August 18, 2015

Atlantic columnist asks Trump supporters why they support Trump

...and it's about as terrible as you might expect:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/08/donald-trump-voters/401408/

From self-proclaimed anarchists who think he might just be the final straw that burns the whole system down to self-proclaimed liberals who think he's the perfect tonic to political correctness run amok *gag*.

From the lede:

Last week, I asked Donald Trump supporters why they believe that the billionaire real-estate developer will treat them any better than the career politicians they mistrust.

The dozens of replies that I received from across the United States make up the largest collection I’ve encountered of Trump supporters setting forth their thinking in their own words. And having read through this non-representative sample, I understand the candidate’s rise better than I did before. Broadly speaking, the men and women who wrote fall into two categories: Those who earnestly believe that Trump is the best choice to lead America and those who are motivated by giddyness at the chaotic spectacle of his success. Of course, anyone polling at the top of a major party is going to have supporters with all sorts of backgrounds and world views, and while the correspondence below includes several recurring themes, many of the rationales are singular.

The media's not going to slow down their coverage on him as long as he shifts units and captures eyeballs, so we as progressives have to make sure that every time some nugget drops from those lips, it's refuted with fact-checking and sound policy. Let's not let him turn into the next Reagan, for heaven's sake!

August 3, 2015

The writ is dropped

As everyone knew it would be, yesterday:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-election-2015-stephen-harper-confirms-start-of-11-week-federal-campaign-1.3175136

Stephen Harper has started a long and cynical campaign, and the pundits and analysts are off and running. Who will benefit from the long campaign? Who's in danger? Who's secure? Who has money? Who's going to win the debates?

Substantive discussion on actual policy and platform is a little thin, of course. Election campaigns are all PR and marketing, now. But count on CBC et. al. to give us day-to-day updates of what everyone's doing:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-election-2015-live-campaign-begins-1.3177165

We've got 11 weeks to ditch Harper, folks. Let's show him the door with authority. Many ridings have been redistricted to give more ridings to the now denser suburbs, so make sure you know your riding, make sure you know your candidates.