of the other reactionary nationalists (like Miller, Sebastian Gorka, and Michael Anton) standing in the shadow of the attention whore in chief.

Although at the least the spotlight has now shifted to Miller and shown him to be the piece of shit that he is.

edited 13th Feb '17 10:20:38 PM by Eschaton

kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#174204: Feb 13th 2017 at 10:18:08 PM

[up][up]TRUMP: Hey Bannon, did you see what I did with my toupee? I could've sworn I left around the office somewhere...

BANNON: Wait, that was a toupee? I thought it was a dead ferret.

TRUMP: ...What did you just say?

BANNON: I said, I thought it was a dead ferret—

TRUMP: You're fired.

edited 14th Feb '17 7:10:23 AM by kkhohoho

SeriesOfNumbers Since: Jun, 2013
#174205: Feb 13th 2017 at 11:20:04 PM

Didn't Steve Bannon talk Trump out of using torture at one point? Or am I confusing him with someone else?

Now, to respond to some past posts that happened while I didn't feel like having political debates online:

173051

but that same principle applied to an interconnected election where Trump is the absolute worst case scenario, the selective reporting is indefensible. We still have to consider the ends, and context matters.
I guess that’s the crux of our disagreement. I think corruption being exposed is good regardless of the ends of the people doing it, and I don’t think this particular context changes that.

173060

Guys, there's not much point in arguing with the Trump troll.
Disagreeing with you does not a Trump troll make.

173113

I have to keep reminding myself these days that the subtitle for Rules for Radicals is A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals Any place taking bets on whether the "Justice Democrats" are trying to pretend that subtitle doesn’t exist?
If the Founding Fathers had stuck to what seemed pragmatic and realistic, would America exist today?

173114

Yeah while he's anti-choice, anti-LGBT and anti-the environment he's still a much needed Dem vote on a lot of other things, welfare, gun background checks (despite being an NRA member), Voting Rights, and any number of other things.
That’s why he and Democrats like him should only be challenged in the primaries. If he’s re-nominated, he’ll probably be the lesser of two evils compared to whoever the Republicans nominate.

173116

The only Dem I'm willing to see disposed of is Gabbard.
So you don’t want to replace Dems who act like Reps?

173124

As was stated above, Gabbard is a stooge of Assad and dismissed all those fighting against him as "terrorists". She's also a grifter and con-artist with a history of homophobic activism and whose staff still includes many of the people who worked for her and her father on said homophobic campaigns despite her supposed conversion. Steve Bannon regards her as someone he and Trump can work with, and a meeting between her and orangutan-in-chief was arranged soon after he took office. But she endorsed Sanders so the same "radical leftists" who accused Clinton and even Obama of being DIN Os and sellouts regard her as a progressive champion

173127

My biggest concern with her is that in endorsing Sanders she convinced a lot of the wannabe revolutionaries that she's a True Progressive and an enemy of the oh-so corrupt establishment. I hope the scales will fall from their eyes eventually, but I'm not really expecting it
From what I’ve heard, the main groups fighting Assad are Al-Qaeda and ISIS, so Gabbard’s actually right about that first part. I didn’t know that about her homophobia, though. That’s pretty awful, and if she really has indicated that she thinks Assad is a good guy, that’s even worse. I’ll keep these things in mind if Gabbard runs. In other words, the scales have fallen from my eyes.

173158

Because he was polling well among independents, he had a populist movement pushing forward, he successfully sold an image of incorruptibility to the American people, he was anti-establishment. he was bringing out people that don't usually vote and a substantial portion of Hillary's base are the ones that would've fallen in line if she had lost. Bernie appealed to the WWC in a way that Hillary didn't and that was critical to Hillary losing.
Yes, yes, THANK YOU! SOMEBODY GETS IT! Sorry, but you don’t how many conversations I’ve had online now where I’ve tried to point out how some Trump voters were motivated by a belief – correct or not – that Trump would be better for their economic future and Clinton was responsible for them losing their jobs. And pretty much everyone I say it too just brushes it off and reminds me how bigoted and authoritarian Trump is as if I didn’t already know that!

173162 The thing is, that study makes a case that the rust belt isn’t economically devastated, but it doesn’t seem to say anything about whether individuals who lost factory jobs voted for Clinton or Trump in most cases. I would argue that if someone loses their job and then keeps repeatedly hearing from Trump that it’s Clinton’s fault and she doesn’t try to argue that point much, they’re likely to believe it’s true regardless of whether it actually is or not.

173216

If he couldn't win with the party there is little to no reason to think he could have won with the nation.
Didn’t he win something like 22 states? Against the biggest name in Democratic politics and with the DNC tipping the scales against him, that’s a lot closer to winning than virtually any other previously unknown candidate going up against the biggest name in Dem politics should have been able to do. Besides, some candidates have lost their party’s nomination only to run again later, then win the nomination and the general election. Ronald Regan lost a Republican primary to Gerald Ford before later winning the nomination and presidency, for example.
Particularly since all those polls that purported to show how well he'd do were done in the face of him not having come under major scrutiny by the press/
not true

edited 13th Feb '17 11:24:05 PM by SeriesOfNumbers

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#174206: Feb 13th 2017 at 11:27:10 PM

That was actually Flynn and possibly one other military guy. That was like, the one good point in Flynn's favor out of the whole shit show. And then some other guy talked Trump back into thinking torture was a good idea.

[up]As long as Gabbard is the ambassador to the UN, I don't think she's running for anything else. Ambassadorships and a career in Congress are both full time jobs and simply can't be done at the same time.

edited 13th Feb '17 11:29:01 PM by AceofSpades

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#174207: Feb 13th 2017 at 11:51:58 PM

From what I’ve heard, the main groups fighting Assad are Al-Qaeda and ISIS,

You've heard wrong.

Assad helped create ISIS by letting their leaders out of prison, trades with ISIS (buying their oil) and has regularly pulled troops away from fighting ISIS so as to target more moderate and pro-democracy groups (that's how ISIS gained so much ground at the beginning of the war and recently when Assad focused on fighting the non-radical rebels in Aleppo he basically surrendered a city to ISIS so as to focus his fighting on non-radical rebels). On top of all of that there are non-radical groups in Syria, mainly the Kurds and non-Kurdish groups operating under their umbrella but also the southern rebel groups who are connected to Jordan and not with Turkey like the northern rebel groups are.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#174208: Feb 14th 2017 at 12:03:25 AM

[up]We're wasting our time engaging in good faith here.

Chaffetz believes that the people protesting at his town hall were all paid off by the Democrats.

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#174209: Feb 14th 2017 at 12:31:39 AM

Yet another case of the GOP attempting to undermine democracy.

I hear that Evan McMullin is in the same district as Chaffetz. He should totally run against him.

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
HextarVigar That guy from The Big House Since: Feb, 2015
That guy
#174210: Feb 14th 2017 at 12:31:52 AM

It was at this moment Jason knew...he fucked up.

Your momma's so dumb she thinks oral sex means talking dirty.
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#174211: Feb 14th 2017 at 12:56:09 AM

I hear that Evan Mc Mullin is in the same district as Chaffetz. He should totally run against him.

Nah Mc Mullin should run for the senate seat in 2018, Hatch might be retiring and if the Dems though in behind him Mc Mullin could have a serious shot as an independent. Even if the Dems can't take the Senate seat I'd bed a happy man if I saw it taken from the republicans.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#174213: Feb 14th 2017 at 1:12:46 AM

I thought Trump and the CIA didn't get along. You'd think them calling him an idiot would've had the opposite result to what we're seeing now.

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
math792d Since: Jun, 2011 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#174214: Feb 14th 2017 at 1:25:21 AM

[up] Quick, someone from the IRS call him an idiot and suggest he resign!

Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#174215: Feb 14th 2017 at 1:53:41 AM

It is indeed a surprise, particularly when the CIA's reasoning was: A, torture doesn't work, and B, torture will have diplomatic and strategic repercussions that they really don't need.

I can't imagine Trump caring about either fact.

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#174216: Feb 14th 2017 at 2:07:56 AM

The CIA appear to already been exercising some level of autonomy, as they're apparently holding back intel due to fears that it will end up in Russian hands if given to the White House. It's entirely possible that the CIA simply told Trump to get bent.

That or they've decided that if Russian intelligence are going to blackmail the president they might as well counter blackmail the president.

edited 14th Feb '17 2:08:06 AM by Silasw

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#174217: Feb 14th 2017 at 4:01:39 AM

Guess he's no longer in like Flynn. cool

Do not obey in advance.
Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
NoName999 Since: May, 2011
#174219: Feb 14th 2017 at 5:36:54 AM

At least Flynn has the record of having the shortest tenure as National Security Advisor.

Get rekt, Richard V. Allen.

Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#174220: Feb 14th 2017 at 5:39:14 AM

[up]It's probably going to remain unchallenged for a good, long while. :/

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#174221: Feb 14th 2017 at 6:15:02 AM

[up][up][up] It already hadn't?

edited 14th Feb '17 6:16:45 AM by sgamer82

Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#174223: Feb 14th 2017 at 6:42:30 AM

Chaffetz may be primaried, so there's that. Anyone got an idea where his potential Republican challenger stands on the issues]]?

People are sending Jason Chaffetz invoices following his accusations that the people protesting him were paid to do so. $500? That's, like, the starting wage for a fresh graduate in Kuala Lumpur! Where do I join?

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#174224: Feb 14th 2017 at 7:10:25 AM

Anyone catch this?

Intel Committee Chairman doesn't want to investigate Flynn, but wants to investigate those who leaked everything.

Party. Over Country.

New Survey coming this weekend!
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#174225: Feb 14th 2017 at 7:15:27 AM

[up][up]I found this: http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/american-fork-resident-damian-kidd-announces-primary-campaign-against-rep/article_ab939672-44b6-5348-9e66-b074cfb17918.html

Kidd described himself as "very conservative" on economic issues, and said he would apply conservative principles to the national debt. He tends to be more Libertarian on social issues, he said, though he also described himself as pro-life.

"My birth mother was 15 when she gave birth to me," Kidd said. "So my views on that are pretty strong."

Kidd named several reasons he decided to challenge Chaffetz. For starters, he thinks Chaffetz, who was first elected in 2008, has been in office for too long.

"I'm a big believer in limiting terms," Kidd said. "I think it's time for him to get back in the private sector and do something else."

Kidd said if elected, he planned to term-limit himself to no more than three or four terms in office.

But beyond Chaffetz's multiple terms in office, Kidd said he is disappointed in the way Chaffetz has handled his leadership position as chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

"He is not operating the committee in a non-partisan way," Kidd said. "I'm a conservative Republican, and I hope Donald Trump succeeds, but the House Oversight Committee shouldn't be protecting Trump from common sense oversight standard review. Yet, it sounds like he'll continue to investigate Hillary (Clinton)."

Kidd said his leadership style would differ from Chaffetz in that he would listen to input from those on the opposite side of the political spectrum from himself.

"I think that's one problem we have," Kidd said. "Everyone in Washington is so divisive, and they're not finding solutions to hard problems."

So he would be bad for abortion but probably not as bad for other social issues. Sounds closer to the "proper conservative" we've all talked about before.


Total posts: 417,856
Top