America's Darkest Days II: Blackest Night

[Colin]

I just can't see how his support base can be accepting about him costing up to Russia, they hate those "god damn commies".

[MartyG]

He is the very model of a very stable genius: https://twitter.com/RandyRainbow/sta...32583961448450

Also: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-f...the-right-way/

Trump's favourite world leaders: Putin, Erdogan, Kim Jong-Un & Duterte.

[Asura]

I just can't see how his support base can be accepting about him costing up to Russia, they hate those "god damn commies".

It's bizarre. I mean really, really bizarre. I've seen stuff in the past few weeks that genuinely makes me rethink the whole "we're living in a simulation" theory, because I'm starting to see some bugs. It's like the political equivalent of how Havoc Physics gets weird if you go more than 10k units away from the world-centre; stuff is going off the rails.

I'll be honest, I dislike Trump and his politics, but I'm also mindful of the filter bubble. I suspect much of what I "know" about him and his actions is a result of the biased journalism that the internet serves me. I suspect he's still a detestable person, but I also feel there's an element of "not attributing to malice what could be attribuited to ignorance" going on. Like the media makes him out to be some kind of inhuman monster when he's just something of an arse; a right-wing doddering granddad who somehow has the nuclear button when I wouldn't trust him with the TV remote.

However, the President of the United States has sided with Russia over the advice of the CIA and FBI. Let that sink in. I can hardly believe it.

[MartyG]

You've got a completely unfiltered access to who Trump is through his twitter account.

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah, there is no filter bubble here. He is completely transparent and nothing needs be interpreted before it gets to you. We have direct access to everything now. I'm less and less convinced about how relevant filter bubbles are.

[Asura]

Yeah, there is no filter bubble here. He is completely transparent and nothing needs be interpreted before it gets to you. We have direct access to everything now. I'm less and less convinced about how relevant filter bubbles are.

I'm more and more convinced about them, purely because he's in power - when the unfettered access to things like Twitter makes me believe it would be impossible without them. There are people who are utterly, utterly convinced about a viewpoint that I find logically impossible from where I'm sitting. I've seen video footage and posts online of people in the UK during his recent visit who love the guy; like they really love him and his politics.

To me, that's like people saying 5+5 is 11, or that they've found a triangle where the angles in it add up to 250 degrees. That's the level of confusion I have over the matter. I just don't get it.

I can only assume they're seeing as much positive news about him as I'm seeing negative.

The Twitter thing is certainly true, however, I strongly believe that Trump just says whatever everyone in the room wants to hear, or what his supporter base want to hear right now. Twitter's an extension of that. He's a crowd-pleaser. I bet if he was at a Pride rally he'd endorse same-sex marriage just as much as he'll support guns at a gun rally.

I'm not saying "he's an okay guy who just says what people want" - I still think he's a wanker.

I dunno. I just think we live in very strange times and I'm trying to make sense of it, and y'know, I'm really struggling.

[MartyG]

Sometimes, a spade is just a spade.

[Dogg Thang]

Oh I believe they exist and I believe they have an effect. Sorry, I meant specifically with our own view of Trump. I think it's that all filter bubbles are not equal. The claims that we don't get opposing viewpoints don't seem to be true - I only have to look on Twitter or Facebook to see that, actually, the claims that I'm in a filter bubble don't seem to be represented in the trash fire I am being presented with. And as we say, Trump is there for all to see unfiltered. But could filter bubbles be responsible for him being where he is? Absolutely but I think we're then talking very narrow filter bubbles such as those who just watch Fox News or get their news from the Daily Mail. There may well be plenty of these people but their bubbles are not comparable to someone who is better informed. It's not like we're all in filter bubbles that narrow. Far from it. I think a huge amount of us are well informed and the filter bubble thing is less relevant to us.

[QualityChimp]

Yeah, but there's loads of people who believe what they are told by the Daily Mail and Fox News and don't have the means to question it.
Heck, there are plenty of people who DO have the means to question it but don't.
No bendy bananas, Obama isn't American, All the EU money will go to the NHS, Obama wants to ban all guns.

[QualityChimp]

In fact, I saw @Soundwave posted his hatred of Piers Morgan on Twitter and I wanted to point out that he'd recently interviewed Trump on Air Force One and we should have made terrorists think that Morgan is the most important person in England (which would work a treat as that's something he probably believes and would actively promote) and let them know when they're meeting on Air Force One and...

->Open Spoiler<-

However, Twitter is a horrible place and feared gun totin' Trump zealots would track me down.

[Neon Ignition]

The percentage of scum-level voter who actively endorse him at this point always existed but I don't believe they exist in anywhere near the numbers required to elect him. I see it as:

X% of core, rancid Republican voters
X% of racist voters still upset about Obama

The difference, the real key one is to me likely to be the voter who was so utterly fed up at feeling like the Democrats weren't listening to them anymore that they cast their vote in protest to someone they felt was highly unlikely to win but would scare the Dems into finally changing and being more responsive to their concerns. Unfortunately the naff US voting system meant he met the bar to win and they're likely reeling in horror ever since.

I know it's famous last words and all, and after the last time, Brexit etc it may seem foolish to say this but I quite honestly have no concerns about Trump getting a second term. I just can't envisage a scenario where he gets enough of a support base to get in again. He was borderline last time and second terms always see a big drop off for Presidents which he can't afford to receive. I can't see him being able to win back the more rational, borderline voter when the truth of him is so blatant and horrific. The last elections joke element is long gone which is why I feel many world politicians play so softly with him, they're waiting him out and already anticipating dealing with his replacement and a return to normal service.

[prinnysquad]

Saw a meme that amused me today.

Putin standing next to Trump.
Putin: ‘Go ahead. Tell them your name.’
Trump: ‘My name is Reek.’

[MartyG]

Trump read out a statement about the election interference about an hour ago. It went:

"Let me be totally clear in saying that — and I've said this many times, I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place. Could be other people also. A lot of people out there."

So he immediately contradicted himself as soon as he'd finished reading the scripted part.

It's also now being claimed that when Trump told reporters that Putin had forcefully denied that Russia was to blame for the election-meddling efforts and said “I don’t see any reason why it would be.” that what he actually meant to say was "I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be.".

And if you believe that, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I'm beginning to think that the man is a genius. Keep em guessing.
There is so much mud to sling at him now that come election time the opposition won't know what to do and fail to make anything stick with the voters. I predict a landslide vote for a 2 term.

[Dogg Thang]

I'm beginning to think that the man is a genius.

BREAKING: the man is not a genius.