Election 2016 (Page 24)

Trumps biggest mistake in the debates even beyond missing some tee'd up opportunities was that he failed to deflect and pivot.  He tended to get on the defensive and stay there.  For example:

Hillary: "Trump has been a meanie head towards women"
Moderator: "Mr. Trump, how do you respond to being a meanie head to women"
Trump: "Lets talk about what's important to women.  Women care about law and order and being safe from terrorists.  My plan is to do X Y and Z and Secretary Clinton is a failure on A B and C and doesn't keep women safe..."   blah blah

Trump tended to sit there and stay on the defensive his entire time trying to explain why he did or didn't do what was just said. 

I'm generally not in favor of "free college" for the reason you mentioned -- it would just turn into high school, plus it would make class size an even bigger problem at the undergrad level.

But, I do think steps can be taken to fix what is nearly a predatory lending system for student loans.  That would be the best place to start IMO.  Particularly, take a look at current rates for grad students -- on what planet does 5-6% sound fair when the fed funds rate is still being held near 0?

Well yeah don't get me started on credit cards :P

But for comparison, a friend of mine was paying off his student loan at I think around 7% back in 1995.  The fed funds rate that year was 5%.  So a 2% difference.

Also I think if we're going to subsidize college, priority should go to certain degrees.  We have big tech companies constantly complaining about the lack of engineers or whatever.  Maybe those degrees should be first in line for grants, etc.  (OK, now all the art majors are going to hate me, sorry).

Originally posted by ChineseDemocracy

Originally posted by tuwood

Originally posted by Rogillio Next presidential debate will be Oct 9th. Since the pundits claim Trump did so poorly the bar is pretty low for him to improve his performance. My guess is he will prepare more canned responses and not waste time beating dead horses. I'm not sure what Hillary can do better. I think she was pretty much on her game and that's as good as it gets.

Trumps biggest mistake in the debates even beyond missing some tee'd up opportunities was that he failed to deflect and pivot.  He tended to get on the defensive and stay there.  For example:

Hillary: "Trump has been a meanie head towards women"
Moderator: "Mr. Trump, how do you respond to being a meanie head to women"
Trump: "Lets talk about what's important to women.  Women care about law and order and being safe from terrorists.  My plan is to do X Y and Z and Secretary Clinton is a failure on A B and C and doesn't keep women safe..."   blah blah

Trump tended to sit there and stay on the defensive his entire time trying to explain why he did or didn't do what was just said. 

So basically Tony, you saw Trump as too defensive. I saw it the other way...he's flat-out offensive! Seriously, I watched the debate twice, once with Mrs. CD, and the 2nd time with my 13 year old as the debate was a bit past bedtime on Monday. The number of rude interruptions was inexcusable in his opinion. Perhaps because it's so different from what he is used to seeing in civil discourse...maybe that's why he was so taken aback by Trump. Listen, I've seen Trump be somewhat "presidential" during the GOP primaries...albeit for brief moments, but I really expected him to come out and actually TRY to be presidential. He did it briefly after winning the nomination. He gave a press conference in which he was tough but congenial, to some degree he was "measured,"...the closest to "presidential" he could muster. BUT, he gets rattled Tony. His true self busts out...he can't help himself. He's not a good poker player OR chess player. Trump is the Amercian version of the Philippines' Duterte. Hopefully we don't make the same mistake they did. and btw, the polls coming in today through Monday should give us a glimpse into whether the first debate had an impact. (or Tony, you can discount all other polls, and continue to only reference the LA Times!) ...note to self, buy Tony a subscription to the LA Times.

I agree that the LA Times is way off.  Trump is easily up by 20 points now.  haha, just kidding.

The thing about all the polls is that they're using their turnout models and we truly don't know whose right.  The thing we can gauge out of them is momentum though because they're polling essentially the same demographics of people with a consistent logic.  It doesn't matter if LA Times has Trump up by 7% and PPP has Trump down by 4%, what matters is the trend because those have been pretty consistent across all the polls.

The LA Times poll so far has been trending upwards by a couple points since monday, but not all of the polls have fallen off from before the debate.  So Trump either had a big surge the last few days before the debate or he's having one post debate umong the LA Times respondents.
I too am curious to the other polls. 

The interesting phenomenon with Trump is that guys like you and me have been duped for decades by people "acting presidential" and "saying the right things".  They play the game until they win and then they go full on corrupt. 
Trump isn't saying the right things or playing presidential.  He's saying what Americans have been saying for decades.  We're sick and tired of this crap and it needs to change.  I could care a less how much Trump interrupts Hillary and nobody else (other than Hillary supporters) does either.  it's why it's so baffling to the media and others.  He sighed more than 3 times per hour so therefore his candidacy is over...  /eyeroll 

Originally posted by tuwood

Originally posted by ChineseDemocracy

Originally posted by tuwood

Originally posted by Rogillio Next presidential debate will be Oct 9th. Since the pundits claim Trump did so poorly the bar is pretty low for him to improve his performance. My guess is he will prepare more canned responses and not waste time beating dead horses. I'm not sure what Hillary can do better. I think she was pretty much on her game and that's as good as it gets.

Trumps biggest mistake in the debates even beyond missing some tee'd up opportunities was that he failed to deflect and pivot.  He tended to get on the defensive and stay there.  For example:

Hillary: "Trump has been a meanie head towards women"
Moderator: "Mr. Trump, how do you respond to being a meanie head to women"
Trump: "Lets talk about what's important to women.  Women care about law and order and being safe from terrorists.  My plan is to do X Y and Z and Secretary Clinton is a failure on A B and C and doesn't keep women safe..."   blah blah

Trump tended to sit there and stay on the defensive his entire time trying to explain why he did or didn't do what was just said. 

So basically Tony, you saw Trump as too defensive. I saw it the other way...he's flat-out offensive! Seriously, I watched the debate twice, once with Mrs. CD, and the 2nd time with my 13 year old as the debate was a bit past bedtime on Monday. The number of rude interruptions was inexcusable in his opinion. Perhaps because it's so different from what he is used to seeing in civil discourse...maybe that's why he was so taken aback by Trump. Listen, I've seen Trump be somewhat "presidential" during the GOP primaries...albeit for brief moments, but I really expected him to come out and actually TRY to be presidential. He did it briefly after winning the nomination. He gave a press conference in which he was tough but congenial, to some degree he was "measured,"...the closest to "presidential" he could muster. BUT, he gets rattled Tony. His true self busts out...he can't help himself. He's not a good poker player OR chess player. Trump is the Amercian version of the Philippines' Duterte. Hopefully we don't make the same mistake they did. and btw, the polls coming in today through Monday should give us a glimpse into whether the first debate had an impact. (or Tony, you can discount all other polls, and continue to only reference the LA Times!) ...note to self, buy Tony a subscription to the LA Times.

I agree that the LA Times is way off.  Trump is easily up by 20 points now.  haha, just kidding.

The thing about all the polls is that they're using their turnout models and we truly don't know whose right.  The thing we can gauge out of them is momentum though because they're polling essentially the same demographics of people with a consistent logic.  It doesn't matter if LA Times has Trump up by 7% and PPP has Trump down by 4%, what matters is the trend because those have been pretty consistent across all the polls.

The LA Times poll so far has been trending upwards by a couple points since monday, but not all of the polls have fallen off from before the debate.  So Trump either had a big surge the last few days before the debate or he's having one post debate umong the LA Times respondents.
I too am curious to the other polls. 

The interesting phenomenon with Trump is that guys like you and me have been duped for decades by people "acting presidential" and "saying the right things".  They play the game until they win and then they go full on corrupt. 
Trump isn't saying the right things or playing presidential.  He's saying what Americans have been saying for decades.  We're sick and tired of this crap and it needs to change.  I could care a less how much Trump interrupts Hillary and nobody else (other than Hillary supporters) does either.  it's why it's so baffling to the media and others.  He sighed more than 3 times per hour so therefore his candidacy is over...  /eyeroll 

His lack of decorum, tact, and intelligence might ingraciate him to some hick from a flyover state, but on the global stage, with its ludicrously complex macro and micro economic nuances, it leads to isolation and irrelevance.

I find it very entertaining observing people defend and support Trump.
It's like a real life portrayal of Idiocracy (it's a movie, Google it).

Originally posted by Brit Abroad

Originally posted by tuwood

Originally posted by ChineseDemocracy

Originally posted by tuwood

Originally posted by Rogillio Next presidential debate will be Oct 9th. Since the pundits claim Trump did so poorly the bar is pretty low for him to improve his performance. My guess is he will prepare more canned responses and not waste time beating dead horses. I'm not sure what Hillary can do better. I think she was pretty much on her game and that's as good as it gets.

Trumps biggest mistake in the debates even beyond missing some tee'd up opportunities was that he failed to deflect and pivot.  He tended to get on the defensive and stay there.  For example:

Hillary: "Trump has been a meanie head towards women"
Moderator: "Mr. Trump, how do you respond to being a meanie head to women"
Trump: "Lets talk about what's important to women.  Women care about law and order and being safe from terrorists.  My plan is to do X Y and Z and Secretary Clinton is a failure on A B and C and doesn't keep women safe..."   blah blah

Trump tended to sit there and stay on the defensive his entire time trying to explain why he did or didn't do what was just said. 

So basically Tony, you saw Trump as too defensive. I saw it the other way...he's flat-out offensive! Seriously, I watched the debate twice, once with Mrs. CD, and the 2nd time with my 13 year old as the debate was a bit past bedtime on Monday. The number of rude interruptions was inexcusable in his opinion. Perhaps because it's so different from what he is used to seeing in civil discourse...maybe that's why he was so taken aback by Trump. Listen, I've seen Trump be somewhat "presidential" during the GOP primaries...albeit for brief moments, but I really expected him to come out and actually TRY to be presidential. He did it briefly after winning the nomination. He gave a press conference in which he was tough but congenial, to some degree he was "measured,"...the closest to "presidential" he could muster. BUT, he gets rattled Tony. His true self busts out...he can't help himself. He's not a good poker player OR chess player. Trump is the Amercian version of the Philippines' Duterte. Hopefully we don't make the same mistake they did. and btw, the polls coming in today through Monday should give us a glimpse into whether the first debate had an impact. (or Tony, you can discount all other polls, and continue to only reference the LA Times!) ...note to self, buy Tony a subscription to the LA Times.

I agree that the LA Times is way off.  Trump is easily up by 20 points now.  haha, just kidding.

The thing about all the polls is that they're using their turnout models and we truly don't know whose right.  The thing we can gauge out of them is momentum though because they're polling essentially the same demographics of people with a consistent logic.  It doesn't matter if LA Times has Trump up by 7% and PPP has Trump down by 4%, what matters is the trend because those have been pretty consistent across all the polls.

The LA Times poll so far has been trending upwards by a couple points since monday, but not all of the polls have fallen off from before the debate.  So Trump either had a big surge the last few days before the debate or he's having one post debate umong the LA Times respondents.
I too am curious to the other polls. 

The interesting phenomenon with Trump is that guys like you and me have been duped for decades by people "acting presidential" and "saying the right things".  They play the game until they win and then they go full on corrupt. 
Trump isn't saying the right things or playing presidential.  He's saying what Americans have been saying for decades.  We're sick and tired of this crap and it needs to change.  I could care a less how much Trump interrupts Hillary and nobody else (other than Hillary supporters) does either.  it's why it's so baffling to the media and others.  He sighed more than 3 times per hour so therefore his candidacy is over...  /eyeroll 

His lack of decorum, tact, and intelligence might ingraciate him to some hick from a flyover state, but on the global stage, with its ludicrously complex macro and micro economic nuances, it leads to isolation and irrelevance.

I find it very entertaining observing people defend and support Trump.
It's like a real life portrayal of Idiocracy (it's a movie, Google it).

lol, condescend much?

Hows our current global respect meter working out for you?  Obama and Clinton are the laughing stock of the planet. 
If you believe that weakness and surrender is good global policy then by all means vote for Clinton.  If you want somebody who will actually lead globally then you unfortunately have to look elsewhere. 

Originally posted by ChineseDemocracy

Originally posted by tuwood

Originally posted by Brit Abroad

Originally posted by tuwood

Originally posted by ChineseDemocracy

Originally posted by tuwood

Originally posted by Rogillio Next presidential debate will be Oct 9th. Since the pundits claim Trump did so poorly the bar is pretty low for him to improve his performance. My guess is he will prepare more canned responses and not waste time beating dead horses. I'm not sure what Hillary can do better. I think she was pretty much on her game and that's as good as it gets.

Trumps biggest mistake in the debates even beyond missing some tee'd up opportunities was that he failed to deflect and pivot.  He tended to get on the defensive and stay there.  For example:

Hillary: "Trump has been a meanie head towards women"
Moderator: "Mr. Trump, how do you respond to being a meanie head to women"
Trump: "Lets talk about what's important to women.  Women care about law and order and being safe from terrorists.  My plan is to do X Y and Z and Secretary Clinton is a failure on A B and C and doesn't keep women safe..."   blah blah

Trump tended to sit there and stay on the defensive his entire time trying to explain why he did or didn't do what was just said. 

So basically Tony, you saw Trump as too defensive. I saw it the other way...he's flat-out offensive! Seriously, I watched the debate twice, once with Mrs. CD, and the 2nd time with my 13 year old as the debate was a bit past bedtime on Monday. The number of rude interruptions was inexcusable in his opinion. Perhaps because it's so different from what he is used to seeing in civil discourse...maybe that's why he was so taken aback by Trump. Listen, I've seen Trump be somewhat "presidential" during the GOP primaries...albeit for brief moments, but I really expected him to come out and actually TRY to be presidential. He did it briefly after winning the nomination. He gave a press conference in which he was tough but congenial, to some degree he was "measured,"...the closest to "presidential" he could muster. BUT, he gets rattled Tony. His true self busts out...he can't help himself. He's not a good poker player OR chess player. Trump is the Amercian version of the Philippines' Duterte. Hopefully we don't make the same mistake they did. and btw, the polls coming in today through Monday should give us a glimpse into whether the first debate had an impact. (or Tony, you can discount all other polls, and continue to only reference the LA Times!) ...note to self, buy Tony a subscription to the LA Times.

I agree that the LA Times is way off.  Trump is easily up by 20 points now.  haha, just kidding.

The thing about all the polls is that they're using their turnout models and we truly don't know whose right.  The thing we can gauge out of them is momentum though because they're polling essentially the same demographics of people with a consistent logic.  It doesn't matter if LA Times has Trump up by 7% and PPP has Trump down by 4%, what matters is the trend because those have been pretty consistent across all the polls.

The LA Times poll so far has been trending upwards by a couple points since monday, but not all of the polls have fallen off from before the debate.  So Trump either had a big surge the last few days before the debate or he's having one post debate umong the LA Times respondents.
I too am curious to the other polls. 

The interesting phenomenon with Trump is that guys like you and me have been duped for decades by people "acting presidential" and "saying the right things".  They play the game until they win and then they go full on corrupt. 
Trump isn't saying the right things or playing presidential.  He's saying what Americans have been saying for decades.  We're sick and tired of this crap and it needs to change.  I could care a less how much Trump interrupts Hillary and nobody else (other than Hillary supporters) does either.  it's why it's so baffling to the media and others.  He sighed more than 3 times per hour so therefore his candidacy is over...  /eyeroll 

His lack of decorum, tact, and intelligence might ingraciate him to some hick from a flyover state, but on the global stage, with its ludicrously complex macro and micro economic nuances, it leads to isolation and irrelevance.

I find it very entertaining observing people defend and support Trump.
It's like a real life portrayal of Idiocracy (it's a movie, Google it).

lol, condescend much?

Hows our current global respect meter working out for you?  Obama and Clinton are the laughing stock of the planet. 
If you believe that weakness and surrender is good global policy then by all means vote for Clinton.  If you want somebody who will actually lead globally then you unfortunately have to look elsewhere. 

Tony, seriously, you don't have a leg to stand on if you are saying Trump is respected more than Obama and Clinton on the world stage. Seriously man, that is crazy talk. Trump is the American version of Duterte in the Philippines. Duterte's a "law and order" leader too.

How does the world treat Obama and Hillary?  They laugh at them and ignore them when they try to play tough.  They are weak and everybody knows it.

Trump IS respected because they know they cannot push him over.  There have been many leaders throughout the worlds history who were not very nice people, but they dam sure were respected.  Respect is not gained by being the biggest wuss. 

Originally posted by ejshowers

Originally posted by tuwood

Originally posted by Brit Abroad

Originally posted by tuwood

Originally posted by ChineseDemocracy

Originally posted by tuwood

Originally posted by Rogillio Next presidential debate will be Oct 9th. Since the pundits claim Trump did so poorly the bar is pretty low for him to improve his performance. My guess is he will prepare more canned responses and not waste time beating dead horses. I'm not sure what Hillary can do better. I think she was pretty much on her game and that's as good as it gets.

Trumps biggest mistake in the debates even beyond missing some tee'd up opportunities was that he failed to deflect and pivot.  He tended to get on the defensive and stay there.  For example:

Hillary: "Trump has been a meanie head towards women"
Moderator: "Mr. Trump, how do you respond to being a meanie head to women"
Trump: "Lets talk about what's important to women.  Women care about law and order and being safe from terrorists.  My plan is to do X Y and Z and Secretary Clinton is a failure on A B and C and doesn't keep women safe..."   blah blah

Trump tended to sit there and stay on the defensive his entire time trying to explain why he did or didn't do what was just said. 

So basically Tony, you saw Trump as too defensive. I saw it the other way...he's flat-out offensive! Seriously, I watched the debate twice, once with Mrs. CD, and the 2nd time with my 13 year old as the debate was a bit past bedtime on Monday. The number of rude interruptions was inexcusable in his opinion. Perhaps because it's so different from what he is used to seeing in civil discourse...maybe that's why he was so taken aback by Trump. Listen, I've seen Trump be somewhat "presidential" during the GOP primaries...albeit for brief moments, but I really expected him to come out and actually TRY to be presidential. He did it briefly after winning the nomination. He gave a press conference in which he was tough but congenial, to some degree he was "measured,"...the closest to "presidential" he could muster. BUT, he gets rattled Tony. His true self busts out...he can't help himself. He's not a good poker player OR chess player. Trump is the Amercian version of the Philippines' Duterte. Hopefully we don't make the same mistake they did. and btw, the polls coming in today through Monday should give us a glimpse into whether the first debate had an impact. (or Tony, you can discount all other polls, and continue to only reference the LA Times!) ...note to self, buy Tony a subscription to the LA Times.

I agree that the LA Times is way off.  Trump is easily up by 20 points now.  haha, just kidding.

The thing about all the polls is that they're using their turnout models and we truly don't know whose right.  The thing we can gauge out of them is momentum though because they're polling essentially the same demographics of people with a consistent logic.  It doesn't matter if LA Times has Trump up by 7% and PPP has Trump down by 4%, what matters is the trend because those have been pretty consistent across all the polls.

The LA Times poll so far has been trending upwards by a couple points since monday, but not all of the polls have fallen off from before the debate.  So Trump either had a big surge the last few days before the debate or he's having one post debate umong the LA Times respondents.
I too am curious to the other polls. 

The interesting phenomenon with Trump is that guys like you and me have been duped for decades by people "acting presidential" and "saying the right things".  They play the game until they win and then they go full on corrupt. 
Trump isn't saying the right things or playing presidential.  He's saying what Americans have been saying for decades.  We're sick and tired of this crap and it needs to change.  I could care a less how much Trump interrupts Hillary and nobody else (other than Hillary supporters) does either.  it's why it's so baffling to the media and others.  He sighed more than 3 times per hour so therefore his candidacy is over...  /eyeroll 

His lack of decorum, tact, and intelligence might ingraciate him to some hick from a flyover state, but on the global stage, with its ludicrously complex macro and micro economic nuances, it leads to isolation and irrelevance.

I find it very entertaining observing people defend and support Trump.
It's like a real life portrayal of Idiocracy (it's a movie, Google it).

lol, condescend much?

Hows our current global respect meter working out for you?  Obama and Clinton are the laughing stock of the planet. 
If you believe that weakness and surrender is good global policy then by all means vote for Clinton.  If you want somebody who will actually lead globally then you unfortunately have to look elsewhere. 

The US is actually viewed in a positive way on many measures by much of the world. Actual facts are always helpful. http://www.pewglobal.org/2016/06/29/as-obama-years-draw-to-close-pr...

Those are all great measures and I do actually give Obama credit for impacting those metrics.  Unfortunately the reality of the world doesn't give a crap about those metrics.  You have radical Islam marching all across Europe and starting to work its way into America.  You have Putin doing whatever he wants taking over other countries.  You have China doing whatever it wants knowing that we're too weak to respond.  Those are the things that really matter, so when we sit back and gloat about being the "most tolerant" nation, it's really kind of sad. 

Originally posted by ejshowers

Originally posted by tuwood

Originally posted by ejshowers

Originally posted by tuwood

Originally posted by Brit Abroad

Originally posted by tuwood

Originally posted by ChineseDemocracy

Originally posted by tuwood

Originally posted by Rogillio Next presidential debate will be Oct 9th. Since the pundits claim Trump did so poorly the bar is pretty low for him to improve his performance. My guess is he will prepare more canned responses and not waste time beating dead horses. I'm not sure what Hillary can do better. I think she was pretty much on her game and that's as good as it gets.

Trumps biggest mistake in the debates even beyond missing some tee'd up opportunities was that he failed to deflect and pivot.  He tended to get on the defensive and stay there.  For example:

Hillary: "Trump has been a meanie head towards women"
Moderator: "Mr. Trump, how do you respond to being a meanie head to women"
Trump: "Lets talk about what's important to women.  Women care about law and order and being safe from terrorists.  My plan is to do X Y and Z and Secretary Clinton is a failure on A B and C and doesn't keep women safe..."   blah blah

Trump tended to sit there and stay on the defensive his entire time trying to explain why he did or didn't do what was just said. 

So basically Tony, you saw Trump as too defensive. I saw it the other way...he's flat-out offensive! Seriously, I watched the debate twice, once with Mrs. CD, and the 2nd time with my 13 year old as the debate was a bit past bedtime on Monday. The number of rude interruptions was inexcusable in his opinion. Perhaps because it's so different from what he is used to seeing in civil discourse...maybe that's why he was so taken aback by Trump. Listen, I've seen Trump be somewhat "presidential" during the GOP primaries...albeit for brief moments, but I really expected him to come out and actually TRY to be presidential. He did it briefly after winning the nomination. He gave a press conference in which he was tough but congenial, to some degree he was "measured,"...the closest to "presidential" he could muster. BUT, he gets rattled Tony. His true self busts out...he can't help himself. He's not a good poker player OR chess player. Trump is the Amercian version of the Philippines' Duterte. Hopefully we don't make the same mistake they did. and btw, the polls coming in today through Monday should give us a glimpse into whether the first debate had an impact. (or Tony, you can discount all other polls, and continue to only reference the LA Times!) ...note to self, buy Tony a subscription to the LA Times.

I agree that the LA Times is way off.  Trump is easily up by 20 points now.  haha, just kidding.

The thing about all the polls is that they're using their turnout models and we truly don't know whose right.  The thing we can gauge out of them is momentum though because they're polling essentially the same demographics of people with a consistent logic.  It doesn't matter if LA Times has Trump up by 7% and PPP has Trump down by 4%, what matters is the trend because those have been pretty consistent across all the polls.

The LA Times poll so far has been trending upwards by a couple points since monday, but not all of the polls have fallen off from before the debate.  So Trump either had a big surge the last few days before the debate or he's having one post debate umong the LA Times respondents.
I too am curious to the other polls. 

The interesting phenomenon with Trump is that guys like you and me have been duped for decades by people "acting presidential" and "saying the right things".  They play the game until they win and then they go full on corrupt. 
Trump isn't saying the right things or playing presidential.  He's saying what Americans have been saying for decades.  We're sick and tired of this crap and it needs to change.  I could care a less how much Trump interrupts Hillary and nobody else (other than Hillary supporters) does either.  it's why it's so baffling to the media and others.  He sighed more than 3 times per hour so therefore his candidacy is over...  /eyeroll 

His lack of decorum, tact, and intelligence might ingraciate him to some hick from a flyover state, but on the global stage, with its ludicrously complex macro and micro economic nuances, it leads to isolation and irrelevance.

I find it very entertaining observing people defend and support Trump.
It's like a real life portrayal of Idiocracy (it's a movie, Google it).

lol, condescend much?

Hows our current global respect meter working out for you?  Obama and Clinton are the laughing stock of the planet. 
If you believe that weakness and surrender is good global policy then by all means vote for Clinton.  If you want somebody who will actually lead globally then you unfortunately have to look elsewhere. 

The US is actually viewed in a positive way on many measures by much of the world. Actual facts are always helpful. http://www.pewglobal.org/2016/06/29/as-obama-years-draw-to-close-pr...

Those are all great measures and I do actually give Obama credit for impacting those metrics.  Unfortunately the reality of the world doesn't give a crap about those metrics.  You have radical Islam marching all across Europe and starting to work its way into America.  You have Putin doing whatever he wants taking over other countries.  You have China doing whatever it wants knowing that we're too weak to respond.  Those are the things that really matter, so when we sit back and gloat about being the "most tolerant" nation, it's really kind of sad. 

LOL, who's reality? Your blinders are getting tighter I think.

The reality of the world that's out there.  Putting your head in the sand and pretending everybody sings songs and wears birkenstocks doesn't make it so.  

Europe is fundamentally changing before our very eyes due to weak leadership.  The US has been fortunate due to the geographic boundaries, but Obama and Clinton are doing everything they can to bring the problems of the middle east to a street near you and me. 

I'm a Canadian but have been lurking on this thread for awhile now. The US election race is far more interesting than Canadian politics and with the Donald in the race, it is definitely more entertainment than politics. 

By Canada's standards I consider myself a conservative, but conservatism up here generally is more aligned with the Democrats than the Republicans.

In 2012, if I was able to vote, I probably would have voted Romney based on the Republican's tax policies but didn't really like him as a candidate and wouldn't have been too fussed when Obama won. 

If I had a vote this November, there is no way that I could ever see myself voting Trump.  Based on his character and the fact that he behaves like a small child anytime someone hurts his feelings or tells him that he is wrong, it is absolutely clear to me that he is not fit to be POTUS.  The instability he would bring to the US economy would be far worse than the impact of the Democrat's spending and tax policies. 

So my question to those Trump supporters, if the recent twitter rant and tax return revelation hasn't changed your mind about Trump, is there anything that could possibly change your vote? 

Just curious as, based on what I've read on this thread, I would guess at this point the line has been drawn in the sand and most people are prepared to go down with (what appears to be) Donald's sinking ship.

Same question to the Clinton supporters.  For me, if something earth shattering was revealed about Hillary in the next 4 weeks, I'd likely vote Johnson knowing that ultimately it would be a vote for Trump.

To respond to your questions to Trump supporters I'd say it's pretty simple.  We are so fed up with our corrupt government system in America that him not behaving like a born and bred lifelong politician increases his appeal.  The problem we have in the US is that we have this cute little popularity contest every four years with two near identical resumes trying to do their very best to "act presidential" to the public and then one of them wins.  Unfortunately, from that point on the corruption kicks in equally no matter which one of them wins.  We have spent $20T of money we don't have to enrich people that put these "acting presidential" nitwits in office and it cannot continue.

Trump is far from perfect, but he is NOT a politician and he's the closest thing we've ever had to an outsider running for office.  We need a bull in the china shop in Washington to wreck shop and root out the corruption.  If Hillary wins there is no question that it will be status quo and we will continue on our downward spiral as a nation.  If Trump wins there's absolutely no guarantee that he will be able to fix things either, but I'll go with a chance to fix things versus a guaranteed won't fix things any day of the week.

There's a lot of argument about Trump not having the temperament for international policy or knowledge.  I kind of chuckle about it because look what's happened as a result of electing people that "DO" have the temperament and experience.  The US has jacked up a lot of crap around the world and neither party has a corner on that market historically.

With some of the hacked emails released from the DNC and Clinton it was a beautiful window into Washington corruption and cronyism.  There were numerous key appointments that were made to people who donated the most money.  Seriously, think about that.  People that are making decisions that effect us and those around the world are were nothing more than donors that gave big bucks. wtf

Trump has a history of putting people that perform around him and firing them when they don't perform.  I can't see him appointing donors to run things, he will appoint people who know how to do things and if they don't execute he will fire them regardless of the political consequences.  We've seen this already in his campaign with firing campaign managers.  If they weren't performing then they got the axe.  For too long politicians put politics over performance and it has to stop.

Trump also has a history of not paying people he owes.  Let's see how well that works out when the dollar is no longer the world's reserve currency.

BS, this is yet another ridiculous claim against him and you know it.

Out of hundreds of businesses that have had tens of thousands of contractors the Clinton campaign tries to parade out poor victim suppliers who didn't get paid and quite often they didn't get paid because they did crap work or didn't provide the service they agreed to.

It's like saying he's a failed businessman because he filed bankruptcy 4 times while conveniently omitting the fact that he had over 200 companies that wildly succeeded. 

On a side note I heard something on the radio last night that gives Trump an interesting line of defense on his $900B+ loss in 1994.

The reason he lost $900B was because his properties had a $900B loss in value due to the realestate collapse under President Clinton.  He had the same debt, same revenue, same everything.  The value of the underlying assets plummeted due to the crash so he legally took the losses as he was required to do.

If anything this is why it's probably a good idea that Trump doesn't release his taxes because politicians and the media are too stupid to understand them.