Republican circus

Written By: - Date published: 2:28 pm, July 19th, 2016 - 52 comments
Categories: us politics - Tags: , ,

The Republican convention circus is under way.

It began with a last-ditch rebellion Never Trump diehards, eventually quashed after scenes of chaos an coercion. It continues with speeches from Trump family members and D-list celebrities. It will be a four day parade of ignorance and prejudice.

Summary from RNZ here, live coverage from The Guardian and CNN.

52 comments on “Republican circus ”

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  1. Sabine 1
    19 July 2016 at 2:57 pm

    na he is the oompaloompa coloured saviour of the US Of A. He will make “america’ great again. And his family will help.

    All hail the most terrific and splendorous Man Trump and his daughter.

    • Molly 1.1
      19 July 2016 at 4:10 pm

      Have you seen the Donald & Hobbes photoshopped cartoons yet?
      “Some clever folk have been replacing precocious 6-year-old Calvin, from the Calvin and Hobbes comic strips, with Donald Trump and the results are, well, take a look…

      I’ll never look at Calvin the same way now.

      • Andre 1.1.1
        19 July 2016 at 6:36 pm

        Desecration of great art like that is so wrong. And yet, somehow, the fit is perfect.

    • nom 1.2
      19 July 2016 at 4:37 pm

      Sounds like his campaign has pivoted the slogan to ‘Make America *Safe* Again’

      Poor Americans, you’d think that all those guns would make them feel safe.

      • joe90 1.2.1
        19 July 2016 at 4:41 pm

        Plagiarism, outright lies, whatever…

        Actually, crime is at its lowest point in recent American history. Going back decades.— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 19, 2016

  2. Anne 2
    19 July 2016 at 3:07 pm

    Holy Moses, listen to this crackpot:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-NzSwg6TMQ&feature=youtu.be

    No, I didn’t make it to the end. There’s only so much delusionary crap one can absorb at any given time.

  3. One Two 3
    19 July 2016 at 3:52 pm

    The two party monopoly has completely exposed itself, and people are still poking sticks at Trump

  4. joe90 4
    19 July 2016 at 4:10 pm

    This idiot kicked off his speech with a dog whistle – “Being American doesn’t mean getting free stuff.”

    This may be the best meme out there. #NeverHillary @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/q1ovj80Skt— Scott Baio (@ScottBaio) July 11, 2016

  5. James 5
    19 July 2016 at 4:49 pm

    As a right winger – even I shake my head in dismay at Trump. Then I look at Clinton and I ask myself is she any better? – probably not, but at least a little more credible on the world stage.

    Im really sitting here hoping for one hell of an independent candidate to pop up.

    Sadly I dont think it will happen.

    Normally you vote for who you think will be the best for the country – in this case its voting for who can do the less damage.

    • Sabine 5.1
      19 July 2016 at 5:00 pm

      bwhahahahahahaha

      nah mate, Trump is the free market, he is the conservative, he is the man…..and he has inherited all form Daddy 🙂

      lol, he is the conservative dream come true 🙂

      bwhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

      • marty mars 5.1.1
        19 July 2016 at 5:44 pm

        And let’s not forget that even though he is a billinaire proven liar he is somehow NOT beholden to The Man. Nope he is free personified,a walking independence thinker who tells people what they want to hear it and often things that wish they’d never heard. He IS the man – don’t mention the hands… /sposeihavetoputsarc

        • Sabine 5.1.1.1
          19 July 2016 at 5:53 pm

          nah he is beholden to the bank, i think its even the deutsche bank who has bailed him out more then once. 🙂

          Yes…let him go and make “america” great again. Can’t wait. after all history must repeat itself.

  6. joe90 6
    19 July 2016 at 5:07 pm

    The silver lining.

    Jon Stewart is coming to back to television just in time for the Republican and Democratic conventions.

    http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/daily-show-jon-stewart-stephen-colbert-late-show-GOP-Dem-convention

  7. Colonial Viper 7
    19 July 2016 at 5:27 pm

    Trump an easy win over Hillary.

    Bernie an easy win over Trump.

    • Jenny 7.1
      20 July 2016 at 6:03 am

      And if it wasn’t for massive anonymous corporate funding, someone like Clinton would never even be on the ticket.

      What was truely amazing about the Sanders campaign, was that Sanders, who refused any money from the Superpacs, was almost able to match Clinton’s funding with average donations of $20 from millions of normal everyday folk.

  8. Ad 8
    19 July 2016 at 5:28 pm

    Even as an avowed Hillary Clinton supporter, I don’t think it’s helpful to cartoon what is happening over in the U.S. Republican Convention.

    The Tea Party has been a bigger source of renewal to the Republicans than Sanders has been to the Democrats or newer members have been to the Corbyn leadership. The Tea Party types now dominate the Senate as a majority, and Republicans overall still control Congress.

    We should take Trump very, very seriously. Brexit is the really good comparator here. Not all voters want to hear from “experts” or commentators. Their supporters want to act from gut instinct. They want a leader with gut instinct. They want Farage and Boris, not the Etonians or Harvardians.

    Trump may even go far closer in the coming polling than us Clintonites might want.

    Win or lose he will have left a massive fissure between two kinds of Republican Party: the dying Old Conservative of Rove, Ailes, Romney, and the Bushes, and the New Conservative for whom ethnicity, immigration and protection of “Western Culture” etc is paramount.

    GOP Congressmen are absolutely explicit about western and white supremacy; check this out from the Convention itself:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/steve-king-white-people-western-civilization_us_578d5f34e4b0a0ae97c320ed?section=

    Trump has paved the way for further Trump-like characters to emerge within future presidential candidates, within the Senate, within the media, and within state governors. His success is part of the reason I wrote the post on liberal society.

    • Colonial Viper 8.1
      19 July 2016 at 5:40 pm

      Clinton lead over Trump is 2.7% in the poll of polls.

      Liberals have been taking Trump to lightly, and trusting Clinton too seriously.

      • Sabine 8.1.1
        19 July 2016 at 5:56 pm

        liberals have done neither.

        You say so, but there is no liberal that i know here or elsewhere in the world that would take that man lightly. You however have can’t see past your own prejudice and blinkers. But then history will tell us who was right and who was not.

        • Colonial Viper 8.1.1.1
          19 July 2016 at 6:02 pm

          Sorry, but the constant liberal piss taking of Trump as an idiot, reality show clown and a buffoon, right up to this week making parody ‘sexual penetration’ gifs of the short lived Trump/Pence logo proves you wrong.

          Liberals haven’t even begun waking up to Trump yet.

          As I have been saying for a couple of months now. An easy victory Trump over Crooked Clinton.

          But Bernie could beat him hands down. He’s the candidate that America actually wants, and has been denied. By the entrenched US liberal establishment.

          • Sabine 8.1.1.1.1
            19 July 2016 at 6:09 pm

            how about Killary, Hang her, Cunt, Bro’s for Bernie Ho’s for Hillary? Can’t take it? Don’t play.

            go cry a river Colonial Viper ….Bernie is not in the running anymore he is gone. You need to go on with life.

            But i guess its hard when all your heros have gone and the rest are just as human as everyone else. So go upheld the oompa loompa 🙂 he’s all yours.

            and history will tell which one of us was correct.

            • Colonial Viper 8.1.1.1.1.1
              19 July 2016 at 6:24 pm

              My point is that liberals have taken Trump far too lightly and for far too long; not that Republicans don’t have their own memes about Clinton.

              go cry a river Colonial Viper ….Bernie is not in the running anymore he is gone. You need to go on with life.

              Only an establishment loyalist like you could be so flippant.

              They forced him to his knees and he finally capitulated.

              This is the guy that Americans clearly want as their President, over both Trump and over Clinton, by a country mile. A true socialist.

              But you’ll just shrug and accept what the rotten system spits out at you? Shame.

              • Sabine …
                19 July 2016 at 7:45 pm

                oh boy, you know what you really think you are special.

                If , and again I say IF, the US American Public wanted Bernie Sanders than he would have won. Full stop here. Also know that Bernie Sanders has yet to concede. Which he has not done. He has given a lukewarm thumps up to Hillary but he has not ceded his delegates and he will go into the democratic convention carrying his 1900 delegates that he has won.
                However, no matter how flawed the system is He Bernie Sanders Has not Won the outright nomination. Full stop here.

                Again, as with your whinging about Neo Liberalism and shit, i will again point out to you that People Vote and as Brexit has shown, Voting has consequences. So you may want to blame the people for voting for Fuckwits to win. No one forced Bernie Sanders and Bernie Sanders has yet to concede.

                Remember Colonial Viper, people get the politicians that they vote for. NZ in 2008 could have voted for Jeanette Fitzsimmons but they did not. They ran a Helen Clark/John Key Contest. See where that got us.

                As for Bernie Sanders, you do need to go on in life, and maybe crying a river would help you clear your vision.

                • swordfish …
                  19 July 2016 at 9:20 pm

                  “If , and again I say IF, the US American Public wanted Bernie Sanders than he would have won. Full stop here.”

                  I think you’ll find the “American public” didn’t get to vote in the Democratic primaries. All Polls have shown Sanders significantly more popular than Clinton with the US public in general and (unlike Clinton) easily winning one-on-one races against Trump.

                  Sanders popular with Democrats, Independents and a minority of Republicans. Clinton popular with majority of Democrats / deeply unpopular with the all-important Independents.

                  • Sabine …
                    19 July 2016 at 9:28 pm

                    poll according to polls in NZ we love us some John Key every day of the year.

                    but not everyone voted for him. there were primaries as far as i can remember, Bernie won some and Hillary won some.

                    don’t get me wrong, i would prefer Bernie, but if the guy does not get it i would vote Hillary. not because i think she is the very bested but for the selfish reason of being a human with a uterus and vagina. The republicans don’t like humans with uterus and vaginas. they do their darners to make family planning a thing like it was in the 15 century with about the same health care available while at the same time cutting any and all benefits for women and children. Cause nothing says pro life than hungry and homeless kids without medical insurance in schools where there are more cops than teachers.

                    But people voted, be they delegates, super delegates of peeps that cast a vote in a standard primary. And the dice has rolled. Unless we are now happy to only accept democratic results that we individually consider democratic enough?

                  • Lanthanide …
                    19 July 2016 at 11:35 pm

                    Actually 538 found that amongst true independents, Hillary was about as popular as Bernie.

                    It was only among Democrat-leaning “independents” that Bernie had an advantage over Hillary. Note that Democrat-leaning independents almost always vote Democrat, hence why that particular statistic is not of critical concern for Hillary.

    • Pat 8.2
      19 July 2016 at 9:39 pm

      “Trump has paved the way for further Trump-like characters to emerge within future presidential candidates, within the Senate, within the media, and within state governors. His success is part of the reason I wrote the post on liberal society.”

      As Monbiot has suggested, it may be better if Trump won….what may follow his failure may be worse

      • Sabine 8.2.1
        19 July 2016 at 9:43 pm

        i think that boat has sailed. And while i don’t like the man and don’t care about him, i can see him win. And then i take a history book and go to the page that says Germany or Italy 1933.

      • locus 8.2.2
        21 July 2016 at 3:16 am

        better if Trump won

        Are you or Monbiot for real?

        “Christie, who is governor of New Jersey and leads Trump’s White House transition team, said the campaign was drawing up a list of federal government employees to fire if Trump defeats Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 presidential election.” http://reut.rs/29KzSqP 

        Trump plagiarising from wretched Erdogan’s hymnsheet…

  9. Sabine 9
    19 July 2016 at 6:19 pm

    and don’ send your wife to speechify a plagiarised speech from 2008 by Michelle Obama. Thats just tacky.

    https://twitter.com/jpanzar/status/755251069161185280/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

  10. adam 10
    19 July 2016 at 6:51 pm

    TYT summary of day 1, Interesting

    • Colonial Viper 10.1
      19 July 2016 at 7:13 pm

      it’s very clear that the RNC cannot be bothered holding a proper convention, or backing this upstart idiot Trump.

      • adam 10.1.1
        19 July 2016 at 8:48 pm

        Have you seen the Libertarians candidates numbers? He is at 13%, bloody nora.

        Jill the Start Stein is at 8%, and both of these people have zero coverage. ZERO!

        Even anonymous have joined the debate.

        • Colonial Viper 10.1.1.1
          19 July 2016 at 8:52 pm

          If only Bernie went Green…

          • adam 10.1.1.1.1
            19 July 2016 at 10:17 pm

            His people are slowly starting too. I think the democratic convention will be the tipping point.

            Best thing about this is the democrats can’t whinge about the people who vote Green now, or bemoan a wasted vote, as their are both left and right alternatives.

          • Adrian 10.1.1.1.2
            20 July 2016 at 8:19 am

            And split the left vote. Marvelous.

  11. Rae 11
    19 July 2016 at 7:49 pm

    Here’s my (piss) take, for what it’s worth, on Mrs Trump’s speech. She hired a speech writer, who, sadly for her, can’t stomach Trump and saw a golden opportunity.
    Trump and his party were too thick to see what the speech writer did, the speech writer could hardly believe his/her luck.
    So strong is the conspiracy theory that I wouldn’t mind betting the Obama’s knew all along and heartily endorsed the speechwriter’s actions. Priceless.

    • Colonial Viper 11.1
      19 July 2016 at 8:53 pm

      Lazy speech writer started late and hoped no one would notice his crib notes…

      • Sabine 11.1.1
        19 July 2016 at 9:46 pm

        actually according to the Trump campaign she did write it herself. And then she did write it herself with some other writers. That may change by tomorrow but still

        she wrote her beautiful speech

        https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/755279965218897920

        and she is also on camera stating that she wrote her speech quickly and re-read it before performing it.

        but yeah, must’ave’been a lazy speech writer who hoped that no one would notice ‘his’ crip notes. You sure it was not a Hillary plant that infiltrated the Trump Campaign to sour the beautiful speech for Mrs. Trump?

      • Lanthanide 11.1.2
        19 July 2016 at 11:42 pm

        The speech writer used to write speeches for Hillary, so the conspiracy angle on this one isn’t as far-fetched as it might seem at first.

      • Rae 11.1.3
        20 July 2016 at 8:13 am

        Lazy? I reckon more like a really clever ABTer

  12. Macro 12
    19 July 2016 at 8:51 pm

    But is there Open Carry?