How long will the twin threats to the political system (Trump & Sanders) be tolerated?

I think that people are taking the whole election process far too seriously this early. It’s August 2015 – thinks don’t even begin to make sense until March or April, and the conventions aren’t until next summer.

It’s too early to worry about Trump and Sanders yet. Let the clowns play.

Well, the media so far has done a great job at ignoring Sanders or just occasionally referencing him briefly when discussing Clinton. I listened to 20 minutes of an NPR program the other day in which they didn’t even mention his name once. It was about the Democratic candidates. They didn’t even mention the candidate who is polling higher than Clinton in NH and is within 2 points of margin of error in Iowa.

While I’m hoping this will change, I suspect that we’ll soon see the Democratic party and Republican parties run attacks on these candidates. All of the media will pick up on whatever the chosen theme will be (for Sanders, it will be “socialism”, for example). The “liberal” media will reference Sanders as “socialist Bernie Sanders”. Combine the general public’s confusion about what that really means with the incessant message that Sanders “can’t win”, and he will become a punchline. Then Clinton will be the nominee and she will lose to the Republican chosen candidate.

It’s interesting how the media is dismissive of Sanders, even the OP has bought into the idea that Sanders is just as loony as Trump. While both may have politics farther to the left and right than what the US is used to, Trump is the only one who is making a mockery of the process.

Trump seems to be pure ego who will say whatever gets him attention. Even if you don’t agree with him, Sanders is a real politician with real ideas. The real “problem” is that the established powers do not control either one, and they are unhappy.

What presidential candidate has not been regarded by some voters as a threat to the political system?
And why do these guys attract so much negative attention, and the others less?\
They will be tolerated as long as potential voters like their message.

It’s not a threat of any kind. Neither is electable. They are both free reality TV broadcast through the news outlets.

This is just the entertainment before the misery of 4 years of Hillary.

The Republicans should send Mitt Romney out on a tour to see if he could shut that clown Trump the flock UP. Oligarch vs Beholden-to-none.

Hey, the show is just getting started. Shit usually doesn’t come out of the wash until later in the cycle. Wait for the rinse.

More power to “the twin threats to the political system (Trump & Sanders)”. Send in the strait speaking clowns! At least we can have a few laughs while we witness the collapse of a once great nation. HA!

I think it is a BIG mistake to regard either candidate as unelectable. And I’m surprised that anyone can imagine that I regard Sanders and Trump as equally odd ducks. My question is about the threatened disruption to “business as usual” for the 2 entrenched take it or leave it political parties. My question is about how close can either of the 2 come to obtaining the nomination before drastic remedies become mandatory?

The “establishment” has been containing the “populist” movement for decades now: They’ve rigged the presidential debates to exclude third parties, rigged the polls to give the impression that the country is split 50/50 between the establishment parties, and flooded the primary seasons with ridiculous numbers of debates and candidates whose role is to give the impression that there’s a wide spectrum of political positions under the umbrella of the (non-incumbent) party and therefore no need to turn to an alternative party. Perhaps this year it’s more difficult to contain populism because a critical mass of voters is simply not taking the bait anymore.

It doesn’t matter too much whether one of the populist candidates reaches the White House, but what does matter is whether they can be co-opted by the establishment. If they can’t, then that’s when you’d expect a bad day.