jg10003
jg10003's JournalAn amazingly prophetic article about Trump from 2011
http://www.city-journal.org/html/dodging-trump-bullet-10850.htmlAmericansand Republicansare lucky that the Donald has bowed out.
Luigi Zingales
May 19, 2011
....Trump and Berlusconi are remarkably alike. They are both billionaire businessmen who claim that the government should be run like a business. They are both gifted salesmen, able to appeal to the emotions of their fellow citizens. They are both obsessed with their looks, with their hair (or what remains of it), and with sexy women. Their gross manners make them popular, perhaps because people think that if these guys could become billionaires, anyone could....
How, then, did Berlusconi get elected and reelected?....In a country where corruption and lack of meritocracy has all but killed the hope of intra-generational mobility, citizens chose to escape from reality and find consolation in dreams. Berlusconi adeptly fosters the illusion that he can turn everyone else into billionaires. His political career is something like Trumps Apprentice program, only on a national scale.
Unfortunately, some of the same factors that sparked Berlusconis success in Italy have begun to show up in the United States. Social mobility has dropped. Income for 95 percent of the population has stagnated. The financial crisis has uncovered a dangerous connection between government and the financial establishment. Losing hope that they can rise from rags to riches the old-fashioned way, Americans are taking refuge in fantasy, from American Idol to The Apprentice. In such a climate, Donald Trump, whose own career has exemplified crony capitalismfrom government subsidies for his developments to abuse of eminent domaincould have potentially won not just the GOP nomination, but even the presidency. That would have been a catastrophe for the Republican Party, for free-market capitalism, and for America.
Pence is a right-wing religious ideologue, but at least he is not a wannabe strongman.
Trump is an existential threat to the republic. Pence merely has bad policy ideas. Trump wants to be the American version of Putin. Pence is just very conservative. The Republic can survive a President Pence. If Pence is president then we can elect Elizabeth Warren in 4 years and get the country back on track. But the constitutional republic that has endured for 228 years may not survive President Trump.
R.I.P Leonard Cohen
The man who wrote "Democracy is coming to the U.S.A" dies the day after the U.S.A commits suicide. Maybe there really is a God and he/she is sending us a message.
Fl. senate; Murphy is in striking distance of Rubio
Huff Post: Murphy - 43%, Rubio - 48%. This is despite the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee pulling the plug on Murphy. Obama has been doing his part on behalf of Murphy with some very good TV ads, but the DSCC canceled $16,000,000 in advertising for Murphy. If Murphy loses by less than 5 points the DSCC will have egg on their face.
Help me understand 538.com
As I write this, 538 has Hillary at 291 EV, Trump at 246 EV, and McMullin at .7 EV. There is no such thing as a partial EV. Furthermore 538's current map has Hillary at 273 EV, Trump at 265.
Anyway I'm feeling a lot more confident than I was 72 hours ago.
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