Trumpled (Alternative Leading)

[madbluboy]

Most Americans don't think guns kill people so do you think they're worried about some little virus?

Hilary's camp were the ones who started the Obama birth certificate thing when she went up against him 2008.

[Mav]

Do you remember the panic in the US over Ebola?  Governor Chris Christie ordered that a nurse returning from Africa be held in isolation and she was held for 3 days.  In the US, guns are seen as the solution, not the problem.  Viruses are only championed by nutters like the Westboro Baptist Church which believes they are God's means of wiping out sinners.  You can defend against a bad man with a gun as long as you or some other good guy is carrying an M-16 but those damn mossies are hard to take down unless you deploy neutron bombs.  Not even a 20 foot wall would save the nation. 

Even that NRA gun nut Tom Clancy premised 'Executive Orders' on an attack by Iran using weaponised Ebola intended to cripple the US.  Concurrent attacks by Iranian terrorists using M-16s on President Jack Ryan's daughter at her daycare centre were brushed off with President Ryan aghast at suggestions the attack Could be used to justify gun control

Films and books have certainly conditioned the public to fear epidemics.  Google 'films about viral outbreaks' and you'll come up with at least 73, with a nice little sub-category dealing with zombie-causing outbreaks as The Walking Dead fans would well know. 

[Mav]

And the fun keeps on coming: Donald Trump digs a hole for himself with attacks on Muslim hero's parents, The Age, 1/8/16.

[flyboy77]

Your certitude never ceases to a amaze me Mav.  C:-)  C:-)

Plenty out there who reckon the zika thing is a beat up..... bury your head.

[Mav]

Then surely you can point to some scientific support for that belief.  After all, the causes and effects of the Zika virus are medical and scientific issues rather than a matter of political or religious belief, aren't they?

[Lods]

And the fun keeps on coming: Donald Trump digs a hole for himself with attacks on Muslim hero's parents, The Age, 1/8/16.

Here's the thing though mav...even conservative commentators savage him over such things....but still he rolls on.
There doesn't seem to be any cumulative negative effect.
It's got me beat. :-\

[Mav]

Yep.  It's impossible for any single person to figure out the impact of these incidents, all the moreso for non-Americans like us.  If he wins the election, then we would have to admit the possibility that this firefight gave him the chance to double down on anti-Muslim rhetoric and the condemnation by the press and GOP figures worked to his advantage.  But I can say that his behaviour disgusts me.

[Lods]

But I can say that his behaviour disgusts me.

That may be the key to understanding what's actually going on.
We've got to try and separate our own personal views about his antics and look at it from an 'impartial' distance.
That's what I've tried to do but it still has me stumped as to why he's even in with a chance.

In the end I think the electoral system and the uphill task he faces to win enough significant states will bring him undone but the American population is a wide and varied entity and this is an election with candidates unlike any other.
There's just too many variables.

[Mav]

No doubt.  That's why I don't bother with sweeping claims that Trump can't win - how could I possibly know?  Even the current polling is unreliable.  Political pundits regard Labor Day (the 1st Monday in September) as the time when polling becomes a reasonably reliable predictor of what will happen 2 months later.

[Mav]

Interesting psychological assessment of why Clinton governs well but doesn't excite progressives on the campaign trail - The science behind Hillary Clinton’s problems with trust, Salon, 1/8/16.