US Presidential Election 2016 - Nightmare Mode

[gaggle64]

Figured it was time to throw a thread up about this - By the morning of November 9th, about 5 days from now, we'll know who will be the new president of the greatest superpower on earth.

 

In the blue corner: a Havard law graduate, former first lady, two term senator, and six years worth of experience as a successful Secretary of State. Hillary Clinton may well be the most qualified person ever to run for the most powerful position the world.

 

In the red corner: a self-admitted serial molester, twice-bankrupt property developer with a string of failed casinos, reality TV star, possibly supported by the Russian KGB, with no previous experience of office and a history of racially discriminatory business practices. Donald Trump now lies within a couple of points of securing the oval office after a lightening rise to the top of the GOP. A federal lawsuit concerning allegations of him raping a 13 year old girl during the 1990s will commence in December.

 

Which candidate will inherit control of the world's largest economy and nuclear arsenal? Will we witness another Clinton presidency or the death of Western civilization? The polls are neck-and-neck. We genuinely have no idea!

 

All we can do now is trust the wisdom of the American voters...

 

[Agent Gibbs]

I fear trump will win

Simply put he has ran a perfect (in the evil snese) media campaign, deflecting all questions on his past, his disgusting attitude toward women, managed to convince the Head of the FBi to publicly announce damaging information at this stage, breaking the Hatch act, which has resulted in a shift in the poles all whilst not publically mentioning the russian connection and managing to coopt supporters minds to one single thought - but what about those emails? Its almost akin to the Nazi's it was the jews mind altering propaganda

 

We are screwed, a man who cannot control his own rage and acts like a baby throwing toys out of the pram will control the worlds 'best' millitary and an arsenal of nukes to send us back to the Cretaceous–Paleogene period

[Ashley]

The whole thing below is worth watching, but this bit in particular is fantastic:

 

 

But yes, I'm just kind of hoping 2016 has finished being awful. Hilary has her faults, sure....but come on. It's shit its ended up like this, but it is and dear lord I hope it doesn't get worse.

[Jonnas]

I honestly wouldn't take those close polls at face value. They take into account a bunch of correction factors based on empirical evidence (that is, from past elections), thus ensuring that silent voters who weren't polled are taken into account. Those tend to give good prognoses on regular elections, but the presence of Donald Trump has made this everything but.

 

The man has alienated, badmouthed, disrespected and/or insulted Latin Americans, the LGBT community, war veterans, the disabled, every non-Christian religion, every non-White minority, and the entire female gender. And also people who respect competence, tax laws and/or world peace. I don't really expect polls to account for that.

 

When I see news that there are record numbers of Latinos suddenly registering to vote, and that the Trump name has been losing monetary value, I'm reminded that silent contempt for the man is much stronger than his vocal supporters.

[Ashley]

Problem is regardless of what happens, this isn't the end. He's already said he's not going to accept it because its all rigged (although less rigged now he's gaining momentum, weirdly), but this is the same man that spent 5 years saying Obama wasn't born in the US and has spent 20 years saying some minors should have been executed even after being found innocent years ago.

 

We will be hearing about this election until the day he dies.

[Debug Mode]

Hillary is easily the most sensible choice for a stable president, but I can understand why so many people have rallied behind Trump (although it's horrifying how they're willing to ignore his blatant racism and sexism). It's the ultimate finger to the political establishment as they definitely do not want him in.

 

But man, what a horrifying election. No matter what the American people choose, neither of the presidential candidates are ideal. I feel pretty bad, but I kind of want to see Trump to win just so I can laugh.

[Nolan]

Hillary is a lying cunt, once again under investigation by the FBI. She should be in jail.

 

Trump is a raging idiot who's idiocy is only rivaled by his supporters.

 

Neither are good choices, and it's frankly frightening that one of the two is almost certainly going to win the election. There are a couple other half decent candidates "technically" in the running but the US is so ingrained in the two party system that other parties essentially don't exist in the eyes of the public. So the few people without their head up their own asses that vote independent are basically throwing their vote away.

 

Furthermore the electoral college is still a bullshit institution where the popular vote doesn't matter. The popular vote matters so little that a candidate can win a state and the college can vote opposite of that.

 

The country is fucked.

 

 

The fantastic irony is that a decade ago the American public were certain no one could be worse than Bush. Last few years people have been saying the same thing about Obama....Whelp. Here we are.

Edited November 4, 2016 by Nolan

[Sméagol]

So I don't give a shit about politics, but with Clinton this and Trump that all over the news, I got curious and did a voting test thingy. Apparently, If I were a US citizen, and interested in politics / voting, I'd vote Jill Stein. Who? There are 2 other candidates besides Trump and Clinton. Clinton was 2nd in my results, followed by the 3rd guy, and way down below, was Trump.

 

Here's the test.

[Nolan]

Jill Stein and Gary Johnson. ^

 

 

Sadly Bernie got shafted by the DNC and he stuck with his word to back Hillary. Not that he ever had a huge shot anyways. He's a Socialist essentially and that's still a dirty word in US politics.

[Ashley]

America's staunch anti-socialism angle is just weird. I get if you don't think it would work, but it just seems a lot of people act as if its an evil cult.

 

I mean look at Portugal. They have a socialist party in charge (or at least are the majority of a left-learning coalition) and they're still standing

 

Hillary is a lying cunt, once again under investigation by the FBI. She should be in jail.

 

Trump is a raging idiot who's idiocy is only rivaled by his supporters.

 

Neither are good choices, and it's frankly frightening that one of the two is almost certainly going to win the election. There are a couple other half decent candidates "technically" in the running but the US is so ingrained in the two party system that other parties essentially don't exist in the eyes of the public. So the few people without their head up their own asses that vote independent are basically throwing their vote away.

 

Furthermore the electoral college is still a bullshit institution where the popular vote doesn't matter. The popular vote matters so little that a candidate can win a state and the college can vote opposite of that.

 

The country is fucked.

 

 

The fantastic irony is that a decade ago the American public were certain no one could be worse than Bush. Last few years people have been saying the same thing about Obama....Whelp. Here we are.

 

Devil's advocate - if I recall correctly she was found to have been reckless but not criminal last time. What do you think the chances are this will change?

 

I'm curious about the whole FBI thing. If it is true they've held off discussing (or whatever) Trump's ties to Russia it seems so patently one-sided.

[Kav]

Bring back Bernie Sanders!

[Debug Mode]

I get that Bernie had to come out and say he is in support of Hillary to put Trump back a few pegs, but it would have been so much cooler if he had just went "No, go support your independents, there's a reason I competed with this woman to be the Democrat presidential candidate"

[Shorty]

I get that Bernie had to come out and say he is in support of Hillary to put Trump back a few pegs, but it would have been so much cooler if he had just went "No, go support your independents, there's a reason I competed with this woman to be the Democrat presidential candidate"

[Jonnas]

I get that Bernie had to come out and say he is in support of Hillary to put Trump back a few pegs, but it would have been so much cooler if he had just went "No, go support your independents, there's a reason I competed with this woman to be the Democrat presidential candidate"

 

Bernie competed with Hillary to show that the issues he brought up (such as college funding) are relevant to her voterbase, and he ultimately got her to acknowledge that and include them on her platform.

 

Alienating Clinton would've been a good way to shoot his own cause in the foot. Compromise is essential to getting shit done.

 

So I don't give a shit about politics, but with Clinton this and Trump that all over the news, I got curious and did a voting test thingy. Apparently, If I were a US citizen, and interested in politics / voting, I'd vote Jill Stein. Who? There are 2 other candidates besides Trump and Clinton. Clinton was 2nd in my results, followed by the 3rd guy, and way down below, was Trump.

 

To add to your post, here's a video about Jill Stein and Gary Johnson:

 

 

I haven't taken that quiz, as it has so many questions, but I'm pretty sure I'd vote Hillary if I could. Bernie is a close second, and none of the third-party candidates convince me. Trump is right out.

 

America's staunch anti-socialism angle is just weird. I get if you don't think it would work, but it just seems a lot of people act as if its an evil cult.

 

I mean look at Portugal. They have a socialist party in charge (or at least are the majority of a left-learning coalition) and they're still standing

 

Our government is actually socialist-leftist-communist-green I should elaborate.

 

To be more precise, our two main parties are the Socialist Party (PS) and the Social-Democrat Party (PSD). PS leans left, PSD leans right. Those two have dominated Portuguese politics since we got rid of fascism back in the 70s.

 

In recent years, smaller parties have gained more relevance in our government/parliament. The current government happens to be a coalition of PS, BE (Left Block) and CDU (the Communists & Greens), and it's affectionately called the "Doohickey" (if you know a better translation for "Geringonça", I'm all ears), because these three parties have never worked together before and the whole thing can break down at any moment (though I think it's been working well so far). In a nutshell, our government isn't just socialist, it's the entire mainstream left.

 

To get back on point, PS (and governments where they were a clear majority) have traditionally had problems, namely overspending, promise-breaking, and the fostering of a lax political class that is out of touch with both its constituency and the ideology that it's supposed to uphold. In other words, normal shit that any major party in any first world country ends up doing, anyway. They're definitely not that different.

 

At the end, the only real ideological difference is that socialists think government should be more hands-on in running the country (hence the overspending being a problem). However, American politics are permeated by this idea that government should stay out of the citizens' business, even for basic shit like public transportation or a decent healthcare system. It's probably a consequence of living on what is, essentially, a federation. The fact that many Americans conflate "socialist" with "communist" doesn't help.

 

Devil's advocate - if I recall correctly she was found to have been reckless but not criminal last time. What do you think the chances are this will change?

 

I'm curious about the whole FBI thing. If it is true they've held off discussing (or whatever) Trump's ties to Russia it seems so patently one-sided.

 

The new investigation has literally nothing to do with Hillary, and everything to do with Anthony Weiner, a senator famous for sending dick pics (Weinergate, some call it. I'm seriously not making this up).

 

Even if the FBI knew nothing of Trump's ties to Russia, the way they pretended that Weiner's latest scandal had anything to do with Clinton should be a scandal in itself.

[Ashley]

Yeah sorry I did oversimplify the current Portuguese government situation (although I did briefly mention it was a coalition ) but it was to just point out socialism (or at least socialist ideology) doesn't lead to the downfall of mankind like some Americans seem to think.

 

I'm well aware of Mr Weiner Saw a documentary about him at some point that was on Netflix but unsure if it still is.

[Nolan]

America's staunch anti-socialism angle is just weird. I get if you don't think it would work, but it just seems a lot of people act as if its an evil cult.

It's a holdover from WWII and Cold War propaganda. Most don't know the difference between socialism and communism, but all know that's what the "evil bad guys are in Europe and Russia" were. Americans are stupid, and it certainly doesn't help when the two big parties still treat socialism as a dirty word furthering the misconception of how it actually works.

 

 

Devil's advocate - if I recall correctly she was found to have been reckless but not criminal last time. What do you think the chances are this will change?

 

Nothing will change. It's literally too close to the election anyways.

[Ashley]

It's a holdover from WWII and Cold War propaganda. Most don't know the difference between socialism and communism, but all know that's what the "evil bad guys are in Europe and Russia" were. Americans are stupid, and it certainly doesn't help when the two big parties still treat socialism as a dirty word furthering the misconception of how it actually works.

 

Nothing will change. It's literally too close to the election anyways.

 

Yeah I get why from a historical POV but...come on. It's been 50 years, get over it

 

Sorry by "change" I meant the outcome i.e. is she any more likely to be guilty of committing a crime this time round rather than change in the sense it would impact the election significantly?

[Nolan]

I'd love for us to get over it. But those in power want to maintain the current status quo and that sort of getting over it would make that a bit harder to maintain.

 

I find it unlikely the investigation will have any findings to harm her in anyway. A republican agent is the one that originally found her incompetent as opposed to willfully negligent.

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

Im all for Trump being president. I've always wanted the end of the world to be the cause of my death. We've always just been one button press away from total global annihilation. [/Nightmare Mode]

[somme]

If Trump did get elected I highly doubt he'd last the full term. Although I do not in any way want him to be elected, I gotta say, it'd be fairly interesting to see what would happen.

 

Either way I imagine they'll be rioting.

[sumo73]

Compared to the UK and elsewhere, I find the US elections to be a wildly drawn out affair (something like 2 years plus) but I think it's odd that many Americans get their view of politics from evening comedy/light entertainment shows. (Daily Show, Last Week Tonight, Late Night...).

 

The whole thing below is worth watching, but this bit in particular is fantastic:

 

I don't think it was fantastic, just a slick light entertainment style that Americans are very good at. Look I'm no Trump fan but have a look online and Clinton has said some evil things as well about other people but this wasn't added to the above video clip because it wouldn't have got the laughter at the end.

 

Since Clinton has already annoyed half of Trump supporters with her 'basket of deplorables' comment I wonder how she will reach out to them if she wins? Will she use dialogue or more threats against Russia? Will she bomb xx middle eastern country in order to protect freedom? Will she actually reach out to rust belt and fly over America and help build America up again so that people aren't so dependent on welfare handouts?

 

If this is the best that America can offer from both the Republican and Democratic parties I hope that America next time can open up about other parties/candidates.

 

My vote would be for Dr Stein but since I'm not American I can't vote. Even though I'm not American this vote affect us all.

 

I get that Bernie had to come out and say he is in support of Hillary to put Trump back a few pegs, but it would have been so much cooler if he had just went "No, go support your independents, there's a reason I competed with this woman to be the Democrat presidential candidate"

 

I believe that Dr Stein had tried to reach out to Bernie Sanders before but got little response. Sanders saw the picture that if he did what you said he would have deeply split the Democratic vote and the risk would be Trump getting in by default.

Edited November 5, 2016 by sumo73

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

If Trump did get elected I highly doubt he'd last the full term. Although I do not in any way want him to be elected, I gotta say, it'd be fairly interesting to see what would happen.

 

Either way I imagine they'll be rioting.

 

I reckon he'll get assassinated before a full term in all honesty.

[somme]

I reckon he'll get assassinated before a full term in all honesty.

 

I also reckon there's a pretty high chance of at least several attempts. Not that I condone it of course. He's barbaric, idiotic, monster but I'd rather he be removed due to having no fucking clue what he's doing rather than made a martyr to right-wing extremists.

[Ashley]

 

I don't think it was fantastic, just a slick light entertainment style that Americans are very good at. Look I'm no Trump fan but have a look online and Clinton has said some evil things as well about other people but this wasn't added to the above video clip because it wouldn't have got the laughter at the end.

 

Sorry, fantastic in a performance POV. That long stream of issues rattled off quickly. It's obviously one-sided.

 

Does anyone know from a legal POV if Trump were to be elected and then lost one of his numerous upcoming court cases (such as the child rape one next month) could anything happen? Presumably he'd be impeached, right?

[Nolan]

Pretty sure that's correct. I know felons can't vote, so I'm fairly certain they can't hold office either. So a felony conviction would make him ineligible to be president. Though I suppose he might just be forced into resigning rather than impeached.