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I am as progressive as they come. Apparantly though the majority think progressive is crazy like Bernie. Bernie is the Labor Party if we had one. His ideas are only radical in the USA. A Country that has done anything and everything to harm labor including killing them.
It is so labor unfriendly that even union memebers hate members of every other union. I am in a pilot union. They think teachers and police take advantage of the people. Why, public servants have pensions. Guaranteed pensions that equal millions of dollars in the bank.
As an example my sister just told me a story about some really old retired police that meet once a month for breakfast. One who retired almost 30 years ago. He's gotten almost 3 million dollars in payments since he retired.
That also explains how Bernie can be in debt and have little in the bank but not be one paycheck away from poverty.
Every 50k a year in pesnion benefits is like having a winning million dollar lottery ticket in hand. If it pays for more than 20 years then it's another winning ticket.
My sister has a 95k a year pension. For me to get 95k a year I'm going to have to save another million dollars over the next 10 years. And that's assuming my current investments don't take a dive when I retire like it did with people in 1987, 2001 or 2008.
So why would I vote for Trump? Because I voted for Bill Clinton. He stopped American Airlines from striking. He voted for Nafta. Add to the list of deals he made for banks and what made him such a great President?
I voted for Obama. He wants TPP, granted Norwegian Air the right to fly to and from the USA. Labor Friendly? Don't think so.
Hillary, yeah, she's all for the $15 minimum wage. Sarcasm. Global Warming. How's fracking help there? Is she going to call wall street and banks to account. Most of my money is in the market along with real estate. Just how safe is it when you can't trust either banks or wall street?
She is good for low taxes. On the rich. I might not be poor but I'm sure as hell not rich. If I had a pension, a government pension then I might not be worried about my future.
The people whose only assets are their guns and ammo must be scared as hell. You cant buy food with ammo. They need the social safety net yet they are scared Bernie will take it and give it to the poor. How ironic is that?
So that gets back to why would I vote for Trump. I doubt Trump has ever opened a bible let alone read one. I doubt he gives two nickels if a woman has an abortion. Once he gets elected he will probaly let every Mexican who wants a job have one. Just like Reagan.
Once he gets elected he might actually give a shirt about global warming. He does have a lot of property on coastal states.
I'm happier with 8 judges on SCOTUS than another Obama appointment. The only liberal they have in them is socially. They still love corporations over people and property over liberty.
If Trump gets elected Elizabeth Warren can filibuster all his stupid ideas just like the republicans block obama unless they want it.
Get Hillary in and there isn't a single democrat who will block her in the end. Even Bernie couldn't stop his less than liberal agenda.
And if you needed real proof that Hillary isn't a liberal just look at MSNBC. Leaning Right.
What if the Republican Party considers running a 3rd party canidate (or encourages a right leaning one), knowing that the odds are that they would lose the election.
From their point of view, better to lose, and win another day (election), than to win and forever have lost any remaining credibility.
So, if a 3rd party makes a run on the right, Will Bernie, or the Greens, be able to make a serious run on the left?
What a glorious day...to actually have 4 serious canidates with 4 wildly opposing views.
Regards, Scotty
Hi,
I'm curious. Would you actually go from supporting Bernie to supporting Trump? I read your reply and how you feel that Hillary has lied to us about supporting labor, but Trump has no record of anything (because he's never been elected to a public office.) However, seeing how Trump's views are completely antithetical to Bernie's, and Hillary's are closer in line with Bernie, I find it hard to believe that a Bernie supporter will make that leap to Trump. Also, expanding beyond the single issue of labor, how do you reconcile aligning yourself with a racist, bigot, islamaphobe, misogynist, orange creep? How do you listen to Thom Hartmann and Bernie, and after being exposed such eneriching political discourse, you conclude Trump is a better candidate than Hillary? I'm baffled.
Hi Thom,
I am not sure if the people I grew up around can be considered "blue collar," because often, it was hard for people to find a job in any industry. Today, I continue living around and interacting with people considered to be "blue collar" working class individuals. However, I grew up in Los Angeles, California. And, I can assure you, Trump's empty rhetoric does not resonate with anyone I know regardless of how unarticulate and foolish Trump sounds. Frankly, Trump's racist, sexist, Islamaphobic, divisive statements make the people I know HATE him, passionately HATE him, regardless of what he says.
Granted, I have never set foot in Lansing, Michigan, and I don't know anything about the people there. However, I feel that anyone who ignores Trump's racist craziness and who justifies voting for Trump under the pretense that Trump will "make America great again," probably harbors racist sentiments themselves. As you've mentioned on your show, Trump is not properly coding his racist language; thus, making it clear to people his true feelings about different ethnicities.
Admittedly, I have a lot of Mexican friends. I have a lot of black, white, and Asian friends too. Why is it that the people I grew up with, who have experienced struggling to make a living like the people in Lansing, but, unlike the people you grew up with, the people I know are disgusted with Trump?
I ask that question only to suggest that people aren't attracted to Trump because he's a floundering, non-establishment idiot, but because he's a racist bigot, white, male billionaire. The Democratic Party, HIllary Clinton, should not compete with Trump to win over his supporters or potential supporters, because Trump's supporters are invested in Trump on a visceral level.
To end my response, I just have to say that I find the most stupid, imbecilic political change is going from supporting Bernie to supporting Trump. Sorry, but that makes no damn sense at all!! I will say that no actual progressive will go from supporting Bernie to supporting Trump.
And Trump's program will work . . . in the short run. If elected, he will double spending on the military, charging the bill to the national credit card, but creating high-paying jobs in the short run. Sabre-ratling against strong opponents like China or Russia, he can also prosecute wars against weak ones, like Iraq while conjuring up imaginary foreign threats that will silence domestic critics. At the same time he will expand Obama's health care program for us real Americans while persecuting immigrants, especially Hispanics. It's the Third Reich redux. When the bills and body bags come home in a decade we'll be miserable and regretful, but he will be long gone by then.
What a lot of people, democrats and media alike still don't get is that this election isn't about Donald or Hilary or Bernie or Democrats or Republicans or "conservatives" or progressives or anything . . . except the Establishment vs. the just-plain folks. That's why Trump swept all of the dozen and a half Republican competitors off the board so easily. He's not consistently anything except pro-working-stiff/anti-establishment (or that's how he's perceived).
We had an anti-establishment candidate on the progressive side who was not only anti-establishment, but sane and coherent to boot. Because of his coherency and consistency, our progressive anti-establishment guy was polling eight to twelve points above the Trump juggernaut in general election scenarios. But we got rid of him, presumably because he wasn't conventional enough. We want Tried and True. Yeah, that's the ticket, tried and true. Only trouble is that's exactly what the electorate has been screaming in our faces that they DO NOT want.
So we've got our tried tried and true candidate who polls within a point or two either way of Trump . . . and . . . we've got ourselves a crap shoot. If she wins, we'll be back to the old tried and true ways that we love---the ones that got us where we are. If she doesn't . . . God help us all.
None of this pandering to Trump should come as a surprise. Read John Dean's 2006 book, Conservatives Without Conscience, to see how we got here. Or, just look at the reviews of his book on Amazon. Dean was remarkably astute, and he provides extensive footnotes, references, and personal experience. He could be writing about the present. We are at a very dangerous time in this nation, and we have just four months to mount a serious challenge to what could be a disaster if we elect Trump. Dean's book also explains the psychology of those Republicans who knew what Trump was like, expressed their reservations and even contempt publicly, and have now lined up in support. It's pandering to power and abandoning all previously expressed principle. It will be interesting to see how these "morally upright" Republicans come to justify their new-found "righteousness." And justify it they will, to themselves, to the media, and to anyone else who will listen.
Bernie connects with working families and can counter the Trump message.
The problem with Hillary is no matter if she says the right things, who is naive
enough to believe her?
ct
Find a good natural path. You need to know if you are T1 or T2 dominant so you know which foods and supplements to take/avoid.
The republicans aren't the one working the hardest to pass the TPP. Obama is. So is DWW. (Debie Wassermn Schultz).
Another thing President Obama is allowing is Norwegian Air to fly to the US with an airplane crewed by the lowest paid labor from the cheapest countries they can find. They plan on running airplanes like cruise lines run their ships.
I am a Union Pilot. My sister is a retired union police officer from Chicago. Rahm Emanuel, you know who that guy is right? Is doing all he can to give big tax breaks to the wealthy, selling off public assets like the Skyway and Parking meters and then trying to bankrupt the city so he can get out of paying union pensions.
The Clintons and their cronies are not friendly to labor. Trump might not be either but he doesn't have a track record of lying to labor and then voting against them.
Trump could very well be lying and probably is. There is no question that Clinton is lying.
I would rather take my chances that Trump is lying to republicans since I know Clinton is lying to me.
I have never voted for a Republican in my life. Unless you consider Bill and Barrack ones.
If I can't vote for Bernie I will vote for Trump.
Most of my republican collegues ask what has a democrat in the White House ever done for labor lately? And to be honest I don't know. Obama backing the TPP and Norwegian Air. Clinton signing Nafta and deregulating banks.
Trump was the most liberal of all the Republican candidates. Just like Romney and Mc Cain before him. Their records before they took a run for President showed that. Did Trump go in knowing what he had to say because of that.
Do I thinks Trumps a liar? Yeh, that's pretty obvious. I'm just no sure who he's lying to. Do I think many Democrats are liers? Absoulutely, they have been lying to me for years.
I'm pretty sure it's you Thom that has said when you have a choice between a fake democrat and a real republican the real republican always wins.
This time we have the possibility of voting for a fake democrat and maybe a fake republican. Who do you think has the better chance? Just like you I'm betting it's Trump.
That's why if the Democrats want tp win in November they better run the true candidate of the people. You and I both know who that is. You have had him on your show every friday for the last 10 years.
"If Democrats don't start talking about these issues, Trump is going to walk away with the election This is what politicians, pundits, and the Democratic Party intelligentsia who live in the D.C. bubble apparently don't understand."
Correct Thom. It's because the democratic party isn't the party of the working people anymore. So how would they know how to address those needs properly? The unions are finally getting this also, and when they wise up, and stop backing the democratic party, there's going to be major upheavel going on in this country.
It's up to you, me and the people who understand what's happening to continue to educate the base of this democratic party who somehow believe that democrats taking tons of money from wall street, the big banks, the eneregy industry, is somehow going to translate into legilation that will help the working class. That's just plain stupidity.
If Bernis is chosen as the VP to run with Clinton...and an agreement made to work on a majority of his proposals while in office...I would then reconsider...and likely vote for Clinton.
I'd like to see some poll numbers on how a 3 way race would play out. Particularly going Green Party.
Leave Warren in the Senate for now...we need her where she is...stirring up a hornets nest.
More like Bernie, Warren, Merkley...and my hope would be restored in our governing bodies.
Regards, Scotty
Talk of 'burdensome regulations' is just a cover for an agenda of crony capitalism. Republicans and their billionaire owners want all the benefits of a government that provides a framework for business and none of the obligations. We tend to forget just how much is done by the governmet to ensure adequate infrastructure, protection of commerce, a sound money system, certifications, tax breaks, etc etc. All these things make it possible to have a successful business. Yet they are outraged that the government will require business to play by some rules, even when many of those rules are rigged by a corrupt system in favor of business. Talk of a 'free market' is nonsense, there is no such thing as a free market unless government provides a favorable environment for that market to operate in. These people want to have their cake and eat it too.
I believe that Bernie is far more popular in the general American public than the extremely rigged Democratic primaries suggest. What the rigged primaries and bought-off media has obscured, is that Bernie is far more popular than either Hillary or Trump, and could win over either or both of them. So I definitely believe Bernie should not hesitate for a second if the Dem Party does not embrace him and his platform, to run as either an Independent or on the Green Party with Jill Stein as his VP running mate.
Yes. I agree. The very best choice is not even an option on this list.... wait until the convention, and if he can't turn the Superdelegates to get them to make him the Dem candidate, or at a minimum, get his policy proposals and the VP nomination, then run as a third party... maybe as a Green candidate with Jill Stein as VP.
Bernie should stay in in order to use his great influence to help shape a truely Progressive platform platform that Hillary will be afixed to in a truely irrevicable way. She must be influenced to pick a truely Progressive V.P. such as Tulsi Gabbard or Zephyr Teachout.
The Party of Lincoln today certainly is not against slavery. We import it with Visa's and we export it to other countries when we buy goods manufactured by people making less than our minimum wage (as low as $0.50 per hour). The Party of Lincoln is against raising the minimum wage. The Party of Lincoln is against Overtime for some phony supervisors position that is salaried at $23000 per year. The Party of Lincoln is pro slavery.
I'm writing Bernie in regardless of what lies clintoris and party feed us, it's my right and my voice. It's messy but sometimes the only way to stop a runaway train is to derail it.
If we examine Bernies' words carefully, he has been careful not to say that he approves of her - but that he will do anyhing he can to stop Trump. Bernie has repeatedly stated that it will be encumbent upon HRC to put forth her reasons to the voters, as to why she should get our vote.
Like most here - I would listen to whatever reasons Bernie himself stated as to why any of us should vote for her. It would be one tough of a hard sell.... but I'd still hear him out.
If at some point Bernie does choose to endorse Hillary, Thom should have him on his radio show to take unfiltered, uncensored calls from the listeners to dialogue with those of us who are not ready to give Clinton our votes. I do trust both Thom and Bernie to continue to put pressure on a President Clinton on economic issues and that, maybe, we can force her to listen to us on that somewhat. But, where Thom and Bernie have a lot of convincing left to do, if they want me to ever vote for HRC, is that they will help us fight to strip her of her power to launch Wars for Regime Change, especially proxy wars with Russia. As of right now I don't see anybody with any kind of voice willing to take on a President Hillary Clinton on these issues. If Bernie ever does ask us to vote for her, and I'm not saying that he should or will, but if he does, then I would like to get a chance to ask him about this.
We relay what we have learned from Thom, Amy Goodman, and other progressives, alive and those who have come before, weekly on Boston Common. I have some of the names of those on rules committee and platform people but more info needed. If Puerto Ricans really knew about how devastating managers can be, as in Flint, and the Detroit public schools, they may not have gone for her. Thanks for all the info over the years.
Sincerely, Jan Rowe
There should be another choice, go to the convention and leave to run a third party ticket if he can't get the VP nomination coupled with his policy proposals.
If trump is able to stop his own mouth and just focus on hillary Clinton then the Democratic establishment has just handed trump the election. Hear me out! The Republicans hate the Clinton's and will vote for anyone not named hillary. There are also millions of Democrats that believe hillary is at least a wall Street Democrat and do not trust hillary. TRADE AGREEMENTS AND WALL ST TIES are more than enough to turn me away. I will write in Bernie Sanders.
I will not vote like a Republican and vote who ever is the nominee. This is what the establishment wanted this is what they'll get. Hillary will lose to trump and the DNC can only blame themselves. Take your emotions out of it and be honest with your selves. Does hillary have enough establishment voters to win? I think not.
Who cares? It's all rigged anyway, as we have seen all throughout this primary election cycle. She is already way over to the right but will tell any lie, even pretend to adopt Bernie's positions, to hold on to her privileges and power.
Never. A vote for Hillary is a vote for war and for corruption. This election has been rigged from the start. I will write in Bernie or vote for Jill Stein.