***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[harlemtothebronx]

Cultism is a disease.

Thus can’t be said enough.

Listening to his supporters and/or aides talk sounds like someone under the spell talking about a cult leader.

 

[Rootin4EverybodyBlack]

Trump is going to crack into the 20s with this approval rating.

 

[AEA18]

WOAT POTUS

 

[Belgium]

Cultism is a disease.

I've posted this before but this recent Gallup poll seems especially appropriate now in this context:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/210704/record-few-americans-believe-bible-literal-word-god.aspx
A whopping 24% of Americans believe the bible is the literal word of god and should be taken literally, word for word. And take in mind that this is a record low.
24%. That's just 1% short of 1/4 of the US population whose beliefs are on the same level as flat earthers, but worse since their beliefs actually turn into significant consequences. I would assume this 24% group overwhelmingly identifies as conservatives, given topics like gay marriage, abortion, ...
Doesn't exactly sound like fanatical biblethumpers would be ok with the democrats' stance on gay marriage and abortion, much less all the rest.
Regardless, that is a rather significant portion of the population that might as well be illiteral. They're not gonna listen to science, facts, logic, common sense, ... when their belief is the polar opposite of all of those.

• 24% believe Bible is literal word of God, the lowest in Gallup's 40-year trend
• View of Bible as secular stories and history at 26%, up from 21% in 2014
• The largest segment, 47%, still think Bible is inspired word of God

Fewer than one in four Americans (24%) now believe the Bible is "the actual word of God, and is to be taken literally, word for word," similar to the 26% who view it as "a book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man." This is the first time in Gallup's four-decade trend that biblical literalism has not surpassed biblical skepticism. Meanwhile, about half of Americans -- a proportion largely unchanged over the years -- fall in the middle, saying the Bible is the inspired word of God but that not all of it should be taken literally.

From the mid-1970s through 1984, close to 40% of Americans considered the Bible the literal word of God, but this has been declining ever since, along with a shrinking percentage of self-identified Christians in the U.S. Meanwhile, the percentage defining the Bible as mere stories has doubled, with much of that change occurring in the past three years.

Still, while biblical literalism has waned, the vast majority of Americans -- 71% -- continue to view the Bible as a holy document, believing it is at least God-inspired if not God's own words.

The latest results are based on Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs poll, conducted May 3-7.

Literalists Still Outnumber Skeptics Among Certain Groups

Although biblical literalism now ties with biblical skepticism nationally, these views vary somewhat across different segments of the U.S. population.

Nonwhites, adults aged 50 and older, and adults with no college education all lean toward believing the Bible is the actual word of God rather than stories and history recorded by man.

Men, whites, adults aged 18 to 29 as well as those aged 30 to 49, and college graduates lean in the other direction, with more being skeptics than literalists. Still, in all of these groups, the largest segment takes the middle position, believing the Bible reflects the inspired word of God.

Naturally, there are also strong differences in Americans' perspectives on the Bible by religious preference. As a whole, more Christians take the Bible literally than say it is a book of stories and history recorded by man. However, within the broad group of Christians, Protestants (including those who generically refer to themselves as "Christian") lean toward the literalist view, while Catholics divide evenly between seeing the Bible as the literal word of God and saying it is a book of stories. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of those with no religious affiliation fall into the skeptics' camp.

Notably, in 1976, some of the same groups -- older Americans and Protestants, along with women, were more inclined than their counterparts toward biblical literalism. Since then, this belief has fallen by double digits among every group, but it is down the most on a proportional basis among young adults -- falling by more than half, from 32% to 12%.

Bottom Line

Over the past three decades, Americans' view of the Bible as the literal word of God has been declining, while their view that the Bible is a collection of fables, myths and history recorded by man has been increasing. The shift is most pronounced among young adults, indicating the trend is likely to accelerate in the years ahead.

Americans in all age groups still largely accept the Bible as a holy document, but most of these downplay God's direct role in it. That could mean people are more willing than in the past to believe it is open to interpretation -- if man, not God, wrote the Bible, more can be questioned. And that, in turn, may have consequences for where Americans come down on a number of morally tinged issues. The country may already be seeing this in growing public acceptance of a variety of behaviors that were once largely frowned on from a Christian perspective -- ranging from gay marriage and premarital sex to out-of-wedlock births and physician-assisted suicide.

 

[wavycrocket]

CULT45

 

[RustyShackleford]

CULT45

The drink of choice for Trump Stans

An opioid infused alcoholic beverage that taste similar to Kool-Aid. Flavored with the fruits of white supremacy, cheap Russian vodka, toxic masculinity, white fragility, inadequacy, and jewelry layaway slips

 

[gry60]

The drink of choice for Trump Stans

An opioid infused alcoholic beverage that taste similar to Kool-Aid. Flavored with the fruits of white supremacy, cheap Russian vodka, toxic masculinity, white fragility, inadequacy, and jewelry layaway slips

Don't forget the scent of dealership scratch off mailers.

 

[iamdef]

Wait...those aren't real? I really wanted that Mazda 3

 

[ajny88]

I hope all the people complaining about Trump voted. And by voted I mean for Hillary.

 

[ajny88]

It truly is disgusting B.

It's like there's a double standard where Hillary gets to go free but trump is constantly under investigation by the FBI. Very sad. It's a witch hunt, and it's happening because libbies can't get over the fact that they lost.

We need to return the focus onto Hillary and her CORRUPT emails. Imagine if she was president and we had to deal with the FBI investigation every day. It would be a terrible distraction and no way for a president to lead.

Now we got the left HYPERVENTILATING over Russia Russia Russia! It's all fake. When will we investigate Obummer for all the crimes committed under his socialist regime?

Can you give some examples of "Obummer" crimes?

 

[dreamer23]

 

[RustyShackleford]

Can you give some examples of "Obummer" crimes?

Nearly everyone in here voted, most on Hillary. A couple dudes in here live overseas. I think there was on one liberal in here that voted for Jill Stein.

And many dudes in here posting the Obummer stuff are just joking. They are pretending to be Trump fans

 

[ajny88]

Since you are new to this thread, lemme help you out.

Nearly everyone in here voted, most on Hillary. A couple dudes in here live overseas. I think there was on one liberal in here that voted for Jill Stein.

And many dudes in here posting the Obummer stuff are just joking. They are pretending to be Trump fans

Thanks. Im sure it's no news to you but to me the biggest problem in American politics is the disparity between the % of old white people voting and the young/minorities voting. Gerrymandering and campaign finance are really bad but would be ineffective if just half of the people under 60 who didn't in November had voted.

I feel like that's the #1 message that should be coming out of this

 

[rillo561]

I hope all the people complaining about Trump voted. And by voted I mean for Hillary.

Sadly no, I know a few people who complain constantly (usually on FB) about how terrible and embarrassing this guy is, but didn't vote because "both parties are the same". Pisses me off.

 

[plansb]

My god, those call transcripts are absurd. Can't say i am surprised, but cant do anything else but

 

[gry60]

My god, those call transcripts are absurd. Can't say i am surprised, but cant do anything else but

"I got 84% with Cuban-Americans" ...



...to the president of Mexico

 

[gry60]

Brah, SNL should just have Baldwin read those transcripts on TV next Saturday.

the very smart leadership in Mexico has taken advantage of the United States. The people of the United States know this. In Ohio, they are having rallies for Trump right now because Trump has taken a hard stance on Mexico. We lost a lot of factories in Ohio and Michigan and I won these states – some of these states have not been won in 38 years by a Republican and I won them very easily. So they are dancing in the streets. You probably have the same thing where they are dancing in your streets also, but in reverse.

This is after telling Pena Nieto that he didn't want to talk to him, just impose tariffs.

So anything another country imposes on us, we would automatically impose a tax on them, so it would not be very wise for them to do the taxing

Basically threatening him not to impose retaliatory tariffs on US goods coming in Mexico.

Dis the guy some people want to defend here

 

[noskey]

Can you give some examples of "Obummer" crimes?

Okay first off, thank you for being a true PATRIOT AMERICAN COMRADE and questions the legitimacy of "President" Barack Hussain Obummer. Second, look around you! Da cars have no passing lane power. Da coal mines are dying. Da ice caps are blocking da shipping routes. And da cops aren't cracking enough minority skulls! This is an outrage, and the TRUE MERICANS have been suffering from economic anxiety during the times of ROBUST economic expansion! Da stock market is horrible, da unemployment has killed da middle America, and da illegal refugee criminals are taking all da handouts! Those used to be MERICAN handouts that we would pull ourselves up by da bootstraps to get! Obummer and Crooked Killary have turned this country into a third world country! But have no fear comrades, Papa Vlad and Dapper Don are here to BUILD THAT COAL . ALL ABOARD THE COOOOAAAAALLLLLLLL TRAIN CHOO CHOO

 

[aepps20]

Can you give some examples of "Obummer" crimes?

OBUMMER broke this COUNTRY in half. He hurt us all.

 

[everysingletime]

Lol will you guys ever go back to talking normal

 

[gry60]

This is what I suggest, Mr. President – let us stop talking about the wall. I have recognized the right of any government to protect its borders as it deems necessary and convenient. But my position has been and will continue to be very firm saying that Mexico cannot pay for that wall.

TRUMP
But you cannot say that to the press. The press is going to go with that and I cannot live with that. You cannot say that to the press because I cannot negotiate under those circumstances.

The great negotiator in action

 

[RustyShackleford]

OBUMMER broke this COUNTRY in half. He hurt us all.

You two need to chill. You all got new members not knowing what is going on

 

[aepps20]

You two need to chill. You all got new members not knowing what is going on

 

[dreamer23]

just read the transcripts...the guy is senile

TURNBULL
Okay, I will explain why. It is not because they are bad people. It is because in order to stop people smugglers, we had to deprive them of the product. So we said if you try to come to Australia by boat, even if we think you are the best person in the world, even if you are a Noble [sic] Prize winning genius, we will not let you in. Because the problem with the people

TRUMP
That is a good idea. We should do that too. You are worse than I am.


later....

TURNBULL
We will take more. We will take anyone that you want us to take. The only people that we do not take are people who come by boat. So we would rather take a not very attractive guy that help you out then to take a Noble [sic] Peace Prize winner that comes by boat. That is the point.

TRUMP
What is the thing with boats? Why do you discriminate against boats? No, I know, they come from certain regions. I get it.

 

[noskey]

You two need to chill. You all got new members not knowing what is going on

What's going on is that BARACK TERRORIST OBUMMER destroyed this country. We have never been more divided in the history of our country! Dapper Don is here to bring people together, because what the hell do you have to lose anymore, but you libby snowflakes got ****ed by Krooked Killary LOCK. HER. UP. and are taking it out on the hard working, real Americans, by becoming the party of obstructionists! That's what's going on in here.