US Politics/2016 Election Pick Your Poison Master Thread

[skyguy918]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/politics/donald-trump-issues.html

This is the biggest indictment of any sane Republican's plans to vote for Trump.

“I don’t think we have a right to lecture,” Mr. Trump said in a wide-ranging interview in his suite in a downtown hotel here while keeping an eye on television broadcasts from the Republican National Convention. “Look at what is happening in our country,” he said. “How are we going to lecture when people are shooting policemen in cold blood?”

He even called into question whether, as president, he would automatically extend the security guarantees that give the 28 members of NATO the assurance that the full force of the United States military has their back.

For example, asked about Russia’s threatening activities that have unnerved the small Baltic States that are among the more recent entrants into NATO, Mr. Trump said that if Russia attacked them, he would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing whether those nations “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”

Mr. Trump had nothing but praise for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country’s increasingly authoritarian but democratically elected leader. “I give great credit to him for being able to turn that around,” Mr. Trump said of the coup attempt on Friday night. “Some people say that it was staged, you know that,” he said. “I don’t think so.”

Mr. Trump said he was convinced that he could persuade Mr. Erdogan to put more effort into fighting the Islamic State. But the Obama administration has run up, daily, against the reality that the Kurds — among the most effective forces the United States is supporting against the Islamic State — are being attacked by Turkey, which fears they will create a breakaway nation.

Asked how he would solve that problem, Mr. Trump paused, then said: “Meetings.” LOLOLOL

He's downright dangerous to world stability. That's even when ignoring all his racist stuff.

It's pretty telling that my first reaction was, wow - he knows who Erdogan is?

[Eliyohu]

He is the Republican nominee and that is all that matters. A team player supports the Republican nominee.

I guess everyone forgets that slamming Trump is the same as slamming the millions of Republicans that voted for him. I know someone will say why is fair to slam Cruz then and the answer is simple. He LOST! 

A team Player supports the party not necessarily the nominee, a team player will support and vote for the nominee that doesn't mean you endorse and believe in what the nominees values are especially when when he doesn't share is the values. he very clearly boosted a lot of trumps policies and made it very clear to vote for the person who will keep government small who will build a wall etc Cruz was not there to slam Trump.  I believe that many of the trump slammers at the end of the day out of fear of the Supreme Court Justices or sheer hatred and disgust for HRC and her policies  very much will vote for Trump in  November. (The only one who wont is kasich.)
Just to add the fact he was getting booed when he said vote your conscience very clearly people in the crowd felt your conscience means not Trump, is there a reason for that? do they feel self-conscious about the fact that they're voting for Trump? That they are getting  forced into what thier party  is doing.

[Dan]

I still feel that if after day 3 of the convention the 2 hottest topics being discussed all over are Melania's plagerism and that Cruz got booed off stage, as opposed to actual policies and things that were said, it must be really good for the Republicans. Just my own $.02.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/trumps-convention-is-flirting-with-disaster/

[Dan]

Lol.
It would be more telling if he know a leader that wasn't named Chavez, Erdogan, or Putin...

[hachover]

I think people are fell for him, and think that he has morals mixed with pragmatism. They think his successful record as a businessman shows him to be a man who gets things done, and his lack of political correctness means that he's one to stare the bull in the eye instead of skirting around serious issues.

Trump is a much more believable liar than Cruz, because he also believes the garbage he spews. Cruz can't say a sentence without appearing condescending and phony. Trump connects much better to people looking for a strongarm superhero.

Sounds like you agree with me. You may not like Trump, but the party (which is made up of the voters) do want him, so all is working as it should. If you have any issues with this outcome, it's with democracy itself.

[Eliyohu]

I still feel that if after day 3 of the convention the 2 hottest topics being discussed all over are Melania's plagerism and that Cruz got booed off stage, as opposed to actual policies and things that were said, it must be really good for the Republicans. Just my own $.02.

They are trying so hard to portray unity but alas... theres a fracture bigger than we think...
Theres reports that trump staffers spread through the crowd to get the crowd booing as well as the complete disrespect of trump walking out on stage while cruz was speaking attracting attention to himself.

[Yehuda57]

Reread what I said. Don't combine my answers as they were to different questions.

Sorry, I misread.

You are correct in that Cruz had enough info from the start about Trump to not sign the pledge. In fact, Cruz does have some responsibility for Trump because of the way he treated him at the start of the campaign - being all positive and friendly instead of taking him down. Like almost everyone else in the country, he didn't expect anything to become of Trump's campaign. He, like the rest of us, was very, very wrong.

used cruz fault to cause him to self destruct and i5 got all of the convention to back trump.

What do you mean got the convention "Back to Trump?" What is everyone speaking about today? Cruz or Trump's policies?

You have it all backwards. They completely played cruz

We'll see how it plays out in #2020. I believe Cruz played them masterfully, banking on a November collapse. He didn't care to be booed - he looked as smug as ever.

but don't go in a speak to try to advance your own political agenda when you won't help the current conventions agenda

Yes, it is Trump's convention. And just out of spite he he made the talk about Cruz instead of Trump. That says a lot about bad campaigning, bad politics, and lack of common sense.

As for what it says about Cruz? I think he made the principled stand, and has the video to back himself up. Kasich, OTOH, can say "I didn't go," but doesn't have the powerful visuals of standing up to an arena filled with people on the wrong side of history.

[ExGingi]

What has Trump done or said to convince you his SCOTUS nominees would be right wing or even have any sort of cognitive function? Every word out of his mouth contradicts another of his. He repeatedly has undermined the Constitution, including freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and others. He continues to praise and find common ground with the worst of dictators. He has been on the left side of *every* social issue prior to running for president. It boggles the mind that so many capitulated to him.

I don't know who his SCOTUS nominees might be.

I do believe we all know what kind of nominees we would get from Clinton.

[Eliyohu]

 And again I was a huge cruz supporter you can read up thread to verifyI can't stand kasich but at least he got this one right if you don't want to endorse fine but don't go in a speak to try to advance your own political agenda when you won't help the current conventions agenda

 
He is deff setting up for a 2020 run however,  the fact that he pushed trumps policies on the wall, small government, isis, bashed hilliary etc it sure sounded to me he was helping and supporting the current conventions agenda. As i wrote earlier Kasich couldve at least bashed hilliary or spoke about Make america safe again...

[elit]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/trumps-convention-is-flirting-with-disaster/

  you sneak into Conventions 201, you’ll find that the story is more complicated. We don’t have all that much data on what makes for successful conventions and what doesn’t, and convention bounces aren’t always that predictable.

ie; throw out everything I just wrote..   everyone is all hyped up about the minutia of the convention which will be forgotten by the general public a day after the convention (if they even knew about it)... until the debates this stuff is pretty meaningless unless there's a major disaster

[aygart]

In other news, in the Rassmussen realsed today Trump's lead is down to 1% mostly due to a rise in H's numbers.

[elit]

I don't know who his SCOTUS nominees might be.

I do believe we all know what kind of nominees we would get from Clinton.

I think we all got it by now.... PSA exgingi only cares about scotus nominees

[JTZ]

As i wrote earlier Kasich couldve at least bashed hilliary or spoke about Make america safe again...

What if Kasich believes HRC is a better choice?

[yoohoo]

Dan said it best, we have a choice of 2 poisons. This election is to vote which poison is less painful.

[Eliyohu]

What if Kasich believes HRC is a better choice?

+1 his policies seem to be closer to HRC than trump, which is why many said he's running on the wrong ticket (unlike trump who could run on either depending on his mood)

[ExGingi]

I think we all got it by now.... PSA exgingi only cares about the only thing that matters in a presidential election is scotus nominees

FTFY

PSA:

See http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/

Unless you can vote in one of the top 15 states in the following list, your vote will make NO DIFFERENCE. (Notice that Texas isn't up there, so Cruz doesn't have to vote for Trump, but he should encourage people in FL, CO, IA, PA etc. to vote for the antithesis of Ruth Bader-Ginsburg if they want to preserve our democracy and freedom.)

[ygygold]

This was mentioned in the general election thread, but since that thread gets almost no posts, I'll bring it here.

In an interview with the New York Times when asked about Russia’s threatening activities, which have unnerved the small Baltic States that are among the more recent entrants into NATO, Mr. Trump said that if Russia attacked them, he would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing if those nations have “fulfilled their obligations to us.”

How, just how can someone vote for this guy?

[elit]

How, just how can someone vote for this guy?

So far the only answer I have heard that may be plausible is bc the other option is HRC

[Moshe123]

So far the only answer I have heard that may be plausible is bc the other option is HRC

I haven't heard a single Republican say that Trump is better than HRC on foreign policy.

[Moshe123]

Looking at all the national and international headlines this afternoon and the reactions of Baltic leaders and it’s clear that Trump has done serious damage to this country with the NYT interview.