Sometimes I wonder how much longer America will be around.

[BlueStater]

About 40% of this country is fucking nuts and willing to send it into the shitter. As horrible as the orange nutcase is, the real problem is with the people who actually think he's presidential material. I don't think anything can possibly justify this lunacy.

[Skittles]

1. I understand why people are angry

but it is indeed hard to understand how anyone could in ANY WAY consider Donald Fucking Trump a *SOLUTION*

[cali]

2. "In my beginning is my end"

<snip>

Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present. (I)

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is...At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement.


<snip>

In my beginning is my end. There is, it seems to us,

At best, only a limited value
In the knowledge derived from experience.
The knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies,
For the pattern is new in every moment
And every moment is a new and shocking
Valuation of all we have been. We are only undeceived
Of that which, deceiving, could no longer harm. (II)


The only wisdom we can hope to acquire
Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.Do not let me hear
Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly,
Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession,
Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God.
The only wisdom we can hope to acquire
Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless. (II)
O dark dark dark. They all go into the dark,
The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant,

<snip>

T.S. Eliot

[tecelote]

3. When we stopped caring about education...

Many of our problems could be resolved if people were better educated. It's a fact, liberals are better educated.

[MichiganVote]

9. Bingo

[Jeffersons Ghost]

4. K&R a 5th rec for publicity and a new JG OP with a similar question about the Earth...

In the last few decades, Humans destroyed more species than those, which became extinct before the Chicxulub Event.

[Hortensis]

5. We've had mobs of destructive idiots many times before.

This is a typical minority acting out in a typical very unworthy manner. A majority victory for the Democrats, joined by those Republicans who cross what had become an uncrossable chasm and assisted by those who refuse to vote, will be seen as a resounding rejection of The Donald and his supporters.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. The USA will continue for a long time, but there are troubles that can be avoided.

The rise of China and, later, India will challenge American ascendancy. This will be difficult for the Right Wing Authoritarians and RWA Followers to deal with, especially since the latter are dominated by lesser-informed people.

The greatest hope for world peace, and therefore a continuation of the American way of life and the American dream, is to promote world trade and travel, and (not least) education. World peace includes coordinated global action on vital issues such as climate change.

When there are large middle classes (resulting from education) that consume products and services from all over the world, they do not have an interest in disrupting the world with war. This is the positive side of globalism which must not be overlooked.

Education increases awareness of the diversity of human experience and existence. Education grows economies and increases exports, which earns money to buy the best that the world offers.

Nationalism has terrible downsides. When protectionism closes borders to free(r) flow of people, goods, and services, then there is less interest in world peace, less interest in diversity, less interest in acting together on global problems. Nationalism promotes us-versus-them thinking, which also has very negative effects on tolerance and diversity within the borders of nations (including the US). Racism and bigotry against groups such as LGBTQ increases. It creates fertile ground for conflict and war.

[sofa king]

7. It's not lunacy. It's ignorance.

It's the "uphill battle" section of the IQ bell curve, where the Dunning-Kruger Effect rules with an iron fist. Most of these voters are deeply stupid, horribly misinformed and too dumb to recognize their own incompetence. The relate to Donald Trump because, like George W. Bush, he is one of them.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-supporters-dunning-kruger-effect-213904

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

11. Yes, and I think this situation was brought about by right wing propaganda (mostly Fox)

but also various right wing sites on the internet. None of this would have been possible without them. They took a bunch of stupid people and made them angry and fearful and got them organized so now they are basically a mob. These people also have the misconception that they are informed because of the hours they've spent watching Fox or reading right wing stuff online. Unfortunately, they are even more uninformed than if they had never watched or read any news at all. At least they would be mostly a clean slate if they weren't consuming all this propaganda. They've got too many lies fogging up their brains now. Their bullshit detectors are all out of order.

[sofa king]

14. It's quite deliberate, too.

Republicans have been quite deliberately making use of the Backfire Effect, a psychological ploy which works particularly well on conservatives.

It's the Hannity and Colmes two-step: the conservative delivers bad information, the liberal corrects it, and conservative viewers become more likely to believe the bad information because it was refuted by someone they don't trust. They lack the skill to evaluate information by themselves, and rely upon authorities they trust to tell them what to think.

Once a leader has gained their trust, conservatives stick with him all the way to the bunker. Donald Trump is well aware of this and he knows he can say whatever he wishes. His narcissism leads him to believe that he is even above the law, and for the most part, it appears as if he is, because I'm pretty sure I'd be in jail at least three times over for the shit Trump has said in the past two weeks.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

17. Trump also has gotten a pass all his life

for being born into a very wealthy family. He is accustomed getting away with just about anything.

[JenniferJuniper]

16. The systematic destruction of the middle class started with Reagan

"News" outlets like Fox have been moving it along...

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

12. Love your username, btw n/t

[gristy]

8. George Saunders concludes an article in The New Yorker with this:

Although, to me, Trump seems the very opposite of a guardian angel, I thank him for this: I’ve never before imagined America as fragile, as an experiment that could, within my very lifetime, fail.

But I imagine it that way now.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/11/george-saunders-goes-to-trump-rallies

[Locrian]

15. great article about a complex issue

40% support is not just a trump issue. we have a problem - and it's not as simple as ignorance and stupidity (though part of it is).

[Vinca]

10. There really are two Americas, but it's not rich and poor. It's thinking and nonthinking.

Sometimes I wish we could split the country in half so they could enjoy their vision of paradise. We'd have to build a huuuuuuuuge wall to keep them out of our side though. After a few weeks of no regulations, no public services and a tidal wave of gun violence they'd be begging to be let back into thinking America.

[roomtomove]

13. This country voted

for Nixon, Reagan, and the Bushes, although Clinton the First wasn't much better, so the 40% number of fucking nuts in this country is a low estimate.

[Nitram]

18. People have been wondering how long the republic can survive since 1776.

It has, and it will continue to do so. There are a lot of people who have discovered over the last 12 years or so that their education and skills do not qualify them for the jobs that are now available in this country. Right wing politicians and media have encouraged them to blame that on liberals who they claim are selling the country to the highest foreign bidder. We need to get the truth out before this minority becomes a majority.