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Some decades ago in San Diego, a mobile crane operator drove into a mud pit in Mission Valley. Couldn't get out. By the time the giant tow truck arrived the ENTIRE crane had sunk into the mud. Not just the cab, the whole vertical mast and all. It was gone.

Several years later as they were digging the foundation for Qualcomm Stadium they found it. More then two miles west. There is still a massive underground river in Mission Valley. Back in the 40's it flooded wall-to-wall. Hardly any San Diego river visible now. But it's still there underground.

I have not been as pessimistic as I am now over my entire life. I think we are about to go downhill very fast on many fronts. I am thankful I do not have as many years to live as some of you younger people.

I, like many here, have done what I thought I could to give us a more positive direction, but I have failed. I am not looking forward to the next few months and years.

An evil idiot at the helm and selfish cretins running the economy.

Good luck world.

Actually you didn't fail. More Americans voted for HClinton and the continuation of Obama's policies than for Trump. With the signing of the recent Republican Internet Bill, whereby Internet providers can sell your browsing history, Trump just lost the millennial vote which helped him get into Office. The millennials think of the Internet as their domain and they're very protective of it.

I just hope that The Dems nominate a really good person in 2020, and we retake both the House and Senate in 2018 - I'm not familiar with all of the particulars at the moment, so I'm not sure there are enough terms that are up where that is even possible like it would be in 2020.

Don't fret, Rick. If things really get that bad, there will be a lot more seats than people think up for grabs in Congress. Congressmen voted to make sure crazy people can buy guns, after all. Now all they need to do is get rid of that nasty Medicaid coverage that keeps on paying for the crazies drugs.

What could go wrong?

There is an UPSIDE to the Senate "going nuclear", you know...

The upside is that THIRD PARTIES will now have MUCH better chances of influencing ALL Senate decisions IF they can GET ASSES IN SEATS in 2018. If a third party gets ENOUGH asses in Senate SEATS, then BOTH parties will lack sufficient majority to control diddly squat and will be forced to negotiate and cooperate, not only WITH the third party but with each other.
It would only take maybe 15 wins to do the trick.

They haven't gone nuclear on legislation yet and that might even be a bridge too far for even McConnell.
If things do go downhill as rapidly as Phil suspects then 2018 will see the Senate flip, but I wouldn't count on seeing much in the way of third party victories then or...ever really.

We cannot have it be a LIBERAL third party OR a CONSERVATIVE third party. This third party must be guided by ONE principle only...the benefit of the MIDDLE CLASS, and the absolute and permanent DESTRUCTION of the TWO PARTY system, period.

Don't fool yourself.
Now that Mitch McConnell has tasted blood, nothing will stop him.

The only goal of the third party needs to be the permanent destruction of a majority in EITHER of the TWO major parties, thus forcing BOTH parties to actually LEAD and do things which benefit the Middle Class.

The sheer brilliance of such a tactic might get through to enough voters IF enough oomph is put behind it.

Yes, but it won't be and you know it. Good candidates are hard to find and campaign funding even harder for third parties. The Green Party has run the same candidate(Jill Stein, in case you'd forgotten) for 24 consecutive presidential elections and has failed to exceed single digits. TEA Partiers only succeed by running as Republicans in primary elections. Our two party system, like it or not, is under no threat.
I'm going to operate under the assumption that Trump will continue to be unpopular and that Paul Ryan's draconian, granny starving policies will also further damage the Republican brand. Historically that means 2018 will be a good year for Democrats. It won't take much to flip the senate and, who knows, we may even see significant gains in the house.