American Politics

[Franckie]

Comey went wrong well before that. Had he followed procedure even clintons investigation would have remained non public. And of course comey did all he did he did because he started considering politics and was so sure hillary would win...

The evidence of his conduct does indeed show consistent behavior, but of a different kind. At every step of the way, Comey demonstrated either his fear of crossing Republicans or his concern over protecting his own reputation from Republican attack. It was the perfect intersection of a Republican Party that had developed a reputation for conducting relentlessly vicious smear campaigns and a Republican FBI director who didn’t have the fortitude to stand up to it. Comey may genuinely believe that his decisions along the way were nonpartisan, but doing things like blasting Clinton in a news conference right before election day suggests otherwise.

 

[M3J]

It was so many things that led to Hillary losing, from her husband cutting welfare when he was president and WikiLeaks to Hillary not inspiring support or people to vote and revelation that Democrats were pushing for Hillary and working against Bernie. I know a lot of Hillary supporters love to blame Bernie, but it's not like Hillary would have gotten that many more votes anyway even if Bernie endorsed her sooner.

 

[xi0]

Hoping the Democrats in the House have a better choice for Speaker than Pelosi, as I think her being leader again is exactly what Trump and his people want ahead of 2020. I'm not sure it evens matters how amicable she's appearing to be regarding the "I" word.

 

[kkck]

Agreed, pelosi seems like a bad choice... I don't think people who hated hillary clinton would take much of a liking to her anyways.

And jeff sessions is out. I gotta wonder who his replacement will be... If trump gets someone that acts like he said he wanted sessions to act then democrats will have a field day with the guy. To me it looks like a bad moment for trump to have gotten his most effective cabinet member to quit.

 

[xi0]

Agreed, pelosi seems like a bad choice... I don't think people who hated hillary clinton would take much of a liking to her anyways.

And jeff sessions is out. I gotta wonder who his replacement will be... If trump gets someone that acts like he said he wanted sessions to act then democrats will have a field day with the guy. To me it looks like a bad moment for trump to have gotten his most effective cabinet member to quit.

Oh they don't need an introduction to her or anything, they've hated her almost as long as they've hated Hillary. And I've seen numerous Trump people on Twitter practically begging the Democrats to select her... so facts aside, I don't think it's the best choice. The problem is who else could they pick that would make sense...

It's just some acting AG until January I guess

 

[kkck]

Oh they don't need an introduction to her or anything, they've hated her almost as long as they've hated Hillary. And I've seen numerous Trump people on Twitter practically begging the Democrats to select her... so facts aside, I don't think it's the best choice. The problem is who else could they pick that would make sense...

It's just some acting AG until January I guess

Lol, that's exactly the impression I got from reading trump's tweets about Pelosi. He'd LOVE her there. And honestly, if republicans lost the house then Pelosi taking that position is literally about as good a deal as they are going to get. Trump being so happy with Pelosi should actually raise all the red flags...

Yeah, I read it was going to be the guy beneath Sessions until trump appoints someone else. Still, trump getting rid of his most effective cabinet member specially now is a mistake for him. This is a good deal for democrats. Best case scenario for democrats, unless US checks and balances crumble to dust, trump gets a sycophant AG and trump leaps headfirst into obstruction charges. Worst case scenario, trump gets another competent AG who ends up doing more or less the same as Sessions. Democrats have no say in what happens here of course BUT this at least can't hurt them for the time being.

 

[xi0]

Lol, that's exactly the impression I got from reading trump's tweets about Pelosi. He'd LOVE her there. And honestly, if republicans lost the house then Pelosi taking that position is literally about as good a deal as they are going to get. Trump being so happy with Pelosi should actually raise all the red flags...

Yeah, I read it was going to be the guy beneath Sessions until trump appoints someone else. Still, trump getting rid of his most effective cabinet member specially now is a mistake for him. This is a good deal for democrats. Best case scenario for democrats, unless US checks and balances crumble to dust, trump gets a sycophant AG and trump leaps headfirst into obstruction charges. Worst case scenario, trump gets another competent AG who ends up doing more or less the same as Sessions. Democrats have no say in what happens here of course BUT this at least can't hurt them for the time being.

The guy beneath Sessions would be Rosenstein, but Trump has no love for him so I wouldn't be shocked if he was gone in January as well. Though with him not longer overseeing Mueller, and Whitaker doing so maybe that will change.

 

[M3J]

We're probably gonna be seeing even more infighting between the two parties now. CANNOT WAIT

Also, tons of people are mad about Florida and Texas voting for republicans, and even more mad that Beto and Abrams lost.

 

[kkck]

So Pelosi made it to speaker... I don't think this is THAT significant as far as current politics go but it does show democrats are not exactly on a path to beat trump in 2020. A few months from now Pelosi is going to be saying "Wait, people hate my guts and that hurts policy we are trying to pass or protect?" as if that is supposed to be surprising to anyone.

 

[Thunderheart]

We're probably gonna be seeing even more infighting between the two parties now. CANNOT WAIT

Also, tons of people are mad about Florida and Texas voting for republicans, and even more mad that Beto and Abrams lost.

To be honest, coming as a person who lives in Texas myself, it surprised me that so many people were angry that Beto lost in the sense that Texas is known as a Republican state for the most part. I'm not saying I don't like Beto- I was neutral about him and Cruz both, but people here were FURIOUS. I know Beto gathered a large following of college students, so that's probably why there was such strong emotions (younger generations acting out of social media and such) but there was just so much hate on the media after Cruz won that made me feel bad for those who did vote for Cruz (I'm not saying who I voted for) because there was intense hate toward people after the elections. But, I mean, I just don't get why people are so surprised Beto lost when Texas generally has a trend toward being a red state? idk

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 29, 2018, Original Post Date: Nov 29, 2018 ---

So Pelosi made it to speaker... I don't think this is THAT significant as far as current politics go but it does show democrats are not exactly on a path to beat trump in 2020. A few months from now Pelosi is going to be saying "Wait, people hate my guts and that hurts policy we are trying to pass or protect?" as if that is supposed to be surprising to anyone.

The thing I wonder about with Trump is that I personally see him as a very polarizing figure in the sense that many people seem to fully support him 100% or absolutely hate him and want him gone. I see very few people who are in the middle as far as agreeing/disagreeing with how he has handled situations. I feel like this polarization could lead to some issues for him in 2020, however that isn't to say that I think democrats are necessarily going to be that significant with Pelosi as speaker either. I do agree that the fact that the Reps were able to gain seats in the Senate (when that was the easier of the two Houses to lose seats on as the closeness of number of seats was closer to each other) seems significant to me even with the Dems gaining control over the House

 

[xi0]

To be honest, coming as a person who lives in Texas myself, it surprised me that so many people were angry that Beto lost in the sense that Texas is known as a Republican state for the most part. I'm not saying I don't like Beto- I was neutral about him and Cruz both, but people here were FURIOUS. I know Beto gathered a large following of college students, so that's probably why there was such strong emotions (younger generations acting out of social media and such) but there was just so much hate on the media after Cruz won that made me feel bad for those who did vote for Cruz (I'm not saying who I voted for) because there was intense hate toward people after the elections. But, I mean, I just don't get why people are so surprised Beto lost when Texas generally has a trend toward being a red state? idk

A lot of people were invested in that race on a national level, with some being confused that Beto wasn't on their ballot even though they weren't voting in Texas.

 

[Thunderheart]

A lot of people were invested in that race on a national level, with some being confused that Beto wasn't on their ballot even though they weren't voting in Texas.

Dang, that's so crazy for me to even think about! It is different because Beto was naturally on my ballot since he was in my state, but imagining other states looking at Beto too is odd

 

[xi0]

Dang, that's so crazy for me to even think about! It is different because Beto was naturally on my ballot since he was in my state, but imagining other states looking at Beto too is odd

It's not really, a lot of people were eager to compare him to Obama back when he was a senator. And since his campaign was gaining traction in a "Ruby Red" state, people were hopeful that him winning would lead to Dems controlling the Senate as well as the House.

 

[Thunderheart]

It's not really, a lot of people were eager to compare him to Obama back when he was a senator. And since his campaign was gaining traction in a "Ruby Red" state, people were hopeful that him winning would lead to Dems controlling the Senate as well as the House.

A lot of people on my campus (I am currently a college student) keep making posts on social media saying "Beto for pres" and such. He did make a lasting impact on a lot of Southern Dems for sure, because this year there were so many young people that went to vote because of him. Which is def a good thing overall in my opinion, because I personally think of voting as a civic duty

 

[kkck]

The thing I wonder about with Trump is that I personally see him as a very polarizing figure in the sense that many people seem to fully support him 100% or absolutely hate him and want him gone. I see very few people who are in the middle as far as agreeing/disagreeing with how he has handled situations. I feel like this polarization could lead to some issues for him in 2020, however that isn't to say that I think democrats are necessarily going to be that significant with Pelosi as speaker either. I do agree that the fact that the Reps were able to gain seats in the Senate (when that was the easier of the two Houses to lose seats on as the closeness of number of seats was closer to each other) seems significant to me even with the Dems gaining control over the House

What are these people in the middle you are talking about? We might have a different idea of what the middle is.

Republicans had a significant advantage in the senate race and they actually under performed by just winning a seat or two.

That's the fivethirtyeight senate forecast:
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2018-midterm-election-forecast/senate/

and some commentary on the results:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/feature...the-senate-but-they-did-better-than-it-seems/
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-did-the-house-get-bluer-and-the-senate-get-redder/
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/yes-it-was-a-blue-wave/

Surprisingly, even cnn's forecast was acceptable this time around..

The main issue here would be getting their bases to vote on 2020. I don't really pretend to understand trump's base at this point (I just gave up, they are nigh aliens to me because to me everything trump sounds like he is trying to scam us or sounds like an asinine conspiracy theory) but as far as democrats go Pelosi is a disaster. The 20% of the US population that is strictly democrat of course likes her, like they liked clinton, but for the rest of the democrat base Pelosi is a pariah that is willing to concede on important issues to trump and on top of that will then pass of those concessions as a victory. She is a democrat that will try to win over the over side... rather than appeal to their own base. Which is what hillary tried the last election and clearly didn't work.

 

[Thunderheart]

What are these people in the middle you are talking about? We might have a different idea of what the middle is.

Republicans had a significant advantage in the senate race and they actually under performed by just winning a seat or two.

That's the fivethirtyeight senate forecast:
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2018-midterm-election-forecast/senate/

and some commentary on the results:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/feature...the-senate-but-they-did-better-than-it-seems/
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-did-the-house-get-bluer-and-the-senate-get-redder/
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/yes-it-was-a-blue-wave/

Surprisingly, even cnn's forecast was acceptable this time around..

The main issue here would be getting their bases to vote on 2020. I don't really pretend to understand trump's base at this point (I just gave up, they are nigh aliens to me because to me everything trump sounds like he is trying to scam us or sounds like an asinine conspiracy theory) but as far as democrats go Pelosi is a disaster. The 20% of the US population that is strictly democrat of course likes her, like they liked clinton, but for the rest of the democrat base Pelosi is a pariah that is willing to concede on important issues to trump and on top of that will then pass of those concessions as a victory. She is a democrat that will try to win over the over side... rather than appeal to their own base. Which is what hillary tried the last election and clearly didn't work.

What I meant by the middle is that, with my own experiences with my family and friends and those around me, I tend to see a lot of people who regard Trump highly (in the sense that they support all his decisions and his actions and want him for pres in 2020) and a lot of people who outright despise him and want him out of office ASAP. To those whom I have talked to about politics, I don't talk to many people who are in the middle in the sense that they are not for nor against Trump. I personally talk to a lot of people who are strictly "for Trump" and "anti Trump" rather than "I'm just neutral about Trump", which is why I see him and his actions as a president to be more polarizing.
To be honest, for the Senate and House races, I was expecting Rebs to do better overall for the House than they were for the Senate, and the opposite seemed to be true as they lost numerous house seats and gained a couple Senate seats, that's why I was mentioning the Senate races.
And to be honest, I don't know enough about Pelosi to comment about her own beliefs and experiences (I have been focusing much on Texas politics recently) so I don't think it is right for me to comment to you about her ideals and actions just because I'm not knowledgeable enough about it to make any sort of claim or argument for/against her. But, from the little information I know about her, I'm not sure if she is the proper Dem choice for House, but again, I don't really know a lot to comment on it

 

[M3J]

To be honest, coming as a person who lives in Texas myself, it surprised me that so many people were angry that Beto lost in the sense that Texas is known as a Republican state for the most part. I'm not saying I don't like Beto- I was neutral about him and Cruz both, but people here were FURIOUS. I know Beto gathered a large following of college students, so that's probably why there was such strong emotions (younger generations acting out of social media and such) but there was just so much hate on the media after Cruz won that made me feel bad for those who did vote for Cruz (I'm not saying who I voted for) because there was intense hate toward people after the elections. But, I mean, I just don't get why people are so surprised Beto lost when Texas generally has a trend toward being a red state? idk

Kudos to your Gohan avatar, he's the sugoi.

That's likely because Beto said a lot of great things that the left and liberals wanted to hear, apart from his support of Israel. Too many people he represented hope and change, especially in Texas. On top of that, Cruz is seen as a horrible person, and his zodiac killer joke did not help with his image. The traction Beto gained, and how close the election was, were what generated such strong emotions among people.

If Cruz wasn't a piece of shit sleazebag that no one on either side should have voted for, or if Beto wasn't such a left-winger, then the reactions wouldn't have been so strong.

 

[Thunderheart]

Kudos to your Gohan avatar, he's the sugoi.

That's likely because Beto said a lot of great things that the left and liberals wanted to hear, apart from his support of Israel. Too many people he represented hope and change, especially in Texas. On top of that, Cruz is seen as a horrible person, and his zodiac killer joke did not help with his image. The traction Beto gained, and how close the election was, were what generated such strong emotions among people.

If Cruz wasn't a piece of shit sleazebag that no one on either side should have voted for, or if Beto wasn't such a left-winger, then the reactions wouldn't have been so strong.

Thanks about my avatar! Gohan is my favorite character in anything I have ever read/watched. He was my childhood crush for the longest time, lol

Yeah Beto def gained a lot of traction and a lot of followers after this election. I had issues with both Cruz and Beto, so for me it was easier to stay neutral as far as whoever won I wasn't going to comment much about it since neither hold much of my ideologies. It was for sure an interesting race between the two though

 

[M3J]

HE's my favorite DBZ character, and people can tell you how often I grumbled about how badly he was treated after the timeskip.

Can I ask why you had an issue with Beto? I'm not sure where your political views lie. I'm an independent left winger who'd vote for my archenemy political group if it meant they'd do good things for citizens and help them.

 

[Thunderheart]

HE's my favorite DBZ character, and people can tell you how often I grumbled about how badly he was treated after the timeskip.

Can I ask why you had an issue with Beto? I'm not sure where your political views lie. I'm an independent left winger who'd vote for my archenemy political group if it meant they'd do good things for citizens and help them.

Yeah after the time skip he definitely got more lame, I was super number about that. He was so cool after the fight with cell, he should have stayed the main character.

I consider myself an independent as well. For most controversial topics, I am very much in the middle on and like to focus on compromise and I see things from numerous vantage points rather than one side, which is why I don’t consider myself conservative or liberal. However, there are a couple topics that I am really passionate about, and in this case Beto and Cruz both had some parts of their ideologies that went against my own. For example, I am a conservationist and I love the environment, so it really bothered me that Cruz isn’t focused as much on that. For Beto, I personally (I know this is a super controversial topic, but this is just my values so please don’t take offense if you disagree) but I really don’t agree with legalizing marijuana and I know he was very much for its legalization so for me that was one of the issues I had with him. It’s why I tend to be more independent and neutral during elections, because both sides have elements to them that I feel passionate about. There are a couple more controversial topics that I didn’t agree with on Beto, but I don’t want to offend anyone