Trump claims he "knows nothing" about David Duke or the KKK

[Jack V Savage]

For example, I believe that discrimination is an aristocratic virtue. It of course must be discriminatory based upon virtue, or the good and true, but discrimination for even aesthetic reasons doesn't bother me wheras it sets some people's moral klaxons off like crazy.

Discrimination is fine if it's based on virtue. But discrimination based on ethnicity makes no sense and is brutally unfair to the victims when the person practicing it has power.

I'd like to believe that Sanders wants to help the poor, or that Trump actually wants to better America. I just don't have that kind of faith.

Of course Sanders and Clinton genuinely want to help the poor and Trump really thinks that he's smarter than everyone currently in politics and would greaten the country (?) if he were the one making important decisions. They all also want to be loved or stick it to their enemies or whatever and have a lot of other motivations. They're human beings. I'm not countering what I consider to be a cartoonish misreading of motivations with the opposite, equally flat characterization. People are complicated.

 

[dontsnitch]

Of course Sanders and Clinton genuinely want to help the poor and Trump really thinks that he's smarter than everyone currently in politics and would greaten the country (?) if he were the one making important decisions. They all also want to be loved or stick it to their enemies or whatever and have a lot of other motivations. They're human beings. I'm not countering what I consider to be a cartoonish misreading of motivations with the opposite, equally flat characterization. People are complicated.

Again, I don't have that much faith in people. It's not clear to me that Hillary gives a damn about anybody. I can cut Sanders more of a break, but an old Jewish guy doesn't exactly instil in me a feeling of change.

How many times can you put your faith in a candidate only to see him do the same old stuff?

 

[Jack V Savage]

Again, I don't have that much faith in people. It's not clear to me that Hillary gives a damn about anybody. I can cut Sanders more of a break, but an old Jewish guy doesn't exactly instil in me a feeling of change.

How many times can you put your faith in a candidate only to see him do the same old stuff?

The last line sounds good, but what does it really mean? If you're talking about the presidential level, all the winners do different things.

 

[dontsnitch]

The last line sounds good, but what does it really mean? If you're talking about the presidential level, all the winners do different things.

Lets look at foreign policy. Can you tell the difference between the Left and Right anymore?

 

[Denter]

Discrimination is fine if it's based on virtue. But discrimination based on ethnicity makes no sense and is brutally unfair to the victims when the person practicing it has power.

Ethnic discrimination is fine for aesthetic reasons or very low resolution situations.

 

[Jack V Savage]

Lets look at foreign policy. Can you tell the difference between the Left and Right anymore?

Yes. Though I agree that the differences in domestic policy are more significant.

 

[dontsnitch]

Yes. Though I agree that the differences in domestic policy are more significant.

People are too busy fighting about identity politics to notice that the country doesn't change. It's the same conflicts with the usual suspects all while blindly supporting Israel. Meanwhile, the elite enjoy their bull market-like wealth increase, while the lower and middle class remain stagnant for decades. How does the war in the Mid East help some lower class schmuck? At least Bernie purports to care about him.

 

[Fawlty]

Trump's entire schtick is to not let others frame the conversation.

That's how I interpreted his answer. He's sitting there knowing his father's racial history is very suspect, and knowing he has the support of a lot of racists, and he just didn't want to answer the question in the way that was demanded of him. His evasiveness shouldn't be a big deal- it's right in line with his trend of "acceptable" xenophobic suggestion.

 

[AnGrYcRoW]

Unless Trump has the nomination sown up before then the Republican convention will be a zoo .

 

[panamaican]

Didn't he say his ear piece wasn't working? What is he supposed to do - give a definitive answer to a question he didn't fully hear? The smart thing would have been to acknowledge not hearing the question rather than trying to wing it and having it turn into this kerfuffle.

On a different line of thought, why are candidates supposed to disavow the endorsement of people? I'd never really thought about it before this non-disavowal turned into a story. If you don't solicit their endorsement, why is it so bad for someone to state, on their own, that they support you? I get the optics of it so I'm not disputing that part of it, just the insistence that people disavow someone else's endorsement just because seems dumb. Disavow him if he's going to cost you more votes than he brings you, not just because the media says you should. I can't see the David Duke endorsement hurting Trump, even if he simply ignored it.

 

[FinalFight]

Didn't he say his ear piece wasn't working? What is he supposed to do - give a definitive answer to a question he didn't fully hear? The smart thing would have been to acknowledge not hearing the question rather than trying to wing it and having it turn into this kerfuffle.

He heard every word.

http://www.politicususa.com/2016/02...umps-bad-earpiece-excuse-kkk-support-lie.html

On a different line of thought, why are candidates supposed to disavow the endorsement of people? I'd never really thought about it before this non-disavowal turned into a story. If you don't solicit their endorsement, why is it so bad for someone to state, on their own, that they support you? I get the optics of it so I'm not disputing that part of it, just the insistence that people disavow someone else's endorsement just because seems dumb. Disavow him if he's going to cost you more votes than he brings you, not just because the media says you should. I can't see the David Duke endorsement hurting Trump, even if he simply ignored it.

I don't see politicians disavowing supporters very often, I imagine it's for the very rare cases, such as the KKK.

 

[Jack V Savage]

People are too busy fighting about identity politics to notice that the country doesn't change. It's the same conflicts with the usual suspects all while blindly supporting Israel. Meanwhile, the elite enjoy their bull market-like wealth increase, while the lower and middle class remain stagnant for decades. How does the war in the Mid East help some lower class schmuck? At least Bernie purports to care about him.

The country changes a lot. We just got massive healthcare reform. There has been an explosion in green energy output (along with a cratering of costs). The "elite" took a huge hit in the GFC. And yeah, I have no doubt that Bernie legitimately does care about improving the quality of life of "some lower-class schmuck." I think that Clinton, Trump, Kasich, and Carson do, too (I'm way less confident about Cruz and Rubio). Obviously caring and knowing how to do something that will actually help are different, and that's why we have elections.

I don't agree at all that everyone is the same. I think Trump is about sending a message to people you think don't belong here or are gaining status at your expense that you're still in charge. I think Kasich really thinks (bless his stupid heart) that A) you can balance budgets with massive tax cuts for the rich and B) that balancing budgets and cutting regulations will cause job growth to take off. Sanders agrees with you that the problem has been a lack of willpower to take big steps to improve that guy's life. Clinton thinks that the entrenched interests are an obstacle that has to be beaten or convinced. Etc. Bush, Obama, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, and Carter (to pick an arbitrary stopping point) all had wildly different ideas about what was best for the country and how to get it, and as a result, they had very different policy ideas.

 

[Denter]

Unless Trump has the nomination sown up before then the Republican convention will be a zoo .

If he has fewer than the majority of delegates its going to be quite a delicious Donnybrook I must say.

 

[WrestlinganJudo]

I'm about Trumps age and anyone of our age knows who David Duke is.

I have was around the CEO and VP's of a fortune 100 company at times while working. These guys often put in so many hours and are forced to get tunnel vision to the point that alot of the world not related to business and then trying to relax here and there that much of the world passes them by.

 

[IDL]

Trump should be dunked in the river and if he drowns then he is innocent. If he doesn't then we'll know he's guilty.

 

[Devout Pessimist]

Discrimination is fine if it's based on virtue. But discrimination based on ethnicity makes no sense and is brutally unfair to the victims when the person practicing it has power.

It is acceptable for people without power to discriminate?

 

[MeatheadMike]

He did years ago, and he's not doing it now, as he's now courting those people.



Yeah, it's not strategic. Over the past decade, they've convinced the base that they can't trust the media (eventually even including Fox), they can't trust academic studies, fascism is a left-wing idea, the only kind of bigotry that exists in America is anti-white and anti-Christian, the only solution to any foreign-policy issue is projection of military strength, and middle-class wage stagnation isn't about regressive changes to the tax code or deregulation but about unauthorized immigrants taking their jerbs. There's really nothing to stop someone from just lying about everything and openly appealing to racists. I mean, a lot are trying, but they have no way to succeed.

The GOP has created the perfect environment for someone like Trump to come in and beat them at their own game. IMO they should really should re-evaluate their strategies, and maybe try to win the middle class vote by running on actual policies that would be beneficial to them, rather than running on an exclusively a pro-rich platform and relying on getting enough of the angry vote and the Jesus vote to win elections...... Ah who am I kidding, that will never happen

 

[Jack V Savage]

It is acceptable for people without power to discriminate?

I said in the post that you're quoting that discrimination is fine if it's based on virtue. If someone has no power (that is, if they're unable to affect the lives of others), nothing they do matters at all.

 

[panamaican]

He heard every word.

http://www.politicususa.com/2016/02...umps-bad-earpiece-excuse-kkk-support-lie.html

I really don't read it that way. It reads like someone who can't hear exactly what he's being asked and is tapdancing to avoid acknowledging that. Maybe I'm being too generous but that transcript perfectly matches up with a bad earpiece.

He never says he wouldn't disavow, he asks for a list of the groups. Even when the reporter changes the group in question from the Anti Defamation League to the KKK, Trump sticks with the give me the list of groups response. But that's just my interpretation.

 

[MeatheadMike]

Yeah, and I believe him just like I believe Trump when he says he disavows Duke. "Please don't vote for me if you're mean, thank you."

Even though its unlikely, I'll give Trump the benefit of the doubt when he said he doesn't know David Duke.

But there's no way in hell that Trump doesn't know what the KKK is. Its clear that he ducked the question because he wants those votes, but doesn't want to admit that he wants them because it will make him look very bad..