2020 US Presidential Election

It is really a false dream because Trump was born already filthy rich and privileged.

 

Trump decided to keep the stock and real estate bubble rolling, but for how long? I think we will all know the truth after the election, no matter who wins.

The real estate bubble in the US is just insane.

 

You are against the police unions and you are voting for their endorsed candidate. Even if your criticisms of the Democrats are fair, that doesn’t mean Trump is better.

 

American Dream may mean many things to people (freedom of speech, for example), but generally people think of the American Dream as financial independence and having a comfortable lifestyle (house, car, job, etc.) I don't think most Trump supporters actually aspire to be like him, a millionaire/billionaire with model wives, etc. They primarily like him for his policy positions. Trump supporters also genuinely like Trump as a person (as one can see from the wild crowds at the rallies). Getting to his level of wealth would be difficult unless one is extremely intelligent/sharp in the business world. However, it is doable to live as middle-class or upper-middle class in this country (depending on the profession, of course).

What is holding back a lot of people nowadays is consumerism and debt (student loans, credit card, new cars versus used cars, maxing out home loans to buy the biggest home, etc.), whereas I believe people several decades ago lived within their means more often (post-WWII homes often look quite modest). With a large student loan payment, which might be as high as a mortgage, it would be hard to get ahead in life especially if the degree is in a low-paying field. However, one can avoid a high student loan debt by choosing a cheaper school or going to a lesser tier school where one is offered a scholarship (as in my case). So, in many cases, the reason why people are not living the American Dream comes down to personal responsibility. I know several people in my age group who are unemployed - they got advanced degrees in the liberal arts. Meanwhile, I have a single mom friend around my age who is a successful realtor - that's the American Dream.

The unfair reality is that disabled and sick people have to work harder than healthy people; I don't see another way around this. A cripple man will have a harder time walking than a healthy man. No matter how many Acts are passed or incentives provided by the government to benefit disabled people, private firms are hesitant to hire disabled people due to decreased productivity, which is a challenge.

 

There are no politicians, Republican or Democrat, who will say that they do not want police unions. None. Trump is endorsed by *SOME* of the many police unions, but most do not endorse anybody. Defunding the police, which some places, such as NYC, have tried, is a terrible idea. The only way to really clean up police departments, is to get rid of the unions so that bad cops can be fired, before they kill unjustly. Anything else, other than firing the bad cops, is a waste of time, will do very little good or will make things worse. If BLM, and other groups, do not recognize this, I'm sorry to say, they are bound to fail and police brutality will continue, with more deaths at the hands of bad cops.

 

Not fully knowledgeable of Qanon and their core beliefs, but it is a fringe group. Mainstream conservatives are not conspiracy theorists, and would not take their conspiracies seriously. However, I believe many conservatives and Trump may view the group as, an enemy of enemy of your friend, since there are some shared sentiments on the Left, Hollywood, etc.

 

Many police unions, including the largest in the country, have endorsed Trump.

And I agree they need to get rid of police unions. I just don’t know why do you act like Trump is the candidate that’ll fight them. They clearly don’t think so. They’re behind him.

Or if you don’t think that, why do you only attack Biden for supporting them?

 

First of all, I don't think that I have ever attacked Biden for supporting the police unions. The Democrats do have an edge on the Republicans, as far as closeness with unions, which includes the police unions.

Trump is not stupid enough to "defund the police." This is something that de Blasio tried to do in NYC, and it failed miserably, during the summer of 2020, and beyond, with an increase in gun violence, murder, and other crimes. He is a Socialist-orientated Reformer of the worst type, and is a member of the Democratic Party. REAL Socialists are against the police unions.

If we let the unions exist, we run the risk of police brutality, from some maladjusted, incompetent, sadistic or psychotic cops, who are in the very small minority. The people who suffer the most, when the police are defunded, are those in the poor neighborhoods. If we really want to stop the police brutality and killings, the unions have to go. But, the Democrats, the ones that are shouting the loudest, refuse to admit this, even though they know very well, that it's true.

From NYC, this story, yesterday, did not mention a single word about the police unions. If we want to have low crime, we must let the police do their jobs. De Blasio and Cuomo, both Dem0crats, fighting like two little boys, while the NYC, and probably other cities in NYS, burns.

https://www.politico.com/states/new...e-blasio-cuomo-clash-over-nypd-reform-1318592

I will never, in a hundred million years, ever vote Democrat, again.

 

You’re picking isolated incidents, crime is up in Republican cities also. Cities like Miami, Tulsa, Jacksonville, etc with Republican leadership have crime up too. How do you explain that?

And yeah democrats in general support unions but in the case of police unions, they failed to get their endorsement. The largest police union in America endorsed Trump and so did many others. Unions endorse based on who’s going to serve union interests and they’ve overwhelming made their choice.

Finally, Biden has said he’s not for the defund the police movement.

 

I don't follow all the riots close enough to make a real judgment on BLM. I'm more interested in the fall out on a national and geographical scale and national and international security.

It seems many people are taking advantage of the riots to loot, cause violence and just cause general trouble. How many of these are true BLM followers is difficult to say. But the snippets I've seen of trespassing, hassling diners and so on are pretty repulsive, and they seem to be thriving on their newfound power which is being legitimised by certain politicians and others.

The figure of 93% of protests being non violent. Even if we take that figure at face value, what does it really include, i.e. just violence or also trespassing, harassment and looting etc? And as the protests are so widespread that 7% actually still represents a lot of protests: "Their report states that more than 2,400 locations reported peaceful protests, while fewer than 220 reported “violent demonstrations.”" That is, 220 is a big number, isn't it?

 

The support of the largest police union is impressive, but it's the first time this has been done. I do not feel that the bad cops are his fault, he's only been a politician for 3 years. He certainly doesn't need their money, it's about votes and the public confidence.

Whichever party is in power, the cop unions stay, because everybody is on their side. If I have to pick which of the two stupid sides, it will not be Biden's crowd. I would rather have deal with the religious nuts, and the gun lobby, than the utter madness of what the Democrats have unleashed on this country.

 

I have followed it, fairly closely.

What is the source of this supposed 93/7%?
Yeah, that number is obviously high but how are you, how is anyone getting that number? Did you ask them all? ;-)

I think it's higher. It would take several posts for me to express my perspective on this. BLM is relatively silent on the violence. Their vision of culpability is cops/whites. They view 'justice' as prosecuting and punishing cops and whites. They don't care about law or implementation of the law. They are overly focused on color. Their color.

Did you read up anything about the Taylor incident? It's another case of the MSM fabricating and twisting the story. The msm portrayed her as this innocent EMT. The reality is she hadn't been one for several months. Her residence was a drug drop-off or pick-up site. Her ex and current bf were both criminals. The police thought that the ex was there. Allegedly, the bf used her as a human shield and that's why she was shot and not him. He fired first. The police there obviously bungled up the case but no one is disputing that.

Anyway, the police/unions is another topic on here I see. I will summarize my opinion on that. Wanting to eliminate unions is undemocratic. I find that an alarming position for Americans. The police department will always have issues and problems. Corruption is always a problem in any level of government. Also, look at the personality of policemen and what kind of people apply and pursue that profession. It's probably different than ours. They are also usually Alpha and 'Type A." They might have issues with their scrutiny and evaluation but it doesn't mean they need to defund and dismantle everything?!? You can't ever eliminate all the problems anyway.

What is ignored are the criminal element. Black on black crime and criminals of every color. This is not addressed and is ignored. Distrust and even hatred of cops is widely prevalent but some still call the police when there's a crime or violence. If the police department is underfunded significantly, it's possible no one even shows up. Some departments have been defunded already and the crime rate in those areas have increased. Police are often resisted and many criminals are armed and fight back. Police are trained with that in mind and many have even experienced it. Imagine having that occupation and having to realize that reality? Okay, I guess my reply has become too lengthy. What do you think? I guess no one will agree with me. Sorry to waste bandwidth in the forum.

 

Maybe you're right that it's too early to reach to conclusions and it only concerns a bunch of interesting people who almost clamp to everything that isn't mainstream.

It's just weird that we get to see it in our country quite recently. A few days ago, there was a protest in Amsterdam, organised by a Qanon organisation that has about 12.000 supporters locally(!). Just like in America, they were scolding things like that the liberal elite has an international pedophilia network, that the royal family is also involved in this nasty stuff and that the mainstream media is hiding this from us. All this feels so surreal sometimes.

 

I’m not saying it’s all Trump’s fault. I’m saying that you’re telling us that the cop unions are evil and then actively encouraging people to vote for their candidate. I know he doesn’t need their money, but if a union endorses you, you’re probably better for union interests. Not that Biden will do much against them. But Democrats in Congress have shown more willingness to buck their interests. For example, the Democrats passed bill in the house that ended qualified immunity. The police unions hate that.

And I find it interesting you keep saying Democrats unleashed chaos. Crime is also up in Republican cities. Do you have an explanation for that? If it’s all the Democrats’ fault, why don’t Republican cities set an example?

 

Wow, 12,000 supporters isn't a handful for sure.

It really is surreal. Only one thing would be stranger... that it was actually all true!

 

I actually agree with parts of this; although I strongly disagree that Trump is the one to get there. One reason why I don't consider myself to be a hard lefty is that I think too many Millennials go to college without a plan. The "free college" talking points are almost always strawmen; find the person with the most debt and the major that has the fewest job prospects and paint that as the college experience. The actual reality is that most STEM majors -- or people with capacity to crunch numbers and use software -- typically do quite well after college. I believe universities suffer from a quality problem. There are tons of people who aren't suited for academics; college professors become over-worked high school-like instructors, rather than experts to guide the people who are the most suited. However, I do think it's unfair to pin the high interest rates (and the absurdly high tuitions) all on the students. It's utterly unacceptable for a student loan to be comparable to a mortgage, even if one picks a non-lucrative major. Moreover, there's a good argument to be made that certain majors are underpaid (such as social services, biologists).

Nonetheless, trade jobs are underrated. There are 18 year olds, straight out of high school, who pick trade jobs and immediately have more consumer power. According to this arguing for them,

Anyways, educational choices aside, it is clear that the middle class suffers from income inequality. The numbers are staggering, and it's clear what is going on. Rich people can take more risks (that aren't really risks in this game) and getting even richer, gaining even more spending/investing power. Trump is not the person to fix this problem (Biden probably isn't either).

See: https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/

As far as disabled/sick people having to work harder, I think I just disagree on the line where it becomes ridiculous. Trump is very clearly on the wrong side of this issue. Due to COVID-19, he suspended payroll taxes in order to give people more spending power. But his plan, in his own words, is to make this permanent. For optics, he alleges that Social Security will be funded through general revenue or a "transferal of funds." In reality, this is just fancy language to cut social security. I am especially concerned with this issue since I will likely be severely disabled for a long time. My career has ended.

Even looking at a fair, fact-checked version of this, there is definitely at least some truth to him cutting social security.

As far as disability policy directly, here is an article from the Huffington Post outlining how Trump is planning on redefining full-time work to be 30 hours per week instead of 40. This will lead to fewer benefits.

I know someone who is very bright and successful. He has been denied disability because he has a rare disease. I have a rare disease and will almost surely be denied because it is diagnosed "by exclusion of other disorders," despite having an ambitious track record. This is really serious stuff compared to a few rich guys having to cough up more in taxes. Between the reduction in payroll taxes and the consideration of vocational factors, Trump wants to callously decimate benefits for the disabled. We don't have to accept this. Disabled people can live a dignified life.

 

Are these Q politicians already elected? Or do you mean that they are almost sure of a win in the next local elections? I can only find this list of candidates who pledged allegiance to the QAnon (and some of them stand a chance in republican leaning districts/states):

Marjorie Taylor Greene - Congressional District Georgia
Jo Rae Perkins - Senate Oregon
Lauren Boebert. - Congressional District Colorado
Mike Cargile -Congressional District California
Theresa Raborn -House Illinois
Erin Cruz - House California

 

I'll give Trump one thing: he's got good endurance, i.e. he's in 2-3 places a day at rallies etc. I just can't see Biden being able to do that with the same energy, and Trump is only 3 years younger.

 

They were elected in the primaries and their heavy support of (and "allegiance" to) Q was not a deterrent. I didn't mean to imply they were active in Congress at the moment but soon some presumably will be.

 

Biden tells GOP to summon their conscience regarding the fairness of voting in a new supreme court nominee.

The following is how Ted Cruz's conscience works. Ted Cruz goes to a Pizza Hut and sees a teenager in the parking lot looking to buy weed. He goes inside and sees that there are oregano packets available for customers, with a sign saying "please take a maximum of five packets." Ted takes six, puts the oregano in a baggie, and sells the fake weed to the teenager for a nice profit. He then feels bad for the CEO of Pizza Hut about taking an extra oregano packet so he promises him a large tax cut in return. Ted doesn't feel bad for the teenager because that was the beautiful free market at hand. Also, he didn't sell him actual weed, which is a big no-no in his world.

 

Fake news! Ted Cruz is way too awkward to sell weed to a teenager without looking like an undercover cop.

 

I hope everyone is going to be here for the debate on Tuesday night. It’s sure to be a hell of an event.

 

He's also too busy writing cryptic letters to the press in an elaborate cypher after committing a series of murders.

 

NY Times: Trump paid $750 in US income taxes in 2016, 2017

Donald Trump is a crook.

 

You're wrong. When he does it, it's smart. But if I were to collect $750 in disability, I would be gaming the system.

 

In before someone says "it's smart to not pay taxes and good accountants..."

If he's lying about his wealth and income, it means he also defrauded banks into giving him building loans based on the fake income.

And if he's *not* lying about his income then he really is millions in debt (some of which he personally owes) and that's a huge security risk not to mention a horrible business man who should not be lecturing anyone about the economy.

I guess bankrupting a casino was the red flag after all.

And, of course, there is this gem:

 

What do we see happening tomorrow in the first debate?

Biden is going to bring up:

- Trunp's tax
- Covid
- Nomination for the Supreme Court
- BLM and police

Trump is going to bring up:

- Biden's son's shady Russian dealings and Ukraine
- Biden's health
- His nomination for a noble prize for his recent peace deals
- Out of control rioting
- Biden's VP choice (Harris)

What else?

 

Long-Concealed Records Show Trump’s Chronic Losses and Years of Tax Avoidance

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html

Wow... what a patriot! He does not even pay taxes!

 

Trump should probably not bring up his peace Prize nomination considering it was done by a far right wing Norwegian politician (Christian Tybring-Gjedde) who doesn't even believe climate change is real, under the rule that any member of Norwegian parliament can do this.

He did the same political stunt and nominated Trump a few years ago for the prize and it was ignored. The difference is that Trump is acting like he won it this time so it's getting press but he doesn't have a realistic chance. I suppose none of this means he won't bring it up though, Trump being Trump.

If he brings up Biden's mental health, he should nail Trump with this one. They don't give you the cognitive test he bragged about acing to Chris Wallace unless they have concerns.

He should also bring up Trump's dissemination doctored videos of him:

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-biden-asleep-altered-idUSKBN25S63S

He should really hammer him on that. He is always shouting "fake news!" but he is nothing but fake news himself.

Trump has already had to pivot since Biden did so well at the Town Hall by saying he must by taking performance enhancing drugs.

Two things Trump could legitimately go after Biden for are drone strikes in the Obama administration which led to innocent people dying and the fact that the Obama administration deported more people than any other president (including Trump), which makes Biden a hypocrite on supporting sanctionary cities now.

 

Anyone watch Game of Thrones (before it sucked)?

Trump is Xaro Xhoan Daxos.