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May 4, 2016
Pundits Knew It Early On – Trump Could Not Win The Nomination

Kasich Dropping Out Of Presidential Race; Donald Trump Assured GOP Nomination – NPR, May 4 2016

And now keep this in mind:

Paul Danahar @pdanahar

Hmm, all the reasons given for why Trump could NEVER win the nomination are now being used to explain why he’ll NEVER win the presidency

Posted by b on May 4, 2016 at 17:08 UTC | Permalink
Comments

@ Vietnam Vet
So you give Killary a chance
Then you are a killer once more.

Posted by: From The Hague | May 5 2016 19:48 utc | 101

Trump noted that Putin “called me a genius” and expressed hope that would mean better relations between Russia and the United States. “I’m not disavowing that [Putin] called me a genius. Are you crazy?” he said. “Wouldn’t it be good if we actually got along with countries, wouldn’t it be a positive thing? Do we always have to fight?”
http://russia-insider.com/en/no-donald-putin-didnt-call-you-genius/ri14196

Posted by: Anna | May 5 2016 20:34 utc | 102

our civilization pays top dollar for the drivel of pundits, for the perjury of candidates, and for the treason of politicians.

Posted by: john | May 5 2016 20:41 utc | 103

@86 ben, ‘you assume the “election” process is real. With e-voting a reality in the U$A, who knows?’
Well, I don’t, but you’re right that ‘e-voting’ is a tremendous problem. Write-in ballots will be treated as ‘spoiled ballots’ in many, if not most, cases, at least in the first few rounds of elections, and short of disappearing vast numbers of ballots there is no real way to switch them. I’ve never encountered an e-voting machine … I don’t imagine there is any provision with e-voting machines even to write-in a candidate. That’s coup number one of e-voting. All write-ins will have to be on ‘absentee’, paper ballots.
This campaign will take some effort, there’s no doubt about that. Paper ballots are the only way to go in a real world, in a world where anything other than pin the tail on the donkey or the elephant is possible.
@100 vv, ‘I know she has little chance of being elected, but at least I won’t have to live with choosing an evil monster offered by the corporate parties.’
And you will have selected column ‘c’, the ineffectual third-party column. A better choice than a or b for you individually, and for me as a write-in, but the dynamics of plurality voting, winner-takes-all voting, first-past-the-post voting, prevents your choice from scaling, locks in a two-party system, and any locked system is easily bought, and transformed to a one-party system, when ‘inequality’ reaches its current level.
We have to break the systemic duopoly, and institute an open system of elections in order to [re]gain control of our representative government in ‘ordinary’ circumstances, and to be able to take the reins in hand directly as required.
It is true that what I am advocating is change, and that we are going to have to change the way that we operate in order to effect change.
As long as the conduct of elections is out of the control of us demes ourselves democracy is a fantasy, impossible. Look at the sideshow we have today.

Posted by: jfl | May 5 2016 22:12 utc | 104

@101 fth
Cheap shot.

Posted by: jfl | May 5 2016 22:26 utc | 105

@89, noirette, ‘Only Kasich has spent less than Trump among the candidates still in the race entering Tuesday.’
That link is enlightening, to say the least. Screaming fire in a crowded theatre was the way to go. At least with all the cheap seats filled with matches.
The spell of the ‘persuaders’ is persuasive just as long as there is a perceived equitable distribution of the loot. They’re going to have to try to eliminate their election show completely. They very nearly have under the present arrangements. But the situation is too dangerous to them when it’s out of their control. No more houseboys and girls like Bush, Obama and the Clintons.

Posted by: jfl | May 5 2016 22:41 utc | 106

As far as I can discern Trump is no less a tool of the power structure than any of his now by the wayside ‘competitors’ or even Clinton II.
Firstly he is still alive and kicking which would not be the case if the gang felt seriously threatened.
None of the rabid Trumpets ever ask themselves the obvious question which is this: Throughout his adult life Trump has aggressively pursued one goal – to increase his wealth. He has lied cheated and stolen to do this. Trump is essentially a salesman whose name appears on many enterprises he doesn’t own. Trump franchises himself which makes it difficult to come up with an accurate estimation of his net worth but it is likely to be far less than most of the media estimates. Now given that this guy has always been about money & how to grab more for himself, it is downright crazy to imagine he is throwing millions (billions?) of dollars away in some quixotic adventure to save amerika. A far more believable scenario is that trump is being trump, that he has gathered together a cabal of investors who for whatever reason have been on the outside of the political honeypot. Trump has sold them on the idea of staging a buyout so off the wall and unexpected, that dollars worth of influence will be grabbed for cents of expenditure.
The rethug sleazebags, heartened by the fact trump has taken on one of their guys as campaign manager have finally accepted the inevitable and are currently ‘in negotiations’ to ensure that their interests aren’t left totally out to starve.
House Speaker Paul Ryan has announced that he’s not ready to support Trump yet .
I put yet in italics because it is the most important word in that statement. Ryan will ‘get behind’ Trump after his people have met with Trump’s people and a deal that is mutually rewarding has been made.
As for the media it has been blatant for a year or more that the media and more importantly, their owners, are happy with Trump’s nomination.
If the media elite didn’t support Trump, they would have done the same to trump as has been done to Jeremy Corbyn in England. That is never mentioning him in front page stories let alone headlines, only naming him in repetitive below the fold hit pieces. But media inside amerika and out, have delighted in increasing Trump’s profile and his electability by beating up every racist or misogynist statement he has ever made, knowing that it will have a Streisand effect by encouraging racist and sexist white middle amerika to back trump – no matter that their weak assed editorialising implores them not to support him.
As bad as it would be, I sorta wish Trump could win that is the only way all the drongos are ever gonna get it, that they cannot fix things by ticking a box or jerking a handle, if they want to fix thing amerikans need to unite with all the other amerikans and actually do something.
Unfortunately right now the most probable outcome of Trump’s republican nomination is that it will scare the living shit outta many Sandernistas causing them to forgo their determination to never vote for Clinton II in the general election.

Posted by: Debs is dead | May 6 2016 3:46 utc | 107

Debs is dead @107
Trump Campaign Finance: Loans, Donations & Purchase of Merchandise

FEC records, current through the end of January, show Trump has raised $7.5 million from other people. In that same time period, he lent his campaign $17.5 million and directly contributed another $250,000.
Trump never mentions his other donors. He’s taking the opposite approach of most other self-funded candidates, who are usually eager to show they have substantial financial support from others.

Art of the Deal?
The article doesn’t mention merchandise sales. If a major portion of Trump’s loans to his campaign are sourced from the sale of Trump campaign merchandise by a Trump Company, then Trump’s actual contribution to his campaign would be much less than it appears.
We saw similar weirdness wrt Trumps fundraising for vets: Contributions funneled to Trump’s Foundation (run by his family) for later distribution to a secret list of Vet groups. And Trump’s charitable-giving altogether is rather low.
=
Speculations that Trump campaign may have funding problem
Summary: Trump is late in putting together fundraisers and fundraising mechanisms PLUS many people will not be excited to donate to a billionaire.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 6 2016 5:54 utc | 108

Is it possible that Trump is popular because he doesn’t resort to bullshit?
Or to put it another way, is the absence of bullshit what distinguishes him from Politicians?
In Oz, it was recently revealed that circa 80% of Federal Politicians were employed in politics before standing for election (to the Gravy Train).

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | May 6 2016 6:26 utc | 109

An interesting compilation which I have reproduced. Observing from across the Atlantic, it seems to me that attacking Trump only feeds his ant-establishment support. And the media still don’t get it.
https://ktwop.com/2016/05/06/why-trump-couldnt-win-but-did/

Posted by: ktwop | May 6 2016 8:13 utc | 110

@108 jr, ‘Trump is late in putting together fundraisers and fundraising mechanisms PLUS many people will not be excited to donate to a billionaire’
Yeah, but the object is not to raise money and spend it, the object is to get elected. And Trump seems to be ahead of the pack toward that end. See Noirette’s link @89.
Trump’s only been underspent by Kasich yet he’s leading the pack. His mouth and corporate media’s predictable response have put him there ‘for free’.

Posted by: jfl | May 6 2016 8:14 utc | 111

@110 ktwop ‘it seems to me that attacking Trump only feeds his ant-establishment support’
Here’s one that fits the bill …
‘Secretary of State Ron Paul’ Gives Jennifer Rubin Panic Attacks

Of course anyone who knows anything about anything knows how unlikely is such a thing. But the mere thought of it is enough to sent Rubin screaming as if her hair was on fire. “Don’t you people understand how dangerous Trump is??? He could even bring Ron Paul into his administration!!!!”

… have no idea where this one came from, but sidling up to Ron Paul wouldn’t hurt Donald Trump a bit. Don’t know that Paul would let him get within ten feet of himself, though.
RP is the only consistent anti-imperialist in American politics and has been so forever. If he and Trump were able to cut a deal, it would raise Trump’s stature immeasurably. RP is head and shoulders above his weasel son – who once was considering running himself – with respect to integrity. He would be an asset of incalculable value to Trump’s campaign.
And the sizzle’s worth more than the steak, as they say. This neocon knucklehead’s given Trump RP’s sizzle without his having to buy the steak. Trump’s enemies are his most reliable boosters.

Posted by: jfl | May 6 2016 8:34 utc | 112

Is Trump anti-imperialist?
I argue @58 that he proposes a different kind of imperialism than the neocon NWO of feudalistic trans-national oligarchs.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 6 2016 12:38 utc | 113

US posters probably know all this, but I was interested to find out how Dem long-lifers reacted to Trump ‘becoming the R candidate.’ Who are Hellary – Obama supporters anyways?
This board, Metafilter, skews, as far as I can make out, ‘edjicated’, artistic / tech, pseudo-intellectual for some, very strongly pro-LGTB, Dem. There are a 1.8K comments or so. They are all apalled at Trump getting ahead and the majority are staunch Hellery groupies. Their arguments turn on one issue only (besides speculation about the rest of the election and bashing Cruz) : identity politics. Women, abortion, gays, s-s marriage, ppl of color (but not explicitly Muslims ..), all will be badly affected should he win. Other matters – foreign policy, taxes, health care, Big Banks, what have you, are hardly mentioned.
This throws some light on the media attacks against Trump. From the Hellery camp, to be expected — engineered to keep these ppl on board. The message that Trump is a racist (suported by the KKK etc.), a homophobe, a mysoginist had to be pounded in, and it works. However, what space is left for Repub. demolition of Trump? What hook could be used to show that Trump does not adhere to Repub. ‘values’, ‘policies’, ‘platforms’ ‘principles’? None at all, which is why it didn’t work.
http://www.metafilter.com/159197/Trump-will-be-the-Republican-standard-bearer

Posted by: Noirette | May 6 2016 13:08 utc | 114

Jules;OK you got me.She is just now qualified.sheesh.I said probably,went out on a thin limb(I didn’t wiki),as she is too young to be taken seriously as VP candidate.And she has ties to Hindu nationalism.
Another Hawaiian dream merchant.
Interesting question re VP for trump.Depends on opponent.
And don’t count Sanders out,or at least a very contentious Dem convention,as the heartland hates her,believe it,and most of the remaining states are heartland,except possibly DC,NJ and Cal,which the latter 2 have a lot of votes.
We shall see.
And yeah Trump is problematic with some of his foreign policy targets,but as an American,America first sounds great.Domestically,he is awesome.
And that will decide the election,not concerns over furriners.And look at the latest monthly employment numbers,not good.(They’ve been pretty bad throughout Obombas reign,but they’ve kept it from the public)So that will help trump,not the hell bitch,and her friend? Obomba.Dancing with the star wars!Holy moly!!!???

Posted by: dahoit | May 6 2016 15:48 utc | 115

Just the statement of Trump liking and respecting Putins opinion of him is a thunderbolt on the MSM BS of hatred re Russia.
The American people want no part of nuclear war.
We hate open borders,stupid war for Israel,instigation provocations which bite US in the ass,and trade steals which have eviscerated our economy in feudalism.
And HRC has been fully supportive of every destructive move in these regards.Trump will destroy her.But sanders isn’t as vulnerable as she,and will be harder to beat.
Tulsi Gabbard?I mean,reaching for straws.Same as Jill Stein.Look,I’m sure there are capable women somewhere ,who possibly be effective POTUS,but I haven’t seen one yet.And E Warren.OMG.

Posted by: dahoit | May 6 2016 16:00 utc | 116

Trump seems to be in full pander mode now.. He’s going to lose his base due to disgruntled voters.. Was this all by design? the Trump2Hillary conspiracy theory lives on. The republican party has been effective hijacked – not that they don’t deserve it

Posted by: aaaa | May 6 2016 19:22 utc | 117

Turkish Prime Minister Davutoglu resigns amid mounting government crisis

Davutoglu resigned after fistfights repeatedly erupted inside the parliament over Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s moves to crush the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP). Last week, and again on Monday, AKP and HDP deputies fought each other in the General Assembly, as the AKP threatens to lift HDP deputies’ parliamentary immunity to allow their trial on terrorism charges.
Before an emergency meeting with Davutoglu on Wednesday, Erdogan bluntly and publicly told him, “You should not forget how you got your post.”
A former foreign minister, Davutoglu is well aware that Turkey has suffered a heavy blow as Erdogan’s policies have simultaneously undermined Ankara’s relations with the United States, the European Union (EU) and Russia. The AKP has also overseen unprecedented social inequality, poverty and unemployment. Nearly half of the Turkish population lives below the poverty line, while a tiny elite appropriates a vast and growing amount of wealth.
It is increasingly obvious that with his calls for a “presidential” system, Erdogan is trying to deal with insoluble political contradictions by imposing an authoritarian regime.
Speaking at his party’s weekly group meeting that same day, HDP Co-President Selahattin Demirtaş stated that they would discuss other alternatives if HDP parliamentarians were arrested and prosecuted. He said that “citizens…could form multiple parliaments if they wanted.” He called for support to the HDP and invited the CHP to join them in opposing the AKP.
Davutoglu’s departure and the ongoing attacks on Kurdish nationalists plunge not only Turkey into political uncertainty, but also its imperialist patrons, who rely on Turkey as a useful ally for their war plans in the Middle East and for imprisoning millions of refugees trying to flee the region.

Gee, Turkey’s economy sounds just the the US/EU economy.
People are projecting their wishes and hopes on Donald Trump, I’m afraid he might be more like Erdogan than Putin. But not even the Donald knows for sure. He is a true reactionary, makes it up as he goes along. Talk about a crap shoot …
Meanwhile Turkey looks to be headed toward civil war. Which side will the US/EU be on? which side Russia?
The US, at least, will just be happy with more death, devastation, destruction, and deceit.

Posted by: jfl | May 6 2016 23:12 utc | 118

@114 Noirette
The Republican Party, the GOP, the elephants are committing suicide …
Clinton launches appeal for right-wing Republican support

The list of Republicans opposing Trump includes two former heads of the Republican National Committee; four staffers for the campaigns of Mitt Romney and John McCain, the two previous Republican presidential candidates; and three former members of the George W. Bush administration. Right-wing pundits like neoconservative William Kristol and George Will are on the list as well.
Most of these figures whose views Clinton proudly cites are opposed to Trump, not because of his fascistic demagogy, but because of his claimed opposition to the war in Iraq and to other US interventions in the Middle East. They prefer Clinton, who voted in 2002 to authorize the war and who is, in their judgment, the more hawkish of the two candidates. She is seen as a more reliable and time-tested instrument of American imperialism than Trump, whose foreign policy is seen as too “isolationist” and erratic.

… and so are Hillary and the Democrat Party, hot in pursuit of the elephant’s rump. Either that or a new, fascist unity party will arise … from ‘the middle’. I’m going to write-in an American human being for prez, senator, and rep. No more animal crackers, or cyanide capsules, for me.

Posted by: jfl | May 6 2016 23:21 utc | 119

Re: Posted by: jfl | May 6, 2016 7:12:07 PM | 118
Erdogan’s game plan with regards to the Kurds is fairly clear to anyone with half a brain – which certainly doesn’t include Angela Merkel – the great destroyer of the EU.
Once visa free travel for Turkish citizens to the EU is available in mid-Summer, July 1.
Guess what?
Erdogan will ratchet up attacks on the Kurds and tell them simply.
Well, if you don’t like it here, you should leave. Look – I got you visa-free travel to the EU for your benefit!!
Piss off.
Erdogan wants Turkey for the Turks and he will, and is, relentlessly pursuing this goal. Solving the so-called “Kurdish problem” once and for all would be a masterstroke of Turkish nationalism.
How many Kurds are there in Turkey? 15 million plus.
Look out EU. But you reap what you sow you Europeons.

Posted by: Jules | May 7 2016 5:16 utc | 120

@Chipher, it is a pleasure to see you write here. I wondered what Trump’s role was, now you have me thinking how it was Obama’s role to cleanse things after the excesses of Bush, or to make it look like things could be changed. Yes America, you were “conned” and I can’t help thinking there is another dose coming this winter.

Posted by: midan | May 7 2016 13:51 utc | 121

Trump and Clinton are the Janus-faced coin of Goldman.
It seems the Trump Revolution has become the object of a not so hostile Goldmanite takeover. In a move designed to assuage the anxiety of the Neo-liberal Plutocrats, Trump has appointed one of the tribal blue bloods of the Lizards of Wall Street. In terms of a Clinton/Trump election, Goldman would describe this as a win/win situation.
Trump Picks Former Goldman Partner And Soros Employee As Finance Chairman
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-05/trump-picks-former-goldman-partner-and-soros-employee-finance-chairman
– Trump announced that heading up his own personal fundraising operation as national finance chairman will be Steven Mnuchin, a long-time business associate, chairman and CEO of the hedge fund Dune Capital. More importantly, however, he spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs where he was most recently a Partner…
– In addition to Goldman, Mnuchin also worked at Soros Fund Management, whose founder, George Soros, has funded many left-leaning causes. Where it gets even more bizarre is that Mnuchin has donated frequently to Democrats, including to Clinton and Barack Obama.
– Mnuchin’s father, Robert Mnuchin, was a partner at Goldman Sachs in the 1960s.
– While employed at Goldman, he purchased the remains of IndyMac Bank (now known as OneWest Bank), the Pasadena, California-based mortgage lender that collapsed in 2008.
– Mnuchin was front and center for the advent of instruments like collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps. He has called securitization “an extremely positive development in terms of being able to finance different parts of the economy and different businesses efficiently.”
(Even by Wall Street standards this guy is a piece of work. He has mastered the art of shyster financing and legally looting the public purse ( re: Indy Mac’s gov’t bailout))
So we have a tribalist Goldmanite Democrat appointed by Republican Trump as Finance Chairman. Can’t be any clearer than that. Politics are for little people.
Or, as George Carlin put it: “it’s a big club and you ain’t in it.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5dBZDSSky0
note: In a further nod to the tribalists, Trump recently stated that Israel should keep going with its illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank. So much for his self-professed neutrality.

Posted by: pantaraxia | May 7 2016 14:45 utc | 122

Pandering?Wouldn’t that be Vincente Fox of Mexico,who just apologized to
Trump?Trumps having fun,calling morons doofusses,(goofusses)EW,,and saying Vlad and he are buddies!
He is the most non politicized political candidate in American history,both rethugs and demoncrats unable to out punch him,and hopefully his coattails in Nov will see the sh*ts like Ryan,Graham and Schumer deposed from American politics.
Whooo woo!

Posted by: dahoit | May 7 2016 15:46 utc | 123

Posted by: pantaraxia | May 7, 2016 10:45:49 AM | 123
Maybe, but…
IF Trump has latched onto the “keep your enemies closer” meme, should he let the cat out of the bag before he’s anointed Prez, or after?
He’s quick on his feet and he’s creaming everyone. American politicians are used to believing their donor’s bs and ignoring everyone and every thing else. He said he’s going to concentrate on going after Hellary’s ass and considering that, up until now, he’s done every thing he said he would do the only remaining mystery is which spittoon she’ll wind up in.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | May 7 2016 17:34 utc | 124

@ Hoarsewhisperer | May 7, 2016 1:34:32 PM | 125
Your Hellery will likely end up in the spittoon just outside the door of that big white house in a low rent district of Washington D.C. with the name TRUMP in gigantic gold letters over the North and South Porticos.

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | May 7 2016 18:47 utc | 125

Trump blasts ‘failed candidates’ Jeb Bush, Lindsey Graham

Both Graham and Bush announced on Friday that they would not vote for Trump in general election or Hillary Clinton, who is likely to win the Democratic nomination. They said Trump and Clinton are unfit for the White House.

I’m in agreement with Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham? Wonder who they’ll write-in?

Posted by: jfl | May 7 2016 23:38 utc | 126

Pat Buchann opines:
“Bush Republicanism and neoconservatism not only suffered a decisive defeat, they had a sword run right through them.”
Bush Republicanism Is Dead and Gone
“The two living Republican past presidents, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, have no plans to endorse Trump, according to their spokesmen.” So said the lead story in The Washington Post.[.]
What the Trump campaign revealed, as Republicans and even Democrats moved toward him on trade, immigration and foreign policy, is that Bush Republicanism and neoconservatism not only suffered a decisive defeat, they had a sword run right through them.[.]
While he ought to keep an open door to those he defeated, the greatest mistake he could make would be to seek the support of the establishment he crushed by compromising on the issues that brought out his crowds and brought him his victories and nomination.
Given Trump’s negatives, the Beltway punditocracy is writing him off, warning that Trump either comes to terms with the establishment on the issues, or he is gone for good.
History teaches otherwise.[.]
http://buchanan.org/blog/bush-republicanism-dead-gone-125196
more
~ ~ ~ ~
Imho, the neocons have suffered only a flesh wound.

Posted by: likklemore | May 8 2016 0:49 utc | 127

What Trump did with his ‘racist’ remarks. First, we must note that for someone not aware of exactly what he said in which context (like myself, aka most of the public, no way I’m going to look it up), he denigrated Muslims, women, illegal immigrants / criminals from Mexico (and possibly elsewhere..) and maybe something about homosexuals? What is important here is that Blacks were not targetted. Trump avoided the real, and truly important issue, on which, if anything, he would have had to take an anti-racist stance. Women and foreignors, outsiders, (as muslims who live in the states are not rapists or terrorists) are fair game.
Trump is no more a racist than I am. 10%-ers rarely are. They know that is all BS. Which does not stop them from making racist remarks, or harboring certain rather stereotypical schemas about different categories of people – that is part of social norms or conventions, life experience, etc.
This is all pure political theatre. What Trump did was to offer his Dem. opponents an easy angle of attack. He knew perfectly well his words would create a shit-storm of reaction and that Killary would take the bait (she is a very stupid campaigner.) Thus giving lots of time to Trump to let this trope wear thin and anyone with a lick of sense to see that racism is quite far removed from the important issues at hand, while making Killary look like a one-trick poney obsessed with a trivial form of political correctness. (Which btw did not even prevent some kerfuffle between Black Lives Matter and the Clintons.) Meanwhile, Trump has held back on bashing Hitlery into the ground.
The archdruid had a good post about Trump.
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.ch/2016/01/donald-trump-and-politics-of-resentment.html

Posted by: Noirette | May 8 2016 11:12 utc | 128

Posted by: Noirette | May 8, 2016 7:12:39 AM | 129
Many thanks for the article, Noirette.
Brilliant observations and conclusions. Reading his analysis it would be easy to say “I knew all that” but in 21st Century Sound-bite World, it is rare to see all of the factors he articulates gathered together, in on place, in logical sequence.
I thought it was going to be well worth reading when I got to this passage, near the beginning…
…
“Trump’s candidacy, and in some ways that of his Democratic rival Bernard Sanders as well, marks the point at which the blowback from those policies has become a massive political fact. That this blowback isn’t taking the form desired by many people on the leftward end of things is hardly surprising; it was never going to do so, because the things about the Dubyobama consensus that made blowback inevitable are not the things to which the left objects.”
…

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | May 8 2016 13:42 utc | 129

The fact that it was written on January 20, 2016, is almost as fascinating as the article itself.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | May 8 2016 13:54 utc | 130

The Maine Democratic Party votes to abolish Super-delegates.
https://www.rt.com/usa/342275-superdelegates-maine-democrats-convention/
“However, the amendment won’t take effect in time to officially guide superdelegates in the current presidential election.” [.]
Maine has five superdelegates: three are currently pledged to Hillary Clinton, one to Sanders and one is undecided. This means that Clinton is most probably in line to receive the state’s nomination, despite Sanders winning the Maine caucus with 63 percent of the votes.[.]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Losers –
The NeverTrump Tribe will never give up:
“Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol Meeting Mittens Romney to float Third Party Run”
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/05/07/weekly-standard-editor-bill-kristol-meeting-mitt-romney-to-float-third-party-run/
= = =
Dubbed The Big Nasty Exchange- No words held in silence:
On Saturday, Trump in responding “to general-election attacks from Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and her allies about his treatment of women;
“Rips Crooked Hillary’s Enabling Bill”
[.]“She’s married to a man who was the worst abuser of women in the history of politics,” [.]
“Hillary was an enabler and she treated these women horribly. Just remember this,” he said. “And some of these women were destroyed, not by him, but by the way that Hillary Clinton treated them after everything went down,”[.]
http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/05/07/big-nasty-trump-rips-hillarys-enabling-bill-questions-fauxcahontas-warrens-indian-cred/
Summer to 2017 will be recorded as very hot, sweaty, nasty. Don’t be surprised if served up with accidents.

Posted by: likklemore | May 8 2016 15:02 utc | 131

@129
Good article. It does raise the question of how much Trump is a calculating politician and how much is genuine concern for wage earners. I guess we’ll find out when he has to deal with Congress.

Posted by: dh | May 8 2016 15:53 utc | 132

@129 Noirette,
Yes, good article. Centers on your – 20% was your reckoning – on the outer-party.
Donald Trump and the Politics of Resentment

The only way for the salary class to maintain its lifestyle in the teeth of those transformations was to force down the cost of goods and services relative to the average buying power of the salary class. Because the salary class exercised (and still exercises) a degree of economic and political influence disproportionate to its size, this became the order of the day in the 1970s, and it remains the locked-in political consensus in American public life to this day.

The ‘salary class’ is even more impotent than the ‘wage class’, they’ve just confussed their ability to predict their bosses next move with the power to effect same themselves. They haven’t the numbers of the ‘wage class’ and their own numbers are daily declining.
Yeah, they support their bosses’ moves. Their bosses pay their salaries.
Good point on the University of Phoenix archetypical scam, but again, the real benefit here is to the bottom line of the FIRE ‘industries’, for whom the ‘salary class’ work. The bosses in the corner offices – who get lots more than salaries – were the architects of this fraud, and using the federal government to protect themselves from the inevitable defaults it’s entailed. The ‘salary class’ just got the signatures on the contracts.

… so you vote for the party that offends you least. Right? Sure, if you want to guarantee that the interests that matter most to you never get addressed at all.

This is the point that I have noted and am trying to address: the system is rotten, and must be changed. My candidate for change is write-in elections

… another hundred thousand wage class voters recall the endless sneering putdowns they’ve experienced from the salary class and think, “Trump’s one of us.”

I guess the Archdruid is himself a spiritual member of the ‘salary class’, even though he’s managed to live on royalties? This is the equivalent of the ‘one-dimensional stereotypes’ he’s discovered among the ‘salary class’. The ‘wage class’ have no more illusions about The Donald than do the redshirts in Thailand about Thaksin. They’re on board for just as long as the train is going their way, as well as the billionaire’s.

“If smartphones were made in the US, we’d have to pay more for them!” And of course that’s true: the salary class will have to pay more for its toys if the wage class is going to have decent jobs that pay enough to support a family. That this is unthinkable for so many people in the salary class—that they’re perfectly happy allowing their electronics to be made for starvation wages in an assortment of overseas hellholes, so long as this keeps the price down—may help explain the boiling cauldron of resentment into which Trump is so efficiently tapping.

Now you’re talking. This is the real ‘class warfare’. The 1% pitting the ‘wannabe class’ against ‘victim du jour’ class.

I trust none of my readers are naive enough to think that a Trump defeat will mean the end of the phenomenon that’s lifted him to front runner status in the teeth of everything the political establishment can throw at him. I see the Trump candidacy as a major watershed in American political life, the point at which the wage class—the largest class of American voters, please note—has begun to wake up to its potential power and begin pushing back against the ascendancy of the salary class.

I propose the write-in vote method, not just as a measure in this absurd ‘selection’, but in every election of every kind from now on. The citizen enacted archetype of the paper-ballot, citizen-counted election that will spread from representative elections, to initiatives, to referenda, to recalls. And the development of a real, bona fide means of democratic expression will be at once the development of real democracy. It will require real democracy to succeed. I don’t pretend this idea is the sine qua non, but it is an idea, a method, that I can see working to obtain revolutionary results. And I don’t hear too many, any?, variants or alternatives.
The ‘salary class’ seem to be viewed by the ‘royalty collecting class’ in the same light as the ‘wage class’ is viewed by both. All are, by definition, welcome to the democratic tent. It is true that the ‘salary class’ feel cornered in their favored end of the pasture right now, but they are no dumber than the ‘wage class’, and know that the bell is tolling around the edges of their herd as well, and that the fate of the ‘wage class’ will be their own, that ‘the system’ is working inevitably to that end. They’re the ones, after all, who send the latest spiPhone designs to China, who pull the levers, and type the decrees.

Posted by: jfl | May 9 2016 2:18 utc | 133

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