BlackLightning

Yep pretty much. At least she still has Joffrey and Tyraxes...but with Jeyne refusing to send the troops that she promised to send, Joffrey and Tyraxes are basically hostages.

Rightfully so And Rhaena's feelings of inadequacy and self-pity and regret make her a terrible houseguest. If I were Jeyne, I'd be pretty disappointed and irritated. Jeyne doesn't seem to be marshalling her armies to join those sworn to Rhaenyra, so it could be that Jeyne is engaging in a silent protest. Rhaena claiming Sheepstealer would then become essential for the war effort.

I don't think people are overstating the perfection and purity of the Blackwoods. I just think people are forgetting about those incidents because, whenever it comes to blows, the Blackwoods emerge as victors and the Brackens only end up looking dumb.

Yes, it would be cool to see Helaena with her dragon. Her bond with that dragon should be mostly innocent, more like that of a beloved dog. In my personal head canon, Dreamfyre was the mount of Queen Aemma Arryn (she tells Rhaenyra in the first episode that she hates it when Rhaenyra goes flying without her), so I would love to see Dreamfyre. But yes, Helaena completely stopped flying after B&C. She never flew again and was a lost cause to the Green war effort. Textbook case of severe depression. But issue is that why would she support Aemond? She knows what Aemond is and what he has done? Helaena would sooner mount Dreamfyre and flee than mount Dreamfyre and use her to kill people. And where is Maelor??

No. And the resignation of the Dragonkeepers in protest is probably the beginning of the end of their order. I like how Rhaenyra--despite being the sovereign Queen of the United Kingdoms of Westeros--is not afraid of leveling and going back-and-forth with her lower-born subjects when they take issue with her. Most other members of the royal family--Aegon, Aemond, Alicent, Daemon and probably Jace--would have all taken serious umbrage at the objections of the head Dragonkeeper. Aemond and Daemon (or at least, the old Daemon because Daemon appears to have genuinely changed) would've threatened his life and those of the other Dragonkeepers. The fact that she listened to him, answered his complaints, ultimately respected his decision and went on to lead the Red Sowing herself is part of what makes her a perfect candidate for a leader. No offense to you at all but it's funny to me how everyone across the internet forgets about Moondancer The TV show version of Moondancer is much larger than its book version.

I don't think Rhaenyra would do that It's way too risky. Particularly in light of her repeatedly pointing out Jacaerys' lack of experience. Ulf (who doesn't even look like he had even ridden a horse) just had gone finished his first ever flight and Hugh doesn't look like he had gotten around to it quite yet. Plus, if it was a trap, as @Corvinus85 stated, then Syrax and Vermithor wouldn't just be out there walking about in the open on the ground and Rhaenyra would have already been on dragonback. I also doubt that Rhaenyra would be still wearing that gorgeously ornate gown (the costuming department in HOTD is absolutely phenomenal; well done!!!) if she was preparing to slay Vhagar; at the very least, she would've been wearing the casual riding leathers she was wearing when she went to confront Addam. At most, she'd be wearing a suit of armor, not entirely unlike Daemon's or Rhaenys'. I actually think that Rhaenyra was in the process of giving Ulf and Hugh their very first dragonriding lesson when Aemond showed up. Despite the fact that the episode ended with her smirking, it doesn't look like she was expecting Aemond to show up. It was filmed like she was walking up to the edge of the cliff to get a closer better look.

Yeah, the show was very, very unclear about this whole thing and I was super-duper confused about it. They should've taken time (the best/easiest time to do so would've been in the first episode at the Great Council) to outline and discuss the Targaryen family. Because I feel like viewers are still not clear about the relation between Rhaenys and her cousins, Viserys and Daemon Because at first, here I was, with all my book knowledge and I was thinking that Hugh was Gael's son by the traveling siger. But then when I thought about it and I was like, Gael has zero to do with brothels. Even if Gael was sneaking around being a party girl behind the backs of the king and queen, by the time she ended up taking her own life when she was caught (or dying of some kind of sickness or untreated venereal disease), Hugh would've been too young to remember her, so what gives. I forgot all about Saera. Because why would Saera be capable of birthing and then raising a son in King's Landing long enough for him to remember her words right under her parents' noses when she herself had been exiled. And, like you pointed out, nothing about Hugh screams Volantis or Lys. Granted, he could've left his mother and the Free Cities when he was still fairly young (14-17) and adapted to Westerosi culture and language but...what? They should've made his background and his lineage as one of Saera's bastards much clearer. Audience members are going to be "wait, what?"

LOL Now to be fair, if I were Jeyne Arryn, I'd be pretty irritated too. Queen Rhaenyra basically manipulated her and Lady Rhaena the Dragonless is miserable company. But at the same time, I think I would've gotten over it by now. She has custody of Prince Joffrey and Tyraxes; I'd say make sure that Tyraxes is fed, that Joffrey is well-trained and well-educated, that the Vale's armies are mustered and at the ready and call it a day. The least she could've said was bye but meh It's true to form. Jeyne Arryn wasn't exactly cute and cuddly in the books either.

LOL why... Is it because of how cold and nice-nasty Lady Jeyne is to her?

One of the things that I didn't like about this episode was that there were way too many dragonseeds in King's Landing. Most of them should have been on Dragonstone in one of those towns that they have there. Hugh could've been in KL sure, but Ulf as a concept and character fits more on Dragonstone The fact that Mysaria/Elinda/Alyn were able to pull all of that off without anyone else in the city noticing is unbelievable. Why is the city being so heavily patrolled but the gates and walls along the water are ignored. Then again, Rhaenyra was able to infiltrate the city by pretending to be a nun so...it tracks. I don't want to call Larys a joke because he's clearly more preoccupied on making sure Aegon recovers without Aemond being aware of it but the true master is Mysaria. I though the whole point was for Rhaena to claim Vermithor. Wasn't that the whole point of Daemon visiting Vermithor in his lair and singing to him? And is Laenor still alive? Did they really just off him offscreen and not reference it in any way? It would've been better/cleaner if they would have just killed Laenor off and attributed the murder to being done by Corlys' enemies in the Triarchy or by a member of the Greens. A widowed Rhaenyra is an much easier enemy to fight than a married Rhaenyra who has a dragonknight for a husband.

This episode was much better than the last. I loved how Rhaenyra knew exactly how ill-mannered and dangerous Vermithor was and decided to make the understatement of the year by remarking about his fierceness. Good grief, woman. There is a big difference between "most fierce" and downright awful and that dragon is an absolute demon. But I loved the scene, it felt like I was watching a medieval version of Jurassic Park. Emma d'Arcy is a force of nature. What an actor! The Emmy people need just skip the ceremonials and just mail Emma their awards. Every single time Emma has a monologue or a meaty dialogue scene, I am transfixed. Which is something remarkable because I like to talk and be expressive when I'm fully engaged in a fun TV show or movie that I really like. But man, Emma is one hell of a public speaker. The scene where she's charging up the dragonseeds, the shouting match she had with Daemon and her marriage proposal scene with Daemon last season are going to live rent free in my head. Like it's not even a real language but Emma really commands it like it is classical Athenian Greek. Props to the guy who played the Dragonkeeper who was protesting. Emilia Clarke did her thing, but the show made it so that her specialty was with Dothraki. But man, did HOTD really take High Valyrian to another level. And Rhaenyra herself is well suited for queenship. What an inspiration. I don't think Aegon or Aemond would be capable of really getting every charged up and ready to go. On the other hand, Daemon, Daemon, Daemon...lol dude Oscar Tully did his thing, and it was great to watch (I was reminded of Catelyn and Robb and the Blackfish) but I am really irritated with Condal in the way that he has people treat Daemon. Why are they talking to him like that? Sure, he is an ass and a ticking time bomb...but he is the royal consort of the Sovereign, and a ticking time bomb. I was always under the impression that the Blackwoods acted completely alone and that no one really cared that they curb-stomped the Brackens. On the other hand, it's cool to see how Daemon has really made a change for the better. Young Daemon (i.e. s1e1 and s1e2) would've snapped but this older Daemon (props to the make-up team for making Daemon look noticeably older than how he was) seems to have learned his lesson in the fact that he is letting Oscar do his thing. Daemon publicly admitted he was wrong twice...and it damn near broke him lol. It's okay buddy, it's like a muscle; it gets easier over time. And he still seems to be doing it all for Rhaenyra. Alfred Broom sounds like he is going to try to turn Daemon against Rhaenyra but Daemon is a changed man and he is not going to bite. Welp It's a natural consequence of their whitewashing of Alicent. They should've either kept with the mean girl ex-bestie angle they were working with in "The Princess and the Queen" and "Driftmark" last season or they should've just held to the books and made Alicent a more nuanced version of the evil stepmother That being said, we need more Helaena scenes anyway. Once Aegon fires Otto, Alicent busies herself with raising her grandchildren and holding Helaena together. Why can't we see that? I don't blame Alicent for wanting to leave the city and go on a brief vacation but...lol what? There's other things she could be doing. She could've taken Jaehaera out there with her and it would've been more relevant. Whatever. I adore everything about Olivia Cooke but the less said about Alicent the better. Yes He called for Saera on his deathbed and then he mistook Alicent for her and then he died at peace because he thought that they had made up

And here I thought that it was Gael's baby Is Hugh one of the sons that she had overseas in Volantis or is Hugh one that she had in King's Landing. It seems like he was one of the ones she had in Volantis and that he later moved to King's Landing when he grew up but I wasn't clear on the specifics. Serves him right. Saera was absolutely outrageous, but Jaehaerys was way too hard on that girl. But it is so very fitting for it to be one of Saera's. If Saera were alive, I imagine she'd die of laughter to hear what has happened. No Hugh said that his mother told him that he was no different from "my brother's boys" and then he mentioned the boys of his mother's brother by name: Viserys and Daemon. This means that Hugh's mother is the aunt of Viserys and Daemon, making Hugh their cousin and Rhaenyra his first cousin once removed. At first, I was thinking that Hugh was Gael's son by that travelling singer (who mysteriously vanished without a trace). Then I randomly jumped to how Gael gave birth to a girl and that this girl, left to own devices, became a prostitute gave birth to Hugh. Then I remembered the details and went back to Hugh being Gael's son and started entertaining the fact that maybe the TV version of Gael lived way longer only to come here and find out that Saera was the mother. I completely forgot about Saera and how she made the really bizarre decision to become a prostitute before becoming this mega-successful businesswoman. I know the source material well and I was soooooo confused. It's hard to imagine if I were an audience member with no knowledge of F&B. They could've made that much clearer. I still maintain that the show would've been better served by having the first episode of the series be exclusively about the Great Council. That way, we would've had gotten a chance to see: baby Rhaenyra running amok Rhaenys, Viserys and Daemon talk about the specifics of their fathers and how they got into this situation Viserys and the Old King repudiate claims of fathering illegitimate children (which not only would've made Corlys uncomfortable, but it would have led lead right into this episode) Saera the Scandalous showing up to the Great Council with her sons and then leaving back for Essos, but not before actually telling this to young Hugh LOL it is a choice Especially in the case of a trueborn Targaryen princess I understand Jaehaerys' outrage. The fact that it was a choice makes it so very embarrassing. I think the implications were: Clubfoot and Ironrod are both terrified of Aemond and what he will do Ironrod (and the Grand Maester) want and need an ally in Larys and that Ironrod trying to get his advice Clubfoot wants Aemond out of the picture ASAP and he knows that giving Aemond valuable information about Rhaenyra may or may not be doing on Dragonstone is counterintuitive Clubfoot and Ironrod understood that their source for the news about Seasmoke is unreliable at best. Aemond is just as likely to throw a tantrum at getting unverifiable rumors presented to him as indisputable fact Aemond also made the mistake of trying to pursue Silverwing. The moment he saw that Silverwing and its rider were heading to Dragonstone (which should've been easy to note), he should've immediately grounded Vhagar. He barely managed to stop Vhagar from attacking Dragonstone. Aemond is literally the only person in both GOT and HOTD who has repeatedly lost control of his dragon. Rhaena will probably claim Sheepstealer next week in the finale. It will be cruel to put Rhaena through all of this only to show that Nettles not only exists but that she already has claimed Sheepstealer. Yeah I didn't like that either. I would've much preferred it if Ulf actually ran or tripped headfirst into Silverwing and Silverwing just didn't care, and Ulf basically just apologize and didn't break eye contact. Like a more nonchalant dragon claiming thing.

I disagree The High Septon was overstepping; it's not clear as to whether or not the pre-Targaryen High Septons had kind of power and influence over, say, the Lannister kings or the Arryn kings. Even if that were true, the High Septon was overreaching to a degree that is absolutely unthinkable. I don't care what Maegor does to Ceryse; it doesn't matter, and it doesn't appear that he did anything to her (yet) anyway. Why are you going out of your way to publicly antagonize the entire royal family? And to use the word "abomination" in reference to another human being is extreme. This High Septon was a man who was impossible to please (a nightmare for a people-pleaser like Aenys) because he had his own agenda and he personally hated the Targaryens. But that's not to let Aenys off the hook. If you know the High Septon to be a pissy individual who is incapable of overlooking any inconvenience, then why would you be so hellbent on betrothing Rhaena to Aegon? You're not even poking a sleeping bear at that point; you're throwing rocks at an angry bear. I don't get it. And then you send them out alone--without a dragon--amongst a population that is being unduly influenced by the High Septon just because you don't want Aegon to look weak and silly. Well, it's not about looking more manly, it's about security; national security at that. And if it was such a big deal Aegon should just do the needful and claim a dragon. There were plenty on Dragonstone at that time. Overall, Aenys just made a bunch of poor, weak-willed decisions that put his family in such terrible personal danger that I find it hard to not applaud the initial actions of Maegor and Visenya. Aenys was a disaster. I don't know if that was true. Culturally, King Jaehaerys was much more Andal than Valyrian as was King Viserys...but in the show, King Viserys is shown to be a learned man who pored over history, and the histories doubtlessly informed his decision to make Rhaenyra his heir over Daemon. If there were no female ruling dragonlords in Old Valyria, Viserys would have been making a much tougher decision but it didn't seem to be that big of a deal to him. In the books, it didn't seem like Viserys spared it any thought at all, which suggests that he was aware that the Valyrians have different ways than the Andals. Visenya, Aegon, Maegor, Rhaenyra, Daemon and the like are more culturally Valyrian. Why do I say that? Visenya was not only a dragonrider but a warrior in her own right. A pretty good one at that, as she appeared to be two or three times faster than Aegon. She had a Valyrian steel sword to her name. You think Jaehaerys would have any of his daughters wield a Valyrian steel blade? No...her parents, Lord Aerion and Lady Valaena, were different. The show went even further to say that Visenya was the first wielder of Dark Sister. The fact that the sword is called Dark Sister to begin with and that it was made to be wielded by people with smaller hands (i.e., a woman) is interesting to examine. Aegon also let his wife continue to wield a sword way past time it was necessary. Why? The Valyrians had to have had different cultural standards and expectations for women. I don't think septas of the Seven can officiate weddings and the trees are officiants to the First Men. But in the Valyrian religion, women can and do officiate weddings. Visenya wasn't just doing it to be doing it, and it doesn't seem like she was doing it to because she was a Dowager Queen. Female warriors (i.e. spearwives) are not unheard of among the First Men: not in the North, not beyond the Wall and not among the mountain clans. Ned knows this and he still have deep reservations about Arya with a sword. Jon, though he is illegitimate, was raised like a trueborn Stark of Winterfell of the blood of the First Men; and he had no issue with Arya carrying a sword nor was he discombobulated by the likes of Ygritte. The cultural history speaks for itself. None of the other northmen gave any of the Mormont women any lip. The guy that beat the living daylights Asha Greyjoy apologized to her; not for using physical violence against a woman but for calling her out of her name. Meanwhile, the chivalrous Andal southerners can't stop bullying Brienne for 10 seconds. Maegor went out of his way to name the female and much younger Aerea his heir over the older male Viserys. Both were essentially his hostages. Why Aerea over Viserys? Viserys, as an older male, is inherently more useful, particularly to a man such as Maegor. Maegor rode to battle with a woman, and not just any woman, but his mother!!! So, even though he is a rapist (anyone who forcibly marries another person is basically a rapist and Rhaena was certainly not going to bed with him willingly), he still had a very different view about the capabilities of women. Daemon is basically a borderline Valyrian supremacist. He is not a man who loves much, but he loves Old Valyria. That much was hinted in the books and made very clear in the show. He also deeply respects Baela and Rhaenys, while mostly ignoring Rhaena. The book version of Rhaenyra basically lived her life as a pampered dragonlord, probably not entirely unlike the fat cats who abused and enslaved millions and thus roasted when Valyria blew up. If the rumors were true between her and Daemon, then she clearly had no qualms about entertaining the advances of her uncle or denying what it is that she wanted...which an Andal woman would be loath to do. We don't know much about Queen Rhaenys, but she did a lot to improve the civil rights of women in Westeros. As we know that the Andal and southerly First Men traditions had been the law of the land for ages before and that these laws--at best--left women in lurch, it can be reasonably assumed that Rhaenys' inspiration for these new laws and civil codes were more Valyrian than mainland Westerosi. And Rhaenys seemed to have more in common with Rhaenyra and Viserys I in terms of their collective desire to overindulge in splendor and pleasure...which leads to me believe that there is an element to Valyrian culture that is very hedonistic. "Take your pleasure wherever you will" hippie free love kind of thing. This kind of carefree and wanton pleasure-seeking is a thing tracks with all of the very Valyrian members of the family and something that is absent from the more reverent Andalized family members such as Alysanne and Baelor and even Aegon the Unlikely. You can have male-preference primogeniture (which by preferring males not by excluding females) in matters of leadership. I think it was you who referenced it that in the Free Cities women had rights and options and liberties but that the first place that anybody looked to in terms of corporate leadership was within a man. This doesn't mean that the women of Old Valyria were to be, as Mace Tyrell describes, meant for ballgowns and childbeds. The pre-Conquest Targaryens seemed to have a tradition of co-rulership which makes sense as they are marrying the firstborn male to the firstborn female. Daenys the Dreamer was respected and upheld by her father, even though it meant being the laughingstock of his peers. A man such as Randyll Tarly or Tywin Lannister would never.

Sorry the wordage is confusing me Are you saying that Putin finds Israel and the IDF useful? Or that he finds Hezbollah useful? Who is they? If Putin finds the IDF useful to advancing his goals, doesn't that mean that the IDF are enemies by association?

How so? Even in much of the South, there are more non-black people than black people. That's fair. Without the electoral college, people will have to go state by state and really put in work.

“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.” ― Friedrich W. Nietzsche But you know what you're right. Maybe it'd better for us to fight and bicker and complain and argue and moan and point fingers until things explode into full-blown chaos. Maybe it's silly of me to think "we can still make this work." Maybe I should write the wackjobs off as pure evil. Maybe I should give up on the "hey let's address the reason why all of these weirdos are so deeply in love with Trump and let's fix it so that they won't bother with Trump anymore" approach. I want peaceful discourse. I want us to be able to respectfully disagree, to compromise and then groan and move on like we used to be able to do. I'm tired of seeing people attack other people's character because of small differences in values (as most Americans are somewhere in the middle, the differences in value are small). I want to see a semblance of class return to the country. Trump is a big problem but he is only part of the problem. I want the problem to be resolved peacefully. But how can two people walk together unless they can agree on a direction. But if one side wants to preserve the system we have, and the other side wants to see it change to better suit them, then maybe the final solution is to just fight it out to the last man and let the chips fall where they may.

Isn't our national emblem that of an eagle carrying arrows and an olive branch? Maybe we start treating these people like we treat foreigners. I'd have to think about the ways we can bring ourselves closer together without causing any further drama. So many of our issues are cultural and not legislative. But off the top of my head... keep politics and social agendas out of movies. Allow people to be free to still put them in their movies but hike up the ratings (or create a new rating class). People on the other side feel "attacked" because stuff is being "shoved in their faces." Stop putting them on defensive. Just let it happen. The cards will fall where they will. clamp down on companies who try to outsource labor and incentivize them to bring bases of operations back to the States...if you want to make a lot of American money, you need to employ a lot of American workers. I'm not super informed on this but I think this is where tariffs come in. Trump's claim to fame is the fact that he spoke to how globalization has hurt America. The old days and the old jobs can't come back but new ones can. Yes, I know new jobs are being created now, but are they good jobs? Or better yet, are these jobs accessible to hardcore or medium-sized Trumpers? The mere appearance of the government taking on corporations and forcing them to bend to the law of the land (and NOT BAILING THEM OUT) will do wonders I think. But it might be too late. stop the nationwide media narrative (fueled by politicians and journalists) that harps about how different we are and let's talk about how similar we are and how we want the same thing. Obama had a message of positivity and he won. Then Trump has a message of negativity and he won. We got to the place we are at because of narratives. Start penalizing people from making public, materially damaging statements that are factually untrue. Bring perjury out of the courts and into public discourse. Make it easier to slap a big-time politician with a slander and libel and defamation. Enshrine it in law: make them pay hefty fines and give them a little jailtime. Multiple offenses make it illegal for them to run for public office. That should teach everyone to be more mindful of what they say and write and to whom. The other side will love that because they will feel more positioned to power. Plus, hardcore conservatives are still "tough on crime" types. end gerrymandering and redistricting. let the natural boundaries speak for themselves. the cards will fall where they will. No one will like this but term limits on Congressmen and Supreme Court justices. In fact, add another government position to check the Supreme Court. Our constitution's balance of powers says that the Supreme Court of the judicial branch is checked but, in practice, they can't be checked. Give this new government position veto power and make the Supreme Court more beholden to both the executive and the populace by way of legislature. Maybe give the president more power to amend Supreme Court rulings. This requires an amendment, and the other side would be reminded of their ability to play fair. make it easier for people to enter and stay in the country legally while ALSO enforcing rule of law at the border. Single file line. Background checks. Recommendation letters. Something. Just stop giving out free money to people who come here under questionable circumstances. Penalize Mexico and other Latin American countries for letting undocumented persons come here unchallenged. The other side likes that tough border talk. cancel student debt, put a cap on the limit someone can borrow, and launch programs that incentivize people to become more educated and informed. The more education someone has, they commonly become more liberal but that's not a guarantee. What is a guarantee is that they become more open-minded and amenable. To that end, we should make people take and pass tests every election cycle in order for them to be able to vote. This should do a great job in neutering the maniacs because you'd be forcing them to look at the black-and-white text of an issue, and holding them accountable for studying and answering questions correctly. If people don't have documents that say that they can drive, then it is illegal for them to drive and they will be punished accordingly. Make this apply to votes as well. A lot of the maniacs running around now can't really read nor can they manage their time effectively, so they will be removing themselves from the electorate. BUT they will think that their political opponents on the other side will be removing themselves too...and they will be driven to do better. Ease the financial concerns of the American people by briefly lowering taxes for every working adult in middle and lower tax brackets. This takes the wind out of the sails of the maniacs because one of their most enduring and efficient spiels is something akin "they'll take your money and give it to those people" and "Democrats are trash when it comes to managing money." Basically, you can't do it without stepping on toes and making people uncomfortable, but it can be done. But it requires a lot.

Could. Or it could all doom us all as children and young couples drive both the economy, the infrastructure and matters of national security in ways that old, retirement-prime people cannot. We got to be able to course correct without giving toxic master manipulators more ammunition. This phenomenon among young men is abnormal. I say that we have to catch it before it hits us in the face. Okay, fine you know what. They are Nazis and killers. If that's all that they will ever be and if they continue to try to force a nightmare of a politician, you are then left with a few choices. One of the choices would be stripping the opposition of their rights and excise them completely from every level of government...which would come to bloodshed. Another choice would be to divide the country and let them rule themselves as they see fit while we do the same...which would eventually come to a lot of bloodshed because our established societal inability to come to a consensus on who gets what and when. And another choice would be to go to war and kill and maim enough of them in order to make the rest of them submit. There are other choices but, when you put things in terms of Nazis and killers and slavering haters, those are the main three choices that have any sort of finality. Is that something that you really want?

So....this is wrong on so many levels. I'm Black American. There's some admixture and other stuff going on but I identify as Black. If you saw me on the street, you wouldn't think "oh he's part-Brazilian." We are some 15% of the American population. If pure democracy (which is the will of majority; left unchecked, it easily slides into tyranny of the majority) had its way, my life would be very different. Given that I was born in south as were my parents and both sides of their family, there'd actually be a good chance that I would be a slave. And if the majority had decided to do away with slavery completely (small chance) by the time I was born, I would have been living the life of a true third-class citizen. 3/5ths of a person. The will of the majority of the people in the United States did not look upon Black people with favor--much less take into account the best interests of Black people--until maybe 1965. And that's being generous because there was still A BUNCH of racism and injustice that stretches well in the 2000s. Hell, who am I kidding. Try 2020. So, trust me, I think it's safe to say that I understand that the naked will of the majority has an ugly side to it. All in all, though, I think the founding fathers had the right idea Do you really want people in NYC, LA, Houston, Phoenix, Chicago, Atlanta and Philadelphia making decisions for the rest of the country ALL of the time?

Saying that I should grow up when I am advocating for a softer, alternative approach to turning swing states blue is inappropriate and demeaning. Demonizing voters is unhealthy, and it can backfire. It did in 2016. Harris and whomever she chooses her VP should temper their strength and passion with caution and wisdom. It is not immature to ask for that. I'm not just looking at 2024. I don't care about Trump. He is old and he will die sooner rather than later. I'm thinking big picture. I don't like the way our culture of politics is going. It's getting too nasty, too civil war-ish This is fair. And it happens a lot. But we have to try. I don't have a good feeling about this. This schism in American society is starting to become way too normalized and entrenched. I'm stunned that people can't see the downsides of it. If you look at the youth, the boys are moving further to the right and the girls to the left. In another generation, the continuation of that trend will be very bad.

The larger point I was trying to make is not that the economy was better under Trump. Stop hyper-focusing on that. The larger point I am making is that it is about perception. People feel like their lives were better under Trump, or else he would never have been a serious contender all over again. The people who feel that way have to be placated in some way. Or else Trump or some other wannabe will keep coming back to scratch that itch. As for Larys Strong and the dragon comment, I don't think you are reading what I am saying. Part of the reason why first Biden (or Bush or any other president who has presided over hard times) and now Harris has to really fight to win is because the burden of authority in hard economic times falls on the incumbent, not on the incumbent's predecessor. It is an illusion yes but people run with such illusions. This is why the people of KL are slowly turning against the Greens and why they will soon turn against the Blacks.

If we don't find a way to work together soon, then our default form of government will become one of domination by way of numbers and positions rather than consensus. "Tyranny of the majority" or whatever. And at that point, violence will be inevitable because that's what happens when people are squeezed or ignored (or simply feel that they are) by tyrannical and oppressive structures for too long. We have to listen to the other side and find a way to throw them a bone every once in a while.

Do you not think it is a good idea for Harris to spend a lot of time in redder areas of swing states with an olive branch and say "Hey, let's talk about it and I promise I will do what I can do"

That was almost 20 years ago The people who were in charge then are probably not in charge now. And if they were, there are a bunch of new people that they have to deal with. People who feel and grew up very differently I agree though. If anyone is lying here, it's Israel. Good God, they are such a headache. It is practically impossible to defend them now.

It is very debatable. But inflation is what the people are seeing, and the majority of people vote not with their reasonings but with their feelings. And high prices for things that you previously spent less money on does not feel good. Particularly not for Middle America which has less amenities and less recourse--and thus, less distractions--than the much bigger, more liberal cities on the coasts. Yes, this makes most of the electorate unreliable at best But it is what it is. Harris should get out there and talk to Trump-leaning voters about why this is debatable (and unfair) and what she plans to do about it to make things better. If she does that, she will pull Trump voters away from him in a way that Clinton and Biden could not and easily win this election. But there are a lot of people who plan on voting for Trump who do not personally like Vance or Trump or Project 2025 or the general vibe of the Republican Party Of course, for her to do so would mean putting in a lot of work and admitting that she is an outsider that has previously had zero inclination towards this part of the electorate and the country.