straightUp Loc: California

Absolutely!

I think the GOP is so deeply fragmented that it depends on elevating the outrage against Democrats to distract their constituents from their own dysfunctions. I don't think the Democrats are any less fragmented but they seem to be handling it a little better, perhaps because they've been fragmented for longer (and they are probably more accustomed to diversity)

The current field of presidential candidates kind of illustrates what I am saying. The Democrats are presented with a number of paths that more-or-less represent their sub-cultures. Biden for the status quo, Warren and Sanders for the socialist revolution, Yang for the realist view of the future. For the GOP there's... Trump. (wow... that's sad. Kinda like a refrigerator with nothing but one bowl of 3-day old noodles.) But again, this is where that outrage comes in, so people don't notice how limited their own options are.

It's too bad because I think there are a lot of different interests being bagged together in the GOP that could be better served with their own agendas. For instance, the true conservatives that wish to preserve the integrity of the Republic vs the "Freedom" Caucus that wants to gut the Republic and turn America into a dictatorship.

The problem is that we are in this Mexican stand off where neither side wants to give up their share of voters until the other side does. 2016 was a great example of what can happen if one side splits their votes, ie., Clinton vs Sanders. A lot of Democrats wrote Sanders in their ballots as a form of protest and that allowed Trump to come close enough to take the EC.

I wonder what would happen if in 2024 both the main parties were simply not allowed to run... Just for one election. How would the field look and how would people vote?

bilordinary Loc: SW Washington

That's one version of the story! Engineering and implementation are two different animals.

Parky60 Loc: People's Republic of Illinois

It's been my experience being on both sides of the fence that the shop floor is much better at application and the design engineers, especially the one nowadays, are idiots.

bilordinary Loc: SW Washington

It appears to me that the Republican party is becoming more cohesive with each passing day.
Have to give Schitt some credit for that.
SuperTrump thumpin dim rumps, he's havin fun!
Go Trump

debeda

straightUp Loc: California

OK... 'sounds a bit vague but I don't want to press... you seem a little defensive. I'll just say that I've done both and I really don't see one group being any "smarter" or more "superior" than the other.

bilordinary Loc: SW Washington

straightUp Loc: California

Well, I'm sure not every company is the same Parky. Maybe if you worked at a different company or in a different industry you wouldn't have that chip on your shoulder.

straightUp Loc: California

Ooooh... I hope you don't hurt yourself when your bubble pops.

bilordinary Loc: SW Washington

Won't be nothing compared to the mess made when the California pimple popped.

straightUp Loc: California

I have no idea what you mean, but OK.

bilordinary Loc: SW Washington

I guess you haven't noticed the mess, foxhole nosmell syndrome.

promilitary

I absolutely agree......they are going to get the president reelected.

straightUp Loc: California

Uh... elections are based on the number of votes not how angry each voter is. LOL

Trump hit a ceiling in 2017 and hasn't done anything to earn more loyalty beyond the 30% that he already had. He's the first president with such a static base and he is depending on that 30% (and whatever hanky-panky the Republicans can contrive to give him an edge in the EC.

Yes, he got more than 30% of the popular votes in 2016 but that's because the Democrats suffered one of the lowest turnouts in their history, so it's more like 30% of the 60% of the voters who actually voted. Signs indicate that the other 40% will engage this time.

30% btw is the high estimate; the low estimate is 24%. It's hard to nail down exact figures with polls and studies, so I'm just going with the high estimate here. You might also be thinking about his job approval rating which peaked at 44%. But that's 44% of those polled and it's been noticed that the bigger the poll studies are (the more people polled) the lower his approval rating turns out to be.


Here's an excerpt from the Washington Post...

Critics of impeachment argue that the effort to remove Trump from office over his open invitations of foreign meddling in our elections will only ignite the Trump “base.” Those who say we should let this all go see his backers as an excitable immovable bloc of people closed to reasoned argument or new information.

Thus are roughly 40 percent of our fellow citizens cast as an unthinking blob that will embrace anything Trump says and turn out in droves in 2020 to beat back the elitist fake-newsers and deep-staters no matter what the facts are.

Those of us who support impeachment don’t deny that there is a “Trump base” but insist that mountains of polling evidence show that it amounts to 25 to 30 percent of voters at most. The rest of the 46 percent who voted for Trump have real doubts about who he is, how he behaves and what he is doing to our country. Even those of us who disagree with them on a variety of issues see this substantial part of Trump’s constituency as made up of rational and engaged citizens open to persuasion.


So, 30%... It's the biggest his "base" has EVER been. That's all he had in 2017, it's all he had in 2018, it's all he has now and it's all he will have in 2020. In the meantime, Republicans are losing congressional races and governor races all across the country. If anything Trump is killing the GOP.

Face it, Trump is hated by everyone in the world except a few dictators and that rabid MAGA-Nazi club that only amounts to 30% of Americans... at most. This is why Pelosi held off on impeaching him for so long. She didn't want to impeach him because she was looking forward to seeing him getting kicked out by way of election. I was too. I hope that still happens. I hope the Senate saves his fat ass so We the People can kick it out in 2020. Then dance in the streets!

Michael Rich Loc: Lapine Oregon

You are poorly informed. Many voters observed your phaggot Schitt Show.

You people are pushing voters to President Trump.