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Originally Posted by tap2390
You're right that America is divided, but Donald Trump plays on those fears and is escalating things further in my eyes.
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I fully understand your argument, but my response is that it's not entirely Trump's fault. I view Trump as the product of our society. He is the result of the political comedians like John Oliver with his snappy one-liners, of the Facebook memes, or the tweets that give voice to the borderline-crazies, and everything else like that in our media.
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Originally Posted by tap2390
Fearful of illegal immigrants? He has rhetoric for you. Fearful of muslims? He has more rhetoric for you.
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Note: These are more rhetorical questions but they are the thoughts that run through my mind.
Are you not afraid? When you see what's happening in other countries, do you wish you lived there instead of the US? When a university student runs over people in his car, crashes, gets out and tries to kill more with a knife, you know what the media narrative is? "Well at least he didn't have a gun. See? Life is better without guns!" Seriously??? Why is the focus on a beat down topic like gun control and not on why did he do it in the first place? If he is a recent immigrant (which he is), how did he get here? And then most important, how do we prevent this from 1) happening again and 2) escalating to something even worse next time?
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Originally Posted by tap2390
What's the solution for disadvantaged black communities? Stop and frisk.
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Improving our education system should be THE NUMBER ONE priority. You want a better life for future generations? Then make it attainable. But and this is a huge BUT, it takes more than just a great school/teacher to make it happen. If students and parents don't buy in, then it's not going to happen. In addition to improving the schools, we need an all out media assault in getting kids to realize that their future is in the classroom and not on a basketball court, a football field, or a minimum wage job, or heaven help us selling drugs for fast money.
And since you mentioned "stop and frisk", safety has to be paramount in order to get kids into the schools and in an environment conducive to learning. I'll agree that trust has to be established and maintained between the people and the police agencies. I'm not sure on your line of thinking on this so I won't go any farther.
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Originally Posted by tap2390
His protectionism isn't limited to trade deals, and it's given white supremacists not just a platform but is also legitimizing their very dangerous ideas.
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I'll admit, I'm not clear on this whole white supremacist viewpoint of Trump. Can you elaborate on this? However, I don't believe he has connections to the KKK like the media wants to insinuate. And I don't think his comments are 100% genuine either. I think he's a bit of a blow-hard and says things without realizing that it is not politically correct. I don't agree with those things but I'm also completely beat down with "political correctness" being rammed down my throat and coming out my ass. But again, I'm middle-aged white guy so ... yeah, I guess I'm racist/mysognist.
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Originally Posted by tap2390
If you think Obama caused a divide what exactly do you think Trump will do? (This isn't a sarcastic or rhetorical question, I genuinely wonder if you believe we will come together under Trump).
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Honestly, I think Trump is in a lose-lose scenario. Outside of bringing about world peace, he will be labeled a horrible president at least for the next few generations. My hope is that something good actually comes out of his term and things at least improve. As for those improvements, see some of the above and below ...
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Originally Posted by tap2390
Trump has certain ideas I agree with. This country does need an influx of money and work on infrastructure. This country does need term limits. This country does need to limit the power of lobbyists. But do the benefits outweigh the costs?
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Infastructure is a starting point, but that is low income work for the most part and also limited on lifetime as once it's complete, those jobs go away. As I stated above, education should be this nation's top priority. Term limits and lobbyists? Oh geeze. I cannot stand career politicians and that could be a completely separate discussion.
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Originally Posted by tap2390
Many white American said "yes." Many non-white Americans, including myself, are wondering where this leaves us. Whether America is the inclusive, diverse nation we were sold on.
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I've had this inclusive and diverse conversation with a friend (another middle-age white guy for reference). We've wondered if the "melting-pot" is getting too deep. I honestly don't want to go down the racist road on this but it's a very fine line I'll agree. Is there a point where people cannot get along/mix/merge/assimilate? I don't think skin color, height, weight, speaking accents, etc. are anything that should be hung up on. But what about religion? What about political extremes like democracy vs communism? What about viewpoint 'xyz'?
I'm not hung up on the exact reason, but I'm just asking is there something that legitimately says people group A and people group B should not be living in the same country? And if so, what happens when A and B attempt to do so?
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Originally Posted by tap2390
If you don't want to discuss this further I understand, but I honestly would greatly enjoy the chance to converse with you.
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Honestly, I love these kinds of conversations but it takes specific people to be able to voice what is in their head without fear of lashback. And this is exactly how people changes their minds/viewpoints. They realize that maybe what they thought is not entirely correct ... or they get confirmation and are able to better articulate their stance. Hopefully, I haven't opened myself up to an internet shit storm from this community but you lured me into a good discussion.