The 2016 US General Election

[Parihaka]

What policies is he suggesting on the matter?

you are American aren't you? Bernie Sanders currently has the numbers to take the democrat nomination, irrespective of Clinton being indicted. You really should read up on him.
https://berniesanders.com/issues/

[tantalus]

you are American aren't you? Bernie Sanders currently has the numbers to take the democrat nomination, irrespective of Clinton being indicted. You really should read up on him.
https://berniesanders.com/issues/

Not american, (Irish) I'm interested in the issue of the problem of the concentration of wealth. I will give him a read.

[Parihaka]

Not american, (Irish) I'm interested in the issue of the problem of the concentration of wealth. I will give him a read.

sorry, don't know why I assumed you were American :-( . I too am interested in this, I'm a firm fan of capitalism but I'm not and idealogue: our current laissez faire debacle needs an uncle Bernie correction, plus a few bullets.

[Parihaka]

Meanwhile, SDA has a nice history of what is publicly known of Hilary's "alleged crimes". As I and others have said earlier, its extremely unlikely that she will be prosecuted given her class but its good to have a public record without the usual Washington disinformation.
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2016...se-emails.html

[tantalus]

sorry, don't know why I assumed you were American :-(

Ah well, you could suggest worse for an Irish man...

No offence intended to the worse... :-) (It's not rational)

[tantalus]

You really should read up on him.
https://berniesanders.com/issues/

I read through the economic sections of the link. Dividing it into 3, in terms of wealth concentration, 1.super rich, 2.corporations, 3. Wall street and banks.

Taxing the super rich (estate taxes) and closing tax loop holes, closing tax loop holes for corporations moving their money abroad etc, and taxing Wall Street, would you largely agree with the generalisations and the need for change on the 3 of these issues as framed by Sanders?

[tantalus]

I too am interested in this, I'm a firm fan of capitalism but I'm not and idealogue: our current laissez faire debacle needs an uncle Bernie correction, plus a few bullets.

Yes, it's no harm to stress the addendum (fan of capitalism and free market) given the natural tendency towards polarisation of any such discourse.

[GVChamp]

I am almost 100% confident Pari is being facetious and wouldn't vote for Sanders unless the only other option was Hitler.

[Mihais]

Hitler of 1933 or Hitler of 1944?

[TopHatter]

This is an Op-Ed that sums up exactly what I've been thinking about Trump since Day One.

Donald Trump is a fraud: Report confirms the billionaire’s presidential bid is a long and calculated con job

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign feels whimsical, like a practical joke or publicity tour gone awry. But it turns out the Donald is running a long con. A new report in Politico suggests Trump has been plotting this stunt for years, and he knew exactly what he had to do to succeed.

According to the report, Trump was approached two years ago by GOP operatives who wanted him to run for governor of New York. To their surprise, he declined but added that they would be useful when he ran for president. “I’m going to walk away with it and win outright,” Trump told the group, “I’m going to get in and all the polls are going to go crazy. I’m going to suck all the oxygen out of the room. I know how to work the media in a way that that they will never take the lights off of me.”

Trump knew all along that his celebrity and media savvy were sufficient to support his campaign. Although they didn’t believe him, Trump told the Republicans in that room in 2013 that he would dominate the race without spending much on paid advertising. From the report:

“’You can’t run for president on earned media,’ one attendee recalled telling Trump. The billionaire looked up, and paused for a long moment. ‘I think you’re wrong,’ Trump said. ‘Are you going to do all those little events at the Pizza Ranches?” another person asked, referring to the Iowa fast food franchises that are a staple of presidential campaign stops. ‘Maybe a little,’ Trump replied. ‘But it’s really about the power of the mass audience.’”

Trump was right. The ability to control the narrative, to dominate the coverage, is all it takes. Trump’s amorality coupled with his gift for self-promotion has turned the Republican presidential race on its head. He’s made the race about him, and anytime he isn’t the main story, he lurches back into the headlines with an outrageous comment about women or Muslims or Mexicans or disabled people – anything to win the news cycle.

The biggest takeaway from the report is that Trump is indeed a professional huckster. And whatever else he is, he’s not stupid. He doesn’t believe half the absurdities he utters on the campaign trail either. As the report makes clear, everything he’s done and said was designed to dupe the media into funding his marketing strategy.

Trump’s a TV man; he understands the landscape. He knows interesting is preferable to informed or reasonable or lucid. Which is why he eschews talking points or scripts and instead riffs on stage like a stand-up. Trump’s free-wheeling approach means he could say literally anything at any moment, and that’s the kind of thing people want to watch. The bit about Mexicans being criminals and rapists, for example, was entirely improvised during Trump’s announcement speech, and while it was an egregious thing to say, the sheer craziness of the remarks won him a week’s worth of headlines and catapulted his campaign.

“Trump didn’t foresee the furor his Mexico comments would generate; it was a reaction that built slowly and broke into a fever pitch,” Eli Stokols and Ben Schreckinger write. “But even if he didn’t predict what exactly would kick off the media frenzy, he had planned all along to offer the media a candidacy it couldn’t resist covering.” This is what Trump has done from the beginning: say something offensive, watch the media pounce, and allow the saturated coverage to fuel his insurgent campaign.

Trump’s strategy is nearly perfect. On the one hand, he’s tapped into a vein of resentment in the country, and in a way no serious politician could. And on the other hand, he’s free to say whatever he wants, no matter how controversial, because doing so breathes more oxygen into his campaign. Even more advantageous, he’s entered the race at an ideal time. The public — for good reasons — no longer trusts Washington. Trump is a hack who can’t fix anything, but people make bad decisions when they’re anxious or angry, and Trump is offering them an alternative to the status quo. This is what demagogues do, and it usually works.

As a candidate, Trump appears uncontainable. His risk tolerance is unmatched, and that gives him a freedom no other candidate enjoys. He can offend anyone, promise anything, and circumnavigate the entire process without ever having to apologize. Not apologizing, as the Politico writers note, only bolsters “a candidate who appeals to voters fed up with political correctness and establishment niceties.” It also forces the other candidates to play his game, to react to the tone he sets and the issues he raises.

Everything Trump does has to be seen in the broader context of his media-centric strategy. No one should ask if Trump believes what he says; it’s impossible to know. If he does believe something he says, it’s a happy coincidence, because his campaign is an experiment in modern marketing, not an expression of his political worldview. Link

[tantalus]

I am almost 100% confident Pari is being facetious and wouldn't vote for Sanders unless the only other option was Hitler.

I was wondering that myself, but he has kept such a solid facade...

Edit. Besides, we're discussing policy, not candidate, that said, Pari really doesnt like the other H, Hilary.

[Mihais]

This is an Op-Ed that sums up exactly what I've been thinking about Trump since Day One.

Donald Trump is a fraud: Report confirms the billionaire’s presidential bid is a long and calculated con job-/URL]

There is a problem with this line of thinking:every man belongs to the uniform he's wearing.
It is irelevant if Trump believes what he says or not.It is enough to actually do a third of what he says to get lasting adoration.This is the whole art of politics.Do something your people like and secure a place in history.And to get there you have to keep it simple.Because most people aren't interested in politics and even if they are,they are too stupid to understand it.Average IQ is not particularly smart and half the people are dumber than that.They need simple sloganeering.''Racists'',''criminals'',''thiefs'' etc...

Personally,I have no doubt that his bid is a carefully created project that was in the works for at least 20 years.I also believe that he has a plan,that may coincide partially with the campaign promises.But that is a mark of individual brilliance on his part,like it or not.

[TopHatter]

There is a problem with this line of thinking:every man belongs to the uniform he's wearing.
It is irelevant if Trump believes what he says or not.It is enough to actually do a third of what he says to get lasting adoration.This is the whole art of politics.Do something your people like and secure a place in history.And to get there you have to keep it simple.Because most people aren't interested in politics and even if they are,they are too stupid to understand it.Average IQ is not particularly smart and half the people are dumber than that.They need simple sloganeering.''Racists'',''criminals'',''thiefs'' etc...

Personally,I have no doubt that his bid is a carefully created project that was in the works for at least 20 years.I also believe that he has a plan,that may coincide partially with the campaign promises.But that is a mark of individual brilliance on his part,like it or not.

Clarification on my part, the parts highlighted in red are, more than any other part of the article, what I've been thinking, especially this:

"The public — for good reasons — no longer trusts Washington. Trump is a hack who can’t fix anything, but people make bad decisions when they’re anxious or angry, and Trump is offering them an alternative to the status quo. This is what demagogues do, and it usually works."

Of course, all of that is true Barack Obama in 2008 and it most definitely worked for him.

I don't think it'll work for Trump of course, he doesn't have the broad appeal that reaches enough Moderates like Obama did. He's reaching a loud minority of the Right that appears far larger than it is.

[GVChamp]

Hitler of 1933 or Hitler of 1944?

Even Hitler in 33 was a disaster.

I missed your last post re: Eisenhower. The challenges you face as President are not the same you face as CEO or General.

Quite frankly, Eisenhower wasn't really that good of a President. Neither was JFK. They are romanticized more than they should be. LBJ was absolutely hands down the BEST President of the post-War era, when it came to having a vision and getting shit done. I say that as a Republican who hates a lot of what LBJ did and think he was wrong-headed.

You need a lot of vision and persistence and the ability to get buy-in, and you need to know the ins and outs of politics. Unlike business, which is Trump's realm, the US government is specifically designed to make it as difficult as possible to get shit done.


Re: that politico report.
All politicians are stage acts. Trump is better because he can actually say what a certain segment of Americans want to hear.

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

This is obviously true to Americans, and no one besides Trump can say it.

[GVChamp]

Obama didn't need to appeal to moderates. He didn't win independents in 2012.

He won in 2008 because he turned out the liberal vote.

CNN is reporting huge lines at Republican lines. Among some pretty white collar type districts. If those people are turning out for Trump, it's already over, the nomination is going to Trump and Trump is going to destroy anyone who Democrat who runs (unless George Washington comes back and runs as a Democrat)