I thought it's been obvious where I stand. Basically, Republicans honestly believe that they are acting in the spirit of America with anti-immigrant, anti-environment, everyone-is-not-created-equal, nationalistic garbage, taking on Trump as some kind of American savior, when he is about the most un-American and indecent man that's ever risen to such a level in this country. Or perhaps Trump is the epitome of everything that is the worst of America, maniacally egotistical, acting only in the interests of the all-mighty dollar, not to mention he's obsessively vindictive with the mental maturity of a 10-year-old. You prefer to believe in conspiracies and generalizing an entire population of people as the evils of the world, when America is doing a pretty bang up job ourselves of turning the world against us and creating future enemies. Frankly, I'm on the side that feels that America has slid into a kind of pre-WW2 Germany state, though I'm not of the belief that the world or America will slide that far down the rabbit hole again. I think we all learned our lesson the first time around (or I guess the second time around) and would not allow that to happen again. I think yesterday was a referendum on that as well as on the spirit of America and common sense decency.
Wilmot Collins, mayor-elect of Helena, Montana, arrived in the US 23 years ago as a refugee from Liberia.
Kathy Tran, elected last night to the Virginia House of Delegates, arrived in the US as an infant with her family of Vietnamese "boat refugees."
Hawk (11-08-2017)
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/07/u...pgtype=article
Trumpism Without Trump: A Losing Formula in Swing-State Virginia
For Ed Gillespie, Trumpism was an ill-fitting suit.
His résumé was pure establishment — national Republican Party chairman, counselor to President George W. Bush, well-connected K Street lobbyist. But the messaging of his campaign for governor of Virginia was that of a cultural flamethrower, emphasizing crimes by undocumented immigrants as well as monuments to Confederate heroes — and even suggesting that his opponent, a pediatric neurologist, supported child pornographers.
As the Republican candidate, Mr. Gillespie tried to run in a very narrow lane by embracing some of the most divisive elements of President Trump’s agenda while treating him like Voldemort and mostly refusing to utter his name. It was enough to motivate Mr. Trump’s supporters in rural parts of the state, but fell far short in Northern Virginia, where the wealthy and well-educated voters who were once reliably Republican continued their march toward becoming solidly Democratic.
Lessons from off-year elections can be overdrawn, but the Virginia race strongly suggests that Republicans running in swing states will have to choose a side rather than try to straddle an uncomfortable line. Mr. Trump’s blunt force, all-or-nothing approach has worked in deeply conservative areas, but Republicans will have trouble replicating that in certain states in the midterms next year when faced with a diverse, highly educated electorate like the one in Virginia.
....
Democrats who were worried about low turnout and a lack of energy can breathe easier. The profile of the electorate in Virginia, where Democrats have started to dominate the counties across the Potomac from Washington, was heavily in their favor, and that advantage has been steadily growing with an influx of immigrants who were repelled by Mr. Gillespie’s message, and by a durable foundation of black voters.
In that sense, the pressure for Mr. Northam and the Democrats to win masked the frictions in the party between his more centrist posture and some liberals who criticized his campaign and refused to endorse him.
Democrats showed that they could generate energy, even for a low-key candidate like Mr. Northam, but they can draw little from his campaign in terms of a message other than opposing the harshest edges of Trumpism.
For starters - I believe most Trump supporters acknowledge that he is a buffoon but his policies are what we voted for.
Who is against immigration? We are against illegal immigration and legal immigration that actual benefits the united states. The question is why do you want an inflow of low skilled labor to undercut the middle class wages? How does it help to allow people into this country that don't speak English and have no discernible skills? Why do you want to negatively impact low income earners by further depreciating their wages?
Yesterday was a referendum when the the new VA gov was supported by adds that stereotyped a whole swatch of people as racist hicks that want to kill Spanish and Muslim children? Very decent.
Natural Immunity Croc