In the unlikely event that Trump wins, how will you react?

Other. Point and laugh at any Americans I happen to meet.

preemptively moved to Canada in 2014, reserve right to shit pants in Nov

I don't think I'll have the option to leave.

I don't think I would want to either, though. It would be bad for America if mass quantities of liberals left the country.

I'm gonna watch this clusterfuck, but I reserve the right to beat up Marco Rubio because he's Marco Rubio.

I will remove "terrific," "winning," and "Little Marco" from my vocabulary for the rest of my life.

^^^^^^

woops that was for Alex in sf post but clemenza pretty otm too

With permission, may change my display name to "little marcos."

Not a yank. Give a very small fuck. Will, for a fee, advise yanks on moving to Ireland.

I kinda want to move to ireland tbh

Will, for a fee, advise yanks on moving to Ireland.

p sure trump does this too

xp I'm running a business here kid, take your sad story somewhere else

o buuuurned!

excited to see what would happen. so clusterfuck i guess

going to move to Miami

going to move to Canada

Am a yank. I don't give a fuck about politics.

Definitely sticking around to watch the clusterfuck from my New York City bubble.

Am a yank. I don't give a fuck about politics.

― Mr. Snrub, Sunday, February 28, 2016 9:03 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you will after Trump seizes Cleveland via military coup

It seems like a real wildcard to me what a Trump presidency would actually be like, although I'm still not 100% convinced he's not just running as black ops for Clinton. He's so scattershot -- people like the Hitler comparison but I think Hitler had a bit more of a total ideology by the time he was on the eve of rising to power. Trump seems to just say whatever.

yeah there's no internal consistency which is why it's obv his followers aren't following him for his ideology outside of the whole "rah rah keep out foreigners/fuck Islam" rhetoric.

I also think Hitler was motivated by genuine anger about whatever he thought was wrong with Germany and the world, and Trump is just motivated by wanting power and a wild ride.

Where is the "laugh" option.

A Trump presidency would represent the metastasis of a slowly-encroaching American madness that's been threatening to drive me out of the country for a while.

I've been gathering materials to apply to Germany for naturalization (my grandfather became stateless during the Third Reich) so while I've never been to Germany I'd move there if it seemed like things were getting bad for the Jews under the Trump regime.

I really hope I'm not being naive, but the fact that there are polls showing Trump anywhere close to Clinton in a hypothetical general election just suggests to me that polling is getting worse and worse with the slow death of landlines. Plus you've had pretty much nonstop media coverage of Trump and Clinton relatively quiet by comparison,

Trump's got a passionate, active fanbase. He's got the growing mass shooter demographic locked down, and they're definitely not the stay at home types. Hillary, for me at least, it's like "guess I have to try and keep the psychos out of power again..." This is especially poignant after 8 years of GWB. So you've got idiocy/mania vs. grudging acceptance for a lot of people. Which polls from the latest primaries show: Republicans are seeing record turnout, and Democrats are seeing a turnout way lower than in recent elections. Doesn't look like a good scene, but I doubt we'll actually see a Trump presidency.

"record turnout" at primaries is not very meaningful, because primary turnout is always <<<<< general election turnout.

Yeah, we'll see. Maybe as the general election gets closer people will be shitting their pants enough to vote against Trump. Cuz that's what this is really going to be if he gets the nomination.

It's actually Republicans who will be staying home in greater numbers because it will be hard for a lot of them to stomach voting Trump. I think it will be great for Dems in downticket races.

i'm not rich enough to just get up and move to another country.
these wannabe refugees are an insult to actual refugees.

The move to Canada thing grates on me a lot, it sounds so spoiled

" so while I've never been to Germany I'd move there if it seemed like things were getting bad for the Jews under the Trump regime"

...

what

The move to Canada thing grates on me a lot, it sounds so spoiled

In my case, I am from there, still have a partner there, and am only in the US on contract anyway.

Hard to stop at calling internet reactions spoiled-sounding without including yr own internet reaction to same tbh

I'm not sure I get what would be spoiled about moving to Canada even otherwise, though, tbh, especially with the current state of the Cdn $.

It's actually Republicans who will be staying home in greater numbers because it will be hard for a lot of them to stomach voting Trump. I think it will be great for Dems in downticket races.

Looks like Trump's pretty unpopular in the general election, so I hope you're right.

Moving to canada the second there's a scary man in the white house rather than based on any real economic or physical peril seems spoiled is what I mean, also it seems indicative of not really giving a fuck what happens here which might be part of the problem.

Besides, you cant just stroll into canada and stay there - same with Australia. We're strict with our immigration laws!

Indicative of giving too much of a fuck but not enough?

Other: I'm buying a gun. Not even kidding.

Be SRS djp trump ain't letting u buy a gun

Other: I'm buying a gun. Not even kidding.

No joke, it crossed my mind. Like, it's the last thing I would ever do ... unless an honest to god fascist racist got elected president.

Let's not pretend that Trump winning the election would be about just one scary dude suddenly being in charge. He's currently stirring up a large contingent of shitty people, and his election would just serve to legitimize their shittiness.

tbh i'd like to move to canada either way

Moving to canada the second there's a scary man in the white house rather than based on any real economic or physical peril seems spoiled is what I mean, also it seems indicative of not really giving a fuck what happens here which might be part of the problem.

― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Sunday, February 28, 2016 10:40 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

if i were muslim i would be getting the FUCK out of here if he was president

his election would just serve to legitimize their shiftiness.

Exactly.

i think, either way, we have a major problem. trump has made visible this new coalition of voters within the gop who are motivated mostly by hate and are no longer willing to be placated with "dogwhistle" style pandering

not "new" i guess. they've always been there. but they've been seriously emboldened now.

usually i take a kind of abstracted view of politics, but i feel seriously frightened about this

if i were muslim i would be getting the FUCK out of here if he was president

Yeah, I mean, it could be worse, and it's not like I'd leave the next day or anything, but I also don't place a lot of trust in Trumpites' abilities to distinguish Muslim brown-skinned people from non-Muslim brown-skinned people.

my honest answer is i would start looking at ways to fundraise/start a shelter for undocumented students and their families

Oh, look, Ali G is back.

??

xp yeah, that's a good point. all nonwhite people would probably feel targeted to some extent in trump's america

xpost Ha, it's the first time I've ever posted something in the wrong thread! Mazel tov to me!

how the hell can you crazy fuckers talk about this shit day in and day out

i will paste every "Hillary has this is the bag" post followed by a big LOOOOOOOOL

it's sort of a grim compulsion at this point tbh k3v, there's other stuff i should be thinking about instead.

i think introducing americans to muslims would be important, too. ive encountered a great deal of islamophobia from my students and when ive asked, most have never even met a muslim before and i realized literally every encounter with muslims and islam is through tv/film/media and it is 99% of the time something to do with terrorism. so some activism around that seems necessary.

idk, this idea is just depressing to me. i saw a truck with a trump sticker outside the office depot i went to this week and what appeared to be a bunch of white nationalist shit (couldnt tell, was passing it by). its right across from an indian cafe, a halal market, and a taqueria.

a friend of mine from childhood recently had a picture of his go viral. he was the first sikh to play with a turban in the ncaa and some shithead made an anti-mulsim "comedy" meme from it. another friend made a big post about how fucked up it was on FB and THAT shit went viral, too.

should say first sikh to play in ncaa basketball with a turban

I will fume. I will whine. I will complain. I will seek whatever weak-assed revenge is available to me at every opportunity. Unless he turns out to be far better than expected, because who the fuck knows what a President Trump would do? He's utterly baffling, apart from his constant, visceral, hourly need for attention.

What would happen if, at the 11th hour, he erupted in a hideous rictus grin, and told everyone they were a bunch of idiotic fools who fell for his long game troll, that he hadnt even made any policy outlines (because cmon.. he hasnt, has he?) and that he cant believe it all worked so well.

And then drops his greasy lil mic and buggers off.

...I.... kind of want that to happen?

And then drops his greasy lil mic and buggers off.

to the obscurity he's always craved

Not a yank; observe with terror from afar.

Trump will not destroy America. People who are afraid he will are the exact mirror image of people who are afraid "militant Islamic terrorism" poses an "existential threat" - as in, they will somehow defeat the world's largest military and we will become an Islamic theocracy. The post above, about "a truck with a trump sticker...and what appeared to be a bunch of white nationalist shit" perfectly encapsulates the hallucinatory nature of the Trump "threat." Who's got more real power in America? Guys with bumper stickers on their trucks, or the owners of "an indian cafe, a halal market, and a taqueria." I really think we should long ago have replaced "In God We Trust" with Coolidge's "The Business Of America Is Business" on our money. This country is not going anywhere, and it's not going to suddenly replace money worship with some other ideology. Will there be isolated ugly incidents? Yeah, just like every other day of this country's history since its founding. After four years of Trump being unable to focus on a single insane idea for more than the length of a sentence, never mind get anything through what will become a breathtakingly do-nothing Congress, he will vanish from office and we'll have a new President We're Most Ashamed Of/Sorry About (current rankings: W., then Nixon, then I don't know, Harding or Fillmore or somebody).

Other. Point and laugh at any Americans I happen to meet.

I don't think the terrifying craziness is going to be contained within the borders of the US.

"Trump will not destroy America" is technically true in the way that "humans will not destroy the planet" is technically true. Meaning he will simply render America uninhabitable.

And, yes, I'd think even people outside of the US would also be hoping like mad that we don't collectivelly lose our minds in November.

"Trump will not destroy America" is technically true in the way that "humans will not destroy the planet" is technically true. Meaning he will simply render America uninhabitable.

He won't even do that, though, IMO. He'll render the Presidency a cartoonish figurehead position like the British monarchy, is all. Everything he tries to do will either die in Congress or be stymied by the Supreme Court for blatant unconstitutionality and/or defiance of the laws of physics and logic.

I do still think there's some long con in play here. Maybe not on the order of Trayce's 'I cannot believe you suckers bought it!' but something. I can see him trying to make money off of the presidency and failing and sulking for the rest of his term and threatening to sue everyone in America.

he's just going to rename the position "Champion of Earth" and then accomplish nothing for 2.5 years until he is removed from office for making fun of Ban Ki-Moon during a live broadcast

Not sure if you might've skipped a few days in class, 誤訳侮辱, but the parallels that some are seeing with Trump (and the shit he's stirring up that would survive him), are not generally on the other side of the fence from the military?

Not sure if you might've skipped a few days in class, 誤訳侮辱, but the parallels that some are seeing with Trump (and the shit he's stirring up that would survive him), are not generally on the other side of the fence from the military?

This sentence is too glib to make any actual sense to me. Not joking. Could you rephrase in clearer, more declarative language?

yeah what is this "some are seeing" stuff?

blind ppl for Trump

i have the visa he wants to get rid of, so i guess i'll be off

what he's saying is that both Trump people and military people are total Nazis.

or perhaps very racist country folk that dropped out of primary school and think their needs are being neglected (which they are, because their needs are stupid)

Oh, you mean an Executive Action-style coup? Ain't happening. Our GOP friends are too stupid.

I think the occupation of the federal reserve is about the most successful we will see any resistance.

still doesn't make the concept of a Trump-led US less frightening, but....

this is a thread for the hilarious ways we will react to Trump's alternate reality presidency!

Sorry about that. I agree that the idea that Radical Islam is any kind of threat to the US is ridiculous, for the reasons you give. But I don't that the threat that Trump represents is similar, or at least not similar enough to be dismissed the same way.

He's bringing to the surface rank racism and bigotry, focussed through a fascist ideology - he is the great man, the things he does are great, others are inferior, and can be ignored because of that. It looks ridiculous to us because he looks ridiculous to us - we aren't his audience, we aren't looking for a simple solution.

But crucially this is an ideology which isn't incompatible to the military, which needs and frequently gets the military as its core support. I'm not saying it's going to work, but it's not going to fail because of opposing the World's Greatest Military.

The "will survive him" line is because I am honestly undecided (and don't much care) whether Donald Trump is himself a fascist or a world-class opportunist.

I appreciate the dark lols that the Republican party is now being eaten by the people they've been feeding fear and guns to for the last 20 years, and who have no actual taste for sober Conservative Values. But those people are still there, and they know there's a lot of them too. The same way that people say about Bernie "Well, this will mean nothing if we don't build a movement", someone out there is saying the same about Trump.

He's bringing to the surface rank racism and bigotry, focussed through a fascist ideology - he is the great man, the things he does are great, others are inferior, and can be ignored because of that.

The problem here is that you're viewing this entirely through the prism of politics. Trump, I believe, is viewing it more through the prism of showbiz. Remember, he didn't just run The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice for years; he also had a long association with professional wrestling. To him, it's all about twirling on haters. Trump is a fascist the way Beyonce is a revolutionary.

Also, the US military is probably the single most racially integrated sector of American society. If you think of the US Army as some kind of skinhead force that's gonna line up behind a racist dictator, you've never actually seen a photo of the average Army unit. (Stats here; note that they're weird because the military doesn't separate out Latinos as their own group, for some reason.)

it is an ugly thing for sure, but on the other hand, part of me appreciates Trump for exposing what much of the right truly believes without dancing around it (which comes as no surprise to us here, but moreso to the general ignorati "undecided voters").

i'll stick around and do what i can to help the people who get screwed under a trump presidency

build some ladders to get over the wall and whatnot

xxpost

actually I am planning to create this popular video game, a puzzle game called "Wallbreakers", where innocent civilians think all they're doing is playing a game. but secretly this game will be connected to top secret drone robots who will actually mimick the players' activities and punch holes in the wall on their command.

boom, wall down, video game becomes most popular app, I become rich, it's win win

He's a captialist and an opportunist. Trump believes in Trump, full stop. I kinda think he isn't really a fascist any more than he's really a republican or really a Christian. It's all just mealy-mouthed, half-calculated bullshit. But he clearly doesn't have to be a true believer to stir up the people who are and to give them someone to rally around.

I still love that he read a passage from the Bible during a speech, from "Two Corinthians" instead of "2nd Corinthians". then blamed the guy who wrote it down for him

I honestly can't believe a single Christian actually believes a word he says about Christianity. It's all so nakedly disingenuous and, one would think, insulting.

ehh, there's Christians and there's conservative-molded Christianity.

the Fundamentalists I spent time with in high school were conservatives, don't get me wrong, but they would have seen Trump for a phony immediately. they were much more taken with Dubya, who for all of his failings as a politician, at least was a passable man of God.

Trump's supporters are people who remember God from Sunday School, haven't been in years, yet protect their 'faith' like a tigress when they feel it is threatened.

and then there's those who gravitated towards it because misreads of scripture legitimized their xenophobia/homophobia etc.

tl;dr - fuck God.

this may come as a shock to you, but god...is actually bad

he also had a long association with professional wrestling

Did not know this! Got me thinking about a Trump Corgan ticket now.

(誤訳侮辱), I agree the worries about Trump are a little overblown, including my own. But look at the things that have happened inspired by Trump: homeless immigrant beaten, armed "counter-protestors" showing up to people protesting getting murdered by police, armed idiots stationing themselves outside mosques. Not to mention all of the mass shootings that have happened using the same language, and coming from people who share the same ideology, as Trump. The climate in this country is pretty tense right now, and with the direction technology and the economy is going, that situation is probably only going to get worse.

And who's to say pragmatist neocons won't be like "OK, looks like we'll have to work with Trump here" and Trump may be like "I have no idea what I'm doing, so I'm going to hook up with the powers that be that are already here." Because that would seem like a pretty sensible move to me, and we've seen what these people are capable of. Trump falls along a worrying spectrum of mass shooters, violent racists, religious fanatics, and warmongers, and if you've looked at what's been happening around here recently, these things are getting serious.

Maybe it's trauma from the Bush administration. The worst case scenario for that guy was not only met, but exceeded handsomely. Trump looks like he's overwhelmingly unpopular among most Americans, so I doubt he'll become President, and if he did, that he'd be able to do any major damage. But you have to admit it's pretty fucked this guy has gotten this far already.

But you're assuming he has a chance of winning the presidency.

this may come as a shock to you, but god...is actually bad

― ciderpress, Monday, February 29, 2016 9:57 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

bro I quit church years ago for that reason, yer preaching to the choir.

I think unless you're a certainty junkie like Shakey, it's inarguable that he has a chance of winning it.

Maybe it's trauma from the Bush administration. The worst case scenario for that guy was not only met, but exceeded handsomely. Trump looks like he's overwhelmingly unpopular among most Americans, so I doubt he'll become President, and if he did, that he'd be able to do any major damage. But you have to admit it's pretty fucked this guy has gotten this far already.

― larry appleton, Monday, February 29, 2016 9:59 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah but Bush had a lot of things working in his advantage, namely:

*Supreme Court blocking recount
*a country fatigued of Clinton politics who saw Gore as an extension of them
*the general public thinking Gore was an asshole for things like his attempt to intimidate Bush during the debate
*Nader siphoning away some votes

etc etc

as much as the Repubs hate Hilary, many of them hate Trump more. I'm trying to imagine someone on the Democratic ticket that would infuriate us to this degree and I'm drawing a blank. like maybe a cloned Che Guevara? (and even then college kids would be cumming all over him)

Nader.

Honestly, I think fear of Trump betrays a real ignorance of US history. I hate to get all Ta-Nehisi Coates here, but we have always been a country of "mass shooters, violent racists, religious fanatics, and warmongers," even as we have also always been a country of ambitious immigrants and people who marry outside their race or ethnicity. And I genuinely don't think it's getting any worse.

xxpost of course he has a chance as in "anything is possible", but how is he going to carry the minority vote he needs to win? if they stay home, maybe, but uhhh I think his candidacy would have the opposite effect.

everybody's viewing Trump's success through the blinders of a primary housing lots of like-minded people, he isn't battle-ready for the rigors of a general election yet though. he even showed frustration ("just stop it!") with Rubio's light barbs.

I half expect he'd have a Cartman "Faith Plus One" sized tantrum at the third or fourth general debate.

I voted Nader btw - :(

Honestly, I think fear of Trump betrays a real ignorance of US history. I hate to get all Ta-Nehisi Coates here, but we have always been a country of "mass shooters, violent racists, religious fanatics, and warmongers," even as we have also always been a country of ambitious immigrants and people who marry outside their race or ethnicity. And I genuinely don't think it's getting any worse.

― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Monday, February 29, 2016 3:08 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

So you're saying conditions and circumstances never affect anything in the present, because something was "always this way"? If that was a way to look at problems, we'd never have to do anything.

I don't think it will happen of course, but I think/hope that the nation would probably survive Trump's election. It's survived a lot, after all.

Most activities would continue as normal - most of us would just keep going to our jobs, buying our groceries, loving our children, tending our gardens.

If more people are downtrodden in the new regime, then I hope that people of good will will continue to work to reduce their misery (many of them already do so). That should be true of the downtrodden both here and abroad. If/when His Orangeness decides to wreak havoc on innocents - innocents anywhere - I hope even the expatriate antiTrumpers would still help out rather than saying "I'm in Canada now so fuck y'all, not my problem."

Now to government.

Caveat: I am not a political operator and I don't work for the government, but I've lived inside the Beltway for 40 years, and worked in and around Washington for 20.

When people say "D.C." or "THOSE PEOPLE in Washington" or "the government" or "bureaucrats," they're talking about my friends, my customers, my colleagues, my neighbors, my family. They're everyone's favorite punching bag, and it's been years since I heard anyone say anything nice about them.

The actual President is like one-two-hundred-thousandth of the government. There is a solid professional core of the Executive Branch that is fairly diverse, generally liberal, mostly well-intentioned, and 100% human. That means they fuck up sometimes, at about the same rate as private-sector humans (in my experience). That core has trembled as the new right-wing politics has risen, but the last time I checked it was still there, still trying to do its job as best it could by its own lights.

MOSTLY they just keep doing their jobs. Sometimes politics leaks in: In the year of our lord 2000 or so, I had a contract job for HHS: edit a book about the history of women's health. All went fine and it was about to go to press, and the incoming HHS secretary - Tommy Thompson - got wind of the project. His staff directed us to remove any mention of birth control, abortion, and lesbians from the book. It became much slimmer.

A Trump administration will probably have more effect on the basic functions of governance than the incoming Bush administration did, but less than a rabid TeaHadi "close five departments on day one!!!!" administration would.

if the next president reigns [sic] 8 years, it is v likely the land will be much further on its way to uninhabitable no matter who it is (i don't exempt Sanders)

nobody is going to move to canada
trump is an asshole a racist sexist shitbag but probably wouldn't be any worse than GWB, possibly better in some ways
no wall is going to happen
also he won't win but i realize this thread is just talking abotu the hypothetical

xpost ehh Jesus is coming back before then so

So you're saying conditions and circumstances never affect anything in the present, because something was "always this way"? If that was a way to look at problems, we'd never have to do anything.

I'm saying there's actually a pretty narrow range of "how bad can this get?" and it's largely determined by what the place in question has always been like, yeah. This country has always been a violent, entirely money-driven, take-what-you-can-grab place. Trump isn't making it any worse, not really.

The problem here is that you're viewing this entirely through the prism of politics. Trump, I believe, is viewing it more through the prism of showbiz. Remember, he didn't just run The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice for years; he also had a long association with professional wrestling. To him, it's all about twirling on haters. Trump is a fascist the way Beyonce is a revolutionary.

Not sure if this is an xpost - I agree (and that's a great line), but don't consider it important.

Honestly, I think fear of Trump betrays a real ignorance of US history. I hate to get all Ta-Nehisi Coates here, but we have always been a country of "mass shooters, violent racists, religious fanatics, and warmongers," even as we have also always been a country of ambitious immigrants and people who marry outside their race or ethnicity. And I genuinely don't think it's getting any worse.

Well, there was a time when it was acceptable to say so in public as part of an attempt to get elected, and then there was a time when it wasn't (though I get that frequently you didn't need to crack the Enigma code to figure out "hey... is that politician trying to appeal to racists?")

Did not know this! Got me thinking about a Trump Corgan ticket now.

He shaved Shane Mc Mahon's head at WrestleMania - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_23

ye mad puffin pretty much otm

nobody is going to move to canada

Speak for yourself!

Sometimes in darker moments I've favored a quasi-Trotskyite position: the worse things get, the better they get. It is the nature of a pendulum to swing. Let evil get its message out there, even let it win for a few innings. People will see it for what it is and they will recoil from it.

That's pretty much how I thought during the Gingrich / Contract with America era: okay, bring your nasty-ass ideology out into the open, let people see the consequences of it, and the decent people will know from experience that it's not the right way to go. Maybe people need to learn the hard way, by having it actually implemented.

I now think this is privileged and wrongheaded (and have learned that, in part, here at ILX). In short, it's really easy for a white dude to say "let the Klan have their stupid march, good people will recoil!" Because we won't be the ones strung up.

The biggest problem with Trump for me is not his chances of winning (which I still think are small) but that he emboldens hate. I agree with YMP, sunshine does not disinfect this stuff, it helps it grow.

Props to ciderpress for the message of "stick around and help."

If there's a real shitstorm of consequences, having all the good people say "see ya! wouldn't want to be ya!" and head for the border will make things suck all the harder. Just because you're chillin in Vancouver or whatever doesn't mean turning a blind eye to whatever is going on here.

overall imho the state of the American polity has gotten steadily worse since 1980. (not everything) waitin' on that pendulum, runnin outta time.

yes Puffin gen otm

I've lived through two depressions
And seven Dust Bowl droughts
Floods, locusts and tornadoes
And even Donald Trump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP94wyr5KB4

not a yank, will hope the cia assassinates him

If there's a real shitstorm of consequences, having all the good people say "see ya! wouldn't want to be ya!" and head for the border will make things suck all the harder. Just because you're chillin in Vancouver or whatever doesn't mean turning a blind eye to whatever is going on here.

― rock me, I'm a deist (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, February 29, 2016 10:45 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah but I mean they gotta think about their own happiness too, y'know? there is also a general feeling of hopelessness that drives these moves.

not like I think a Trump presidency would result in anything more than four years (assuming he makes it) of ineptitude, rising partisan anger, etc etc, but it's giving a voice to ignorance, hate, telling Muslims they're not welcome, etc.

the candidacy itself has been disgusting enough, but usually a fringe candidate will disappear when he finishes 7th out of 8 candidates. like said above, his success is 'legitimizing' his followers who no doubt are projecting their own ignorance onto Trump (even as he says things that likely conflict with what they believe).

he'd probably be the first President to use an Executive Order banning croutons on salads tho

not a yank, will hope the cia assassinates him

"What's the first question at a Trump-Clinton debate?"

"'Where's A_ Q___a when you need 'em?'"

A Trump candidacy is giving a voice to ignorance, hate, etc. I have heard more about the Klan's political positions in mainstream media this past week than I've heard in the past seven years WHILE WE'VE HAD A BLACK PRESIDENT.

otm - there was that one ugly rally in LA recently too

Might move back. Will quietly mutter "told you so" a lot. (Plan to start telling you so in about three weeks if current trends continue.)

I tend to agree that there will be an institutional sort of inertia (with maybe a few individuals within government taking principled stands) which would make President Trump pretty much impotent and unable to accomplish anything concrete in terms of policy. This is taking for granted that he will be unable to get anything through Congress, which is practically a given.

There is this as well: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/02/28/former-cia-director-military-may-refuse-to-follow-trumps-orders-if-he-becomes-president/

Maher kind of played up the whole coup thing, but it's not out of the question if Trump started to get too aggressive with his foreign policy.

I mean, this was August 2015, in allegedly liberal Boston, when Trump was 100% considered to be a pathetic joke: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/08/20/after-two-brothers-allegedly-beat-homeless-man-one-them-admiringly-quote-donald-trump-deporting-illegals/I4NXR3Dr7litLi2NB4f9TN/story.html

This is all hyperbole and I don't believe Trump will become President, and I don't believe even if he does become President that enough bigoted Americans are actually motivated enough to initiate violence that could impact me and my family, and I also believe that having a gun in my house will make my family significantly less safe, but OTOH if the dude who said during an interview "I can't disavow David Duke until I know more about him" as if he wasn't intimately involved with the Klan and couldn't be bothered to say "I disavow the Ku Klux Klan" while pretending not to know who David Duke was somehow ends up in the White House, I'll take on that risk.

Basically, I prefer not to live in a country where bigots feel that they've been given a mandate. We're already halfway there thanks to the baffling success of Trump's campaign, and it's going to unfortunately take a lot of work to delegitimize the creeps who've been coaxed out of their racist hidey holes over the past several months. A Trump win would be like Christmas for every angry white isolationist turd in the country (a group of people who are intolerable enough without a world leader to rally around).

Maher kind of played up the whole coup thing, but it's not out of the question if Trump started to get too aggressive with his foreign policy.

― Gatemouth, Monday, February 29, 2016 11:06 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I thought he was mostly isolationist.

I think calling him isolationist would be crediting him with a coherent foreign policy. He'd be much more likely to be generally reactive, which is the context in which he might just impuslively order an invasion or something.

his sphincter is generally reactive

Foreign policy = build a lot more golf courses.

"Putt Putt One"

Harking well back upthread:

what he's saying is that both Trump people and military people are total Nazis.

This is an interesting point. I think it is more accurate to say there is a strong contingent of southern-raised, traditionally-military-family, Confederate-sympathizing, proto-fascists in the West Point trained officer class. Thank goodness this is offset by large numbers of African-Americans and Latino-Americans in the ranks and among the NCOs who know that these officers are totally full of shit.

Sometimes in darker moments I've favored a quasi-Trotskyite position: the worse things get, the better they get. It is the nature of a pendulum to swing ... I now think this is privileged and wrongheaded

didn't work out great for trotsky either

Has anybody done an ironic "good luck USA" yet?

My grandmother was born in Canada but became a naturalized US citizen IIRC so I don't think I'd qualify to emigrate to Canada so even if I wanted to go that route I'm SOL.

I unfortunately don't have any foreign direct relations, but I've been wondering for a while if there's a way I can leverage being the direct descendant of a former SoS. Maybe I have some mysterious inherited power to veto Trump's inauguration.

Well I've heard that you can apply for French citizenship if the place you were born was ever French territory. I happen to have been born in Missouri (formerly part of La Louisiane / Nouvelle France / French America). Not sure if this is true - never cared enough to look into it further. I think it's probably intended more for people whose destinies are tied up with the immediate colonial and post-colonial chaos in Africa and the Caribbean, rather than white-bread-fed American Midwesterners.

My father notes that he's possibly eligible for Irish citizenship because his grandfather was born in Ireland. Again, it's possibly out there but it would seem that there are people way more in need of escape from their current circumstances than USian Democrats who don't much like Trump or Cruz or whatever.

Pursuing these dreamy thoughts seems a bit insulting when compared to, say, my Syrian co-workers (who have family and friends desperately trying to cross the water to the EU, against thirst and tides and skinhead anger).

I have been able to trace my ancestry back to the first relative to arrive here from Sweden (my great-great-grandfather, in the late 1800s) but I don't think that'll jump me to the head of the line as an immigrant.

I'll see if they need community school directors in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and hope my Scottish-ish-ness is enough to tip the scales.

no other option than 'not moving anywhere.' throwing a hissy fit online not an option

I really want to go to ireland now that darragh has put the idea in my head. I liked it when I visited in 2010.

but treesh, if you go to live in a pleasant small country like Ireland you'll never hit the big time!

This desire isn't really related to Trump. Just seems like chill times, chilling at pubs, maybe buying a sweater or two

Lol xp

I'd prob drink some cof if trump got in, would def get a cof with trís in dub if it came up

what about a milk stout

Props to ciderpress for the message of "stick around and help."

If there's a real shitstorm of consequences, having all the good people say "see ya! wouldn't want to be ya!" and head for the border will make things suck all the harder. Just because you're chillin in Vancouver or whatever doesn't mean turning a blind eye to whatever is going on here.

― rock me, I'm a deist (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, February 29, 2016 7:45 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm otm otm otm otm

Pursuing these dreamy thoughts seems a bit insulting when compared to, say, my Syrian co-workers (who have family and friends desperately trying to cross the water to the EU, against thirst and tides and skinhead anger).

― carry me a laser down the road that i must travel (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, February 29, 2016 11:24 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

again, otm otm otm otm otm

gah sorry, that was like substanceless reddit-style upvoting on my part. but those were good posts.

Thanks brim - I realize this line of argument is a bit of a cheap shot, and if taken ad absurdum you get to a point where no one can complain about anything if they're not currently dying of cholera while covered with blowflies on an African plain.

But still I do imagine a theoretical conversation between an American Democrat and a Syrian refugee in which the Syrian is saying, "Yes, please, tell me again about how you want to leave your country because you don't like the president."

My father and both paternal grandparents are Jewish, so Israel here I come! That seems like a pretty safe places to live in the event of a Trump presidency.

i think the ppl planning on leaving the country are underestimating the likely global consequences of an unpredictable hothead becoming the most powerful man on earth

global warming?

Dont bother coming here, we just lock people up who emigrate, on remote islands with no medical care and leave you to die. Trump got nothin on our government :/

Sweeney made it out ok I guess

"I realize this line of argument is a bit of a cheap shot, and if taken ad absurdum you get to a point where no one can complain about anything if they're not currently dying of cholera while covered with blowflies on an African plain."

otm

"i think the ppl planning on leaving the country are underestimating the likely global consequences of an unpredictable hothead becoming the most powerful man on earth"

notm

look, i'll grant you he's not a very _good_ fascist, but i just don't find that to be particularly comforting.

Plus he probably facts a lot

Farts

If you move to Montreal and President Trump decides to bomb the shit out of Quebec for some reason, those of us who stayed put will laugh and laugh. Just sayin.

I think it is a bit early to be scouting out places to escape the USA in case Trump becomes President. There is a whole lot of crap got to fall in place before that happens. Even if he does, most likely it will end up in this royal stand off that has been going on for the past eight years and if it goes worse maybe it will give a shot to flush out this right wing lunacy for a couple of decades. As weird and fucted up this election cycle has become at least so far, it's nowhere near as wild and crazy as '68. And while it really hasn't happened until 68 or 72, it's not completely unusual before that time for a nomination race to go into the convention without the party nominee decided.

But still I do imagine a theoretical conversation between an American Democrat and a Syrian refugee in which the Syrian is saying, "Yes, please, tell me again about how you want to leave your country because you don't like the president."

cos everybody living in the US is a spoiled middle-class baby and there are no life-damaging consequences for anybody based on who the Prez is?

clinton will save the day

Democrats are not the people wanting to persecute Muslims and deny asylum to refugees.
`

I suppose I'm flashing back too hard to the haze after the 2000 election when there was a sizable consensus that "well, maybe GWB won't fuck things up too bad." How would President Trump handle the next 9/11-sized event?

By eating a Mentos

He would be shocked into humility, realizing for the first time that some things are Too Big to handle alone

Tearful interview with Anderson Cooper etc

It's hard to imagine a situation where Trump wouldn't double down on his pigheadedness (see: "The wall just got bigger.")

A dickhead doesn't change his stripes

I don't think Trump would secure Congressional support for any sort of large scale military intervention as easily as Bush did tbh. There's a ton he could do without the approval of Congress though

Well I've heard that you can apply for French citizenship if the place you were born was ever French territory. I happen to have been born in Missouri (formerly part of La Louisiane / Nouvelle France / French America).

pretty certain you can't

also hey we might need you americans and your valuable experience to defeat the new virulent strain of ethno-nationalism in Quebec

will move to Mars spending lovely hours w Matt Damon laughing at you ducks

Yeah, I'm starting to think that vacating earth altogether is the smart play on the odd chance that American voting bloc in 2016 proves to be overwhelmingly nihilistic.

Even if Trump doesn't win in 2016, I'm concerned with other demagogues in his wake who plan to double-down on the racism and bigotry for 2020.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

i propose an anarchist commune

So, nobody's moving to Mexico.

How would they get there it would be impossible?

going to move to Canada 5
shit my pants in anger 4

liars

does sharting count

i think it should count but we must all understand up front that defining the true level of increased sharting as a result of the Trump presidency requires knowing what the baseline shart levels were in the first place, and we all know how controversial that issue is

i actually did shit my pants in anger, thank you very much, but not because of trump, but because i stepped in a bucket, and my foot got stuck in it, and when i finally kicked the bucket off it landed right on my head, and it was full of slop. so fuck you

wait...was there shit in the bucket, or did the slop landing on your head trigger a sphincter release?

i'm not gonna get into this with you

that's exactly the kind of baseline incident i was talking about

LOOK man I KNOW this is a touchy subject w/ you but for us to heal as a nation I gotta know

where was the shit
what was in the bucket
where are the paninis

You guys, seriously. Trump is NEVER EVER going to become president. Your days of shart worries are over before they even began.

the oppo dump is still coming

it qualx's case it already came

not a yank, don't give a fuck

I think we need a poll on which post is the most retrospectively lol in this thread.

誤訳侮辱 probably a lockout in the top five, but only because there is bizarrely no Shakey itt.

Hope your Syrian co-workers are doing alright, YMP.

shart baseline bucket dump

has anybody's alcohol consumption gone up? weirdly mine has gone down but i figure that will change this weekend

Is this guy on PEDS?

Those rallies, I didn't realize how long some of them are, and he doesn't really seem to sweat or run out of energy, especially for someone that doesn't seem in good health. He seems completely unchanged all the time

proof that being teetotal might stop you sweating profusely, but there might be a host of other unwelcome side effects:p

going to try and get on TV and say "we want hen fap" 3

What's taking these three so long?

I wonder who the 7 people were who said they were going to leave the country, and I wonder if any of them did

6 chickenshits still owe us a Rubio beatdown

I'm buying a gun. Not even kidding.
― its subtle brume (DJP)

I'm pretty sure DJP followed through on that, too. Understandably.

I wonder who the 7 people were who said they were going to leave the country, and I wonder if any of them did

I'm 98% sure I was one. I did in fact move back to Canada. Tbf, it was 1.5 years after he took office and not entirely for directly Trump-related reasons (but I don't think I said it would be).

i will neither call the manchurian candidate names nor demand his tax returns be made public
i will neither call the manchurian candidate names nor demand his tax returns be made public
i will neither call the manchurian candidate names nor demand his tax returns be made public
i will neither call the manchurian candidate names nor demand his tax returns be made public
i will neither call the manchurian candidate names nor demand his tax returns be made public

i moved to [name place]. oregon, actually. would've left the country, but couldn't think of any other countries that would take me.

He’s going to win again

shut up, nuh unh

I have a bad feeling about it. Feels like 2004 again.

it's two years away

Yeah, seeing anyone make confident predictions about 2020 this far out is baffling to me - especially with the sheer number of things likely to happen in the interim. I wouldnt even feel confident about predicting the midterms never mind 2020!

I know. I'm not confident about anything. Still steeling myself against it. 2004 sucked.

How are we only halfway (or maybe even only a quarter of the way) through this shit? How?

world ended in 2012, we are in hell iirc

I have a bad feeling about it. Feels like 2004 again.

― flappy bird, 22. oktober 2018 06:27 (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's two years away

― Clay, 22. oktober 2018 06:35 (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

So if it feels like 2004 now, that would mean 2020 will be like 2006 :)

good mourning!!

He’s going to win again

― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Sunday, October 21, 2018 5:51 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

if posting shit like this makes y’all feel better then go hog wild i guess

To post, "American presidents tend to win re-election" isn't the same as "He's going to win again," so Brad otm.

but if it does not make you feel better i’m wondering what purpose it serves other than to make other ppl feel panic, the nyt needle as a personality

If you don't already feel panicked during most of the time you spend conscious, I envy you.

i'll have you know i'm heavily medicated sir

not gonna go around predicting anything but imo it's best to prepare yourself for the worst, pessimism of the intellect / optimism of the will and all that

xpost I said I envy you, sheesh.

saying "he's totally winning again" before the fuckin' midterms have even concluded and before candidates have even been identified is pointless defeatism and alarmism.

like idk if ya know but the idea that Trump could win re-election is a thing *everybody already knows*.

mentally obsessing over it 2 years in advance doesn't "prepare you for the worst", it causes you significant mental distress so that if it does wind up happening, you're too mentally fried to fight.

theres no less merit in it than the prayer-beading feverishness in how hes about to crumble at the next revelation from the wp

cos those are the only two options

also p sure this message board is much more jaded than the rest of the country.

look at the average post along those lines in the politics thread and see how well it is received.

nah its more that theres not rly a valid place to criticise any of the fantasies other than an "i dont like it" grounds which is childish

xpost plus, it's important to remember that while the many scandals obviously didn't sink him, they did often make it more difficult for his administration to accomplish things and have probably helped the Democratic House midterm and gubernatorial races shift blue.

not to diminish the horrible things his administration has done, but his unforced errors have stemmed the tide at times...

i can see why Alfred gets so frustrated with the thread(s) now

jeez I wasn't recommending obsessing over anything

nah its more that theres not rly a valid place to criticise any of the fantasies other than an "i dont like it" grounds which is childish

― lie back and think of englund (darraghmac), Monday, October 22, 2018 6:08 AM (twenty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

fuckin alarmism gives me panic attacks, eat shit deems

ppl being like “oh this is the thing that will finally get trump” is merely eyeroll worthy, it does not cause me unmeasured anxiety, maybe treating the two as a binary and anything outside of it as “childish” is maybe dumb

i know you’d love to tone police every conversation on ilx but maybe fuck off here

Brad otm

hmm

not what i said at all but lookit

Not the second part. The part abt the doomsday theories about trump’s invincibility being ilx’s worst reflex.

Cynicism, which is really curdled sentimentality, is easy because you can always avoid responsibility ("See? I told you Trump was going to win reelection!").

its more that the repetition of any of it as mantra or the move to judge any not chanting is an evasion of sorts i think

We're all just butterflies madly flapping in the hope of generating a storm which favors us.

(I initially mistyped that as 'madly fapping' which is maybe just as accurate, really.)

hillz should've been all "yo no tax returns, no debates. dude's corrupt. look at his fucking hair and his casino fines. fuck him and fuck your deplorable asses for benghazi-ing me no end. medicare for all" dropped the mic and gone quiet. all the money CNN/FOX/NBC/ABC/CBS stood to lose on cancelled debates would've put some pressure on 2scoops to put up or shut up

or maybe she should've just told ppl what she would do for them

she was very gracious in letting us know we could check out her website

It is true that it is too early to surrender, but it is never too early to be battle ready and address the scale of the emergency.

eg systematic theft by purging voters

Friend that I normally agree w/ on FB posts this...unprovoked

Hillary Clinton running again? She better fucking not.
And if I hear a single solitary person declare non voters in this potential scenario as "privileged", I'm just gonna go ahead and say these three things.
1) I fucking told you so
2) The definition of insanity is...
3) The absolute ultimate in privilege is a party that refused to acknowledge what happened the first time, to the detriment of the very marginalized groups being referred to.

There comes a point where one has to recognize they were complicit in partaking in this privilege, by not paying any attention and allowing shame to be the modus operandi, when it clearly doesn't work to motivate the ones you need to motivate. You can not like that all goddamn day long. It should be obvious what the worst scenario is. BUT CLEARLY PEOPLE DON'T. Reality sucks.

Honestly, I'm so gonna be hated for this one, maybe the non voters aren't wrong. Because I'm tired of being pushed around via worst case scenarios and weaponized shame too.

And I swear to zombie jesus, if you call me a centrist, I'm gonna tell you to grow the fuck up. I'm a realist. A centrist believes there is merit to two sides, regardless of whether there is, always. I do not. I believe there is right and there is wrong. I also believe not acknowledging other people's perceptions or not challenging them realistically is convenient as fuck, and removes any and all responsibility for making real change. And no, I don't mean die hard fans ffs. Fence dwellers make the difference.

Much of it otm, much o_O, but was there an announcement I missed in the news?

She recently said something to the effect that she hasn't ruled out running, or something like that. Or at least there was a recent headline to that effect.

FWIW I think shaming non-voters is dumb and counter-productive so I do agree with that angle.

(yes I vote in our elections, generally)

If hillary runs again that would be kind of impressively arrogant.

can't be overstated how much losing to Donald Trump could break someone's brain

i masochistically check foxnews.com from time to time and like the second-from-the-top story this morning was an opinion column about how Hillary's definitely running again and she's the Dems' best hope. just pure unadulterated trolling.

there is absolutely nothing she offers the Dem electorate that they can't get in a less-damaged package somewhere else. we even have another blonde white lady from New York, with better politics to boot.

I suppose anything is possible, but the distinct lack of a "it's her turn" narrative this time would be a tough obstacle. Certainly I think it's safe to say her path through the primaries would be much much different this time around.

Drudge is imo the best for taking the temperature of the right, more comprehensive and certainly less brain-numbing than Fox, Breitbart, Daily Caller, etc.

I'm only fine for not shaming non-voters if they live in a hut 365 dsys a year

so some things have changed in my life beyond my moving to oregon. i don't believe in democracy anymore, for instance. i'm unpersuaded that elections have the power to define what gender i am, or what science is, or any of the things we apparently invest in democracy these days.

i did for a while consider not voting because of this. ultimately i am voting. for the wrong reasons, but i've done lots of things for the wrong reasons. i'm less invested in the outcome. i know the dogged insistence some people have that donald trump will win in 2020 upsets people, that we've all had to re-evaluate what our core beliefs are and we do it in different ways. the outcome in 2020, the outcome in two weeks, it matters, but at this point it doesn't matter in terms of what i believe, but only in how i go about living those beliefs.

i don't believe in elections, but i do believe in other things. i think it matters who we choose to talk to, and who we choose to listen to. i think it matters what we will tolerate and what we will excuse. if the structure of political power isn't ours, if the economy isn't ours, if the means of effective mass communication isn't ours, then we build invisible.

all i need to do is just continue staying alive. this is a struggle, but it is possible for now. for me that means ignoring what people are saying on twitter, staying the hell away from the monthly politics threads (which are wholly absorbed in the anguish of the present moment) for the most part, not listening to the polls, not thinking about what will happen in 2020, but knowing who i am and what i believe, and doing my best to live that.

sorry, i know you don't care about these stupid speeches, i probably shouldn't even post this but i will anyway.

i don't believe in elections, but i do believe in other things.

Just live the best life you know how, be as kind to others as you have it in you to be, and you'll be doing 99% of what's necessary. Voting is a minimal good in comparison to those. But voting does present another path through which to be constructive, so I'm glad you will put in the effort.

trumPutin 2020 ~ life goes MAGA long after the soviet union is gone

not bad