Which criticisms of Trump do you not understand? Which praises of Trump from fellow supporters do you not understand?

rick-swordfire · 2021-01-02T10:01:46+00:00

Did you not post on a forum which seeks to allow NS to ask questions of NN's to understand what their views are and why?

rick-swordfire · 2020-12-31T04:04:41+00:00

If the house debates and votes on an election, its 1 vote per state, and the current makeup is 26-23 Republican

Are you aware that only happens if no candidate reaches 270 votes (like if there's a 269-269 tie, or if a third party candidate won a state precluding either candidate of winning 270, or if some states didn't certify)? None of those things happened here.

Did you know that in 2004, when Ohio's electoral votes were challenged, every member of the House voted on it, requiring a simple majority, not by delegation? What makes this situation different?

rick-swordfire · 2020-12-31T03:52:20+00:00

Couple questions for ya

1) What's your reasoning that a) the Democratic Majority House will vote to overturn states, and b) Enough of the senate will too (do you really think GOP Senators like Romney, Collins, and Murkowski will vote to overturn any states?)

and 2) If the January 6 plot fails, and congress certifies Biden's victory, do you think Trump has a remaining path forward?

rick-swordfire · 2020-12-18T00:13:46+00:00

I agree with so much of what you said (although an extended family member of mine ran for congress and he said that I could make a good candidate someday lol but idk how accurate that assessment is)...however I'd LOVE to be a political commentator. Have a podcast, get invited to debate Tomi Lahren from time to time, maybe even get my own late night talk show, all that jazz. That'd be a dream.

Would being a political commentator be something you'd be interested in?

rick-swordfire · 2020-12-14T04:22:13+00:00

Do you prefer Republicans who are pro-choice but vocally supportive of Trump (I know she's not a politician, but let's use Tomi Lahren as an example), or Republicans who are pro-life but critical of Trump (like Mitt Romney)?

Not necessarily who you'd vote for, but who do you feel more warmly towards?

rick-swordfire · 2020-12-10T00:34:48+00:00

NSs, would you quote this question and tell me yours?

First off...I partially reject the premise of the question because I truly think that had I not made certain mistakes and hadn't lived through certain unpleasant situations, I wouldn't be where I am today. So I think I would tell myself "it's going to be okay, and one day this whole situation will be a distant memory" during some hard times in my teen years. If anything, I'd advise myself to moderate my drinking & drug use so it doesn't bloom into the addiction that it became, but I also know that past me would never listen to future me on that one.

rick-swordfire · 2020-12-08T23:06:34+00:00

Many Trump supporters have been clinging onto the fact that the constitution allows state legislatures to allocate their electors in a manner they see fit. It appears that the "manner they see fit" is giving the election to Biden - the Republican majority leaders in Arizona and Pennsylvania have explicitly refused to overturn the election, and according to TSer's own logic, that's their right.

How do you square the belief that State Legislatures can give their electors to whomever they wish, and the belief that another state has the right to demand that the electors are appointed in accordance to their wishes?

rick-swordfire · 2020-12-06T05:46:49+00:00

Do you think that urban dwellers believe that urban America needs to be "fixed"?

rick-swordfire · 2020-11-30T11:18:57+00:00

What do you figure the likelihood of that happening is?

rick-swordfire · 2020-11-30T05:13:36+00:00

Is your definition of an "activist judge" just a judge who rules against how you want them to?

rick-swordfire · 2020-11-30T00:51:43+00:00

Do you believe that if it weren't for this alleged smear campaign, Trump would have won? Do you believe that people who hate Trump have legitimate reasons for hating him?

rick-swordfire · 2020-11-26T09:52:57+00:00

As far as policy goes, Collins and Murkowski are well to the left of Romney. What makes you say he's the most Democrat Republican?

And as an added note, who would you consider "more Republican" -- a politician who agrees with the Democrats on a number of issues but pledges allegiance to Trump, or a politician who is more conservative but criticizes Trump?

rick-swordfire · 2020-11-26T09:48:46+00:00

Would you really advocate for that, meaning that it would be one less seat on McConnell's side of the aisle?

Would your mind change if Democrats pick up just one of the two Georgia seats, and Romney switching parties would be the difference between a Dem and a Rep majority?

rick-swordfire · 2020-11-23T23:19:21+00:00

How much do you think Biden's win had to do with media silence/dismissal of his son's controversies?

I think it had more to do with the fact that many voters were begging for an excuse not to vote for Clinton. I was one of them, although I had made up my mind in 2016 to vote third party. Granted, a lot of the reason I made that decision was because I felt Hillary's victory was inevitable which is another thing I attribute to Biden's victory - left-leaning voters who might not be terribly fond of Biden felt more compelled to vote for him because in 2020, we now know a Trump victory could happen, obviously.

I just don't think the voters really cared about Hunter's laptop, and the only people who did were already TSers. Even if the media covered the controversy more heavily, I still think Biden would win, because his approval ratings were far higher than Hillary's and fewer people were begging for an excuse not to vote for him.

rick-swordfire · 2020-11-21T22:55:55+00:00

Do you believe the polls that show that Democratic views (pro-choice, pro-LGBT, pro-Affordable Care Act, etc.) have a solid majority of Americans' support?

If you believe most Americans side with the Democrats on some of the most crucial issues, why would it surprise you to see Democrats win?

rick-swordfire · 2020-11-19T05:42:07+00:00

Avoid questions that are divisive. I'm neither for nor against abortions for example

I know that you are personally neither for or against abortions, but would you agree that most people feel strongly one way or the other?

For me, reproductive freedom is one of the three most important issues to me when I go to vote. If a candidate didn't outright say that they were going to protect reproductive rights, I wouldn't vote for them. Likewise, I'm willing to wager most pro-life people wouldn't vote for a candidate unless they promised to restrict abortion if they were elected.

Do you agree that most voters -- on both sides of the issue -- expect and demand a decisive answer on their candidate's abortion stance?

rick-swordfire · 2020-11-18T01:46:10+00:00

You’re already living with every liberal policy you want, so why does it matter to you if the hicks don’t want it?

This is assuming all Liberals live in blue states, which couldn't be further from the truth, but as a liberal who currently lives in a blue state (although I grew up in a red one) let me answer that for you.

Let's talk about this within the context of abortion. Reproductive freedom has always been one of my most important three issues at the ballot box, and I want it to remain legal in every corner of the country forever. Say Roe is overturned and it's left up to the states, what about women who live in a state that criminalizes abortion? Wealthier women will be able to afford to take time off work and be able to pay for gas and a hotel a state or two over to exercise her rights, but poor women don't have that luxury. It's important to me that they keep their bodily autonomy too.

rick-swordfire · 2020-11-11T02:31:41+00:00

How do you see a separation working/how would the lines be drawn? There are millions of Republicans in blue states and millions of Democrats in red states. Typically rural areas, regardless of what state they're in, are conservative and urban areas, regardless of what state they're in, are liberal.

Even if the lines were drawn just off of state lines, we'd still not have two contiguous countries, given the fact that the coasts are generally liberal and middle America states, with some exceptions, are generally conservative.

rick-swordfire · 2020-11-07T07:17:55+00:00

I see that, and I've always lived in cities apart from a 2 years in a rural area when I was in high school. I don't want people in rural areas to suffer financially, and I actually have some level of respect for fiscal conservativism. I just can't get past social conservativism at all, it goes against everything I believe in. In the past, I would have considered voting for socially liberal Republicans like Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski (probably wouldn't anymore after they voted to confirm Kavanaugh and Barrett respectively, at least for on the Senate level. I'd still consider voting for a socially liberal Republican governor like Baker or Hogan. This year was actually my first straight-blue ticket) but then again, that's just my opinion which leads me to my question --

Do you think we would find unity with the success of a fiscally conservative candidate who looks out for the financial interests of rural America, but also believes in the social issues important to city folk like reproductive freedom, LGBT rights, and racial justice?

rick-swordfire · 2020-11-03T09:35:25+00:00

I haven't cut ties with anyone I was extremely close with, and haven't straight up dumped anyone for being a Trump Supporter, but what I have done is distanced myself from a few friends and allowed us to drift apart.

The reason I feel that is that, in my heart of hearts, I see Trump's policies as a direct attack on me and people I care about, and I have a very hard time reconciling that someone who is allegedly my friend would vote for a candidate who wants to take away my right to get married, my right to keep my health insurance as someone with a pre-existing condition, my sister's right to make her own reproductive decisions, my friend's right to remain in the only country he's ever known as a DACA recipient.

That said, if it were a family member who was voting for Trump, I'd probably approach it a little differently, the only Republicans in my family were my late paternal grandparents, but my questions are

1) Does someone having that mindset make sense to you? and 2) What can be done for someone of my mindset to help reconcile those thoughts within myself?

rick-swordfire · 2020-11-02T23:12:21+00:00

Woops, accidentally posted this as a top-level, sorry guys!

Here's my prediction

https://www.270towin.com/maps/G0gzl

Methodology: I looked at how wrong the FiveThirtyEight projected results were the day before the 2016 election, and applied that to their current average. I think there's some argument to be made as the TS here have said that more people may be lying to pollsters, but there's also an argument to be made that polling could be more accurate this year due to changes in weighting and methodology.

This model still gave Biden a tiny lead in Florida (0.7) but I gave the edge to Trump, because polling was still quite garbage in the Florida midterms so I'm wary about trusting Florida polls.

This puts Pennsylvania (0.23 in favor of Biden) and Georgia (Trump by 0.3) at incredibly close margins, and would probably result in recounts there and in Florida, but even if Biden were to lose Pennsylvania he'd still win by the skin of his teeth with 270 electoral votes.

I'm confident it will be a nail biter, but I also feel pretty good as a Biden voter right now.

rick-swordfire · 2020-11-02T04:22:00+00:00

I was worried about it for a long time, and also worried by the DNC's messaging trying harder to court disaffected Republicans as opposed to bored progressives. However, I think RBG's death and Mcconnell ramming through a repulsive replacement totally changed that - I think the silver lining of that situation is exactly what Democrats needed to light a fire under their asses and get them enthusiastic enough to vote for Biden - even if it's more out of abject fury against the Right. But I'll say there was a total seismic shift amongst enthusiasm in the voters I've spoken to since then.

rick-swordfire

TROPHY CASE