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[dLMN8R]

I posted this as a separate thread but figured it fits here too:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1251114

Incredible tweet storm that summarizes the GOP convention.

Truth vs. lies don't matter. What matters is resentment that has been bubbling under the surface for decades, and now the GOP nominee does not give a flying fuck about saying the reprehensible things that millions have only thought or said in private for decades.

https://storify.com/davechensky/clay-shirky-on-not-getting-complacent

I want to say something to my liberal white friends: Trump talked a lot of shit last night, but not one word of "I am your voice!" was a lie

Trump IS the voice of angry whites. He wasn't on stage because he has unusual views. He was on stage because he has the usual ones, loudly.

He is the voice of whites who want their neighbors deported if they speak Spanish. He is the voice of whites terrorized by seeing a hijab.

He is the voice of people who think legal & cultural privileges for white conservative Protestants are God's plan, not a bias to be overcome

He is the voice of people who hear 'hard-working' as a synonym for 'white.' He is the voice of people who think black lives matter less.

He speaks for millions.

During the speech, a lot of white liberals in my timeline - people like me - were reacting in disbelief. We can't afford disbelief, not now.

So, believe this: Trump could win. We can help stop him, but that means giving up on a lot of comfortable illusions.

The hardest illusion to give up is the majority illusion, where we confuse our neighborhood with the world. http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.03022

Elections are a harsh corrective to thinking everyone agrees with you. Winning isn't about policy, or passion. It's about headcount.

Liberals cluster, in cities and in states. My home state, Missouri, has gone from purple to red because enough liberals left.

Meanwhile, California's high-margin vote for Clinton will be wasted, because the election hinges on Ohio and Pennsylvania and Virginia.

I'm a white guy, so I'm an imperfect vehicle for this message. Follow @docrocktex26 and @jbouie, who serve hot coffee on this stuff all day

But I can remind other white people, as an insider, that the amount of white rage available for political use in America remains enormous.

"When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression."

White liberals should know headcount is against us. In our communities, we're a comfortable majority. In the US, we're a permanent minority.

Most whites vote /against/ Democratic presidential candidates, and have done in every election since LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964

When Democrats committed to reducing whites' ability to lord it over blacks, it cost the party the white vote for two generations. So far.

The liberal cause has been saved by African-Americans, who are populous and disciplined and consistent enough voters to overcome white rage.

Unlike President Obama's campaigns, though, whites can't coast on minority Get Out The Vote work in 2016, not with VoterID laws in 33 states

Trump can win, if he can whip up white rage unchallenged, if enough women vote for him, and if Red states suppress black and Hispanic votes.

Trump can win, if he concentrates on white fear. Thats how you get white evangelicals to pick a libertine agnostic over a liberal Christian.

So what's a white liberal to do? First, realize we are a minority, and we have to campaign like one. Donate to the campaign, for starters.

Yes, yes, Clinton's not as liberal as we'd like, but minorities never get the luxury of demanding a perfect candidate. Just give.

Talk with pro-Trump relatives, because they won't listen to people who aren't white. (Statistically, they won't know any they care about.)

Donate to fight voter suppression. https://www.aclu.org/issues/voting-rights/fighting-voter-suppression

In November, call voters, or better, get to a swing state and knock on doors. Get to poorer communities and drive people to the polls.

Trump has promised 40% of the country what they've always wanted: a racist welfare state. If he persuades 1 additional voter in 10, he wins.

Seeing my timeline during the convention last night made me despair. We've brought fact-checkers to a culture war. Time to get serious.

 

[mlclmtckr]

I largely agree with the above tweetstorm but white people aren't going to vote as a bloc. This election is also going to be about class. From 538 -

Trump May Become The First Republican In 60 Years To Lose White College Graduates

 

[dallow_bg]

Like I said earlier I'm black, married to a Chinese Canadian immigrant, with a ton of blood relatives from Guatemala and Mexico. In my neighborhood and around my family if I even so much as mention that I like something Trump said I gotta be ready for fists to fly. I guess I should be against everything Trump says but when he talks about wanting our immigration laws to be enforced or how our veterans are treated medically after they return from service that resonates with me. Then when he talks about NAFTA I look at my industry and the all the stunt and acting jobs that go over to Canada and elsewhere when originally they would have stayed here.

Do I think he has the answers? I really don't know. Do I think I know the answers to these problems? Of course not. But he brings up the topics I want to hear about and makes everyone talk about them.

I mean I hear the other things he says, sometimes contradictory or outright lies, but he's running a "reality tv show" and basically playing the game. Like fix the TSA? What does he know, he hasn't been in TSA line at normal terminal once in his private jet life. When I hear any political figure say they are going to do this and that I generally don't believe them, but the fact that he is the only one talking about those things I mentioned above is what gets me.

I love my mom and grandma and listen to them from time to time, doesn't mean I agree with everything they say.

I probably set myself up for all kinds of good comebacks so just let em fly, if liking some of Trumps topics make me racist or a bigot, well I'll do my best to fix that.

Damn, this is just sad.

 

[TheLaughingStock]

strict evaluation? Like cherry picking crime statistics to make it sound like the U.S. is on the brink of a "hoodlum/immigration/refugee takeover"? Notice no comment on the overzealous law enforcement. When in fact Crime has been dropping for decades as a whole. Or his comment "Obama doubled the debt" while ignoring what Obama walked into and his policies didn't double our debt. Or how about "these refugees are coming over with not screening" which is 100% false. You know... all the scare tactics he's using is based on either half truths, cherry picking stats, or outright lies, all to rile up people and make them afraid and divide people. But I guess if that's what you call a "strict evaluation".... I don't know what to say. But step in line folks.. Law and Order.. step in line for the dictator fascist trump.. step in line or the cops are gonna getchya.. get out the billy clubs..

I don't understand. Are you saying Politifact made mistakes during their assessment? They're a credible org that covered half truths, true statements, and false statements. Some of them you mentioned and they gave some additional context.

Trump had a nice handful of accurate talking points and did a good job overall from my vantage point. He obviously wasn't decimated in response as a result of what he claimed.

 

[jmood88]

Every time Hillary says "my friends", it makes me think of John McCain.

 

[DrForester]

Man I hope nothing bad happens with the protests.

Much fun as the clown show was, best thing is that there wasn't some big riot or big violent confrontation.

 

[Xe4]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wq

Thought this was intresting enough to share.

This comes from a right wing blogger paid by the Washington Post, who has been not a huge fan of Trunp but open to having her mind changed at the convention. Her opinnion?

It remains to be seen whether the Republican National Convention will generate a “bump” in polling and, if so, whether that has any long-term implications for Donald Trump’s campaign. Given how unliked both candidates are and how polarized the electorate is, it is very possible not much will change in the race. Nevertheless, judging by a whole array of factors, one cannot help but conclude this was the least successful convention since the Pat Buchanan-dominated 1992 shindig that became the staging ground for another round in the culture wars.

And while in the past Trump has been more conversational, in Cleveland the dominant emotion he conveyed was rage. His face contorted, his face glistening with sweat and his voice bellowing for long portions of the speech, he seemed every bit the image of a dictator of another era. Only his bright-orange-ish makeup reminded us this was not a grainy black-and-while newsreel capturing a master of manipulation from Europe in the 1930s or a segregationist governor in the South in the 1960s but the high-def picture of a modern demagogue.

The next criterion for evaluating a convention is whether it demonstrated the candidate’s mastery of stagecraft and evidence of a well-oiled political operation. Here, Trump failed miserably. A nasty floor fight over rules, a plagiarism kerfuffle, open feuding with Cruz, the leaked nominee speech and a lineup of obscure pols and B-list celebrities (padded by family members) evidenced a shocking lack of competent showmanship for a guy who has made his living trying to impress others.

As for firing up his troops, I suppose he put out enough red meat and sheer hooey to satisfy the die-hard Trumpkins. Given all that, I’d give him a “D” for the convention — but that might be the result of the soft bigotry of low expectations.

It's a good read, and gives a perspective of a more "traditional" republican. It seems to indicate what we on GAF thought. This convention was a trainwreck and seen as such by many, including Republicans.