US Politics Mega-thread - Page 310

On June 20 2018 01:57 ChristianS wrote:
https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1009071403918864385?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet

Edit: tweet's not embedding right, but On_Slaught posted it above anyway so I'm not gonna fix it.

I'm not normally one to post tweets, but this one seems significant. I don't remember anyone here (even Danglars, iirc) really disagreeing with the idea that Trump is racist at least sometimes, so this might be preaching to the choir, but using the word "infest" to describe a minority group is pretty clearly racist demagoguery to me. I'd be interested to hear if anyone here disagrees, but to be clear, "infest" is a word normally used to describe subhuman animals (rats, cockroaches, Zerg), and he's using it as a blanket term for illegal immigrants. Unlike the "shithole countries," he's not even pretending he didn't say it.

The present moment seems like some of the strongest evidence yet that Trump a) holds racist beliefs, and b) those beliefs translate jnto policy.

On June 20 2018 02:03 On_Slaught wrote:


It probably also shouldn't be ignored how hyper partisan his tweets have become. He is literally attributing the other side with wanting to ruin the country. And people said Obama was divisive...

On June 20 2018 01:58 farvacola wrote:
Regardless of Trump's actual racism, I think his immigration rhetoric comes practically verbatim from Stephen Miller.

On June 20 2018 02:03 On_Slaught wrote:


It probably also shouldn't be ignored how hyper partisan his tweets have become. He is literally attributing the other side with wanting to ruin the country. And people said Obama was divisive...

On June 20 2018 01:55 Danglars wrote:

You’re just making things less representative for little gain. Try telling voters they have to share their voice with populous metros a state away? Much of the rural Midwest would be entirely disenfranchised from lack of population (large areas must be swept up to make it purplish for just tiny slices of somebody’s metro). Then strategic voting. Then the same political question of where to draw districts and how to redistrict so that one’s blue with a hefty side of red or red with a hefty side of blue. Strategic vote split a bunch of the seats blue if you’re the absolute majority within the district. More establishment “vote for me because I’m electable, and not these other red challenger ... that will just give team blue more absolute seats in the district!!!” that is slightly less of a problem, though a problem, with more regionally divided districts.

On June 20 2018 02:24 mozoku wrote:

Throw in a vote multiplier that preserves each state's relative voting power. For example, if Indiana own 5% of the hypothetical Fief's House Reps in 2018, make each of Indiana's voters have [5% / (population of Indiana)]% of the voting power in the Fief in 2019.

Problem solved. If you can convince voters to accept a teaspoon of complexity, at least.

On June 20 2018 02:03 On_Slaught wrote:


It probably also shouldn't be ignored how hyper partisan his tweets have become. He is literally attributing the other side with wanting to ruin the country. And people said Obama was divisive...

On June 20 2018 02:24 mozoku wrote:

Throw in a vote multiplier that preserves each state's relative voting power. For example, if Indiana own 5% of the hypothetical Fief's House Reps in 2018, make each of Indiana's voters have [5% / (population of Indiana)]% of the voting power in the Fief in 2019.

Problem solved. If you can convince voters to accept a teaspoon of complexity, at least.

On June 20 2018 02:09 iamthedave wrote:


Make that present tense. Danglars was peddling that mere days ago.

On June 20 2018 02:47 Wulfey_LA wrote:
They are sending rapists --> MS13 --> animals --> caravan crisis --> putting kids in cages. Every bit of the current kids in cages policy flows directly from previous Trump campaign promises in the past and all of his rhetoric leading up until now. This is what 'securing the border' looks like.

On June 20 2018 02:48 Danglars wrote:

He was. He probably will be again. Trump’s superseding that depending on the day of the week, if it makes you feel any better.

Illegal immigration is a problem. The solution isn’t to keep the border wide open and keep asyluming and amnestying in new arrivals. It’s a physical barrier across most of it, and increased funding and organization for the border patrol/related agencies. This still stands regardless of fixing parent/child separation policies and detention centers from Obama and Bush. Illegal immigrants are lawbreakers and our nation is not just made up of who can make the trip and feels like coming in at any given year. That’s why the debate won’t be fixed.

As an aside, Trump is damn right that Democrats don’t want to fix or compromise on jack shit. They think Republicans will get blamed if they block bills on border security and are perfectly happy to reap the political benefits of the current system.

On June 20 2018 02:48 Danglars wrote:

He was. He probably will be again. Trump’s superseding that depending on the day of the week, if it makes you feel any better.

Illegal immigration is a problem. The solution isn’t to keep the border wide open and keep asyluming and amnestying in new arrivals. It’s a physical barrier across most of it, and increased funding and organization for the border patrol/related agencies. This still stands regardless of fixing parent/child separation policies and detention centers from Obama and Bush. Illegal immigrants are lawbreakers and our nation is not just made up of who can make the trip and feels like coming in at any given year. That’s why the debate won’t be fixed.

As an aside, Trump is damn right that Democrats don’t want to fix or compromise on jack shit. They think Republicans will get blamed if they block bills on border security and are perfectly happy to reap the political benefits of the current system.

On June 20 2018 02:55 iamthedave wrote:


The Democrats who don't want to compromise who have compromised constantly throughout his Presidency and helped him with most of his legislation?

I mean, the Democrats have been called out in this thread for being far too willing to help the Republicans out of jams.

I don't recall many people saying the Repubs are full of the spirit of compromise though...

On June 20 2018 02:55 iamthedave wrote:


The Democrats who don't want to compromise who have compromised constantly throughout his Presidency and helped him with most of his legislation?

I mean, the Democrats have been called out in this thread for being far too willing to help the Republicans out of jams.

I don't recall many people saying the Repubs are full of the spirit of compromise though...

On June 20 2018 02:55 Gorsameth wrote:
You can tweak Congress all you want. The fundamental problem is that the people in it have no interest in actually governing and would rather grandstand, accomplish nothing and then blame the other guy for the problem (as seen by the high re-election rate (assuming they don't retire) but the completely shit approval rate. The problem is always someone else).
No system is going to work properly when its filled with shit people.

The solution is not to make complex systems. Its to elect better politicians, and yes I know that is nigh impossible. Once the political system has gone to shit it doesn't fix itself.

On June 20 2018 01:49 On_Slaught wrote:
Trump is going on the offensive rather than doing the right thing. Please note the dehumanizing term "infest" as applied to immigrants, including children escaping violence. Fascists rejoice I guess.

That discussion yesterday is looking pretty prescient. We cant expect Trump to not be evil, so it falls on people like Cruz to help us (lol...). Then you have people like Coulter and Ingram saying these kids are actors or being kept in day spas. Man, what a sad time. History will not look kindly on this time period.