posted May 04, 2016 09:16 PM            

Wait! What?!?

Indulge me for a moment...

Both are popularists running in a "outsider" friendly environment.
Neither has a strong allegiance to their adopted parties.
Both together can stake out the Independents, the largest faction of voters.
Bernie gives Trump access to women and the 20 something vote.
Such a ticket has the possibility of reshaping both major parties.

In response, Hillary should consider naming Jeb Bush as VP. Both have deep ties to their parties, Wall Street, and the lobbies. Both, for all their rhetoric, are moderates, and pro authoritian.

posted May 05, 2016 01:19 PM            

I'd see those two loathing each other. Though with Trump, you wouldn't be able to tell if he loathed Bernie for refusing to shut up about ethics and constitutional law rather than bowing down before him or if it was just his usual contempt.

posted May 05, 2016 02:39 PM            

My reaction is covered by PJ`s initial post.

Altho, Trumps ego would be so blown up he may not even hear Bernies input on ethics and constitutional law...

posted May 06, 2016 01:47 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Randall:
I don't think this will happen.

---

I don't either. Both because of the egos involved and because of the differences in proposed solutions. Ironically, they are both identifying the same problems. Then again, I believe that the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street crowd were both protesting against the same things as well, before both movements were co-opped by politics. One saw big government overreaching, while the other saw big business doing so. What they failed to realize is that Government and Business were equal partners in that overreach.

I'm not saying that Trump-Sanders is by any stretch my ideal ticket, or that I would even vote for them. I would however welcome the reframing of our politics from left-right to insider-populist, if for no other reason that to show that "The People" still have a voice.

quote:

---

Originally posted by PixieJane:
So what do you think a Trump-Bernie presidency would be like?

---

IF they could find common ground... Say by letting Bernie run domestic policy while Trump handles economic policy... I don't know. It's a reach, no doubt. But if Trump could convert Sanders, I'd have more faith in his skills to make deals and not just pontificate. Then again, that might just lead to more overreach of the kind we already have...

quote:

---

Originally posted by Catalina:

Does anyone else wonder what Dumpster will do when he loses?

---

posted May 06, 2016 07:14 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gemini Blues:
I realized a while back that this election not only has no good choices, it doesn't even have a lesser of two evils.

---

posted May 07, 2016 01:35 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Randall:
Trump is the only one left.

---

posted May 07, 2016 08:14 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Catalina:
Gemini ?..My question was not what he will do with his life but how he will react..we have seen how vicious he can get when insulted or feeling "robbed". Shrugging and going back to biz-as-usual might not be his reaction

---

posted May 07, 2016 11:04 PM            

Example of how he's paid politicians to abuse their power (also note that this is one of many failed business enterprises of Trump):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Coking

Vera refused to sell so Trump paid politicians to condemn it and offered her the fourth of its price. Luckily, the courts ultimately ruled against Trump (apparently judges are harder to buy off than politicians).

Some of his lawsuits and the reasons behind them:
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/03/the-lawsuits-of-donald-trump/27381 9/

These are just a few of the reasons why the idea of him as POTUS greatly disturbs me, and pretty minor, all things considered. It's just relevant to what you said.

But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you're so sick of the system and politics as usual that you'd even be willing to embrace Trump. I just wonder how many people with that motivation really know the man's history (and may even hope he accidentally destroys America just as he has failed at plenty of his businesses), and how many are simply voting on pure emotion with little knowledge, perhaps even thinking that since the system is bad, then one who speaks against it is good (and also forget how frequently candidates seeking election promise Change).

Quite a few people want a system collapse with no understanding of what means. Deleting an essay in the making, I'll just say I've encountered too many who think if the government is overthrown that they'll still have power, internet, emergency services, and that the environment will be saved so they can live idyllic lives without modern technology and infrastructure (showing they really don't know what that's like) rather than nuclear power plants melting down. They feel, but don't think. And with that in mind, supporting Trump as a middle finger to the establishment seems pretty minor in comparison.

It's not like people don't actually try something more well thought out. More than once I've signed petitions to adapt the electoral process to be IRV which means people would vote their preferred choice in order and go down the list, and that means they don't have to "vote the lesser evil or throw your vote away" (which means third parties like Libertarian and Green stand a chance). Many opposed to this saying it would never work don't even know Australia already uses this (and something their dominant political parties cried foul over). It was just too complex for most people to even learn about (which I know given their ignorance about it, which is based on what they know, not on whether they come to the same conclusion or opinion as me). Not to say IRV alone would fix everything, but things like that seem better to me than recklessly tearing it all down and hoping for the best. And many who vote have a very superficial understanding of what they vote on and more than once people cried foul when they realized they'd been tricked into voting for the opposite of what they thought they were voting for.

posted May 08, 2016 12:00 AM            

This election is Vladimir Lennon, the Manchurian candidate, and Benito Mussolini, with the Reverend Jim Jones having suspended after losing in Indiana. It's a nightmare.

Already, Romney and Bush are preparing to hand the election to Hillary. We finally see that we have had the one party government all along. If that doesn't scare you, you're not old enough to remember the Soviet Union.

posted May 08, 2016 02:54 AM            

I've met Russians who describe a very different (and much more believable) Russia, even under the Soviet Union. From Brezhnev on, it wasn't anywhere as bad as our propaganda made it. Note, these aren't patriotic Russians who are wistful for the Soviet Union, and they had a very cynical view of the government then and today, but it was still a lot better than the outrageous stories Americans were raised on about life in the Soviet Union.

'Course, the Soviet Union told them outrageous lies about life in the USA, too.

posted May 08, 2016 09:11 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by PixieJane:
Do you remember the Soviet Union?

I've met Russians who describe a very different (and much more believable) Russia, even under the Soviet Union. From Brezhnev on, it wasn't anywhere as bad as our propaganda made it. Note, these aren't patriotic Russians who are wistful for the Soviet Union, and they had a very cynical view of the government then and today, but it was still a lot better than the outrageous stories Americans were raised on about life in the Soviet Union.

'Course, the Soviet Union told them outrageous lies about life in the USA, too.

The Soviet Union (like the USA, or as some have called it, USSA) had many problems, but I bet you have the standard American view of those who try to use the Soviet Union as a scare tactic, which I do not believe. And in many ways, their government is still as corrupt and obnoxious today (with many parties) as it was back in the days of the Soviet Union. Trump's vindictiveness and corruption and jingoism would fit right in, at least today. Granted, so would Hillary in her own way.

---

Do you watch the TV show, The Americans? This season has had more scenes in Russia, and on a forum I visit (Previously.TV), there are discussions going on about what Russia was really like, what happened to spies, or those perceived to be traitors, the way executions were played out, etc. It's interesting. Some people have talked about Russia not being so bad - that they all had jobs, and were taken care of.

posted May 08, 2016 09:53 AM            

I don't know... I don't think I'm going to survive 8 more years like the last 8. I'm the minority that gets blamed for being the cause of everybody else's problems. I'm a white male. And yes, Christian and hetrosexual too. And as a white male over 50 I'm a member of the one demographic in the US for which mortality rates are climbing along with suicide rates, jobless rates, substance abuse rates... I've gone from a good job with insurance to self employment with a tax put on me for being self employed and another tax put on me for being unable to afford insurance, just as I'm getting to the age where I'm going to need that insurance I can't get. But I digress once again...

Let's just keep this election about "good" people are progressive liberals, "bad" people should be shamed... Or shot... Or sent to a gulag. Hillary good, Trump bad. And if you don't agree, well, remember Fort Marcy Park.

posted May 08, 2016 02:18 PM            

edit