dagblog - Comments for "More Wisdom from an NYT Con Columnist"

Republicans control all three

HSG — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 19:11:35 +0000

Republicans control all three branches of government. They have a stranglehold on state legislatures and governor's mansions. I think it's pretty darn important to try to understand how they've managed to win (or Dems have managed to blow) so many elections.

Talking about race is

rmrd0000 — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 18:49:53 +0000

In reply to What I see when I read a

Talking about race is difficult, so we often divert. The issue of race and Trump is staring us in the face today. Trump has a voter fraud commission today. The Supreme Court is hearing gerrymandering cases today. Police abuse is happening today. We are not post-racial today. 538 rates Trump approval at 38.8 today. The GOP controls the Presidency, Senate, and Hose today. We have to deal with the facts we face today in order to try to get change in 2018 and onward.

What I see when I read a

artappraiser — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 18:31:31 +0000

In reply to More Wisdom from an NYT Con Columnist

What I see when I read a thread like this is a lot of arguing about the past and trying to appeal to the paradigm or demographic that resulted in Trump's election, and going back to its progeny in the rust belt, the Reagan Dems and even the Southern Strategy.

When this is the reality: Trump became president and hello, it is a disaster!!! And his influence and fans are declining every day! And it is surely not the future! It is for the history books only.

Look, for example anything racist he does: he loses more! More clients from Palm Beach! More GOP in Congress and even in his own cabinet. Only keeps a small contingent of diehard fans. The diehard Trump fans after all the messes he has made in the presidency are so clearly nobody with any power. They do not for the most part include millenials, the huge new voting demographic that will only increase in power as boomers die. They don't even include a lot of Breitbart people now.

The only way he appears to maintain a current approval rating is when he goes bipartisan and reasonable. Otherwise, it goes down.

I think anything Trumpian will be "Mudd" for the foreseeable future. Whatever it is, politically the smart way to go is you want to think about going in the opposite direction. The Trump presidency is last gasp of old people's culture wars. It was enabled by a minority of the voters with a majority opposed, and now that he got to be president, the numbers continue to decline every day.

You don't want to spend time arguing about why a minority of U.S. voters voted him into the presidency. You don't need them to win anything., the diedhards are smaller in number everyday. He is not getting more popular, he is growing less popular. Unless there is a radical change in the person named Trump, they are going to not just get smaller in numbers, they are going be dying and will not be replaced. Fewer every day expect factory jobs to return. Fewer everyday can be classified as being in a "white" family, much less white working class! There will be no such thing soon as "white working class". Even in rural areas, more and more will have like, a sister-in-law that's Cambodian. This white working class grievance thing is so over precisely because: Trump became president and it's a disaster so far.

You want to argue about that kind of thing, move on to the modern world issues: multiracial working class issues and problems including what is assimilation (Muslims vs. Christians!) and how do we avoid ghettos and bad effects of tribalism; things like outsourcing of tech jobs overseas; how do rural people make a living and get proper health care when all the providers are in urban areas,etc.

In the era of Trump fans feel

rmrd0000 — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 17:01:26 +0000

In reply to Why the need to repeatedly

In the era of Trump fans feel,free to repeatedly call black players nigger

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/white-working-class...

Why the need to repeatedly

rmrd0000 — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 15:09:14 +0000

In reply to Repeating crap does not make

Why the need to repeatedly find excuses for what this group of white voters wanted? Trump finds fine people among the torch carriers. Now we are told there are fine people who voted Trump in office. We want to absolve them despite the nonsense they believe.

Edit to add:

Hillary got 88% of the black vote. She is described as getting the same percentage as"loser" Kerry. Somehow black voters didn't do enough. Blacks voters feel neglected by the Democratic Party and some grumble about staying home in 2018. Instead of embracing these black voters, they are told to go "f**k" themselves, they are not embraced. The folks who voted for the racist, on the other hand, need to be treated with respect. Insanity.

Repeating crap does not make

rmrd0000 — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 14:00:52 +0000

In reply to Yes. Minorities always get it

Repeating crap does not make it correct. White working class members focused on economic insecurity voted for Hillary. White working class in total when for Trump because of cultural anxiety (racism)

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/white-working-class...

Those who try to pretend racism wasn't a big part of the Trump vote are dismissive of black concerns. These folks want to push blacks to the back of the bus.

Yes. Minorities always get it

HSG — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 13:41:04 +0000

In reply to 1. Not all Trump voters hated

Yes. Minorities always get it in the neck when demagogues and authoritarians seek scapegoats to distract the masses from their increasingly fraught economic circumstances.

1. Not all Trump voters hated

rmrd0000 — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 13:09:52 +0000

In reply to Racism was a big factor in

1. Not all Trump voters hated blacks, but they were willing to vote for a guy who did hate blacks

2. If you did hate blacks, it was easy to cast a vote for Donald Trump.

Racism was a big factor in

rmrd0000 — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 12:39:12 +0000

In reply to Useful. It's sad when good

Racism was a big factor in the vote for Trump

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/04/17/racism-mot...

Pollsters note racism as a common factor in voting patterns

http://origin-nyi.thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/national-party-news/346...

White Trump voters feel that they are discriminated against more than blacks

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/08/02/white-trump-voter...

Hates crimes are on the rise in the age of Trump

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hate-crime-rise-2016-united-states-t...

Black people are among those ones directly impacted by racism. They noted the dog-whistles at Trump rallies. They note Trump's difficultly in criticizing white supremacists and they note what white Trump voters say in polling questions. Do you have any data that support your feeling that white Trump voters are not racially biased?

Q. Is "free trade" in the

HSG — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 12:34:15 +0000

In reply to If you believe that

Q. Is "free trade" in the short-term best interests of investment bankers?

A. Almost certainly as low wages mean increased corporate profits which mean higher stock prices, corporate valuations, and fees.

Q. Is "free trade" in the short-term or long-term best interests of most Americans?

A. Almost certainly not as it leads to higher unemployment, higher underemployment, lower salaries, and less spending.

Q. Are high top marginal tax rates in the short-term best interests of investment bankers?

A. No because investment bankers are very very highly compensated and therefore would have to pay higher taxes.

Q. Are high top marginal tax rates in the short-term and long-term best interests of most Americans?

A. Almost certainly since most Americans don't make very high salaries, they won't be paying those top marginal rates. The higher taxes will lead to greater revenues, the ability to spend more on infrastructure, and a reduction in inequality which more closely aligns the political interests of the 1% with everybody else. Higher taxes also reduce the temptation to bribe elected officials or to take bribes since the ultimate payoff is reduced. Thus, they result in a better government. There are many other reasons why higher top marginal tax rates benefit ordinary Americans.