Shit Just Got Real, Y,all.

[Hera]

Donald Trump really might be President of the United States. I don't care if you're a Bernie or Clinton or, hell, even a Cruz, Bush, Rubio or Kasich supporter, this possibility should scare the bejesus out of you.  

It's no longer about universal healthcare, free college tuition, abortion, gay rights, Wall Street or even qualifications, because Trump clearly has none. Now we're talking (or should be talking) about freedom of the press, freedom of religion (for real), xenophobia and racism, war crimes, nuclear weapons access and who we fundamentally are as a nation. I refuse to believe that most Americans, regardless of our political beliefs, are like Trump or support him and his ideas no matter what we feel for the other candidate.  We as a country are better than that and shame on the Republicans for trying to even rally around this hateful autocrat wannabe.  It's officially time to stop the madness, and if , for Republicans, that means accepting a presidential loss and focusing on lesser elections and that Bernie supporters vote for Clinton, so be it. #NeverTrump!

[polecat]

I've never been actually, truly scared about the outcome of an election before. The idea of Trump as president genuinely terrifies me.

 

I keep thinking in the back of my mind that he's punking us. He can't really be serious with all his bullshit. He's a fucking Cheeto. 

As much as I dislike Clinton (and for many, many good reasons), I'll vote for anyone over Trump.

[Sundaymorning]

Sanders needs to stop attacking Clinton now, and he has to call off his notorious BernieBros who love to badmouth Clinton everywhere and harass her supporters. That is only helping Trump, and I truly hope he doesn't want to be Ralph Nader II.

[Maggie Mae]

6 minutes ago, Sundaymorning said:

Sanders needs to stop attacking Clinton now, and he has to call off his notorious BernieBros who love to badmouth Clinton everywhere and harass her supporters. That is only helping Trump, and I truly hope he doesn't want to be Ralph Nader II.

We're allowed to point out why we don't support Clinton, regardless of whom the Republicans put up. It's not on Bernie, it's on the DNC for not supporting the stronger candidate. 

[Sundaymorning]

1 minute ago, Maggie Mae said:

We're allowed to point out why we don't support Clinton, regardless of whom the Republicans put up. It's not on Bernie, it's on the DNC for not supporting the stronger candidate. 

Of course you are allowed to say anything you want, but fact is that Clinton bashing only helps Trump. It won't make Sanders win the nomination or the presidency, that ship sailed a long time ago, but it might just help Trump win the general election.

And also, I beg to differ that Sanders would be the stronger candidate, the Republicans haven't even begun to tear him down, and there is plenty of potential to smear him.

[ven]

Well as a european i can say the whole trump sharade seems like very unreal . Seriously ??? Do you actually want this freak to represent you all?  The american people just became the laughing stock of the rest of the world.please act NOW . i do not care whatever political vieuws you might have. I dont care if you are the next grand wizard of the clucluxclan but please please stop this clown !!!  

[Maggie Mae]

Just now, Sundaymorning said:

Of course you are allowed to say anything you want, but fact is that Clinton bashing only helps Trump. It won't make Sanders win the nomination or the presidency, that ship sailed a long time ago, but it might just help Trump win the general election.

And also, I beg to differ that Sanders would be the stronger candidate, the Republicans haven't even begun to tear him down, and there is plenty of potential to smear him.

I don't care about the Republican party. Honestly, they can nominate who they want to nominate.

All I'm saying is that if Clinton loses, it's not Sander's fault. It's the DNC. They chose poorly, IMO. And they've been doing everything they can to make sure that Clinton gets the nom. Honestly, I won't vote for either Trump or Clinton right now. I don't know enough about Trump's positions on anything. Clinton might be more experienced, but she did so much when she was in the State Department that I disagree with, and her position on Wall Street is something I fundamentally disagree with. Break up the banks. It's not like it would hurt her, I'm certain most of her money is tied up in offshore accounts and charitable foundation loopholes. 

There's also the Saudi Arm's deal, NAFTA, TPP, and her position/plan regarding reinstating of Glass-Steagall. I don't like her plan for climate change. It's not enough. Neither is Sanders, but at least he wants to eliminate tax breaks for fossil-fuel companies. (This one is kind of personal.) 

 

If you want transparency though, Clinton is better. Anyone with the internet can read her emails. 

[meda]

Ok, I just need to point this out as a registered Democrat who just voted for Bernie Sanders in my primary... The Democratic National Committee  didn't "choose" Hilary Clinton.  The issue of super delegates aside, (and I do have major issues with that system) 3 million more voters voted for Clinton than Sanders. There is no great conspiracy here folks, we have a two party system in this country and the voters in the respective parties have made their decisions.

Bernie chose to run as a Democrat. When you do that, you are obligated to seek the nomination for the Democratic Party Presidential candidate according to the rules of the Democratic Party. Just like Trump has to follow the Republican rules, Jill Stein has to follow the rules of the Green Party, Gary Johnson Has to follow the rules of the Libertarian party. It gets really, really, old listening to Bernie supporters who may or not be registered Democrats and may or may not have ever voted in a primary election before bitch about "unfairness", and "conspiracy", particularly when demographicly they are likely to be white, educated, middle class, and in no way part of a demographic that has historically experienced voter suppression in this country.  Bernie could have run as an independent. He could have run as a democratic socialist. He chose not to.  Choices have consequences, and I would point out that Obama, an equally out of left field  candidate when he first ran in 2008, beat a stronger Clinton candidate in the primaries and was then elected president. Twice.

you can stew in your own petulance and refuse to vote for Clinton if you want, but for the love of god stop with the rigged election theories. At this point it's just sour grapes.

[FloraKitty35]

Trump still has the convention to contend with and I can't imagine that the Koch brothers and their ilk take kindly to a further loss on investment.

[Hera]

31 minutes ago, FloraKitty35 said:

Trump still has the convention to contend with and I can't imagine that the Koch brothers and their ilk take kindly to a further loss on investment.

This is why I'm actually shocked that Cruz and Kasich dropped out. I thought for sure the Republicans would cock block him. Apparently not. As I understand it, Trump now stands to get whatever magic number of delegates he needs, meaning he's the nominee and there's no contested anything. There was only wiggle room if he didn't get to that number. Is that wrong?

[Maggie Mae]

9 minutes ago, Hera said:

This is why I'm actually shocked that Cruz and Kasich dropped out. I thought for sure the Republicans would cook block him. Apparently not. As I understand it, Trump now stands to get whatever magic number of delegates he needs, meaning he's the nominee and there's no contested anything. There was only wiggle room if he didn't get to that number. Is that wrong?

Me too. 

I know that the GOP of my state voted to allow the delegates who pledged votes to Rubio to hold on to them and not reallocate them proportionally according to the rules the party had previously set. I don't know if they will do the same for Cruz. Pledged delegates can change their vote after the first round in the national convention. (IIRC) But what happens when it's uncontested? Do they just vote Yes or No? 

I hate this 2 party system. I hate that they are counting superdelegates. I hate it all. 

[FloraKitty35]

4 minutes ago, Hera said:

This is why I'm actually shocked that Cruz and Kasich dropped out. I thought for sure the Republicans would cook block him. Apparently not. As I understand it, Trump now stands to get whatever magic number of delegates he needs, meaning he's the nominee and there's no contested anything. There was only wiggle room if he didn't get to that number. Is that wrong?

I was shocked that both Cruz and Kasich dropped out, but there's one person (who says he not running, but he that said that about being Speaker of the House) and that's Paul Ryan.

[Hera]

2 minutes ago, FloraKitty35 said:

I was shocked that both Cruz and Kasich dropped out, but there's one person (who says he not running, but he that said that about being Speaker of the House) and that's Paul Ryan.

But can they even circumvent Trump if he gets the magic delegate number?

[FloraKitty35]

5 minutes ago, Hera said:

But can they even circumvent Trump if he gets the magic delegate number?

I just checked GOP.com and I can't find any mention of how they directly circumvent Trump, but they can vote to change the rules.  

 

[meda]

They can nominate from the floor apparently, but the floor nominee would give to get an overwhelming number of votes in the first round. Many of the delegates are pledged and not released after that I think 

[Hera]

1 hour ago, meda said:

They can nominate from the floor apparently, but the floor nominee would give to get an overwhelming number of votes in the first round. Many of the delegates are pledged and not released after that I think 

Ah, okay. That makes sense. Thanks!

[meda]

30 minutes ago, Hera said:

Ah, okay. That makes sense. Thanks!

It makes sense, but I'm wrong. After texting my token republican campaign worker friend (who is working down ticket) in 2012 a candidate had to have won 8 states before they could be nominated from the floor. They have not adopted that rule this time (yet) so if they lower that threshold any republican who has won a state primary could theoretically get nominated. The other issue is pledged delegates. Each state has different rules, but the more votes there are, the more of them are freed up to vote for someone other than Trump. If Trump does not get the 1200+ delegate votes he needs onthe first vote, more delegates are freed by each successive vote taken. More rounds of delegate voting = higher probability Trump does not get the nomination.

[Hera]

@meda, That's interesting. Maybe they do have a Plan Z.

[Geechee Girl]

I've been freaking out since Trump scored big on the first Super Tuesday. Now all of CA's attention will be on the race to fill Barbara Boxer's seat. My hijabi friend is scared to death to travel outside the relative safety of a blue California. I have a feeling of dread. It will get nasty heading towards the general. I will be avoiding all television channels with ads. If that means PBS, QVC, and HSN 24/7, so be it. I gave up social media in 2007 when my FB "friends" started to show their true colors. It was the best decision to free myself from the toxic nature of racist (birther) rhetoric.

[bea]

I'm in Chicago, a Democratic stronghold, and I'm watching my heavily Hispanic neighbors register to vote for the first time. Like most of the other "minority" populations, they've turned out for Hillary - African-American, Asian, Islamic groups know exactly what they have to lose under a Trump presidency. When you're watching a presidential candidate start talking about keeping minority populations out of the country, painting a whole country of people as rapists and drug dealers, and you're also a minority population, you can't afford to stay home or enter a "protest vote."

I've been a Clinton supporter from the beginning, simply because I think she'd make a better president, but I'm absolutely fucking ASTONISHED at the number of people claiming they will let this country burn if Sanders doesn't get the Democratic nomination. It speaks to a staggering amount of privilege, people secure in the knowledge that THEY can survive a Trump presidency, and their fellow citizens who will lose their civil rights, who seriously would not be able to survive the damage that 4 years of that man's xenophobic, racist, sexist policies would do to them, those people aren't nearly as important as "my principles."

I thought this following article was very well done, pulling together information about Clinton's broad base of support in the traditionally minority communities. Sanders may have let the BLM activists take the mic at a rally, but it's Clinton who the Rice and other families of murdered individuals are endorsing.

The rabid insistence that Clinton is the candidate who represents corporate interests and the rich does a great injustice to the vast majority of her supporters who are neither wealthy nor corporations. In fact, Clinton’s majority base includes the poorest Americans, the aging, ethnic minorities, Black voters, and, of course, women. Notably, all of these constituencies represent historically oppressed, minority, and/or vulnerable populations. Ironically, these are the people who have become, through some twisted logic, synonymous with “the establishment.”

http://feministing.com/2016/05/20/whose-democracy-whose-revolution/

[RosyDaisy]

Damn! I'm a Bernie supporter, but now that it seems he may not get the Democratic nomination, I'll absolutely vote for Hillary. Hell, I would vote for Satan over Trump.

[Lillybee]

I am another Bernie supporter who will hold my nose and vote for Hillary. Anyone but Trump.

[Sundaymorning]

I find it absolutely hilarious that yesterday at their national convention, the Libertarian party nominated two twice-elected and qualified Governors (Gary Johnson of New Mexico and William Weld of Massachusetts) while the Republican party nominates.....Donald Trump.

I so wish these two had an actual shot to in the general election. But at least, I hope that enough sane Republicans and Independents will vote for them, so that the world at least ends up with a President Clinton instead of a President Trump. 

[bea]

Was it the Libertarian convention where someone took off his clothes on camera? 🙄

[Sundaymorning]

53 minutes ago, bea said:

Was it the Libertarian convention where someone took off his clothes on camera?

Yeah, but Libertarians usually don't make a big deal out of things like this. I mean, he kept his underwear on, so you couldn't see more than you would see if you visited a public beach.

Some of my friends actually travelled to Florida to attend as guests. I'll have to ask them about the convention (and the stripper ) next time I see them..