Educate a foreigner on the US Election.
Canadian looking for an American opinion
As a Canadian in the comfort of my own country i can't help but be completely immersed in frankly what i would call the circus of the republican primary. I've received a few opinions which has provided some general knowledge of how they feel about Trump (some positive, some negative) but i am curious to hear the overall opinion of the board, especially Republicans who support or plan to support Trump in the GE in November of why you think he makes such a good candidate?
I was reading an article the other day about how Clinton and Trump are polling at record highs in terms of being the most unfavorable candidates in the last 10 election cycles.
Do you think this may open up an opportunity for a independent to have a strong showing in November?
Who do you think will win between a Trump/Clinton show down if no independent?
If your candidate wins, what change do you hope they will bring that led you to vote for them? or was the vote simply to block the other candidate from potentially winning?
Interested to hear the opinions of all those on this board as I know we have some very intelligent posters who can share some very interesting insight.
I am a Democrat and will not be voting for Trump in the GE but I understand his appeal. He makes a few good points and there is a meta-narrative in his discourse that makes some kind of sense. Basically, he stands up for the little guy, a constituency Republicans have forgotten about. Free trade has hurt American workers, regardless of any other benefits it may bring. He acknowledges that and claims he will create trade deals that stop exporting jobs. He supports improved medical care for veterans (who are mostly of the little guy class). He supports immigration reform, mainly as a way to keep immigrants from competing for "American" jobs. He favors no taxes below annual incomes of $50 K for families. So it's something and whether you agree or not, it's clear how the appeal works.
There's also the incendiary, divisive rhetoric. It's not nice but it works, I believe, for two reasons.
First, there is certainly a white American resentment for Mexicans, the Chinese, Muslims, etc, especially if you are on the lower rungs economically. Obviously, there's an ugly racist element at work here. But he does the same thing, even more so, to other candidates, politicians in general, reporters, etc. No one has a lot of sympathy for those people to begin with but if you are a guy who feels screwed by "the system", personally attacking its members is just another plus.
Second, and I think more importantly, this type of rhetoric establishes Trump as his own guy. He's not a politician and says whatever he wants. People like that and it's refreshing even if you disagree with it, as I do. His views of political correctness btw, which has entrenched itself like terminal cancer in the U.S., are right on the mark.
Whether a third party has a strong showing or not (relative to normal US presidential standards), it doesn't mean that they have any realistic chance of getting elected. Not as long as we still have a FPTP (first-past-the-post) voting system. The best they can do is pull a Ralph Nader and act as a spoiler by pulling away more votes from one of the two major parties thus handing the election over to the other party.
Unfortunately, the latter. Lesser of two evils...
Nader was just a potential spoiler, but Perot got 20% of the vote which is enough that someone doing only modestly better could win in a three way race.
A strong, credible candidate (which Nader wasn't) who has sufficient backing and resources (which Nader didn't), and doesn't screw up (as Perot did) absolutely could win. I don't see it happening this time around. For one thing, it is very late in the process to organize, gain recognition and support, and get ballot access. When Perot ran, he announced it in February. No one is doing that this year, and several of the possible candidates have ruled it out.
~My thoughts as my own
Why he makes a good candidate? He doesn't follow suit to establishment direction. Opponents of the free world have some what of an expected American response. He claims to offer uncertainty, capitalism, free markets and "people wont be starving on the street if he is president".
He also can claim no affiliation with establishment politics which makes him more attractive to general populace. "It's not tree free trade; it's stupid trade. China dumps everything that they have over here." I wonder how he plans to bring free markets? Bernie and Him agree on that fine point -- I think. ;)
He seems more human and I think that is his strength. I am very centrist and independent.
Independents that may stand a chance are Mcafee, Gary Johnson and Bernie. I know Bernie says he is a democrat, which he certainly aligns with, but let's be real he makes Democrats that are post-Reagan look like they align with neo-cons.
Trump will win if it is Clinton v Trump in my honest opinion. Can't stump the Trump is very relevant here and as somewhat of an intellectual I understand how mind-boggling that is. But human nature dominates the conservative idea whether you want it to or not. He is flinging out his answers on a whim (trade sucks when people want to take advantage of you, no-one takes human rights serious and they should, we can be friends with old enemies, drugs need to be addressed here in the states, fundamentalists are fucking nuts and need to WAKE THE FUCK UP) and does so with EMPHASIS. He is not fearful. He will not allow people to blow themselves up over some stupid 2 thousand year fantasy.
If my candidate wins, I hope we will fall back as A state within the international community rather than the STATE of the International community.
This is choppy as I am at work. Hope it makes sense..
They're all the same, working for the same people and same goal. I don't need a king or queen. I live on a private road that we all in the community built and maintain, without government intervention. We also split the fee for the trash container at the end of the road, voluntarily. And we keep an eye on each other's property, so no need for outside security. So I don't vote, but even if I didn't live where I do, I still wouldn't vote. :)
Kunstler does a bang up job explaining how I feel about this circus... you got that part right.
http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/odious-versus-tedious/