Here it is, folks. The emblem for American politics for the presidential run in 2016. Donald Trump’s hair
Seriously?
This is the best the Republicans can do? Trump? The blowhard who is beating the supposed front runner – Jeb Bush – in all the polls? The dude with the strange hair whose foreign policy seems to consist of building a fence across the southern border of the country and nuking Iran? The racist who refers to Mexican immigrants as thieves and rapists? The guy who is on wife #3 and yet apparently hates women?
I make deals, plenty of deals, he yells at a recent rally. And the Iran deal is a very bad deal.
Gag.
American politics, more than a year away from the 2016 presidential election, is a carnival of mutants, with 16 or 17 candidates on the Repub side (I’ve lost the exact count). On the other side, Hilary is the supposed front runner for Democrats even though she’s losing in several recent polls to Bernie Sanders – a supposed outlier independent senator from Vermont,
The mainstream media refuses to take Bernie seriously and never mind that he draws larger crowds than Hilary everywhere he goes. (That’s a significant link!) Never mind that his populist message resonates. He couldn’t possibly win the nomination, could he? His role, after all, was supposed to be that of the outlier who pushes Hilary farther to the left. But oh, guess what. He has an incredible momentum all his own.
And then there’s the media manipulation in the Republican debates about who can appear in the real debates and who will be assigned to the “kid’s table.” Fox News started this format with the first Repub debate and CNN is continuing it – with some bending of the rules – for the second debate on September 16. Tonight.
Really? Why not let all 16 or 17 candidates duke it out in real time? Let people see the racism and misogynistic truth about the Republicans. Let them see how these bozos still hope to overturn ObamaCare and rip health coverage away from the millions who are already benefiting from it. And do they have a plan for these people once affordable health care is torn away from them? Well, yes. DIE.
Then there are the real extremes among the Repub candidates- like Senator Ted Cruz, who bears an eerie physical resemblance to Joseph McCarthy, and Mike Huckabee – who supported the wacko Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. Isn’t that like a law in the 60s that forbade the marriage between a black and a white? And oh, guess what. Even though she broke the law as an elected official, she was released from jail with Huckabee at her side.
Seriously?
Who are these guys? What retro era did they crawl out of?
If there’s a synchronicity in all of this, I think it lies in the paradigm shift this planet is going through. The old just isn’t going out with a whimper. It’s fighting hard to remain relevant and the stakes are huge. For the most part, Republicans are climate-change deniers; advocate war over diplomacy; love babies until they’re born and then, well, sorry, you’re on your own; dislike women and Latinos and anyone else who isn’t an aging white male; seek to defund Planned Parenthood, a woman’s health organization; and are locked in some early 19th century idea of how the world works and why.
Listen up, aging white guy politicos. You know who you are – Boehner, Cruz, Huckabee, Trump, Bush (not another one!), Chris Christie, Lindsey Graham, etc etc. Here are some statistics that should be quite sobering for you about the face of the electorate not too far down the road. Or about the plight of the planet now and in the very near future.
You Repubs have your minority candidates – Ben Carson, the neurosurgeon who believes that the Affordable Care Act is “the worst thing that has happened since slavery,” and Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard who bankrupted the company. Hey, great. But I’m clueless about why any minority of any color or gender would choose to be associated with the Republican party.
My dog would do a better job of running this country than any of you.
If we are going to evolve as individuals of a collective humanity, of a species on a planet with resources stretched to the limit, then a new paradigm will be born. But it’s apparent that birth won’t be easy, that it may be breech, that it may require extraordinary measures.
I don’t think I can stomach watching the Repub presidential debates tonight. But if any of you are that brave, let us know what you think about what they said.
Amazing how hated Trump is now think of how 36 support him and know that is how many hate the GOP. Imagine how well the GOP would do if they earned the respect of those 36 back. checkout saianarchy.com if you going to vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. we also have the biggest hilary clinton email dump here: https://saianarchy.com/email-leaks, and we expose the excutive ordre made secret by obama here: https://saianarchy.com/executive-order-leaks
I won’t comment on USA politics, but strange things are happening generally in politics. In the UK, for example, the main opposing party, to the current government, have just voted a far left leader, Jeremy Corbyn. At the beginning of the leader campaign it appeared he was only there to make up the numbers, nobody took him seriously – odds against him winning were over 100 to 1. But now, in the next UK General Election he could become Prime Minister – it doesn’t seem real. There’s a wind of change in the air.
The fact that an immoral, greedy robber baron like Trump, who has exploited every thing and everyone in order to make his millions, including declaring bankrupctcy 4 times, whose disgusting sons think it’s sport to go on canned hunts and gun down endangered leopards and lions and then sit there grinning for a photo opportunity……and on, and on, and on, makes me feel that there is no humanity left in American politics, no compassion and responsibility to others human beings and to the earth, just corruption, greed, and a loss of the idealism and generosity that made this country great. If I was going to put the “rise of Trump” into a movie, he could be Nero at the end of the Roman empire, fiddling away while Rome burns.
Nero – what a perfect fit!
I’m definitely watching it. A local independent movie theater is showing it on the big screen with a feature that you can text comments and it’ll appear on the screen during the debate. I also have my GOP Debate Bingo card to play. As a political science major, I love politics and debates and I can’t wait. I love watching Republican candidates go after each other’s jugular and cannibalize one another. Trump is the main attraction and it’ll be fun to watch everyone gang up on him and how he’s going to cut everyone down to size. This is must see TV!!
Be sure and tell us (well, me) what happens! Rob is still trying to get me to watch it.
If you go to the theater, let us know how the crowd was divided. I have a feeling it will be entertainment for liberals, but no so much for Republicans.
Portland is such a liberal city that it was unlikely there were any Republicans / conservatives who would attend the special event.
The text’d comments were pretty scathing, snarky, sarcastic, and hilarious that I doubt any conservatives were in the audience. The comment that got the most active response was when Jeb Bush said that his brother kept America safe. As soon as he said that, so many people text’d comments that referenced 9/11. My favorite text was: “7-11 was a part-time job” (in reference to a few texts that said “9/11 was an inside job.”
It was hilarious and fun. Full / packed theater. It was a challenge to read the text’d messages, listen to the politicians and look at their facial expressions.
As for the debate, I thought Marco Rubio came across as the adult in the room. He appeared presidential. Rand Paul was the only one who said things that I could not disagree with. Many seem to think Carly Fiorina was the winner of the debate, but I thought she was scary and ice cold. There’s no warmth or trace of humanity in her persona. She’s probably the only person who could make Dick Cheney look like a compassionate huggy bear by comparison!
just like deflategate, people don’t see the real “picture”,,,, ??? Y R they labeled Parties….
I’m apolitical as well, but my grandfather always said: “Any man who punches a time clock for a living can’t afford to vote republican.”
Words of wisdom! 🙂
He sounds like a wise man!
Thanks, but no thanks. The election is over a year away, and I refuse to do that to myself. Besides, I could never vote for a Republican. They want ANOTHER war, with Iran this time. They have to keep Netanyahu happy. So absolutely no need to give them a minute of my time.
Bernie is a lot more relevant than TPTB would like to think.
Bernie is very relevant and wouldn’t it be a different sort of world if he won!
I don’t follow politics, it doesn’t make sense to me… What the people are doing, that is…
True, Shadow!
I won’t be watching either, but I’ll enjoy hearing about the aftermath. I agree that the old guard is going out with a circus-like performance. It’s really scary, isn’t it? I frankly have a hard time understanding how any woman, much less any minorities, can support the Republican party. I would be entertained if it didn’t impact my life so directly. Great post!
The mystery unfolds daily – you see a woman or a minority talking about how great the republican party is. I invariably wonder if they were living in an alternate universe!