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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I sometimes think about all the damage that the likes of Nixon and Reagan did to the world, with their support of neofascists like Pinochet, Videla, Rios Montt, and Habre (who finally went to jail this year!). They installed one junta after another in the name of fighting Communism.
Then I think about the sort of people that Trump would think it was alright to install in the name of fighting Islamism, and I hope we never, ever have to find out.
He's still actively enabling them which is almost as bad. Just because he's not out and about campaigning for it means he's a "moderate" anymore than if you replaced being a Heteronormative Crusader with a Flat Earther.
edited 11th Sep '16 2:36:52 PM by AlleyOop
So Trump is, at best, just pretending to be a racist, homo/transphobic promoter of violence to pander for votes? How is that make him moderate.
He could be considered centrist on the economy, though his history suggests he will go full pro-business if given power. And his record with women...
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.And that's just what he'll do to the USA. What he might do to other countries doesn't really bear thinking about. Whether it's withdrawing from NATO in the face of Russian aggression, or deciding that Iraq really needs Saddam 2.0 to keep its people in line, a Trump presidency could have grave implications for a whole lot of people outside the USA.
Again, I keep thinking about American support for guys like Pinochet and The Process. And that was under Nixon, Ford, and Reagan, all of whom were, compared to Trump, moderates, yet still managed to find it in themselves to put neofascist regimes in power if it helped keep the Commies down. So if Trump thinks that someone like that is needed to keep the Islamists in line...well we could be looking at even more dead.
edited 11th Sep '16 2:40:26 PM by AmbarSonofDeshar
Having extremist social positions, and then one or two comparatively sane economic positions does not make you a moderate. Under that definition, Mussolini and Juan Peron were both moderates.
I also find it somewhat concerning that you'd consider accepting Trump's social positions in exchange for...what exactly?
x5 So you're just willing to vote for a misogynist? Nice to know what kind of person you are.
And no, they're not irrelevant. If Trump's elected, there's the possibility he could pick two new Supreme Court judges, which may women's rights back, oh, a few decades. Not to mention that a Republican Congress won't mind these rights being trampled on.
edited 11th Sep '16 2:44:16 PM by SciFiSlasher
"Somehow the hated have to walk a tightrope, while those who hate do not."And here I would argue there's a difference between "moderation" and "a lack of principles."
Sure, he himself might not get riled up about "the gay agenda," which looks good in comparison to the personally-invested anti-gay crowd. But they're the ones utilizing his lack of care to curry favor and gain power. So, he might want to protect the LGBT from a harmful foreign ideology, but when it comes to any harmful domestic ideology, he is completely silent, when he's not embracing groups who champion anti-gay "Christian values."
His love affair with Alex Jones and the rest of the conspiracy theorists should also be pretty concerning to anybody, left or right. Seriously, Glenn Beck once denounced Jones as a purveyor of lies, and there should never be a person that Beck can say that to without being enormously hypocritical—yet there he is.
Trump lives in a fact free world where things are the way he says they are for no other reason than he says they are. Even by the standards of the reactionary right, his campaign is out there on the fringe, with his son posting links to Infowars on his Twitter account, while Trump himself cites the National Inquirer as a reliable source.
Moderates don't cite conspiracy theorists. Moderates don't embrace the Klan, or various other Neo-Nazi and Neo-Confederate groups. Moderates don't claim a president they dislike is from Kenya and a secret Muslim. Moderates don't accuse that same president of supporting terrorism or creating ISIS.
Explain to me how any of this is "moderate" behaviour. Words have meanings.
edited 11th Sep '16 2:50:00 PM by AmbarSonofDeshar

Apparently Rockler has missed Trump's embrace of David Duke, the Klan, and various other white nationalist movements. As well as his embrace of Alex Jones and the rest of the conspiracy theory fringe. And his own barrage of misogynistic comments. And his championing of the "birther" movement.
Seriously, which of these things scream "moderate" to you?
edited 11th Sep '16 2:26:21 PM by AmbarSonofDeshar