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

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#279676: May 6th 2019 at 6:53:03 PM

Actually, I'd argue there's a good thing from the Trump Presidency.

It has forced the nastiness in the open.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
RedSavant Since: Jan, 2001
#279677: May 6th 2019 at 6:57:07 PM

That's really only a good thing if the nastiness then starts to burn away when exposed to the light of day. It's not really doing that right now.

It's been fun.
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#279678: May 6th 2019 at 6:59:42 PM

It wasn't burning away underground.

One thing that works with Trumpeteers is the fact they thought they were able to do whatever they wanted and the resistance has been harsh.

It just needs to be harsher.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
ShinyCottonCandy Everyone's friend Malamar from Lumiose City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Everyone's friend Malamar
#279679: May 6th 2019 at 7:03:48 PM

I think the 2020 elections will be what proves whether it matters that the corruption is out in the open. If people care at all, voter turnout would be historic, even with a not-so-popular democratic nominee, and I’d like to believe that the 2018 elections are foreshadowing that. Right now, there’s not much the average citizen can do or is currently doing that would be highlighted by the media in any way, even if they are more sure than ever that they don’t want Trump.

Edited by ShinyCottonCandy on May 6th 2019 at 10:06:47 AM

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wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#279680: May 6th 2019 at 7:08:59 PM

The media is part of the goddamn problem; they’re IGNORING grassroots organizing in favor of breathlessly covering the Trump admin but without proper context.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#279681: May 6th 2019 at 7:11:17 PM

Because Trump is exciting and grassroots organization, outside of a few isolated cases...really isn't. Not in a BREAKING NEWS kind of way.

Its unfortunate, but I don't see the 24 Hour News Cycle shifting any time soon.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#279682: May 6th 2019 at 7:11:18 PM

It wasn't burning away underground.

One thing that works with Trumpeteers is the fact they thought they were able to do whatever they wanted and the resistance has been harsh.

It just needs to be harsher.

Yes, it was. There was a time when people were ashamed to admit they're white supremacists. There is nothing good about the fact that saying, "I don't think black people should have rights," is now considered a legitimate political position.

Courtesy of " from "LOL Nazis are evil, amirite?" to "But have you seriously considered the merits of Nazi philosophy? Come on, let's have a debate about this. I want to seriously weigh the pros and cons of ethnic cleansing." That is not a good direction for a culture to move in.

The nastiness wasn't forced into the open. It came out into the light of day of its own volition, having found validation and acceptance in the arms of the public. There is no silver lining about Nazis marching proudly and being welcomed by Americans.

Edited by TobiasDrake on May 6th 2019 at 8:12:02 AM

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ShinyCottonCandy Everyone's friend Malamar from Lumiose City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Everyone's friend Malamar
#279683: May 6th 2019 at 7:11:18 PM

[up][up][up]I suppose that is more accurately what I was trying to say. The only way we’ll know how much people really care is from voter turnout, because the media sure isn’t going to let us know.

Edited by ShinyCottonCandy on May 6th 2019 at 10:11:36 AM

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CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#279684: May 6th 2019 at 7:11:51 PM

What cost the world democracy.

It's not that Trump isn't an incompetant racist evil blowhard.

He is.

But he's never BORING and is even entertaining in a car crash arranged by the Joker sort of way.

The media can't resist.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on May 6th 2019 at 7:25:39 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
ShinyCottonCandy Everyone's friend Malamar from Lumiose City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Everyone's friend Malamar
#279685: May 6th 2019 at 7:15:00 PM

Though, not to say the worst about those who we need the most to overcome this, but they sure aren’t helping by encouraging the media by watching those sensationalized stories.

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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
#279686: May 6th 2019 at 7:16:32 PM

I figured by 'the corruption has been forced out into the open', what was meant was more along the lines of 'the corruption has always been there but everyone just sorta dodged it or covered it up, but now those people who would have previously masqueraded as relatively well-adjusted have now felt emboldened to out themselves as horribly prejudiced, which in turn has forced the public at large to confront it and re-evaluate their own position, assuming of course that they themselves are not also prejudiced'.

Those sell-by-dates won't stop me because I can't read!
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#279687: May 6th 2019 at 7:17:42 PM

[up][up]This is one of the reasons I don't follow Trump's tweets. Or watch news covering his tweets.

Of course, that's also because I fucking hate Twitter in general.

Edited by M84 on May 6th 2019 at 10:18:41 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#279688: May 6th 2019 at 7:19:22 PM

When I was a kid, I grew up in a Conservative household. But it seemed, to my innocent childlike eyes, to be a household that accepted the existence of people's differences. I never got the impression that my family was racist or sexist or hated LGBT people. I was even pretty well accepted when I (briefly, mistakenly) came out as trans. My family voted for Bush, but also seemed pretty keen on the idea that differences of skin color, sex, or sexuality didn't matter.

Last year, my dad and I got in a heated argument over the prison industrial complex. I tried to explain to him that dynamic wherein prisons are kept overstuffed with minorities on drug offenses who can then legally be used for slave labor. And he, in turn, tried to explain to me that prisons are overstuffed with minorities because so many blacks and Hispanics turn out to be rapists and murderers, and that we need to be keeping a closer eye on them.

My dad never used to be like that. But now he wears a MAGA hat and has strong opinions about protecting white people from minorities.

This is not positive change.

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ShinyCottonCandy Everyone's friend Malamar from Lumiose City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Everyone's friend Malamar
#279689: May 6th 2019 at 7:21:44 PM

Twitter’s usable as a news feed if curated, but other than that, it’s really only what you can expect from a nearly unmoderated public communications venue. Though now I might be getting off topic.

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CookingCat Since: Jul, 2018
#279690: May 6th 2019 at 7:23:16 PM

[up]x6 Bile Fascination is what you are looking for.

Edited by CookingCat on May 6th 2019 at 7:24:00 AM

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#279691: May 6th 2019 at 7:23:51 PM

[up][up][up]Recently after seeing something about Trump complaining about "radical Leftists" being allowed on social media I began thinking of that episode of George Lopez where George Bush guest stared.

In it, the daughter character (Carmen) protested, and he responded with "That's the great thing about our country: you don't have to agree with me." or something like that.

At what point did they start not even pretending to care about that sentiment? Because that's definitely how Trump, or any assortment of Republicans or media would react to protest now.

Edited by LSBK on May 6th 2019 at 9:27:56 AM

ShinyCottonCandy Everyone's friend Malamar from Lumiose City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Everyone's friend Malamar
#279692: May 6th 2019 at 7:25:33 PM

[up]I think it was sometime during the Obama era, but it really came out into the open during the 2016 elections.

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M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#279693: May 6th 2019 at 7:27:01 PM

[up][up]They probably started feeling that way the moment Obama won. Because that was the first real sign to them that their comfortable old white boys' club of systemic privilege and power was being threatened.

Edited by M84 on May 6th 2019 at 10:27:42 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
Ingonyama Since: Jan, 2001
#279694: May 6th 2019 at 7:27:12 PM

Re: the national emergency, I had thought that after the Cheeto vetoed Congress's resolution, and they weren't able to override it (both things that pretty much everyone, the House Democrats included, knew was going to happen), the plan was to take it to the courts to declare the emergency invalid. The idea being that even though the resolution was vetoed and the veto couldn't be overridden, having made the resolution in the first place would give the Dems more legal ground to stand on in the case—since the point was that a) an emergency can only exist if Congress agrees that it does, under the oversight terms of the National Emergency Act (not enough agreed to override a veto, but that's a separate issue—the initial resolution is still disagreeing) and b) Congress's resolution offers proof that they did not give permission for the funds to be appropriated from other places for the wall, which is what is needed regardless of the state of emergency existing.

The problem is that the courts are notoriously slow, and that everything now with the Mueller report, Barr, Mnuchin, and so forth is pretty much overshadowing anything else. So I assume the court case against the emergency declaration is still going on (we'd have heard if it were dismissed or lost), but nothing has happened with it yet.

EDIT: This is the most recent article I could find on the state of current lawsuits on the matter. Whether there's anything in the works on behalf of the House itself, I don't know.

Edited by Ingonyama on May 6th 2019 at 7:36:43 AM

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#279695: May 6th 2019 at 7:27:26 PM

Because Trump is exciting and grassroots organization, outside of a few isolated cases...really isn't. Not in a BREAKING NEWS kind of way.

Its unfortunate, but I don't see the 24 Hour News Cycle shifting any time soon.

This is one of those times that social media can actually be used for good. Just because CNN isn't covering what Indivisible or the ACLU is doing, doesn't mean they can't get their message out. I know a lot of us are rather disdainful of it, but social media is a good way to stay in touch with local grassroots activists and politicians.

And while not everyone is on Twitter, is seems like every single reporter is on Twitter. Get a Democrat trending and they're sure to make it big deal out of it.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#279696: May 6th 2019 at 7:28:20 PM

Too bad Twitter is such a dumpster fire.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#279697: May 6th 2019 at 7:31:59 PM

Even a dumpster fire can keep someone warm.

Like it or not, it exists and it has a lot of influence. We'd be doing ourselves a disservice to not take whatever advantages we can get from it.

ShinyCottonCandy Everyone's friend Malamar from Lumiose City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Everyone's friend Malamar
#279698: May 6th 2019 at 7:34:05 PM

[up][up]It’s still a powerful tool, and the political climate is proof of how it can be used effectively. Besides, the people we need to reach are the people who have standards so low that they’d use Twitter anyway, and who aren’t too far gone to reach, because the people who have higher standards would be those who already know what’s going on.

Edited by ShinyCottonCandy on May 6th 2019 at 10:34:44 AM

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M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#279699: May 6th 2019 at 7:34:34 PM

It depends on whether it's doing more harm than good. A dumpster fire may be able to keep people warm, but it could also spread toxic fumes.

Edited by M84 on May 6th 2019 at 10:35:09 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#279700: May 6th 2019 at 7:35:00 PM

There's also the Obama Realization. Which is a not-so-nice name for the fact that white voters were awakened to the fact that blacks and others minorities were making the kind of progress that scared them. The "Moderate Racist" who didn't necessarily hate (in their mind) minorities and were okay with them improving their lot but that approval stops the moment it's "improving over their position." A black President being the ultimate manifestation of that.

Edit:

[nja]

Edited by CharlesPhipps on May 6th 2019 at 7:37:20 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

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