I've been finding a way to understand the trump presidency*.... just imagine to your self that he is president, just stupid and selfish. Then everything he does makes sense.

Obviously electoral votes decide who becomes president.

^ Tom Bombadil concedes my point. Trump is your president

Brad, can you please just treat the forum the way you do Press games?

Thatd save us all a lot of sanity.
Bill Clinton was a Centrist because its a smart way to govern.

Trump is as far right as he can go because hes a fuckwad.

You heard it here first! August 29th, 2017: Trump is president.

Thank you for the breaking news.

To answer the question that started this thread. No, I do not believe that President Trump is a complete idiot. I do believe that he suffers from some psychological disorders, which may qualify him as a 'nut job'. I also this that the preponderance of the evidence suggests that he suffers from dementia. Finally I believe that he is an objectively terrible president and the worst in my lifetime.

Bill Clinton *DID* win the popular vote. He got the most votes. He didn't have a majority, but that is a separate statement.

the only democratic institution of the constitution was the House of Representatives. the Senate was reserved to the States until the Seventeenth Amendment.

follows is a quote
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Direct_Election_Senators.htm
The framers of the Constitution, however, did not intend senators to be elected in this way, and included in Article I, section 3, "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote." The election of delegates to the Constitutional Convention established the precedent for state selection. The framers believed that in electing senators, state legislatures would cement their tie with the national government, which would increase the chances for ratifying the Constitution. They also expected that senators elected by state legislatures would be able to concentrate on the business at hand without pressure from the populace.

It would serve the nation better if the senate vote was returned to state legislatures

we do NOT all agree that Donald Trump is a complete idiot.

Calling Trump an idiot is insulting to the idiots out there. There are plenty of idiots that are good people.

Capt Brad, you are suggesting to make things less democratic? My God.

The framers were obviously both fallible (they were humans) and products of their time. They did a great job but they made mistakes and the citizens of the United States should constantly be striving to make America better by making it more democratic and more free.

Capt Brad just made an argument for reinstating the Confederacy. Unless im insane

It would only serve the purpose of those who like gerrymandering if the Senate was returned to state legislatures.

bb you are insane. support for the constitution is not a call for reinstating the confederacy.

bb you have passed to the offensive side. I am not nor have ever been a supporter of the confederacy. if you have ever read my commentary on the subject. it was the pressure of the Democrat Party to end Reconstruction and short circuit the process of Lincoln and Grant in restoring Union rule and ensuring the rights of freed slaves.

Donald Trump is not an idiot. You guys just can't comprehend his 40-D tetris political maneuvering.

-ND, 2017

Kuta, your political ignorance shows in a statement of gerrymandering and the senate. senators are elected from the WHOLE state. Furthermore it would reduce the influence of money or at least transfer the problem to the states.

He is of questionable competency. Still prefer him to Hillary, which should tell you something about her. Current polls still bear this opinion by a majority.

So states should have greater power than the federal goverment.

Sounds exactly like what created the confederacy.

White Supremacists outraged civil war statues are being moved off public property and into museums.

CAPT BRAD purports democrats are still the same political body that supports the confederacy.

Most if not all white supremecists voted trump. Ted Nugent for example.

Capt Brad I have problems with two of your responses. Firstly, saying 'it was the pressure of the Democrat Party to end Reconstruction and short circuit the process of Lincoln and Grant in restoring Union rule and ensuring the rights of freed slaves.' While that is factually true, it solely attempts to muddy the picture. the Democratic party has been the only fighting for civil rights for generations now and the republican party has welcomed into its ranks those that seek to curtail civil rights. Your argument is like those that say that the KKK was founded by democrats. Technically true, but ultimately a meaningless statement when you consider how dramatically the parties have changed since then.

Secondly, it is not Kuta but you who are showing the ignorance here. If senators are elected by state legislatures and not by the people of the state, then gerrymandering would indeed play a robust role in selecting the Senate, because those legislative districts could be gerrymandered.

@ jengamaster
making it more democratic and more free.
You mean like france? how many republics are they up to now?
or like Italy? how many governments since 1945, 50 maybe?
or england? isn't that a monarchy?

Did you just ask me if England is a monarchy? Are you simply trolling now or do you need to take some remedial civics and critical thinking courses?

So now you are arguing that Trumps administration is a staunch adherer to the frameworks of the constitution?

returning to the OP


yes

@CAPT Brad: Under your proposal, federal Senators would be elected by State legislatures...which are influenced by gerrymandering.

Moron.

@ jengamaster - fighting for civil rights for generations now
Really, for generations?

Former Baltimore Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., the father of Nancy Pelosi, praised the statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson when they were dedicated in 1948.

Who gives a fuck.

@brainbomb and @CAPT

there are 3 types of systems: federal, unitary and confederal

confederal systems have the states GIVE power to a central government
unitary systems have the central government GIVE power to the states
federal systems have the states and central government SHARE power

we are a federal system.

however, the federal government is overreaching. the 10th amendment precedent has been under attack for years now, and power is shifting to a more unitarian government structure, whereas the founders intended for a system much closer to a confederation.

@ Jeff Kuta

making disparaging remarks about another member of this site is against the rules.

@ brainbomb - Who gives a fuck.

^ a highly thought out response ^