Politics, YAY! The Trump.

[Joolis]

I feel like the classic "Douche vs. Turd Sandwich" Southpark episode aptly sums up our presidential elections.

A clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pji_IX-UacM

[Brocas]

I feel like the classic "Douche vs. Turd Sandwich" Southpark episode aptly sums up our presidential elections.

A clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pji_IX-UacM

What really drives this home is that came out in 2004. 12 years later, we still have douche and turd sandwich. Nothing...ever....changes.

[Skittles]

Kilgore covered this pretty well. I feel like people really miss out on how the Republican establishment is finally getting to eat the dung they have purposefully created for years. Anti-education, anti-government, anti-media people just enjoying their right to vote. That said, I think pretty much everyone he beat in the Primaries was as bad, or worse than Trump.

As for people who say it's an IQ test for America it's pretty easy to point out a lot of incredibly dumb major parties/politicians/etc. from any other country out there. You might say that the communal IQ tests of the world come out as average (duh), and average isn't terribly bright. I wish we could be exceptions, but we ain't.

One thing that concerns me... when people mock Trump for his ethnic name, it's worth considering that it's kind of bigoted. We should probably stray away from the kind of crap his voters would pull, like mocking a Mexican for his name or some dung.

[Firimei Lang]

I dislike.no really dislike Donald Trump for what he stands for. His name is just an amusing byproduct.

[Enok]

Kilgore covered this pretty well. I feel like people really miss out on how the Republican establishment is finally getting to eat the dung they have purposefully created for years. Anti-education, anti-government, anti-media people just enjoying their right to vote. That said, I think pretty much everyone he beat in the Primaries was as bad, or worse than Trump.

As for people who say it's an IQ test for America it's pretty easy to point out a lot of incredibly dumb major parties/politicians/etc. from any other country out there. You might say that the communal IQ tests of the world come out as average (duh), and average isn't terribly bright. I wish we could be exceptions, but we ain't.

One thing that concerns me... when people mock Trump for his ethnic name, it's worth considering that it's kind of bigoted. We should probably stray away from the kind of crap his voters would pull, like mocking a Mexican for his name or some dung.

Considering the credentials of the two candidates, I'm pretty sure it's fair to call it an IQ test. For most sane people, this is a no brainer. There is no lesser of two evils. You may not like one candidate for whatever reason, but come on. At least back in Bush-Gore and Bush-Kerry, there were two sides. Now there's just one complete embarrassment and political disaster and then there's a full blown statesman with a few questionable judgement calls (call them what you will; but then compare them to Trumps track record) over her, what, 20-30 year career?

If you guys pick Trump over Clinton you will eat that dung sandwich and then nibble on the leftovers for the next decade. I would say it's an IQ test. Sure.

[ecthus]

It seems clear at this point that the Democratic strategy of demonstrating that Trump is disgusting for saying x,y,z awful thing isn't a strategy that's going to sway his base. There's no point in exposing a man who publicly exposes himself on a daily basis.

I've become more interested in how Trump is weak where he's perceived to be strong--as a businessman. He's been successful...at running his businesses into the ground and burying himself and his businesses in debt up to the gills. Much of that debt is to foreign banks, because even our scummy American banks won't lend to him anymore. It seems likely that his primary reason for not releasing his tax forms is that he isn't worth nearly as much as he claims.

[Joolis]

One thing that concerns me... when people mock Trump for his ethnic name, it's worth considering that it's kind of bigoted. We should probably stray away from the kind of crap his voters would pull, like mocking a Mexican for his name or some dung.

If you are referring to Drumpf, I don't think people are mocking the name itself, rather that he would change his name to Trump because it sounds cooler.

[Kilgore]

It's been a wild ride so far. I wonder what people thought of the DNC vs. RNC conventions? I watched the RNC on Fox, however, I watched the DNC convention on C-SPAN. I wanted to get a sense of the pundits posturing on Fox.

It absolutely surprised me that pundits have aligned themselves with Trump. The blow to the evangelical base of the Republican party is one that will have substantial impacts in the next cycle.

I'm very curious about the down-ballot voting this election as well.

The zealousness that partisan-politics has created will come full circle if Democrats and Republicans realize they are simply democrats. That is, the oxymoron of a Democrat will be undermined and group-think politics may come under a microscope.

The Julian Assange moment where he became the thing he criticized in 2006 by entering Politics rather than working as a transparent champion for WIkiLeaks was also a surprising turn. It's funny that a party, which professes itself as champion of the politically correct speech, would actively undermine PC concepts as a way to pointedly affect votes in well polled demographics.

Love to see this topic re-emerge though. Amazing to see how much was missed even back then. I definitely did not have a full context for the election. It's been fun to follow.

[Tolveor]

could you explain "pundits" fast?

[Kilgore]

could you explain "pundits" fast?

From my point of view pundits are the television equivalent of a journalist. TV personality is a more accurate term, but any individual who demands a recognition of authority based on presence is a pundit. Generally, though, in video-media everyone becomes a pundit when they speak with authority granted to them by their presence.

Punditry is scary considering we're simultaneously wading into waters where the amount of viewership equates a demonstration of authority. Should this continue opinions will conflate into fact (in some cases this is already true).

That water, though, is when meme generation will become political outsourcing and reify ungrounded ideas into accepted truths (at least for the group that has chosen to view the object).

For me pundits are individuals like: O'Reilly, Kelly, Maddow, Scarborough, Cooper, Lemon, Hannity, or Blitzer.

These individuals synthesize the news into opinions and spend more effort analyzing what news means from a political framework then corroborating the news itself.

Recently John Oliver did a pretty decent segment on the idea of journalism as a whole.

https://youtu.be/bq2_wSsDwkQ

I find that Oliver may address via demonstration the extent to which punditry undermines journalism.

FAST: Pundits are the television equivalent of a journalist. TV personality is a more accurate term, but any individual who demands a recognition of authority based on presence is a pundit.