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9 years ago
Obama said, "Yes we can!" And what they heard was that he is some sort of Anti-American terrorist who is a radical Muslim and wants to destroy the country. His birth was put into question for several years, purely because of the color of his skin and his name. Oh, and some believed he was the anti-christ who was going to make "White slavery" a thing and put /real/ Christian Americans into camps.
His message was a positive one, of coming together and completing the impossible. These baseless accusations were a product of fear, anger, and racism.
trump is a racist demagogue who told people to be afraid. He said he would appoint justices to "properly" define marriage. He said he thinks women should be punished for abortion. He said that climate change is a hoax created by China. He said that someone who loves the 2nd amendment could "Do something about" his political opponent. He said he wanted people to police polling places in the "inner city." He said that Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals, but some I assume are good people. He said he wants to stop all Muslim immigrants from coming to America, and he said he wants to place current Muslims on a "list." He said he has these great deals that will be the very best, but beyond that has given little to no information on them. He said that his political opponent will be placed in jail, despite being investigated over and over and over again. He said he had committed sexual assault, but when women stepped forward and agreed he called them liars. He said that we have these nuclear weapons, so why not use them? He said he was a Christian but then famously said "Number 2 Corinthians" and has been married to three different women. He said that he would only accept the outcome of the election if he wins, but is supposedly a lover of democracy. He said that stop and frisk was a great system, despite being found as humiliating and racist and against the constitution. He said that the families of terrorists should be tortured and or executed. He said that the United States should have just stolen the oil after its two horrible wars. He said that the lying liberal media was out to get him and proudly used photos from a website overflowing with antisemitism. He said that women belong in the kitchen and if dinner isn't on the table when he gets home he goes through the roof. He said that waterboarding is great. He said that he doesn't respect Veterans if they were POWs, while at the same time he dodged the draft during his youth due to a foot injury (couldn't remember which foot). He said that our military generals are stupid and that he is far smarter than them. He said his political opponents were all liars and thieves and he is going to trial this month for fraud. He said that he can do what he wants and get away with it, because he's a star, and he has a court date next month for a rape case on a then underage girl.
If you tell me that now I have to "give trump a chance" because Obama was given the same courtesy, I will have to point you towards the facts. This man should not represent me and my values, yet here he is. He ran a campaign on hatred, fear, and sheer arrogance. Regardless of what he does with his time in the White House, unless the electoral college does the right thing, the fact that he was able to get so much support by using such a horrible, Anti-American message is beyond me.
So please, do not tell me that Obama was given a fair chance, especially when the man who spent 8 years trying to remove our first Black president with the horribly racist birther movement is now the president-elect. If you are not at least a little confused, scared, or upset, then I don't think we saw the past several months of the worst campaign in my lifetime actually being given a pass and heralded as another faucet of American exceptionalism.
His message was a positive one, of coming together and completing the impossible. These baseless accusations were a product of fear, anger, and racism.
trump is a racist demagogue who told people to be afraid. He said he would appoint justices to "properly" define marriage. He said he thinks women should be punished for abortion. He said that climate change is a hoax created by China. He said that someone who loves the 2nd amendment could "Do something about" his political opponent. He said he wanted people to police polling places in the "inner city." He said that Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals, but some I assume are good people. He said he wants to stop all Muslim immigrants from coming to America, and he said he wants to place current Muslims on a "list." He said he has these great deals that will be the very best, but beyond that has given little to no information on them. He said that his political opponent will be placed in jail, despite being investigated over and over and over again. He said he had committed sexual assault, but when women stepped forward and agreed he called them liars. He said that we have these nuclear weapons, so why not use them? He said he was a Christian but then famously said "Number 2 Corinthians" and has been married to three different women. He said that he would only accept the outcome of the election if he wins, but is supposedly a lover of democracy. He said that stop and frisk was a great system, despite being found as humiliating and racist and against the constitution. He said that the families of terrorists should be tortured and or executed. He said that the United States should have just stolen the oil after its two horrible wars. He said that the lying liberal media was out to get him and proudly used photos from a website overflowing with antisemitism. He said that women belong in the kitchen and if dinner isn't on the table when he gets home he goes through the roof. He said that waterboarding is great. He said that he doesn't respect Veterans if they were POWs, while at the same time he dodged the draft during his youth due to a foot injury (couldn't remember which foot). He said that our military generals are stupid and that he is far smarter than them. He said his political opponents were all liars and thieves and he is going to trial this month for fraud. He said that he can do what he wants and get away with it, because he's a star, and he has a court date next month for a rape case on a then underage girl.
If you tell me that now I have to "give trump a chance" because Obama was given the same courtesy, I will have to point you towards the facts. This man should not represent me and my values, yet here he is. He ran a campaign on hatred, fear, and sheer arrogance. Regardless of what he does with his time in the White House, unless the electoral college does the right thing, the fact that he was able to get so much support by using such a horrible, Anti-American message is beyond me.
So please, do not tell me that Obama was given a fair chance, especially when the man who spent 8 years trying to remove our first Black president with the horribly racist birther movement is now the president-elect. If you are not at least a little confused, scared, or upset, then I don't think we saw the past several months of the worst campaign in my lifetime actually being given a pass and heralded as another faucet of American exceptionalism.
Trump got between 30% and 40% of the Hispanic vote, in an election where building a wall to block off Mexico was a key platform.
Imagining that the Democrats are somehow going to do better in that demographic in non "let's just build a wall" years, is dreaming.
Trump also won 40% of the female vote, in an election where he was running against a woman and his quote of "Just grab them by the pussy" was talked about a lot.
The problem the Democrats have isn't going to go away with time. If anything, it's getting worse.
BILL Clinton was able to carry the rust belt, large parts of the South, and was able to connect with white working class Americans.
HILLARY Clinton was able to connect with Goldman Sachs, Saudi Arabia, and whatever spoild shits support globalism.
The Democrats ran a candidate who lost the working class vote to a billionaire.
The Democrats ran a woman candidate who lost the white female vote to a womaniser accused of sexual harrasment.
The Democrats lost the evangelical and religious vote to a three-time divorcee who never attends church.
Democrats need to look deep inside thier party and figure out what the hell they are, and what they're trying to be.
If you want to be the party of globalism, high finance, neoliberalism, "no fly zones" over Syria, and the party that cozies up to the Saudis while they commit genocide in Yemen...
...then who the hell do you imagine the Democratic base is?
Ultimately though, I think Clinton would have won the primaries either way. I'm sure the DNC's bias alienated enough people to cause problems come Election Day, though.
Or maybe he would have been dismissed as a Jewish socialist and been every bit as drowned out by Donald Trump's sexy, exciting, clickbaity escapades.
I supported Bernie in the primary, and it is very, very tempting to put on a "WELL LOOK WHO WAS RIGHT" attitude, but the truth is we have no way of knowing what could have been. Hillary's supporters are just as hurt right now, and they don't need another front to be fighting. We have more similarities than differences. We can and should be allies. Because we're going to need each other.
The Republicans get things done because they can put up a united front and stick to it. And we can bicker and squabble about what our party should be, but once we figure it out, we need to be just as united. Because if we can't do that, we're just going to keep getting steamrolled.
This stuck with me: https://twitter.com/freddiedeboer/s.....92413362614274
no joke I'm begging liberal Democrats to discover a tactic other than wealthy celebrities mugging in a camera about how dumb the GOP
It's beyond depressing to think that people need a reason to vote beyond "look what an asshole the other guy is", but people truly do prefer to vote FOR something they like than AGAINST something they dislike.
Reminds me of that white resident of a neighborhood back in the 1950s, who said he had no personal problem with black people, but he didn't want to live near them because it might cause his house's value to drop. Rather than fight the more virulent forms of racism, a lot of whites prefer to go with the flow and adapt to a racist environment, because it benefits them. That promise of economic revival made so many people go misty-eyed, the consequences for others be damned.
And now that Trump's finally in, he's starting to backpedal on his promises, and it's only been 3 days since he won. For a guy who proudly stated he wasn't a politician, he sure pulled a fast one.
All those people who were willing to excuse his very serious flaws on the basis he might spur economic growth and be genuinely different from establishment leaders... they were conned. And conned badly.
I can't imagine how they're feeling right now. Instead of smearing the Trump protesters, maybe they should be joining them. It's slowly starting to appear he never really cared for either side. We're going to get the usual tainted capitalist souffle, but now with an evangelical, racist, homophobic, sexist filling.
It's going to be a crappy 2-4 years.
I mean, you remember Eternity Street. That was basically my scream into the void over the depression I felt during the Bush years. A large reason I stopped was that things felt so much better under Obama. This feels way too familiar. A popular and successful Democratic president who won his success largely despite baseless attempts by his opponents to destroy him, followed by a charismatic asshole with a talent for profiting from his business failures, with no ability or intention to lead well. A complete idiot who no one believed ever could or should win a presidential election.
But it's worse than Bush because he just bald-faced does not care. Where Bush would at least try to keep up appearances, I don't think we're going to see Trump pulling any punches. He's had nothing but praise for dictators who use force against their own people. He's been open about his desire to use the position to take revenge on his opponents -- jailing Hillary, breaking up news networks that reported against him. We'll see martial law. We'll see the National Guard called against dissenters. And that's to say nothing of how he'll treat the rest of the world.
He's an aspiring dictator, and he'll soon have a willing Congress and Judiciary to back him up. This is a fucking nightmare.
The only reason I'm starting to calm down is that I've basically burnt out my sense of panic into numbness. I have no idea what my next action could or should be.
So yeah. I'm with you.
I agree that we cannot work with this President, and perhaps more importantly, with the people he surrounds himself with (who scare me much more than Trump). It's not in my nature to be obstructionist or even suggest it, especially given how angry I've been over the Republican stranglehold over Congress for the past 4 years, but the best possible scenario here is that this government gets as little accomplished as possible. I've never been overly political, but this 16-month campaign of hell culminating in President-elect Trump has inspired me to take an active role, insofar as I am able. I plan to do what I can to subvert any and all of the measures he and his posse have currently proposed.
The bottom line is that this populist movement must die, and swiftly. The GOP needs to get its shit together and distance itself from it (despite their role in inciting it in the first place) and the Democratic party needs to unify and excite its base in order to actively fight against it.
All voters prioritize. Trump's supporters certainly did, and I don't begrudge them that in and of itself. Differences are inevitable, and that's hardly a bad thing. What makes me -- and so many others -- feel angry, hurt, and even betrayed is that for them, Trump's laughably vague and utterly transparent rhetoric of "greatness" took priority over our collective responsibility to recognize his far more consistent -- and, I suspect, more sincere -- rejection of that very plurality for the poisonous bile that it is.
I'm Jewish. I'm gay. My boyfriend is a Muslim and visibly a racial "other" who's already been targeted by tools who, presumably, voted for Trump. My rabbi has expressed very frank concern for the safety of members of our religious community. A former Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan lives literally two blocks over from me. Believe me, I'm as upset and frightened as you are. I was just venting, I suppose.