Trump and Sanders

[Ass Dan]

These guys are blowing up all over social media as well as the mainstream media (well Bernie, not so much).

People are inspired, they really feel one of these guys will lead our country to better days, and are convinced they will win.

REALITY CHECK

Our 'democracy' (read:oligarchy) is set up specifically so people like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump can never win.

It was set up to be Hillary vs Jeb! but sadly for Jeb! the majority isn't ready for Bush part III, so it is Marco Rubio for the right.

Go to Vegas, bet on Clinton vs Rubio, and if you lose take comfort, because if it does turn out to be either Sanders or Trump, we might actually be back on the road to being a democracy and not a sham oligarchy. But I doubt it.

To be bumped...

[Real Men Wear Green]

The republican base is in revolt which has made Trump a possibility. The democrat base doesn't seem to be mad enough at their leadership for Sanders to win but they may get there. The DNC seems to be doing its best to stack the deck for Clinton and it's kind of stupid because she should be able to beat Sanders easy without their meddling and it just makes me feel distrustful of them and the process when they do things like suspending Sanders access to voter data and having so few debates. Did anyone watch or even know they were debating a few days ago? And they do this when debate is supposed to be a strength of Clinton. Why not go for a high level of exposure to contrast her supposedly great plans depth and experience with Trump's ridiculous racist shit show? I really don't like how they operate.

[MMKM]

Just a question for anyone who knows, what % was Obama in December 07 in the dem polls?

[Draz]

Bernie is blowing up. Around where I'm from at least. Anyone who's against Trump is pro Sanders.

[dude77]

Just a question for anyone who knows, what % was Obama in December 07 in the dem polls?

see it for yourself .. scroll down .. I see 49 20 in one fox poll in dec .. hc had a pretty solid lead and he was mostly in the 20s


http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/democratic_presidential_nomination-191.html

[zoom17]

Hillary will sadly win.

[fiddy]

The U.S. wont exist next year at this time

[Patrick Chewing]

The U.S. wont exist next year at this time


This. Texas will become its own country and that's where I'll be headed when the shit hits the fan.

[KyrieTheFuture]

Hillary is the definition of corporate shill

[MMKM]

This. Texas will become its own country and that's where I'll be headed when the shit hits the fan.

Moving to Ireland, fewer Mexicans.

[Ass Dan]

Hillary is the definition of corporate shill

Agreed, and that is why it is so easy for her.

OLIGARCHY!

[Dresta]

Bernie is blowing up. Around where I'm from at least. Anyone who's against Trump is pro Sanders.
Trump vs. Sanders would probably be the most polarising election since 1860. Would be pretty funny though, merely from an entertainment perspective.

[BoutPractice]

Both have a shot. (Apparently Sanders does well against Trump head to head too, but I'll believe it when I see it)

Starting to think the rules of the game have changed... The economic crisis combined with the Internet era have led to a new brand of populism whose power the mainstream media does not yet understand. Ordinary citizens have figured out ways of breaking into the current system's defense mechanisms.... in other words, they are "dangerous" again.

This is the age of Trump, Sanders, Corbyn, Le Pen, Syriza (Varoufakis not Tsipras), Podemos... I'm not seeing how we get from the current situation to a rerun of the Clinton and Blair 90s. Some of this populism will be healthy for the system, and with a bit of luck will lead to a "new deal" where the majority get better terms. But some of it is also likely to temporarily intensify the crises we find ourselves in, till we reach a breaking point, similar to what happened in the 30s-40s. So as always I'm ambivalent...

On balance it's probably a good thing that events are moving towards people taking control of their destinies once more. There is certainly more choice on the menu than there was 20 years ago... It's simply a matter of sorting out which of the new populisms are more likely to be constructive vs destructive. Personally I see both the Trump/Le Pen and the Corbyn variants as a dead end - projecting popular frustration onto foreigners has never led to anything good, and Corbyn has no political imagination other than taking the UK back to the 1970s. I have more hopes for Sanders and Varoufakis...

[Ass Dan]

Both have a shot. (Apparently Sanders does well against Trump head to head too, but I'll believe it when I see it)

Starting to think the rules of the game have changed... The economic crisis combined with the Internet era have led to a new brand of populism whose power the mainstream media does not yet understand. Ordinary citizens have figured out ways of breaking into the current system's defense mechanisms.... in other words, they are "dangerous" again.

This is the age of Trump, Sanders, Corbyn, Le Pen, Syriza (Varoufakis not Tsipras), Podemos... I'm not seeing how we get from the current situation to a rerun of the Clinton and Blair 90s. Some of this populism will be healthy for the system, and with a bit of luck will lead to a "new deal" where the majority get better terms. But some of it is also likely to temporarily intensify the crises we find ourselves in, till we reach a breaking point, similar to what happened in the 30s-40s. So as always I'm ambivalent...

On balance it's probably a good thing that events are moving towards people taking control of their destinies once more. There is certainly more choice on the menu than there was 20 years ago... It's simply a matter of sorting out which of the new populisms are more likely to be constructive vs destructive. Personally I see both the Trump/Le Pen and the Corbyn variants as a dead end - projecting popular frustration onto foreigners has never led to anything good, and Corbyn has no political imagination other than taking the UK back to the 1970s. I have more hopes for Sanders and Varoufakis...

Love this post, but so much of the new era you are discussing is being lead by reactionary 'fringe' players. Bernie is the closest thing to a mainstreamer in this country and half the nation thinks he is a communist, so there is a lot of work to do. One of the parties will eventually cowtoe to this growing demographic you refer to, but not until more baby boomers die off.

Trump needs to get over 50%, if he doesn't, all the votes, as contenders start to drop, will go to Rubio or Bush and then eventually one of them. Cruz votes may go to Trump, but he is too much of a snake oil salesmen and will likely accept a high ranking position in the GOP government if he plays ball and stumps for a party mainstreamer. I think Rubio will get the nod and beat Clinton. Hispanics always vote for their own (check the LA mayoral races).
Trump might actually have been good, but he is too petty and far too gaffe prone. I don't believe he is racist, I simply think he is playing to racists.