Remind Me. Which Party did you say was broken?
by Jonathan P.
DISCLAIMER:
I DID NOT VOTE FOR DONALD TRUMP
As a lifelong Republican, I felt that I didn't have anyone to vote for in this year's Presidential election. Nonetheless, there is much to be learned by our experience of this very contentious and controversial sequence of events. Our country is evolving, but not as quickly as some people might believe. Much of the handwringing today is coming from people whose candidate lost the election. Naturally, this all must be discounted. When Obama won in '08 and '12, I was none too pleased, but he became my President. There was much to be unhappy about, and a good amount that I will continue to be unhappy about because of a few things that he put in place. But still, he was my President, and that's the way it is. Most of these same people voted for Hillary, and to those of you who did, I remind you that you had your time, and you had your chance. Apparently, Obama was not good enough to allow your candidate to ride in to continue on his legacy. Truth be told, it's not a very strong or very good legacy.
A great deal of media punditry was devoted to describing the Republican Party as "broken". I believe that this assertion is completely unfounded. Looking at the election returns, I see that this broken party will retain both houses of Congress. That's not broken. Are there divisions in the party? You betcha. Broken? Not so much. Right here and right now, I will assert that the Democratic Party is broken. I saw a party fearful of fielding a few decent candidates to run for President. I saw no one step up in the last 2-3 years to make themselves known to our country. I saw the party completely step aside for a single, deeply flawed candidate. The one person that had the stones to run against her came from a fringe of the Party; a man who actually served as an independent. There were measures in place to keep Hillary in place as the candidate, no matter how many primaries she lost. There was dirty dealing inside the party to keep her entrenched as the candidate. In summary, while the media was heralding a new anarchy in the Republican Party, there were the machinations of a mafia-like Democratic cabal to usher in Hillary as their candidate. If you think none of this figured into her loss yesterday, it's because the smug mainstream media told you that it didn't matter.
I can't tell you what will be in the next 4 years, but the bar has been set very, very low. Trump will do far better than the media believes, because the media believes that he is incapable of doing anything right. He's going to look good, thanks to them, and their local print media cohorts, who took pains to endorse the losing candidate in unprecedented numbers. Thanks to their myopia, they were incapable of acknowledging the obvious.
Lastly, I'm pleased with a Trump election so far on a single count. The Supreme Court will be restored to its conservative majority, which, in the long run, will preserve the will of the majority. The era of "more free shit" will have to wait.
Good luck to us all in the next 4 years. We'll probably be needing some of that.
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Party reform is a luxury that only the losing party can afford to enact. The Democrats should not blow their chance.
Still relying on the media to think for you, John?
Isn't this how you and your party got into trouble in the first place?
I have written more of my own words than anyone in the history of this forum.
Get lost Jonathan.
Get lost? That's all ya got?
Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you go read all those newspaper endorsements that Hillary got, which virtually assured us a victory for her.
Maybe you'll feel better then.
Get lost indeed.
You would rather placate the opinion of David Duke and Breitbart than accept the collective wisdom of the nation's great editorial writers.
You are so far off the wall on this it is staggering.
Not that I give a fuck.
Good to see the liberal medias bias come back to bite them in the rump with those shameful Hillary endorsements. Their job is to report unbiased news not feed morons their opinion.
You see John, that's not a material fact, just a Obama's letting CAIR in under the tent wasn't a material fact either.
You supported the Iran deal. Hamas supported the Iran deal. Therefore, you support Hamas...??
Right.
John! Don't get JP riled up. He hasn't gotten to my posts yet and if you keep poking him he's going to be really pissed by the time he gets around to me!!!!
He's a clever fellow. He will find you.
EEK!
You would rather placate the opinion of David Duke and Breitbart than accept the collective wisdom of the nation's great editorial writers.
New Yorker
These media sources are highly biased toward liberal causes. They utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports and omit reporting of information that may damage liberal causes. Sources in this category may be untrustworthy.
Notes: The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It is published by Condé Nast. Started as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is now published 47 times annually, with five of these issues covering two-week spans. Typical left wing bias. (Wikipedia)
Don't worry John, they don't speak highly of Breitbart either.
(Alert) Bias Update: Breitbart
These media sources are highly biased toward conservative causes. They utilize strong loaded words(wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports and omit reporting of information that may damage conservative causes. These sources are highly untrustworthy.
Notes: Breitbart News Network is a politically conservative American news and opinion website founded in 2007 by conservative commentator and entrepreneur Andrew Breitbart (1969–2012). It also has a daily radio program, Breitbart News Daily. The content ranges from extreme right wing bias to conspiracy.
Update: As of 8/17/16 Stephen Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News LLC, will become Donald Trumps campaign’s chief executive. This move ensures that Breitbart will become the official media outlet and propaganda wing for Donald Trump’s Presidential bid.
When your trusted media source such as NYT says Hillary Clinton had an 85% chance of winning the election and Donald Trump had a 15% chance of winning and in their words " Mrs. Clinton’s chance of losing is about the same as the probability that an N.F.L. kicker misses a 37-yard field goal " on the day of the election, it may be time to re-evaluate how much truth you are receiving from these sources in other matters as well.
The media didn't even try to hide their bias this time around. It's good to see the people finally rejecting their opinions.
You are on a roll Six. You still can't make any sense.
JP I am going to disagree respectfully that party reform is a luxury , it is now a nessesity for both parties considering who walked away on the winning end of the election.
a total outsider came in , decimated the establishment of one party to win its nomination contrary to its picks they wished to offer the electorate , so they have to re evaluate how they do business , just as those that lost the general , now have to re evaluate what their message was that the electorate rejected .
and this is how any political party that wishes to remain relevant stays in existence . I think the future is going to be rather "interesting " to say the least with the evolutions that might come about.
I don't think we disagree. Please let me point out the important context of my message.
It is a luxury for the Dems to do it RIGHT NOW because they are not in power, and have the latitude to fully focus on a restructure. I agree that it is also essential for the Republicans to restructure, but while Trump is the POTUS, their efforts will be directed to running the country, as well as hamstrung by the government, which is completely controlled by the party, and less likely to be willing to effect sweeping changes. Once Trump loses power (in 4 or 8 years) or credibility (which could come sooner) they'd be able to do a more effective job of cleaning up.
Unbelievable
I'm so happy I couldn't sleep last night. Wow
I'm happy for you Dean and I'm not being facetious. If Trump is your ideal President then hopefully you'll see the changes that you've been hoping for.
Ron Paul was the ideal man Trump is just a big step up from Hillary.
O-kay..............Anyhow, now that it's done I'm going to hope that Donald is able to keep every single one of his promises so you and some others on this site get what you wanted from this election.
I don't hope he is able to keep every single promise he made. In fact, I know he will not be able to keep most of the promises he made. I voted for and against many things other than Donald Trump. I voted for a Constitutional Federal Republic and hope we can keep it.
A vote for Hillary Clinton would have run contrary to that desire.
Of course you are right Six. Donald is going to be great for the country. I am still hopeful that he will accomplish everything he has promised. I'm anxious to see the outcome from his agenda.
Thanks Jonathan. Like it or not, the Democrats lost. And lost large. It's time for them to reflect and figure out the error of their ways and rebuild their party to reflect the values that America wants. Some will spend lots of time crying and hand wringing, but 4 years is not a long time and the next campaign will start in 1-2 years. It's patently obvious that the American public does not trust the Democrats. They do not trust the media. They do not trust the system.
There's a few on here that are busy blaming anyone and everyone and acting like children-I suspect, largely due to the hit their massive egos took last night-they will do nothing to solve the problems of the Left. Now is the time for mature, serious adults to take their party in hand and figure out and fix what is wrong or just become a footnote in history.
It was a great moral victory against a corrupt DNC and the media that colluded with them. The artificial predictions, the biased reporting, the fake debates... These resulted in a backlash. The media will never be trusted again.
Something to remember, Johathan, is that the label 'broken', came from the Republicans themselves in response to their nominated candidate.
No trick or ploy or education or even his billions of dollars, will ever make this man an appropriate president. The only thing left to do is find a way for both parties to work together and fix this mess we've gotten ourselves into.
Where do we start?
There is no reconciling with Donald Trump and his "basket of deplorables". Don't lose your resolve.
Trump ran his campaign sensing the feeling of dispossession and anxiety among millions of voters—white voters, in the main. And many of those voters—not all, but many—followed Trump because they saw that this slick performer, once a relative cipher when it came to politics, a marginal self-promoting buffoon in the jokescape of eighties and nineties New York, was more than willing to assume their resentments, their fury, their sense of a new world that conspired against their interests. That he was a billionaire of low repute did not dissuade them any more than pro-Brexit voters in Britain were dissuaded by the cynicism of Boris Johnson and so many others. The Democratic electorate might have taken comfort in the fact that the nation had recovered substantially, if unevenly, from the Great Recession in many ways—unemployment is down to 4.9 per cent—but it led them, it led us, to grossly underestimate reality. The Democratic electorate also believed that, with the election of an African-American President and the rise of marriage equality and other such markers, the culture wars were coming to a close. Trump began his campaign declaring Mexican immigrants to be “rapists”; he closed it with an anti-Semitic ad evoking “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”; his own behavior made a mockery of the dignity of women and women’s bodies. And, when criticized for any of it, he batted it all away as “political correctness.” Surely such a cruel and retrograde figure could succeed among some voters, but how could he win? Surely, Breitbart News, a site of vile conspiracies, could not become for millions a source of news and mainstream opinion. And yet Trump, who may have set out on his campaign merely as a branding exercise, sooner or later recognized that he could embody and manipulate these dark forces.
There is no reconciling with Donald Trump and his "basket of deplorables". Don't lose your resolve.
I'm not talking about 'reconciling', John. I'm talking about working together to send this guy packing before he butt-dials this country, my country, OUR country, straight to hell.
I honestly believe that there are more people against Trump, than there are for Trump. Shouldn't that have some sort of post election impact value?
The Republicans have control of both houses of Congress and the presidency and soon the courts. They can do whatever they want and the other side can do nothing to stop it until the next election. And many of those assholes want to bad things.
I say we let Trump do everything he has promised his base he would do. The country needs to be destroyed so that we can rebuild. Let's put chains on the women and celebrate rape and incest with the birth of bastard children that we won't be able to feed. Let's start sifting through the population to see who the "real" Americans are. I have an idea! We can use a symbol to identify those who aren't quite like us. Come on it's time to make America great again!
Your bitter hatred of your fellow citizens is sad. Perhaps less hateful rhetoric from the left or a less corrupt candidate would have helped you win. Instead, the "deplorables" reject the leftist hate fest.
Yes, the Republicans did indeed say that first. My takeaway is that BECAUSE Trump was elected, the Republican party does not have the luxury of retooling the way the Dems do. The Dems can effect change in their party and be better prepared in 4 years BECAUSE they lost.
Lots of Establishment Republicans staring at their shoes today also. For those that publicly came out against Trump, they must be wondering what their political longevity is going to look like. They bet on the wrong horse.
And no matter what you think of Trump, he was elected over the Dem candidate. Period. End of story.
Spike,
That dynamic is what I'm talking about when I assert that the Dems have the advantage in terms of being able to retool their party sooner than the Republicans.
They have an advantage going forward in that they can fix themselves sooner. The question is, will they take advantage of this opportunity?
If the dems do not make the necessary changes they will stay the minority party for many years to come.
That's what I've said several times today. Once John is able to look past his disbelief that he could possibly be wrong, maybe he'll end up being part of the left's solution. But looking past it is a big 'if'.
"No trick or ploy or education or even his billions of dollars, will ever make this man an appropriate president."
He won the election. THAT makes him an appropriate president.
When a president promises to fundamentally transform a country and spends eight years engaging in identity politics, there is blowback.
As Jim Gerhghty writes,
All of the groups and forces allied with the Left and largely thriving in Obama’s America – Silicon Valley, the media, academia, will have to stop and look hard at the rest of the country and its problems.
And they won’t be able to ignore it or sneer at the rest of the country as being uneducated, unwashed, racist, sexist, backward and destined to wither away. Identity politics turns America’s e pluribus unum into the Balkans. If you want to build a better America, you have to see everybody as part of it, not just the parts that agree with you politically.
I think the disdain, if not outright hatred, that the left feels for the average Americans who live between the coasts just came back and bit them on the ass. To go on a "sports" site like Deadspin day after day and see working class Americans ridiculed in the same ways the KKK ridiculed and stereotyped blacks 100 years ago is going to eventually create some resentment. At some point over the last few years, this contempt became pervasive, permeating even former politics free areas like sports.
I'm pumped about his Presidency! Let's get started on moving the country in the direction of what Donald wants.
There's a good reason for the ridicule. We're about to learn all about it.
I get it Hal. Bigots gotta bigot.. I don't expect you to change.
At least my bigotry is based in rationality. Fire up the coal plants, Donald Trump is going to double down on climate denial by bringing manufacturing back from China.
Elections have consequences.
Jonathan,
Your headline is only half true. Both parties are broken. Trump was not the candidate that the Republicans wanted. Heck, he isn't even a Republican. In fact, everything he says he is going to do is in direct conflict to what the congress does. So what is he? He is the anger vote. Let's not look any further than that. People are sheep, and although he is the outsider, no matter what he is selling to the masses, it will never come to pass.
The Dems are no better. Bernie was their guy, electorate wise, but he was denied his run by a very powerful political machine. That was the difference. The Republicans couldn't stop Trump, but the Dems could stop Bernie and they did.
And let's not talk about the elephant in the room... the black vote. The thing that would have made the difference in this election. It never came out. Why? Their claim is that their economic situation didn't change in the last 8 years. Irony at it's best, since in the last 8 years they had a black president. Really their message is read loud and clear... if it doesn't concern us, we are not concerned. Hillary was not one of them. Kiss a huge part of the Dem electorate good-bye. They could have been the difference.
So where does that leave us? I'm not sure. Trump can say he is for the working Joe, but the congress has all been bought and sold 10 times over by big business. If anyone is naive enough to believe that he can change that, they are living in a fool's dream. Jon, both parties are broken, and as long as congress has the same host of characters, nothing will change. This will be a useless exercise in anger and frustration.
Well said Perrie. I'm angry and frustrated......and now I'm scared.
Not one word about the phenomenal ignorance, incompetence, pathological dishonesty, and bigotry of Donald Trump and his faction of deplorables.
Amazing.
And, I wonder if he will be able to get them to wear their jumpsuits with their corporate logos as they so appropriately should.
Hey Per,
I don't disagree, but my main point is that the Dems are in a better position for a fix than the Republicans, because they are not in power. The Republicans are either too busy or too happy with the national mandate that they have to effect any kind of sweeping change. When the Republicans screw up again (notice I used "when"), they too will have a better chance to review their own party's broken system.
Obama effectively smashed the Democratic Party. In 2006 it controlled Congress. In 2008 it won the Presidency and attained filibuster proof control of the Senate during his first two years.
After 8 years of Obama, Republicans control the Presidency and both Houses of Congress. They are as strong on the Federal and State level as they have been in a century.
I was going to say people are forgetting how many Govenorships rest in GOP hands at the moment as well, they hold a majority there as well.