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Idiocracy

Bender said:
Frycer14 said:
I'm truly conflicted with the alarmist talk regarding the state of the nation and transfer of power if Trump truly refuses to concede.

On one hand, it sounds like a bad movie plot and you feel almost silly getting sucked in, but on the other hand, a growing number of seemingly intelligent people are speaking about it being a real possibility of strife and violence.

The road to fascism is paved with people saying it can't happen here.

And lined with people telling others they?re overreacting.
 
How did he get national security clearance? Clearly there is an avenue for extortion. How is the most powerful position in the country so easily exploited?
 
Hobbes said:
Really he's just a very good snake oil salesman leading a party that has been very little other than a snake oil consortium since Reagan's years.

I guess that's the thing I don't get. If he were a slick talker like Bill Clinton, sure. Or even the sort of central casting figurehead dope Reagan was, ok. But he's a barely coherent fraud in a bad wig. How that translates into being a good salesman is what puzzles me.
 
bustaheims said:
Bender said:
Frycer14 said:
I'm truly conflicted with the alarmist talk regarding the state of the nation and transfer of power if Trump truly refuses to concede.

On one hand, it sounds like a bad movie plot and you feel almost silly getting sucked in, but on the other hand, a growing number of seemingly intelligent people are speaking about it being a real possibility of strife and violence.

The road to fascism is paved with people saying it can't happen here.

And lined with people telling others they?re overreacting.

I mean, all the arguments against taking any of what Trump does or says seriously are very bizarre. The President shouldn't be able to hide behind the classic middle school line "I was just joking" or "I wasn't actually serious." I have never heard a candidate or President ever say that the election is rigged. I understand there are issues with the way American democracy is administered but at the same time there at least has to be some baseline agreement on that democracy, so when a President says the election is rigged he is using his platform to sow doubt about the very fabric of American democracy, which he will double back on if he wins. This is in addition to saying mail in ballots are rife with fraud (they aren't) and when asked about a peaceful transfer of power deflected and said "there will be a continuation of power." I don't care what anyone's politics are, that is seriously Friged up.
 
Nik said:
Hobbes said:
Really he's just a very good snake oil salesman leading a party that has been very little other than a snake oil consortium since Reagan's years.

I guess that's the thing I don't get. If he were a slick talker like Bill Clinton, sure. Or even the sort of central casting figurehead dope Reagan was, ok. But he's a barely coherent fraud in a bad wig. How that translates into being a good salesman is what puzzles me.

He's not a good salesman to anyone who has a bull#$#%-o-meter running. To people who don't I can easily see how he takes people in. "Believe me... it's gonna be great... trust me... you wouldn't believe it... it's the best thing ever." Lots of people get swept up in that.
 
herman said:
How did he get national security clearance? Clearly there is an avenue for extortion. How is the most powerful position in the country so easily exploited?

It was, I think, pretty obvious from the get go he was beholden to Russia, so yeah it's shocking really. And the extent to which he has been left alone in a room with Putin (who had his own translator).
 
Bender said:
Nik said:
Hobbes said:
Really he's just a very good snake oil salesman leading a party that has been very little other than a snake oil consortium since Reagan's years.

I guess that's the thing I don't get. If he were a slick talker like Bill Clinton, sure. Or even the sort of central casting figurehead dope Reagan was, ok. But he's a barely coherent fraud in a bad wig. How that translates into being a good salesman is what puzzles me.

He's not a good salesman to anyone who has a bull#$#%-o-meter running. To people who don't I can easily see how he takes people in. "Believe me... it's gonna be great... trust me... you wouldn't believe it... it's the best thing ever." Lots of people get swept up in that.

It's sort of a confirmation bias kind of thing. People buy snake oil because the "salesman" simply tells them what they want to hear and has no scruples about lying. The one thing Trump really, really excels at is having a complete and utter lack of ethics or morals.
 
I?m hurting trying to watch this debate.

Trump got cornered to condemn white supremacy and responded by telling the Proud Boys to Stand Down and stand By.
 
I had to stop watching, trump was raising my blood pressure with his interrupting and lying. They have to find a way to cut his mike.

That said, I was disappointed in Biden. He doesn't speak authoritatively, and comes off as a man well past his sell by date.
 
Frycer14 said:
I had to stop watching, trump was raising my blood pressure with his interrupting and lying. They have to find a way to cut his mike.

That said, I was disappointed in Biden. He doesn't speak authoritatively, and comes off as a man well past his sell by date.

It's kind of crazy to have someone speak as "authoritatively" as Trump. He's past his due date but I think he did a pretty good job overall. For all the talk about him being feeble minded I thought he held up, and to be honest my line of the night was "Shut up, man." He was at his best not engaging with Trump at all (which is a losing game anyway), but speaking to the viewers at home.
 
Guilt Trip said:
Could you imagine living in the States looking at your choices for the next President? Shut up man was gold though lol.

As someone who fits your description, the feelings I had during last night's "debate" are almost impossible to put into words. Best I can do is, if this country is willing to collectively re-elect this clown, it deserves what it is coming. I actually feel that we're probably past the point of no return and that a civil war is the inevitable outcome.

You guys up north better get that border wall built while you have a chance!
 
I also liked the part where Trump confused Beau Biden with Hunter so when Joe was talking about his son's military service and called him a hero that Trump called him a drug addict and a failure.  That's what I want out of my President.

I also thought Chris Wallace did an atrocious job as the moderator.  He was bad with the Clinton-Trump debate four years ago as well but this was next level incompetence at reigning things in.  He tried a bunch of times and let Trump yell over him and only managed to admonish him in the last 30 minutes of the debate for the behaviour. 
 
Wallace was bad, but I don't know if anyone could have controlled that "debate". There's really no point to having another one unless they give the moderator the ability to cut the mic when they are not supposed to be talking. I know I won't watch another unless they make some significant changes.

Actually feared for Wallace's life at one point, near the end when he was trying to reign Trump in. Trump looked like he wanted to kill him.
 
I think Wallace and Biden probably did as best they could trying to pretend they were in some sort of traditional political debate but obviously that wasn't what was going on so I think these things, already fairly useless in actually convincing anyone of anything, was probably even less impactful. Biden wasn't the mess Trump needed him to be, Trump didn't say anything that he hasn't said before.
 
Chris said:
Wallace was bad, but I don't know if anyone could have controlled that "debate". There's really no point to having another one unless they give the moderator the ability to cut the mic when they are not supposed to be talking. I know I won't watch another unless they make some significant changes.

Actually feared for Wallace's life at one point, near the end when he was trying to reign Trump in. Trump looked like he wanted to kill him.

I didn't watch but I do know the general perception is that Wallace sucked. And while I don't really think too highly of him anyway if he or another moderator ever do something like cut his mic you just know Trump's team (and Fox News, same thing) would jump all over the "media treats Trump unfairly" angle. Maybe dealing with that is still better than letting Trump act like he does in the debates but there's probably no actual winning here.
 
Highlander said:
Agreed Wallace was terrible, but Trump is a junk yard dog or rabid snapping turtle. Poor Joe looked befuddled.

Joe held up fine considering the shit show and I think all the polls are showing that Trump did nothing to win over the voters he needs to win, because being a snapping turtle/rabid junk yard dog is only going to resonate with only so many voters - the ones he already has.
 
Bender said:
Highlander said:
Agreed Wallace was terrible, but Trump is a junk yard dog or rabid snapping turtle. Poor Joe looked befuddled.

Joe held up fine considering the shit show and I think all the polls are showing that Trump did nothing to win over the voters he needs to win, because being a snapping turtle/rabid junk yard dog is only going to resonate with only so many voters - the ones he already has.

The problem, though, is that I saw a bunch of interviews of supposedly undecided voters after the "debate", and it seemed like none of them had been persuaded by Trump's behavior (nor by Biden's performance, or the tax revelations). If a whole bunch of those people wind up not voting, we are in trouble.
 

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