This Is What Happens When You Elect A Turd as President

[GUBU]

Actually, I think this is what happens when an empire has run its course. The US stepped off this cliff many years ago but the first part of the fall wasn't bad; good view, a cool breeze, we could pretend we were looking down at the rest of the world from a well earned or god given mountain top. It looks different with the ground rushing toward us at fatal speed, but it is way too late to step back from the edge of the cliff.

Well put. But I must disagree with your conclusion, It's not too late. With the realization that there is something profoundly wrong with an electoral system that in order for it to function, many billions of dollars need to change hands.
It's a fucking F T Barnum road show, the best snake oil takes all. How the general populace will come to this realization, I have no idea. It's a game of blind poker, the one with the most money wins.

The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.

The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

Henry Louis Mencken.

Bit too late though.

My highlight.

But the problem with that thinking is that the empirical fact is that the Republitraitors had to disenfranchise ten million US citizens, refuse a couple million more on the day as they didn't have the id declared illegal by the Supreme court, and refuse to count who knows how many more votes (we know of the 75,000 uncounted Clinton votes in Michigan because state law said they coudn't yet shred them, how many more in states like Pennsylvania or Florida where there were 4% plus discrepancies between exit polls* and counts). And even at that they had to resort to the anti-democratic^ mechanism of the electoral college to crown Herr Oberststurmbanngroppenfuhrer Drumpfuck.

*Which are by far the best measure of checking the legitimacy of a result, so much so that if there is a two percent discrepancy the US government will refuse to acknowledge the declared winner as the legitimate government in any foreign election.

^Yes the EC is anti-democratic it had two purposes, 1) to allow the south a disproportionate level of power (along with two senators per state) in effect an effrot to make slavery permanent, and b) to ensure that the untitled aristocracy which controlled the US at independence would not be troubled by a popular candidate inimical to their wants.

[tjakey]

The thing is, I'm not pessimistic; empires always fall, and need to fall, if human kind is to make any kind of progress toward a future. Ours is an empire led by an elite who love militarism (most are), arrogance (ditto), and greed. The greed is not so much "ditto" because it isn't just the elite who are driven by it. Pretty much all of us expect, demand even, the right to consume roughly 25% of the resources produced by the world, while being only 5% of the population. We blithely denounce the 1% while, in the eyes of most of the world, being part of that same elite. Most of us, I suspect even most of us here, would not support a candidate for POTUS who promised to unilaterally cut the US's nuclear arsenal in half; even if that left 3,400 warheads - more than enough to devastate the planet. Nor would most of us support a promise to cut all US military spending in half, even though that would still leave it as the largest in the world by a large amount. Nor do we make much of an issue over the fact that the US military is, likely, the single largest consumer of oil.

We would not support a candidate who promised to stop using the tax code for social engineering by doing away with all deductions and tax breaks, both personal and corporate. America (not so much the people here) will never vote for someone who is openly non-religious, who calls for the de-militarization of the police forces, who would utterly suspend the war on drugs, de-fund the DEA, and disband Homeland security. We are a nation that worships authoritarianism, loves violence, and has little regard for competence, knowledge, or learning.

If the US were a building it would be far beyond repair. Tearing it down and starting over, from the very foundation up, would be the only choice. The very structure of our government, from the make-up of the Senate to the electoral collage, is out-dated and corrupt. The 2ed amendment is a nightmare of obtuse and confusing language. The House of Representatives is nothing of the kind, and the Supreme court is neither supreme, or even a court. It has become nothing but a rubber stamp machine for corporate interests.

Unfortunately, tearing anything down is a messy, often dangerous, business. Building something new and useful in its place takes time and effort on the part of knowledgeable, capable, dedicated, people. I'm not sure we measure up but, at this point, there is nothing more dangerous to the world than a nut-case POTUS who hates science and loves him some nukes. If there is a future, people in it will likely be debating the morality of sending someone back in a time machine to prevent what is likely to happen.

[The Industrial Atheist]

If a presidential candidate said he would cut military spending in half I would shout " Halleujah! " until he uses said funds on tax cuts for the weatlhy and upper middle class.

[tjakey]

If a presidential candidate said he would cut military spending in half I would shout " Halleujah! " until he uses said funds on tax cuts for the weatlhy and upper middle class.

Well, the is "Merica" after all, where nothing is more important than giving tax cuts to the wealthy, followed by hating gay people, and hoping that Jesus returns soon to kill off all the unbelievers.

[The Industrial Atheist]

If a presidential candidate said he would cut military spending in half I would shout " Halleujah! " until he uses said funds on tax cuts for the weatlhy and upper middle class.

Well, the is "Merica" after all, where nothing is more important than giving tax cuts to the wealthy, followed by hating gay people, and hoping that Jesus returns soon to kill off all the unbelievers.

With most of the people wanting these things barely getting any tax cut.

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[tjakey]

Well, the is "Merica" after all, where nothing is more important than giving tax cuts to the wealthy, followed by hating gay people, and hoping that Jesus returns soon to kill off all the unbelievers.

With most of the people wanting these things barely getting any tax cut.

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True enough, but they still get to hate gay people, and they still think Trump is bringing Jesus back to rule the planet and send most of us to hell.

[The Industrial Atheist]

With most of the people wanting these things barely getting any tax cut.

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True enough, but they still get to hate gay people, and they still think Trump is bringing Jesus back to rule the planet and send most of us to hell.

Ha ha and that last one is the best one ever. Because Trump is so godly and Christ-like, right. WPWJC
What porn would Jesus do a cameo in.

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[Puke Skywalker]

Most of us in the U.S. voted for someone else. The tangerine toddler doesn't even have the loyalty of his own party in Congress, and I have little doubt that he would be gone once Paul Ryan decides the time has come. He's the guy who can flush the turd down the toilet.

Personally, I hope that doesn't happen. Embarrassing as it is to have President Whatthefuck in office, it's actually a saving grace that he's incompetent and ineffective, and has no ideological loyalty except to himself. The next guy in line is a true believer in some very despicable things, and he might do some more lasting damage. Better that 45 stays put, as a dead weight around the GOP's neck, and hurts the whole party in the next two election cycles.

[JackRussell]

There are rumours in the UK press that the Trump is going to visit the UK soon. I am sure he will give us a super-duper post Brexit trade deal, because he won't fancy grabbing Teresa's vajayjay, she's not hot enough. He will be asked questions by the BBC, but we know they are FAKE news, so I can ignore their chartered mandate as obviously the Trump know more than anybody else what's real, because he has always been a working class man of the people. He will Tweet in a completely sane and rational way about the success of his trip, as he barges his way through the UK's cabinet to get to his place at the front of the photo-op, because, well, all Heil the Trump.