a clown car full of millionaires: the 2016 presidential primary thread

Trump's endgame is to be the greatest reality star that ever walked the planet.

xpost

also to pillage the US & Mexico

He is trying to be the ultimate reality star by making reality horrifying.

I think that was the plot of Tomorrow Never Dies, but I might be mixing it up a bit with The Truman show.

You guys realize that when a star dies a black hole is formed

dude, this is 2015; African-American hole

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10qbt0LHmvE

jesus wept

I bet the dude has never even glanced at a bible in his entire life

lol shakey

I thought The Art of the Deal is his bible

-10 Bible points. Get your faith stat up Don.

All of that goes back to the Alabama speech; The Art of the Deal is his second-favourite book, but his favourite--his absolute #1--is the Bible. (He named Lotte Eisner's The Haunted Screen as his #3--that was a surprise.)

fwiw he said he *wouldn't* name his favorite bible verse in that clip

Best part of that clip: "Probably...equal."

"which michael bolton song would you say... was your favorite?"

He might have been unfamiliar with the whole old/new thing and trying to figure out if it was a trick question.

"it's very personal"

"which michael bolton song would you say... was your favorite?"

― goole,

"Said I Loved You...But I Lied."

http://trumpthemovie.com/

cmon, he has bibles in all of his hotel rooms, very respectable guy

I am kinda lol'ing at the idea that Christians have a "favorite" testament. "Sure, the New Testament has Jesus, but the Old Testament has all the raping and pillaging and genocide and shit"

Really you just pick and chose whatever best justifies your actions at the moment.

shoulda gone with:

This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth

For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

"it is easier for a pig to pass through the eye of a needle..."

Not entirely germane, but I don't post much in the other politics threads anymore, so I might as well put this here:

http://www.vox.com/2015/8/27/9214015/tech-nerds-politics

Jeb Lund posted it to his FB, mentioning that it's one of the few times Vox lives up to its potential. It starts out by getting into the weird techno libertarianism thing exhibited by Bay Area rich types and expands to a deconstruction of most of American politics currently.

Also helps debunk the voter identification of "independent," "moderate," and "the center."

Everywhere I go, it's Jeb this, jeb that. Jeb Jeb Jeb. Jeez!

Was wondering, do any of the presidential wannabes conceal carry guns? I've gotta assume they are all or mostly all pro that. It'd add a nice extra dimension to debates or campaign stops seeing a gun handle popping out of their jackets.

xxpost - loved that article - thanks!

xposts

that's funny, i started reading that vox article a few hours ago (mainly clicked because i saw it was written by david roberts. he's one of the very best people on environment/energy, and he moved to vox just a few months ago, from grist. david roberts is great!) and early on in the article he references an article on AI at waitbutwhy.com and i've been in that wormhole ever since.

That is a deep rathole.

this is a thing I never thought I would say: that Vox article is really, really good

similar article on politics from the same author, last week, focusing on climate wonks: http://www.vox.com/2015/8/20/9179001/clean-energy-political-economy

do any of the presidential wannabes conceal carry guns?

they have people for that

Yeah, but so do we all. The more the merrier!

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2015/08/25/white-evangelical-voters-donald-trump-and-the-evolution-of-the-religious-right/

Neat bit getting into how religious conservatives are going into Trump's camp, and points out the history of their post-1976 political involvement. Also that until rather recently, most of them were pointedly fixated on the Evil Empire, rather than say genital politics.

personally, I celebrate the bible's entire catalog

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

http://i.imgur.com/Bam6cbD.jpg

I mean, ok, your shit keeps checking out.

http://i.imgur.com/DkcUi7G.gif

Voters still gonna think you're the Subway guy, Jareb.

http://prospect.org/article/no-cost-extremism

I think that the notion that all that needs to happen for a return to political / electoral sanity ("return") is ultimately fanciful: that the GOP merely needs to reveals its racist core and the people (those who matter, i.e. voters) will be automatically / magically repulsed, without any further effort from anyone else. That's not how political change comes about, of course, at least not in the US.

Or to put it another way, when a country is forged in racism and abets it for (more than) a century, it'll take more than 8 years to undo its effects.

I love something a friend posted yesterday:

Halperin: What’s you third favourite book?
Trump: Third favourite? [Brief pause.] Finnegans Wake. Just incredible that book. I love Joyce. She’s a terrific writer. I will be great for women, by the way.

ha!

Oh yes Rick Perry carries; I recall a story a while back about him going jogging with his gun and his dog (as one does) and shooting a coyote or possibly a bear or rattler or hobo that was threatening the dog (as one does).

Ah yes here we go

Perry said he carries his .380 Ruger -- loaded with hollow-point bullets -- when jogging on trails because he is afraid of snakes. But when a coyote came out of the brush toward his daughter's Labrador retriever....

'MURICA!

your gun enthusiasts would consider a .380 womanish, i think perry is trying to be self-effacing there

but the ambition required to assume you can bullseye a snake with a handgun (which sounds like a feat to someone who has never shot a gun before) makes up some of that ground imo

i was kidding (kind of)