Trump: Arrest Any Americans Who Don't Report Neighbors' "Suspicious Behavior"

[jimrtex]

Police state in full force!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-orlando-san-bernardino_us_575f1802e4b0e4fe51435eb2

In Texas, it is a crime to not report suspected child abuse or neglect.

Let's see.  Situation A - You witness a child being abused or neglected and don't report it.  Situation B - You think your neighbor is getting to many packages and spending to much time in the garage.  Not much difference there.

I left a word out.

The actual language is "cause to believe".

You didn't actually witness the child abuse or neglect, but you heard something, or the child looked malnourished or had bruises and cuts.

You probably figured that the many packages were filled with straw, and that the neighbor was creating strawmen in garage.

[Gustaf]

If you distrust big government it obviously makes sense to vote for the guy trying to setup a Stasi system.

[ProudModerate2]

It's a great idea.
This is the sort of neighbourhood watch program sorely lacking in modern society.

Hopefully that was sarcasm.

It's called trolling.

[Torie]

Trump keeps reminding me that he really does have a dangerously authoritarian outlook and temperament, lack of respect for the rule of law, and no appreciation of our basic fundamental rights as set forth in the Bill of Rights, and just why those rights are so important to a civil and fair society. It's quite frightening actually that so many Americans seem OK with all of this.

[Virginiá]

Trump keeps reminding me that he really does have a dangerously authoritarian outlook and temperament, lack of respect for the rule of law, and no appreciation of our basic fundamental rights as set forth in the Bill of Rights, and just why those rights are so important to a civil and fair society. It's quite frightening actually that so many Americans seem OK with all of this.

I consider it a dangerous symptom of a massively uninformed and disengaged electorate. Many Republican voters are sick of nothing getting done while their livelihoods slowly degrade, yet they don't actually know why and make no attempts to figure it out. They ignored primaries, one place they could actually try to fix things by electing people who actually give a crap about them and don't sell them a bridge every 2 - 6 years. Combine this with some voters prioritizing social values over everything else, and you get a recipe for disaster.

As a result, they get fed up and do the dumbest thing possible - Choose an idiot for their presidential nominee who is insanely unqualified, offensive, racist, and too dangerous / unstable to be given control of our military. But they don't care, because not only has he successfully scapegoated certain ethnic groups for all of America's problems, he "tells it like it is", or actually him just telling them what he thinks they want to hear. Unfortunate that they don't realize that Trump will very likely have negative long-term consequences for their party's viability. There are many young voters just starting to pay attention and Trump is what they see as the face of the GOP

I'm sure lots of engaged / educated people have their own informed reasons, but many of these voters simply don't pay attention and don't know anything about what is going on in Congress.

As I said before, this Trump phenomenon reminds me of people with severe hypothermia, of which many people can get delirious and begin to feel "hot", despite freezing to death, and end up taking off their clothes in a misguided attempt to cool off. They essentially get confused and tricked by their senses and do the worst thing possible. Sounds eerily familiar to me.

[ProudModerate2]

Trump keeps reminding me that he really does have a dangerously authoritarian outlook and temperament, lack of respect for the rule of law, and no appreciation of our basic fundamental rights as set forth in the Bill of Rights, and just why those rights are so important to a civil and fair society. It's quite frightening actually that so many Americans seem OK with all of this.

I consider it a dangerous symptom of a massively uninformed and disengaged electorate. Many Republican voters are sick of nothing getting done while their livelihoods slowly degrade, yet they don't actually know why and make no attempts to figure it out. They ignored primaries, one place they could actually try to fix things by electing people who actually give a crap about them and don't sell them a bridge every 2 - 6 years. Combine this with some voters prioritizing social values over everything else, and you get a recipe for disaster.

As a result, they get fed up and do the dumbest thing possible - Choose an idiot for their presidential nominee who is insanely unqualified, offensive, racist, and too dangerous / unstable to be given control of our military. But they don't care, because not only has he successfully scapegoated certain ethnic groups for all of America's problems, he "tells it like it is", or actually him just telling them what he thinks they want to hear. Unfortunate that they don't realize that Trump will very likely have negative long-term consequences for their party's viability. There are many young voters just starting to pay attention and Trump is what they see as the face of the GOP

I'm sure lots of engaged / educated people have their own informed reasons, but many of these voters simply don't pay attention and don't know anything about what is going on in Congress.

As I said before, this Trump phenomenon reminds me of people with severe hypothermia, of which many people can get delirious and begin to feel "hot", despite freezing to death, and end up taking off their clothes in a misguided attempt to cool off. They essentially get confused and tricked by their senses and do the worst thing possible. Sounds eerily familiar to me.

Exactly. Well said.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Trump keeps reminding me that he really does have a dangerously authoritarian outlook and temperament, lack of respect for the rule of law, and no appreciation of our basic fundamental rights as set forth in the Bill of Rights, and just why those rights are so important to a civil and fair society. It's quite frightening actually that so many Americans seem OK with all of this.

But they don't care, because not only has he successfully scapegoated certain ethnic groups for all of America's problems, he "tells it like it is", or actually him just telling them what he thinks they want to hear. Unfortunate that they don't realize that Trump will very likely have negative long-term consequences for their party's viability.

Trump will be unlikely to be elected, but he has started conversations about topics which were previously off the table due to political correctness.

Politicians after Trump will refine and distill the policies he introduced in a more palatable form.

"Telling it like it is" to me sounds more like "Why can't we talk about issues that really need to be talked about."

One of the recent failings of the Obama administration is the inability to talk about topics which are front and centre in the minds of US citizens.

[Virginiá]

Trump will be unlikely to be elected, but he has started conversations about topics which were previously off the table due to political correctness.

Politicians after Trump will refine and distill the policies he introduced in a more palatable form.

"Telling it like it is" to me sounds more like "Why can't we talk about issues that really need to be talked about."

One of the recent failings of the Obama administration is the inability to talk about topics which are front and centre in the minds of US citizens.

Well, one thing I will credit Trump for is that he has brought to light the divide between what the GOP elite want, and what the base wants. Immigration is a good example here. Eventually, I believe the party will moderate quite a bit, if for no other reason than Millennial Republicans being much more moderate. But this is going to take decades, and there will always be a divide for certain issues (like tax policy) as long as the GOP relies on the kind of big donors they currently court.

Very interested to see the next decade play out, though. The Republican party has to reconcile their intra-party agenda conflicts at some point.

[RFayette 🇻🇦]

Trump will be unlikely to be elected, but he has started conversations about topics which were previously off the table due to political correctness.

Politicians after Trump will refine and distill the policies he introduced in a more palatable form.

"Telling it like it is" to me sounds more like "Why can't we talk about issues that really need to be talked about."

One of the recent failings of the Obama administration is the inability to talk about topics which are front and centre in the minds of US citizens.

Well, one thing I will credit Trump for is that he has brought to light the divide between what the GOP elite want, and what the base wants. Immigration is a good example here. Eventually, I believe the party will moderate quite a bit, if for no other reason than Millennial Republicans being much more moderate. But this is going to take decades, and there will always be a divide for certain issues (like tax policy) as long as the GOP relies on the kind of big donors they currently court.

Very interested to see the next decade play out, though. The Republican party has to reconcile their intra-party agenda conflicts at some point.

We're seeing a redux of where the Democrats were at in the mid-1980's.  In fact, I see major parallels.  Dems had great midterms in 1982 and 1986 and held Congress for most of Reagan's time, just like the GOP under Obama, largely thanks to goodwill the party earned from earlier times (Dems during World War 2, GOP during Reagan).  But the Presidential elections gave them a real hard time and Dems were very divided between Jesse Jackson types, unions, social liberals, and other groups.  What happened was the Dems re-organized and became more pro-free trade and more neoliberal, which succeeded in switching professionals from a GOP voting bloc to a Democratic-leaning one from the 1990's onward.  

Based on  what's happened, here's how I see things playing out:
2016:  Hillary wins a comfortable victory over a weakened Trump (just like Dukakis vs Bush)
2020:  General economic dissatisfaction, but people are very suspicious of the GOP and what it has to offer, but a Republican slips in promising to be a "new Republican," but inevitably overreaches.
2022:  Democratic midterm landslide, Dems take back Congress
GOP President makes major concessions to Dems and passes things like a much higher minimum wage, more public funding of healthcare, higher taxes on the wealthy, etc. in an effort to move to the economic center.  This is where it depends on the President - a Trumpist Republican might give in more on economic issues but hold firm on things like immigration, whereas someone like Nikki Haley might do the opposite.
2024:  Republican President reelected but with Dems maintaining Congressional control

Keep in mind that Dems will have a baked-in congressional advantage by the mid-2020's, especially with a Republican President.  So I see things playing out along these lines.  What do you think, Virginia?

[Mr. Illini]

This guy really sucks. How the hell is he a major party nominee?

[HAnnA MArin County]

This guy really sucks. How the hell is he a major party nominee?

Never underestimate the stupidity of the party that gave us the likes of Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and all the other Tea Party nuts.

To the poster who said he will continue to support Trump because of the "lesser than two evils" thing, it speaks volumes that you and your party leaders are willing to vote for this clown given all the crazy stuff he's said and how many times they've had to distance themselves from himself, all because they hate Hillary more than they hate racism, sexism, misogyny, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and all other forms of bigotry and intolerance that has been spewed by their nominee, simply because she has a D after her name. If Trump keeps dragging the party off the clip, hopefully they are held accountable and are forced to decide which is worse: Trump's alienation of pretty much every non-white male voter, or a President Hillary Clinton.

[Virginiá]

We're seeing a redux of where the Democrats were at in the mid-1980's.  In fact, I see major parallels.  Dems had great midterms in 1982 and 1986 and held Congress for most of Reagan's time, just like the GOP under Obama, largely thanks to goodwill the party earned from earlier times (Dems during World War 2, GOP during Reagan).  But the Presidential elections gave them a real hard time and Dems were very divided between Jesse Jackson types, unions, social liberals, and other groups.  What happened was the Dems re-organized and became more pro-free trade and more neoliberal, which succeeded in switching professionals from a GOP voting bloc to a Democratic-leaning one from the 1990's onward.  

Based on  what's happened, here's how I see things playing out:
2016:  Hillary wins a comfortable victory over a weakened Trump (just like Dukakis vs Bush)
2020:  General economic dissatisfaction, but people are very suspicious of the GOP and what it has to offer, but a Republican slips in promising to be a "new Republican," but inevitably overreaches.
2022:  Democratic midterm landslide, Dems take back Congress
GOP President makes major concessions to Dems and passes things like a much higher minimum wage, more public funding of healthcare, higher taxes on the wealthy, etc. in an effort to move to the economic center.  This is where it depends on the President - a Trumpist Republican might give in more on economic issues but hold firm on things like immigration, whereas someone like Nikki Haley might do the opposite.
2024:  Republican President reelected but with Dems maintaining Congressional control

Keep in mind that Dems will have a baked-in congressional advantage by the mid-2020's, especially with a Republican Congress.  So I see things playing out along these lines.  What do you think, Virginia?

Well it's definitely a cycle-for-cycle replay of the Republican Revolution, except the other way around . Generally I am not a fan of direct parallels because life & politics is too complex for that, but your general theme is there and I think is relevant. The Republican base is getting badly eroded by a generation of voters they have completely failed to win over, and you can see the effect by looking at Democratic support in ages 18 - 44. Somewhere in the 2020s this will reach critical mass and Democrats will likely experience their own "Democratic Revolution", as Millennial/youngest-GenX voting power overwhelms the meager remains of the silent generation and boomers/oldest gen x voters, all of which are the Republican-leaning generations powering the GOP right now.

I do not know who will be president in 2020 ->, but a recession of some size is likely to happen during Clinton's first term, just going by historical recession patterns. This will leave her vulnerable in 2020, so yes there is a parallel to Bush Sr, if some sort of recession happens. She could very well win a 2nd term despite that - One thing Democrats have that Republicans didn't is a bloc of voters (minorities) that is overwhelmingly + staunchly Democratic, and fast growing. Trump's behavior has all but ensured a large long-lasting Democratic advantage among Hispanics. This could cement Democratic holds on critical battleground states and protect Clinton somewhat from a backlash at the national level.

This is what fascinates me about the current political landscape and the demographics of it - Republicans have managed to, almost in a surgically precise fashion, alienate virtually all the fastest growing parts of America (non-white voters) in such a severe way that they could eventually give Democrats a huge cushion in presidential elections. Republicans are losing so much ground in the electoral college and have no major trends going their way right now. I know if you look at the current power structure region-by-region, it doesn't look like it, but based on relevant data, Republicans look like they are going to hit a wall sometime in the 2020s unless they make inroads in crucial parts of the electorate. That will take time to develop.

[RFayette 🇻🇦]

We're seeing a redux of where the Democrats were at in the mid-1980's.  In fact, I see major parallels.  Dems had great midterms in 1982 and 1986 and held Congress for most of Reagan's time, just like the GOP under Obama, largely thanks to goodwill the party earned from earlier times (Dems during World War 2, GOP during Reagan).  But the Presidential elections gave them a real hard time and Dems were very divided between Jesse Jackson types, unions, social liberals, and other groups.  What happened was the Dems re-organized and became more pro-free trade and more neoliberal, which succeeded in switching professionals from a GOP voting bloc to a Democratic-leaning one from the 1990's onward.  

Based on  what's happened, here's how I see things playing out:
2016:  Hillary wins a comfortable victory over a weakened Trump (just like Dukakis vs Bush)
2020:  General economic dissatisfaction, but people are very suspicious of the GOP and what it has to offer, but a Republican slips in promising to be a "new Republican," but inevitably overreaches.
2022:  Democratic midterm landslide, Dems take back Congress
GOP President makes major concessions to Dems and passes things like a much higher minimum wage, more public funding of healthcare, higher taxes on the wealthy, etc. in an effort to move to the economic center.  This is where it depends on the President - a Trumpist Republican might give in more on economic issues but hold firm on things like immigration, whereas someone like Nikki Haley might do the opposite.
2024:  Republican President reelected but with Dems maintaining Congressional control

Keep in mind that Dems will have a baked-in congressional advantage by the mid-2020's, especially with a Republican Congress.  So I see things playing out along these lines.  What do you think, Virginia?

Well it's definitely a cycle-for-cycle replay of the Republican Revolution, except the other way around . Generally I am not a fan of direct parallels because life & politics is too complex for that, but your general theme is there and I think is relevant. The Republican base is getting badly eroded by a generation of voters they have completely failed to win over, and you can see the effect by looking at Democratic support in ages 18 - 44. Somewhere in the 2020s this will reach critical mass and Democrats will likely experience their own "Democratic Revolution", as Millennial/youngest-GenX voting power overwhelms the meager remains of the silent generation and boomers/oldest gen x voters, all of which are the Republican-leaning generations powering the GOP right now.

I do not know who will be president in 2020 ->, but a recession of some size is likely to happen during Clinton's first term, just going by historical recession patterns. This will leave her vulnerable in 2020, so yes there is a parallel to Bush Sr, if some sort of recession happens. She could very well win a 2nd term despite that - One thing Democrats have that Republicans didn't is a bloc of voters (minorities) that is overwhelmingly + staunchly Democratic, and fast growing. Trump's behavior has all but ensured a large long-lasting Democratic advantage among Hispanics. This could cement Democratic holds on critical battleground states and protect Clinton somewhat from a backlash at the national level.

This is what fascinates me about the current political landscape and the demographics of it - Republicans have managed to, almost in a surgically precise fashion, alienate virtually all the fastest growing parts of America (non-white voters) in such a severe way that they could eventually give Democrats a huge cushion in presidential elections. Republicans are losing so much ground in the electoral college and have no major trends going their way right now. I know if you look at the current power structure region-by-region, it doesn't look like it, but based on relevant data, Republicans look like they are going to hit a wall sometime in the 2020s unless they make inroads in crucial parts of the electorate. That will take time to develop.

I agree the GOP has screwed up badly with minorities, but never underestimate the impact of a deep recession or similar event.   Just remember what the Great Depression did to so many voting blocs, especially the black vote.  You never know what can happen.  It's unquestionable that millenials will remain a lean D demographic (relative to the nation at large) for years to come, and this will be strongly reflected in Congressional numbers by the 2020's once the voting bloc reaches critical mass.

Also keep in mind that if the GOP does lose control of Congress, it will instantly become more popular.  I do not think it's a coincidence that the Democrats started doing much better in Presidential elections after 1994.  Congress is traditionally a less popular institution, and controlling it does not help one win the Presidency.

Also, one thing we have to look at is the why of these cycles.  Income inequality has gone up a fair bit since 1980, and young people are a whole lot less likely to favor GOP economic policies if they don't see much to gain.  Back in the '70s/'80s when most public colleges were nearly tuition-free and getting a good job upon graduation, the calculus of voting was a whole lot different than it is today.  This, combined with the diminishing power of the GOP donor class leads me to think that the next Republican President will likely get a Democratic Congress (by his/her second year) and likely go along with things like more tuition subsidies and infrastructure spending.  As the millenials replace the Boomers as the biggest voting demographic, things are going to change pretty significantly and I bet once Dems re-control Congress (my bet is 2022)) we're going to see major changes to the playbooks of both parties. 

[HAnnA MArin County]

Trump's supporters would be on the phone with police all the time, then, since they would always call a cop every time they laid eyes on a Muslim, or a black person, or a Hispanic person, because to them, all Muslims are "suspicious" and black people are "up to no good" and Hispanics "are here illegally."