Republican Convention

[Mori Chu]

Thoughts on the RNC so far? Day 1 was eventful, with that Hispanic model guy, Scott Baio, that old racist guy, and that possibly plagiarized speech by Melania Trump.

[AmareIsGod]

Don't forget the two survivors from Benghazi that told their entire story for 3 hours. Lots of details. Harrowing account.

[Mori Chu]

I still can't figure out exactly why Melania Trump supposedly plagiarized parts of her speech.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/m ... 5?lo=ap_e1

[carey]

I still can't figure out exactly why Melania Trump supposedly plagiarized parts of her speech.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/m ... 5?lo=ap_e1

You can't figure out why the party of anti-intellectualism would be lazy enough to plagiarize a speech?

[Nodack]

I think it's funny that Michelle Obama's speech was used to inspire Republicans at their convention.

[AmareIsGod]

Can't make this stuff up:

http://nation.foxnews.com/2016/07/19/me ... urine-each

Members Of The KKK, Black Lives Matter And Westboro Baptist Church Reportedly Throwing Urine At Each Other Outside RNC

[Cap]

I still can't figure out exactly why Melania Trump supposedly plagiarized parts of her speech.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/m ... 5?lo=ap_e1

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/755807484531671040

[OE32]

Trump's speech... 75% approval, per CNN. In it, he said he would lay out his "plan", and then proceeded with essentially no plan. No detail, no meaningful analysis; mostly just an indictment of Hillary Clinton. But, going through the hour of remarks, one could identify a hypersimplistic policy outline, apparently intended to create "millions of jobs and trillions in wealth", and to "make us safe again":

- Building The Wall
- Wiping out ISIS "fast" (which I'm taking to mean elevated military action)
- Increasing the size of the military
- A $9 trillion tax decrease
- "Building roads, bridges, etc." (which I'm taking to mean infrastructure spending)
- Undoing/renegotiating trade agreements to be more protectionist

In addition to his statements that he would discontinue our previously unwavering support for NATO allies, he appears determined to increase our military presence in the middle east. Would this not decrease global stability? He asked for the votes of Sanders supporters, but Sanders wanted to decrease our military presence in the middle east. Any actual solution would, of course, be far more sophisticated, subtle, and long-term.

The military has decreased in size due to sequestration, which was negotiated to stop the government shutdown. I'm okay with having our military spending flatten out or slowly decrease - we need to remain the world's greatest military superpower, but I don't think there's much of a point to increasing the size of our armed forces. What exactly do we plan to do with them? "Boots on the ground"?

Renegotiating trade agreements to be more protectionist - you're invariably going to be increasing the cost of consumer goods in the United States. That would probably be the primary effect, aside from a decrease in global growth. This isn't controversial; this is Econ 101. Rather than renegotiate trade agreements, you need to raise effective tax rates on capital, since capital and consumers are the beneficiaries of these agreements, while workers get shafted. Undoing these agreements wouldn't help workers nearly as much as it would harm consumers.

I agree with infrastructure spending. That's been part of Obama's agenda for the entirety of his tenure. The Republicans have blocked it and would continue to block such spending if Hillary becomes President on the grounds that we have a national deficit, and we can't spend while we have a deficit. Never mind that that's precisely what Reagan actively endorsed. But Trump intends to spend on infrastructure and the military, all while...

Reducing taxes by $9 trillion over ten years??? Are you kidding me??? This would be an extraordinarily irresponsible and destructive measure. This money would go mostly to the wealthy, who already have so much money that the capital markets are flooded. High taxes are not a problem in the United States. Taxes on capital should be increased up to the point where the Fed can raise interest rates to a rate that is merely "historically low" rather than "approaching 0%".

What this program amounts to is a HUGE deficit, which would fuel minimal growth due to the majority of the outflows from the government going to where it is needed the least - the capital markets. From an economic perspective, it's asinine. Beyond ridiculous. Stupid.

What scares me more than Trump is the fact that this electorate is willing to tolerate such mind-numbing policy nothingness. What is a democracy for, if not to elaborate on, refine and debate actual ideas? This sort of "plan" doesn't even amount to sophisticated water cooler talk. Sad!

[ShelC]

Glad to see/hear there weren't any major incidents at the convention. I was pretty much expecting a wild west shootout and rioting.

Thought Trump's kids stole the show. Donald Jr is already being talked about as Mayor of NYC down the line.

Thought Rudy Giuliani embarrassed himself. Really went off the deep end but he's also an attention whore and egomaniac so he probably looked at this opportunity as his shining moment. Chris Christie was just weird.

And Ted Cruz just needs to go away. He's dangerous.

[AmareIsGod]

Glad to see/hear there weren't any major incidents at the convention. I was pretty much expecting a wild west shootout and rioting.

Thought Trump's kids stole the show. Donald Jr is already being talked about as Mayor of NYC down the line.

Thought Rudy Giuliani embarrassed himself. Really went off the deep end but he's also an attention whore and egomaniac so he probably looked at this opportunity as his shining moment. Chris Christie was just weird.

And Ted Cruz just needs to go away. He's dangerous.

What do you think about Trump's proposed policies and ideas?

[ShelC]

What proposed policies and ideas?

[AmareIsGod]

Per OE32, since he captured it better than I can.

Going through the hour of remarks, one could identify a hypersimplistic policy outline, apparently intended to create "millions of jobs and trillions in wealth", and to "make us safe again":

- Building The Wall
- Wiping out ISIS "fast" (which I'm taking to mean elevated military action)
- Increasing the size of the military
- A $9 trillion tax decrease
- "Building roads, bridges, etc." (which I'm taking to mean infrastructure spending)
- Undoing/renegotiating trade agreements to be more protectionist

[Indy]

What proposed policies and ideas?

Perfect response

[ShelC]

Exactly.

[AmareIsGod]

Doh!

[Nodack]

I feel like an idiot with my simple mind. I was always under the impression that taxes paid for all the things our government spends. Raise taxes, buy more stuff. Lower taxes and have less to spend on stuff. Republicans have been telling us over and over that if you want to lower the debt you have to lower taxes. That makes zero sense to me. I don't like taxes any more than the next guy but I enjoy having things like roads, bridges, parks, schools, etc.

Trump will lower taxes by 8 Trillion and fix our infrastructure along with building a giant wall and eliminating our debt and hasn't said one word on how he intends to pay for any of it other than making Mexico pay for the wall even thought they said F you? And people believe every word like it was from the mouth of God.

Trumps Greatest Hits
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/07/trumps-greatest-hits/

He's insulted Women, Indians, Veterans, Democrats, Blacks, Muslims, Hispanics, Jews and Gays.

[Mori Chu]

The whole convention made me sad and scared in equal measure. I'm sad because it feels like so many of those people genuinely feel under attack by "others" in our own country and abroad. Muslims, blacks, liberals, politically correct people, PoC, LGBTQ, etc. The feel of the whole convention was so angry. "Lock her up!" "Immigrants are criminals!" "Build that wall!" "Stop Muslims from coming into this country!" So divisive.

My main consolation is that these people do vote. Women vote. Muslim Americans vote. Hispanic Americans vote. Blacks vote. I don't think you can win an election by almost entirely appealing to disenfranchised white males. I think Trump is going to have trouble winning a national election when his ideas and words run so contrary to the needs of so many of the demographic groups in the electorate.

[Indy]

The whole convention made me sad and scared in equal measure. I'm sad because it feels like so many of those people genuinely feel under attack by "others" in our own country and abroad. Muslims, blacks, liberals, politically correct people, PoC, LGBTQ, etc. The feel of the whole convention was so angry. "Lock her up!" "Immigrants are criminals!" "Build that wall!" "Stop Muslims from coming into this country!" So divisive.

My main consolation is that these people do vote. Women vote. Muslim Americans vote. Hispanic Americans vote. Blacks vote. I don't think you can win an election by almost entirely appealing to disenfranchised white males. I think Trump is going to have trouble winning a national election when his ideas and words run so contrary to the needs of so many of the demographic groups in the electorate.

It all depends on who is allowed to vote. There has been such an undoing of the Voter Rights Act that I would expect the turn out this year will be more white than usual (since others will be shooed away).

[Cap]

The whole convention made me sad and scared in equal measure. I'm sad because it feels like so many of those people genuinely feel under attack by "others" in our own country and abroad. Muslims, blacks, liberals, politically correct people, PoC, LGBTQ, etc. The feel of the whole convention was so angry. "Lock her up!" "Immigrants are criminals!" "Build that wall!" "Stop Muslims from coming into this country!" So divisive.

My main consolation is that these people do vote. Women vote. Muslim Americans vote. Hispanic Americans vote. Blacks vote. I don't think you can win an election by almost entirely appealing to disenfranchised white males. I think Trump is going to have trouble winning a national election when his ideas and words run so contrary to the needs of so many of the demographic groups in the electorate.

I object to the notion that white males are being "disenfranchised" by the participation of other people in our democracy.

[Indy]

The whole convention made me sad and scared in equal measure. I'm sad because it feels like so many of those people genuinely feel under attack by "others" in our own country and abroad. Muslims, blacks, liberals, politically correct people, PoC, LGBTQ, etc. The feel of the whole convention was so angry. "Lock her up!" "Immigrants are criminals!" "Build that wall!" "Stop Muslims from coming into this country!" So divisive.

My main consolation is that these people do vote. Women vote. Muslim Americans vote. Hispanic Americans vote. Blacks vote. I don't think you can win an election by almost entirely appealing to disenfranchised white males. I think Trump is going to have trouble winning a national election when his ideas and words run so contrary to the needs of so many of the demographic groups in the electorate.

I object to the notion that white males are being "disenfranchised" by the participation of other people in our democracy.

But they kind of are. There is a reason the GOP fought so hard to re-zone all of the districts nation-wide. They want to make sure their white vote is protected, and if it can't be, then find, throw in some non-threatening, rich minorities.