2016 elections - because it's never too early

[LaCroix]

if trump raises a mob to assassinate sanders, then I'll change my opinion

[Legbiter]

I don't mean rioting. have trump fans rioted? I mean the occasional news story you see, "X fan punched by Y fan after game." it's pretty common and understandable, even though it's bad behavior, but it's not indicative of fascist leanings or whatever. more trashy than anything, though like I said... trump is trashy, so it shouldn't be too surprising

Eh the media likes to stoke things as well for dem clicks. Also smart of Trump to puff Sanders up as this Brooklyn hard cunt, makes Clinton have to work for it. 

[Camerus]

if trump raises a mob to assassinate sanders, then I'll change my opinion

That what? Violence is to be expected in the democratic process?   

[Capetan Mihali]

Yeah, electoral mob violence has been part of American democracy for at least 200 years, like it or not.  I agree with LaCroix that a little bit of fisticuffs doesn't represent some existential crisis for our democracy.  Speaking of Chicago, it was only 1968 when all that fun stuff outside the Democratic Convention took place.

[garbon]

50 years damn sure sounds like a long time ago.

[The Brain]

Young people.

[Capetan Mihali]

Scuffles happen.  You don't often hear about the ones behind closed doors, but I remember a man in the Philly suburbs who (non-fatally) stabbed his brother during an argument over Clinton vs. Obama back in the 2008 primary season.

[derspiess]

Trump's slogan is "Make America great again".  I'm curious which countries are greater than the US.

The slogan does not imply other countries are greater than the US-- only that the the US is not great like it used to be.

[derspiess]

Not sure what you mean. Anyway, taking my wife to vote early tomorrow. That will probably be a Kasich vote. Will mull over my own vote since I can wait til Tuesday.

How's your wife going to vote before you've made up your mind?

I made up my mind; just might change it Tuesday

[garbon]

Scuffles happen.  You don't often hear about the ones behind closed doors, but I remember a man in the Philly suburbs who (non-fatally) stabbed his brother during an argument over Clinton vs. Obama back in the 2008 primary season.

Okay, so an irrelevant anecdote?

[Admiral Yi]

Some people consider, with good reason IMO, 1968 to be the year when the American social fabric came closest to tearing since the Civil War.

There's considerable difference between two people known to each other "scuffling" over politics and repeated cases of strangers exchanging blows, egged on by a leading contender for the highest office in the land.

My new theory about Trump voters is they are completely disengaging the political process from any effects on their lives.  They are in a sense just voting for the most entertaining contestant in a reality show, with no repercussions after the show is over.

[Martinus]

Your mistake is trying to ascribe a single motivation to a majority of Trump supporters. This is why your theories will always be wrong.

[alfred russel]

So I first saw this in reference as a clip on how political diction has changed through the years, but if you check out the clip of the republican convention from 1952 from minutes 18:00 - 23:00, you can see a fight in one section, and later a guy being taken out on a stretcher. Neither seemed to be considered a super extraordinary event by the commentator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrR-34t7P0U

[Capetan Mihali]

Why is this behavior considered just the pathologies of certain Trump supporters or leftists?  This is where America is at right now on a deeper level.  Hardly anyone, left or right, thinks America is "great" right now, I've never heard so many people trash this country - for different reasons, according to their political affiliation. The flag-waving subprime boosterism of '06 feels like a long decade ago, IMO.

[jimmy olsen]

Sturmtrumpler?

Trumptruppen rolls off the tongue better.