Hate A Black President For 8 Years And Presto A tRump Presidency

[Grassy Knoll]

It was inevitable.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

1. "Keep government out of my Medicare!"

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

2. OMG! Would be funny if not so sad!

[Grassy Knoll]

3. Low Info Voters Depend On Fox News...

Fox News:For Viewers Who can't handle being "Infromed" with facts.

[iluvtennis]

4. Wow, so pathetic n/t

[DFW]

5. The fact that Trump had even a ghost of a chance is a serious indictment of us all

Here in Europe, every reaction I have heard has been a version of "seriously, America? Is this what has become of you? You are really going to let this happen?"

This is not just from the university-educated elite. I speak nine European languages, and this is coming from the fruit stand vendors and taxi drivers as well.

[RonniePudding]

6. I'll wait for Le Pen and Wilders to lose before giving Europeans much credit

There are some unsettling things eminating from the continent lately on the heels of Brexit.

[DFW]

7. Even Le Pen and Wilders would be considered moderates in today's Republican Party

It's people like Orban in Hungary that should be giving you the willies, like he does to us here in Europe.

France is up in the air at the moment. Hollande breathed new life into his party by realizing that with the mess he made, he stood zero chance of re-election, and took himself out of the running. By making the sensible Valls front-runner, the PS got a new lease on life, though doubtfully enough to save them for the next election. The runoff will, as things stand now, be between Le Pen and Fillon, and Fillon would be the odds-on favorite there. Fillon stands to take a lot of the protest-vote wind out of Le Pen's sails. With any luck, this will carry over through the presidential run-off. It had better, because Metternich's observation of two centuries ago still holds: when France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches cold.

Nederland is more muddy, having started earlier than France on a reversal of their policy of universal "tolerance" of immigrants who commit violent crime, which was the big nourishment of the Wilders fungus. But Nederland's politics are more fragmented, with a lot of tiny parties claiming disproportionate power by threatening to leave fragile coalitions that can't hold a majority without them. And either way, with its small population and enclosure by Germany (so far stable) and Belgium (a basket case of pervasive corruption and discord since long before now), Nederland is more of an example than a guiding force. For its tiny size, the country is still really the coalition of small entities it was 3 centuries ago. Limburg has different customs and needs from Gelderland, which has different customs and needs from Zeeland, which has different customs and needs from Friesland, etc etc etc. The man from my office in Gelderland is originally from the far north, near Groningen, and speaks Drents as his native language. He refuses to teach it to me for fear it will corrupt my Dutch.

If the AfD gains 30% or more in any of the larger states in Germany, then it's panic time. Not before.

[RonniePudding]

8. Meh, they are both nutbags

Normalizing these people, including by people who are supposedly progressives, is hazardous. Based on the reporting I've seen Le Pen and Wilders are A LOT like modern Republicans. Thanks but no thanks.

[DFW]

9. Don't know what reporting you've seen

I'm in both France and Nederland every week, and I speak both French and Dutch. You, too?

Agreed on the no thanks, but neither of them is like Louie Gohmert or Tom Cotton or that crowd. Wilders doesn't have much of a chance, anyway, so I don't really pay a lot of attention to him, and won't until my Dutch friends do. Le Pen is more to be taken seriously, but her chances are only barely better. Neither of them are considered normal in their respective countries, where Gohmert and Cotton are now mainstream back home. Neither France nor Nederland is a scary place so far. Back home? Less so. Wilders is nowhere near being PM. Le Pen is nowhere near being Mme. Président(e). They're still way on the fringes so far. Trump is 34 days away from the Oval Office. So just who is it that's gone off the deep end here?

The last thing you want to be doing is relying only on the foreign (i.e. USA) press. You might consider getting out more, "meh" and all.