If he were considered a one-off loon ranting from the fringes, he'd be just an embarrassment. But he represents the angry id of a lot of people, and although he should have been dragged off the stage like in an episode of the old "Gong Show," he's the front-runner for one of the two major political parties. How the hell did this happen?

He's the front runner of a bunch of right wingers, let's not loser perspective and throw out all the good people with the idiots.

Why hasn't every single Democratic congressperson/Senator/other official come out and denounced him in the strongest possible terms? Why haven't we seen op-ed columns in the major newspapers doing the same? Where is our Joseph Welch - you know, the guy who took on Joe McCarthy? Why won't somebody just stand up and say "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" He also said to McCarthy: "Senator, you won't need anything in the record when I finish telling you this. Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty, or your recklessness." Here's the whose transcript of that righteous ass-kicking: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/welch-mccarthy.html

I would like to see every single Democrat say something like that, on the record, instead of issuing weasel statements.

Right now, Dems want to five him all the rope he needs

Republicans are what, approx 30% of the populace. In match ups for the national election he's at maybe 40% or some such nonsense or people who aren't paying a lot of attention yet. If he does become the nominee for the party, I think it will end that party, and perhaps the coattails of the asshats in charge of legislation in this country that people ignore and blame Obama about because they don't understand how their own govt works. I don't even think civics is taught in school anymore. The more ignorant a populace, the easier it is to manage with chaos and propaganda. Look at the new "gin up" for another war in the ME, while this country falls to pieces with those same asshat legislators telling them that the govt can't afford to make things easier for the citizens living inside the country.

Donald may just be the idiot we need to wake people the F up.

Not just neurologically either! In the polls.

To take the oxygen ... so there is less examination of the real issues

is really not very much.

A cruder version of Ronald Reagan with the same politics and beliefs.

exactly.

He never had any intention of becoming POTUS. And he's not that stupid.

He's single-handedly exposed the Republican base for exactly what they are.

When he and Bill Clinton had that "special" phone call before Bill persuaded him to jump into the race, the wheel was set in motion.

And the damage to the GOP's reputation cannot be undone at this point.

Latinos, women, civil libertarians, religious minorities, and countless others are going to be showing up at the polls in record numbers next year.



Mission accomplished.

and everything it believes in and stands for.

Gads, such a large segment American society is such a profound embarrassment to humanity.

from the Pilgrims on down. The genius of men like Adams and Jefferson and the rest were in spite of the religious nuts, not because of them. The Enlightenment was such a tiny window, and America just happened to slip through it. And by 1812, it was business as usual...

The Enlightenment had no less impact on America than elsewhere -- By 1812 it was "business as usual" in Europe as well.

They created the monster and are now running in fear.

who benefits?

They will have a democratic President who will fight for what is best for them.

They do not represent all of America.

have given him and his family.

He is our creation.

Last edited Sat Nov 28, 2015, 09:15 PM - Edit history (1)

pandering opportunist who will go wherever the prospect of huge $$$ return will lead him. The value of his disgusting "Brand" is his sole concern. Charlie Keating decided to step up from real estate development to banking whereas Trump is going into politics. Because of their identical inherent fatal flaws the end result will be the same.

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but the highest job in the world. It is absolutely mind numbing that he could be considered for such a position.

If he doesn't get absolutely destroyed in the general then I'll take him as an indictment of America as a whole.

When the GOP begged the Tea Party to join them, they sold their soul to the devil. And then combine that with the last time they begged another group to join them, the religious crazies in 1980, they have destroyed their party, dumbed down this country, and brought out the worst kind of people, Trump, Cruz, and Carson. This country is an embarrassment to the rest of the world. Disgraceful.

I grew up during Eisenhower's presidency, so I have seen and heard a lot. And my daughter is a millennial with most of her life in front of her. America has become a capitalistic cesspool of which we should all be ashamed. And yet, we now quit and run ... the American character has no will and no courage and almost no integrity.

It all started when Reagan pushed us over the cliff after the incredibly promising 60s and 70s ... we are still falling even with Democratic presidencies because of the power of money over everything in our lives including our ability to think.

Yet Bernie Sanders has been seeing clearly this ENTIRE picture end-to-end for decades and has continually stood up again and again - without any fanfare or ego or agenda - and fought like hell for this country.

So yes, I agree. And Bernie Sanders - for the sake of my daughter's future - is probably our very last chance to save ourselves.

Reagan sucked too.

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Oh, and his behavior indicates Alzeheimers is starting, so don't be too mean.

declining.

The world seems to go through cycles of nationalism (solve our problems by blaming and going after THEM) and cooperation (solve our problems with a "we all in this together" attitude). Seems like we are leaving the latter and heading for the former - again. The historical consequences of the "every country for itself" belief is not a good one.

The very vocal minority is very dangerous indeed. When I was in school, we had a debate in our class, a discussion, that quickly devolved into aa shouting match. 2students shouted down the other 28. That is what is happening in our world today.we have a very dangerous situation. In Canada they have free speech too,but they don't allow Fox news to create an alternate reality for the RWNJs to wallow in. To enable corporate greed. To enable fundamental nutjobs to get foothold in our communities. To disrupt public education and influence the very naive children to become something in natural. Robbing them of any chance to be good human beings. Creating more Josh Diggers. More RWNJs. People easily manipulated with their bullshit.

What an asshole.

and 1/5 are useless for anything, but he's got the voting bloc of 50%

are enamoured of a POS...reflects their mind-set...

He is just the catalyst.

Although I've known most of them to be anything but liberal, I'd also thought of them as considerate and at least somewhat objective in their thinking. But I also think that even THEY are just throughly pissed with the whole lot of DC and are ready to toss the baby, the bassinette, the shampoo and everything else out with the bath water.
Of course, they've also fallen back on a leap of ignorance in that they buy into the absolute craziness of Trump's lunacy. Their simplistic knowledge of government makes them buy into the whole "Make America Great Again" baloney that Trump's feeding them.

All the Republican candidates are, but he's the leader of the pack. We are in serious trouble. Democracy is. That this can even be happening.

will make him their king.

directed and choreographed by mass media to serve the interests of power and money. The press has become the dominant form of constitutionally protected corruption.

The way sections of this country has been going (veering into evangelism, xenophobia, science-denying) he's simply a product of the times. We should have expected no less.

What is frustrating is the reluctance of good qualified people to run - and I don't blame them. Your life is under a microscope, everything's 24/7/365, you have to fundraise like crazy, expect to get villified for things you didn't do, much less for things you did. I don't blame people for not wanting to run. But we have to change it if we want adults running the country.

I'm not willing to take on either Trump or the US's guilt in this matter. It wasn't me, babe.

To be fair to the rest of us, Trump is supported by a distinct subset of Americans (the "no opposable thumb crowd&quot , who are not numerous enough to make him president. It he makes it through to become the GOP nominee, support across the cohort of people who consider them selves Republican and/or conservative is going to be as rocky as hell. Broad swathes of Wingnuttian voters will simply stay home, while right-leaning (grownup) independents and nonlunatic Republicans hold their noses and vote for Clinton or Sanders.

So Trump's very existence is an indictment of America? The same can be said of every Kardashian and the Hostess Twinkie.

Which of these three has the greatest potential for leading us to disaster?

P.S.: I also wanted to discuss your sig line, which I consider, wrong, wrong, wrong. Good leaders always know where the people are going -- and keep up with them -- or find they have become irrelevant. The leader who relies on the people to catch up with him or her is going to be very lonely, also ineffective and vulnerable to an Ides of March Solution from disaffected colleagues.

But I don't actually think the people need to evolve to keep up with Bernie. They're already there, it's just that the whole social-justice-benefits-all concept has fallen out of favor over the last several decades and he's having to reintroduce it nationally.

Thanks for the thread, azurnoir.

Yeah the guy seems like he wants to resurrect the old Nazi party.

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