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

SciFiSlasher from Absolutely none of your business. Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
#267626: Jan 17th 2019 at 8:11:50 PM

...g-guys? You know Kamala Harris is already black, right? Guys?

These are comments on that article:

Are you kidding me? Her mother is Indian, her dad comes from the Mulatto elite in Jamaica, she is at best 25% black. Now add on that she grew up in Canada and was raised by her Indian mother and her Indian aunt said she is more Indian than anything else, and she even said she was all from the Indian side. She views herself through the lens of Indianness and as an immigrant which is why she capes so hard for the children of illegals.

Kamala, like fellow Indian Nimrata Randhawa AKA Nikki Haley was advised by the Indian community that there was no advantage politically as identifying as an Indian in American politics. Hence Nimrata identified as white and tried to pass as white, however Kamala was advised she was too dark skin to pull this off being a south Indian as oppossed too Nimrata who is a light skin north Indian. Hence, she was told to “assume” an African American identity because that is where she can obtain power from.

Many African Americans have trouble to understand that an outsider will assume our identity to take advantage of us when they are not us. Hmmm hmmm, rachel Dolezal.

The worse part of all this, is not Kamala taking advantage of African Americans, it is she is doing this and there are African American women who are MORE qualified like Stacey Abrahams and Nina Turner, who have broader appeals into the south and rust belt where Democrats actually NEED to win. What you have is a half indian, half jamaican lady, who was an AG in California with a very bad record against African Americans and POC, who fought harder for illegals than the African Americans she claims she is part of.

Kamala is not us. I’d rather see a REAL African American black woman who is qualified, who did not exploit African Americans with her position of power.

I don’t care what color Kamala Harris is. Don’t curr she went to a HBCU or that she can Skee Wee.

I don’t give a fuck for people who patronize us, period. She doesn’t have to do that silly shit. Be legit with us, that’s all you have to do. If you pulling hot sauce out out your bag and dancing for a camera, go your ass on America Got Talent and leave me the fuck alone. I want a leader not a goddamn entertainer.

"Somehow the hated have to walk a tightrope, while those who hate do not."
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#267627: Jan 17th 2019 at 8:14:49 PM

Again, what does hot sauce have to do with race...?

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#267628: Jan 17th 2019 at 8:14:57 PM

[up][up]Well, there's a reason people say you shouldn't read the comment section...

[up]Black people liking hot sauce is a stereotype in America.

Edited by LSBK on Jan 17th 2019 at 10:15:24 AM

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#267629: Jan 17th 2019 at 8:22:04 PM

I can't wait for Cohen to go in front of a Democratic Controlled House.

Who else should they subpoena now that we control the House Intelligence Committee?

Edited by megaeliz on Jan 17th 2019 at 11:28:03 AM

RedSavant Since: Jan, 2001
#267630: Jan 17th 2019 at 8:26:08 PM

I agree with LSBK. Schadenfreude from someone getting hurt as a result of policies they themselves gutted or corners they cut is one thing, but wishing more severe harm on someone from a completely unrelated accident is pretty fucked up.

It's been fun.
nombretomado (Season 1) Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#267631: Jan 17th 2019 at 8:26:42 PM

RE: wishing physical harm/injury/violence on real-life figures. We don't take to it kindly. As much as we understand the occasional indiscretion born of frustration, repeated usages of it will get you some mod attention. The more it happens, the more forceful the attention.

MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#267632: Jan 17th 2019 at 8:26:58 PM

@LSBK: You know, if you go ask all the people that have been directly harmed over the past two years by all the new blatantly discriminatory/exploitative policies she passed, I'm pretty sure you'd find out that I'm pretty lenient on her in comparison.

[up][up] Try telling that to her victims, see how well that will go.

Edited by MarqFJA on Jan 17th 2019 at 7:28:39 PM

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#267633: Jan 17th 2019 at 8:36:48 PM

Doesn't change the fact that it's written by a black woman, whose experiences you're choosing to ignore in favor of your own understanding.

It's not her experiences I'm ignoring. It's her opinion. She says that women don't have the chance to rebound in politics and that's an awful thing to say. I think we need to fight that attitude and build hope that even if female politicians fail in elections then they can and should rebound.

Allison Grimes should be Senator for Kentucky.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#267634: Jan 17th 2019 at 8:38:11 PM

[up]Pointing out how something is, isn't the same thing as saying that's how it should be.

That being said, I don't think I totally agree with the writer of that article either.

Edited by LSBK on Jan 17th 2019 at 10:41:55 AM

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#267635: Jan 17th 2019 at 8:39:30 PM

I apologize if I came off too harsh. My issue isn't the writer's ability to comment on privilege, just it's a weird subject to go after as an example of it.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Jan 17th 2019 at 8:39:43 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#267636: Jan 17th 2019 at 8:57:16 PM

[up]Black people liking hot sauce is a stereotype in America.

Some things will never not be strange.

MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#267637: Jan 17th 2019 at 9:40:09 PM

You know, I think I realized a major reason why I keep snapping every so often over Trump and his lackeys that he appointed to his administration. And part of me wants to laugh in self-derision for never realizing it.

It's not that he reminds me too much of my own government and its rampant moral corruption, though that's a contributor as well. Oh no, turns out it's much more personal than that.

Honest question: What's the likelihood that after I spent the entirety of my childhood and adolescence tolerating and being in denial about the emotionally and physically abusive nature of my relationship to my biological father, then being slammed in the face with said father betraying practically every single moral principle that he repeatedly preached about over the course of said childhood and adolescence of mine for the sake of sating his base lust with marrying a second wife of seedy reputation behind his first wife's back, ignoring all the sacrifices that said first wife had made for his sake and the sake of their children while tolerating his abuse towards her, him refusing to acknowledge any wrongdoing when I tried to reason with him and instead trying to emotionally strongarm me into siding with him out of filial piety, him repeatedly recruiting a student counsellor to further emotionally abuse me with my supposed impiety as a son during my stay in another city for university education, him repeatedly breaking every solemn promise he made to pursue reconciliation with my mother and younger brothers, him actually having the gall to bribe several judges in an attempt to turn the case that my mother raised against him in his favor (too bad he ultimately failed), and amidsts all that me realizing that my country's government and its ruling dynasty are an epitome of hypocrisy who don't care in the slightest about Islam, only pay lip service to it when it suits them while coming up with ornate excuses whenever it doesn't so that they don't lose their prestige, and would happily slaughter us all or leave us for dead if it weren't for the fact that someone needs to work those "lowly" jobs that they don't want to do themselves...

After being through all of that, what's the likelihood that I'd develop a deep-seated trauma about authority figures abusing their power and status for the express purpose of harming those that they have authority over, which thanks to the laughable state of the psychiatric field in my country, has not only went unnoticed but been allowed to fester and metastasize until it became a fathomless pit of venomous hatred and malice towards the objects of said trauma?

It's ironic, isn't it? I'm so damn spiteful and malignant towards Trump and cronies because he's basically my father, ramped up by several orders of magnitude and devoid of any semblance of shame, dignity or intelligence.

Edited by MarqFJA on Jan 17th 2019 at 8:41:55 PM

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#267638: Jan 17th 2019 at 9:44:49 PM

[up]We try to steer clear of armchair psychoanalysis here. If you want an honest answer, you'd need to see a therapist.

Though since you pointed out that mental health services are shit in your country, that might prove difficult.

I do however think that for a lot of people, the reason they hate Trump is because they had to put up with someone like him in their lives.

Seth Mcfarlane (yes the Family Guy one) once claimed that the reason so many Hollywood celebs hate Trump is because they have had to deal with too many assholes like Trump in Hollywood.

Edited by M84 on Jan 18th 2019 at 1:47:21 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
nombretomado (Season 1) Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#267639: Jan 17th 2019 at 10:24:06 PM

This is not an appropriate topic for this thread.

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#267640: Jan 17th 2019 at 10:29:35 PM

Trump is basically a living model of Stop Being Stereotypical for America.

It's been stated he's the Ugly American writ large.

But the fact he's a man who was elected kind of underscores at least a large chunk of the populace want America to be like him.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#267641: Jan 17th 2019 at 10:32:46 PM

I think that Trump reminds us of a lot of abusive bullies we've dealt with in our lives.

Do not obey in advance.
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#267642: Jan 17th 2019 at 11:22:11 PM

Wait so what happened about Democrats forcing a vote?

Oh really when?
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#267643: Jan 17th 2019 at 11:39:27 PM

The House had a voice vote - that is to say, the person presiding over the vote asks for yeas and nays and estimates the outcome from the replies - and now there is disagreement about whether a roll call - where each MP is called by name - was asked for. Normally voice votes are considered valid unless someone asks for a roll call, and it's not clear if such a request was made.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#267644: Jan 17th 2019 at 11:42:41 PM

Republicans fumbling procedure, basically. The House Will Redo a Vote to Reopen the Government Because Republicans Weren’t Paying Attention.

The House was voting on another stopgap bill to reopen the government, this one until Feb. 28. Nearly all House Republicans routinely have voted against House Democratic spending bills over the last two weeks in an effort to stay in lockstep with President Trump’s demand for border wall funding. And it’s important to their messaging that they show unity against the Democratic bills.

When the bill came up, the Democrat presiding over the House, North Carolina Rep. G.K. Butterfield, called for a voice vote and declared the resolution passed. This is a standard majority move. What’s supposed to happen afterward, though, is for a member who wants a recorded vote to call for a recorded vote. The Republican at the lectern responsible for this task was Kentucky Rep. Brett Guthrie. Either he didn’t call for the recorded vote, or Butterfield didn’t hear him. (If Guthrie did say something, it’s certainly not audible on the C-SPAN replay.) Butterfield waited about 30 seconds and then moved on to the next item of business.

In other words, because no roll call vote was requested, the Democratic bill to reopen the government had just passed without Republicans recording their objection. On paper, that might look like House Republicans had sided with Democrats to defy President Trump and reopen the government without wall funding.

Some Republicans, realizing the messaging snafu that took place while they were tuned out, stayed in the chamber and tried to convince Butterfield, and Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, that Guthrie totally called for the recorded vote. Butterfield and Hoyer insisted that they didn’t hear it. When Republican Whip Steve Scalise offered a series of ideas for redoing the vote, Hoyer noted that most of his members were already at the airport so, eh, sorry.

Things then got noisy. Ohio Rep. Warren Davidson, a Republican Freedom Caucus member, walked over to the Democratic side, pointing at Butterfield and shouting at him that he heard Guthrie. Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, too, was shouting indiscriminately.

When GOP Rep. Jason Smith screamed at the Democrats, “Go back to Puerto Rico!”—an apparent reference to a Congressional Hispanic Caucus trip to the island last week, where Republicans accused them of “partying” during the shutdown—Democrats jeered loudly.

Eventually, Hoyer and Scalise talked privately, and Hoyer left the floor. I saw him about 15 minutes later emerging from Speaker Pelosi’s office, and he confirmed that he’d decided to give Republicans another shot: They would vacate the voice vote and try again next week. House Republican PR failure averted.

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#267645: Jan 17th 2019 at 11:54:28 PM

Which is a shame.

They should have just gone with it. After all, it's no less dirty than Mitch's usual activities.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#267646: Jan 18th 2019 at 12:06:20 AM

So it looks like Rep. Steve King of Iowa is in serious trouble:

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#267647: Jan 18th 2019 at 12:19:30 AM

[up][up]It's no more dirty than Mitch's scheming. I'd say it's less dirty.

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#267648: Jan 18th 2019 at 12:32:02 AM

You're right. That was a typo.

But they should have ran it through because fuck these guys.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#267649: Jan 18th 2019 at 5:01:33 AM

[up][up][up] It's far less than King deserves. Where was the Republican leadership the other ten thousand times King said something racially charged?

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
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
#267650: Jan 18th 2019 at 5:25:21 AM

They’ve actully been pretty clear about why they’re objecting now, he forgot to use a dog whistle, even Trump uses dog whistles (he’s less subtle with them than past republicans, but he still uses them), King basically put on his Klan hood, not realising that that’s a bad strategy.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran

Total posts: 417,856
Top