Lunch Time Discussion About 2016 Election At Work

icenine · #1 03-13-2016, 09:55 PM

I was at my part-time gig yesterday and during lunch Bernie was on C-span on the TV in the tech lounge giving his usual campaign speech. I was with two female co-workers and one them said "blah blah blah" to Bernie as he was speaking on TV. So I decided to throw some gasoline on the fire when I declared to them that I was going to vote for Hillary since if they did not like Bernie they must be Republicans (pro Bernie Democrats would not say blah blah blah and I doubted they were Hillary supporters lol).

I said something like both of you are women and don't you want to see a women president in your lifetime? One said "no Hillary is a liar!" I told the other woman that no matter what happens Trump would never win because Hispanic and African-American voters would never let someone like Trump get elected. She then told me that I was right since "all the illegals will be voting because they have driver licenses now." Then what she said next really shocked me: she said she hoped that Hillary would be assassinated if she won. And she was not joking.

Now I can understand not supporting anyone for President but I can't imagine someone wanting the President to get killed because they oppose them. So I was a bit shocked.

Then it hit me that people are really angry.

I have been at this place 18 and half years...I am per diem so I don't have to worry about impressing anyone there or not rocking the boat since if they got rid of me they would have to find a warm body for the shift no one wants to work...Saturday days.

The one who called Hillary a liar was sort of joking with me later on about my support and was not angry with me but the one who who said the other comment was serious.

If people are angry with low incomes, instability in the workplace, the replacement of pensions with 401ks, and a decline in the middle class why blame a group of people and not the people who brought these policies into existence?

Talking about Hillary is not safe for work. A bumper sticker is not even to be considered.

Boreas · #2 03-13-2016, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icenine

I was at my part-time gig yesterday and during lunch Bernie was on C-span on the TV in the tech lounge giving his usual campaign speech. I was with two female co-workers and one them said "blah blah blah" to Bernie as he was speaking on TV. So I decided to throw some gasoline on the fire when I declared to them that I was going to vote for Hillary since if they did not like Bernie they must be Republicans (pro Bernie Democrats would not say blah blah blah and I doubted they were Hillary supporters lol).

I said something like both of you are women and don't you want to see a women president in your lifetime? One said "no Hillary is a liar!" I told the other woman that no matter what happens Trump would never win because Hispanic and African-American voters would never let someone like Trump get elected. She then told me that I was right since "all the illegals will be voting because they have driver licenses now." Then what she said next really shocked me: she said she hoped that Hillary would be assassinated if she won. And she was not joking.

Now I can understand not supporting anyone for President but I can't imagine someone wanting the President to get killed because they oppose them. So I was a bit shocked.

Then it hit me that people are really angry.

I have been at this place 18 and half years...I am per diem so I don't have to worry about impressing anyone there or not rocking the boat since if they got rid of me they would have to find a warm body for the shift no one wants to work...Saturday days.

The one who called Hillary a liar was sort of joking with me later on about my support and was not angry with me but the one who who said the other comment was serious.

If people are angry with low incomes, instability in the workplace, the replacement of pensions with 401ks, and a decline in the middle class why blame a group of people and not the people who brought these policies into existence?

Talking about Hillary is not safe for work. A bumper sticker is not even to be considered.

I'm surprised you're only just discovering this. This is a sentiment shared by perhaps a majority of Trump supporters and a significant proportion of the Republican base as a whole. That's why I said it won't be over after Trump loses. It'll actually get worse and people will quite possibly be killed.

BlueStreak · #3 03-14-2016, 01:03 AM

I'm amazed that you are just now discovering this.

Yeah, I'm thinking the ugliness is just beginning and mild compared to what very well might be coming.

Look, Robbin;

These people, especially in the Midwest, blame Democrats in general for EVERYTHING they perceive as being wrong with America today. The Rust Belt, unemployment, abandoned factories, bad trade deals, poor wages, moral decline, abandoned towns and cities......you name it. If it's bad, they believe it can be traced directly back to "Liberals". Every last bit of that has been successfully laid at the feet of the Democratic Party. And that includes anyone who votes Democratic, not just the politicians. They think ALL Democrats are lazy, whining, welfare collecting losers. They truly do believe the President was sent by sinister forces to drive America to it's knees and Hillary deliberately ignored cries for help from Benghazi.......Why do they think she would do that? I don't know but it no longer matters. They believe it and their hatred for her is palpable.

While Liberal comedians and celebrities been laughing at them and calling them "stupid" or racist, the rightwing propaganda machine has been whispering in their ears that we laugh at them and call them "stupid" and racist. Are they? It doesn't matter whether they are or not. How many people do you know that LIKE being laughed at and told they are stupid bigots? The fact is that the left is hated in this country and the only thing the right is deemed guilty of is failing to stop us and "restore" America to their utopian vision of what they think it once was and should be once again.

When it comes to religion;

When someone thinks their Conservative beliefs are rooted in their belief in God and the Holy Christian Bible, what do you think they are going to make of an ideology that legitimizes homosexuality, defends Atheists (and Muslims) and asks them to keep their religion to themselves? "If God be with us, who dare oppose us?". The answer to that question is "Satan".

Are you getting the picture?

Trump is popular with this crowd because he is basically promising them everything the GOP has promised them over the last several decades, yet never delivered. If HE fails to deliver, (And I believe that he will fail, even if he DOES win the election.), the frustration can only rise even higher. Who knows what will happen then..............

When Boehner was interviewed after leaving the Speakers job, he commented that there are people within the GOP demanding the leadership "...do things we can't do...things we shouldn't do, even of we could.".

Ponder that for a while.

sheltiedave · #4 03-14-2016, 05:19 AM

I remember back in the good ole days of Reagan, when the E-1, E2s, and some E-3s on our submarine were on food stamps. And it happened again about a decade later. Military service members on welfare provided food stamps. And Republicans thought it was a good thing, because the lazy military were too ashamed to use food stamps. Go figure.

Oerets · #5 03-14-2016, 08:50 AM

Another surprised reader here you are just now experiencing it. The angry electorate have been getting more so since 2008. Increasing in 2012 and is to the boiling point now.

Ginned up by those without good ideas or policies as a means of gaining support.

Barney

MrPots · #6 03-14-2016, 09:20 AM

"She then told me that I was right since "all the illegals will be voting because they have driver licenses now." Then what she said next really shocked me: she said she hoped that Hillary would be assassinated if she won."

I would have been tempted to tell this woman that I keep hoping she is killed too, in a traffic accident, or maybe cancer.... or something. Then I would tell her that I'm contacting the secret service with her name and address.

That would tie her panties in a knot for the rest of the day.....

donquixote99 · #7 03-14-2016, 09:22 AM

Everyone's minds turn toward thoughts of killing, in times like these....

And we haven't actually even started. Yet.

MrPots · #8 03-14-2016, 09:23 AM

The only thing I'm trying to kill is crabgrass.

Seriously though, this woman feels so threatened by Hillary that she would actually speak those words out loud?

icenine · #9 03-14-2016, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

I'm amazed that you are just now discovering this.

Yeah, I'm thinking the ugliness is just beginning and mild compared to what very well might be coming.

Look, Robbin;

These people, especially in the Midwest, blame Democrats in general for EVERYTHING they perceive as being wrong with America today. The Rust Belt, unemployment, abandoned factories, bad trade deals, poor wages, moral decline, abandoned towns and cities......you name it. If it's bad, they believe it can be traced directly back to "Liberals". Every last bit of that has been successfully laid at the feet of the Democratic Party. And that includes anyone who votes Democratic, not just the politicians. They think ALL Democrats are lazy, whining, welfare collecting losers. They truly do believe the President was sent by sinister forces to drive America to it's knees and Hillary deliberately ignored cries for help from Benghazi.......Why do they think she would do that? I don't know but it no longer matters. They believe it and their hatred for her is palpable.

While Liberal comedians and celebrities been laughing at them and calling them "stupid" or racist, the rightwing propaganda machine has been whispering in their ears that we laugh at them and call them "stupid" and racist. Are they? It doesn't matter whether they are or not. How many people do you know that LIKE being laughed at and told they are stupid bigots? The fact is that the left is hated in this country and the only thing the right is deemed guilty of is failing to stop us and "restore" America to their utopian vision of what they think it once was and should be once again.

When it comes to religion;

When someone thinks their Conservative beliefs are rooted in their belief in God and the Holy Christian Bible, what do you think they are going to make of an ideology that legitimizes homosexuality, defends Atheists (and Muslims) and asks them to keep their religion to themselves? "If God be with us, who dare oppose us?". The answer to that question is "Satan".

Are you getting the picture?

Trump is popular with this crowd because he is basically promising them everything the GOP has promised them over the last several decades, yet never delivered. If HE fails to deliver, (And I believe that he will fail, even if he DOES win the election.), the frustration can only rise even higher. Who knows what will happen then..............

When Boehner was interviewed after leaving the Speakers job, he commented that there are people within the GOP demanding the leadership "...do things we can't do...things we shouldn't do, even of we could.".

Ponder that for a while.

You are right Dave it is a sort of massive psychological example of national transference of blame from us to "another" minority group or religious population different from Christianity. I hope we can turn it around but like that article in Vox Finnbow linked to authoritarianism may stick around past Trump.

icenine · #10 03-14-2016, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheltiedave

I remember back in the good ole days of Reagan, when the E-1, E2s, and some E-3s on our submarine were on food stamps. And it happened again about a decade later. Military service members on welfare provided food stamps. And Republicans thought it was a good thing, because the lazy military were too ashamed to use food stamps. Go figure.

I was on the USS Abraham Lincoln CVN-72 when Clinton was elected...all enlisted lifers on the boat where predicting that things would really get bad once Clinton destroyed the military. In all actuality Bill Clinton brought about the biggest increase in the housing allowance we had ever seen. In 1999 I was getting $535 for my basic housing allowance for Camp Pendleton...when I transferred to San Diego it had gone up to $2001 by the year 2001. That was done under Clinton not Bush. Many Sailors and Marines were able to buy homes that otherwise would not have been able to. Some lost them in the crash but many others still have them.