Midterm election poll

[gil]

Just a little curious DV. Who is "they," in your worldview? I ask because of the enormous amounts of money that various people spent on the election. I think Elon Musk spent north of $200 million in Texas alone. Isn't Musk part of the powerful, elite group that has outsized influence? And if elections don't matter, why'd he spend so much $$$?

[gil]

See, this just shows that you're what's wrong with America. The percentage of "MAGA" people who are like that is about the same as the percentage of liberals who support having drag shows in grade schools. Now, there are some "left things" and there are some "right things", but it's mostly "people things" that cause folks to be idiots and cheats, and they come in both political colors. There are just as many corrupt Democrats as there are Republicans. The one thing they do have in common is that none of them give a shit about you.

This is why nobody here respects you and you can't claim preset bias because we respect Gil, who votes the same way you do. This is also why you're always getting outsmarted.

In general, I think you are right about a relatively small number of people holding extreme views on either end of the political spectrum. But I think a much higher percentage attribute extreme views to the majority on the other side. In other words, believing/saying that all conservatives are like the worst of far right, or that all liberals are like the worst of the far left.

Go ask the average liberal in Texas what they think of trans kids... they'll say, "I dono... not sure we have that one figured out yet. I don't want to demonize people who are from marginalized groups so I'm going to vote to protect them from discriminatory policies."

Go ask the average conservative why they don't want James Talarico to be their senator in Texas... they'll say, "Ohhhh well he wants to trans our children! He's going to allow schools to perform gender reassignment on the spot!!!"

The false equivalencies get us nowhere.

I was trying to address how people distort "the other side." You are expressing how some conservatives distort Talarico's views. Don't you think a lot of liberals distort the views of many republican candidates?

[DanielVogelbach]

Just a little curious DV. Who is "they," in your worldview? I ask because of the enormous amounts of money that various people spent on the election. I think Elon Musk spent north of $200 million in Texas alone. Isn't Musk part of the powerful, elite group that has outsized influence? And if elections don't matter, why'd he spend so much $$$?

Elon Musk is a fraud.

It doesn't matter who "they" are, because "they" have no power without order followers.

[DanielVogelbach]

Photo Nov 04 2026, 8 32 59 PM (14).jpg (80.83 KiB) Viewed 75 times

[auroraave]

David Gee - kindly meme us up here, please.

SoB getting passed around the Forum like the watch in Pulp Fiction.b50hh6.jpg

hahha - that's hilarious - THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!

There is so much irony right now. Trump, a narcissist, a man I truly believe wants/needs to be liked and admired, just flushed away any and all good will the Republicans had built up. He killed them off - this is all on him. All he had to do was NOT go to war and ONLY concentrate on the economy. He did the opposite. Now, a man who's led by his inflated ego, has to watch while his term goes down as one of the worst and most damaging ever - and this is after having a pretty good first term. Truth be told - it's all because of Israel - he backed them completely - they destroyed him completely.
His legacy is in shambles - and he knows it. A well deserved dagger to the ego. Why is no one mentioning any of this?

But it's going to get so so so much worse. The dems now have unlimited power - and they will destroy they rest of the country - they will do everything they can to ensure they never, ever ever lose another election - they'll fuck up the supreme court, they'll add states only they can win - and it is going to be devastating to the country. The people that think a dem landslide is a good thing - are going to get thier throats slit by those they voted for. The dems are going to do to us what Israel just did to trump. What's stunning is people don't see it coming. The irony is just so fucking thick.

We all lost this week - make no mistake. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Whatever faults the Reps have, and they have them, pales in comparison to the damage the dems will continue to do. Any rational, reasonable, objective mind sees this. I can't even fathom the new taxes and new ways to steal our money and push us all closer to poverty coming our way, but they are coming. Ironic people voted for that and think it's a win.

[gil]

David Gee - kindly meme us up here, please.

SoB getting passed around the Forum like the watch in Pulp Fiction.b50hh6.jpg

hahha - that's hilarious - THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!

There is so much irony right now. Trump, a narcissist, a man I truly believe wants/needs to be liked and admired, just flushed away any and all good will the Republicans had built up. He killed them off - this is all on him. All he had to do was NOT go to war and ONLY concentrate on the economy. He did the opposite. Now, a man who's led by his inflated ego, has to watch while his term goes down as one of the worst and most damaging ever - and this is after having a pretty good first term. Truth be told - it's all because of Israel - he backed them completely - they destroyed him completely.
His legacy is in shambles - and he knows it. A well deserved dagger to the ego. Why is no one mentioning any of this?

But it's going to get so so so much worse. The dems now have unlimited power - and they will destroy they rest of the country - they will do everything they can to ensure they never, ever ever lose another election - they'll fuck up the supreme court, they'll add states only they can win - and it is going to be devastating to the country. The people that think a dem landslide is a good thing - are going to get thier throats slit by those they voted for. The dems are going to do to us what Israel just did to trump. What's stunning is people don't see it coming. The irony is just so fucking thick.

We all lost this week - make no mistake. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Whatever faults the Reps have, and they have them, pales in comparison to the damage the dems will continue to do. Any rational, reasonable, objective mind sees this. I can't even fathom the new taxes and new ways to steal our money and push us all closer to poverty coming our way, but they are coming. Ironic people voted for that and think it's a win.

I think there is a lot of truth in your analysis of President Trump. But I suspect that if one of the more liberal people on this board had talked about his narcissism and ego, the cries of "TDS" would have been deafening, don't you think?

It's a tragedy, in the pure ancient Greek sense. President Trump has often displayed amazing political skills, incredible understanding of people, and a knack for saying things that really resonated. And while he is someone who has been written off before, it does look pretty bad for him. If only he had been able to focus on good things and stop reaching too far. But maybe you can't pick and choose like that.

For me, it's more than Israel and the war. It's the tariffs and his back and forth instability on that issue. It's how he insults our allies and buddies up with enemies, but he is unstable on that too. It's how he demonizes anyone who dares slight him. I think his candidate choice lost the Republicans senate seats: Texas and South Carolina, at least.Those should have been winnable for Republicans and Trump, even with war and the economy.

I don't think the Democrats will have unlimited power. First of all, Trump is still president, and he will continue to rule with executive orders and the Supreme Court has been pretty friendly to the expansion of presidential power. In the Senate, there is still the filibuster for most matters. I suppose what will be different beginning in January is that Congress will have a majority in both chambers and will be willing to say "Trump is wrong". With Republican control ("the trifecta") the past two years, there has been cowering to Trump and silence (from the majority) on some real disasters: the war, tariff policy, some truly terrible cabinet pics, DOGE, government agencies being used to produce political propaganda, etc. It would be nice to get some checks and balances back, but it's hardly unlimited power for the dems.

[douche]

There is so much irony right now. Trump, a narcissist, a man I truly believe wants/needs to be liked and admired, just flushed away any and all good will the Republicans had built up. He killed them off - this is all on him. All he had to do was NOT go to war and ONLY concentrate on the economy. He did the opposite. Now, a man who's led by his inflated ego, has to watch while his term goes down as one of the worst and most damaging ever - and this is after having a pretty good first term. Truth be told - it's all because of Israel - he backed them completely - they destroyed him completely.
His legacy is in shambles - and he knows it. A well deserved dagger to the ego. Why is no one mentioning any of this?

But it's going to get so so so much worse. The dems now have unlimited power - and they will destroy they rest of the country - they will do everything they can to ensure they never, ever ever lose another election - they'll fuck up the supreme court, they'll add states only they can win - and it is going to be devastating to the country. The people that think a dem landslide is a good thing - are going to get thier throats slit by those they voted for. The dems are going to do to us what Israel just did to trump. What's stunning is people don't see it coming. The irony is just so fucking thick.

We all lost this week - make no mistake. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Whatever faults the Reps have, and they have them, pales in comparison to the damage the dems will continue to do. Any rational, reasonable, objective mind sees this. I can't even fathom the new taxes and new ways to steal our money and push us all closer to poverty coming our way, but they are coming. Ironic people voted for that and think it's a win.

I mentioned this on another thread, and it intrigues me...

There has only been one other president who won a term, lost the next one, then won again. His name is Grover Cleveland.

My point is that Trump had the advantage of having already been in office. He knew the inner workings and you had to know that when he lost, he was rehashing what he would have done differently. Or at least considering what he would do differently given another opportunity (that's what most people do). So when he got in again, he should have had a really good idea with regard to strategy and approach.

Just seems like a hugely missed opportunity on his part.

[gil]

There is so much irony right now. Trump, a narcissist, a man I truly believe wants/needs to be liked and admired, just flushed away any and all good will the Republicans had built up. He killed them off - this is all on him. All he had to do was NOT go to war and ONLY concentrate on the economy. He did the opposite. Now, a man who's led by his inflated ego, has to watch while his term goes down as one of the worst and most damaging ever - and this is after having a pretty good first term. Truth be told - it's all because of Israel - he backed them completely - they destroyed him completely.
His legacy is in shambles - and he knows it. A well deserved dagger to the ego. Why is no one mentioning any of this?

But it's going to get so so so much worse. The dems now have unlimited power - and they will destroy they rest of the country - they will do everything they can to ensure they never, ever ever lose another election - they'll fuck up the supreme court, they'll add states only they can win - and it is going to be devastating to the country. The people that think a dem landslide is a good thing - are going to get thier throats slit by those they voted for. The dems are going to do to us what Israel just did to trump. What's stunning is people don't see it coming. The irony is just so fucking thick.

We all lost this week - make no mistake. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Whatever faults the Reps have, and they have them, pales in comparison to the damage the dems will continue to do. Any rational, reasonable, objective mind sees this. I can't even fathom the new taxes and new ways to steal our money and push us all closer to poverty coming our way, but they are coming. Ironic people voted for that and think it's a win.

I mentioned this on another thread, and it intrigues me...

There has only been one other president who won a term, lost the next one, then won again. His name is Grover Cleveland.

My point is that Trump had the advantage of having already been in office. He knew the inner workings and you had to know that when he lost, he was rehashing what he would have done differently. Or at least considering what he would do differently given another opportunity (that's what most people do). So when he got in again, he should have had a really good idea with regard to strategy and approach.

Just seems like a hugely missed opportunity on his part.

I think that is a really good point. But it seems that Trump not learning how to govern from the first term is part of the tragedy here.

I also think it's possible that Trump learned the wrong lessons from the first term. Such as, don't hire/appoint anyone who might be personally disloyal. Don't hire/appoint anyone who might disagree and push back. So apparently there was not enough "gravitas" among any advisor who would have said that the war on Iran was a bad idea.