The Trump Presidency – 2016

[RainMaker]

In fairness, it was kind of a setup. The owner released the footage to Fox and was quick to jump on Tucker's white power hour to talk about it. The hairdresser who works there even said this was political by the owner.

But it's still a dumb move by a dumb politician who keeps power in a really dumb party.

[Kodos]

Tell us how you really feel about her!

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

In fairness, it was kind of a setup. The owner released the footage to Fox and was quick to jump on Tucker's white power hour to talk about it. The hairdresser who works there even said this was political by the owner.

I saw the interview. Opinions may differ on the “setup”, but this a quote from the owner, “There was no way I could've set that up. I've had a camera system in there for five years. I mean, I didn't go in there and turn cameras on as soon as she walked in and set her up. So that is absolutely false."

[RainMaker]

Who released the footage? Is it common to release footage of customers?

[ISiddiqui]

Hell, I know a small business owner (pizza joint) with a camera system and he barely looks at the recordings.

[Atocep]

We received notice of the Trump deferments today and I asked if we're able to opt out. We are not allowed to opt out of them.

[JPhillips]

Completely believable.

Donald Trump, in a White House meeting, asked that a military parade exclude wounded veterans, because "nobody wants to see" amputees. My story here: https://t.co/4PUGrR7tCS

— Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) September 3, 2020

[RainMaker]

He has more or less said this same thing on TV. Not a big shock.

[miked]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

And to be fair, that may or may not even be the best strategy for winning. Maybe for every 10 nose-holders alienated by it, doubling down and demanding an apology gains you 12 left-leaning voters who want you to fight as dirty as Team Trump does but thought you were too soft. If that’s the calculus here, then so be it. I get that you have to compromise your integrity to win. But the specific question was does this move the needle for anyone, and it does for me.

I'm still laughing at the concept of somebody thinking, man I was going to vote for Biden because Trump is so disgusting and a horrible human being, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut Pelosi did not wear a mask at a salon she was invited to. So I will take my religious high road and vote for the guy who makes fun of disabled people.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Completely believable.

Donald Trump, in a White House meeting, asked that a military parade exclude wounded veterans, because "nobody wants to see" amputees. My story here: https://t.co/4PUGrR7tCS

— Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) September 3, 2020

This sounds impossible. Even if he thinks it, that he would say it?

“In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, ‘Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.’ In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as ‘suckers’ for getting killed.”

[Ksyrup]

Queue new Lincoln Project video in 3... 2... 1

[Ksyrup]

Completely in line with what he said about McCain.

[RainMaker]

This wasn't meant to move the needle. It is red meat for a base to show them this is all some big hoax to get Trump.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Queue new Lincoln Project video in 3... 2... 1

Maybe the Lincoln Project should sit this one out.

[Atocep]

I love these Trump campaign polls.

5. Who will you vote for in November?
President Trump
An un-American Socialist

[Brian Swartz]

Push-polling has a long and undistinguished tradition. It's what got me out of doing phone surveys as a job many years ago.

[albionmoonlight]

The media is still so into “high level unnamed sources” that they still think that a story about “high level unnamed sources” saying that President Trump said things in private that he has said publicly for years is a real news story.

[JPhillips]

There's always a tweet.

shot, chaser pic.twitter.com/e7fDqjHnx5

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 4, 2020

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

There's always a tweet.

shot, chaser pic.twitter.com/e7fDqjHnx5

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 4, 2020

There's always a tweet.

Here's, there's also recorded interviews.

I'm still not sure why the WH is pushing back against this so hard.

It tells us nothing about Trump that we didn't already know before the last election. It's baked into the Trump cake already.

Who was planning to vote for Trump yesterday morning who would have their mind changed by "You know how Trump said that he didn't like soldiers who got captured? Well, apparently, he meant it."

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Who was planning to vote for Trump yesterday morning who would have their mind changed by "You know how Trump said that he didn't like soldiers who got captured? Well, apparently, he meant it."

Right-leaning military veterans seem to have become more and more leery of him has time has gone on, and I just checked some numbers: as of 2018, 70% of enlisted males were white. As of 2017, only 7% of enlisted personnel had college degrees. These statements should be most personally offensive to non-college white males--his top demographic. I get this one being concerning to them.



(And I guess for that matter, if he's really thinking about trying to order the military to do illegal stuff around the election and its aftermath, he certainly doesn't want to have them pissed off at him.)

[JPhillips]

I think there's enough polling now to conclude that Trump's plan to focus on rioting isn't likely to help him win.

[Ksyrup]

All good news, and yet... I wish the election was tomorrow.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Right-leaning military veterans seem to have become more and more leery of him has time has gone on, and I just checked some numbers: as of 2018, 70% of enlisted males were white. As of 2017, only 7% of enlisted personnel had college degrees. These statements should be most personally offensive to non-college white males--his top demographic. I get this one being concerning to them.



(And I guess for that matter, if he's really thinking about trying to order the military to do illegal stuff around the election and its aftermath, he certainly doesn't want to have them pissed off at him.)

Lots of recent polling data here re: military. The 38% favorable seems to be reflective of the overall country.

Trump’s popularity slips in latest Military Times poll — and more troops say they’ll vote for Biden

In the latest results — based on 1,018 active-duty troops surveyed in late July and early August — nearly half of respondents (49.9 percent) had an unfavorable view of the president, compared to about 38 percent who had a favorable view. Questions in the poll had a margin of error of up to 2 percent.

Among all survey participants, 42 percent said they “strongly” disapprove of Trump’s time in office.

https://www.armytimes.com/resizer/me...CA3KT6KHHM.jpg

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I think there's enough polling now to conclude that Trump's plan to focus on rioting isn't likely to help him win.

All that said, when I was in my home town in July, I got together with 4 long-time friends to talk race, politics, and faith. There's a chance all four of them would have said "Biden" for every single one of the above items--and most definitely for the majority of them. But two of them are planning to vote for Trump, two either Trump or 3rd party.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

All that said, when I was in my home town in July, I got together with 4 long-time friends to talk race, politics, and faith. There's a chance all four of them would have said "Biden" for every single one of the above items--and most definitely for the majority of them. But two of them are planning to vote for Trump, two either Trump or 3rd party.

I wouldn't doubt that, but I expect they were Trump voters before any of the protests, yes? Trump has to expand his voters from 2016. His voters were older and not replaced by new adult voters that break sharply against him and don't vote as often. Third-party voters in 2016 are breaking 2 to 1 to 3 to 1 for Biden in 2020 polling. I think there's enough polling to be pretty sure focusing on protests and riots isn't the key for Trump to expand his voters.

[spleen1015]

Ben, did they say why they were voting Trump?

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Right-leaning military veterans seem to have become more and more leery of him has time has gone on, and I just checked some numbers: as of 2018, 70% of enlisted males were white. As of 2017, only 7% of enlisted personnel had college degrees. These statements should be most personally offensive to non-college white males--his top demographic. I get this one being concerning to them.



(And I guess for that matter, if he's really thinking about trying to order the military to do illegal stuff around the election and its aftermath, he certainly doesn't want to have them pissed off at him.)

Thanks. That makes sense to me.

[Ben E Lou]

Dola:


This same group had a similar discussion in July 2016, and at that time one of the two that's voting Trump said "I have no idea who Trump will put on the Supreme Court. I don't trust him one bit. But I KNOW what kind of judges Hillary will put on there, so Trump has my vote." During our conversation this year, he flat-out said, "He's the worst human being imaginable. I wish I had another choice, but I don't." Per the earlier convo here (or in some other thread; I lose track of all these conversations,) about "shy Trump voters," that's the kind of person I'm thinking about. He's an educated person, bank exec, past/present board member and financial supporter of multiple non-profits that help the poor, never posted a single pro-Trump thing on his social media accounts, would let no one but his most trusted old friends know he's a Trump voter, would probably readily admit to a pollster that he believes Biden would do a better job of uniting America...


...but is still voting for Trump.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I wouldn't doubt that, but I expect they were Trump voters before any of the protests, yes? Trump has to expand his voters from 2016. His voters were older and not replaced by new adult voters that break sharply against him and don't vote as often. Third-party voters in 2016 are breaking 2 to 1 to 3 to 1 for Biden in 2020 polling. I think there's enough polling to be pretty sure focusing on protests and riots isn't the key for Trump to expand his voters.

OH yes, sorry. I agree with that. He's not expanding his base by doing this. (Though I do suspect it might help him mitigate the *loss* of voters.) I was moving toward another point, which I made in my non-dola dola. (YOU PEOPLE ARE TOO FAST!!!)

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Dola:


This same group had a similar discussion in July 2016, and at that time one of the two that's voting Trump said "I have no idea who Trump will put on the Supreme Court. I don't trust him one bit. But I KNOW what kind of judges Hillary will put on there, so Trump has my vote." During our conversation this year, he flat-out said, "He's the worst human being imaginable. I wish I had another choice, but I don't." Per the earlier convo here (or in some other thread; I lose track of all these conversations,) about "shy Trump voters," that's the kind of person I'm thinking about. He's an educated person, bank exec, past/present board member and financial supporter of multiple non-profits that help the poor, never posted a single pro-Trump thing on his social media accounts, would let no one but his most trusted old friends know he's a Trump voter, would probably readily admit to a pollster that he believes Biden would do a better job of uniting America...


...but is still voting for Trump.

But why? Just because he’s Republican.

If the Devil was running as a Republican would they just blindly vote for him?

That’s some of the dumbest shit I’ve ever read.

How bout the perspective of voting Biden because the Republican Party has failed, to drive change into a better candidate and perhaps not so much corruption, strife and division?

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

OH yes, sorry. I agree with that. He's not expanding his base by doing this. (Though I do suspect it might help him mitigate the *loss* of voters.) I was moving toward another point, which I made in my non-dola dola. (YOU PEOPLE ARE TOO FAST!!!)

Trump seems to be making the same mistake that Dems have made for a couple of decades, counting on people that don't often vote to suddenly turn out in big numbers. We know Trump's 2016 voters aren't likely to be enough in 2020, but rather than try to appeal to more moderate voters he's going all-in on motivating and turning out people that agree with him, but have little or no history of voting. It really reminds me of all the times Dems have been certain that this year the youth vote was going to turn out like never before.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

But why? Just because he’s Republican.

If the Devil was running as a Republican would they just blindly vote for him?

That’s some of the dumbest shit I’ve ever read.

How bout the perspective of voting Biden because the Republican Party has failed, to drive change into a better candidate and perhaps not so much corruption, strife and division?

yeah, I don't get the logic.

I can buy it in 2016, but now there is no doubt who he is. I don't understand the logic behind thinking someone is literally the worst human imaginable yet lets put him in the most powerful position in the world. Logically how can anyone think it ends well?

The thing is there are a lot of people with that mentality. It honestly makes me wonder if I am missing something.

[spleen1015]

It makes me wonder if I give it too much importance. Is it a lesser deal than I think it is?

Maybe him being a terrible President is no big deal since there are parts of it that he does right? All of the bad shit isn't that big of a deal because of the good shit?

/shrug

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

It makes me wonder if I give it too much importance. Is it a lesser deal than I think it is?

Maybe him being a terrible President is no big deal since there are parts of it that he does right? All of the bad shit isn't that big of a deal because of the good shit?

/shrug

It is a big deal.

Set aside all the horrible shit he has done, just the division he has created in this country is going to fracture us as a nation until we all are dead. I suspect it gets worse after the election, and 4 more years of it will be catastrophic.

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I lose track of all these conversations,) about "shy Trump voters," that's the kind of person I'm thinking about. He's an educated person, bank exec, past/present board member and financial supporter of multiple non-profits that help the poor, never posted a single pro-Trump thing on his social media accounts, would let no one but his most trusted old friends know he's a Trump voter, would probably readily admit to a pollster that he believes Biden would do a better job of uniting America...


...but is still voting for Trump.

[Lathum]

https://gregolear.substack.com/p/101...power-rankings

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by Lathum

yeah, I don't get the logic.

I can buy it in 2016, but now there is no doubt who he is. I don't understand the logic behind thinking someone is literally the worst human imaginable yet lets put him in the most powerful position in the world. Logically how can anyone think it ends well?

The thing is there are a lot of people with that mentality. It honestly makes me wonder if I am missing something.

I mean if you are voting for Trump just to get a pro-Life SCOTUS when we have over 180k dead and the current administration “is what it is” plus all the dead due to escalating the violence but hey he’s Republican. You gotta get smarter friends.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

But why? Just because he’s Republican.

If the Devil was running as a Republican would they just blindly vote for him?

That’s some of the dumbest shit I’ve ever read.

How bout the perspective of voting Biden because the Republican Party has failed, to drive change into a better candidate and perhaps not so much corruption, strife and division?

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Trump seems to be making the same mistake that Dems have made for a couple of decades, counting on people that don't often vote to suddenly turn out in big numbers. We know Trump's 2016 voters aren't likely to be enough in 2020, but rather than try to appeal to more moderate voters he's going all-in on motivating and turning out people that agree with him, but have little or no history of voting. It really reminds me of all the times Dems have been certain that this year the youth vote was going to turn out like never before.

Originally Posted by Lathum

yeah, I don't get the logic.

I can buy it in 2016, but now there is no doubt who he is. I don't understand the logic behind thinking someone is literally the worst human imaginable yet lets put him in the most powerful position in the world. Logically how can anyone think it ends well?

The thing is there are a lot of people with that mentality. It honestly makes me wonder if I am missing something.

He said it directly in 2016, and referenced it in other conversations (this group tries to get together every July when I visit my home town,) so I didn't ask him directly this year, as I'm sure it's the same thing: Supreme Court justices "trump" everything for him. The other guy is, I'm certain, voting Trump for the same reason, though he didn't say it directly. He didn't have to.

Funny side note to this: "the other guy" and his older brother are both attorneys. Older brother is also a good friend of mine from way back. He was appointed by the current administration to be a federal immigration judge. Older brother was an avid Bernie guy, and is all-in for Biden now. Team Trump, uh, didn't quite vet this guy. I mean, he ran for DA as a Democrat like 15 years ago. It's not like he recently switched parties. It's hilarious to me that Mr. They're-Bringing-Drugs-They're-Bringing-Crime appointed a pro-immigrant life-long liberal immigration judge.

[JPhillips]

DoD says they are shutting down Stars and Stripes at the end of the month.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

He said it directly in 2016, and referenced it in other conversations (this group tries to get together every July when I visit my home town,) so I didn't ask him directly this year, as I'm sure it's the same thing: Supreme Court justices "trump" everything for him. The other guy is, I'm certain, voting Trump for the same reason, though he didn't say it directly. He didn't have to.

Funny side note to this: "the other guy" and his older brother are both attorneys. Older brother is also a good friend of mine from way back. He was appointed by the current administration to be a federal immigration judge. Older brother was an avid Bernie guy, and is all-in for Biden now. Team Trump, uh, didn't quite vet this guy. I mean, he ran for DA as a Democrat like 15 years ago. It's not like he recently switched parties. It's hilarious to me that Mr. They're-Bringing-Drugs-They're-Bringing-Crime appointed a pro-immigrant life-long liberal immigration judge.

Oversight really hasn’t been their thing.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

DoD says they are shutting down Stars and Stripes at the end of the month.

So what's the story? Not enough bootlicking? Someone write an editorial that was lukewarm towards the Commander in Chief?

SI

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

So what's the story? Not enough bootlicking? Someone write an editorial that was lukewarm towards the Commander in Chief?

SI

The $15 million saved is critical to keep our military operational.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Atocep

The $15 million saved is critical to keep our military operational.

Riiiiight /Dr. Evil

No, no - I mean what's the real story?

SI

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Atocep

The $15 million saved is critical to keep our military operational.

Just to play a little devil's advocate here, what service does Stars and Stripes provide to today's servicemen and women that they can't get elsewhere?

[JPhillips]

Seems like we're in the scandal phase where we're just waiting for Trump to say , yes, they are losers, humiliating everyone that defended him.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Riiiiight /Dr. Evil

No, no - I mean what's the real story?

SI

I could defend it. The military is representative of the country. The country has not shown no real interest in an independent news source as the Stars and Stripes purported to be. My guess would be more people are getting their news from their team websites (CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc.) than from S&S.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Seems like we're in the scandal phase where we're just waiting for Trump to say , yes, they are losers, humiliating everyone that defended him.

Seriously wondering the same thing as I was reading a predictable FB thread a few moments ago...


Liberal: "How on EARTH can you people still support this man??? Look at this link!"
Liberal 2: "I really don't get it. They say they love the military..."
Conservative: "Trump loves the military and the MSM is out to get him. FAKE NEWS!"

[Ben E Lou]

If this thread is an accurate representation, Biden is NAILING it in a presser right now:

If what is written in @TheAtlantic is true, "it's disgusting," says @JoeBiden, adding it would mean @realDonaldTrump is not fit to be commander-in-chief.

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) September 4, 2020

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

If this thread is an accurate representation, Biden is NAILING it in a presser right now:

If what is written in @TheAtlantic is true, "it's disgusting," says @JoeBiden, adding it would mean @realDonaldTrump is not fit to be commander-in-chief.
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) September 4, 2020

That thread is fun - he's come out swinging.

SI

[Ben E Lou]

Holy cow. He looks PISSED.