Interesting how many Europeans ( and one Canadian ) are negatively replying to this post - I didn't know you's cared so much about the politics in the US !

Im not European but I do tend to take interest in the politics of a country that can (and will) bomb ours for having too much of the wrong brown people, or a country that can destroy our's economy on a whim (and in our specific case, a court ruling).

So, if you don't enjoy the attention either scale down your military and your economy so it doesn't reaches up so much of the world's butt, or just fucking start "enjoying" the spotlight.

IMO, the trump candidacy is the culmination of tea-party politics running away with the republican party. I don't count him among them, but he took the discontent they seeded and capitalized on it in ways their own members didn't.

Among the proletariat, sentiment such as "I like that he speaks his mind" is a code-phrase for "He says the things I think, but know better than to say myself." Beyond that, he doesn't say things that true, he says things that are what his supporters want to hear. They don't wan't change for the better because its new and uncertain, they want things to go back to the way things were -- the way in which they themselves were comfortable.

The man himself has zero substance as a presidential candidate. No qualifications. No Ideas worth having. No indications that he's done anything other than pander.

On the other side of the red-blue divide, the DNC and their media buddies pressed their thumbs on Hillary's scale -- its been the plan since Bill left office to install her and no scandal and no popular movement was going to derail that once their mind was made up that the time is now to go for it. No strong Democratic nominee was fielded against her from within the party -- Bernie was an outsider running on the DNC ticket only because it was the only practical way to gain the necessary access to debates, polls, and voter booths to mount a campaign that stood a chance. He couldn't have run in another party, no one but the Green's have access to all 50 states, and the greens are too far left to not split the more-progressive base.

Bernie's endorsement of Hillary is so far just a strategic delay, though I'm certain he'll continue his endorsement if he can't make a real run at it himself as an independent. Given the DNC's track record so far, there's no way the super-delegates will swing. If he decides not to run independent for whatever reason, he won't pull his endorsement and he'll continue to push the party to the left on more issues.

So far, this election cycle is firming up to be a capsule-review of everything that's wrong with how this two-party system works. Assuming the next president serves two terms, I have the great fortune of looking forward to being at least 40 years old before having the opportunity to vote for a worthwhile president, or the impetus to vote for one at all. If Hillary wins, I'll remember 5 presidencies under only 3 families with the Bush's and Clinton's claiming lordship of 28 of my then-forty years. If I could make any change to our political procedure it would be 1) term limits for congress and 2) a provision to prevent any single family from occupying the presidency again in any fewer than 8 terms (and frankly, I'd like it to skip a generation) -- presidential dynasties are harmful, and you can't tell me there's no better qualified candidate anywhere among the ~200 million citizens of a suitable age to seek the office.

I'm among those who hope for a Sanders' independent run, so long as he can get ballot access. I don't think its the case that if he ran it would guarantee a Trump win (though he'd become the scapegoat if Trump did win a 3-way race). I don't think that there's that much overlap between Bernie supporters and reluctant Hillary supporters, and the record turn-outs support that. The fact that by the numbers he lost by such a small margin, despite every advantage given Hillary, speaks volumes.

It's really fucking sad that the most appealing candidate that's going to be wheeled out this November is Donald Trump. Well, aside from Gary Johnson, who doesn't count, because 'murica and the two-party system. But looking at that shit sandwich of a Republican field, oh my god, Trump really is the most inspirational candidate. At least he radiates optimism and isn't, uncouth remarks aside, completely off the reservation into crazy-pants land. And he taps into the deep, unvoiced dissatisfaction that permeates the huge chunks of America that haven't seen things get much better, indeed backsliding in many ways, since the end of the Cold War. Globalization looks like a raw deal, when the mill up the street can't compete with off-shore factories paying pennies on the dollar for labor, and the local community starts circling the drain after it goes out, and meth and heroin become a big part of the local economy.

Less said about Clinton, the better. Seriously, if that is the best you can do on the other side of the aisle, you're fucking up. All you'd have to do is run a borderline reasonable person, without an army of skeletons in the closet that could replace the special effects in Army of Darkness, and you'd have a landslide. Maybe reign in your agitators that have escalated to such dangerous, hateful rhetoric that they are inciting cold-blooded murders and ambushes of police officers across the country (I think we're up to a half-dozen separate incidences in the last two weeks).

Do I vote third party as a protest vote? Yea, 'cause that's worked so much in past elections.

You guys really need preferential voting. There's no reason *not* to vote for a minor party that you prefer here - -

Without a viable third party vote, you're basically a two-party dictatorship :P

Actually, you want STV for president and MMP for congress.

It may not turn out being such a great time living in the USA if you're Mexican (or any latino) or black, although I believe that the effect will overall be relatively moderate.

And here's the reason why the Republicans are circling the drain. They still genuinely think that this position is ok. (I know Samoth is not from the US, but this quote is exactly their position)

Trumps whole schtick is "make America great again", which translates to "hey, let's got back to the 50s, when America was great" if you were a white, straight man.

Instead of realising how far on the wrong side of history they've swung, the republicans are doubling down on their idiocy, with their frankly creepy obsession with bathrooms, same-sex marriage* and their sure and certain knowledge that government should stay out of your life, unless you're a woman, in which case your body is very much their business.

Oh yeah, and coal is clean, border walls are totally viable and porn is a public health crisis (guns are fine though!).

Source

Seriously, they are now such a joke that one of the speakers at the RNC was the asshole from Duck Dynasty.

Despite the fact that their own party told them in 2013 that this was why they lost the election to Obama, they've basically ignored that advice and decided that the problem was they weren't backward and insane enough.

The sad thing is that he'll probably win because the Democrats are so stunningly inept they actually thought Hillary was a good candidate.

As I've said before, in any sane political system, you'd have a choice between a centre-right, big-business, war friendly candidate like Hillary and a left wing, tax and spend candidate like Bernie.

That at least is a choice. Now you just have either racism, narcissism, and insanity (guess who) or diet evil.

*yes, homosexuals are people and have the same rights are actual people. I know, it's horrible, but it's 2016. Accept it and move on.