Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues The Trump Administration The Impeachment of Donald trump

That's very possible. But I take the issues one at a time, each policy individually. I pay little to no attention to who proposes legislation and I'd like to think my support or opposition is based on the merits of that legislation. Whether or not it would be good or bad for the country. Not being automatically opposed because a Republican proposed it or a Democrat proposed it.

I favor going back to the game of give and take, compromise between parties when feasible. Always taking little steps forward, not trying to stop everything the opposing party suggests or wants to do.

From my perspective and observation, the R and or the D has become much more important than the Big A, America. Especially to the hard core of each party. Neither party will listen to the other. I think we've been building up to today's divide, the polarization and ultra high partisanship in our current political era for around 30 years now. To where Trump is but a symptom to that build up. Not the cause, but a symptom or a result of that buildup. Just me thinking a bit.

Simpler times was when the bad news came on horseback.

I am partial to smoke signals .... sometimes you get the message and sometimes the message is swept away with the wind

I don't think that is true at all. Trump actually had to commit some impeachable offenses to get himself impeached. Impeaching just because they didn't like him would have been political suicide for Democrats. That's exactly what happened after Republicans impeached Clinton over an adulterous fling. In fact, Trump had to commit a lot of offenses, and finally some very serious constitutionally-enumerated offenses to make the Democrats act. They could have impeached him for violating the Emoluments Clause in his first month, but they held their noses and ignored that offense.

I guess you could argue that Trump's impeachment was inevitable because Trump is basically a criminal, but if he had not committed those offenses and instead acted like a responsible adult once he was in office, it would NOT have happened.

You keep claiming the partisanship is equal on both sides, but it's really more like one Party is certifiably insane and the other Party doesn't like the insane things they are doing. The telling point is that some principled Republicans don't like those insane things either. Conway, Mueller, George Will, Romney, and Comey are all Republicans.

I tend to believe that he should be gone because he is flat out incompetent in the job. I don't think anybody can argue that point. The Religious right, of course, love him for his ability to sign virtually anything they put in front of him and that's enough for them. The others, that support him, do that, it seems, because they fear his wrath. He has consistently proven he is a disaster for the country. For instance, according to just about everybody he has winnowed any allies to a very few un-democratic entities. The recent spat with Iran is just yet another example. We are gifted with evidence of his incompetence every day of his tenure, as is the rest of the world. The simple fact is that by the time his tenure is over the entire country will probably breath a sigh of relief from worry about their own survival.

He has also proven that the current Republican/Trump party is represented, in congress, by a bunch of toadies, fellow incompetents, self serving folks completely unable to actually do their jobs for the nation. A good example are the 400+ pieces of legislation, passed by the house and sent to the senate that the senate has chosen to not only not pass but not even vote on! This, whilst the president refers to the Democrats as the Do Nothing Democrats and the only Democrat that even bothers to mention that damned lie is Pelosi and very few others. This, I suspect, does not actually help the Democrats as they too have some kind of other problem wherein they would rather fight with each other than to actually go after the president with any consistency. That being said they have, at least, Impeached which is something. However, that being said, the obvious inability of the Democrats to actually stand up, as a group, with consistency, leaves them with an impression of being a bunch of wimps.

We are coming up on another so called 'debate' where the existing, and qualifying, candidates for president are going to present themselves as the one to choose. They will do this, not by demonstrating their ability to beat Trump (by going after him tooth and nail) but by beating up each other whilst promising stuff, that is not only unlikely to even get passed in congress, but completely skips little things like the huge lack of money to do anything but pay interest on the national debt. Doesn't really make my heart beat faster with enthusiasm. I will vote for whoever wins the nod, but I will probably not be voting with a whole lot of enthusiasm.

Success depends on Democrats coming up with a candidate who can inspire enough voters to be their better nature. It's easy to be all the things Trump wants you to be. It's harder to be the kind of American inspiring leaders wanted. That was really the trouble with Clinton: She did not inspire. She was highly competent and would have been a good President, but you have to win first!

Come on, Democrats: Give us somebody we actually want to follow.

I think you hit the nail on the head. History has shown that approximately 90% of those who identify with each major party vote for their candidate regardless of who that candidate is. That leaves each party vying for the independent vote. Trump won independents in 2016 and thus the White House. To win reelection, Trump must repeat that feat. The Republican Party is still the smaller of the two major parties, so it is a must for them to win independents. The Democrats just have to keep the independent vote close.

So who is that candidate that can inspire or as I like to put it, has the charisma to obtain the independent vote? Independents in presidential elections have gone for the most charismatic candidate since at least Jimmy Carter. Although we had a couple of election when neither candidate was especially charismatic. Then the down home boy won, the one with the southern charm. Carter and G.W.

Independents aren't policy wonks. They pay little attention to the day to day going on's in Washington. Their vote is more determined by how they view the candidates, whether they like one more than the other or as in Hillary's case, dislike her more than Trump.

Obama was very likable among independents, he won their vote. G.W. was also in a down homey way, Bill Clinton was very likable and had charisma out the ying yang. Much more than either G.H.W and Dole. Reagan charisma was light years ahead of Jimmy and Mondale. Although Jimmy's down home style made him more likable than the stoic Ford.

Let me put it this way, if the Democrats nominate a candidate attractive to the independent voter, they'll win in a landslide. Nominate someone who comes across as aloof, elitist, a policy wonk, another 2016 is certainly possible. Now the Democrats must figure out which candidates are what. Remember, our presidential elections are basically a beauty contest. Not with the party faithful, but with independents who now according to Gallup make up 40% of the electorate.

perotista
I fear you are missing something here. The simple fact is that the independt are not dedicated lefties and those candidates running on the far left will not get their vote. This has been proven, time after time. So, the candidate, to be appealing to the independent, can't be continuously selling free everything pie in the sky. That stuff should be saved for AFTER getting elected! The only two candidates that are actually doing that are Bloomberg and Steyer. However, if either of them get the nod the purist lefties will cause a huge uproar and, then, just as happened with Bernie they will not vote. If the Dems engender a massive vote, however, that might not matter as the purist democratic lefties are not actually a huge percentage of Democratic party. Bernie and Warren, for instance, will not get the independent vote and will lose to Trump. That is, I believe, a simple fact.

A lot of the problem is the media and what they cover. They will cover, to exhaustion for instance, any little battle within the Democratic party with gusto as they LOVE to cover political bickering of candidates. This is not helpful (I think its just plain wrong but tv, for instance, knows what people want to watch and the voting public seems to dote on that sort of thing.) My wife watches Sunday Political Shows. They go on and on. If there is a mean spirited Republican available he will get the time to state his/her fantasies. They are rarely called for flat out lying. My own thought on that kind of stuff is that it should be delayed by the couple of minutes most can be truth checked and then reported if there is a problem. If they did that there would be fewer Republican talking heads which would not break my heart. I can go on and on with this one but I betcha most understand this one.

My main fear is that the Dems are going to run somebody who simply cannot get the independent vote. As far as I can tell few Democrats are even thinking past the dreamland of the left with all that free stuff. The very attitude that nary a one actually understand that stuff paid for with taxes is NOT free! Their problem is that the independents don't buy that one. There have been a pile of polls that prove that one.

I am all for the inspiration thing but, first, they have to inspire more than a small group of lefty purists who are determined to REALLY screw it up to make some kind of point. My main fear is that they are going to get their way and we will get to have another 4 years of Trump. After that I am not so sure we won't have him for the rest of his life. Please remember, the numbers Trump has, amongst voters are almost exactly the same as those Hitler had when he took over. These are dangerous times!

Again, I am not against all that the purists want to do, I just wish they would stop preaching it until they win and that, obviously, just isn't going to happen. My main hope is that Trump screws up bad enough to get replaced without killing us all in the process.

Oh, I would prefer either running billionaire to the current crop of non-billionaire candidates. This preference is based on who I think can really beat Trump, especially concerning his economic figures. Nobody with the current economy has ever been beat, as far as I can tell - not a single one. The Dems gotta get smart if they are to win and, so far, they are failing, big time.

Hard to pin independents down. Half of America doesn't vote. Does anybody ever poll the non-voters? No...because they don't count.
Polls always start with "how likely are you to vote?"
90% of these people say "Not at all, goodbye."

These are the independents. They honestly don't give a f*ck. I used to be one of them and I honestly didn't. I got my news from the truck radio on the way to work. And when it came on I changed stations.

Every election cycle there are issues that pull a certain number of these voters out of their self-centric little worlds and into the polls.

Donald Trump is the top issue this time around.

Healthcare polls really high in importance to likely voters.

Climate change has been mentioned as an issue.

The Economy, Immigration...woman's rights, gay rights, and down into the minutia of sub-genres of other issues.

The stuff that brings out voters who wouldn't have otherwise voted.

I think it's going to heavily favor Democrats in the general election and in the primaries the overall wokeness of the democratic voters has increased dramatically and heavily favors the left.

That's the Bernie surge we're seeing. A vote for Bernie is a big "f*ck you" to the status quo. If Bernie has early success in the primaries it's gonna encourage more people to do it. It could go viral...

Somebody like Joe Biden?...Yeah that's my biggest fear too. What's he got that will bring them out to vote for him? Obama liked Him! Do they still hang out? Is Obama endorsing him? Obama chose Biden to draw in voters who didn't like Obama. Biden is the consummate empty suit.

Just what independents are looking for! So what else has he got? Unions mumble mumble...

Bernie's interesting, he's fun, he might change things, he might waken this country from the nightmare...