America - The Official Thread
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Link?
jk, I'm just kidding, couldn't resist 
Umm, wouldn't be so sure about that. A while back on twitter, fellow rapper Wiz Kalifa made a reference to KK in a tweet to Mr. Ye, which he mistook as disrespect for his wife, Kim K. He went on a rant that lasted over an hour, going so far as to say that "I bet every time you look at your son, you mad, cause you know that 🤬 got you for 18 years." He followed that up with, "I own your son."
All that over a misunderstanding. Turns out KK was a reference to Kalifa Kush, and Wiz was implying that Ye should have some, to chill out
General point about Yeezy, this is a guy who refers to Farrakhan (a man with some interesting ideas) as "Sensei"
Also, would Mr West be the first president to be a College Dropout?
Excuse me, was you sayin' somethin'? Hahaaa! You can't tell me nuthin'"
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- Johnnypenso
I was talking about this with a couple of buddies today after the Oprah rumours started floating around. I wouldn't be surprised at all if we were entering an age where traditional politicians were no longer able to secure enough support to gain a Presidential nomination. Oprah doesn't have any big skeletons in her closet as of yet although I'm sure some will emerge if she chooses to run but I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up being the next Democratic nominee. I think she'd destroy any traditional politician on the Republican side so they'd have to come up with a celebrity of their own.
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Hey hey hey, I'm not the one nominating him
In general, putting up the possibility and actually discussing voting for anyone other than Trump because you know, at least he's better than... Is a piss poor way of thinking.
Have a listen to this (warning for swearing), it's an interview with Charlemagne the God, from Power 105.1's morning show The Breakfast Club. This is from 2015
I wouldn't call him a reliable news source, and he does get more SJW with each passing year, but he is someone who understands youth culture better than most. I don't necessarily agree with everything he says in that video, but he does make some interesting points.
What kind of leader do the Dems have that could actually stand up to Trump in an election? Actual intellectual, non-celebrity, political leaders, who could challenge Trump on both policy (should be easy enough) and popularity (not so easy).
The only one that I can think of off the top of my head is that Kelly guy from Arizona, the Shuttle Commander. Other than him, aside from celebrities, no one springs to mind. Bernie and Hillary are played out. I just can't think of anyone who could build the popularity in the what, 2.5 years until the next election, to take on Trump. And stunts like this Oprah episode aren't going to help the Dems cause at all.
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- TexRex72
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I don't think Trump will run again in 2020. I think he's already bored and not looking forward to the next 3 years and is looking forward to getting back to doing what he loves to do which is buy and develop properties and play golf. He's getting lots of golf in as President
but I think the work isn't as much fun. I really believe he's changed the whole political landscape in the U.S. He's a bit of a trainwreck in terms of his personal and public behaviour but you can't argue with economic growth, low employment and a booming stock market. If that Dow is at 40, 000 in 2020, growth is averaging 3 points and unemployment is still below 5% any normal president would win in a landslide but I think it's a one and done in his case. I think it'll be celebrity vs. celebrity in 2020 but of course that could all go into the crapper if the economy tanks and he gets into a skirmish with the NK's or someone else.
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That is what you get when you try to present politicians as superstars.
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Interesting enough, Plato kind of predicted this political progression a couple thousand years ago.
Plato's Five Regimes
Joey D
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We've had a few "celebrity" politicians, but for the most part they've also been basically competent. Trump displays that a party can get away with having a figurehead leader who doesn't bring anything else to the table. I suspect over the next few elections that could become the norm.
Oprah is probably a good choice.
Joe Biden. But I don't think he wants the job.
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It was Alec Douglas-Home, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the early 1960s, who predicted that television would change politics so that the best actors get elected.
It's not to be taken literally, I don't think, but the seeming obsession of vacuuous celebrity culture really does make you think about it.
The US seems to be ahead of the curve in that regard with not just President Trump but also touted names such as Kanye West, Oprah Winfrey and The Rock gaining far more attention and minimal credibility than the idea of a "celebrity President" might have done 20-25 years ago.
It's not to be taken literally, I don't think, but the seeming obsession of vacuuous celebrity culture really does make you think about it.
The US seems to be ahead of the curve in that regard with not just President Trump but also touted names such as Kanye West, Oprah Winfrey and The Rock gaining far more attention and minimal credibility than the idea of a "celebrity President" might have done 20-25 years ago.
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I still can't figure out if I think Kanye would be a better or worse choice than Trump. If it were Dark Twisted Fantasy-era Kanye, yes, but if it's more like Yeezus, no thanks.
If the US is going to just embrace this celebrity approach, hopefully someone gets a serious campaign behind Mike Rowe.
If the US is going to just embrace this celebrity approach, hopefully someone gets a serious campaign behind Mike Rowe.
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- TexRex72
Does it have to be a trend? I could never get on board with the gentleman jockey approach to politics, and this "experiment"--I'm trying really hard to be civil here--has grown terribly tiresome.
I look forward to a career politician--at this point I really don't care which side of the aisle they represent, either--for the next go 'round.
I look forward to a career politician--at this point I really don't care which side of the aisle they represent, either--for the next go 'round.
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Wasn't 'Career Politician' part of the problem with Hilary, or at least what a lot of people didn't like about her?
The problem with a career politician is they tend to be a lot like career university professors. They stay inside their little professional bubble their whole life, and end up being very detatched from "normal life".
I don't remember exactly where I just saw it, but I just watched an interview with someone who was pointing out that the Founding Fathers of America would probably not be thrilled by the idea of career politicians. None of them were career politicians. They were professional in other fields, who also partook in politics.
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Fair point, and I don't mean to imply that Trump is the answer to career politicians. To me, that's like saying Hollywood celebrities are the answer to career politicians - as you point out, these people tend to live in bubbles as well (just to point out, we all do to an extend).
Just to reiterate, I'm not trying to say that Trump is the answer to Hilary's flaws.
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Trump is really the third gentleman jockey since WW2. Ike was the first, Reagan the second in that he was an actor for much longer than he was a politician and never served as anything other than Governor and POTUS, and now Trump. IMO both Ike and Reagan overall did a great job with the POTUS and so far the economic indicators for Trump numbers are good. You may not like their politics and might dislike Trump as a human being, but if the economic indicators continue as they are or better he'll have a done a good job on that front as well. In that same span you had career politicians like Nixon who was almost impeached, the feckless Jimmy Carter, the philandering Bill Clinton who was impeached and the bumbling George Bush and Gerald Ford.
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It looks like the Mercers have stuck Bannon on liquor-chugging leave. Rumour has it that Bannon fell out with the Mercers by advocating a tax rise on hedge funds.
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- TexRex72
There's no denying markets are up, and that's good, in fact my own portfolio is up from January 2016, but how much of that good can be attributed to Trump himself? And is there any reason to believe that good could not have been generated without his antics?
Of Reagan and Eisenhower, the other two "gentleman jockeys," Ike is probably the more appropriate comparison to Donald, as he hadn't held public office prior to his presidency, though he and Ron were both actual gentlemen.
There are some other interesting parallels between the two of them and the current administration, as a major conflict on the Korean peninsula ended--however briefly--early in Eisenhower's presidency, and Reagan had a thing with walls.
