And don't know much about it. Alas!
Most Americans will vote for the candidate who not merely promises, but seems likely to deliver on domestic policies that will address local problems, that will benefit the issues that roil American communities (e.g., schools, pre-school, police, homelessness), that will actually fund sorely needed infrastructure construction and repair, that will provide jobs, and etc.
The Post-Convention Thread-2016 below that invited "foreigners" to jump in (and they did) suggests that somehow Americans follow the ups and downs of our foreign adventures, and are susceptible to voting on that score. They don't. So.... as I said above, "alas."
The anti-Clinton theme on that thread may reflect real knowledge of her politics and policies (or the suspected ones should she be elected). When Americans sober up after the conventions, we are very likely to see that whatever Trump may promise, most will come to understand that he doesn't have the foggiest idea of how to deliver on domestic issues, even if he wants to. Whereas Hillary Clinton will deliver on some of them.
Just a sober word for Trump enthusiasts around the world.
Margaret Steinfels
Margaret, if forign policy was not an issue on this election ( much unlike Bush 1 in 92) you wouldn't find necessary to make that comment 2 days after people walked out of your convention.
Sounds like now days Colonel LANG is open and tolerating all kind of blue feelings, including post convention blues.
Posted by: Kooshy | 30 July 2016 at 04:38 PM
I didn't watch any convention goings-on -- at a point late in his life, St. Augustine foreswore going to the circuses, called it sinful.
BUT -- Did Madeleine Albright speak and encourage women to stay out of hell and vote for Hillary?
Did Victoria Nuland appear to display the feminine side of "f&%k Europe?"
Posted by: Croesus | 30 July 2016 at 04:45 PM
Did you read the article? Also, I wasn't talking about Hillary Clinton.
Posted by: Mark Gaughan | 30 July 2016 at 04:51 PM
I am far away from TV and radio; didn't watch/attend the conventions. So what comment wouldn't I make "2 days after people walked out of your convention." Not my convention.
Posted by: Margaret Steinfels | 30 July 2016 at 04:56 PM
I wasn't talking about Hillary Clinton. I posted the New Yorker article because, to me, it shows what a fraud Donald Trump is. I thought that this committee would be interested in it. The fact that his book was ghostwritten had nothing to do with my posting the article.
Posted by: Mark Gaughan | 30 July 2016 at 05:01 PM
It is unfortunate because Hillary could lead us into WWIII. It would be a very small consolation if after such a cataclysm we could sit back and say "we told you what might happen, but you didn't listen".
Posted by: ToivoS | 30 July 2016 at 05:03 PM
This was supposed to be in response to rjj, not myself. Oops!
Posted by: Mark Gaughan | 30 July 2016 at 05:06 PM
may, not make
Posted by: Mark Gaughan | 30 July 2016 at 05:10 PM
These national polls are nothing to get steamed about. They are meaningless. Look for polls from Nevada, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Posted by: Sam Peralta | 30 July 2016 at 05:19 PM
I read the New Yorker article by Jane Mayer. What I found both fascinating and frightening was Trump's inability or refusal to sit down and talk. He hired the guy, he agreed to the terms, and then he wouldn't/couldn't sit down to be interviewed for the project.
If I got Mayer's report right, Schwartz already had half of the very large advance. Schwartz had to follow Trump around and create the narrative. So was/is Trump ADD, a spoiled rich guy, a sociopath? Something's not normal. But maybe that's what many supporters are looking for in their next president.
Posted by: Margaret Steinfels | 30 July 2016 at 05:24 PM
I agree with you. I do think that Hillary Clinton may deliver on some domestic issues. (Some folks here may not want her to.) The problem that I have with her is that she is totally out of her league when it comes to foreign policy. She never should have been Secretary of State. President Obama was/is also out of his league when it comes to foreign policy, hence his record.
So: Who to vote for?
http://2016.presidential-candidates.org/?other=other
Posted by: Mark Gaughan | 30 July 2016 at 05:38 PM
well, you asked!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/28/a-new-poll-gives-clinton-a-big-lead-in-trumps-must-win-pennsylvania/
Posted by: gowithit | 30 July 2016 at 05:43 PM
She "was part of" the entire NY political establishment doing their jobs and taking care of their constituents who were unfortunate enough to be victims of the 911 tragedy. Laudable, but not extraordinary -- all of them were doing what was called for and expected of them as part of their duties as public servants. This shouldn't be anything to crow about.
Posted by: Trey N | 30 July 2016 at 06:14 PM
"they are more useful then useless"
Which is why they rank above lawyer/politicians on the scale of life on this planet, LeaNder!
I'm struggling to think of a lower life form. I'm sure there must be one....
Posted by: Trey N | 30 July 2016 at 06:17 PM
different clue,
If they didn't expect this level of dishonesty then Sanders recruited naive staff. He ran against super predator Clinton and the taco bowl DNC. His opponent and her spouse are pols who wield identity politics to compensate for a lack of commonality with the unwashed masses.
It is fine by me should the Clintons continue taking Sanders supporters for granted; they deserve to lose. Just don't expect Sanders to rescind his endorsement or run as a 3rd party candidate.
Posted by: Lesly | 30 July 2016 at 06:28 PM
Most Americans don't ~want~ to care about foreign policy. But our government has become increasingly entangled in foreign matters outside our interests that often haunt us at home.
Posted by: Daniel Nicolas | 30 July 2016 at 06:52 PM
Margaret, Glass - Steagall is not some minor side issue as you seem to so carelessly suggest by your opining that it "maybe, or maybe not" had something to do with the 2008 financial crash. It had EVERYTHING to do with the crash because it allowed the banks to conflate the Two separate objectives of banking and investment.
Banking - the overriding requirement is prudential control to minimize risk to depositors.
Investment - the requirement is return on investment commensurate with risk.
You cannot do both at once, but shysters can make very large bonuses telling you that you can.
Glass - Steagall enshrined in law the prohibition on banks doing exactly that, as they continue to this day.
Posted by: walrus | 30 July 2016 at 06:53 PM
I think Jack is the closest to being correct here. It's easy to think that most people are interested in politics because we self-select to participate in blogs like this one. But pretty much every poll I've seen shows that most people just don't pay that much attention to politics and don't investigate policies, economics or history in any kind of detail.
Posted by: HankP | 30 July 2016 at 07:06 PM
Regarding Glass-Steagall, the separation of commercial and investbanking, and the financial crisis...
Wasn't one of the main causes for the financial crisis the mortgage crisis? Didn't that happen in large part because commercial banks originated mortgages with the intent of immediately packaging and reselling them as investment products? -- thus the commercial bank issuing the mortgage makes a small quick profit and then has no long term exposure the the mortgage it just issued -- and so no incentive to care much about the underlying risk?
Doesn't it make sense that the mortgage crisis was directly enabled by commercial banks securitizing their products and selling them in the much more loosely regulated investment-banking world?
Posted by: tilde | 30 July 2016 at 07:17 PM
I have tried twice today to respond re this list you linked to, Mark, and neither one has shown up. I don't know if its typepad problems again or what, but I'm not up to going for a "third time's the charm" effort.
Posted by: Trey N | 30 July 2016 at 07:41 PM
"Trump is an entrepreneur who has demonstrated his ability to build businesses, organize projects and provide jobs for people "
very hard to accept this, the culture made him a celebrity at a very younbg age and he has lived off of it. United airlines changed its name at one time and he used his celebrity status to issue some crazy statement about their name to make money by mnaipulation of stock, he has not built anything but because of his alleged smarts based on publicity, he gets the rubes to pay above market price , he buys marquee properties at unsustainable prices and sells them off at a loss ( re Plaza hotel, Trump casinos etc etc) with the losses taken by other people. Not paying the contractors is part of it and the reson he no longer build is that no Bank will lend him money no contractor will work for him without money up front.
Posted by: rakesh wahi | 30 July 2016 at 07:47 PM
These days, (eg. Flynt Water Crisis), an Elected Official actually doing their jobs for their constituents, rather than just sitting there like a bump on a log until their pension kicks in, is rare and praiseworthy.
Posted by: Brunswick | 30 July 2016 at 07:48 PM
This NY Times article discusses the electoral college challenges for Trump.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/us/politics/donald-trump-presidential-race.html
Posted by: Sam Peralta | 30 July 2016 at 07:52 PM
I did not see this post before responding to your earlier one. You have your mind made up and it is pointless to expect reason. However the readers can draw their own conclusions about the deal making ability of Donald the great. There is not a single marquee property that he has bought at a below market or market price , all his buildings have been built at way above normal construction prices - all based on "greater fool theory " , he has always found people willing to pay more than what things are worth because of the "fame". let me know in five years how his properties fare.
Posted by: rakesh wahi | 30 July 2016 at 07:54 PM
To Walrus @6:53
Glass-Steagall: What did I carelessly suggest? Bear-Stearn, Lehmann Brothers, and AIG, major factors in the crisis, would not have been Glass-Steagall regulated. The subprime mortgage crisis was not primarily a bank crisis but a crisis of mortgage orginators, such as Countrywide Financial. I say "may or may not," because as far as I can tell had it been in place, there would still have been a crisis because these were not banks. Therefore, reinstating it unless recalibrated to today's conditions "may or may not" prevent the next crisis....
Posted by: Margaret Steinfels | 30 July 2016 at 08:13 PM