dagblog - Comments for "Trump Does Not Care If People Get Hurt"

If for you the only hope for

Obey — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 20:33:27 +0000

If for you the only hope for Democrats to win an election is for a Republican president to fall below 30% approval, you should maybe also look at what is wrong with your Democratic party.

As far as I've seen, they need to either win with a 7% spread to take the House, or rejig their coalition somewhat. I find Schumer's new anti-monopoly platform. It's the kind of empowering yet equalizing and freeing principle that might bring even the racist white Obama voters back to join a coalition with minorities in supporting. We'll see if they're serious about it, I guess. I'm guessing it's poll tested already. Anyway, I find that much better than Beinart's horrifying idea of joining the GOP in racist demagoging on immigration.

In effect, they are all the

rmrd0000 — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 19:25:34 +0000

In reply to P.S. Edit to add: I just don

In effect, they are all the same. Obamacare survived by one vote in the Senate. Take note that if passed, the Republican Senate was ready to pass a bill that they wanted the Republican House to reject. The Republicans in the Senate are for the most part, deplorables. McConnell is disliked by Republican voters because he couldn't get the bad Senate bill shipped over to the House.

If Trump support stays where it is after Russia, Charlottesville, etc. We are dealing with a subset best defined as deplorables.

P.S. Edit to add: I just don

artappraiser — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 19:05:05 +0000

In reply to Precisely. That's where I

P.S.I just don't think all Republicans should be constantly painted by activists on the internet as enemy of liberals. (Neither did Obama!) I think that will take people with liberal leanings nowhere but down. The Republican Congress is deeply divided right now between the Freedom Caucus (probably mostly sent from those crazy districts) and the establishment. Throw in nuts like the Kochs throwing money around to affect the chaos further. They can't pass anything precisely because of what that gerrymandering is doing to them. Instead of being rabidly partisan Dem right or wrong, liberals can win on certain things by not attacking GOP as "they are all the same." The two-party partisanship is satisfying very few of either party is the way I see it.

P.S. Edit to add: I just don

artappraiser — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 19:04:37 +0000

In reply to Precisely. That's where I

deleted duplicate.

Precisely. That's where I

artappraiser — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 18:50:59 +0000

In reply to Republicans have

Precisely. That's where I agree with you, gerrymandering so that the 1/3 have more power nationally than they should is the problem.

That's why the court cases about it are so important.

Interesting that Schwarzenegger is funding and promoting reform of gerrymandering. He's a Republican. Probably just doesn't like that the 1/3 conservatives have so much control.

Republicans have

rmrd0000 — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 18:44:31 +0000

In reply to this is a good add-on to your

Republicans have gerrymandered Democrats out of an easy way to take over the House. Republicans now compete in districts where the deplorables control the agenda. The 35-40% Trump approval number is important because it means the deplorables are still in charge in many Republican districts. Trump is not in trouble over the emoluments clause because Congressional Republicans who challenge Trump will face pushback from their constituents. Paul Ryan hates racism but will not call out Trump by name. Similarly, McConnell loses to Trump when it comes to support from GOP voters.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/346777-poll-gop-voters-backin...

this is a good add-on to your

artappraiser — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 18:13:30 +0000

In reply to Interesting point. Personally

this is a good add-on to your points about approval, from the NYT piece

Trump’s Embrace of Racially Charged Past Puts Republicans in Crisis

“The last year and especially the last few days have basically erased 15 years of efforts by Republicans to diversify the party,” said David Holt, a 38-year-old Oklahoma state senator running for mayor of Oklahoma City. “If I tried to sell young people in general but specifically minority groups on the Republican Party today, I’d expect them to laugh me out of the room. How can you not be concerned when the country’s demographics are shifting away from where the Republican Party seems to be shifting now?”

The political blow that Mr. Trump has sustained is deep and worsening. Barely one-third of Americans now say they approve of the job he is doing, according to two polls released this week — a fresh low for a president who was already among the most unpopular in modern times.

As a long time news junkie, I am constantly surprised by those here that are upset that "Trump is still so popular with his base".

That die hard 1/3 ultra conservative of the country has always been with us since the boomers started voting, they are not going anywhere and they will always give an approval rating to the guy that's less liberal, whatever he believes as long as it's less liberal.

It can't be clearer how unpopular Trump is, it's like rock bottom.

He may have actually lost part of the traditional one-third conservative already but have been replaced with the few nutty true Trump fans. I think Bannon is deluded from spending too much time with the Breitbart crowd (as opposed to like, Fox) in thinking that there are that many of the latter.

The day by day peel away of many true Trump fans will continue as his incompetence continues to manifest. The New York Times is not a stupid organization about politics! When they say The political blow that Mr. Trump has sustained is deep and worsening, that is coming out of analysis by wise people who also learned lessons from faulty analysis of the presidential election.

The smart politicos in the Republican party know all of this--back to the quote above. That is not a RINO from an urban state talking. It's Oklahoma! They cannot get by with relying on that 1/3, their numbers are probably dying off, as in really dying, day by day. Sure their children have been trained by them but they have also had life changing experiences like an opoid epidemic affecting their world.

I'd like to add this: if you can't accept that there is probably going to continue to be 1/3 ultra conservative making up this country for quite some time, and you can't live with them in the same country as you, you should move elsewhere, because they are not going away anytime soon. They are part of the reality of our country. And the Republican party absolutely knows they cannot stay in business with those people alone.

And this, just opinion from life time of anecdotes: there are probably more than a few people with racist tendencies in that 1/3 that think of white nationalists as terrorists! A lot of white people who feel uncomfortable with people with a different skin color are also susceptible to being frightened by a guy that is dressed like a Nazi biker. The whole make America great again thing sells with a crowd that also is thinking like Orrin Hatch: we are the ones who won against the Nazis. They don't understand ideology (Obey, your pix with the Israel and Confederate flags applies here) but they read team symbolism by the gut and visuals like skin color, tattoos, intentional clothing: them or us. Us does not include the menacing biker dude with the Nazi flag. Us probably does include the nice but unfortunately liberal niece with cute freckles being mowed down by Nazis just because she went to a demonstration.

Interesting point. Personally

Obey — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 14:52:03 +0000

In reply to There was an interesting

Interesting point. Personally, I'm quite positively surprised how split Fox News has become post-Charlottesville. I'm not too surprised that a section of Fox News is taking the view that the white people having to think about race are the true victims here. A few of these segments are going viral, which I think is a good thing. It serves to prick the Fox News bubble and exposes them to how the rest of the country sees them and their reaction to issues like this.

I understand your distress about Trump's approval rating. But remember that George Bush's approval ratings were around 32% after Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Stellar Wind, Katrina, the SS privatization effort, and that little global financial crisis threatening to send us back to the stone age (sure, add to the list if you want, but you get the gist). Trump is an asshole who by comparison hasn't done much (... yet). He is scary because he is threatening, and trying, to do some awful things. But the economy is humming along, people have jobs and money and their kids aren't dying overseas in pointless wars.

And yes, I do understand that his words have *done* alot of harm too - making public space unsafe for minorities and women, for one thing, destroying Americas' credibility on the world stage and heightening nuclear standoffs with various problem countries. But still. I wouldn't take the slowness of decline in his approval ratings as a reason to be pessimistic. Many people don't pay attention, and their (white, male) lives are - thus far - materially unaffected by his idiocy and depravity. Yet his numbers are almost as low as when Bush destroyed 9 million jobs and took the homes of 5.5 million families.

Doc, well done, as if you

Richard Day — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 14:47:31 +0000

In reply to Trump Does Not Care If People Get Hurt

Doc, well done, as if you need kudos from someone like me!

SOMEONE IS ALREADY DEAD!

Trump did indeed excuse provocative behavior to say the least.

After reading your post, I wonder what is to be done?

I just thank you for your post.

There was an interesting

rmrd0000 — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 14:22:12 +0000

In reply to Trump Does Not Care If People Get Hurt

There was an interesting exchange on Fox News. A female host defending Trump's statement cried because she felt that she would be judged a racist for her stance. She felt "uncomfortable" discussing race. She knew that she wasn't a racist. In essence, she was using her discomfort to end the discussion. Predictably, Harris Faulkner, a black woman was called on to comfort the white woman. Issues of race are uncomfortable. As, I'm watching daily polling on 538 from 8/13-8/15, I'm still seeing Trump approval at 37%. I'm wondering if the country will shut down discussion just like the Fox News host shut down discussion. I wonder if the anti-fascist activists actually gained anyone new, or if the country remains as polar as it was before Charlottesville.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fox-news-melissa-francis-race_us_599...

I brought up Faulkner comforting the white woman because it seems to be a recurrent theme. If I recall correctly, the black guy who got punched by a racist old codger at a Trump rally had to forgive the white guy to make people comfortable.