What's Happening to Trump's Campaign?

[Jason Harvestdancer]

No, the rational decision would be to have a functional government.  Haven't we had enough of governmental blockage of important issues. 

Yeah, isn't it great how all our attempts to intervene in foreign countries have been completely and utterly blocked?  We haven't bombed anyone the entire 8 years of Obama.

[GSOgymrat]

For those who are interested, Sam Harris and Andrew Sullivan discuss Clinton and Trump and the lesser of two evils argument. Sam Harris has received a lot of criticism from his followers for supporting Clinton over Trump. They spend about ninety minutes of the podcast discussing why Clinton is a bad choice for POTUS and then spend another hour describing why Trump is exponentially worse.

https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/the-lesser-evil

[Hydra009]

Third parties mostly fail because they can't create a national structure.  If half of them could get together, they might accomplish something.  But they wont.

A lot of it is the US's electoral system.  Let's say there's a wildly popular 3rd party presidential candidate who's polling at around 30% nationally.  Come election day, he or she only gets a couple states, if that.  Count up the electoral vote, and it's pitiful.  That's because 30% of a state's voters doesn't amount to jack when someone else gets 40%.  And I'd imagine it's especially frustrating for Republican voters in solidly blue states and vice versa.

If we had proportional voting system, that'd be different.  A third party with 30% support could win 30% of the seats.  One particularly interesting model is single-transferable vote, because it eliminates the spoiler effect.  Here's how it works:  you pick your preferred candidate and a 2nd choice as a backup.  If your preferred candidate loses, your vote goes to your 2nd choice.  For example, Jill Stein could be my preferred candidate and Hillary Clinton could be the 2nd choice.  After the ballots are counted, if Jill Stein's totals come up short, my vote goes to Clinton.  That way, I could vote 3rd party and not worry about inadvertently helping to elect Trump.

[Baruch]

On New Atheists ... what would Hitchens think of Trump?  I know what he thinks of the Clintons.

[GSOgymrat]

On New Atheists ... what would Hitchens think of Trump?  I know what he thinks of the Clintons.

Harris mentioned that on the podcast because some of Harris' readers said they wish he had died instead of Hitchens because Hitchens would have supported Trump. Harris suspects even though Hitchens hated the Clintons Harris wasn't convinced Hitchens would support Trump.

[Hydra009]

For those who are interested, Sam Harris and Andrew Sullivan discuss Clinton and Trump and the lesser of two evils argument. Sam Harris has received a lot of criticism from his followers for supporting Clinton over Trump. They spend about ninety minutes of the podcast discussing why Clinton is a bad choice for POTUS and then spend another hour describing why Trump is exponentially worse.

https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/the-lesser-evil

Thanks!  I haven't heard that one yet.  I'll get right to it.

I've listened to his earlier podcasts where he mentions the election battle between Clinton and Trump and explains his rationale for supporting the former and opposing the latter.   A while ago, I posted his Ask Me Anything #5 podcast here because it touches on that and in an especially comical way.

[Baruch]

If Harris put on drag ... to impersonate Hillary ... would that be empowering for transsexuals or a burlesque?  One of the Princess Diana boys dressed up as a Nazi youth, and Prince Charles as dressed up as an Arab sheik ... what does that tell us about their politics?  Harris must be a billionaire wanna-be.

[Cavebear]

For those who are interested, Sam Harris and Andrew Sullivan discuss Clinton and Trump and the lesser of two evils argument. Sam Harris has received a lot of criticism from his followers for supporting Clinton over Trump. They spend about ninety minutes of the podcast discussing why Clinton is a bad choice for POTUS and then spend another hour describing why Trump is exponentially worse.

https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/the-lesser-evil

I find it difficult to accept that Sam Harris is getting much disagreement from supporters about supporting Clinton.  Clinton is rational, Trump is insane.  And Harris always supports rational thinking.

[Shiranu]

And Harris always supports rational thinking.

Eeehhhh....

[Cavebear]

That was a bit ambiguous.  *I* happen to admire Sam Harris for logic.

[GSOgymrat]

I find it difficult to accept that Sam Harris is getting much disagreement from supporters about supporting Clinton.  Clinton is rational, Trump is insane.  And Harris always supports rational thinking.

The impression I get is that many of his supporters like Harris because he criticizes Islam and they like Trump for the same reason. I too admire Harris for his clear, linear, rational thought process. Even if he comes to a conclusion I disagree with I fully understand how he came to that conclusion.

[Atheon]

Harris mentioned that on the podcast because some of Harris' readers said they wish he had died instead of Hitchens because Hitchens would have supported Trump. Harris suspects even though Hitchens hated the Clintons Harris wasn't convinced Hitchens would support Trump.

Hitchens matured in his political outlook in the final years of his life. He stopped being a kneejerk reactionary, and started applying the same skepticism he had for religion to right-wing politics. Had he lived, I think he would be disgusted by Trump, especially given his religious pandering.

[Cavebear]

The impression I get is that many of his supporters like Harris because he criticizes Islam and they like Trump for the same reason. I too admire Harris for his clear, linear, rational thought process. Even if he comes to a conclusion I disagree with I fully understand how he came to that conclusion.

Harris criticizes all religions.  I hesitate to say, but some are more critizable than others by some slight degrees. 

[GSOgymrat]

Harris criticizes all religions.  I hesitate to say, but some are more critizable than others by some slight degrees. 

I don't hesitate to say that religions are not equivalent. Religions can have better or worse outcomes for people, which are often the result of different degrees of dogmatism. A religion that instructs a follower to refuse medical treatment for a child resulting in the child's death is worse than a faith that places the life of a child over doctrine. As Harris might say, religions are ideas, some ideas are better than others, and all ideas religious or secular are open to scrutiny.

[Cavebear]

Well, I think he would say that all religions are crazy, but some seem a bit crazier than others.