My brother-in-law, a life-long and pretty conservative Republican, recently commented that Trump’s primary victory reminded him of an old saying. Paraphrasing, it went something like this: the man who knows, and knows he knows, can be trusted; the man who doesn’t know, and knows he doesn’t know, can be trusted; but the man who doesn’t know and doesn’t know he doesn’t know is dangerous, and cannot be trusted.
The Donald, of course, doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. If anyone had any doubts, his suggestion that he would “negotiate” the nation’s debt with creditors, and “do a deal” in which they would take less than they’re owed, should put those doubts to rest. (Among the multiple things he clearly “doesn’t know” that he “doesn’t know” are the importance of America’s creditworthiness to global fiscal stability, and the inconvenient fact that the majority of the nation’s creditors are its own citizens–including, importantly, those depending on Social Security.)
In the wake of the Indiana primary and Trump’s emergence as the GOP nominee-apparent, the internet has been inundated with “analysis” and theories about how this happened, who’s to blame, and of course, “what the hell happens now.”
So far, one of my favorite (albeit dubious) theories lays the blame with Sarah Palin–or more accurately, with John McCain, who elevated the Wasilla Wacko to national prominence.
In this view, the damage Palin wreaked was in getting Republicans to lower their standards for what a vice-president or a president ought to be. Suddenly, what one writer called a “meaningful and valuable norm” no longer controlled public opinion. Palin was embarrassingly unqualified for the job, but she was endorsed by McCain and establishment Republicans–and the result was that the bar was lowered so far that for a number of Republican voters, Donald Trump was no longer unthinkable.
I’m sure there are as many theories as there are pundits. Americans who are appalled at the prospect of electing someone so manifestly unprepared and unsuited for the Presidency are trying to make sense of it all (and in most cases, looking for someone–anyone–to blame).
There’s lots of blame to go around, of course. But while we are trying to make sense of the crazy situation in which we find ourselves, we’d better spend the time between now and November doing whatever it takes to ensure that voters understand the difference between voting for the winner of American Idol and the person who will be occupying the Oval Office.
We may or may not be enthusiastic about our other choices–but there are degrees of unthinkable, distasteful and very, very dangerous.
the man who knows, and knows he knows, can be trusted; the man who doesn’t know, and knows he doesn’t know, can be trusted; but the man who doesn’t know and doesn’t know he doesn’t know is dangerous, and cannot be trusted.
Amen,
Thanks
It’s worse than Trump not knowing what he doesn’t know. He’s contemptuous of anyone who suggests he might not know something, and averse to trying to find out what that might be. Palin exhibits similar willful ignorance and contempt. She may not be the “mother of Trump”, as one pundit said, but she helped pave the way, not just by lowering a standard, but by making acceptable to be an openly uninformed or misinformed voter hateful of any attempt to have their horizons expanded. “Don’t confuse me with the facts” has pretty much become a right-wing article of faith.
McCain may have sped up the downhill slide lowering Republican standards across the board by welcoming the Alaskan part-time governor to “run” with him but…Palin cannot be blamed for the current massive numbers who have boarded the Trump train to no where. She recently was invited aboard by Trump himself. What he doesn’t know about running a government would fill countless boxcars but what his followers don’t know, or choose to ignore, is who Trump is…making them a bigger danger to this country than Trump himself. And we ARE in danger. Now the Republicans have emptied that clown car and are on a national level see-saw; they refuse to acknowledge his leadership then they accept his current position but they do not support him, they will talk to him but won’t announce any endorsement, etc., etc., etc. Now they are turning on Cruz; is this an attempt to take our attention from Trump and their indecisive acceptance/denial of his presumptive nomination which they have ignored/denied till now? Or…is this a ploy to bring Cruz back into the competition for the nomination? The National Republican Convention could be the start of another Civil War – between Republican party members only. Will it be televised 24 hours per day; will it run over the air time allotted to them for this SNL episode? Will Palin give the nomination speech? How has one man; prior to this time a national embarrassment and butt (fitting term) of jokes for years, brought this country to it’s collective knees?
My concerns regarding the Democratic party campaign, quickly becoming a fiasco to rival the Republicans, is primary to me and has me wondering about their upcoming convention. But, not since “who shot JR?” have I awaited an episode of television programming as I do the GOP circus – or war – this summer. Keep plenty of microwave popcorn and your favorite drinks on hand for the fun. Let the games begin!
“Totalitarianism [aka fascism] did not fall to earth from interplanetary space like a meteor on a dark morning. It sprang from existing societies, it took as the elements of its program everything that was already cruel, greedy, and reactionary in those societies. It is a grave error to think that these societies en bloc represented democracy as opposed to totalitarianism. No, democracy is not a hereditary virtue of any particular people; only the unremitting struggle of enlightened men [and women] keeps it alive, throbbing weakly, always at death’s door. Let their vigilance relax for a moment, and the lava of despotism overflows everything.
Every man [ and woman] bears within himself [themselves]a dormant fascist, so that it is easy for totalitarians to turn nations against enlightenment. Yet totalitarian victories, however brutal, so far have never been able to keep the light, or at least its pale shimmer, from reappearing in the eyes of each generation. Sometimes, through a combination of happy circumstances, the shimmer has managed to last for a few consecutive decades, and men [and women] have even thought of it a part of the normal course of things. “The right to think freely and to act independently,” wrote John Morley in 1870, “is now a principle that has been definitely adopted, with minor exceptions, by all schools of thought that have any chance of influencing the future”
Alas, Morley did not foresee a relapse into barbarism [National Socialism]. An upheaval occurs [like the Tea Party], and the margin of security behind which a free existence can develop disappears. Then we realize that the survival of the pale shimmer is a perpetual miracle, the miracle of intelligence subduing force, of David vanquishing Goliath.” (pages 10-11)
~”The Secret of Democracy” by Susanne Labin [Translated from the French by Otto E. Albrecht] The Copp Clark Company, Ltd., Toronto, 1955.
One of my biggest concerns about Trump (and there are many) is that he doesn’t seem to learn from his mistakes and worse does not identify them as mistakes. Bankruptcy, for example. I know more than a few people who have experienced bankruptcy, personal or business, and the smart ones change the behaviors that resulted in bankruptcy. Unfortunately, Trump refuses to see bankruptcy as a mistake and has utilized the strategy 4 times. Bankruptcy is legal and necessary, and on balance, when used, may benefit society, but it is just another example of people turning their backs on personal accountability. It is truly disturbing that Trump would suggest that such a strategy is a good plan for the national debt and you are appropriately outraged by its consideration. The problem for voters is that all candidates still vying for the top spot refuse to admit when they have made a mistake. Candidate Clinton doesn’t tell West Virginians she was wrong to say she was going to put coal mines out of business, she was just misquoted. Given all candidates inability to see errors in their past, how does one choose?
Willful ignorance and blind rejection of facts seem to be the order of the day.
Is it because the issues have become so complex and daunting to the majority of citizens that they feel lost, angry and frustrated? Do they look to those who present themselves as trusted champions (when, in fact, they are charlatans) for easy and fast solutions?
Of course, it is easy to embrace a quick fix to all vexing problems for people who are watching their life’s labor devalue daily, their future looking less and less likely to allow upward mobility without crippling debt, their dreams for their children diminish. They want a return to the secure knowledge of the American Dream that working hard will lead to prosperity and elevated status.
Unfortunately, many of quickfixers are and have been blind to the facts that, especially for the poor and disadvantaged, the daily reality of often backbreaking hard work digs them deeper into the hole of poverty while those who benefit the most from that hard work are hoarding the resulting wealth as an entitlement. Those who feel that their status is now threatened may even have been in that very group of greedy, entitled, smug and contemptuous people who thought they were smarter than the average.
Palin was just the latest iteration of those who bought the con and defend it to the end no matter what. The fact that she was and has been elevated to consideration as a leader in our very complex and interconnected world exposes the contempt that the power brokers in her party hold for the average citizen. Did they really think we are that stupid? Are some of us proving them right?
Why not start at the beginning. Palin wasn’t the first horribly unqualified candidate for VP. Look at our own Dan Quayle.
There is an article about the worst United States Vice Presidents. My fellow double-alum (DePauw and IU-Indy School of Law) Danny Quayle gets a bum rap. One must remember the likes of Aaron Burr, who murdered Alexander Hamilton. (Hamilton’s shot was high, a common shot when both men in a duel agreed simply to shoot for the sake of satisfying the challenge; Burr’s shot hit Hamilton in the liver.) To start things off as VP, Burr forced the vote in the House of Representatives when the Constitution was ambiguous about tallying votes of the electoral college. Later, Burr wanted to lead a rebellion and start a new country. Then there was Andrew Johnson who was drunk at his inauguration. Of course, his term as VP was relatively short. As President he was impeached and was one vote short of conviction. More recently we have had Dick Cheney as VP. Danny Quayle might not have been very swift—I do not think he would have spelled “potato” correctly, either—but Cheney helped engineer an evil war. The bar for VP has been pretty low for a long time.
He/she who knows not and know not that he/she knows not, is a fool — avoid him/her
He/she who knows not and knows he/she knows not is not a fool — assist him/her
And He/she who knows and knows he/she knows is a wise man/woman– follow him/her
😉 🙂 🙂 🙂
I had nothing better to do this morning
If Trump does get elected he knows that he will need to surround himself with staff that understand the workings of our government and the world’s economy. I am truly fearful of whom he might choose as his running mate and for cabinet positions if he is elected.
Last night we had dinner with a couple from South Africa and they asked us about Trump. How is this man winning they asked? We were able to keep it short and simple and said that 30% (I made that up) love this guy and the other 70% would never vote for him so there was no way in hell he would win an election. But then I said, if he does happen to win, he will be the LAST PRESIDENT because he will destroy America from within. I said there will be a revolution and the country will fall to pieces and never be the same again. I’m not so sure I was hysterical in that summary but it felt good to say it because I believe it. They were gobsmacked by the media’s attention that this awful man gets; worldwide. And they would know, their government is almost as shady as Trump.
Men are four:
He who knows not and knows not he knows not, he is a fool—shun him;
He who knows not and knows he knows not, he is simple—teach him;
He who knows and knows not he knows, he is asleep—wake him;
He who knows and knows he knows, he is wise—follow him!
[purportedly an Arabic proverb]
There’s actually a word for this in Russian – poshlost’ – that’s hard to translate but essentially means ignorant-and-proud-of-it. It’s used to describe those people who are dumb as a box of rocks but consider themselves to be the backbone & muscle of the country – even when they have no saleable skills. If Trump hadn’t been the son of a real estate developer, he’d be selling used cars or Amway.
It was originally coined over a century ago to describe Kulaks and other lower-middle-class Russians who the imperial government was determined to keep out of politics; their newest incarnation are mostly Putin supporters, as you’d suspect.
When some clueless relative tells you over Thanksgiving Dinner “I know what I know” you’re looking poshlost’ in the face.
Can we call in Sen. Lugar and Sen. Nunn to secure our nuclear weapons before he is sworn it?
Unbelievable.
“Willful ignorance” is a good term.
The excerpt Marvin quoted is very insightful.
What Ken said is certainly revealing of the nature of Trump.
A meaningful memory is an everyday lady I meet in 2008 who said proudly that what Palin showed us is that anybody could be President.
Well, no.
The President of the United Stares is often called the most powerful man in the world. What does that mean? He literally holds our lives in his hands. The consequences of his/her decisions will profoundly affect not just us but the entire world for at least 4 years.
You and I despite our substantial egos could not do that job anymore than we could play center for a NBA team; anymore than Donald Trump can.
What he’s shown us though, which ought to scare us the bejezzus out of us, is that he is capable of being the presumptive Republic candidate for President.
He’s a carnival barker, nothing more. A slick used car salesman. A Brooklyn bully. But he’s the best that the Republican electoral process can find.
WTF.
The party of my parents in one generation has gone from fully capable of offering us a suitable if not outstanding President to this. And we thought that Bush would be the low water mark.
Trump is irrelevant but this needs to be fixed.
I suppose Trump as president could threaten federal debt-holders with bankruptcy unless they accept lower than face value payoffs, and why not? This is the guy who in the course of his business openly stated that he meant to get a “discount” on loans from the moment he signed such agreements. In other words, he never intended to pay the face value and interest on loans he made from the very beginning – that such sums were “negotiable.” The man is a living fraud; he does not make agreements in good faith. Given such a history, how can any foreign leader trust his word on anything? Or, for that matter, any domestic leader, including those of his own party? I think the man is suffering from some sort of mental defect (terminal narcissism?) and lives in a world of his own making – not the real world where you and I live with our civilized norms – a world he is clearly unqualified to lead.
Gerald; you said it all and said it well. He scares me to death; I truly fear for survival if he is elected – fear for my generation and future generations. AgingLGrl had it right that, if elected, the United States of America as we know it will be destroyed and destruction will begin from within.
The Trumpet is like a a hurricane that gathered strength in the Gulf. Hurricane Donald is about to make landfall. As all eyes are on Hurricane Donald, the Moderate (there really is not such a thing, just degrees of extremism) Republican Establishment will continue their own destructive ways. I think all Paul Ryan wanted was reassurance that Trump will not disturb the underlying Republican Agenda.
The Republican Agenda will be to allow the the big corporations and 1% to gather in private behind closed doors and determine the future of America. Any legal safeguards the public may now have from the rapacious Wall Street firms will be trashed. Federal land and parks will be opened up for “development” which simply means the looting of anything of value can begin. The Corporate Democrats will join in also. There will be some Bible Thumping like over turning same sex marriage just to offer some bait to the base.
Greetings EFK. #3 is new to me. And if I had known that it was (might be) Arabic in origin I would not have mentioned it because the Pence and his minions might come after me. 🙁
I’m so tired of the PTB and their Lieutenants using fear to keep us in line. It’s patronizing and condescending. I will not vote for Trump –nor will I vote for Clinton. Trump is not Hitler. Moreover,there has been plenty of bad candidates as president and vp in our nation’s history. Anyone remember Spiro Agnew? Dan “Potatoe” Quayle? As I’ve said in a previous post, Democratic bloggers are guilty of building up Trump,just as they were in giving Palin much press. Once Palin became irrelevant, the so called press of the left continued to give Palin press and publicity. Why?
What is this evil the Donald could really commit? Why should I be scared?
Is he going to scale the edifice of the Empire State Building whilst carrying a super-model? Is he going to stomp Tokyo? Is he going to kill US citizens by drone in the ME? Is he going to allow for more media consolidation? Is he going to wreck the lands within the boundaries of Syria,Iraq,Afghanistan and Libya? Will he develop coups in Ukraine and Honduras? Will he continue to bail out billionaire bankers? Is the Donald going to embrace the mafia known as The House of Saud? Is he going to secretly supply arms to AQ and ISIS? Will Trump widen the gap of inequality during his term? Is he going to build that wall? If he does build that wall,will he use the same contractors consulted to build the wall in the state of Israel to separate the Palestinians from Israelis?
If the Donald is going to do any of the above,he’s got some big shoes to fill. I can’t speak for anyone else,but I’m tired of being told be in constant fear. It’s a meme that’s getting old.
William, Louie used the metaphor of a hurricane approaching landfall. Would you be afraid then? I believe that comparing the rise of Trump to the rise of Hitler is very informative because of the similarities. Would you have had sense enough to be afraid in 1938 Germany?
Denying fear is rejecting what got us here: being afraid because our senses registered danger and we acted on it.
Fight or flight are uncomfortable but motivating. They make us do what needs to be done.
One of the things that we must not lose track of is mitigation and adaptation.
Mitigation is the process, or project if you will, of stopping changing our weather by stopping putting more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by stopping burning fossil fuels. The natural tragedies that commonly lead the world news now will continue to get worse until we no longer add more greenhouse gases, decades from now at the earliest.
Adaptation is re-arranging civilization to accommodate the new climate and weather and sea level that we will have created by the time we have stopped making things worse.
It’s generally agreed now that mitigation if we’re smart is a money saver and adaptation is unaffordable. A no brainer you say?
Way beyond Trump’s brain.
If people really believe Trump is a Hitler in the making….. All I can say to that is I believe that’s as batshit crazy as believing Obama was/is the Anti-Christ. Similar meme. Same language. Coinkydink? I think not. Frankly,I think this meme is an attempt by Democrats to lure Republican voters to support Clinton. The kind of voter that scares easily.
We survived Nixon. We survived Bush II. We survived the lousy B-C movie actor from California. Many of the descriptions used by folks to describe Trump can be used just as judiciously and appropriately to describe Bill Clinton and Hillary as well. Obama was a big disappointment .Many of us are simply tired of the status quo . The staus quo is not working. Plus,this propaganda from the Democratic Party to scare us into obedience is absolute BS. The hypocrisy is stunning.
William, to me what best describes the status quo is us without Congress. I’m hoping for a comeback some day.
There’s certainly lots to be done. I think often of how many things that we could have checked off of the list if we’d had both Predident Obama and a Congress.
Then I remember 2008 and how far we’ve had to come in order to get back to where we were when the previous Clinton left town.
I’m not afraid of Republican mythology. I’m afraid of their reality.
The reality that is really sad and dispiriting? The problems of today didn’t develop in a vacuum. They’ve been developing for years and decades. The Democrats had congress for decades and squandered opportunities. The ACA? It should be called Romney/Wellpoint/Heritage FoundationCare. The ACA is proof that Republican Ideas don’t work. Republicans have been an obstruction,but who signed into law to repeal Glass-Steagall? The truth,Democrats have been their own worst enemies. To ignore this fact–not opinion– is what can be appropriately referred to as willful ignorance.
I recommend everyone reading this forum to read Thomas Frank’s, Listen Liberal:Whatever Happened To The Party of The People?
Last night I downloaded Thomas Frank’s most recent book, “Listen Liberal” after seeing it mentioned by a poster somewhere on this blog, I believe. Aside from being a reader-friendly, coherent author who dots his “i’s” and crosses his “t’s” with extensive sources, “Frank thinks Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is swimming against the Democratic Party’s infatuation with “the professional class.”
From a March 2016, interview with Frank and now published on Bill Moyers.com, “In his books “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” and “The Wrecking Crew”, writer Thomas Frank made a name for himself with his critiques of Republican politics. Now, he’s turning his eviscerating anthropological technique on the tribe of which he considers himself a member.”
“While the battle rages for the soul of the Republican Party, Frank sees Democrats in the throes of their own identity crisis. The one-time party of the working class has been co-opted by a hyper-educated elite, he argues in his just-published “Listen Liberal”. The book can be read as an argument that the anger propelling Donald Trump’s campaign is the product of short-sighted policy decisions made by Democratic technocrats.
By inveighing against the “professional class,” a meritocracy that, by his lights, is as rigidly status-driven and as averse to outsider voices as class based upon wealth, Frank is casting himself in the role of heretic.”
It’s a fascinating book offering a chronological timeline of the Democrat party from FDR’s New Deal to today’s New Democrat. Below is the link to the Bill Moyers interview with Frank. http://billmoyers.com/story/author-thomas-frank-talks-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-and-his-new-book-listen-liberal/
@Williams, I see we’re reading the same book.
William,
I recommend everyone reading this forum to read Thomas Frank’s, Listen Liberal: Whatever Happened To The Party of The People?
It is a very good “history” book. It only futher substantiates why we have a monster in our midst by the name of Donald Trump. It does nothing to reduce the ultimate fears of Pete and many of the other participants in Sheila’s Blog.
Wayne Gretzky wouldn’t want him on his hockey team. Frank always skates “where the puck has been not where it’s going.”
I personally would not want to live under a static government. If there’s one thing that governing parties need to be doing it’s constantly reinventing themselves to keep up with ever changing constituencies, technology, culture and world conditions.
That’s the hope for the Republican party especially but not exclusively.
Republicans tried to hang on to power with an alliance of fringe groups and it’s been even worse for them than the country; and it was terribly costly to the country.
We don’t know how long it will take because their flirtation with extremism has decimated their leadership.
But their rebirth will come.
“gonna be” should be inserted for “going”
A monster? Trump is a spoiled multimillionaire. Nothing more. Not a monster.
I reserve the word monster for people like Henry Kissinger and Madelaine Albright.
Oh snap!
Yes,Frank’s book is a great history book. And it also makes a great point in detail and fact(s) the Democratic Party as it stands today will not attempt to make challenges to what everyone sees as the ills of the country. They’re bought and sold just as the Republicans. We have a one party system; Republican and Republican-Lite.
Btw,the book is very damning upon the Clintons. As it should be.
I am no fan of Trump, I am a Bernie supporter. I do find it amusing in a gallows humor sense to hear and read people all jacked up about Donald Trump starting a war. Hell people we have been in a nearly continuous War against someone since the end of WW 2: Cold War, Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War 1 and 2, an invasion of Panama, plus all the coups and assassinations engineered in Washington.
LBJ, Nixon and Kissinger probably killed around 1 million people in SE Asia. Nixon-Kissinger had Allende in Chile killed. Bill Clinton and Madeline Albright, Bush the Younger with Hillary’s enabling vote launched Gulf War 2. Probably another 1 million killed, wounded, missing and refugees because of Gulf War 2, Afghanistan War. Libya is in total anarchy.
These activities above were undertaken by so-called professionals. Hillary’s expertise, give me a break. So Trump is a danger??? It would be interesting to see the same journalistic vigor or rigor that is spent analyzing the Trumpet brought to bear on the Clinton Foundation.
I frankly have yet to hear of anything substantial against Hillary. As near as I can tell what people hold against is her popularity as a guest speaker. I would have thought that if her words are valuable that’s a good, not a bad thing.
The other interesting thing is the quality of her competition. It seems that nobody really qualified for the job wants to run against her.
Perhaps those others who are qualified fear her skill as a politician and her popularity among the American people.
Perhaps someday here someone will present a significant shortcoming of her candidacy. Until then we have to assume that she will continue to be our protection from Trump.
You Republicans need only blame yourselves for your own greed,. stupidity and selfishness. Your contempt for the rest of the world led to Trump’s ascendency. If he wins, America really will be the laughing stock of the rest of the world.
From William:
“A monster? Trump is a spoiled multimillionaire. Nothing more. Not a monster.
I reserve the word monster for people like Henry Kissinger and Madelaine Albright.”
I apologize to all of you for calling Donald Trump a MONSTER. According to William, I should have reserved the word MONSTER for the BIGGEST MONSTER of them all—former Secretary of State Colin Powell who was responsible” for the invasion of Iraq, 9-11, ISIS—-please help me out with the rest of the list.
George Bush was nothing more than a spoiled millionaire.
No one has come up with a viable list of reasons as to why Hillary is a better candidate than Bernie Sanders. Bernie is packing arenas all over the country. In fact,he’s doing RockStar numbers. For a guy that doesn’t get much press, it’s good to see many Americans finding the words and ideas of Sanders as valuable. The best thing also about Sander’s appearances is he’s not accepting $250,000 per appearance on behalf of corporate bandits such as Goldman Sachs.
Comparing Trump to George W Bush is silly. Trump has not invaded any countries that I’m aware of,of course I could be wrong. In fact,I would argue that Clinton benefactor Goldman Sachs has done more damage to this country than Trump Inc. Come to think of it,so has her mentor Henry Kissinger.
The argument that one must vote for Hillary because Trump is Hitler is getting tired,old,ridiculous and just down right embarrassing. The Democrats have a great candidate. That candidate is Bernard Sanders.
ps. Some of the responses and attempts at enigmatic word salad being thrown about here is just downright silly and embarrassing.
I apologize. Too early in the morning. In all fairness, I should have included in my list of Big Monsters—former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.
I say like William, all those people who blame those two spoiled millionaires Bush and Chaney for the mess in Iraq and the Middle East should be ashamed of themselves.
Let me add this, William is one of the most intelligent and honest voices we have on this Blog. He also represents the nightmare that Sheila would like to forget—-Bernie Sanders supporters voting for Trump the “spoiled multimillionaire.”
The same scenario happened in Germany with the Communists. When the “writing was on the wall” they chose to align themselves with the Nazi MONSTER.
Hi Marv.
Your last post is complete BS. You know it and anyone following this topic can see it.
Number one,don’t speak for me. Don’t put words in my mouth. Don’t attribute thoughts to me that I have not conveyed. I do blame Bush and Cheney for the mess in the ME. They are monsters. There is a long list that could be added and I’m not going to belabor the readers with a long list of everyone that deserves to be listed. Any reasonable person can understand where I’m coming from.
Again,don’t attribute things to me that are not true. I am not voting for Trump. I’ve posted many times that I will vote for Bernie. If possible,I will write him in. If not,Jill Stein. I will not vote for Clinton.
I hope this post clarifies things.
William,
Thanks for admitting that Bush and Cheney are MONSTERS. I’m glad. That takes Powell and Rice off the hook.
I’m glad you made your point clear that you’re not going to vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Your attitude on Clinton, which we all understand very well, won’t necessarily be the case [voting for Trump] for many of Bernie Sanders supporters. However, with that fact joined with your refusal to support Hillary Clinton which is the mindset for many Sanders supporters like you, will more than likely pave the wave for the empowerment of the MONSTER unless the political situation drastically changes.
Good article in Counterpunch on Lesser of Two Evils Vote is Counterproductive and Morally Corrupt by Carmen Yarrusso. There’s probably never been a US presidential election where both likely nominees are more despised by more people. Millions on both sides plan to vote for the least despicable candidate. Do you need more proof our political system is corrupt to the core?
Bernie Sanders supporters are being pressured and shamed into voting for Clinton. You’re clearly telling Democratic party elites they can confidently betray your concerns as long as they offer you someone marginally better than the Republican alternative. The Democratic Party will just continue to betray progressive causes with impunity.
Louie,
You’re 100
Louie,
“The Democratic Party will just continue to betray progressive causes with impunity.”
You’re 100% right. What do you see as the next step if Donald Trump is elected President?