Politics, because why not?

[booooooooks]

Talk about politics here. Yes.

[Cyndyr]

@Varionusnw

[VarionusNW]

Thanks Cyn. Let's talk about the presidential election, shall we?

Trump is an idiot, but not a racist. He's clearly working in his own self interest, but not as much as Hillary. Hillary is a criminal. Election fraud, having the DNC and the mass media taking her side, and having all the reprehensibility of her actions lost behind glowing praise and glorious facades. She panders to the polls, constantly lies, and only works in the interests of herself and corporations. So, who would I vote for? Neither. My vote is for 3rd party or mass genocide. This election is a mess.

[Mao Mao]

I feel terrible for Bernie Sanders and I don't even like him! Our choices are between two of the worst candidates with the lowest approval rates for any candidate in US history.

^Source

Man, we are so fucked.

[Cyndyr]

You're welcome, Vari.

I'm voting for Hillary solely out of my respect for Bernie. He's only endorsing her because he knows he's lost. He wants to support her to stop Trump. That is a man solely dedicated to his cause and as a follower and a supporter, I will follow his wishes. I will vote for Hillary Clinton.

Even though I am pushing for Hillary, I'm beginning to come with the reality of Trump. Trump is an interesting case. I do not want to him win in any stretch of the imagination, but I've come to terms with the fact that him winning wouldn't be the end of the world. I think he could be particularly beneficial to improving relations with Russia, but not much else. I think we would be safe from his radical and insane views thanks to the Congress as well.

This election is a shitstorm. 2016 is a disaster. News or parody? People don't even know anymore.

[Nytem4re]

I feel terrible for Bernie Sanders and I don't even like him! Our choices are between two of the worst candidates with the lowest approval rates for any candidate in US history.

^Source

Man, we are so fucked.

@The Spectre

I was once sympathetic to Bernie Sanders, but now that he's endorsing Hillary, I can't feel sorry about him being unfairly treated by the democrats.

After all, Hillary is the one who hired online trolls to harass Bernie Sanders supporters, Hired the former democratic party majority leader or whatever, who had to step down because of wikileaks. Corrupt much?

But at the end of the day, what's really gonna happen is congress isn't going to let trump or hillary do much, not much changes. RIP.

[Vilageidiotx]

The polarization in this campaign is interesting. It does feel quite a bit more visceral then what I remember from back in the day. Is it part of the evolution of social media? A symptom of the thin cloud of desperation that exists with working class Americans? I feel like the real loser in this campaign will be whatever person and party actually wins the election. The next four years will be interesting.

[POOHEAD189]

Hilary is corrupt. and Trump is corrupt. Both are bad choices. However, Bernie and Bill are supporting Hilary and so I will. Mainly because voting 3rd party will literally lead to a Trump victory, and despite being corrupt, I'd rather have a candidate with actual good policies, than some lunatic who has the emotional capabilities of a 6 year old.

[TheEvanCat]

VOTE ROYALIST. MAKE AMERICA BRITAIN AGAIN.

Although really, I'm feeling the Johnson 2016 because Trump will get me killed in Syria and Hillary will get me killed in Syria and then lose the emails about it.

[Cyndyr]

VOTE ROYALIST. MAKE AMERICA BRITAIN AGAIN.

Although really, I'm feeling the Johnson 2016 because Trump will get me killed in Syria and Hillary will get me killed in Syria and then lose the emails about it.

@TheEvanCat

I had a dream last week that Britain came back to reclaim America. Maybe it's not too late.

[Nevix]

Hilary is corrupt. and Trump is corrupt. Both are bad choices. However, Bernie and Bill are supporting Hilary and so I will. Mainly because voting 3rd party will literally lead to a Trump victory, and despite being corrupt, I'd rather have a candidate with actual good policies, than some lunatic who has the emotional capabilities of a 6 year old.

@POOHEAD189

I'd say something here, but I think Ole' Poo summed it up pretty well.

[VarionusNW]

<Snipped quote by TheEvanCat>
I had a dream last week that Britain came back to reclaim America. Maybe it's not too late.

@Cynder

From what I know, Britain ain't doing too hot either.

[Cyndyr]

From what I know, Britain ain't doing too hot either.

@VarionusNW

2016 is the worst thing that ever happened to me and I'm from New Jersey.

[The Nexerus]

If I was in the United States I'd be on the fence between voting Johnson and voting Trump, the latter to keep Hillary out of office and the former because he's most representative of where I actually stand. Suppose it'd depend on whether or not I lived in a swing state.

Even as someone with generally conservative views, I would honest to God prefer Bernie Sanders or Jill Stein to Hillary Clinton.

@VarionusNW I feel the exact opposite way about the current state of affairs in that country. Great Britain finally regaining its independence? The Tories, under a sensible and popular Prime Minister, leagues ahead of a divided and weak Labour Party? What's not to love?

Brexit's the best thing to happen to the United Kingdom since Thatcher.

[Mateotis]

@POOHEAD189 got it spot on.

This election shifted from ‘may the best candidate win’ to ’oh God please don't let Trump win’ for many people. Hillary is riding the ‘not-Trump’ card as far as she can—possibly, and I dare to say it, hopefully all the way to the Presidency.

[Vilageidiotx]

I wonder if comedians, even the most progressive of them, are secretly hoping Trump wins.

[The Nexerus]

@POOHEAD189Trump isn't corrupt. Corruption is abuse of political power for personal gain, and Trump has never possessed any amount of political power; he could never have been corrupt if he'd tried.

[POOHEAD189]

@The NexerusCorruption isn't just an abuse of political power. Corruption also stems from underhanded dealings and unsavory means in order to gain/keep power. Whether or not it is political doesn't quite matter so much, though there isn't much of a fine line between money and politics these days.

[Keyguyperson]

I'm rooting for Trump. Maybe him presiding over the imminent economic collapse/war (whatever floats your boat) will move America further to the left. Or maybe he'll launch the nukes, which is the best case scenario honestly. If I don't die in the exchange (and God I hope I do-Sweet Meteor O' Death is my favorite third-party candidate) then I get to see the aliens come and bring communism to humanity.

Posadas 2016.

[j8cob]

I've spent a good few years studying political science, history, and law. I have to say this election cycle isn't nearly as bad as everyone thinks it is. The historically low approval ratings fit the trend of growing disapproval among presidential candidates, brought on largely by the exponential development of technology and social media. We had always been discontent with our choices, but in this day and age we've never had so many means of conveying that. The data used to obtain these numbers has become more reliable accordingly.

That being said, the candidates themselves are very unique. Trump, on one hand, is the "outsider" who has never held an elected office before in his life. He would become the second President since Washington to be elected with no prior experience in a state or federal government. Clinton, on the other hand, is the first candidate to be going through multiple scandals and investigations leading up to the actual election. She would become the first female President, but also the first person to be elected in spite of ongoing criminal investigations.

On a personal level, I hate Hillary Clinton with every fiber of my being. She is a criminal, a traitor, and a madwoman. She has a history of becoming hysterical, she takes money from MidEast royalty and George Soros, has incited at least two civil wars in foreign countries, and the Clinton Foundation is one of the biggest money laundering schemes in the world. There is an indescribable amount of blood on her hands and an unfathomable amount of dirty money in her pockets. Not only do I think she is a terrible human being, but I don't feel like her policies come anywhere remotely close to make up for her long history of failures and morally corrupt decisions. I would not be able to sleep at night if I had to vote for Hillary Clinton. My conscience wouldn't let me.

With Donald Trump its a different story. When he announced his campaign I was skeptical. I knew who he was, and while I agreed with a lot of the things he said I wasn't sure if I was going to bet on him. After all, I also felt the same way about Sanders but for different reasons. Both of them were outside the political power ring and both had a good chance of breaking up the globalist monopoly that was gripping our politics. Over time, however, it became clear to me that Sanders was not my ideal candidate and that my vote was going to be going to Trump. I find most, if not all, of his policies agreeable. My only contention with him is his personality and some of his stances (global warming, abortion). While I could rationalize that his personality and those particular stances are a means to an end, a pandering facade to secure both the Republican vote and the vote of the disenfranchised, but the safe bet is to assume he is being honest and for that reason I'm a bit iffy on that subject. But overall his pros far outweigh his cons, in my eyes. In all likelihood, I predict a Trump victory in November in terms of the popular vote. The question becomes whether or not he'll have the most electoral votes or if the electoral college does something under-handed (if it did, undoubtedly rigging from HRC).

Worth noting is Gary Johnson, and to a lesser extent Jill Stein. Johnson is presently at 13% approval in the polls right now, just 2% shy of reaching the 15% mark to allow him onto the debate stage with Clinton and Trump. While Stein will not feasibly be reaching that number, she is worthy of mention due to also having a fairly strong presence from outside the Democrat and Republican platforms. Having looked at their policies and seen a few of their speeches and such, I don't find either of them more favorable than Trump. Their policies do not appeal to me or benefit me like his does, though they are superior to Clinton's policies and Johnson and Stein themselves are simply superior to Clinton. However I would love to see Johnson (and Stein, if possible) be on the stage with Clinton and Trump. The two-party system and the FPTP voting system are critically flawed, and having new parties included can help dismantle and replace these systems. If they can get on stage it would be historical and be the first step towards creating a more transparent and accountable federal government with more diverse opinions and honest men and women. I do not want to see Johnson as my President, but I want to see him be the start of something new.

This is basically my TL;DR of the current 2016 Presidential Election, despite the length of it. I've spent a lot of time studying and researching and I've been following events closely since June of last year. Take it for what it's worth, I suppose. Just words on a screen from a man you've never seen.