My response to Nate Silver saying "2017 & Trump could have been a lot worse"

[stevenleser]

Link to tweet

[TygrBright]

1. He didn't kick off a nuclear holocaust... yet...

...dayum, don't he get some credit for that?



wearily,
Bright

[chelsea0011]

20. It's a plus because we are not "All" dead.

[spanone]

2. K&R...

a dreadful year... look at the EPA

the state department....the regulations....the federal judges....wake up nate

[Loki Liesmith]

3. Tbh I was worried about full-on fascism at first

Pleased at the level of resistance we’ve seen.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

4. He isn't wrong

I was a lot more distressed about Bush, Cheney and the rest of the neocon scum than I am about Trump or any of his merry band of idiots. I don't think Trump actually wants to start any wars and I don't think Trump believes he is receiving revelations directly from God.

Trump just wants to wave his dick at all the people who treated him and his father like a joke and line his pockets.

[BannonsLiver]

6. Give it Time.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

7. Yeah... Line his pockets and his fellow oligarchs' pockets, at the expense of

The air we breathe, the water we drink, the wild animals and vegetation and the earth we share with them, and every vulnerable population. He caters to fundies as much as Bush did. He's a fucking disaster!

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

11. I didn't say he wasn't a disaster

But I don't think he is going to do anything as monumentally stupid as the Iraq War. Trump is an asshole but he isn't driven by a zealous philosophy that demands reshaping the world.

[bettyellen]

34. Hes reshaping the world to suit bigoted white sexists- but not your problem I guess ?

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

35. Bigoted white sexists have not been introduced to society in the last two years.

I have nothing good to say about Donald Trump, but I don't think he is going to set a volatile part of the world on fire because he is on a mission from Jaysus.

[bettyellen]

37. Wow, Im talking policies- but I guess you havent noticed. The most vulnerable will be hurt badly.

Wake up, fella. The majority of us are getting fucked. That you don’t notice doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

39. I guess you haven't noticed Iraq has been in flames for going on fifteen years

That was the result of a policy was it not?

Magnitude is a thing and Trump has a long way to go before he can overtake being the founding member of ISIS.

[bettyellen]

40. So you dont give a fuck about the kids who will die for lack of healthcare. Got it.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

43. Show me where I have advocated for anything other than universal healthcare

Many things can be bad, starting a war that is still going to be ongoing decades from now is among the worse.

[bettyellen]

48. Si if its not universal health care, screw the kids. Screw the most impoverished- theyre not

folks you’re likely to meet anyway, I suppose. No biggie until they come for your shit. Too many voters felt the same way last year- no empathy. That’s why he was elected.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

49. You are clearly having a conversation with someone else, don't let me interrupt.

[bettyellen]

50. You clearly prioritize other things than their lives to minimize the damage done.

Don’t worry, lots of other men feel the same way about women and children. They’re taking a back seat in the Dem party from here on in for that reason.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

52. I prioritize defeating Republicans

I'm not interested in purity tests, single-issue myopics, moral entrepreneurs or rehabilitating the reputation of Bush-Cheney et al.

[bettyellen]

53. Moral entrepreneurs. Okaaaay then.

And calling out single issue myopics is pretty rich, after you’re responses.

[GaryM]

18. Really?

Trump is attacking the roots of our democracy. It is fundamentally different and more dangerous than Bush and Cheney.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

25. Our institutions are stronger than Trump and have survived worse than Trump

the roots of our democracy are being attached at the state level through voter suppression and gerrymandering, whereas Trump is first and foremost a troll.

[GaryM]

31. If your point is trump is an idiot, I'll give you that. But...

He is an idiot who is bent on dismantling the institutions of democracy. He is the president as a result of (among other things) voter suppression, gerrymandering, and foreign interference in our election process. It is all the same beast. I do not understand how separating trump from that is useful or accurate.

I'd like to hear what you think was a greater threat to our democracy. At this point I have to disagree. Bush and Cheney, while idiots, were not bent on destroying democracy. In the case of Bush, anyway, he believes in democracy and fair elections. trump and the current slate of republicans do not - as far as I can tell.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

36. The greatest threat to democracy is intergenerational poverty

Somewhat by accident and somewhat by design and by good intentions and bad we're creating a class system in this country, complete with a landed gentry and regional disparities that are something that wouldn't have looked out of place in early-modern Europe.

The people who wind up at the bottom of this new class system are going to be mostly unrepresented by their own indifference and that of society.

That is a bigger problem than Trump, a decade from now no matter what happens Trump will be gone while the issues we have struggled with for decades will still be with us and all the while continue to metastasize.

[bettyellen]

38. A decade from now the religious nutbag judges will be punishing women for everything.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

41. Where do you live where asshole conservatives are a recent phenomenon?

[bettyellen]

42. Asshole conservative judges with lifetime appointments are a threat to all women. Fuck minimizing

this issue. You know better.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

44. And are you loving Bush II's judicial appointments?

[bettyellen]

45. The appointments now are more numerous and harmful. I get you dont give a shit. Thats clear.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

47. If Trump does something more disasterous than helping establish ISIS

I will be the first to call him out for it.

[bettyellen]

60. Wow, so someday you might call out Trump! Thats nice. LOL.

Like I said, your priorities are not the priorities of liberals in the USA. And thank god for that.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

62. Priorities? I just want to defeat Republicans nationwide

You're the one who seems focused on score settling with male Democrats and rehabilitating George W. Bush.

[bettyellen]

63. In the meantime youll sit on your hands waiting for war. So helpful.

[quartz007]

55. American women are not as helpless

as you project. Women now outnumber men in college enrollment and are achieving better grades than men on average. Women are starting more businesses than ever. There will be record breaking women in congress after November 2018.

Not to mention record number of powerful men dismantled from their high perch due to disrespecting women in 2017.

[bettyellen]

57. Helpless? I never said that. You insult us by trivializing this huge assault on our rights.

You DO know why women and young babies make up the largest percentage of those in deep poverty? Maybe you stop overlooking them and concentrating on those fortunate enough to get college educations?
What a twisted, myopic and bougiouse take on the issues facing American women.

[quartz007]

58. I am not as pessimistic about American women

I have 2 examples right in my family. I have only 2 kids, both daughters. They both finished college on their own, with part time jobs and student loans and scholarships. Both have found good jobs. I am so proud they did all this on their own.

[bettyellen]

59. Its not about the women- its about how the law treats women. Bizarre how everyone minimizing

trump is talking about financial success of their own- and nothing about the health and safety of the most vulnerable among us. Not my values, but you do you.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

19. In the international sense, I especially agree.

Bush and Cheney managed to co-opt most of our allies with their neocon bullshit (I was proud of France) whereas with tRump, most seem to be very cautious of him and some even resistive.

However, China and Russia are playing him like a cheap fiddle and I suspect many others are plotting ways to put a hog ring in his nose, too.

[Pope George Ringo II]

32. I'll agree with you

Finding out that on a scale of 1-10 the guy you thought was a negative eight is actually a negative five due to his sheer incompetence fits the definition here.

[BannonsLiver]

5. Silver has become such a dissapointment

Just crunch the numbers Nate. That’s your lane.

[Cha]

9. Good advice..

silver obviously has no idea how trump and his eunuchs affect Americans who knew where this was going on election night.

[rpannier]

14. Nate has moneyM9ost of what il douche has tried would have no effect on him

Ergo, it's not that bad (to him)

[GaryM]

17. He's terrible at crunching the numbers

Will never pay attention to to anything he says again.

[Cha]

8. That's a freaking ridiculous line to take..

thanks for telling him, Steven.

The country and the Planet had to be inundated with his perverted stupidity on a 24/7 barrage, too.. that couldn't have been any worse. trump is the anti-Christ.

Keep your suspicions to yourself, nate silver.. It's because they haven't had time to make it worse but have promised to in the coming year.. with the assistance of the US corporate M$M.

This pisses me off.

[Cicada]

10. Yes, he failed to kill Obamacare, he failed to deport millions, he could have attacked Iran

It could have been worse.

Our democratic elected officials held firm, not a single defector on countless critical votes.

Our voters in special elections and off year elections were mighty warriors, stepping up to the plate, hitting home runs.

We are under attack but we are fighting back.

[dalton99a]

12. His sabotage of the ACA is already causing damage

[rpannier]

13. Good for you Steve

Excellent pushback
You are so spot-on about him failing on some of what he tried


I guess because everyone isn't dead from a nuclear explosion he thinks it's not as bad

[Cha]

15. Right.. he didn't kill

us so it could have been worse.

What a pep talk.

[mnhtnbb]

16. I suspect the residents of Puerto Rico

might feel differently.

[Demsrule86]

21. Entitled rich guys like Silver opining that Trump has been OK...for you maybe.

Nate Silver is an asshat.

[pressbox69]

22. What is Nate hoping for?

Nuclear Winter instead of Global Warming?

[mythology]

23. He's not wrong

I certainly thought Trump would do worse than he has. Fortunately he's incompetent, and surrounded by yes men who don't actually tell him anything useful.

[Vinca]

24. From my vantage point, Trump has turned out much worse than I expected.

I had no idea his act wasn't a schtick and he was a bona fide nutjob. So here we are, a person who is totally off the rails in the Oval Office and a potential for nuclear war at the forefront. Of course it could have been a lot worse. We could have been incinerated by now and no one knows that we won't be come 2019.

[GaryM]

33. Agreed! didn't know until after the election that trump was a nazi and KKK sympathizer

Willful ignorance, incompetence, and racist views combined with a strong will are a dangerous combination. His tweets are just a distraction. He's willing to do almost anything (lie, pervert the course of justice, etc...) to get his way .

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

51. Trump has made it o.k. to hate again

His supporters (KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists) all feel they have a friend in the WH and can come out into the open and spew their hatred at will.

That is, IMO, Trump's biggest contribution to the destruction of our nation: the lowering of civil discourse. All the things we thought we had made significant progress on, like voting rights, women's liberation, the social security net (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid), international accords (NATO, NAFTA, etc.), have been put into question again by Trump and his sycophants.

It's going to take at least a decade to undo the damage the Orange One has done in his first year.

[tanyev]

26. 2017 & Clinton would have been so much better.

[pressbox69]

29. Of course you're right but let's face it

JJ Hunsecker's big toe would make a better president than the one the Russians ejaculated into our White House.

[MrsCoffee]

27. Privileged asshole says what?

I don’t think privileged idiots like him understand just how fucked up their words sound.

Could not have been worse for some.

[still_one]

28. Good for you Steve. Problem is, the list is so large what trump and the republicans have done, it

would fill more than the 256 byte limit.

It is such an asinine statement that Nate Silver is making, obviously not sitting down and just thinking for a moment what has been done, and what is at risk

[Irish_Dem]

30. The bar has been set quite low, as long as he doesn't kill us all,

he's not so bad.

[IluvPitties]

46. Lot worse? Talk about lowering the bar!

[Igel]

54. What lowering the bar?

There were people posting who expected economic collapse by last May. Black-helicopter kind of crap.

"Lowering the bar" is when you have high expectations and lower them to say good things. It's when you put together, say, what kids should learn in the first 18 weeks, at midterm they've learned 70% of the first 12 weeks of it, and you say, "Great job!" (Sigh. If that were only as far as my school lowered the bar. That was where we lowered the bar 5 years ago. Now we're giving out As for that, and saying "great job!" to 70% of 70%.)

In this case, all he's saying is that Trump hit above where many had set expectations. He's not lowering any bar. They were already buried in 30 feet of cement. He's just pointing out that Trump didn't burrow down 31 feet.

[Cha]

56. Nate Silver needs to read this...!

Dear Fucking Lunatic,

I read with interest your recent interview with The New York Times. I couldn’t get past the bit about your being the most popular visitor in the history of fucking China — a country that’s only 2,238 years old, give or take.

Do you know how fucking insane you sound, you off-brand butt plug? That's like the geopolitical equivalent of “that stripper really likes me” — only 10,000 times crazier and less self aware.

You are fucking exhausting. Every day is a natural experiment in determining how long 300 million people can resist coring out their own assholes with an ice auger. Every time I hear a snippet of your Queens-tinged banshee larynx farts, I want to crawl up my own ass with a Union Jack and claim my sigmoid colon for HRH Queen Elizabeth II.

We are fucking tired. As bad as we all thought your presidency would be when Putin got you elected, it’s been inestimably worse.

You called a hostile, nuclear-armed head of state “short and fat.” How the fuck does that help?

You accused a woman — a former friend, no less — of showing up at your resort bleeding from the face and begging to get in. You, you, YOU — the guy who looks like a Christmas haggis inexplicably brought to life by Frosty’s magic hat — yes, you of all people said that.

You attempted — with evident fucking glee — to get 24 million people thrown off their health insurance.

You gave billions away to corporations and the already wealthy while simultaneously telling struggling poor people that you were doing exactly the opposite.

You endorsed a pedophile, praised brutal dictators, and defended LITERAL FUCKING NAZIS!

Ninety-nine percent of everything you say is either false, crazy, incoherent, just plain cruel, or a rancid paella of all four.

Oh, by the way, Puerto Rico is still FUBAR. You got yourself and your family billions in tax breaks for Christmas. What do they get? More paper towels?

Enough, enough, enough, enough! For the love of God and all that is holy, good, and pure, would you please, finally and forever, shut your feculent KFC-hole until you have something valuable — or even marginally civil — to say?

You are a fried dick sandwich with a side of schlongs. If chlamydia and gonorrhea had a son, you’d appoint him HHS secretary. You are a disgraceful, pustulant hot stew full of casuistry, godawful ideas, unintelligible non sequiturs, and malignant rage.

You are the perfect circus orangutan diaper from Plato’s World of Forms.

So happy new year, Mr. Pr*sident. And fuck you forever.

Oh, and Pence, you oleaginous house ferret. Fuck you, too.

Sincerely,

Everyone

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210046424

[dalton99a]

61. +1