What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Sophie Scholl]

See, we actually agree on nearly everything.

I don't think radical change on climate is possible right now, no matter how desperately it is needed. (But I think some fault for that lies at the feet of the left for being so fucking terrible at winning even when most people agree with them )

But I don't think there is a "too late". Humans are pretty good at adapting when forced, it just means that the damage will be much greater than it needed to be - at least that is what I hope.

And doing something will make that damage a little bit less, and hence is worth doing.

By "too late", I mean more too late to maintain anything remotely close to what we've enjoyed for global stability, security, and success since the end of World War II.  It hasn't been ideal by any stretch of the imagination, but compared to what came before it is a damn sight better.  However, if the effects of climate change that we've seen so far (rising temperatures, more severe weather patterns, regional climate disruption and shifting, etc.) then I think we're set for a major, major issue that will lead to those magical four horsemen style issues popping up.

[viper37]

We know why - because the left will crucify you if you don't pander to the most extreme part of the party. 

Which left? The real left, or the bugbear left?

The Real Left.  There is no other Left.  There is the Bernie Sanders left, and there are the Republicans.  There is no middle ground.  That is the message carried around right now.

[Oexmelin]

I agree "decriminalization" is terrible rhetorically - it sounds like pot decrim which everyone knows is shorthand for toleration/encouragement.

Yes. Which is why I keep repeating that what needs to change is disciplining the messaging.

[Barrister]

Here's some fun news: Milo Yiannopoulos say's he's broke, "can't put food on the table", all because he was kicked off of mainstream social media.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/59n99q/milo-yiannopoulos-says-hes-broke

[Malthus]

Here's some fun news: Milo Yiannopoulos say's he's broke, "can't put food on the table", all because he was kicked off of mainstream social media.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/59n99q/milo-yiannopoulos-says-hes-broke

A GIF of the world's smallest violin playing goes here ...

[Valmy]

I know a lawyer in Poland who would take care of him.

But seriously besides the fact he was some alt-right British guy, who seemed to adopt radical right wing positions almost for the cool factor, and beloved by Marty I don't know much about him. I hope he is able to find a way to live a decent life without his professional trolling job.

[The Larch]

He should set up a Patreon account or some other subscription service where his toadies can pay him directly for his trolling. It's not all Facebook and Twitter, for a supposedly tech savvy guy that's a pretty pathetic effort.

[Sophie Scholl]

You mean the Straight Pride Parade didn't bring him back to relevance and bring a massive financial windfall?!  Tragic.

[Valmy]

But why does that careful logic depart the moment we start talking about law enforcement?

Well it doesn't in my case. That is why I am in favor of things like legalizing pot and immigration reform and trying to reduce non-violent offenders sentences.

[11B4V]

Any ecig users on languish?

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/11/trump-to-consider-e-cigarette-policy-amid-outbreak-of-lung-disease.html

[jimmy olsen]

Looks like turnout is low in the special election for the 9th district in NC, and the GOP candidate will eek it out by 1 or 2 percent.

Disappointing, though Trump won that district by like ten points in 2016, so it's not a bad sign for 2020.

The election saw a 12% swing against Trump, and was invalidated because of election fraud.

The special election saw that swing erode to 10%. The Dems are going the wrong way. And this guy was a moderate Dem.

So what was the difference between then and now?

A couple presidential debates where every single candidate was forced to bleat about decriminalizing the border (and you can be sure that is seen as "Open borders for everyone!") and getting rid of private primary healthcare?

I still think Trump is going to get stomped. But the Dems are moving in the wrong direction, they've frittered away a lot of their clear advantage that having the worst President in history in office by an order of magnitude or two by letting the wrong message dominate. Maybe that is just normal primary shift to the left, and once it narrows down it will shift back to the center a bit, but it is alarming when it comes to their chances to get a true mandate, and get back the Senate.

It was a special election.  Those are always low turnout and often not indicative of what is going to happen in a normal election.

However if we want to suppose it is indicative, the county that swung against him was not full of white moderates. It was Robeson (spelling?) county. A minority majority district full of native Americans. He won it by 15% last time and only by 1% this time. His performative moderation, including publicaly rejecting Omar's endorsement and distancing himself from the left if the party likely hurt him there.

[dps]

Just for contrast, and to show why I don't think Berkut is a conservative:

I support comprenensive immigration reform to include amnesty for people already here illegally.

I also support comprehensive immigration reform.  In fact, I'm probably closer to supporting open borders than almost anyone--I think we should screen out criminal, terrorists, and those with life-threatening communicable diseases, and pretty much let anyone else in who wants in.  I can't support amnesty for those already here illegally, because philosophically I can't agree to reward people for having broken the law, but I wouldn't actively oppose a reasonable amnesty proposal, because practically, we probably have little choice.

I am in favor of single payer healthcare and taking the profit motive largely out of health care to a significant degree.

I'm against set, but I certainly think the profit motive should be significantly reduces in health care.  IMO, the best way to do that would be to outlaw private health insurance AND end government payments for health care.  Let everyone pay out of their own pocket, and health care providers who want to keep their patients will lower their prices.

That said, if the alternatives are what we have right now or single-payer, hell who wouldn't prefer single payer.  Right now we mostly have the worst of both worlds.  Be warned, though, if we go to single payer, the results will be that health care costs will continue to explode, baring draconian controls that would limit access a lot.

I am pro-choice.

Meh.  I think the Supreme Court ruled incorrectly in Roe v. Wade, but the trimester system they set up is a reasonable compromise.  To bad it was imposed by judicial fiat instead of through the political process.

I am in favor of government intervention into higher education in order to reduce, radically, the cost of post secondary education, whether that means federal funding for tuition, or some other structure to basically make public universities free for most students.

I think that the Federal government has no legitimate role at all in education, except for educational benefits provided to veterans such as under the G.I. Bill.

I think the number 1 priority for government today ought to be battling climate change, and we should be spending literally hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars to do so, and I think one of the best places to get some of that money would be radically de-funding US military spending.

I don't think that we can really do much about climate change at this point, and we should be instead focusing on managing the effects of climate change. 

I don't think we can reduce military spending much unless we want to go all isolationist.  We probably should have a serious discussion about America's role in the world, but that should come first, and then we can determine what sort of military and level of military spending we need to fit that role.

I think we should significantly increase taxes on the wealthy, and increase taxes slightly on the middle class, and decrease taxes on the poor.
I think we should be seriously thinking about how the current system promotes wealth inequality, and how we can make systemic changes to address that.

If we're talking about the Federal Income Tax, I think no one who is poor should be paying any such tax.  I think the Federal Income Tax burden on the middle class should be reduced, and the tax rate for the wealthy then set to raise however much it would take to fund the Federal government.  Note that I would like to see Federal spending reduced.  And Berkut and I may well have different definitions of "the wealthy", "the middle class", and "the poor".

Note also that this is mostly a pie-in-the-sky wish list for me;  I don't really expect anything to be embraced by either party that would resemble what I think should be done.  Well, I guess maybe on abortion, since my position mostly boils down to accepting the current status quo.

[Zoupa]

Why is it something the Dems are so intent on trumpeting NOW?

Answer: Because the contest NOW is to see who can be more against whatever that guy is for amongst the Dems, and this is way of signalling that. Again, maybe this is just standard primary virtue signalling, and once the general gets going we won't hear anything more about it, or at least we will hear a more comprehensive and nuanced plan. I sure hope so.

Not really no. The answer was posted by Minsky a few posts up. Did you not see it?

"Federal criminal prosecutions of illegal entrants now constitute over half the federal criminal docket.  It is a brutal drain on critical law enforcement resources and priorities.  It is really a crazy policy to continue.  The entire federal criminal system is getting clogged up with this nonsense."

[Razgovory]

He should set up a Patreon account or some other subscription service where his toadies can pay him directly for his trolling. It's not all Facebook and Twitter, for a supposedly tech savvy guy that's a pretty pathetic effort.

I'm not certain that Patreon will even host someone like that.  I remember members of the Alt-Right were trying to set up similar system that they called "Hatreon". 

[Solmyr]

He should set up a Patreon account or some other subscription service where his toadies can pay him directly for his trolling. It's not all Facebook and Twitter, for a supposedly tech savvy guy that's a pretty pathetic effort.

I'm not certain that Patreon will even host someone like that.  I remember members of the Alt-Right were trying to set up similar system that they called "Hatreon".

Right after they set up their own social network called Twitler?