The 2016 United States Presidential Election

When your main argument is, "Hey fellow Republicans, I'm just as bad as Bill Clinton, so you should vote for me," you probably aren't going to win. And that is just skimming the surface of this rather shallow pond.

It's the age old complaint we keep hearing from conservatives, that reality has a liberal bias. If journalists dare to report facts and reality, they are obviously biased against conservatives.

Before Obama was even sworn in, the Republican establishment settled on a strategy where they would obstruct anything proposed by Democrats, and vilify Democrats as a means of distracting people from failed Republican policies. What's the Republican health care plan? Wait for Democrats to propose one, then be against it. That's their health care plan. The same applies to all other foreign and domestic policies.When your only two actions are obstruction and demonizing your opponent, Trump is what you get. Republicans created the environment that allowed Trump's rise to prominence, and they should be held to account. The only thing keeping them afloat is that their hair brained Tea Party members will vote with Republicans in Congress, and their control of congressional districting through state governments.

In case it wasn't clear, that is what I meant by "their control of congressional districting through state governments" in the previous post.

I am of two minds on that one, and am fascinated by the machinations of the whole political dance.If you look at the Latino vote, they can be described as predominately conservative and probably more religious than the majority US population. I really think Republicans could court the Latino vote if they had the cajones to do it.Overall, the Democratic platform is much more favorable to middle class families. Affordable health care, tax increases on the rich, social programs, paternity/maternity leave, affordable college, increasing the minimum wage . . . I could go on and on.What do Republicans want to do that actually benefits the middle class? The only policy they seem to have is that if rich people have more money, maybe some of that wealth will fall off their table and the middle class can have the table scraps. Their only play has been to vilify the word "socialist" and vilify Democrats so that people will not focus on Republican policies.I don't see why Republicans couldn't move towards the center since doing so would benefit people in their base. Not only that, but the extreme right wing of the US electorate is not going to suddenly vote for Democrats. If the Republican party breaks in two, the extreme right wing of that break is not going to form a coalition with Democrats. It is going to vote with centrist Republicans. The only problem would be the White House because a candidate needs a simple plurality to win compared to some other parliamentary systems where you need a majority coalition.

You forgot #4: Claim Democrats are unwilling to reach across the aisle.

The word "rigging" is going to need a long vacation after this election due to all the abuse it has to put up with.Those were the rules BEFORE even one vote was cast. Those are the same rules that were around when Obama was nominated, for crying out loud. It isn't rigged. Those are the rules. When you follow the rules, IT ISN'T RIGGED.For crying out loud . . .Edited by Taq, : No reason given.

Party nominations are not US elections. If a political party wanted to, it could choose one person to be the sole elector of their party's nomination. There are no laws that say a party's nominee must be chosen by a vote of the people. A party can do whatever it wants when it comes to choosing their nominee.

It takes the same amount of time every other year--just one day, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Not sure if that is sarcasm or not, but history also shows that 11 states seceded from the union following that same election.

History has shown us that we are doomed to repeat it. For example, there were strict regulations put in after the Great Depression to prevent another Great Depression. What did we do? We got rid of those regulations which resulted in another massive recession. Go figure. How many market bubbles do we have to see before we stop falling for them?

The best way to avoid gerrymandering is to have non-partisan councils put in charge of districting. It is impossible to make seats exactly match percentage of votes, but at least we can put some distance between political parties and districting. That's a no-go. I personally think it is worth preserving the tradition of US Representatives being held accountable to an actual geographic region and the voters who live in that geographic region.

Trump could have been the same loudmouth and lost the Democratic primary running on a Democratic platform. Only Republicans put value in the simple ability of insulting the other party. Democrats actually expect policies.I think this is really the story for the election. The Republicans elected a nominee based solely on his ability to insult other people. That is what their party has become. That is what their news channel is. That is what their talk radio is. That is all they have done in Congress for the last 8 years. No policies. No vision. Just insults.Fox News isn't going to change. Alt-right media isn't going to change. Right leaning radio isn't going to change. In 4 years we will see a candidate who knows what to do: insult people non-stop.

Some losses are a win. If Russia refuses to allow safe zones for innocent refugees protected by US air power, then that puts Russia in a very poor light, even poorer than the light they are currently under. This produces leverage that can be taken advantage of at the UN. It could even lead to economic sanctions against Russia.

I think the Trump campaign knows this, even if they are unwilling to address it publicly. When someone from the Trump campaign is asked to comment on the national polls they try to redirect by saying that they are ahead in Ohio, as if Trump is running to be President of Ohio.