2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumPaul Krugman: Why the GOP Establishment Still Backs Trump
As usual, when you cut through all the noise, the real issue is money.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/12/opinion/pieces-of-silver.html
But if populist Donald Trump wins, taxes on the wealthy will go way down; in particular, Mr. Trump is calling for elimination of the inheritance tax, which these days hits only a tiny number of really yuuuge estates (a married couple doesnt pay any tax unless its estate is worth more than $10.9 million.
So if youre wealthy, or youre someone who has built a career by reliably serving the interests of the wealthy, the choice is clear as long as you dont care too much about stuff like shunning racism, preserving democracy and freedom of religion, or for that matter avoiding nuclear war, Mr. Trump is your guy.
Happyhippychick
(8,379 posts)Anyone who does is as big of an idiot as he is. He is showing that he will say whatever comes into his brain regardless of whether he means it or not.
landolfi
(234 posts)He has proven over and over again that he will say anything and then "pivot" so to speak the complete opposite direction. The only certainty is that he will do whatever the fuck Donald Trump wants to do.
exboyfil
(17,865 posts)Shackled to a corpse is a quote widely attributed to General Erich von Ludendorff, which allegedly describes the alliance between Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although Ludendorff complains bitterly in his memoir that the Austro-Hungarians were a continuous drain on German blood and German war industries throughout the war (1), he probably never used this exact form of words.
http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1846
Lets hope the chains hold.
JaneQPublic
(7,113 posts)Bill Maher's version is "handcuffed to a dead hooker."
tclambert
(11,087 posts)Trust Buster
(7,299 posts)exboyfil
(17,865 posts)we have a winner. I would have had much more respect for the Evangelicals if they said it is all about abortion and gays - we would elect the Marquis de Sade so long as we have a seat at the table on those two issues.
Also immigration and xenophobia run a close second (with a not so subtle undercurrent of racism).
AgadorSparticus
(7,963 posts)Whiskeytide
(4,463 posts)The establishment republicans - the ones who are rumored to be capable of logical thought and who have the $ - ARE afraid of SC nominations - but not because of the evangelical social issues. It's because of calls to overrule or at least temper Citizens United and other decisions that might impact the upward flow of wealth.
Those republicans don't really give a rat's ass about the evangelical's social issue crusades, as long as they keep voting for Rs.
It's always the money. Always. ALWAYS.
Jade Fox
(10,030 posts)and I agree: It's always the money.
Moonwalk
(2,322 posts)...or the gerrymandering that keeps republicans winning elections in states that are mostly blue. If those laws go, so do the votes for republicans who are always, ALWAYS pushing to make the rich richer.
OnDoutside
(19,982 posts)ous Right, which has the Republican Party in a death grip.
Moonwalk
(2,322 posts)I mean, yes, the religious right and the NRA and all the Teabaggers are concerned about the SC. But they'd have gotten no where if they hadn't had funding, direction, brainwashing and politicians bringing them all together into one party. And all that was thanks to the millionaires. The millionaires who fund the politicians and control the media which makes these people afraid--and tells them what to think and who to vote for. The millionaires who, yes, got their own candidates on the SC so that they could secure elections for themselves with decisions like Citizens United, and making sure they could have voter id laws and gerrymandering.
But now, as you say, these voters who the millionaires created have gone off script. The millionaires stitched together this Frankenstein monster...but all those voters just gave it Trump's brain and now it's wrecking everything.
OnDoutside
(19,982 posts)together after the election, but when you look at the disparate groups from Evangelicals to Tea Party to Moderates, it's hard to see how or who could do it. Looking at the 16 (Cream of the Crop), none of them could do it, leaving Ryan but he's going to come out of this in rough shape.
Silent3
(15,335 posts)Renouncing Trump will help with some voters, it might help some down-ballot candidates do better against Democrats, but it would also piss off the rabid Trump supporters -- the crazy ones who actually love Trump, who aren't merely anti-Clinton.
These are the people who've hated the already-radical and crazy GOP for not being radical and crazy enough, who have been voting GOP only because they aren't Democrats.
Piss those people off by dumping Trump, however, and they might not care what happens anymore, so long as the GOP suffers their wrath. They might either stay home or vote Libertarian, putting the House as well as the Senate in jeopardy for Republicans, not to mention many governorships and state legislatures.
Stonepounder
(4,033 posts)trap of their own making. Keep Trump and lose what is left of your sane and rational base. Dump Trump and lose the wackado wing-nuts who are the ones punching out reporters at Trump rallies. They have spent 30+ years sowing the wind by courting the racist, low-information voters. Now they are reaping the whirlwind of finding themselves saddled with a candidate who eschews a dog-whistle for a trumpet.
400+ EVs here we come!