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

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
#259576: Oct 31st 2018 at 4:22:54 PM

I know that if the president and vice president are removed/dead, an acting president is put in place and that there's a special election at December if its not an election year.

I don’t know where you heard this from but it’s wrong.

There is no system in place in the US system for a special election for the office of President, you just keep running down the line of succession until you get a living person, they then become president until the next regularly scheduled election.

@Tobias, military personnel aren’t being sent to the literal border, don’t buy Trump’s lies, military personal are being sent to hang around at the office of the border patrol agents at the border. That will mean more agents on the border sure, but there aren’t going to be armed military personnel standing at crossing points.

Edited by Silasw on Oct 31st 2018 at 11:25:14 AM

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#259577: Oct 31st 2018 at 4:26:58 PM

[up]Exactly. Hell, they've actually been told not to interact with the immigrants. If they were to do that, it'd be violating a direct order.

archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#259578: Oct 31st 2018 at 4:31:09 PM

[up][up] If there's a double vacancy a special election is supposed to be held, with the other people down the line just there in case of some sort of extra serious emergency.

Of course, US presidential succession is a mess so who actually knows.

They should have sent a poet.
bitemytail Since: Dec, 2011
#259579: Oct 31st 2018 at 4:32:53 PM

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Presidential_line_of_succession

Relevant to this conversation.

Succession out to 18* people.

* One of the 18 is not a natural-born citizen, so cannot be president, even by succession.

Edited by bitemytail on Oct 31st 2018 at 4:33:05 AM

PresidentStalkeyes Eats moldy bread and flies into windows from United Kingdom of England-land Since: Feb, 2016 Relationship Status: Do you like me? (Yes ⎕ Definitely ⎕ Absolutely!!! ⎕)
Eats moldy bread and flies into windows
#259580: Oct 31st 2018 at 4:41:05 PM

Might be a bit late to the punch, but has anyone seen this?

Besides the hilarity of the situation (why the campaigners didn't just use an old photograph of an impoverished American neighbourhood is beyond me), I find it interesting how the campaigners couldn't even be bothered to slander the Democrat opponent that's actually relevant to their campaign, so they just fall back on a famous widely-disliked figure instead. It seems, like their fascination with linking themselves to Trump even when the connection is tenuous at best, they also love connecting anything any Democrat does with Pelosi, or Obama or Hillary, and so on.

I guess this is why Democrats have been careful not to rely too much on attacking Trump lately, because then you end up with ads like this. :V

Edited by PresidentStalkeyes on Oct 31st 2018 at 11:42:05 AM

Those sell-by-dates won't stop me because I can't read!
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#259581: Oct 31st 2018 at 4:46:06 PM

They can't advertise on the issues.

Because their position is Kill the Poor.

This is literally a problem because they have nothing but racism and misogyny, which falls apart when they don't have a black man or a woman to insult.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#259582: Oct 31st 2018 at 4:47:31 PM

3/ The Trump administration doesn't plan to renew the anti-domestic terror program, which funds the development of new approaches to prevent terrorism before it begins. The Department of Homeland Security said it has no plans to continue the program past the end of its funding in July 2019 and has told grant recipients that the funding was a "one-time" opportunity. (NBC News)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-admin-will-apparently-not-renew-program-fight-domestic-terror-n926361

Who's betting that this is solely to allow more anti-Democrat/pro-white supremacist domestic terrorism, like the pipe-bomber and the synagogue attacker of the last few days?

4/ Jamal Khashoggi was strangled and dismembered as soon as he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul as part of a premeditated plan to kill the Saudi journalist and dispose of his body, according Turkey's public prosecutor. The statement from Irfan Fidan is the first official description by a Turkish official about Khashoggi's death and follows two days of meetings with Saudi Arabia's top prosecutor, Saud al-Mojeb. A senior Turkish official said Mojeb did not give Fidan the location of Khashoggi's body or the identity of the "local collaborator" who helped dispose of the Khashoggi's remains. The Saudis have shifted their story about Khashoggi's fate, initially denying any knowledge, then suggesting that "rogue" killers were responsible for Khashoggi's death, before acknowledging that Khashoggi was killed in a premeditated murder. (CNN / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Associated Press)

https://apnews.com/7b064bec9b1448d7b2c1ec259b37503c?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter

... I could've sworn that a summary of the audio recording acquired by the Turkish authorities said that Khashoggi had been in the consul's office to finish off his papers when his killers barged in.

Trump attacked Paul Ryan for saying Trump "obviously" can't end birthright citizenship with an executive order. "Paul Ryan should be focusing on holding the Majority rather than giving his opinions on Birthright Citizenship, something he knows nothing about!" (New York Times / Washington Post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-presses-on-with-case-to-end-birthright-citizenship-one-way-or-the-other/2018/10/31/bcd69dc2-dd12-11e8-85df-7a6b4d25cfbb_story.html

[lol] Oh yes, tell us all about Birthright Citizenship, Don! You should know a lot about the subject, considering your dad.

... Has anyone pointed out the irony to him yet?

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#259583: Oct 31st 2018 at 4:50:38 PM

Who's betting that this is solely to allow more anti-Democrat/pro-white supremacist domestic terrorism, like the pipe-bomber and the synagogue attacker of the last few days?

Sir, I am not in the habit of throwing my money away tongue

Oh yes, tell us all about Birthright Citizenship, Don! You should know a lot about the subject, considering your dad.

Oh yes, Trump lecturing other people on talking about things they know nothing about is more or less the height of utter ridiculousness.

Trump is pretty much the personification of Dunning-Kruger.

Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Oct 31st 2018 at 7:58:01 AM

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
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
#259584: Oct 31st 2018 at 4:57:04 PM

If there's a double vacancy a special election is supposed to be held,

Can you quote me the relevant part of the constitution for this? Because I’m pretty sure that there are no rules for presidential special elections in the US.

Edit: Think I’ve found what you’re thinking of, during the drafting of the 1947 presidential succession act Truman “recommended that a provision be made for election of a new president and vice president should vacancies in both of those offices occur more than three months before the midterm congressional elections.”, however according to the same Wikipedia page “the president's proposal was introduced in the House on June 25, 1945 by Hatton W. Sumners and approved—minus the special election provision —four days later by a wide margin. ”

So the idea of a presidential special election never actully got made into law.

Edited by Silasw on Oct 31st 2018 at 12:07:00 PM

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#259585: Oct 31st 2018 at 5:07:39 PM

[up] It's in the original Presidential Succession Act, though now that I actually have the US Code open in front of me I'm seeing that it was taken out in the current one. I had been under the impression it was still in there so that's my mistake.

They should have sent a poet.
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#259586: Oct 31st 2018 at 6:30:04 PM

Some pretty important ballot propositions were brought up in 538's podcast today. Colorado, Utah, Michigan, and Missouri all have independent redistricting commissions/commissioners up for a vote to stop gerrymandering in their states.

Meanwhile a Florida proposition would restore voting rights to convicted felons who have already served their sentences, except for murderers and sex offenders. This would add over a million potential voters.

Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#259587: Oct 31st 2018 at 6:35:19 PM

So this might be more fitting in one of the multiple other threads here, but guess who finally weighed in on Bolso getting elected? I wouldn't be surprised to see Donald talking more about him in the coming months.

For both you guys' sake and ours, I really hope Donald gets trashed in 2020 so this can stop being the darkest timeline. The fact that these two are president at the same time makes me want to vomit.

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#259588: Oct 31st 2018 at 6:40:56 PM

@ Jacob Wohl

The part I found most strange about this whole story, is this.

On October 17, a bunch of prominent reporters and Twitter personalities got a weird email, supposedly from a woman named “Lorraine,” who claimed that someone working for Jack Burkman had offered to pay her to make accusations of sexual misconduct against Mueller. However, no one has yet been able to verify her identity or that she even exists (and indeed, Burkman now claims that she “doesn’t exist”). The email may well be total bullshit.

In any case, some recipients of this email got “Lorraine” to provide the info of the man who supposedly contacted her. They got in touch with him and were each told they were “in over your head” and to “drop” the matter. One says he then got a phone call from a man who identified himself as working for “Surefire Intelligence.”

If the woman doesn't actually exist, then who sent the email? Is Wohl really dumb enough to tip reporters off about his own plot? And where does the law professor play into this?

On October 22, law professor Jennifer Taub got an email from someone with a Surefire Intelligence account, asking her about her “past encounters with Robert Mueller” and offering to “compensate” her for a phone call. Taub told the Atlantic that she’s never met Mueller, that she didn’t respond to the email, and that she forwarded the email to Mueller’s office.

Edited by megaeliz on Oct 31st 2018 at 9:49:36 AM

CookingCat Since: Jul, 2018
#259589: Oct 31st 2018 at 6:42:58 PM

[up][up] Le Pen lost in France, so it isn't the darkest.

TheRoguePenguin Since: Jul, 2009
#259591: Oct 31st 2018 at 6:54:02 PM

The (probable) GOP Senate will never let it through, but at least they get the message that voters really hate money in politics.

kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#259592: Oct 31st 2018 at 6:59:28 PM

[up]At the very least they plan on doing their fucking jobs. Better than the current House that doesn't.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#259593: Oct 31st 2018 at 6:59:47 PM

Even by alt-right standards, Wohl is a fucking idiot among idiots. Seriously, anyone could have cracked this "conspiracy", let alone someone with the skills, people and resources that Mueller has at his disposal.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
CookingCat Since: Jul, 2018
#259594: Oct 31st 2018 at 7:01:44 PM

By the way, anyone else hate these "darkest timeline" doomsayers and pessimists? If you aren't going to do something about it and just mope on the internet, then get the fuck out of here, as you sure as hell aren't helping things by making people feel depressed, hopeless and scared.

Edited by CookingCat on Oct 31st 2018 at 7:04:14 AM

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#259595: Oct 31st 2018 at 7:04:49 PM

[up]Says the person who keeps bringing up irrelevant Gamefaqs stuff to complain about.

Disgusted, but not surprised
CookingCat Since: Jul, 2018
#259596: Oct 31st 2018 at 7:08:18 PM

[up] Been trying to get out of that site, or at least it's current events and politics board. Still, doomsaying/pessimism might as well be another form of voter suppression if you make people too depressed/nihilistic to vote.

Edited by CookingCat on Oct 31st 2018 at 7:09:50 AM

Alycus Since: Apr, 2018
#259597: Oct 31st 2018 at 7:15:35 PM

[up] "Trying"? Is simply not visiting an unreliable place for political news so difficult?

CookingCat Since: Jul, 2018
#259598: Oct 31st 2018 at 7:16:58 PM

[up] I blame Bile Fascination.

Edited by CookingCat on Oct 31st 2018 at 7:17:21 AM

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#259599: Oct 31st 2018 at 11:21:12 PM

Question, what year was that upset with the GOP taking more seats in the Senate than were projected? If I'm remember right, they were already favored, but they got even more than what was expected. It was fairly recent.

Edited by LSBK on Oct 31st 2018 at 1:21:36 PM

BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#259600: Oct 31st 2018 at 11:24:04 PM

Was it 2014?

Do not obey in advance.

Total posts: 417,856
Top