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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
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Yes, but to be frank I don't think the American people are ready for true democracy. Remember the first President elected by popular voting was Andrew Jackson. That should tell you something about the quality of our citizenry.
edited 7th Mar '16 5:46:01 PM by JackOLantern1337
I Bring Doom,and a bit of gloom, but mostly gloom.The Specter of Protectionism in America
I didn't know they tried building a tariff wall during the depression.
A brokered convention isn't exactly a mockery of democracy — political parties in America are not public institutions, and are entirely within their rights to pick whoever they damn well please as their candidate for president. It's only their own internal rules that give rank-and-file party members any say in the process at all, and those same rules can be used to nominate someone else if they see fit.
That said, if the primary process results in a clear mandate for Trump and the party establishment brokers the convention to nominate someone else, there's going to be hell to pay. I actually have no idea what form it would take (given that I honestly have no idea what action would-be Trump supporters can take against the party elite that can't be blocked by the party elite), but I very much doubt it's going to be anything good for the Republican party.
The only question is whether it would be better or worse than Trump as the Republican nominee.
edited 7th Mar '16 7:17:09 PM by NativeJovian
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
It'll be better. Unless you have really good aim, you basically can't throw a rock without hitting someone who'd make a better president than Trump.
Unless of course you're in a club run by Nazis, Communists, Anarchists, or Anarcho-Commu Nazis.
Leviticus 19:34What would Trump supporters do? Some of them, quite possibly start shooting, these aren't always the most sane and rational people.
Which makes me wonder, is the Republican Convetion a gun free zone?
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranThey will have armed security there, so not really.
Edit: Oh wait were you just parody parroting the Republican position? I can't tell.
edited 7th Mar '16 7:40:25 PM by Silasw
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranI've been thinking about something and I keep coming to the same conclusion. Wouldn't a Clinton presidency be worse for the Republicans than a Sanders presidency?
People like to bash Clinton as being pro big business/Wall Street. She's been paid by big banks to give speeches, she was involved in the negotiations for the TPP and her husband was responsible for repealing Glass Steagall. So there's truth to the accusation. If she became president some of her policies would be good for big moneynote so in these cases wouldn't the big business oriented Republican establishment have to work with Clinton and not against? Work with someone they've spent years demonizing? I don't see that going down too well the revolting Tea Party faction.
Sanders on the other hand, he's not going to be too friendly with big business so that means the Republican establishment will have reason to oppose him. He's also been labelled a...SOCIALIST(!). So the Tea Party faction or whatever we're calling this extremist/revolting demographic of the GOP will be against him. Wouldn't having a common enemy in a seat of power do a lot to quail the party's infighting? Not stop it completely, but make it take a back seat to their Sanders problem?
edited 7th Mar '16 8:00:25 PM by FalseDichotomy
I don't actually think that Trump supporters would turn to violence en masse (isolated incidents are possible, of course, but isolated incidents of violence are always possible), but the question is what pulling the rug out from under them with a brokered convention would do. There's really nowhere else for them to go. They're not going to vote Democrat, for the most part. Would they stay home on election day? Hold their nose and vote for the Republican candidate as their least-bad option? Unlike the Tea Party, there's no mass movement forming around Trump, so it's not like they could vote for Trump-like candidates in downticket races.
Honestly, if the Dixiecrats stop voting Republican over it, then that could spell the end of the Republicans as we know them. The party might recover, eventually, but not without some new leadership pointing them in a new direction and attracting new voters, and in the meantime the Democrats would beat the stuffing out of them. Even with the Dixiecrats, the Republicans are barely holding on — without them, they can't really compete.
edited 7th Mar '16 8:21:42 PM by NativeJovian
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.The Republican establishment has spent so long demonizing Hillary that they'll probably stonewall anything she does out of reflex. It will be Obama 2.0, basically.
Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's PlayYeah, I think the GOP kind of shot itself in the foot by becoming the contrarian party to Obama.
And, while they probably couldn't have anticipated this, they probably also shot themselves in the other foot when they started demonizing Hillary to the point that they completely overlook the far worse Bernie Sanders.
Leviticus 19:34If Trump runs third-party after a brokered convention ratfuck, I wonder if he'll be able to incite a Dixiecrat attack on the Republican establishment downticket and throw some Republican races to the Democrats? (Democratic House, Senate and President Sanders in 2016. A man can dream...though that'll force Sanders to actually govern, which could be bad.)
@Protagonist: Cruz is worse than Trump. Rubio isn't much better - in fact, my mom prefers Trump to Rubio, though Mom has a particular hate-on for people she sees as slimeballs.

Bernie is the one true 45th president of America but a clown is ready to take our country.
Donald Trump is the black worm poised to eat the heart of the realm. Racism was his father and Idiocy his mother. Vote against him before he corrupts you. Vote against them all, Queen Banker and King Worm, vile robot and the whispering liars with false policies! Save yourselves! The scourging fire must come and we will all feel the Bern.
edited 7th Mar '16 5:45:44 PM by MadSkillz