Mass Shooting El Paso...

[KingsGambit]

He's even suggesting he's going to tie it to immigration reform. This is like putting his supporters in a box to where, if they want immigration reform, they have to accept more gun laws.

It was a clever move on his part. He knows full well there's not a strong subset of congressmen who will go for both.

[seanD]

It was a clever move on his part. He knows full well there's not a strong subset of congressmen who will go for both.

I hear that a lot from his supporters who claim he's just acting like a wishy-washy oaf, but in reality he's really a genius playing 4-D chess against his opponents. Yet this doesn't really look smart to me. For one thing, does he really know for sure the Dems won't call his bluff? Secondly, isn't he just ostracizing his political base, especially so close to election?

[JimL]

Well, the problem there, JimmySue, is that there's actually solid evidence of you defending NAMBLA, and ZERO evidence that I have anything to do with communism or Russia or Putin... But facts don't matter to you, so...

Sure you do Moscow-poke, you defend the traitor and chief every day as well as having defended Moscow Mitch and his support of Russia's plan to undermine democracy and the U.S. electoral system.

[Cow Poke]

Sure you do Moscow-poke, you defend the traitor and chief every day as well as having defended Moscow Mitch and his support of Russia's plan to undermine democracy and the U.S. electoral system.

Only in your lying little fried brain, JimmySue.

[Cow Poke]

Not trying to take this as an opportunity to bash Trump, but I don't think it's that controversial that he muffed his response to the Charlottesville shooting awhile back. Nothing to do with the debate over what was meant by "good people on both sides", but he missed a chance to turn that into a uniting moment. So he could have handled it better in the past, but that can't be changed now. His response in this case was much better, and I don't see the point in focusing on two years ago in analyzing it. Honestly, I think he and his presidency are way too divisive at this point in time to create any sort of "uniting moment", but he's saying the right things now.

I'm amazed at the TREMENDOUS number of opportunities Trump misses to unite instead of divide. I absolutely do not understand his need to be a jackass when being a statesman would work so much better. He CAN be a statesman at times, but then he'll go right on to saying something blazingly offensive.

[Teallaura]

I'm amazed at the TREMENDOUS number of opportunities Trump misses to unite instead of divide. I absolutely do not understand his need to be a jackass when being a statesman would work so much better. He CAN be a statesman at times, but then he'll go right on to saying something blazingly offensive.

To be honest, I don't think it matters - no matter what the man says or does he's gonna be attacked - so why bother?

The Left has moved so far left that it evidently left its collective brain behind. The rhetoric is so toxic that I don't think Reagan would have been able to communicate with this mess (on both sides) - I don't think it's presently fair to expect any president to unite a country determined to divide itself.

[Cow Poke]

To be honest, I don't think it matters - no matter what the man says or does he's gonna be attacked - so why bother?

The Left has moved so far left that it evidently left its collective brain behind. The rhetoric is so toxic that I don't think Reagan would have been able to communicate with this mess (on both sides) - I don't think it's presently fair to expect any president to unite a country determined to divide itself.

I just wish we had a President who didn't act so often like a Bozo.

[Teallaura]

I just wish we had a President who didn't act so often like a Bozo.

There was a time when I'd have agreed - but Bozo is getting done what Reagan and every other Republican failed to do - so I just don't care. He can drive a clown car on the White House lawn as long as he keeps making a real effort to keep his promises.

Besides, you would think it would be easy to look 'presidential' up against Bozo - but have you seen the Democratic field?

[NorrinRadd]

There was a time when I'd have agreed - but Bozo is getting done what Reagan and every other Republican failed to do - so I just don't care. He can drive a clown car on the White House lawn as long as he keeps making a real effort to keep his promises.

Besides, you would think it would be easy to look 'presidential' up against Bozo - but have you seen the Democratic field?

"Jesus Christ, of course he's a racist," said the *actual* Bozo (O'Rourke).

[Adrift]

To be honest, I don't think it matters - no matter what the man says or does he's gonna be attacked - so why bother?

The Left has moved so far left that it evidently left its collective brain behind. The rhetoric is so toxic that I don't think Reagan would have been able to communicate with this mess (on both sides) - I don't think it's presently fair to expect any president to unite a country determined to divide itself.

What's sad to me is that that's not necessarily where things were going, and he could have been a more uniting force had he made attempts early on. Reading other forums that lean left, a LOT of people who usually lean left voted for him. These were people who did not like Hillary and felt frustrated because they felt that the Democratic Party robbed Bernie Sanders of the nomination for someone who the party thought was a bit more centrist and more likely to win. They also thought that, though a Republican, they could count on Trump to be a secularist whose wishy-washy stance on abortion, and support for the LGBT community, and talk about getting out of international military conflicts aligned with their own values. And finally, like many of Trump's right-leaning supporters, they found his not-a-politician rhetoric refreshing. They liked that he was a straight shooter (and I'm sure him being a celebrity millionaire most of his life helped as well).

Now, granted, a lot of people on the left hated Trump from the get-go, but those who decided to go with Trump over Hillary on the left were not an insignificant minority. Had Trump been a bit more conciliatory, more diplomatic on the international front, Less pompous and derogatory in his Tweets, and took a heavy handed stance against any perception of racism or support from racists, I think he really could have been a much more uniting force. But...that's not the person that was eventually voted in. I truly think that a lot of people thought he'd mellow once he was surrounded by advisers, and realized the gravity of his position, but that didn't happen. I'm younger than many of you here, but I've lived through 8 administrations so far, and I've never seen people this politically divided. Both sides keep moving further and further to the extremes.

[Teallaura]

What's sad to me is that that's not necessarily where things were going, and he could have been a more uniting force had he made attempts early on. Reading other forums that lean left, a LOT of people who usually lean left voted for him. These were people who did not like Hillary and felt frustrated because they felt that the Democratic Party robbed Bernie Sanders of the nomination for someone who the party thought was a bit more centrist and more likely to win. They also thought that, though a Republican, they could count on Trump to be a secularist whose wishy-washy stance on abortion, and support for the LGBT community, and talk about getting out of international military conflicts aligned with their own values. And finally, like many of Trump's right-leaning supporters, they found his not-a-politician rhetoric refreshing. They liked that he was a straight shooter (and I'm sure him being a celebrity millionaire most of his life helped as well).

Now, granted, a lot of people on the left hated Trump from the get-go, but those who decided to go with Trump over Hillary on the left were not an insignificant minority. Had Trump been a bit more conciliatory, more diplomatic on the international front, Less pompous and derogatory in his Tweets, and took a heavy handed stance against any perception of racism or support from racists, I think he really could have been a much more uniting force. But...that's not the person that was eventually voted in. I truly think that a lot of people thought he'd mellow once he was surrounded by advisers, and realized the gravity of his position, but that didn't happen. I'm younger than many of you here, but I've lived through 8 administrations so far, and I've never seen people this politically divided. Both sides keep moving further and further to the extremes.

I don't particularly disagree - although Trump isn't to blame when you get what you paid for - and the next day realize it wasn't really what you wanted.

And yeah, it's more divided than it's been in seventy plus years - and I've heard the argument that it was the last seventy years that were weird, not the move back to divisiveness. But I think that's actually on Obama's door, not Trump's. Obama lit the fuse when he removed the Democrat's vanguard of nearly thirty years with no replacement in sight. It didn't initially cause a problem - Clinton was the successor designate and all would be right with the world - until she couldn't get elected.

Now all the varied - and often mutually exclusive - groups that had been in the back of the Democrat bus awaiting their turn start panicking and grabbing for that brass ring before it gets away. The party becomes a free-for-all of hopeless causes that want their piece of pie NOW. Which means Trump must go because conservatives are evil and won't give every nut job ideology a free ride. That, more than anything about Trump himself, pushed the party WAY far left - and has made it horribly unstable.

Pelosi does NOT have control of the House (O'Neill must be on spin dry in his grave by now) - and no one really has a leash on the party, either. The entire Democrat field is ridiculously large and promising a pot in every chicken at this point - they've gone totally nuts. Half the crap they are proposing won't fly with even the left leaning moderates - you can forget the independents - and Trump will be gleefully flinging it back in their faces about a year from now. I actually think it's gone too far and the chances of the eventual nominee righting him/herself in the next twelve months are ridiculously low.

It's too soon to call - but at this point, it looks like it's Trump's election to lose. The Democrats have nothing significant in their field and will have destroyed what they do have by January. Seriously - they are having debates six MONTHS before the primaries! The only candidate in their field that would actually be difficult for Trump to run against is Marianne Williamson, who has zero chance of being the nominee and probably couldn't beat Trump even if he didn't campaign (but she would be a nightmare for him to run against - it's possibly the only apparent scenario where Trump could muck up and lose).

The funny part? Trump is the best thing going for the Democratic Party right now - the only thing uniting them is their irrational hatred of Trump!

I truly think the biggest question is whether or not the Democratic party will implode before or after the 2020 general election. I wouldn't take bets either way - there are so many strains on that party right now that it's impossible to tell which one will give first.

[demi-conservative]

To be honest, I don't think it matters - no matter what the man says or does he's gonna be attacked - so why bother?

Obviously most divisive force is Fake News, lies shamelessly, also endlessly. Big division between those who believe lies of theirs, also those who don't.

[demi-conservative]

I hear that a lot from his supporters who claim he's just acting like a wishy-washy oaf, but in reality he's really a genius playing 4-D chess against his opponents. Yet this doesn't really look smart to me. For one thing, does he really know for sure the Dems won't call his bluff? Secondly, isn't he just ostracizing his political base, especially so close to election?

demi still remembers 18 months ago 'Trump suggest legal path for Dreamers for citizenship'. Now, almost forgotten. Many such cases.

[Tassman]

I'm sure that the media's constant blaring in 48-point font of the worst possible spin on Trump's rhetoric has nothing at all to do with it.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...uage-manifesto

[rogue06]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...uage-manifesto

He also ranted about a need for free health care and a universal basic income so I guess that makes the Democratic party culpable as well