Mourning in America - Trump Year One: November '16 to

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (7723 of them)

I liked that article tombot, but as an aside I really hate 'love trumps hate' as a protest statement. feel like there's never been a less appropriate time for cute little puns.

Absolutely. The first two words are "love trump" and I read it often as "love Trump's hate" which...uh yeah, that's kind of what people are getting on board with

frogbs, Friday, 11 November 2016 04:57 (seven years ago) link

In response to the possibility of the likelihood of Trump dropping dead before his four years are up or getting impeached or quitting before his term even begins, people have been pretty regularly responding that Pence would be worse. But Trump is both malleable and seemingly totally cool with passing the actual president-ing on to Pence anyway, so how exactly would that be worse than Pence as filtered through an unpredictable man baby?

― i need microsoft installed on my desktop, can you help (Old Lunch), Thursday, November 10, 2016 11:46 PM (ten minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

because Pence is focused

― sleeve, Thursday, November 10, 2016 11:48 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah.

I mean, Trump's unpredictability (and temperament, and narcissism, etc) is worrisome, but I for one would be more frightened of the people he is likely to surround himself with. I honestly believe that Trump wanted to be president so he will have been president, and will leave all of the policy stuff to Pence, etc. That's scary.

rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:02 (seven years ago) link

*wanted to be president JUST so he will have been president

rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:03 (seven years ago) link

i don't see how the street protests are accomplishing anything! there's no goal, no training, no plan, just show up and then inevitably a handful of people will vandalize things live on cable news and how does this do anything but empower trump and his authoritarian calls for law and order?

FREE BRADY (daria-g), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:03 (seven years ago) link

Until Pence upsets him somehow. We see how things worked out with his campaign managers.

frogbs, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:03 (seven years ago) link

what do you think the protestors should do? they absolutely should be out there right now! just...uh please don't break anything

frogbs, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:05 (seven years ago) link

My husband thinks Pence will be the first one that Trump throws under the bus the first time there is any kind of disruptive outrage over something that Trump signed that he knew nothing about other than that Pence told him to sign it.

rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:06 (seven years ago) link

obama's graciousness with trump today seemed like it could have been part of a deep strategy. beyond just basic politeness he also tried to make inside quips with trump, giving him jokey tips on how to deal with reporters etc. hopefully, he is trying to win trump over via flattery and wield some influence over him. trump loves flattery, and what could be more exciting than having a world historic figure like obama as a friend?

Treeship, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:07 (seven years ago) link

it's also what they have to do - how primed was everyone on the Clinton side to roast Trump if he didn't concede?

Kiarostami bag (milo z), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:10 (seven years ago) link

by everyone I mean voters/supporters

Kiarostami bag (milo z), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:10 (seven years ago) link

this quote from today fucked me up

"We're going to move very strongly on immigration," he said. "We will move very strongly on health care. And we're looking at jobs. Big league jobs."

flappy bird, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:11 (seven years ago) link

i don't see how the street protests are accomplishing anything!

They bother him so much that he stole his Twitter account back and started whining - two days after what should be the pinnacle of anyone's life.

Kiarostami bag (milo z), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:11 (seven years ago) link

At work I explained it like this, "it feels like we fired our CEO and replaced him with an 8 year old kid, and now all of us are going to spend our careers trying to figure out what he likes on his cheeseburgers and when his nap time should be to best avoid temper tantrums"

frogbs, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:12 (seven years ago) link

Constant protesting helps keep the media from normalizing Trump and his behavior over the next four years.

Kiarostami bag (milo z), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:13 (seven years ago) link

i have a very liberal and sympathetic friend who is nevertheless convinced on principle that street protests, when they involve harm to others—in the technical sense, of any unmerited inconvenience, even—are unjust, i.e. immoral. he thinks, basically, the right to protest in public should always be upheld but that it can't disrupt the flow of life for people who don't want to pay attention to it. and he's ON OUR SIDE.

i've already seen a handful of 'independents' or trump supporters or whomever in the past couple days in my extended network pointing to the protests as if they were morally equivalent to the incidents of harassment and violence this week. people who think like that will only ever be repelled by the constant protests we're in for. : /

j., Friday, 11 November 2016 05:13 (seven years ago) link

On the day of the debate, Megyn Kelly writes, she woke up feeling great. Then an overzealous, suspiciously enthusiastic driver picked her up to take her to the convention center. He insisted on getting her coffee, though she’d repeatedly declined his offer. Once it was in her hand, she drank it. And within 15 minutes, she was violently ill, vomiting so uncontrollably that it was unclear if she’d be able to go on and help moderate that evening. It was so bad that she kept a trash pail beneath her desk throughout the debate, just in case.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/books/review-megyn-kelly-tells-tales-out-of-fox-news-in-her-memoir-settle-for-more.html?_r=0

We already live in Russia.

comesayhey, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:13 (seven years ago) link

I used to be something of a skeptic when it came to claims of “filter bubbles” — the sort of epistemic closure that comes from only seeing material you agree with on social platforms. People tend to click links that align with their existing opinions, sure — but isn’t that just an online analog to the fact that our friends and family tend to share our opinions in the real world too? I ate up studies (from Facebook and others) that argued the site actually encouraged a certain kind of information diversity, because your Facebook friends are likely drawn from a wider group of people (the guy you went to middle school with, your mom’s neighbor, that rando you met that weekend at the beach) than the people you discuss news with in real life.

But I’ve come to think that the rise of fake news — and of the cheap-to-run, ideologically driven aggregator sites that are only a few steps up from fake — has weaponized those filter bubbles. There were just too many people voting in this election because they were infuriated by made-up things they read online.

http://www.niemanlab.org/2016/11/the-forces-that-drove-this-elections-media-failure-are-likely-to-get-worse/

F♯ A♯ (∞), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:14 (seven years ago) link

Organized protests are going to have less violence and fewer negative consequences than an outpouring of grief anyway.

xxp - people who think like that are a lost cause anyway when they have the option to choose a shitty politically incorrect maverick

Kiarostami bag (milo z), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:15 (seven years ago) link

Anyway, not that we need to point out the hypocrisy of the GOP any more, but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts you don't hear a fucking word about emails from pearl-clutching Republicans anymore. Keep hearing "Hillary should have won, but in the end she had too much baggage" and it's like....no she really didn't, you just decided to accept this weird story that she was a criminal and possibly a murderer.

frogbs, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:17 (seven years ago) link

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/books/review-megyn-kelly-tells-tales-out-of-fox-news-in-her-memoir-settle-for-more.html?_r=0

We already live in Russia.

"Next thing I knew, she was bleeding out of her...wherever"

frogbs, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:18 (seven years ago) link

guys what if the aliens show up while he's in office

El Tomboto, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:18 (seven years ago) link

Aliens from where

Evan, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:19 (seven years ago) link

don't know if this was mentioned yet, I've been seeing this pop up on my fb feed from a number of sources. A simple way to show solidarity to any people who are feeling more at risk:

http://www.vox.com/presidential-election/2016/11/10/13586322/trump-brexit-safety-pin

Al Moon Faced Poon (Moodles), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:20 (seven years ago) link

I think Keith Ellison is a solid dude but why is an endorsement from a non-democrat such a great idea? Is Sanders considering joining the party again? Is he giving out ideas on RNC chairs next?

A bunch of friends have shared Sanders' endorsement and I am just like wtf

mh 😏, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:21 (seven years ago) link

Way to reform from without and not within you fly by night candidate

mh 😏, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:21 (seven years ago) link

Outer space, Evan, duh

El Tomboto, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:22 (seven years ago) link

My parents are on medicare after a decade-plus-long rough patch after my dad lost his job (he worked again and continues to, and a much lower salary, and never had employer insurance again), during which they paid out a huge part of their income to insurance premiums. I breathed such a sigh of relief a couple years ago when they finally got on medicare. I really do hope that's an overreach that blows up in their faces.

the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually (man alive), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:23 (seven years ago) link

seems like bernie sanders has upset you, mh

k3vin k., Friday, 11 November 2016 05:23 (seven years ago) link

I think Keith Ellison is a solid dude but why is an endorsement from a non-democrat such a great idea? Is Sanders considering joining the party again? Is he giving out ideas on RNC chairs next?

A bunch of friends have shared Sanders' endorsement and I am just like wtf

― mh 😏, Friday, November 11, 2016 12:21 AM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Way to reform from without and not within you fly by night candidate

― mh 😏, Friday, November 11, 2016 12:21 AM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No one gives a shit about this "not a real democrat" shit except the party insiders who lost this election.

the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually (man alive), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:24 (seven years ago) link

He can endorse whatever he wants but someone who joined the democratic to run and then immediately left seems like a weird endorsement to share for an administrative position

mh 😏, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:25 (seven years ago) link

it seems it would be pretty rich for 'actual' democrats to be all 'tyvm but we need to let people committed to our party make these decisions', given that they have no credible leadership

j., Friday, 11 November 2016 05:25 (seven years ago) link

is there any reason he immediately left than for some sort of idealistic purity?

I mean, it's a party, which is a non binding thing in the US but idk wtf

mh 😏, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:27 (seven years ago) link

Missed this one earlier: https://www.buzzfeed.com/aramroston/sources-donald-trump-listened-in-on-phone-lines-at-mar-a-lag

Elvis Telecom, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:29 (seven years ago) link

paintings with eyes that mysteriously follow you

mh 😏, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:29 (seven years ago) link

is there any reason he immediately left than for some sort of idealistic purity?

I mean, it's a party, which is a non binding thing in the US but idk wtf

― mh 😏, Friday, November 11, 2016 12:27 AM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

All he is now is the Senator from Vermont and that's how his constituency elected him. Only seems right.

comesayhey, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:31 (seven years ago) link

that article oo posted has this insane tidbit:

"...The day before the election, I looked at the Facebook page of the current mayor. Among the items he posted there in the final 48 hours of the campaign: Hillary Clinton Calling for Civil War If Trump Is Elected. Pope Francis Shocks World, Endorses Donald Trump for President. Barack Obama Admits He Was Born in Kenya. FBI Agent Who Was Suspected Of Leaking Hillary’s Corruption Is Dead.
These are not legit anti-Hillary stories. (There were plenty of those, to be sure, both on his page and in this election cycle.) These are imaginary, made up, frauds. And yet Facebook has built a platform for the active dispersal of these lies — in part because these lies travel really, really well. (The pope’s “endorsement” has over 868,000 Facebook shares. The Snopes piece noting the story is fake has but 33,000.)"

Karl Malone, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:32 (seven years ago) link

ok, long post here, this is from a friend of a friend on fb who was canvassing for the election in Ohio:

I wanted to share some illuminating insights on real, actual Trump & Hillary supporters I met while canvassing in Ohio.

I only met a handful of Trump voters. A couple of them were even African American. A few things REALLY surprised me:

- Yes, some folks are really, super racist, homophobic, and awful. I’ve had people scream at me: Hillary is a murderer! She broke the law & is being indicted by the FBI! Perverts can go into girls and boys bathrooms, and you Democrats make me sick! You get the picture. They have swallowed up the alt-right Breitbart lies & this is their reality.

- I met some undecided voters. One very nice, young woman said she didn’t like that Hillary was going to take away all her guns (not true), and she also didn’t like the email thing (no specifics). She didn’t like Trump because he was an asshole, but she was glad he released his taxes (dude, all caps NOT TRUE). I refuted the lies about Clinton & tried to correct her on Trump, but she still didn’t seem to understand. Or maybe she didn’t believe me — after all, I’m campaigning for one side. Clearly, she’s getting a lot of lies & misinformation, and no details — I would guess it’s from cable TV, shares on social media, quick headlines, memes, and her bubble of friends.

- I met one very thoughtful, college educated, African American man, early 30s, who was leaning towards voting for Jill Stein, because he was originally a Bernie supporter. He was staunchly anti-Trump, and liked Hillary, but couldn't decide. He’s married to a white woman who supported Hillary, and they were at home with their toddler. He said to me, “My wife says I’m throwing my vote away!” I said I agreed, because of the Electoral College. He didn’t understand what I meant. As we chatted for 15 min, it became clear to me that this man, living in Ohio, did not understand that we elect a President via the Electoral College. He didn’t understand that his vote was really crucial in determining who would be our next President. And this dude was a journalism major in college! He understood the issues, but before I knocked, he didn’t understand why his Ohio vote mattered so much more than my California vote. Even educated voters are busy — they don’t have the luxury of time to read print journalism. They might watch some TV news. They probably don’t listen NPR. They may not remember their civics lessons, if they even had one at all. Once he understood the impact of his vote, he was 100% behind Hillary.

- A Clinton staging office is usually someone’s house — a wonderful, generous soul who has opened up their home, morning through evening, for weeks. A Clinton operations director is assigned there, to prioritize, delegate and train GOTV volunteers as they come in. The homeowner is there, cheering everyone on. When I arrived at one staging office, I was greeted by the homeowner, who asked where I was from. “California, how wonderful! How’s it looking in California? Do you think Hillary has a chance to win there?” I said yes, Hillary was absolutely going to win CA, because it was very safely a blue state. She beamed, and excitedly told her friend who was visiting, and they cheered. This lovely woman, who was so supportive of Hillary Clinton that she has let complete strangers turn her house upside down for weeks, also did not seem to know basic info about the Electoral College! I get it now — truthful information can be hard to identify & process. There’s a lot out there. How can we do better to educate & inform the voting public?

- I met a young African American woman who voted third party. I met an African American man whose wife voted for Trump. I met a lot of people of color and white voters who voted as though it were a coin toss. I’m not kidding. When asked, they didn’t seem to know a whole lot about Trump — as though the nonstop scandals had just become a jumbled news salad, with nothing really sticking out to define him. Maybe they just recognized him as that flashy businessman on that TV reality show that they liked. They were familiar with the Clinton name, but didn’t know what she really stood for. They were all pretty tuned out.
My main takeaway from canvassing this time was that more than half of our electorate — the folks in the middle, who are neither far right nativists nor lefty progressives — they know little about the candidates. Lots of them do not vote. And if they do show up & vote, they are voting with a critical lack of information or an over abundance of misinformation. It is literally a coin toss for some of them. If you’ve read my previous post, this will sound familiar: I believe that one of the biggest problems is that cable “news" is really just reality TV posing as news, with little to no journalism or investigation of facts. And thanks to the GOP’s decades-long attack of the institution of journalism & the “liberal media," people don’t know who to trust for news anymore. They share memes & news articles without even knowing if what they are sharing is true. They believe conspiracy theories and unfounded rumors. They believe the lies that Trump spews out against Clinton, because TV news reporters don’t dig deep. They just report what people say, and give equal weight to both sides, as though the two candidates and their surrogates were equally reasonable people. For these voters, it’s "he said" versus "she said." They don’t know what or who to believe.

This election is, in part, a reflection of a complete failure of news outlets, and what happens when meaningful journalism is diminished, underfunded or undermined. Without journalism and trust in the free press, democracy is doomed.

Where can we start? I’m still thinking hard about this. For now, if you are an English or history teacher, please teach your students how to be journalists. Teach them how to vet sources of information, how to sift fact from fiction, and how to write a factual news article. It would prepare them well for college, to learn how to research. Have them analyze broadcasts from Fox, CNN, and MSNBC and present their findings. Have them research the whole story, and not just a sound bite. Have them analyze an NPR news report. If you’re a parent, tell your kid’s schools that you want an immersive course about the elections process. Teach students about the history of voter suppression, and how it still exists in many forms today. Teach them about gerrymandering. Insist that the students learn how to be good journalists & good citizens. They’ll be sharing more memes than we can possibly imagine, so let’s get them vetting facts first, so they can share the truth, or knock down a lie when they see one.

I’ll try to end this on a positive note:

While canvassing at dusk, I met a family. I didn’t know if they were pro- or anti-Clinton. Their kids were playing in the driveway. Mid-way through my pitch for Hillary, the husband said, "I have a felony conviction, and I've been told for years I can't vote. Is that true?" I told him the law varies by state; I looked it up on the ACLU website, and he did, in fact, have the right to vote. He nearly cried. This muscular tough guy looked at his wife in disbelief, "Honey, did you hear that? I can vote!" He looked at me and said with real sadness, "If I knew, I would have registered. That's why my wife is registered — she's really voting for me. I want Hillary to win."
Voter suppression, bad journalism, online misinformation & lies really do have an impact on our elections. Please consider the small things you can do locally to help us build a more informed and engaged electorate, one who can base their choices on facts & not lies.

And now… how do we win the Senate and House in 2018, when Democrats usually have record low turnout? I'll need to marinate on that one...

Al Moon Faced Poon (Moodles), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:36 (seven years ago) link

obama's graciousness with trump today seemed like it could have been part of a deep strategy. beyond just basic politeness he also tried to make inside quips with trump, giving him jokey tips on how to deal with reporters etc. hopefully, he is trying to win trump over via flattery and wield some influence over him. trump loves flattery, and what could be more exciting than having a world historic figure like obama as a friend?

― Treeship, Thursday, November 10, 2016 11:07 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ohhh, I thought this, too. Obama knows that flattering Trump wins out over any potential differences, and I'll bet he'd be able to play him like a fiddle were he so inclined.

i need microsoft installed on my desktop, can you help (Old Lunch), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:39 (seven years ago) link

I deeply admire that person's reaction to those people because I'd start carrying a flask and drinking heavily after the first one.

Kiarostami bag (milo z), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:39 (seven years ago) link

My main takeaway from canvassing this time was that more than half of our electorate — the folks in the middle, who are neither far right nativists nor lefty progressives — they know little about the candidates. Lots of them do not vote. And if they do show up & vote, they are voting with a critical lack of information or an over abundance of misinformation. It is literally a coin toss for some of them.

This is one point that seems both important and, in hindsight, obvious, yet not one I am seeing made by almost anyone

the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually (man alive), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:40 (seven years ago) link

Good post. I saw a lot of people saying "how the fuck are there still undecideds?" during the last few weeks but that's just the truth, some people do not engage with political shit on any level. Disheartening to find that the late undecideds broke heavy for Trump and that the bullshit email story almost certainly had a lot to do with it.

frogbs, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:42 (seven years ago) link

Thank you so much for sharing that post, Moodles. That gives me some food for thought, as I'm thinking that education of the electorate has to be one of our main priorities in the coming days and months and years.

i need microsoft installed on my desktop, can you help (Old Lunch), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:44 (seven years ago) link

And honestly that's why I thought Debate #1 was gonna win it for Hillary - it was hyped up, the undecideds and disengaged were gonna watch, and he was going to get demolished. That all happened and it showed in the polls but.......yeah

frogbs, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:44 (seven years ago) link

God, education is so important. Here's some crucial information for an under informed voter: "By the way, nearly everything Trump says is a baldfaced lie. You can look it up yourself in real time. When he says 50, the real number could be 3,000, it could be 0. When he claims 'I never said X' there is almost certainly a tape of him saying X. He routinely makes up fake people and recounts fake interactions that the other party cannot corroborate. He once posed as his own publicist so he could brag to newspapers about cheating on his wife."

frogbs, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:50 (seven years ago) link

American high schools need to return to teaching about the obligations of citizenship. Even my old, highly-regarded high school no longer offers civics classes. When I went there, civics was mandatory for all 9th graders.

jane burkini (suzy), Friday, 11 November 2016 05:51 (seven years ago) link

yeah, it was interesting to read the shared moodles post just after reading my aunt's comment on facebook: "What part of Hillary's character do th3se people believe makes her any better than Trump? I think everyone should give him, at least a year, before they pass judgement on his ability to turn America around for the better."

i was like "yeah he's a racist, that's one thing"

Karl Malone, Friday, 11 November 2016 05:53 (seven years ago) link

I'm pretty sure she did something for another person at least one time in her life

frogbs, Friday, 11 November 2016 06:03 (seven years ago) link

I'm thinking that education of the electorate has to be one of our main priorities in the coming days and months and years.

this would have been tremendously important either way, but it's at least doubly so now. genuinely flabbergasted that the discussion hasn't trended towards the face of trump's ten year old son as he stands at his father's side at 3AM or whatever to accept the presidency.

life is a long game, Leonard Cohen just passed at the age of 82 and we NEED to educate and otherwise take care of the children of this world pronto imo

erudite beach boys fan (sheesh), Friday, 11 November 2016 06:04 (seven years ago) link

https://medium.com/@Brocktoon/lexington-c1825d25442e#.qsa7gluua
Who’s on their side here? The Democrats? The ones who floated NAFTA? Who deregulated the banks? Who gutted unions which might’ve stepped in and mediated these ugly, ugly racial disputes?

Wait, is he talking about the same NAFTA that was negotiated by George Bush? Democrats helped pass it, but I don't see how they "floated" it. And by bank deregulation is he talking about the 1999 Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act which happens to be named after the three Republicans who co-sponsored it? And by what bizarre logic have Democrats been the ones to gut unions?

But sure, it's awfully sad that those racist small town white folks can't work at the non-union furniture factory anymore. Thanks Obama.

wk, Friday, 11 November 2016 06:25 (seven years ago) link

gramm-leach-bliley was passed by a veto-proof majority republican congress, but this never seems to get in the way of the "bill clinton was more republican than the republicans" narrative

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 11 November 2016 06:34 (seven years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.