We should probably have a little chatter about this. Didn't go as well as Trump had hoped, went pretty badly for him. With Democrats now controlling the house, we can be prepared for some gridlock and i'd say it's now pretty likely that Trumps dear wall, one of his if not his biggest campaign promise, won't be happening for the foreseeable future, if at all.

What say you folks, what else are we in for over these next 2 years now that there's blue in the house and red in the Senate.

Nov 8, 2018 7:26:24 GMT Call said:

We should probably have a little chatter about this. Didn't go as well as Trump had hoped, went pretty badly for him. With Democrats now controlling the house, we can be prepared for some gridlock and i'd say it's now pretty likely that Trumps dear wall, one of his if not his biggest campaign promise, won't be happening for the foreseeable future, if at all.

What say you folks, what else are we in for over these next 2 years now that there's blue in the house and red in the Senate.

It's a double edge sword.   The Dems in the House can block a lot of Trump's agenda, but Trump's control of the Senate means he'll get whatever judges he wants confirmed, including Supreme Court justices.   

So if any side underperformed it was the Democrats, who were expecting "a blue wave" and got little more than a ripple.   The GOP expected to lose the house with many of their House members retiring and others being in vulnerable districts.   And while the Dems can push back against Trump's agenda, they can do very little to set their own, as they don't have the 2/3 majority required to override Trump's vetoes.   And Trump still had executive orders as an option.   

So IMO it's close, but for Trump it was a net win.

I don’t even follow much of US politics anymore, Democrats crying like entitled children was funny the first few times, now it’s just sad.

Crying over Kavanaugh then Beto in a space of a month or more, only so much literally shaking I can read.

I really wish I recalled the podcast where I heard it, but it was a pretty interesting piece on how Republicans have kinda mastered how to wage an effective campaign in this day and age... whereas Democrats are still stuck in old ways and can't figure it out. Which is a shame. I wish politics were a fair fight.

Ultimately, I'm a big fan of checks and balances. So as long as we have a red president, I like the idea of a blue Congress/Senate to help gridlock things. Or alternatively an executive to help veto things. And vice versa reversing colors. In theory, both sides have good ideas and bad ideas. I think it's only through slow and painful compromise and progress towards the middle that the best policy ideas emerge.

So a little more blue on the legislative side seems like a good thing, but yeah... It's an overall bad look still IMO for Democrats.

Speaking of podcasts, I recently listened to an Indicator (I think) with a guest talking about how Democracy is fucked and how this sort of randomized system would work so much more effectively. I kinda agree with him. On both counts. But especially with feeling like democracy is fucked.

Crying over Kavanaugh then Beto in a space of a month or more, only so much literally shaking I can read.

To be fair, I think Beto would have won if Trump hadn't stumped for Cruz in Texas. Honestly I don't think Texans really like Cruz that much. He sounds like friggin Neidenmeyer from Animal House when he speaks, it's the kind of voice you want to slap the dude for speaking.

Beto also raised a fuck ton of money which he (wisely) refused to share with the rest of the Democrats. Not sure what his next move will be, but he'll make a splash somewhere.



Kavanaugh on the other hand that was a total loss for the Democrats.    Every Democratic senator from vulnerable states that opposed his nomination was voted out.   Meanwhile Manchin in West Virginia (overwhelmingly Trump country) voted yes and kept his seat rather easily.    The low tactics Democrats used to oppose his nomination didn't help either.

Other than that tweet, I'm not seeing anything that has Trump as more popular, why do they have this fascination with him being better than Obama?

It went pretty well exactly like everyone that pays attention thought it would. I was a little optimistic that Rep Steve King’s trip to Austria would cost him but he’s untouchable in Northwest Iowa.

Surprised the Dems held on to Montana and West Virginia for another six years, feel like with the map they had Dems did as well as they could in the Senate (though insufferable Hawley over McCaskill will make me sad, I’ve been telling friend she’d lose for a month)

Nov 9, 2018 23:03:28 GMT mikec said:

It went pretty well exactly like everyone that pays attention thought it would. I was a little optimistic that Rep Steve King’s trip to Austria would cost him but he’s untouchable in Northwest Iowa.

Surprised the Dems held on to Montana and West Virginia for another six years, feel like with the map they had Dems did as well as they could in the Senate (though insufferable Hawley over McCaskill will make me sad, I’ve been telling friend she’d lose for a month)

I didn't know Tester kept his seat.  That makes him the only "No for Kavanaugh" vote in Trump country that managed to do so.

That depends on how loose your definition of Trump country. Senators from both Ohio and Pennsylvania were no’s that kept their seat and both states were important to Trump’s path to 270.

If you’re defining Trump country as dependably Republican states only, then I’m not sure that the Kavanaugh vote really meant much one way or the other. The only race I truly paid attention to was Missouri and McCaskills vote didn’t really change her polling position.

Florida is probably the only decent surprise on the map. Well that and Tester. But they were both incredibly tight.

Florida trying to cheat the republicans out with some “new ballots they just found!” mysteriously, two days after Election Day. How is this legal? I don’t know.

This mid term election went great for Trump. 2020 should be a cake walk for him.

Let's be honest, it's just as likely republican interests "lost" those ballots if they end up making a difference. Or they make no difference at all, and it was just an oversight by an always out of sorts government.

Also, that's why it's legal, otherwise one or the other could just displace something until the election's over then, "Whelp, too bad. Election's over."

Nov 10, 2018 10:19:44 GMT KING KID said:

Florida trying to cheat the republicans out with some “new ballots they just found!” mysteriously, two days after Election Day. How is this legal? I don’t know.

This mid term election went great for Trump. 2020 should be a cake walk for him.

It wouldn't be an election without Florida drama.

Florida being an election embarrassment as usual. And it's the same damn counties every time. Broward and Palm Beach.

In terms of how the elections turned I think Trump could have a bigger splash in the House elections if he would have focused a little more on the economy and not gone all in on illegal immigration. We know the press will NEVER be objective when reporting on illegal immigration, but the economy they really can't spin nearly as much without making it look obvious.

Nov 14, 2018 23:27:49 GMT thereallt said:

Florida being an election embarrassment as usual. And it's the same damn counties every time. Broward and Palm Beach.

In terms of how the elections turned I think Trump could have a bigger splash in the House elections if he would have focused a little more on the economy and not gone all in on illegal immigration. We know the press will NEVER be objective when reporting on illegal immigration, but the economy they really can't spin nearly as much without making it look obvious.

People also saw through the Immigration scare tactic, as evidenced by the fact he hasn’t tweeted about it since the election and FOX News has pretty much ceased covering it.

Nov 14, 2018 23:27:49 GMT thereallt said:

Florida being an election embarrassment as usual. And it's the same damn counties every time. Broward and Palm Beach.

In terms of how the elections turned I think Trump could have a bigger splash in the House elections if he would have focused a little more on the economy and not gone all in on illegal immigration. We know the press will NEVER be objective when reporting on illegal immigration, but the economy they really can't spin nearly as much without making it look obvious.

Apparently the heat being given to Broward county is “racist”. Lol. Fucking ridiculous.

Nov 15, 2018 16:02:01 GMT KJ said:

Nov 14, 2018 23:27:49 GMT thereallt said:

Florida being an election embarrassment as usual. And it's the same damn counties every time. Broward and Palm Beach.

In terms of how the elections turned I think Trump could have a bigger splash in the House elections if he would have focused a little more on the economy and not gone all in on illegal immigration. We know the press will NEVER be objective when reporting on illegal immigration, but the economy they really can't spin nearly as much without making it look obvious.

People also saw through the Immigration scare tactic, as evidenced by the fact he hasn’t tweeted about it since the election and FOX News has pretty much ceased covering it.

The way Trump has presented this issue leaves much to be desired, but on the merits he is not wrong.

First of all, a sovereign country has EVERY right to determine who gets to come into the country and who doesn't.   There is no human right to immigrate to the United States or any other country for that matter.

Second, a country also has every right to expect it's immigration laws to be obeyed.   Especially when the immigration laws in question happen to be some of the most lax of any country in the world.

Third, we have enough problems with crime in this country from our own citizens.    Crimes being committed by people WHO SHOULDN'T EVEN BE HERE is completely unacceptable.   

And finally, history has proven that every time you have a huge influx of illegal immigrants working class wages are driven down.  It happened with the Mariel boat refugees, and it happened when Reagan gave amnesty to the huge influx of illegals in the 80's


The press's coverage of this issue has nothing short of a complete joke.    They refuse to even use the word "illegal" even though it 100% applies.   They also go out of their way to frame every argument for enforcing immigration law as "anti-immigrant"  even though NO ONE is complaining about people who immigrate to the country legally.      The federal courts rulings on this issue haven't been much better, ESPECIALLY the rulings on DACA.   I have yet to see a court explain how Obama had the authority to pass DACA with an executive order yet Trump does not have the authority to repeal DACA with the same.    One judge even ADMITTED that DACA was unconstitutional but still ruled against Trump regardless.   Can you get anymore lawless?

Then you have sanctuary cities. which are expressly set up to defy federal law.   The fact that this is allowed to continue to me is nothing short of pants-on-head retarded.

As this applies to the caravan, I'm sorry if these people were really honest to GOD refugees they would have applied for refugee status the second they hit the Mexican border, and to be fair many of them did.   But the ones that insist on coming to United States to apply for refugee status are simply trying to bypass immigration law plain and simple.