The 2016 Presidential Election Trainwreck

[Topper]

The president controls the military.

And he concerns me there, because his ignorance may cause a terrible mistake.

Hillary made mistakes at each step of her tenure with Obama. I do not believe it is possible for him to do worse, as badly? Yes. Worse, no. She is a moron in foreign relations. He is just generally a social moron. He may know now to make a deal on real estate, but in terms of other social institutions he has demonstrated not much else.

I do not trust Hillary with the military either. She may engage in "humanitarian" uses of the military a la Bosnia or Somalia, which were dunderhead moves by Bill. She will encourage things like Libya. She also has a tremendous ego and will want to prove she is "tough."

I just don't see how you can argue that either one is trustworthy in using the military or that she would be any better.

Her husband made a lot of mistakes and he is being heralded as the Democratic genius. She has a lot less smarts in the foreign relations department and is just as likely to blow it.

[falafel]

And he concerns me there, because his ignorance may cause a terrible catastrophic mistake.

Like thermo-nuclear war kind of mistake.

[BlueK]

I'm sure Donald Trump would be quick to endorse someone who had falsely accused his dad of having killed Pres. Kennedy. It's a ludicrous idea but not to someone who is as looney as he is.

[BlueK]

Like thermo-nuclear war kind of mistake.

seriously, I can't imagine why anyone would even think of allowing the mentally unstable Donald Trump to have access to the nuclear codes.

[PaloAltoCougar]

...I do not believe it is possible for him to do worse, as badly? Yes. Worse, no.

If you truly believe this, you lack the imagination I've long attributed to you. Be assured I'm not voting for Hillary either, but I don't believe she's been the unmitigated and unprecedented disaster in foreign policy you describe. From a substantial number of critiques of her performance I'd guess the Rotten Tomatoes rating would come in around 60% or so--fairly workmanlike but neither a disaster nor an unprecedented triumph.

But enough about Hillary and back to the l'homme de l'heure. On foreign policy (putting aside his idiotic pronouncements on The Wall), some of my favorite quotes by le Drumpf:

On whether the armed forces might refuse to kill the families of terrorists and perform torture "much worse" than waterboarding:

They won’t refuse. They’re not gonna refuse me. Believe me.

When questioned if he might not want to reconsider that last response:

I’m a leader, I’ve always been a leader. I’ve never had any problem leading people. If I say do it, they’re going to do it.

Last night (and apparently he knows more about the system than his unschooled background might suggest):

Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.

On making our NATO allies pay more (this should be especially comforting for Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians):

They should pay us, pay us substantially, and they will if I ask them. If somebody else asks them, they won’t.” [This was in this week's Time, and the writer responded with "Why is that exactly? Why does he think he is uniquely able to do what others could not?"] Why is it? I don’t know. It’s just different. It’s like, why is it Jack Nicklaus won so many golf tournaments? Right? Why is it that Babe Ruth could hit more home runs than all the teams in the American League…. It’s just something special.

And on his key foreign policy advisers:

I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things.


Heaven help us.

[wuapinmon]

Wasn't it the National Enquirer that said that Marla Maples was cuckolding Donald Trump?











Also, I miss the Weekly World News for entertainment value at the grocery store:

[BlueK]

If you truly believe this, you lack the imagination I've long attributed to you. Be assured I'm not voting for Hillary either, but I don't believe she's been the unmitigated and unprecedented disaster in foreign policy you describe. From a substantial number of critiques of her performance I'd guess the Rotten Tomatoes rating would come in around 60% or so--fairly workmanlike but neither a disaster nor an unprecedented triumph.

But enough about Hillary and back to the l'homme de l'heure. On foreign policy (putting aside his idiotic pronouncements on The Wall), some of my favorite quotes by le Drumpf:

On whether the armed forces might refuse to kill the families of terrorists and perform torture "much worse" than waterboarding:

They won’t refuse. They’re not gonna refuse me. Believe me.

When questioned if he might not want to reconsider that last response:

I’m a leader, I’ve always been a leader. I’ve never had any problem leading people. If I say do it, they’re going to do it.

Last night (and apparently he knows more about the system than his unschooled background might suggest):

Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.

On making our NATO allies pay more (this should be especially comforting for Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians):

They should pay us, pay us substantially, and they will if I ask them. If somebody else asks them, they won’t.” [This was in this week's Time, and the writer responded with "Why is that exactly? Why does he think he is uniquely able to do what others could not?"] Why is it? I don’t know. It’s just different. It’s like, why is it Jack Nicklaus won so many golf tournaments? Right? Why is it that Babe Ruth could hit more home runs than all the teams in the American League…. It’s just something special.

And on his key foreign policy advisers:

I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things.


Heaven help us.

These are the quotes of someone who has too many loose screws in the brain. Intelligent on some level? Sure. That doesn't mean all the connections are working right. Some of the sickest people are intelligent. If it weren't for being born into piles of money he would likely be sitting in a mental hospital or state prison right now.

[PaloAltoCougar]

BTW, if as I expect Hillary picks Tim Kaine as her VP, can we all agree the country would be much better off if both she and Trump ran off together to one of his many unbelievably fantastic resorts, leaving their running mates to fight for the Presidency?

[myboynoah]

BTW, if as I expect Hillary picks Tim Kaine as her VP, can we all agree the country would be much better off if both she and Trump ran off together to one of his many unbelievably fantastic resorts, leaving their running mates to fight for the Presidency?

Agreed

[Moliere]

I'm sure Donald Trump would be quick to endorse someone who had falsely accused his dad of having killed Pres. Kennedy. It's a ludicrous idea but not to someone who is as looney as he is.

I despise Ted Cruz. I waited in a 3-hour line just to vote against him in the runoff election (1 hour of that wait was even after the election had been called in Cruz' favor...but I still waited and cast a vote against for symbolic reasons). But I LOVE that he won't endorse Trump. The bad-mouthing and back-stabbing within ones party is ludicrous and should stop. Valid criticism is fine, but the levels that Trump took it was asinine and uncalled for. I also hope Kasich continues to not endorse Trump. Rubio and Bush better not become spineless political minions ala Paul Ryan and Chris Christie.

[BlueK]

I despise Ted Cruz. I waited in a 3-hour line just to vote against him in the runoff election (1 hour of that wait was even after the election had been called in Cruz' favor...but I still waited and cast a vote against for symbolic reasons). But I LOVE that he won't endorse Trump. The bad-mouthing and back-stabbing within ones party is ludicrous and should stop. Valid criticism is fine, but the levels that Trump took it was asinine and uncalled for. I also hope Kasich continues to not endorse Trump. Rubio and Bush better not become spineless political minions ala Paul Ryan and Chris Christie.

Bush won't endorse either. He and Romney both have publicly commented on the possibility they'll vote Libertarian this time.

[wuapinmon]

[Eddie]

Good points. But he will do whatever he can to exceed the constitutional limits of his power. He will try stack the courts with his cronies and sellouts.

I have a hard time seeing Trump successfully stacking any courts. In fact, it seems like the numbers are close enough in congress for now (which I suppose could change) that I don't see anyone stacking the courts with super crazy cronies. I just don't see them getting enough votes to happen. (Of course - I also did not see Trump getting enough votes for him to win the nomination. So what do I know.)

It's disappointing to learn that our system of checks and balances is strong enough to minimize the harm Trump could do with a GOP-controlled Congress, but is not strong enough to withstand the evil machinations of the better-schooled Obama and Hillary.

Trump versus Hillary. I just can't even begin to start. Both are so bad on so many levels. Recently I listened to a political reporter basically say get ready for the attacks on Hillary to intensify. Because there is NOTHING Trump can do to make himself OK. So he's got to make her worse. Uggh.

Hillary is likely the safer bet of the two as far as who is going to not destroy the country. I just can't stand the thought of this poor woman who left office with Bill bankrupt (not a PENNY to their name, I tell you! Honest!) spending the next 4-8 years making millions more due to her corrupt shenanigans.

I'm sticking to my original commitment to not vote for either.

[Eddie]

I despise Ted Cruz. I waited in a 3-hour line just to vote against him in the runoff election (1 hour of that wait was even after the election had been called in Cruz' favor...but I still waited and cast a vote against for symbolic reasons). But I LOVE that he won't endorse Trump. The bad-mouthing and back-stabbing within ones party is ludicrous and should stop. Valid criticism is fine, but the levels that Trump took it was asinine and uncalled for. I also hope Kasich continues to not endorse Trump. Rubio and Bush better not become spineless political minions ala Paul Ryan and Chris Christie.

I didn't watch any of the convention. I decided that there really was nothing Trump or his kids could say that would change my mind. So why waste my time?

So I don't know how true this is or what exactly was said - but on the radio this morning there was a guy who said this was going to be the first election he just stayed home and skipped altogether. Until he listened to Cruz speak at the convention. While Cruz didn't endorse Trump, he also told everyone that they shouldn't stay home and skip the election.

I'm of the opinion that the Republican party is doing the best to kick themselves in the nuts repeatedly. The decisions they make, the places they draw battle lines, etc. Unfortunately for them, they are trying to heard various groups of crazies, which makes unity difficult. But at some point they need to figure it out. I think the Democrats have figured it out. They aren't awesome on the environment - but they set themselves apart from the Republicans enough that they get all of the environmental crazies to vote for them. The Republicans need to take a similar approach with their crazies.

So - while Trump likes to brag about getting more people to vote for him than any other Republican nominee ever, I wish the party would pay attention to the fact that he also had the most votes against him of any nominee ever. They need to see people looking for other options instead of just falling in line. I think they need to make some fundamental changes and build bridges to the center instead of building all of their bridges to the fringe.

[Maximus]

the thing that makes me most afraid of trump winning are terrorist attacks. if europe has a few more, or america, before and close to the election, he could win, and that is the worst possible thing that could happen in response to attacks