Is Donald Trump a Democratic secret agent?

Does Trump even understand how congress works? One senator is supposed to make all these laws!? Oh... an "effective" senator can do that. Oookay.

Zloth said:

Does Trump even understand how congress works? One senator is supposed to make all these laws!? Oh… an "effective" senator can do that. Oookay.

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He doesn't know how ANY of it works ... which is an amazingly great coincidence since neither do most of his supporters!

Trump may be a fecal golem with a hairpiece scalped from a fraggle, but I thought he did well by his own low bar. It seemed more like a recovery than the coup de grace it should have been.

The score is looking really nasty for Trump this time. Going off the Twitter feed..

• The US has one of the highest tax rates in the world. This is actually walking back from his old claim that the US has THE highest tax rate. However, it's still mostly false. The tax rate here is actually about average. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...2/donald-trump/trumps-claim-us-taxes-tweaked/
  
• Trump says he's got no relationship with Moscow or Russia. Funny, he sure was proud of his relationship earlier but now? Not so much.
  
• Trump says for the umpteenth time that he never supported the war in Iraq. Yeah he did.
  
• There's no vetting system for refugees… Was that what he actually said? I can't recall exactly. He has definitely said it before, though, and it ain't so: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...still-wrong-his-claim-opposed-iraq-war-ahead/
  
• Trump claims Clinton wants to go to a single payer health care system. That's (unfortunately) false.
  
• Trump yet again tries to blame the whole birther movement on Hillary. Not.
  
• Trump's claim that Clinton 'savaged the dignity' of people who attacked her husband. Mostly false
  

Not one against Clinton.

I don't judge the debate on the factual accuracy - Trump (and most Republicans these days) are talking drivel most of the time. But I thought he got away with creating an impression of evenness between the candidates respective failings, when he should have been utterly destroyed.

I probably shouldn't have stayed up and watched this whole thing since it is a work day and today is going to be really painfull for me, but god this was fun to watch live.

For Trump this went slightly better than the last one, but man he is really annoying to watch.

Anyhow few comments about the debate. First of all, what the hell was this apology? All he needed to say was I'm sorry and don't present any stupid excuses. Yet he just could not do that. And did he really compare this video scandal to the horrors of Isis. So Trump is not as bad as Isis. Lol good to know

And I lost count on how many times Trump deflected a direct question and went straight to attack mode. It was kind of annoying to watch since his attacks seemed to repeat same old pattern. I get that Clinton's emails scandal is a thing, but does he have anything else to say?

And I don't get how Clinton's long history and experience in politics is somehow supposed to be a negative thing. Shouldn't it be the complete opposite. Trump has no real experience of this field. He is a complete novice in foreign politics for instance like we heard today from his answers to foreign policy questions.

And the most unexpected moment was when Trump said that he would order his attorney general to name a special prosecutor who would look into Clinton's situation. And that he would like to put her in jail. Never expected to see something like that in american presidental debate.

I think the problem is that most of the problems you guys mention are only going to be apparent to thoughtful people that already see Trump for what he is. To the crucial audience of undecideds, though, I think gave the superficial impression of doing reasonably well against Clinton - better than he should have been allowed to get away with, IMO.

Well, I still think it is true that Trump and Bill are good friends, and Trump is running as a favour for Bill. I don't think Hillary Clinton would win if the republicans had a "real" candidate.

If the Republicans hadn't jumped off the crazy cliff a while ago, they would have had a very good chance at taking this election. Their problem is, it's not just Trump. Pence is a tea-partying fundamentalist nutjob, too, and the party is dominated by such people.

To an outside observer, it looks like the moderate republican is a dying breed. In every election they seem to be pushing for even more extreme candidates. What has happened the idea of finding common ground, seeking solutions for problems etc.

Dez said:

What has happened the idea of finding common ground, seeking solutions for problems etc.

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Alive and well in the Republican establishment… but that won't draw people to your website/rage radio program so it doesn't get much air time. Unfortunately, the Republicans have been trashing balanced media sources for years (decades?) so now those sites are where a big portion of their base get their news. It's like a propaganda machine without central control, and it seems to have taken over the party.

Even the party leadership is intransigent. Look at Mitch and how he roadblocked the scotus nominee.

GothicGothicness said:

Well, I still think it is true that Trump and Bill are good friends, and Trump is running as a favour for Bill. I don't think Hillary Clinton would win if the republicans had a "real" candidate.

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Friendship is not a factor: if both were of the same faction, they still would have to face each other for a nomination.

Trump earns his faction nomination on his merit. There was no ways he could guarantee his victory to the Clintons.

Dez said:

To an outside observer, it looks like the moderate republican is a dying breed. In every election they seem to be pushing for even more extreme candidates. What has happened the idea of finding common ground, seeking solutions for problems etc.

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Common grounds off what? Common grounds might be found by two at the expense of a third. This happened a lot in the US history indeed through people called moderates (that are people who find a common ground by fouling other people)

As it stands, the third party is turning a scarcity. It is no longer possible to find a common ground the way it was.

Glenn Beck finds letting Clinton win, rather than voting for Trump, to be the moral choice.

Hell did freeze over.

I can't think of anything else to say but this is some crazy shit.

Do Americans wonder how did it get to this? :lol:

I find it all pretty entertaining.

I told my friends early on that Trump had alot of dirt out there and it would start coming out closer to the election date. Theres no way he can win as he has his base but thats it. He isn't even trying to get independent/undecided voters. I'd rather someone other than Hillary but she is much more qualified than Trump who isn't at all.

lostforever said:

Do Americans wonder how did it get to this? :lol:

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I think some do ... but I wonder why they would? The obsession with TV, celebrity adulation and reality shows in specific all lead us to Trump ... as do the obvious fracture patterns in the GOP between the 'mainstream', neocons, tea-baggers, bible-thumpers, white supremacists, and so on. While these extremist sects were small a coalition made sense ... but as each has seen a rise to power, each has captured state and local and national offices ... they are less willing to submit and less willing to get along. This is why the other GOP hopefuls all failed.

As for Clinton ... the failures of the last two mid-term cycles to produce a crop of fresh talent left the party in the hands of the same people it was in 2008 when Obama first ran. Through some combination of 'inevitability', Biden not running, and that lack of someone else ... she is here.

Yes, I am hoping that the young people excited by Bernie Sanders will be a source of new progressive leaders.