2016 elections - because it's never too early

[jimmy olsen]

Good

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/03/trump-denounced-republican-congressman-iraq-adam-kinzinger

Trump denounced by Republican congressman who served in Iraq

Adam Kinzinger had yet to endorse Trump but was hoping to be persuaded after the convention – but now says Trump crossed a line 'of the unforgivable'

Sabrina Siddiqui in Washington


Thursday 4 August 2016 00.29 BST  Last modified on Thursday 4 August 2016 01.57 BST

A Republican congressman who is a veteran of the Iraq war has said he cannot support Donald Trump in the wake of the presidential nominee's ongoing feud with the parents of an American soldier.

"I don't see how I get to Donald Trump anymore," Rep Adam Kinzingersaid in an interview with CNN on Wednesday. "Donald Trump for me is beginning to cross a lot of red lines of the unforgivable in politics."

Kinzinger had yet to endorse Trump but said he had been hoping to be persuaded following the Republican convention in Cleveland, where the reality TV star formally accepted the party's nomination for president.
Kinzinger said he was instead dismayed to find Trump berating Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son Captain Humayun Khan died in Iraq. The soldier's father spoke out against Trump at the Democratic convention and in subsequent interviews.

Kinzinger, whose district Trump carried in the Illinois Republican primary in March, said he would not support Clinton nor tell voters how to cast their ballots. But he simply could not back a nominee who "throws all these Republican principles on their head".

"I'm an American before I'm a Republican," Kinzinger said. "I won't be silent. He can tweet all he wants. I have to do this for my country and for my party."

Kinzinger also cited Trump's professed fondness of Vladimir Putin as disconcerting, saying it was hypocritical for the Republican party to have spent months attacking Hillary Clinton for pursuing a so-called "reset" with Russia as secretary of state, but to then ignore their own nominee's overtures toward the Kremlin.

"Now you have Vladimir Putin basically pulling out the old KGB playbook on how to manipulate Donald Trump and it appears he's fallen right into it," Kinzinger said.
Trump has been heavily criticized for a recent interview in which he insisted Putin would not invade Ukraine, two years after the Russian president seized the country's Crimean Peninsula. Trump also signaled he would support the Russian annexation of Crimea, which has not been formally recognized by the United States.

The defection is the second high-profile stand against Trump in just two days. Richard Hanna, a Republican congressman from New York who is retiring after this term, announced on Tuesday he would vote for Clinton in November.

Kinzinger's home state senator Mark Kirk, who is facing one of the toughest re-election battles this cycle, rescinded his endorsement of Trump in June when the real estate mogul questioned the partiality of an American judge over his Hispanic heritage in a lawsuit against his eponymous university.

Republicans are now fearful that a growing number within the party may come out against Trump, who made matters worse on Tuesday by refusing to support the re-election bids of House speaker Paul Ryan, and John McCain and Kelly Ayotte, two of the more vulnerable Republican incumbent senators.
A Fox News poll out Wednesday found that 58% of voters now believe Trump is not qualified to be president. The same survey also found Clinton with a 10-point national lead over Trump, with 49% support to his 39%.

[jimmy olsen]

Tump 1988, same issues, but his speech and body language is so much more crisp and coherent. Trump's dad died of Alzheimers...is it possible that he is already showing the early stages.  These days he just rambles on and repeats himself constantly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=SEPs17_AkTI

[garbon]

I am also kind of amazed that Hillary has not been able to establish a greater lead in the polls.  She is kind of lucky as she got such a self-destructive opponent in Trump instead of someone more mainstream.  But she is only leading Trump by a few percentage points in many polls in recent months.  I am not aware of any substantive policy initiatives from her other than "I'm not Trump." 

Who the fuck cares what you are unaware of?

[Martinus]

Tump 1988, same issues, but his speech and body language is so much more crisp and coherent. Trump's dad died of Alzheimers...is it possible that he is already showing the early stages.  These days he just rambles on and repeats himself constantly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=SEPs17_AkTI

One more reason he is like Reagan!

[celedhring]

Still don't get the hatred Hillary inspires from some in the right. At the end of the day, if she's elected she's hardly gonna upset the applecart.

[Martinus]

Still don't get the hatred Hillary inspires from some in the right. At the end of the day, if she's elected she's hardly gonna upset the applecart.

I think generally it is a very vicious election from both sides - a lot of hate Trump gets is also quite unfair, imho, and a lot of attacks against him are quite brutal and intellectually dishonest.

For the record, I think Hillary would be a better President (and the fact that she is "evil" actually makes me support her more - some of the best Presidents the US had, like Nixon or Bill Clinton, were pretty "evil" while the "good guys" like Carter or Obama were pretty dismal). And given that Hillary upsets both the alt-right and Bernie bros, her trolling capacity may actually be better than Trump's, which makes her candidacy more economic for triggering purposes.

[Admiral Yi]

a lot of hate Trump gets is also quite unfair, imho, and a lot of attacks against him are quite brutal and intellectually dishonest.

For example?

[Liep]

a lot of hate Trump gets is also quite unfair, imho, and a lot of attacks against him are quite brutal and intellectually dishonest.

For example?

Perhaps he doesn't think that Trump's hands are really that small.

[garbon]

a lot of hate Trump gets is also quite unfair, imho, and a lot of attacks against him are quite brutal and intellectually dishonest.

For example?

Perhaps he doesn't think that Trump's hands are really that small.

And Trump's complexion and hairstyle are on point.

[celedhring]

a lot of hate Trump gets is also quite unfair, imho, and a lot of attacks against him are quite brutal and intellectually dishonest.

For example?

There's a bunch of "look, he's senile/mentally ill" stuff going around the webs that's usually the hallmark of cesspool politics.

Most of the substantive criticism levied against him (as in, in things that matter) seems pretty warranted though. He is that much beyond the pale...

[Solmyr]

I don't think you should compare Trump and Hitler. Trump is ignorant, has no class and seems to mainly be bumbling along. Gaffes like this support that. Hitler on the other hand was an evil genius and especially later every public performance was carefully planned to contribute to the personality cult. He wasn't just saying whatever came to his mind in the moment.

That said, Hitler was actually wounded multiple times in the trenches of WW1 and earned the Iron Cross First Class, so I guess he had a better idea what he kind of sacrifices active duty soldiers suffer.

So Trump is worse than Hitler.

[Martinus]

For example there has been a lot of slut-shaming directed at his wife and a lot of nasty stuff about his kids from the corners which usually freak out about attacking people for their looks etc. Some of the stuff he says has been either misreported or reported in a totally biased way (for example he is a threat to national security because he jokes about Russia hacking DNC emails - but Hillary isn't despite mishandling confidential information).

[jimmy olsen]

a lot of hate Trump gets is also quite unfair, imho, and a lot of attacks against him are quite brutal and intellectually dishonest.

For example?

There's a bunch of "look, he's senile/mentally ill" stuff going around the webs that's usually the hallmark of cesspool politics.

Most of the substantive criticism levied against him (as in, in things that matter) seems pretty warranted though. He is that much beyond the pale...

Eh...look at the video I posted of him from '88. He sounds way more coherent there.

[garbon]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/03/donald-trump-campaign-republicans-confrontation-us-election

"There is great unity in my campaign, perhaps greater than ever before," the Republican candidate tweeted on Wednesday.

[Gups]

a lot of hate Trump gets is also quite unfair, imho, and a lot of attacks against him are quite brutal and intellectually dishonest.

For example?

There's a bunch of "look, he's senile/mentally ill" stuff going around the webs that's usually the hallmark of cesspool politics.

Most of the substantive criticism levied against him (as in, in things that matter) seems pretty warranted though. He is that much beyond the pale...

I honestly think he has some kind of personality disorder. He can't seem to stop himself from reacting to criticism of any kind from anyone even though he must have been told to and he must know it's hurting him. It's totally reasonably to identify clear irrationality in a man running for President of the most important country on earth.