#2016 elections

Alix Kendall at Daily Kos:

We’re sorry to remind you of this, but it has officially been 10 years since Donald Trump announced his bid for presidency. Of course, he would have made the run a lot sooner if his spiritual adviser, Paula White, hadn’t told him that God thought it was too soon.  But when the now-convicted-felon announced his plans on June 16, 2015, he set in motion a whirlwind of changes to come over the next decade. 

"Quite simply, it is time to bring real leadership to Washington,” Trump’s press release said at the time. “The fact is, the American Dream is dead—but if I win, I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before. Together we will Make America Great Again!" In his efforts to Make America Great Again, the two-time president—who still might be vying for a third term—has done quite a bit of damage. Over the past ten years, Trump has made America healthy again by pulling out some weird tricks, like suggesting people inject bleach to fight off COVID-19. Then again, he did later appoint an anti-vax fanatic to head the department that oversees the production and promotion of vaccines, so at least he is consistent. 

And while he managed to make enemies out of a chunk of his first-term GOPers, like former Vice President Mike Pence—perhaps for almost getting him killed—he finally got to turn the White House into the reality show he always wanted. From “MTV Road Rules” to “Fox & Friends” the administration has its fair share of TV stars. 

10 years ago yesterday, Donald Trump made infamous escalator ride down to announce his run for President for the 2016 GOP nomination. Most Americans, including those who later supported Trump, dismissed the nomination as an unserious attempt at the time. However, as the campaign season went on, his run was a serious one that cannot be ignored.

did you ever go, hmm... not exactly what I am expecting🤔 but okay.

51 percent of all american workers made less than 30k a year in 2015, the year before the 2016 elections

and the fucking poll results they show do this

...they give rich people in these income brackets their own voting results when they’re less than a percent of the fucking population YET HUGE PERCENTAGES OF THE VOTING POPULATION COMPARATIVELY

yet... 51 percent of the fucking american workers ... get ONE TINY FUCKING SECTION? LMAO? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? and thats /ONLY/ workers. thats not people who are unemployed, retired, working an unpaid internship, in school with no income, etc. which means far more than 51% of adult americans in general make less than 30k a year. 

51% of american workers fit into that 17% of all conglomerated votes lmao........

and people wanted to fucking say the results shown for this HUGE CATEGORY OF PEOPLE were reliable enough to apply to the individual?

literally all this election showed is that voting is intentionally made difficult for people, so the poor aren’t fucking voting enough to reliably represent their views.

YOU KNOW WHO IS VOTING ENOUGH TO OVER-REPRESENT THEIR VIEWS? The fucking piece of shit rich people who everyone wants to lump the rest of americans in with

our voting system doesn’t give a shit about the people’s opinion our voting system doesnt give a fucking shit about the majority. period.

stop fucking saying it was a great representation of americans views.

First it was Elizabeth Warren’s fault for not endorsing.

Now it’s AOC’s fault for not campaigning enough.

America this week is obsessing about conversations between Donald Trump and Washington Post legend Bob Woodward. It's a scoop, but a crazier story is being buried.

Beginning on September 1, tapes were released of conversations between former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and top CNN figures, including Chris Cuomo and president Jeff Zucker. The conversations between Zucker and Cohen especially go a long way toward explaining how Donald Trump became president. We see clearly how Zucker, famed now as a supposed stalwart force of anti-Trumpism, actually encouraged him during the 2016 campaign, to the point where he offered Trump help on how to succeed in a CNN-sponsored debate....

The public legend about Zucker, furthered by Donald Trump himself and buttressed by reports in conservative media like Project Veritas, is that he despises Trump. We’ve heard reports in recent years of Zucker ordering staff to be "fully committed" to Trump's impeachment, for instance.

What these new tapes make plain is that this is likely neither a personal nor political issue with Zucker, who had a relationship with Trump dating back years. Zucker, after all, had made Trump a media star back when he was running NBC....

What these recordings reveal is that CNN's cartoonish role as a determined and vituperative "fake news media" foil to Trump -- while perhaps real for some of the reporters and broadcasters involved — is at least to some degree kabuki theater for executives....

As the creator of The Apprentice, Zucker surely understands both the nature of Trump's ratings appeal, and the Reality TV value of having CNN reporters play gesticulating heckler to Trump's Bill Hicks act....