It’s not often that I feel disillusioned the way I do tonight.
And I’m sure it’s no coincidence that I switched the TV from coverage of Donald Trump’s cancelled Chicago rally to this:
Then I opened up my computer, where I found a petition:
Sign on to TELL DONALD TRUMP NOT TO PREACH HATE!
Yup. That’ll work. That petition — that’ll stop The Donald.
Donald Trump, the Aryan Candidate. The man who is inciting mob violence. The man who knows exactly what he is doing when he talks about protesters. He is intentionally inciting violence.
And the Republican Party is going to nominate him for President.
I cannot believe we have fallen this far. A year ago…or maybe even a few months ago I would have laughed at the suggestion Trump could possibly the the Republican nominee. I have many Republican friends, and I we often do not see eye-to-eye. But I thought that they would never throw down with a racist, narcissistic, demagogue like Donald Trump. I was wrong about them.
It’s so deeply disheartening, isn’t it. How can they think it’s ok to support someone like him? I will never understand. But at least we’re not alone in not going along with it. There’s some comfort there.
I nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award. Feel NO PRESSURE to participate but it’s no secret that I enjoy your blog! Check it out at http://www.shithappens2u.com
I’m so flummoxed and frustrated that he has allowed a defiantly prejudiced way of thinking pass as acceptable, especially when given the power of a microphone and with camera being pointed at him. If you are lucky enough to be given a platform to speak to thousands (millions), and you choose to use that opportunity to spread hatred, disparity, and vitriolic venom towards any specific race (gender, sexual orientation, religion), then we are obligated to silence such dangerous nonsense.
He is useful for one thing – he has reminded us all that we are only one bad choice away from turning back the hands of time and repeating some of the most shameful acts of horror ever witnessed by mankind. We are not allowed to hide from this. We have an obligation to rise above.
The world is not only watching, but so are we. This cannot happen.
Hopefully we have time to bring ourselves back from the brink. But we’ve unleashed the racism that never left but that was covered up. That ain’t good.
Honestly? I think we as a nation, we suck! We are looking at Trump and saying to ourselves, “nah, it will never happen”. But the alternative for the GOP, yeah it is Ted Cruz, he is their next best knight in shinning armor. They hate him nearly as much as we hate him, yet they would rather him than Trump, what does that say?
Yet .. I’m probably one of the few in America who don’t believe he’ll get the nomination … and one of the few who saw the news as playing into my hand.
It doesn’t matter if he gets the nomination, although depending on what happens in Ohio (Trump will win FL). He will go into the convention with more delegates. And then when he is denied the nomination, there will be pandemonium. It will undermine the whole system.
I also think you are very wrong to waste an opportunity to vote against him in the primary. You are disenfranchising yourself.
In order to vote against Trump in Ohio, I would have to declare myself as a Republican … and that is something I’m not willing to do … I call that integrity, not disenfranchising.
A person in Ohio voting in the Democratic primary is not voting against Trump because Trump is not on that ballot. Dems have the opportunity to cross-over in this state by being registered Republicans, so choosing to vote Democratic is a vote for Trump.
Already two years old? Oh my … he still has lots of puppyness to grow out of … but don’t forget that they tend to start getting the picture and settling down a bit when they get about …. uhmmm … four or five? Just remember … for every “seriously?” you have to have at least two “omg, he’s so darn cute” moments. He better keep being cute. 🙂
He IS still adorable. But he has calmed down and is pretty well behaved. He still needs lots of exercise, which is great for me too. But he minds me, doesn’t destroy stuff any more. He does still take my shoes (when he finds them) into his crate, but he cuddles and slobbers on them rather than destroying them. I’ll take it. Puppies are adorable when they’re someone else’s!
I actually have taken some heart in things lately. Cruz scares me more than Trump. If for some godforsaken reason, Trump gets elected, we’re all going to have to belly up to the bar and fight like hell to keep his creepy ass in check. This is where the tough need to get going.
I attended a lecture yesterday by presidential historian, Jon Meacham. He misquoted Churchill with “You can always count on the American people to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all other possibilities.” (It was the Israeli diplomat, Abba Eban who said this in 1967). I do believe we’re at that point and that we’ll do the right thing come November.
Well, I think the Democrats have some decent options this time around – at least people who don’t sound like complete idealogues and whackadoodles. Kerry didn’t provide much of a challenge in 2004, although he inspired a lot of naps.
Kerry would have been a good president, albeit an uninspiring one. He’s a fine man and I will always believe that they cheated. (I don’t normally subscribe to conspiracy theories).
I’m supporting Hillary, but not with any level of enthusiasm. I have been involved in government enough to know that while I am all for proposals like universal healthcare and free college, they ain’t gonna happen. But I love, love, love the fact that Bernie is taking us back to the left.
Perhaps that’s the takeaway from this campaign – these oddball candidates are revealing the hearts of their respective parties. Unfortunately for the Republicans, their hearts have become very black indeed for all the pandering to the extremist elements they’ve done since the first President Bush.
It seems this is all very calculated on his part. Wait until you see the support he gets at his rallies today in Ohio, Missouri. The crowds of supporters he is gathering is far more worrisome to me than his words. He is dancing into very dangerous territory and tapping into the worst of what we have become. Angry, disillusioned, frightened, looking for someone/something to blame outside of self. God help us.
I agree completely. One asshole can’t (usually) destroy all that much. But when you preach hate, divisiveness, when you incite violence, well then, you can get quite a following. The people who are supporting him know better, too. But still they follow. Like kids follow the school bully. Of course, there’s more at stake than the lunch money.
Me too. I can clearly recall singing the song and my older brother taking me aside and explaining what it was about. One of my first bits of enlightenment!
He is hard to understand or like, I suspect, apart from the millions of people who will actually vote for him. “It cannot happen” I tell myself but then Adolf Hitler was actually democratically elected by the peoples of a country which has been unusually grounded and practical for most of its history so anything is possible.
Yes! It HAS happened before and it CAN happen again. And when it is all over, and we are living in the aftermath’s rubble, they will be the first to say “I never imagined he’d do that” as the Germans did of Hitler and the Italians did of Mussolini.”
I’ve become so desperate that I’m even willing to have political discussions with some of the people that I know oppose my views completely, including some members of my own family. My thoughts are that if we can’t figure out how to have a friendly and considerate opposing view conversation between people that actually love one another, how the hell are people who are paid ridiculous amounts of money to do nothing (yet manage to do exactly the opposite of what we want them to be doing) ever going to get it right? I’m trying to have the conversations. Either way, I’m going to die. From the stress of envisioning the possibilities that are ridiculously being paraded around as viable options, or from the stress of making enemies of people that I truly care about. I’m willing to lose family members over it, but I’m hoping this time around, instead of alienating one another, we might actually start finding some middle ground. We don’t have time to keep dancing around.
As you said yourself, “We’re on the eve of destruction”.
Yes, he cancelled. That shows his true cbaracter. He’s talking trash about filling Soldier Field the next time he’s in Il. I doubt it…he couldn’t take the heat of a smaller venue…he’s all talk and can’t take it when the chips are down. Just sayin.
Scary. I can’t help but wonder about the political party that was responsible for shutting down the gov’t (The Tea Party), whose members wrote correspondence to nations threatening to rescind officially negotiated treaties, whose members are solidly associated with the gun lobby group with no regard to the deaths (even in schools), whose members have threatened minorities,women’s rights, who are supported by the KKK – the official killers and haters of all blacks – , who encourage, exhibit and promote hatred, misogyny, prejudice, ignorance. Sounds to me like Donald Trump is the perfect candidate for such a political party. He fits right in like a beloved well-worn pair of comfy slippers..
To be quite honest Elyse, I think we have to trust democracy. Trump’s list of undesirable characteristics is growing and I think the evidence of voter sanity is peeping through in the assembly of protesters in Chicago who caused Trump’s stump to be cancelled. As Barnum and Bailey said: You can fool some of the people all the time and all the people some of the time but not all the people all the time. I think we are seeing the beginning of the end of Mr. Trump. Look what happened in France’s recent election: the anti-immigration far left was gaining votes and ground swell in leaps and bounds. Then as suddenly as they became popular, they lost it all and the more moderate center parties were elected. Have faith Elyse – I’m sure it will all work out.
I hope you’re right Paul. But I think something nasty has been let out and it’s gonna take a lot to get it back under that rock. I don’t see people stepping up with the tools to do that.
* sigh * The more he makes a fool of himself, and getting more outrageous , it’s actually good for the country, Hopefully , voters will see to it he doesn’t get elected.
But the more he inflames, the more popular he gets. everything about him and his candidacy is counter intuitive. I don’t really believe he will get elected, but I think he has and will continue to do significant, deep damage to our public discourse and our image — our self-image and our international reputation.
It is a sad and scary time right now. While we can sit and hope he will not win…can we really afford to hope he doesn’t win. He is a racist tyrant seeking to run the country like a dictator…didn’t we have one in history that people didn’t take seriously until it was too late? Sad times, preaching hate of any human being is wrong.
It certainly is both sad and scary. Of course, he is attracting the very same types of folks who always take hate into their hearts, the very same ones who, like in the rubble of Nazi Germany said “we didn’t know.” Yes they knew, just like these folks do. And they are choosing to look the other way.
Just because they foolishly nominate him as their candidate does not mean he will go any further. I simply will not him and his rhetoric suck me in. For starters, I do not watch TV/cable for these very reasons. Why let some pompous bigot ruin any of my days?
If they do nominate him, I don’t think he will be elected. But even if they don’t he has done such huge damage to the country already. He turned over every rock we have and the nastiest things are slithering out and crawling all over our society. And even if he goes back under a rock, the stuff that’s out, well, it’s out.
It is stunning that he has gotten away with statements that support violence against protesters. But, then, at this point, one can say that he has gotten away with everything he has said during the entire campaign and I’m not sure the statements about the protesters are the worst of the worst. It’s all just really sad.
FiftyFourandAHalf 
I cannot believe we have fallen this far. A year ago…or maybe even a few months ago I would have laughed at the suggestion Trump could possibly the the Republican nominee. I have many Republican friends, and I we often do not see eye-to-eye. But I thought that they would never throw down with a racist, narcissistic, demagogue like Donald Trump. I was wrong about them.
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It’s so deeply disheartening, isn’t it. How can they think it’s ok to support someone like him? I will never understand. But at least we’re not alone in not going along with it. There’s some comfort there.
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I have no words…
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I know …
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…ooo000ooo…
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I nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award. Feel NO PRESSURE to participate but it’s no secret that I enjoy your blog! Check it out at http://www.shithappens2u.com
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You’re so sweet. Thanks!
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It’s deserved.
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I’m so flummoxed and frustrated that he has allowed a defiantly prejudiced way of thinking pass as acceptable, especially when given the power of a microphone and with camera being pointed at him. If you are lucky enough to be given a platform to speak to thousands (millions), and you choose to use that opportunity to spread hatred, disparity, and vitriolic venom towards any specific race (gender, sexual orientation, religion), then we are obligated to silence such dangerous nonsense.
He is useful for one thing – he has reminded us all that we are only one bad choice away from turning back the hands of time and repeating some of the most shameful acts of horror ever witnessed by mankind. We are not allowed to hide from this. We have an obligation to rise above.
The world is not only watching, but so are we. This cannot happen.
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Hopefully we have time to bring ourselves back from the brink. But we’ve unleashed the racism that never left but that was covered up. That ain’t good.
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Honestly? I think we as a nation, we suck! We are looking at Trump and saying to ourselves, “nah, it will never happen”. But the alternative for the GOP, yeah it is Ted Cruz, he is their next best knight in shinning armor. They hate him nearly as much as we hate him, yet they would rather him than Trump, what does that say?
Gad, this nation is stooped low.
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You said it. What have we done?
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As an aside Elyse, I just did a guest post over at Mark Bialczak’s http://markbialczak.com/2016/03/13/a-short-drive/ If you have time to drop by for a read, I would be honored.
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Of course!
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Please Elyse, make that guy stop. Someone has to do it.
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Wish I could, Trend. Wish I could.
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Maybe this is all some kind of collective nightmare we’re having. It can’t really be real, can it?
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We can wake up to a 3rd Obama term!
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Yet .. I’m probably one of the few in America who don’t believe he’ll get the nomination … and one of the few who saw the news as playing into my hand.
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It doesn’t matter if he gets the nomination, although depending on what happens in Ohio (Trump will win FL). He will go into the convention with more delegates. And then when he is denied the nomination, there will be pandemonium. It will undermine the whole system.
I also think you are very wrong to waste an opportunity to vote against him in the primary. You are disenfranchising yourself.
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In order to vote against Trump in Ohio, I would have to declare myself as a Republican … and that is something I’m not willing to do … I call that integrity, not disenfranchising.
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Voting Democratic would be a vote against him too.
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Not in a primary … actually voting Democratic in the primary could be seen as a form of voting for him.
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That makes no sense at all.
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A person in Ohio voting in the Democratic primary is not voting against Trump because Trump is not on that ballot. Dems have the opportunity to cross-over in this state by being registered Republicans, so choosing to vote Democratic is a vote for Trump.
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I’m still shaking my head. But I know I won’t convince you.
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Another way is that voting in the Democratic primary is the same as not voting in either primary because neither is a vote against Trump.
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You are so brave. I can’t watch any of that. I wish I had taped the puppy bowl for times like these just to keep the blood pressure down.
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I should have done that. I will keep this on a continual loop in my head:
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The link didn’t work for me but I’m hoping it was puppies.
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It WAS! I looked for the puppy bowl on YouTube!
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Puppies always make you feel better.
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Unless you have one. Puppies are great when they belong to someone else. Duncan turns 2 next month. Yahoo!
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Already two years old? Oh my … he still has lots of puppyness to grow out of … but don’t forget that they tend to start getting the picture and settling down a bit when they get about …. uhmmm … four or five? Just remember … for every “seriously?” you have to have at least two “omg, he’s so darn cute” moments. He better keep being cute. 🙂
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He IS still adorable. But he has calmed down and is pretty well behaved. He still needs lots of exercise, which is great for me too. But he minds me, doesn’t destroy stuff any more. He does still take my shoes (when he finds them) into his crate, but he cuddles and slobbers on them rather than destroying them. I’ll take it. Puppies are adorable when they’re someone else’s!
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I actually have taken some heart in things lately. Cruz scares me more than Trump. If for some godforsaken reason, Trump gets elected, we’re all going to have to belly up to the bar and fight like hell to keep his creepy ass in check. This is where the tough need to get going.
I attended a lecture yesterday by presidential historian, Jon Meacham. He misquoted Churchill with “You can always count on the American people to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all other possibilities.” (It was the Israeli diplomat, Abba Eban who said this in 1967). I do believe we’re at that point and that we’ll do the right thing come November.
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I thought that before. Then we re-elected George W Bush.
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Well, I think the Democrats have some decent options this time around – at least people who don’t sound like complete idealogues and whackadoodles. Kerry didn’t provide much of a challenge in 2004, although he inspired a lot of naps.
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Kerry would have been a good president, albeit an uninspiring one. He’s a fine man and I will always believe that they cheated. (I don’t normally subscribe to conspiracy theories).
I’m supporting Hillary, but not with any level of enthusiasm. I have been involved in government enough to know that while I am all for proposals like universal healthcare and free college, they ain’t gonna happen. But I love, love, love the fact that Bernie is taking us back to the left.
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Perhaps that’s the takeaway from this campaign – these oddball candidates are revealing the hearts of their respective parties. Unfortunately for the Republicans, their hearts have become very black indeed for all the pandering to the extremist elements they’ve done since the first President Bush.
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I smell gas. Don’t light a match, anyone.
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Exactly!
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It seems this is all very calculated on his part. Wait until you see the support he gets at his rallies today in Ohio, Missouri. The crowds of supporters he is gathering is far more worrisome to me than his words. He is dancing into very dangerous territory and tapping into the worst of what we have become. Angry, disillusioned, frightened, looking for someone/something to blame outside of self. God help us.
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I agree completely. One asshole can’t (usually) destroy all that much. But when you preach hate, divisiveness, when you incite violence, well then, you can get quite a following. The people who are supporting him know better, too. But still they follow. Like kids follow the school bully. Of course, there’s more at stake than the lunch money.
“God help us” is right.
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And I forgot to mention…Eve of Destruction is a long time favorite, growing up during the turbulent 60’s. ☺
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Me too. I can clearly recall singing the song and my older brother taking me aside and explaining what it was about. One of my first bits of enlightenment!
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He is hard to understand or like, I suspect, apart from the millions of people who will actually vote for him. “It cannot happen” I tell myself but then Adolf Hitler was actually democratically elected by the peoples of a country which has been unusually grounded and practical for most of its history so anything is possible.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes! It HAS happened before and it CAN happen again. And when it is all over, and we are living in the aftermath’s rubble, they will be the first to say “I never imagined he’d do that” as the Germans did of Hitler and the Italians did of Mussolini.”
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Indeed we are Elyse.
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I really hoped I’d feel better today. I don’t. I’m afraid to see what happens at the rallies today.
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It is very scary. But I also don’t want to see Cruz become the Republican candidate. I wish I could say “stop” and make them do so.
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Yes! Can we just have everybody vote “none of the above”?
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Works for me!
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I’ve become so desperate that I’m even willing to have political discussions with some of the people that I know oppose my views completely, including some members of my own family. My thoughts are that if we can’t figure out how to have a friendly and considerate opposing view conversation between people that actually love one another, how the hell are people who are paid ridiculous amounts of money to do nothing (yet manage to do exactly the opposite of what we want them to be doing) ever going to get it right? I’m trying to have the conversations. Either way, I’m going to die. From the stress of envisioning the possibilities that are ridiculously being paraded around as viable options, or from the stress of making enemies of people that I truly care about. I’m willing to lose family members over it, but I’m hoping this time around, instead of alienating one another, we might actually start finding some middle ground. We don’t have time to keep dancing around.
As you said yourself, “We’re on the eve of destruction”.
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Maybe we should all have “Eve of Destruction” theme parties …
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Yes, he cancelled. That shows his true cbaracter. He’s talking trash about filling Soldier Field the next time he’s in Il. I doubt it…he couldn’t take the heat of a smaller venue…he’s all talk and can’t take it when the chips are down. Just sayin.
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Actually I think he cancelled to whip up more violence. He can tone it down any time. But he doesn’t. He inflames it.
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Scary. I can’t help but wonder about the political party that was responsible for shutting down the gov’t (The Tea Party), whose members wrote correspondence to nations threatening to rescind officially negotiated treaties, whose members are solidly associated with the gun lobby group with no regard to the deaths (even in schools), whose members have threatened minorities,women’s rights, who are supported by the KKK – the official killers and haters of all blacks – , who encourage, exhibit and promote hatred, misogyny, prejudice, ignorance. Sounds to me like Donald Trump is the perfect candidate for such a political party. He fits right in like a beloved well-worn pair of comfy slippers..
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You did not cheer me up, Paul …
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To be quite honest Elyse, I think we have to trust democracy. Trump’s list of undesirable characteristics is growing and I think the evidence of voter sanity is peeping through in the assembly of protesters in Chicago who caused Trump’s stump to be cancelled. As Barnum and Bailey said: You can fool some of the people all the time and all the people some of the time but not all the people all the time. I think we are seeing the beginning of the end of Mr. Trump. Look what happened in France’s recent election: the anti-immigration far left was gaining votes and ground swell in leaps and bounds. Then as suddenly as they became popular, they lost it all and the more moderate center parties were elected. Have faith Elyse – I’m sure it will all work out.
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I hope you’re right Paul. But I think something nasty has been let out and it’s gonna take a lot to get it back under that rock. I don’t see people stepping up with the tools to do that.
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* sigh * The more he makes a fool of himself, and getting more outrageous , it’s actually good for the country, Hopefully , voters will see to it he doesn’t get elected.
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But the more he inflames, the more popular he gets. everything about him and his candidacy is counter intuitive. I don’t really believe he will get elected, but I think he has and will continue to do significant, deep damage to our public discourse and our image — our self-image and our international reputation.
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It is a sad and scary time right now. While we can sit and hope he will not win…can we really afford to hope he doesn’t win. He is a racist tyrant seeking to run the country like a dictator…didn’t we have one in history that people didn’t take seriously until it was too late? Sad times, preaching hate of any human being is wrong.
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It certainly is both sad and scary. Of course, he is attracting the very same types of folks who always take hate into their hearts, the very same ones who, like in the rubble of Nazi Germany said “we didn’t know.” Yes they knew, just like these folks do. And they are choosing to look the other way.
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EXACTLY!
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Just because they foolishly nominate him as their candidate does not mean he will go any further. I simply will not him and his rhetoric suck me in. For starters, I do not watch TV/cable for these very reasons. Why let some pompous bigot ruin any of my days?
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If they do nominate him, I don’t think he will be elected. But even if they don’t he has done such huge damage to the country already. He turned over every rock we have and the nastiest things are slithering out and crawling all over our society. And even if he goes back under a rock, the stuff that’s out, well, it’s out.
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Perhaps that ‘stuff’ won’t like the rain… or the sunshine… or whomever next inhabits the White House. And they’ll return to their caves.
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That would be nice.
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It is stunning that he has gotten away with statements that support violence against protesters. But, then, at this point, one can say that he has gotten away with everything he has said during the entire campaign and I’m not sure the statements about the protesters are the worst of the worst. It’s all just really sad.
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‘Fiendishly clever’ comes to mind. Sad. Terrifying. Certainly ‘no longer funny.’
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