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

PhysicalStamina i'm tired, my friend (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Coming soon to theaters
i'm tired, my friend
#190676: May 26th 2017 at 4:33:10 AM

This thread has an obsession, I swear.

i'm tired, my friend
WhatArtThee Since: Oct, 2015
#190677: May 26th 2017 at 4:40:46 AM

Personally I agree that it's good to be optimistic, and I'm very optimistic right now, I always appreciate the "little victories" like Trump back-pedaling on one of his bad stances, or a block of one of his laws, or the fact that after 4 months most of the things he said he'd do in the first hundred days (Wall, Muslim ban, AHCA, eliminating gun-free zones, pulling out of Paris agreement...) have been stalled, blocked, or otherwise haven't happened. Though his term so far has been messy, I thought it would be a lot worse.

While I am disappointed that Gianforte won in Montana, the fact that he only won by 6% while they voted +14 for Romney and +21 for Trump, or how the last Republican representative (Ryan Zinke) won by 16%, that gives me hope.

edited 26th May '17 4:43:01 AM by WhatArtThee

Just another day in the life of Jimmy Nutrin
TheWanderer Student of Story from Somewhere in New England (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Student of Story
#190678: May 26th 2017 at 4:58:01 AM

On the Giantforte thing, I'm surprised that Republicans use early voting, given how much they seem to be against it...

Like a lot of other things, it only seems to be a problem if it seems like it's going to benefit people other than Republicans. Early voting is fine in solidly Republican states, it's only restricted when it could help Democratic turnout.

I imagine the fig leaf of an argument you'd get from Republicans would go something like "Well, this is a state issue. If the good people of Montana want to embrace early voting that's fine, but if people in other states, (which just so happen to be states that Democrats could potentially win more easily if voting restriction measures weren't in place) choose to have doubts about/restrict early voting, well what can you do but honor the will of the people?" *insert shit eating grin here*

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |
Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#190679: May 26th 2017 at 4:59:16 AM

[up][up] Good. :)

edited 26th May '17 4:59:23 AM by Luigisan98

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#190680: May 26th 2017 at 5:13:19 AM

All these narrow losses have been in deep red districts. The real signs will come in more competitive areas, they they swing the same way by the same amount, Ryan's horde is in trouble.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#190681: May 26th 2017 at 5:26:40 AM

On another note, the Far Cry 5 cover art has the alt right up in arms, as it and its trailer depicts a crazy white Christian cult as its villains.

http://time.com/4792805/far-cry-5-villain/

Saw at least one article referring to the game as a potential SJW wet dream

edited 26th May '17 5:54:06 AM by sgamer82

Kayeka (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#190682: May 26th 2017 at 5:31:24 AM

[up]Awww, look at the widdle snowflakes, getting all offended by a video game.

Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#190683: May 26th 2017 at 5:37:08 AM

I'd be whining more at the cover looking like a bad shop, but I understand why the Religious Right would be up in arms against it.

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#190684: May 26th 2017 at 6:00:54 AM

Well to counteract their regional dominance, it's either that or the Democrat baby boom that I also mentioned, seeing as the GOP is doing everything in their power to restrict our other major source of new voters: immigration (both legal immigration and the legalization of illegal immigrants). There's just no way to change these entrenched voters' minds anymore. Not nearly enough of them, fast enough, to make a real difference. And I don't know about you, but the left-wing baby boom and mass-migration possibility doesn't seem all that likely, while I absolutely would not put it past the Trump administration and our other elected Republicans to end up killing decent-sized chunks of their own base (see: the AIDS epidemic that Ronald Reagan ignored until well after it stopped being just a "gays and druggies only" disease, the Iraq War that soured people on the GOP by '08, and their current defunding of pretty much everything but the military, Trump's properties, and their own salaries). Also, damn right I'm pessimistic. I haven't exactly been given much reason to be the magical, happy man who lives in a gumdrop house on Lollipop Lane. I get that Montana was a long shot, but I'm still plenty bitter about November and how many of these yahoos continue to celebrate the fact that they put Trump into the White House.

Pessimism and realism are two very different things, and just because the world isn't "Lollipop Lane" and horrible shit happens (and will always happen), doesn't justify the former. Nothing is forever, and the world and has never been fair or easy. People do things and oftentimes it gets better in some ways, and oftentimes it gets worse, and it's never going to get better with your attitude. It's just not productive for, well, anything.

Mio Since: Jan, 2001
#190685: May 26th 2017 at 6:10:54 AM

[up][up][up][up]A year or so ago I probably would have thought that was a little over the top and maybe a little exploitative (and perhaps a cynical aping of Bioshock Infinite's success several years too late).

Now though? I sincerely can't be bothered to feel bad about some Right-Wingers being portrayed in a possibly offensive fashion.

Reflextion from a post-sanity world (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
#190686: May 26th 2017 at 6:11:06 AM

[up]x3 - x5: Yeah, it almost makes me want to go out and buy the game on release day, if not for the fact that it would mean giving Ubisoft money

edited 26th May '17 6:11:28 AM by Reflextion

Someone did tell me life was going to be this way.
Ludlow Since: Apr, 2013
#190687: May 26th 2017 at 6:15:18 AM

  • sigh* People tell me that I should be hopeful if a Democratic candidate loses slightly less in the special elections. Unfortunately, all I see is a repeat of the 2016 election: Republican candidates doing everything possible to ruin their chances of winning and still getting the seat because no one cares.

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#190688: May 26th 2017 at 6:16:37 AM

[up][up][up][up][up][up][up]Heh.

[up]More like people telling you to acknowledge place and context.

edited 26th May '17 6:18:18 AM by LSBK

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#190689: May 26th 2017 at 6:43:59 AM

[up][up]I can appreciate where that's disheartening. The difference between these events and the 2016 election was, where Trump won a victory where nobody at the time expected one, the Republicans are having to fight to eke out victories in areas that they've long dominated.

Trump won a victory nobody saw coming. These guys are scraping by in areas they shouldn't have been having any trouble in.

edited 26th May '17 6:44:13 AM by sgamer82

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#190690: May 26th 2017 at 6:47:46 AM

[up]Adding on to that, I get why it's frustrating to not see it translate into wins yet, but these elections are only the starting point: the real deal starts next year, and includes several seas much less red than this one, like the ones in California currently held by Republicans.

DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#190691: May 26th 2017 at 6:53:31 AM

All I'm gonna say is, Jon Ossoff is the last chance to show that there is a Blue Wave that's gonna happen. It currently looks like he's going to win, but we've been down this road a couple of times already.

Here's hoping he wins. If he doesn't, I'm gonna be really worried about 2018 (unless Trump gets impeached or is forced to resign).

CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#190692: May 26th 2017 at 7:01:49 AM

Quist wasn't helped by the DCCC's reluctance to support him. Still, even with the DNC in complete shambles up until Perez's election, we still managed to close the Republican advantage by like 14 points in their own backyard. Honestly, if the Blue Wave happens, it's not going to be Blue Blitzkrieg, at least not immediately. It's going to start off looking like political trench warfare — minimal gains, no breakthroughs, no encirclements, but the Democrats are picking up steam anyway.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#190693: May 26th 2017 at 7:05:48 AM

@Crimson Zephyr

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13103447000A18674100&page=7625#190608

TBF to the DNC, Krieger brings up the notion that the DNC couldn't support him too much without undercutting the whole "Independent" image.

edited 26th May '17 7:06:09 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#190694: May 26th 2017 at 7:29:51 AM

[up]Bit of a clarification on that: By "independent", I mean (supposedly) independent of the national party and more in line with the Montana Democratic Party.

The national party might not poll as well with Montana natives as the locals.

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#190695: May 26th 2017 at 7:33:07 AM

He also had tax scandals of his own.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#190696: May 26th 2017 at 8:09:56 AM

NVM

edited 26th May '17 8:10:04 AM by Luigisan98

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#190698: May 26th 2017 at 8:32:16 AM

538 on various Trump related issues.

Concerning the $2 trillion error: It's actually worse than counting it twice. It doesn't even exist.

Somewhat lost in the back-and-forth, however, is the fact that the double-counted $2 trillion probably doesn’t exist in the first place. The administration argues that cutting taxes will spur faster economic growth, which will mean Americans will earn more money and therefore pay more in taxes. The problem is that pretty much no serious economist thinks Trump’s plan would raise enough money to pay for itself. Even conservative economists at the Tax Foundation last year estimated that the tax plan Trump proposed during the campaign would cost at least $2.6 trillion after factoring in economic growth. (Trump’s most recent plan, a one-page outline released last month, didn’t contain enough details for economists to calculate its cost.) The problem with Trump’s budget math, in other words, goes beyond simple arithmetic; the economics of the plan don’t work, either.

Color me shocked. Shocked, I say!

Concerning the AHCA: Not only will millions lose insurance, the insurance that is offered will probably be shit.

The CBO also predicts that the insurance market might start encouraging people to buy skimpy plans. A little-reported passage describes how the agency foresees the insurance industry offering bare-bones coverage priced to match closely the amount a person is eligible for in federal subsidies. In effect, this would allow people to buy government-subsidized health insurance for next-to-nothing, but the plans “would not provide enough financial protection in the event of a serious and costly illness to be considered insurance,” in the words of the CBO.

Fortunately, the people at 538 are pretty sure the AHCA in its current form won't pass.

edited 26th May '17 8:33:08 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#190699: May 26th 2017 at 8:48:56 AM

You and I have very different definitions of the term "Fortunate".

History suggests that the GOP response to it not passing will be to make it even shittier.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#190700: May 26th 2017 at 8:52:51 AM

But that'll just put them back to square one and hopefully make their prospects for next year even worse.


Total posts: 417,856
Top