Trump and democracy

[Not Now Kato]

Free to read article in the FT - Dirty money: Trump and the Kazakh connection
 
https://www.ft.com/content/33285dfa-9231-11e6-8df8-d3778b55a923

[BillyStubbsTears]

So who's taking bets on Ghislaine Maxwell being found dead in her cell and the CCTV cameras having a mysterious fault?

[SydneyRover]

Andrew is sweating under pressure apparently

[BillyStubbsTears]

Astonishing though it may seem, Trump may not actually be the worst choice for President this Autumn.

Check out Kanye West.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2020/07/08/kanye-west-says-hes-done-with-trump-opens-up-about-white-house-bid-damaging-biden-and-everything-in-between/?utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_content=3475373719&utm_campaign=sprinklrForbesMainTwitter#413a4ff747aa

He's gonna run America like Wakanda because he's the most powerful person in the world. Apart from all them who have been taken over by alien superpowers.

[IDM]

Kanye West.?  He’s a gay fish isn’t he.?

[MachoMadness]

Batshit, but almost certainly a plant to try and split the Biden vote.

[Superspy]

I honestly never thought I'd find somebody with a greater ability than Trump at speaking without actually saying anything...enter Kanye West. Absolutely f**king tapped.

[scawsby steve]

He did me when, at Glastonbury, he announced that he was a bigger star than Elvis.

He must have meant Costello.

[tyke1962]

This is absolutely shocking .


https://youtu.be/ZLGbBYrqpro

[BillyStubbsTears]

Not at all surprising Tyke. Or new.

Google "North Carolina Gerrymandering" for an eye opener.

The state legislature is Republican led and for years they have been re-drawing the Congressional boundaries in a way that concentrates big majorities of (often black) Democrat supporters in a few districts and spreads the republican supporters out more evenly. So there are Republican majorities of 5-15% in most electoral districts and Democratic majorities of 40-50% in a few. That has the effect of massively disproportionately giving seats in Congress to the Republicans, compared to their vote share across the whole state.

So, in the 2018 House of Representatives elections, North Carolina had 12 seats up for election. The state-wide vote was:

Rep: 50.4%
Dem 48.4%

You might expect the seats to be split 6-6, or maybe 7-5, right?

The number of seats won was:
Rep: 9
Dem: 3

In the 3 that the Dems won, the results were:

Rep  - Dem
30% - 70%
24% - 72%
27% - 73%

In the 9 that the Reps won it was:
Rep  - Dem
51% - 46%
57% - 43%
57% - 43%
56% - 43%
55% - 45%
59% - 41%
59% - 39%
52% - 46%
and one walkover.

You have to realise that the republican party ave up even paying lip-service to the principles of democracy several decades ago. This is the sort of thing you expect in a banana republic. Getting a Trump as leader was inevitable for a party that lost its soul a long, long time ago.

[Donnywolf]

.... and another reason they TOO should switch to PR of some sort do you think ?

I reckon we need it BT who or rather how the hell do we reach that goal. Like the EU we would need a Referendum I suspect and at the moment there is no chance Johnson would go for one (or PR either) because he knows what will probably happen

Labour have been beneficiaries of FPTP in the past as one of the Big 2 so they have never seemed keen either

(Ignore me - Trump and Democracy - but it started loosely about him

[Glyn_Wigley]

This is absolutely shocking .


https://youtu.be/ZLGbBYrqpro

I've not seen him before. What a fantastic communicator.

[Superspy]

This is absolutely shocking .


https://youtu.be/ZLGbBYrqpro

I've not seen him before. What a fantastic communicator.

Completely agree. Might take some time to watch some more of his stuff later. Tyke, thanks for sharing.

[i_ateallthepies]

This is absolutely shocking .


https://youtu.be/ZLGbBYrqpro

I've not seen him before. What a fantastic communicator.

Totally agree, Glynn.  BUT... confessional time... in a thread about Trump and then seeing this rugged looking guy in a baseball cap, my immediate thought was, 'here goes, hardcore Trump supporter' and even as I had the thought and before he even spoke I was reminding myself I shouldn't judge the book by it's cover.  And yes, a superb communicator.

[BillyStubbsTears]

In case you ever wondered if Trump is actually a fascist. Some indicators from the man who wrote "How Facism Works". Here are the steps he's identified as to how Facism takes over. One step at a time. With the gullible nodding to each one and the idle "meh"-ing.

[BillyStubbsTears]

1. https://mobile.twitter.com/jasonintrator/status/1023955863164399616

Make America Great Again.

[BillyStubbsTears]

2. https://mobile.twitter.com/jasonintrator/status/1024985638909734912

You undermine the concept of objective truth by lying repeatedly and accusing everyone else of lying repeatedly.

Fake News.

[BillyStubbsTears]

3. https://mobile.twitter.com/jasonintrator/status/1026431734718582784

Universities are an independent bulwark of objective truth. So they must be controlled.

This. Yesterday.
https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1281616586273468416

[BillyStubbsTears]

You can see the rest here... Fill in the blanks yourselves. It's not hard.

https://mobile.twitter.com/i/events/856607127003029504

[SydneyRover]

His total disregard for convention, pardoning Stone the guy is a meglomaniac.

[SydneyRover]

Good news amongst the gloom

''Will Republicans ditch Trump to save the Senate as support nosedives?''

''Biden leads Trump by 52% to 40% in a Guardian/Opinium Research poll conducted in late June. Numerous other polls agree the Democrat has a double-digit lead and, crucially, put him ahead in six battleground states. Two in three people now disapprove of Trump’s handling of the pandemic, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll, with the percentage of Republicans who approve sinking from 90% in mid-June to 78% now''

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/11/donald-trump-republicans-election-senate-biden

[SydneyRover]

''‘Tsunami of untruths’: Trump has made 20,000 false or misleading claims'

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/13/donald-trump-20000-false-or-misleading-claims

[SydneyRover]

the dangerous goat that keeps on giving

''Trump clashes with Fox News interviewer over false claim about Biden
Chris Wallace contradicts Trump over Biden’s views on policing
President requests document that fails to vindicate him

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/17/donald-trump-fox-news-interview-chris-wallace-joe-biden

[SydneyRover]

When trump demands to see the US figures on the virus and decllares them to be number 1 they are in fact No 1 they're at the top of the worldometer table!

https://www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2020/jul/20/trump-interview-fox-news-election-polls-chances-melting-away

[Superspy]

Enjoyed that article, thanks for sharing, haha.

[BillyStubbsTears]

When trump demands to see the US figures on the virus and decllares them to be number 1 they are in fact No 1 they're at the top of the worldometer table!

https://www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2020/jul/20/trump-interview-fox-news-election-polls-chances-melting-away

Jesus wept! That bit in the video where he says "I heard we had the lowest mortality rate from the virus in the world. Get me the figures."

(Aide passes him the figures)

Trump looks at the figures, waves them aside and then mumbles (once he gets the sheet the right way up) "No. 1 low mortality rate."

The USA has the tenth highest mortality rate in the world and two of the ones above them are Andorra and San Marino...

Just like our Government, utter contempt for truth and utter contempt for the intellect of their supporters. But, then again, if you see that behaviour and still don't condemn it, maybe you deserve to be treated with utter contempt.

[ravenrover]

Not to mention "it is what it is" when talking about the number of deaths, but it will all go away in the end and he'll be right he says

[BillyStubbsTears]

American carnage on the way.

On Friday, the increased unemployment benefit expires. It's going back down to $150/week, which is way lower than anyone can live on.

Republicans are justifying this because they reckon the higher benefits are stopping people finding jobs.

There are 15million+ on the dole. The virus is still ripping through most of the country. And the Right says "Go to work or starve."

Just when you thought they had reached the very bottom of their pit of greed and callousness.

[Donnywolf]

Just like our Government, utter contempt for truth and utter contempt for the intellect of their supporters. But, then again, if you see that behaviour and still don't condemn it, maybe you deserve to be treated with utter contempt.


The trouble is with that is there are doubtless 57% of the electorate who voted against the "sitting Party" who are absolutely seething (as I am) watching liar Johnson getting away with porkies so outrageous they literally ARE untrue and yet can do nothing about it

Eminent people take to Social media by the hour - they appear on Telly Radio and all sorts of outlets to add voice after voice of dissent. This place is littered with dissenters as are other Forums I read and what happens ? Nowt What can they / we do ? Nothing other that shut up which they to their credit will not do

Its more frustrating than almost anything I have ever lived through. Thatcher eventually went too far with the Poll Tax and the public rose but seriously what is todays equivalent that would generate or precipitate such an civil uprising - because given the stuff Liar Johnson has got away with so far I see nothing in that category coming over the hill any time soon that wont be similarly ignored

[Glyn_Wigley]

Just like our Government, utter contempt for truth and utter contempt for the intellect of their supporters. But, then again, if you see that behaviour and still don't condemn it, maybe you deserve to be treated with utter contempt.


The trouble is with that is there are doubtless 57% of the electorate who voted against the "sitting Party" who are absolutely seething (as I am) watching liar Johnson getting away with porkies so outrageous they literally ARE untrue and yet can do nothing about it

Eminent people take to Social media by the hour - they appear on Telly Radio and all sorts of outlets to add voice after voice of dissent. This place is littered with dissenters as are other Forums I read and what happens ? Nowt What can they / we do ? Nothing other that shut up which they to their credit will not do

Its more frustrating than almost anything I have ever lived through. Thatcher eventually went too far with the Poll Tax and the public rose but seriously what is todays equivalent that would generate or precipitate such an civil uprising - because given the stuff Liar Johnson has got away with so far I see nothing in that category coming over the hill any time soon that wont be similarly ignored

1st January 2021 is coming up fast.