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

CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#144152: Oct 14th 2016 at 1:30:29 PM

Limbaugh is a father of the alt-right in the same way Wollstonecraft was a prototypical feminist. Like others said, Limbaugh only sounds saner than Breitbart because he's stuck to the same garbage he's spewed for decades rather than drifting further and further away like the rest. Hell, he used to make really nasty comments about Chelsea Clinton's appearance as a child (a huge fauxpas even back then) and I think he even tried to claim Chelsea was a bastard from an affair of Hillary's or something.

speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#144153: Oct 14th 2016 at 1:32:42 PM

[up]x4 It was Glenn Beck. Rush is still very much anti-Hillary.

edited 14th Oct '16 1:32:56 PM by speedyboris

nervmeister Since: Oct, 2010
#144154: Oct 14th 2016 at 1:35:30 PM

[up][up][up]Well, your claim that it's healthy not to want to feel too at home with "the choir" makes sense. But what if you were so comfortable with yourself as just you and not as part of a "team", it made you bizarre to just about everyone else, despite technically not having a mental illness?

edited 14th Oct '16 1:37:00 PM by nervmeister

CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#144155: Oct 14th 2016 at 1:39:48 PM

[up] I don't; I know of plenty of people whose opinions are comforting to hear. I just prefer to spend most of my time talking to those who I don't agree with, since I am not afraid of changing my mind, of finding points of agreement even with people whose opinions I very strongly disagree with.

IF you can't find like minded people, and can't easily bring others around to your point of view, you are more likely than not to be incorrect.

edited 14th Oct '16 1:41:53 PM by CaptainCapsase

nervmeister Since: Oct, 2010
#144156: Oct 14th 2016 at 1:45:37 PM

[up]I guess the key is to just be as laid back as possible about it or not get too emotionally invested in being "right".

GameGuruGG Vampire Hunter from Castlevania (Before Recorded History)
Vampire Hunter
#144157: Oct 14th 2016 at 1:47:55 PM

It was Glenn Beck who said that voting for Clinton was the ethical choice and, apparently, he never even supported Trump in the first place. While he supported Ted Cruz in the primaries, he remained fervently anti-Trump even to the extent of apologizing to his listeners for supporting Cruz when Cruz endorsed Donald Trump. Apparently supporting Donald Trump is just a bridge too far for him.

Wizard Needs Food Badly
AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#144158: Oct 14th 2016 at 1:51:13 PM

Was it because of Trump's prior brogressive support for centrist or left sticking points that more traditional GOP candidates would've stood firmly against?

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#144159: Oct 14th 2016 at 1:57:54 PM

Oh, whew, I thought Limbaugh had suddenly become sane, and my world view was going to collapse.

No, Beck has always been an odd duck. Very given to flights of emotion in his shows, he's got this idealized Libertarian ideology that occasionally trumps his notional loyalty to the Republican platform. Trump is anti-Libertarian in almost every imaginable way.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#144160: Oct 14th 2016 at 2:00:25 PM

He's repeatedly compared Trump to Hitler and says Trump's narcissism and ego will lead to him using the IRS and other federal law agencies to persecute people he doesn't like.

I can't believe I'm supporting something Beck says.

edited 14th Oct '16 2:01:03 PM by Parable

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#144161: Oct 14th 2016 at 2:09:51 PM

It's weird, I was convinced Beck was a 100% attention whore who didn't believe a lick of anything he said but would say it simply for the attention because No Such Thing as Bad Publicity. Either getting the new channel changed his approach, or he's actually legitimately sincere in his batshittery and therefore has some sort of principles he can abide by.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#144162: Oct 14th 2016 at 2:27:43 PM

Beck most definitely is an attention whore, but he's also a fervent Objectivist-Libertarian who has in the past tried to fund the creation of a Galt-style "freedom lovers' paradise" town. One imagines that he would feel quite at home in Andrew Ryan's world. He's a nutball, but a nutball with intellectual integrity at a more than nominal level, which sets him apart from the garden variety reactionary talk show host.

I feel like I could sit down with him and have an honest conversation about ethical principles in political ideology.

edited 14th Oct '16 2:29:00 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#144163: Oct 14th 2016 at 2:55:36 PM

These are the guys who will tell you with a straight face that BLM is a terrorist organization, imply it is the Jews who're behind EVERYTHING and how liberals are the cause of all problems in modern society, how PC is a code of white genocide, on and on.

That makes Israel ideal for cost-efficient tourism.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#144164: Oct 14th 2016 at 3:19:37 PM

[up][up]Seen Beck on Lawrence O'Donnell's show? He sounds remarkably sane.

Of course part of that is because he is. Since leaving FOX, Beck's admitted to having gotten medicated for a variety of mental health issues.

BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#144165: Oct 14th 2016 at 3:43:35 PM

I'm sincerely glad that he's gotten help for his issues.

Do not obey in advance.
tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#144166: Oct 14th 2016 at 4:37:34 PM

Homer votes 2016:

edited 14th Oct '16 4:37:58 PM by tclittle

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
carbon-mantis Collector Of Fine Oddities from Trumpland Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Married to my murderer
Collector Of Fine Oddities
#144167: Oct 14th 2016 at 4:53:07 PM

Happened to tune in to a live stream of a rally Trump is holding in NC right now. The booing crowds were drowning out the cheers and Trump was screaming "get them out of here" and yelling for anyone with cameras to not record anything. A few minutes later while he continued his speech someone was yelling for people to call an ambulance.

Julep Since: Jul, 2010
#144168: Oct 14th 2016 at 5:11:04 PM

[up] Pics or it didn't happen.

I really, really hope that he will lose and that after that, his market value will plummet. Because that would be the greatest humiliation for him, not being able to flaunt his money. But I guess the world will still have enough people, or more accurately, достаточное количество людей to do business with him.

JackOLantern1337 Shameful Display from The Most Miserable Province in the Russian Empir Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
Shameful Display
#144169: Oct 14th 2016 at 5:11:50 PM

Did someone shoot him?

I Bring Doom,and a bit of gloom, but mostly gloom.
carbon-mantis Collector Of Fine Oddities from Trumpland Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Married to my murderer
Collector Of Fine Oddities
#144171: Oct 14th 2016 at 5:24:57 PM

[up] Probably. Cameras stayed on Trump so there wasn't anything to see of what took place in the crowd when it was on air. Luckily it sounds like no one was seriously injured.

editedit- Looks to be about it. Some whispers of another attack at the rally were some news links mixing up dates.

Around the same time there were reportedly armed Trump supporters "protesting" around campaign offices in Charlotte. In my own town the Sheriff (himself a Trump zealot) is encouraging "freedom loving Americans to show their support" by arming themselves on election day. One of the local militias says they'll be standing armed outside the polling stations (there will be an actual line drawn in the parking lot that they'll be told to stand behind and not cross, but behind it they'll be free to do as they please).

edited 14th Oct '16 5:51:41 PM by carbon-mantis

IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Ogodei Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers from The front lines Since: Jan, 2011
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
#144174: Oct 14th 2016 at 6:36:12 PM

I've learned a bit more about Beck in the course of this crazy election, and the best interpretation is that he's like Stephen Colbert, his political persona is a persona, not quite the real person, but unlike Colbert, he wants you to take it seriously.

A bit more like Limbaugh, who's also clearly playing a character (if he was such an irredeemable crank IRL, he wouldn't do things like go on Family Guy and let them lampoon him while guest-voicing, not that he isn't a bad person, just not as bad as the radio show makes him out to be), but who wants people to think he isn't.

LinkToTheFuture A real bad hombre from somewhere completely different Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
A real bad hombre
#144175: Oct 14th 2016 at 7:44:07 PM

Trump doubles down on the awfulness

I feel physically sick now

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." -Thomas Edison

Total posts: 417,856
Top