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

Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#259376: Oct 30th 2018 at 4:25:40 AM

For what it's worth I'd argue that Trump's incompetence is actually a bug rather than a feature. His incompetence doesn't make him less destructive-it makes him even more destructive than he wants to be. It also means that it's very difficult for anything good to come of his presidency, since even if he did make a token good action, he'd screw it up.

A good metaphor would be this: Let's say somebody kidnaps you and pulls you into a helicopter to be taken to where you'll be held for ransom. You do not necessarily want that person to crash the helicopter.

Leviticus 19:34
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#259377: Oct 30th 2018 at 4:28:22 AM

No can do Donnie,unless you want to eliminate the Fourteenth Amendment,to wit "The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States—including former slaves—and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.”

Of course one concern I've read about is that he's filling the Supreme court with partisans so he could have a decent chance

Edited by Ultimatum on Oct 30th 2018 at 4:35:26 AM

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#259378: Oct 30th 2018 at 4:49:13 AM

Pence is a man I do not in any way shape or form think is more dangerous than Trump. Even to gay people.

I’m from Indiana and I strongly disagree. I am positive every nasty anti-LGBTQ thing the Trump admin has done came from Pence. He actually truly, devoutly BELIEVES all the white Christian supremacist dogma that Trump yammers on about. He will lie to your face with a gentle smile, while Trump says the quiet parts loud. He is an abominable, vicious, dangerous man.

TerminusEst from the Land of Winter and Stars Since: Feb, 2010
#259379: Oct 30th 2018 at 4:49:19 AM

[up][up]

The article notes that the exact meaning of the 14th Amendment is somewhat in dispute.

Edited by TerminusEst on Oct 30th 2018 at 4:49:37 AM

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#259380: Oct 30th 2018 at 4:54:34 AM

So, what's next? Trying to get rid of Obama in the history books by retroactively denying him citizenship?

[up]Disputed by Republicans. Which is an Euphemism for 'Lying to our convenience' these days

Edited by 3of4 on Oct 30th 2018 at 12:59:34 PM

"You can reply to this Message!"
Hylarn (Don’t ask)
#259381: Oct 30th 2018 at 5:05:10 AM

The text of the relevant passages is not ambiguous. Saying that it shouldn't apply to the children of non-citizens is wishful thinking from xenophobes

Edited by Hylarn on Oct 30th 2018 at 5:05:17 AM

kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#259382: Oct 30th 2018 at 5:10:59 AM

If he tries this it will be immediately challenged in court. With any luck he's just blowing hot air but, well, it's Trump.

CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#259383: Oct 30th 2018 at 5:11:47 AM

"For what it's worth I'd argue that Trump's incompetence is actually a bug rather than a feature. His incompetence doesn't make him less destructive-it makes him even more destructive than he wants to be. It also means that it's very difficult for anything good to come of his presidency, since even if he did make a token good action, he'd screw it up."

See, I disagree with this part. His incompetence, bug or feature, is still our salvation. Can you imagine if the Trump administration was actually competent, how much damage that would do to us as a country morally and politically, except without the obviousness that helps even the ignorant comprehend the situation we're in? Every malevolent, petty, cruel policy would be entrenched because they're delivered by a softer glove. The creative destruction of his presidency makes the opposition, and thus the only chance America has of opposing his neo-fascist ideology, that much more potent.

Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Oct 30th 2018 at 8:13:47 AM

"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."
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#259384: Oct 30th 2018 at 5:15:58 AM

I'd argue that he's got this far to be the highest authority in the land shows some competence

Dont underestimate him

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
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
#259385: Oct 30th 2018 at 5:22:11 AM

[up][up] You can’t have one without the other, the incompetence and the malice are linked, Trump is liked by the people who like him because he’s a genuine ignorant idiot like them, he’s gotten as far as he has because he’s an idiot and that’s allowed the people around him to downplay his malice.

To pursue the policies Trump has pursued you have to be an idiot, because they’re that god dam stupid, you can’t have one without the other.

It’s like when we get the occasional question of “what if that terrorist hadn’t been an idiot”, the answer is that they wouldn’t have been a terrorist, because terrorism is stupid.

A competent Trump wouldn’t be Trump, because competent people don’t belive in the things Trump believes in.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#259386: Oct 30th 2018 at 5:31:16 AM

Counterpoint: Mike Pence. He’s a bigoted white Christian supremacist but he’s unfortunately competent enough to be effective.

Having rational, non-bigoted beliefs does not correlate to being incompetent.

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
#259387: Oct 30th 2018 at 5:45:24 AM

Except he’s not competent, the man is so bad at politics that he almost got run out of Indiana and could only get elected office at a federal level by hiding at the bottom of a ticket taken up by Trump.

Pence couldn’t have won in 2016 by himself, he needed Trump to get the pair fo them elected and as such Pence has to manage the loadstone of Trump while he tried to get things done.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#259388: Oct 30th 2018 at 5:50:26 AM

Pence is not a political genius or especially charismatic. But that doesn’t make him incompetent, and acting as if he is ignores how dangerous he is.

In 2 years, he’s erased a ton of progress on LGBT issues and gotten 2 Christian believers on SCOTUS, ready to further erode LGBT and repro rights. He’s quietly steered Trump while avoiding the same level of scrutiny and outrage.

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#259389: Oct 30th 2018 at 5:59:43 AM

Ya, Trump is a hatemongerer but it's Pence and McConnell who are pulling many important strings.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#259390: Oct 30th 2018 at 6:01:45 AM

All the more reason to impeach Trump. Remove the hatemongering. It's not like being "only" VP has kept Pence from enacting his own twisted agenda. At least as POTUS he'd be under more scrutiny too.

Edited by M84 on Oct 30th 2018 at 9:02:22 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#259391: Oct 30th 2018 at 6:08:09 AM

There's a sect of Islam that has this exact same problem because it reveres Iblis as an archangel. Are they not?

Firstly, Yazidis (the Religion you're talking about) don't revere Iblis; they're Monotheists that worship the 1 God, and revere his 7 Archangels, especially the head Archangel, the Peacock Melek Taus. Like Iblis, Melek Taus was an Angel that wouldn't bow before Humans on God's Orders, but unlike Iblis (who was then kicked out of Heaven and has been Satan every since), Taus redeemed himself and helped shape the Earth. The belief that Yazidis are devil worshippers come from extremist Muslims, and isn't what the Yazidis actually worship.

Secondly, Yazidis do not consider themselves Muslims. They claim their Religion is completely independent from the Abrahamic Faiths, and thus calling a Yazidi a Muslim might be offensive. A better example of "Muslims not being accepted as Muslims" would be the Amahdi Muslim Faith (which, coincidentally, is also because they believe a Redeemer has come when most do not).

On the topic at hand, if a Jewish Person follows most of the core tenants of Judaism, but also accepts Jesus as the Messiah, I would say they are Jewish, especially if they claim themselves to be Jewish.

Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#259392: Oct 30th 2018 at 6:17:37 AM

Collins continues to be the feckless piece of shit, complaining about the synagogue attack caused by both sides implicitly equating "harassing lawmakers when they're in public" and "attempting to murder random people because they're different from you."

Mc Connell does the same, of course. But that's on-brand for him, no one pretends he might sometimes be decent.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Sessions explicitly going #AllReligiousLivesMatter.

Edited by Larkmarn on Oct 30th 2018 at 9:33:06 AM

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#259393: Oct 30th 2018 at 6:21:04 AM

It is indeed important to keep in mind that intelligent (and even rational) can believe in wide variety of political views, including very bad ones.

@Ultimatum: To be fair, I actually would call that a good point. Trump is smarter than he appears IMO (in fact, "lack of self control" is a more accurate description of him than "unintelligent"), and one of his strengths is that he is easily underestimated.

Overall though I'd actually say that a lot of his success goes down to a sort of Confusion Fu of sorts. It's not necessarily that Trump is competent, but rather he's so incompetent that it makes him into something of a wild card. Politicians are used to dealing with people more competent than him.

Leviticus 19:34
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#259394: Oct 30th 2018 at 6:21:58 AM

[up][up][up]The mods already decided this was off-topic. Leave it in the Religion thread.

Disgusted, but not surprised
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#259395: Oct 30th 2018 at 6:25:05 AM

[up]Sorry, I didn't see the Mod Post. I'll drop it now.

ITNW1989 a from Big Meat, USA Since: Nov, 2012 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
a
#259396: Oct 30th 2018 at 7:14:55 AM

God I hope whoever goes up against Collins uses that 3 mil wisely and gets her hypocritical, both-siding arse out of Senate.

Hitokiri in the streets, daishouri in the sheets.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#259397: Oct 30th 2018 at 7:32:46 AM

If they wanted to bothside this you'd think they would have tried bringing up that one asshole who tried to kill a bunch of GOP Congresspeople.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
#259398: Oct 30th 2018 at 7:34:06 AM

Meanwhile people got thrown out of a Sessions speech for quoting the Bible at him.

One can only assume he does not like being reminded of the importance Christ put on charity.

Edited by Deadbeatloser22 on Oct 30th 2018 at 2:34:37 PM

"Yup. That tasted purple."
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#259399: Oct 30th 2018 at 7:36:07 AM

[up]Now I'm imagining Sessions reacting the way Pazuzu reacted to the exorcism in The Exorcist.

Edited by M84 on Oct 30th 2018 at 10:36:23 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#259400: Oct 30th 2018 at 7:36:57 AM

Former President Jimmy Carter called on Brian Kemp to resign as Georgia's Secretary of State in order to avoid damaging public confidence in the outcome of his contested race against Democrat Stacey Abrams. Stepping aside, Carter wrote a letter to Kemp, "would be a sign that you recognize the importance of this key democratic principle and want to ensure the confidence of our citizens in the outcome."
Poor Jimmy, you should know by now that nothing will make him let go of the voter suppression that will let him win.
The justices, with no noted dissents, on Monday rejected the Republican appeal of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling throwing out the previous Republican-drawn map because it violated the state constitution's requirement that elections be "free and equal" by marginalizing Democratic voters.
That's ... surprising.

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

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