One way or the other millions of people in this country are insane…

[luvmyhawks]

Nope. Incorrect.

You haven't understood and/or have not agreed with my answer.

Which is fine.

Let it go.

I told you not to respond to me unless you were going to actually address my question. Stop quoting me. You don't appear to actually get what I am asking, which is fine. Just stop pretending you are so smart when we aren't even talking about the same thing.

 

[Randall Stanhope]

I told you not to respond to me unless you were going to actually address my question. Stop quoting me. You don't appear to actually get what I am asking, which is fine. Just stop pretending you are so smart when we aren't even talking about the same thing.

I don't give a shit what you told me.

 

[ClarindaA's]

What exactly has been voted on?

You’re right, I should say you vote for the person who agrees with you on big issues. For some it’s abortion, others, taxes.

 

[Gus is dead]

You can blame some Democrats for their positions (even if unpopular) and antics all you want. That doesn’t change the fact Trump dugbhisnown hole with his behavior to be twice impeached. Had he not won election he just might be facing jail time. So convenient to look past all of his actions to include the criminal stuff to blame DEI or the dozen of trans trying to play sports.

Just look at things over the past few months… grocery prices are higher, as is gas. Stock market taking a dive… crypto in the toilet too. We are throwing allies in Europe under the bus and creating a trade war with two of our neighbors, one of which is our closest allies. Unemployment is up… and only going to get worse. Yet, Trump and his circle will blame the Ds or or simply say it doesn’t matter anymore cuz they are in power.

All of this shit is crazy, but keep pointing fingers at the Ds.

My discussion was related to how Trump was ELECTED. He was elected for the reasons I laid out. None of this has anything to do with the post election results or policies. Not blaming Dems for anything that came after, in essence. Not sure if you're trying to shift the discussion intentionally or not but your post misses the point. And for that reason, I'm out.

 

[Ferentz_Fan]

I mean... yes.

You don't think they have private meetings?

It's difficult to imagine the oligarch influencing when you compare the nonexistent pres to DT. Someone was running the show and it was not JB.

 

[Hawki97]

Politics became sports. People act like fans now. Fans are insane and their team is always right even when they’re wrong. That’s what has happened. We screwed.

 

[hawkeyetraveler]

It's difficult to imagine the oligarch influencing when you compare the nonexistent pres to DT. Someone was running the show and it was not JB.

Pretty sure it was mostly the cabinet members running their departments. Which is how it has been under most administrations until Trump. Now we have an oligarch making (dumb/bad) line item budget decisions out in the open.

 

[McLovin32]

I don't give a shit what you told me.

 

[luvmyhawks]

I don't give a shit what you told me.

Nor do I give a shit what your response was as it had nothing to do with my question. So STFU.

 

[BGHAWK]

Does it ever make you question your sanity? What do others see in Trump that your are completely blind to?

Btw, I am glad you are on the mend. 😊

It appears to me that approximately 75 million maga voters are concerned that the 735 billionaires in the US get a tax break. Why is that? Does it help them, trickle down, or what?

 

[bcherod]

Why don't you compare your theory of oligarchs to the JB presidency? I'm pretty sure I saw it in that admin.

That’s because you want to see it, not because it’s there.

 

[Randall Stanhope]

Nor do I give a shit what your response was as it had nothing to do with my question. So STFU.

Stop responding then.

 

[desihawk]

I abhor the fact that some senator’s wife gets a $500K cushy job at an NGO simply because of who she knows. That is nothing more than nepotism and it stinks. I feel the same way about legacy trust fund kids getting into Harvard, about Trump employing Ivanka/Jared, about big time donors to every president becoming ambassadors, and on and on.

That is absolutely common ground.

Where I differ is I do see a sliding scale of badness. The Harvard trust fund kid is less bad IMO than being able to buy immediate government access because you hired the senators]’s wife. And the senator’s wife at a NGO is less bad than being able to influence a FAA contract against a rival simply because you donated 100’s of millions to the president. And influencing the contract is less bad than the President selling access to his inner circle to the highest bidder.

Just like I see shoplifting a snickers bar as less bad than stealing a car. Both are bad, but the degree does matter.

as an alternative to letting the lesser badguy constantly hold on to power, what do you think of a strategy that uses badguy-1 to destroy badguy-2's corruption setup and immediately after use badguy-2 to take out badguy-1's setup? coz that could be an interpretation of what happened the last two elections.

 

[Ferentz_Fan]

That’s because you want to see it, not because it’s there.

Disagree

 

[Tom Paris]

I grew up in a republican family. When I turned 18 (2007) I registered as a republican. I kept that designation until 2016.

During the 2016 primaries, I was very much against Bernie and Trump. I truly expected the republicans to be the “normal” party that nominate a normal candidate like Rubio or Kasich, and I expected the democrats to be the “crazy” ones to nominate a socialist candidate. But I was wrong, and I no longer recognize the republican party. Trump has flipped their views on free trade, isolationism, and even his “reluctant” supporters do not acknowledge how crazy Trump really is. They sane-wash whatever crazy shit he says and does.

I do often question my sanity. Trump seems like the equivalent of the dress that looked to be either black & blue or white & gold.

I fully understand pushback to democrats. I don’t support blanket student loan forgiveness. Men should not play women’s sports. I am pro-choice, but understand why people fundamentally disagree with it. We had weak border enforcement. But even on all those issues, I don’t think the democrats are “crazy”.

Men playing women’s sports, for example: democrats are not really saying that men should be able to play in women’s sports. I am not a scientist (I’m a tax attorney), but my understanding is that relevant governing bodies (e.g., the NCAA) set standards for measuring testosterone / other factors that would prevent biological males that have not undergone sufficient hormone therapy from competing. More simply put, Lia Thomas did not have a significant competitive advantage over other swimmers. I don’t understand the science, but I am willing to defer to experts, and that willingness to defer to experts is no longer welcome in the republican party.

I more fundamentally disagree with democrats on the student loan forgiveness issue. People agreed to pay for college education by taking out a loan. Unless they are then taking public service jobs where forgiveness is part of the agreement, it makes little sense to just cancel contractual obligations. I get the desire to make college more affordable, but loan forgiveness is an absolutely terrible way of trying to accomplish that. But even with my fundamental opposition to this policy, that does not mean I want to elect an ignorant bully just to piss off the people I disagree with. Moreover, the amount of student loan forgiveness is a very small part of overall government spending, and is far from a make or break issue for me.

Most of my family are republicans. Of those that have gone through similar amounts of introspection as I have, none have voted for Trump. Those that have not gone through that introspection have voted for Trump. I don’t think that everyone who voted for Trump is a bad person. At the same time, I don’t understand how any good person could vote for someone who is so vile, ignorant, and petty. I will never understand it.

I assume, since you are against student loan forgiveness, you’re against farmer bailouts or using bailouts for others who “knew what they were getting into”? Very good post but I take issue with 900 billionaires getting 4.5 TRILLION in tax cuts pushing back at 5 million young Americans, who can’t afford to buy a home, couldn’t collectively receive 188 billion dollars that would go right back into our economy.

People are picking and choosing who gets taxpayer help. A small few, who don’t need it, get a giant piece of the pie, while telling us we can’t afford the SS we have all paid into for decades. That’s theft. Those same 900 want that next 4.5 TRILLION but take away 57 BILLION from 46 MILLION Americans by eliminating the ACA.

It’s the billionaires. It wasn’t those that were being forgiven for their loans. I say that as someone who paid off mine at age 52 - $45K plus 7% interest. Billionaires are screwing the rest of us and Trump is helping.

 

[Tom Paris]

I think people can be both insane and right in the end. E.g.

1. It's insane to believe everything Trump does is going to turn out great. It won't. As with investing, you just want most of it to.

2. It's insane/inhuman to stay seated and not clap for a 13 year old cancer survivor because you don't like the guy that told you about him. Those people might also be right about Trump's presidency ultimately being a failure.

It's the media that's erased the middle ground and created a divide. But Clinton Democrats and Bush Republicans alike realize this could turn out just fine for America. It's not necessarily going to be an amazing success OR an unmitigated disaster. Nonetheless the media must paint it that way because for them, it's ultimately about convincing the wing nuts who believe what they say to vote for the media outlets chosen party.

JFC

 

[Capernum]

Pray, my friend. I'm praying all day for peace.

Me too.

 

[Dirt Boy 2]

Totally agree.

It’s interesting that people cite the NYPost as a source.

We former commuters read WSJ and NYT on the ride, then NYP for sports and gossip. Trump was always in the NYP because of his antics. Truly a joke. That was the ‘80’s and ‘90’s.
I was a Republican until 2016.

I just couldn’t believe that he got the nomination. To me, might as well have given it to a Kardashian.

Trump was Kardashian before Kardashian was cool.

 

[icantfindausernamethatisntused]

I assume, since you are against student loan forgiveness, you’re against farmer bailouts or using bailouts for others who “knew what they were getting into”?

Yes, with the caveat that the 2008 financial crisis presented a unique situation in which if the banks were not bailed out it would have been catastrophic for everyone. That was a true lesser of two evils situation. On principle, that bailout should not have happened either. It’s a disgusting reality that the banks were literally too big to fail.

 

[RagnarLothbrok]

After reading Trump’s social media post today about Canada, I am 100% comfortable asserting Trump is indeed insane—his apologists are equally to boot.

I have got to stop engaging insane people, because that’s exactly what Trump apologists are. Insane.

 

[Tom Paris]

Yes, with the caveat that the 2008 financial crisis presented a unique situation in which if the banks were not bailed out it would have been catastrophic for everyone. That was a true lesser of two evils situation. On principle, that bailout should not have happened either. It’s a disgusting reality that the banks were literally too big to fail.

They took our tax dollars and gave CEOs raises and bought more stock. Greedy pricks.