2016 elections - because it's never too early

[derspiess]

Well, I never would have guessed that Marge Schott's manager would end up supporting Donald Trump.

  Now that you mention it, Marge was pretty much the female version of 2015-2016 Trump.

[Camerus]

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.

The point isn't so much that any violence whatsoever is unprecedented, and they have certainly been times when tensions have abated into greater calm. However, not only is it a very dark road to go down with no guarantee that this time things will be okay again, but even more importantly, this time there's a mainstream candidate who  is inciting his followers to violence, something which is fairly unprecedented in American democracy in at least the past 100 years.

[Phillip V]

Romney campaigning with Kasich in Ohio.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/john-kasich-mitt-romney-ohio-220703

[Jaron]

Romney campaigning with Kasich in Ohio.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/john-kasich-mitt-romney-ohio-220703

Kasich should be backing Mitt Romney.

[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.

The point isn't so much that any violence whatsoever is unprecedented, and they have certainly been times when tensions have abated into greater calm. However, not only is it a very dark road to go down with no guarantee that this time things will be okay again, but even more importantly, this time there's a mainstream candidate who  is inciting his followers to violence, something which is fairly unprecedented in American democracy in at least the past 100 years.

I'm far from a Trump supporter, naturally, and I confess to not being entirely up on this electoral season's twists and turns, but AFAIK the Trumpist violence has been pretty minimal all things considered and his "incitement" has been pretty ambiguous. There may have been some new developments I missed, but my overall impression was that this was pretty far from a crisis in American democracy, however distasteful it is.

[Razgovory]

Yeah, but this isn't 1968 and the violence is happening only with one group of people tied to one particular campaign.  Also

""If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously." He again promised to pay for any legal fees associated with an assault."

Seems fairly unambigious to me.

[derspiess]

I have no problem with that. People throwing tomatoes should get roughed up.

[Eddie Teach]

Some might consider vegetable throwing an act of violence itself.

[alfred russel]

Some might consider vegetable throwing an act of violence itself.

I think it is.

I posted this upthread, I think it is a better example:

Have you guys seen the video of the guy at the trump rally straight up sucker punching a protester being taken out of the arena by the police? Apparently Trump is considering paying his legal fees and referred to him as a guy who "obviously loves his country." Trump expounded on why the sucker punch was provoked, "he was sticking a certain finger up in the air. And that is a terrible thing to do in front of somebody that frankly wants to see America made great again."

The punch thrower is apparently quite contrite. "He deserved it," McGraw said. "The next time we see him, we might have to kill him."

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/trump-pay-legal-fees-sucker-punch-protester-162717932.html

[Martinus]

Romney campaigning with Kasich in Ohio.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/john-kasich-mitt-romney-ohio-220703

Pity. Kasich hardly needs another popularity hit.

[Martinus]

Some might consider vegetable throwing an act of violence itself.

I think it is.

I posted this upthread, I think it is a better example:

Have you guys seen the video of the guy at the trump rally straight up sucker punching a protester being taken out of the arena by the police? Apparently Trump is considering paying his legal fees and referred to him as a guy who "obviously loves his country." Trump expounded on why the sucker punch was provoked, "he was sticking a certain finger up in the air. And that is a terrible thing to do in front of somebody that frankly wants to see America made great again."

The punch thrower is apparently quite contrite. "He deserved it," McGraw said. "The next time we see him, we might have to kill him."

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/trump-pay-legal-fees-sucker-punch-protester-162717932.html

Unless you think that the American justice system is so corrupt that if you get a good lawyer you get away with murder (and if you get a bad one, you are screwed even if you are innocent) then I don't see how paying someone's legal fees means you are condoning or inciting the act - it sounds more like being interested in a person getting a fair trial.

If a lawyer works pro bono on a case it doesn't mean he is necessarily condoning some act either.

Also, having read the article you linked, your "synopsis" does not appear like that in it at all - you have just picked and chosen some few lines taken out of context to make them appear like the narrative of Trump supporting it is unambiguous - while from the entirety of his comments it clearly isn't. Well done, Dorsey, you haven't changed from the intellectually dishonest dipshit we knew at Paradox.

[Lettow77]

 With Kasich looking to have a better-than-even shot at Ohio, he might have been better served by Romney staying at home. If that's how he feels about it, couldn't he have just donated a bunch of money?

[Admiral Yi]

  Marty is in rare form.

[Eddie Teach]

Also, having read the article you linked, your "synopsis" does not appear like that in it at all - you have just picked and chosen some few lines taken out of context to make them appear like the narrative of Trump supporting it is unambiguous - while from the entirety of his comments it clearly isn't.

Trump has a pretty shoddy record regarding protesters at his rallies, so it's easy to assume the worst. "Take his coat" "Rough them up a little" etc.

[garbon]

Okay, so an irrelevant anecdote?

In the first place the anecdote was relevant. It wasn't an anecdote about a stabbing over 2% milk versus whole milk.

No the anecdote was irrelevant as it had little light to shed on the current situation*. Kind of like the rest of your post that I truncated out - though arguably that bit was worse than the original post as it least in the original post you weren't trying to make up what I was saying.

*That you heard of two people who got in a fight about politics in '08 says nothing about whether we should be concerned about what's happening now.