The 2016 US Election Thread

[matedog]

FWIW, James and I discuss the election:


Podcasts with myself and Jon and myself and Gene to come.

Is this all election discussion or is it also Dr. Who nerdlinger stuff?

That was the one thing keeping me from digging into their Dr. Who podcast.

[Dr. Medulla]

Thomas Frank interviewed about how the Democrats blew it: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayeditio ... -1.3847670

Most of what he says will have people here nodding. A few things stood out for me. The first is that he argues that it's always been about class and status, even during the culture wars, and that's something the Democrats fooled themselves into thinking was not relevant. He also put it quite well how the Democrats have so poorly handled the working class in terms of politics. They negotiate trade deals like NAFTA that exacerbate the decline of blue-collar jobs then turn around and tell these newly unemployed/underemployed that it's their own damned fault for not developing skills to get new jobs. It's a cold-heartedness that liberals like to associate with Republicans, but that's what you get when you move the party further and further to the right. The one thing that struck me as a bit off was on the one hand stating that the Democrats have a vast institutional and ideological problem, but then also emphasizing how uniquely awful a candidate Clinton was, and that pretty much any other candidate—not just Sanders but Biden or O'Malley—could have won. Yes, Clinton did embody all the things that people hate about contemptuous corporate liberals, but there's a bit too much of a switch from ideology to personality. Unless Frank was suggesting that Biden or O'Malley could have eked out a win in spite of everything else, which, well, sure maybe.

The way they could have really not fucked over large swathes of the country with globalization would be to say, "okay, these jobs are going overseas, we really need to pump a ton of a funding in the form of education, etc. to ensure the depression isn't too sustained.

That's one of the things that Frank alluded to. In any economic disruption—and free trade is a massive disruption—there are going to be losers. It's incumbent about a government, especially one led by a party with its modern roots as advocate for the working class, to both explain what has happened and to alleviate the pain, not turn around and chastise people for their mannerisms and lack of access to skills that are pricey to obtain. It was a double-fail on that count.

[Rat Patrol]

FWIW, James and I discuss the election:


Podcasts with myself and Jon and myself and Gene to come.

Is this all election discussion or is it also Dr. Who nerdlinger stuff?

That was the one thing keeping me from digging into their Dr. Who podcast.

I know! Jeez...less "Who won the day?" hot-takes, more "Are Daleks capable of feeling love?"

[Dr. Medulla]

[Mimi]

[Silent Majority]

FWIW, James and I discuss the election:


Podcasts with myself and Jon and myself and Gene to come.

Is this all election discussion or is it also Dr. Who nerdlinger stuff?

That was the one thing keeping me from digging into their Dr. Who podcast.

We might get you onboard in about a year, in that case.

[Wolter]

FWIW, James and I discuss the election:


Podcasts with myself and Jon and myself and Gene to come.

Is this all election discussion or is it also Dr. Who nerdlinger stuff?

That was the one thing keeping me from digging into their Dr. Who podcast.

We might get you onboard in about a year, in that case.

I know most of my recurring guest appearances have been three people assiduously avoiding actually talking about Doctor Who.

[Dr. Medulla]

I understand his point and in the abstract I even agree with it—it's better that the mask has been ripped off. And, hopefully, it creates a necessary urgency on the growing underclass to establish a proper leftist political movement. However, in practice it's playing with fire. There's no assurances that this doesn't just end up in undisguised police states and more widespread war.

[BostonBeaneater]

Sick burn lady:

http://www.warren.senate.gov/files/docu ... Letter.pdf

Should you have any questions about the types of advisors you could choose who would
more adequately represent the needs of the American people, please do not hesitate to reach out
to my office. I would be more than happy to provide you with a list of qualified advisers and
potential nominees.

[Flex]

Here's me 'n' Gene 'n' Kim discussing next steps in Trump's America:


Now with less Doctor Who than ever! (which is to say, absolutely none)

[BostonBeaneater]

Here's me 'n' Gene 'n' Kim discussing next steps in Trump's America:


Now with less Doctor Who than ever! (which is to say, absolutely none)

Do advocate violence? I'm starting to believe it would be a good idea.

[Mimi]

Not sure if you guys are seeing it in your twitter timeline like I do in mine, but I'm really getting irritated with all these threads popping up about "white feelings." There seems to be an awful lot of hand-wringing.

Maybe I'm just in a bad mood.

[eumaas]

Here's me 'n' Gene 'n' Kim discussing next steps in Trump's America:


Now with less Doctor Who than ever! (which is to say, absolutely none)

Do advocate violence? I'm starting to believe it would be a good idea.

I advocate self defense but try to do it in a way where neither of us could be accused of advocating violence.

I do outright say we should steal medicine if it comes to it.

I was drinking Japanese whisky.

[BostonBeaneater]

Here's me 'n' Gene 'n' Kim discussing next steps in Trump's America:


Now with less Doctor Who than ever! (which is to say, absolutely none)

Do advocate violence? I'm starting to believe it would be a good idea.

I advocate self defense but try to do it in a way where neither of us could be accused of advocating violence.

I do outright say we should steal medicine if it comes to it.

I was drinking Japanese whisky.

I drank a litre of Ancient Age in 24 hours once. Once being last weekend.

[Dr. Medulla]

Here's me 'n' Gene 'n' Kim discussing next steps in Trump's America:


Now with less Doctor Who than ever! (which is to say, absolutely none)

Just listened to the one with you and James—he really does have an FM deejay quality to his voice—and about a half hour of the one with Gene and Kim (I'll pick it up again later, perhaps tonight, depending on what I'm doing). I appreciate your more practical, nuts & bolts discussion, as much of the stuff that has obsessed me is of the intellectual/cultural historical roots to all this, or perhaps the non-electioneering aspect where we got to this point.

(How can you not know the ins and outs of the electoral college? For shame!)

edit: Finished listening to the rest. A feminist scholar I know once mocked Oprah fans as "women who nod"—i.e., shots of the audience always showed women nodding along to the conversation—but I was pretty much nodding along with Gene's assessment of things.