I read this on another forum, and this aligns with jaaron11 (and I agree with as well):

quote:

We’ve been saying it for ten years now that Trump could absolutely obliterate the Democrats up and down the ballot if he could just be a normal person for five seconds and not go on bizarre rants, start trade wars with Equatorial Guinea, or waste political capital on ridiculous fights like renaming the Gulf of Mexico.

But he can’t do it.

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
There was a massacre in Texas. A Talarico win was bad enough but Abbots loss was an unexpected gut punch. And then, it just gets worse from there. Democrats won everything from railroad commissioner to agriculture commissioner.
The county I live in has been solid red for several decades. Now it’s blue.

Same in Tarrant County (Fort Worth). EVERY county race where the Democrats ran somebody was won by the Democrat. This is true for County Commissioners to District Courts nobody ever heard of. The only Republicans who won didn't have a challenger.

The other data point I've noticed is every race was won generally by a 10% margin. 55% Democrats to 45% Republicans up and down the entire list of races. Democrats simply got their people to get out and vote Democrat more so than the Republicans.

quote:

Originally posted by jaaron11:
A large part of that has been Trump's poor communication, really no communication, about the reasons for it.

The last time anyone really explained why we were at war was Roosevelt, and even then it was necessary, or at least very helpful despite the facts that the US had been attacked by Japan and Germany declared war against us first. DJT isn’t the first to have failed to explain why something that critical and demanding of sacrifice was necessary and our efforts and the nation suffered as a consequence, but he could have, and it would have been good if he’d learned a lesson or few from history

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by jaaron11:
A large part of that has been Trump's poor communication, really no communication, about the reasons for it.

The last time anyone really explained why we were at war was Roosevelt, and even then it was necessary, or at least very helpful despite the facts that the US had been attacked by Japan and Germany declared war against us first. DJT isn’t the first to have failed to explain why something that critical and demanding of sacrifice was necessary and our efforts and the nation suffered as a consequence, but he could have, and it would have been good if he’d learned a lesson or few from history

Bush made great attempts at justifying the war in Iraq, both to Congress and to the American people. He knew it was the only way to get support for it. Trump doesn't ask for support, he demands it.

quote:

Originally posted by jaaron11:
Bush made great attempts at justifying the war in Iraq, both to Congress and to the American people.

Yes, the first Bush did a better job than any other President since Roosevelt, and perhaps the best that could have been done, but there are/were still people who did not/could not/deliberately refused to understand why it was important.

1000 percent about the economy and fuel prices. Republicans failed to reign in oil companies and instead decided to hang their hat on “gas prices were higher under Biden”. Republicans were tone deaf and it bit them in the ass.

Who wants to bet that mysteriously gas prices will be below $3 by January? (There will some that will still try to explain it away as anything but manipulation)

Any takers?

quote:

Any takers?

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by jaaron11:
Bush made great attempts at justifying the war in Iraq, both to Congress and to the American people.

Yes, the first Bush did a better job than any other President, and perhaps the best that could have been done, but there are/were still people who did not/could not/deliberately refused to understand why it was important.

The American people are fed up with wars that achieve nothing. Iraq - did it actually achieve anything? If Iran has a nuke, and uses it; was it worth it to lose the US to socialism?

Well, we probably won't know election results here in Alaska for at lease a month. The governor's race, senate race, house race and even my state representative none of the leading candidates have 50% +1 of the vote which will initiate ranked choice voting and its endless, "Runoffs" and legal challenges.

Unfortunately the ballot initiative to end ranked choice voting is failing 52.9% to 48.1% right now. Lots of out of state money in advertising and fear mongering led to its defeat. Our election system has become such a joke with ranked choice; lots of ways to game the system, uncertainty, delayed results and in the end a candidate that did not receive a majority of the vote.

The Epstein files were also handled poorly. Neither Trump nor anyone in his administration clearly communicated what was going on. It was just “there’s nothing there, take my word for it”. It was just frustrating to see it dealt with in that way. Of course Bondi may have been a large part of it, but that’s another can of worms.

The world is in a bad way…

1JAMES 5:19
"And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness."

John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11
Satan is repeatedly referred-to as the "prince of this world".

Ephesians 2:1-2
"And you (believers) hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience."

…But...

Romans 13:1-2
"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God"

Daniel 2:21 and 4:17
The prophet Daniel reminds us that God "removeth kings, and setteth up kings", and that He "ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will".

John 19:11
Jesus tells Pilate..
"Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above"

...and ultimately...

Galatians 1:4
Jesus Christ "gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father".

Romans 12:21
"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

Matthew 5:14-16
"Ye (believers) are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."


Sin has a stranglehold on the world. Satan influences us through our sinful nature, in his effort to combat God's plan of salvation for all.

We might be surprised, confused, or discouraged by who's in charge, but we can take comfort in the fact that they're there because God intends them to be, as part of His plan to reach receptive and responsive hearts.

God gave his Son as a perfect sacrifice and His Spirit as a guide for us. So that we can be reconciled unto Him and be cooperative in His plan to draw and save whosever will come to Him in repentance and faith.

If you're a believer, and you're temporarily distraught because of politics, focus instead on obedience and cooperation with the Holy Ghost, so that He may fan His flame inside you, and you may go forth personifying Romans 12:21 and Matthew 5:14-16.

My brother is an atheist democrat. Even with that being the case, he can't deny the good that obedient Christians inject into the world. He has expressed a desire to participate in similar good works. I encouraged him to join a secular effort or, at the least, perform small acts of compassion in his own daily sphere of influence. I periodically inquire as to his progress. The answer is always nothing.

Regardless of how you politically or spiritually affiliate, be the change you want to see. Even if it's in just a small way. Be sympathetic and empathetic, and then inject action to create a compassionate response.

Even in matters outside a humanitarian compassion sector, take a degree of personal responsibility for the way you feel about the world, and take an action (besides clicking a box next to a name of someone who says they're gonna do it for you) to effect the change you want to see. Even if it seems so small as to be insignificant.

yeah, ohio didn't fare well.

quote:

God

"A scholar believes a nearly 2,000-year-old account of Jesus may be more historically reliable than previously thought, challenging longstanding doubts about one of the earliest non-Christian accounts of his life.

T.C. Schmidt, an associate professor of religious studies at Fairfield University in Connecticut, is the author of a 2025 book titled "Josephus and Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ," examining a long-disputed passage about Jesus written by the ancient Jewish historian Josephus.

Josephus lived from roughly 37 to 100 A.D. and wrote about Jesus in his work "Antiquities of the Jews," providing one of the few surviving non-Christian accounts of his life..." https://www.foxnews.com/travel...bt-totally-authentic

I have to think the President has a plan, I don't know what the fuck it is though

He had to know this was coming and let it

quote:

Originally posted by KSGM:
We might be surprised, confused, or discouraged by who's in charge, but we can take comfort in the fact that they're there because God intends them to be, as part of His plan to reach receptive and responsive hearts.

God gave his Son as a perfect sacrifice and His Spirit as a guide for us. So that we can be reconciled unto Him and be cooperative in His plan to draw and save whosever will come to Him in repentance and faith.

If you're a believer, and you're temporarily distraught because of politics, focus instead on obedience and cooperation with the Holy Ghost, so that He may fan His flame inside you, and you may go forth personifying Romans 12:21 and Matthew 5:14-16.

KSGM, I was just thinking last weekend that I hadn't heard from you in a while. What a great post!

(Side note: your Romans 12:21 quote is yet another example of my belief that Romans is the book that will kick my butt when I need a butt-kicking. (Or even when I don't.))

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
I have to think the President has a plan, I don't know what the fuck it is though

He had to know this was coming and let it

Yes, that is what we thought in the 2020 elections.

^^ WTF does that even mean? Are you insinuating that Trump blew the 2020 election and the result was his fault?

The world did not end.

Now we just go back to endless impeachments to waste Congressional time. The problem is I doubt we learn from our mistakes.

quote:

Originally posted by reloader-1:
The American people are fed up with wars that achieve nothing. Iraq - did it actually achieve anything? If Iran has a nuke, and uses it; was it worth it to lose the US to socialism?

This, more than any other anti-Trump reason, is why we lost the elections.
We are war fatigued... and Trump told us he would end the Ukraine war (on Day 1) and keep us out of foreign wars.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
1000 percent about the economy and fuel prices. Republicans failed to reign in oil companies and instead decided to hang their hat on “gas prices were higher under Biden”. Republicans were tone deaf and it bit them in the ass.

Indeed this. Elections are pretty straight forward, what can this candidate do for me, and do I like them(?). Who coin'd it, 'its the economy stupid...', gas prices continued to rise resulting in higher costs for everything else. Not a lot of solutions were put forward by GOP candidates. The financial impact on each household has been pretty rough the last 12-months.
The GOP ran a number of candidates that were simply unlikeable, Paxton had baggage, Collins relied on the Dems to implode with the fill-in candidate; the blue slide in NC has been happening the last twenty years yet the GOP candidates did very little to connect with the day-to-day person.
24-months now of impeachment glee and land acknowledgements