I am exhausted by the constant narrative about these primary encounters.
I am exhausted by polls that have no relevance to the election!
It’s all media noise!
The reality is simple-- Trump is senile. He offers nothing but rhetoric about himself! He offers no vision for governing, other than his desire to gut important regulations.
He can’t read. That’s a fact established by everyone who worked with him.
He is incompetent for the job... even if he was not facing the indictments for his crimes! Yes criminal behavior!!
In this time where war is being waged in more than one play, we need an experienced leader who grasps his duty to the nation!
Susan, your statements ring true and pretty much says it all. But Dave Leperts comments seem every bit as important. In 2016 MANY of “us” believed Trump was a reality show joke and no one could possibly vote for him. Boy were we wrong!! Even though 2020 Biden/Harris won and there was such relief and celebration, trump became oh so much worse. We must all commit to get the voters to VOTE. It seems incredible that any American could vote for the demise of our freedoms, and the fall of our Democracy. Can any of them really believe he cares one iota about anyone, anyone but himself? He does not, not for a moment. He simply wants everyone to bow to him at all cost. How could we have gotten here? It is true, sometimes we must be faced with what we don’t want before we really come to know what we do want.
Could not agree more Pat. The young vote-18 to 25-is not going to vote for Biden because he gives money to Israel to bomb Gaza. They don’t know or don’t care enough about Trump to be worried about him. They think he’s funny and odd. They’re not taught about democracy enough in school to be worried about losing it. I take Trump very seriously, and I think he has a very good chance of getting back into the White House if Biden does not start campaigning seriously.
This is my biggest worry. Not just among young people. I have personally been told by 5 very progressive mature acquaintances that they will not vote for “genocide joe”. No amount of debating how much worse tRump would be seems to get through. I am stricken.
Exactly Judith. You would think that Joe Biden is flying the plane and dropping the bombs personally. Nobody wants to put the blame on the crook heading up Israel.
Not true of my grandkids & mNy of the nieces & nephews. I also responded to someone’s comment that we should all check out Simon Rosenberg’s Hopium publications on Substack. It’s what we all need to understand enough to calmly show others WHY we should vote Biden/Harris. Don’t argue, just explain and educate
You are on to something. 2024 is eerily like 2016. In 2016, it was Hillary's to lose. And boy did she manage to lose! This time, it's Biden's. Hillary lost because she didn't think she needed to pay attention to voters. And Biden is showing some of the same things, as you can see by his low popularity ratings.
Hillary hurt herself with the email issue by having this "rules don't apply to me" attitude. And generally the attitude that she was somehow entitled to the Presidency.
Not to mention a huge Russian disinformation campaign on social media. Putin got what he paid for except that PAB was unable to rescind the Magninsky Act. Happily the act continues a major thorn in Putins side.
I see many comments here. I commented somewhere that it’s up to us to help carry the message. Check out Simon Rosenberg’s publishings here on Substack. His Substack news is titled “Hopium”. Everyone needs to get on board and learn the facts to rebut anyone that does not think President Biden has made a huge difference and to get off focusing on polls and his age
One big factor: the GOP's 25 year, daily effort to smear her worked, and essentially ruined her "brand." She simply turned a lot of people off, independents and many Dems, too. Comey was just the final nail in the coffin of her campaign.
Yes, I am exhausted by all the irrelevant media noise about this campaign, and completely agree with your entire assessment of this ncompetent monster who is attempting to take control of this country once again. So horrifying!! 😨
As much as you think Trump is an arrogant showman, your other option is going to be either Biden or Big Mike Obama who'll ride the minority train all the way to where you won't be able to spit the wrong way without some dude in a dress giving your kids a fondling look if they try to go into the multi gender bathroom cubes they have in predominantly democratic and rino republican cities and counties.
And I don’t think if Trump as an arrogant showman.
I know him since I lived in Brooklyn !
He is a criminal and a charlatan who has defrauded everyone who invested in him
He is a liar. With a malignant personality who has no regrets for the worst behavior. He is a rapist , according to a court of law… and disrespects and insults women.
And from his own mouth comes all the evidence of his utter contempt for our democracy. He spent today lying about Ms Carroll!
He is insane
As for Biden… I know what he has done. I know who he is. So make fun of him, but alternate facts are Not facts!
With Trump as their candidate, its very possible it could result in a huge loss for the GOP in November. Trump endorsed candidates did poorly in 2022 and I suspect will do even worse in 2024. The abortion issue is likely to make a several point difference across the board too. It is also a big motivating factor for younger people, especially women. Unfortunately, even if Trump is thoroughly defeated, he will still be spreading the hate and his cohorts that long for authoritarianism will continue to pose a threat to the future of the nation.
Additionally, the Democrats need to rally the black voters who hold huge sway in presidential election outcomes. A major factor in Clinton's loss in 2016 was their apathy toward Hillary and their absence on the election day that gave us tRump. I am not blaming black voters because their right to not vote is as sacrosanct as their right to vote. Perhaps if the DNC paid more attention to the concerns of the black community and if those political leaders in positions of trust (are you listening President Obama?) would become more active in the lead up to election day, it would guarantee a blue tsunami for Congress and the White House.
Nikki Haley seems as opportunistic as Trump, if not quite as vicious. She says what her audience/polls want to hear; changes her position as needed (slavery, Confederate flags, Trump as convicted felon); and doesn't seem to have any foundational guiding principles. Does she have the moral courage to defy Trump, her funders (the Koch Network), or MAGA voters? Doubtful. This makes her a perfect Republican candidate.
Normally, I can accept a “lesser evil” as something slightly good. Not in this case! I don’t want the GQP running a “lesser evil” in case she gets votes that might otherwise go to Biden.
I am afraid he might get another one, while she'd be a long shot in the general. Defeating him in the primary would prevent that and doesn't cost me anything - not even a postage stamp any more since we have online registration now.
Makes her the perfect Republican FEMALE candidate. Think about Liz Cheney, far more qualified, certainly checks all the conservative boxes, but not adequate for that corrupt crew because she isn't deferential enough, thinks for herself.
DeSantis might have done better if he had modified some Bud campaign slogans: This Ron’s For You, Where there’s life, there’s Ron, For all you do, this Ron’s for you, When you say Ron, you’ve said it all. Of course, he would have had to pass on “The Genuine Article!”
I know it’s petty and I usually avoid voicing my petty thoughts, but I’d love it if the Super Bowl MVP goes to Disneyland instead of Disney World just to spite DeSantis. .
And yet, as Governor, he succeeded in destroying my Alma Mater, New College of Florida. He took a small diamond and replaced it with a big lump of coal smashed into dust
Coco the Clown (aka Richard Corcoran) is drawing a salary multiple times the amount paid to the previous president. Much of that money is being drawn from the coffers of the New College Foundation, a fund to which many alumni have contributed for decades (I graduated in 1980 and had been a reliable donor). No more donations from the vast majority of alumni. After graduating from New College, I attended a top-tier law school, which was a piece of cake compared to New College. Many of my peers, including many who had undergraduate degrees from top ten schools, struggled. I grieve for what he’s ruined. I graduated from law school with honors and had a blast.
Will be curious to see how enrollment fares as time goes by. I honestly can't imagine being a young woman and choosing to go to college in Texas, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin or any of the other batshit crazy maga controlled states.
Enrollment will be fine if prospective student-athletes get a tuition-free ride, which was this year’s travesty. The number of high school baseball players who are now first-years at New College (70) is the same number enrolled at the University of Florida (and New College doesn’t even have a baseball diamond).
I suspect their end game, after they’ve milked it for all they can, is to get the school’s stunning bayfront property and sell it to some crony, with a prior agreement to be part of a business entity that develops that real estate.
The sooner we're rid of the feckless opportunist Haley, the more attention can be paid to both tRump's ever-increasing senility and his galloping fascist rhetoric. Haley was a MSM "horserace" construct, as there really was no there there.
Jay, she has NO stature nationally, she projects only pandering, and she prolly is only dry-running for a 2028 GOP nomination...that's off, of course if tRump wins in November and later declares the 2028 election superfluous because he doesn't recognize the 22nd Amendment, and the "Democrat" candidate is removed from most ballots by order of the DOJ.
Great recall from 1962, when Tricky Dick lost the California governor's race to Pat Brown...but then again, the POS clawed his way back for many more news conferences, until finally decamping for San Clemente after resigning during the Watergate prosecutions.
Thank you for the clarity here. The one thing that has been brought to light is the OBSCENE amount of money in politics. $6400 PER VOTE! That very fact should eliminate the political career of DeSaster. He did not show a good return on the investment his backers made. At this point, the GOP needs to come to grips with the fact that the majority of people don’t like what they’re selling. You may not like Biden but the alternative is chilling. 🙄
Back when Ron was only one of many vying for successorship I marveled at the joyless collection of pretenders assembled: Ron, of course, then Ted Cruz, and Tom Cotton, the laff-a-minute stand-in for Lurch and finally Josh "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" Hawley. Ivy Leaguers all, this joy division was never in line for succession but one wonders who will step up once Trump has his cafe coronary.
For all the reasons to despise Trump, which I do and there are many, the guy has a the ability to work a crowd and is able to season his whackadoodle authoritarianism with a twisted sense of humor. DeSantis, Cruz, Hawley, and Cotton can’t crack a joke with a diamond drill.
Trump is (or was) a happy warrior. The rest, not so much. He also has a chip on his shoulder which mirrors his audience's. Elite though he may be, for the Maga crowds he will always be Charley the Tuna, the outsider who can't get no respect just like them.
I think you are on to something here when you said "... who can't get no respect *just like them*". That's exactly why so many people have turned away from democracy (not just here, but also in Europe and other places).
Yeah, I hear he's not as pumped as he was in 2016. I still think his first run was a publicity stunt that went awry and took the nation down with him. Like Limbaugh Trump unearthed, almost accidentally, the great unhappiness in America's heartland.
The GOP primary was over when Trump formally announced. All the digital ink suggesting otherwise was the commentariat wanting a horse race and idealists who unreasonably believed coup plotters should not be viable candidates for re-election.
It wasn’t really. His poll numbers looked weak before spring of 2023. DeSantis was leading him. If the opposition had been stronger, maybe there would have been someone, but it’s all conjecture.
Lol, there were too many great quotables to list them all, but comparing DeSantis to a golem was my fave.
I think what bothers me the most about all this stuff is that this is considered to likely be a close election. I just am not understanding how that's possible. Doesn't that make half the country as crazy as Trump?
Also, if he's convicted, what happens then? That, I suppose, is an article of its own. Maybe you've written that already and I missed it. But it seems to me that he would never, ever drop out of the race. He wouldn't care one bit if that meant the Republicans lost in grand fashion.
That's not an excuse for Biden, though. The Arabs in MI aren't saying they are going to vote for Trump, but they are going to stay home. I'll grant you that Netanyahu threw him into a no-win situation here.
Netanyahu is actually, somehow, worse than Trump. He's responsible for 25,000 murders, and counting. Biden is a lot smarter than he's given credit for. I'm not giving up on the hope that he'll figure out a way to neuter Netanyahu in ways that aren't publicly known. The obvious answer to progressives (which I consider myself to be) is to hit Israel hard with a halt in arms and cash, but the honest truth is that he'd lose a lot more voters if he did that.
Biden did make a mistake in his early statements, but a lot of people were fooled by the Israeli government's propaganda (for example, there is no actual evidence of child beheadings). There is also the dual problem that Hamas leaders are generally very unpleasant people, too. But the U.S., in typical neoliberal fashion, ignores the fact that since the invasion, Hamas's popularity among Palestinians has soared to unprecedented levels.
The U.S. has always had a terrible approach to middle east politics. This has been a bipartisan effort, and it won't change with a Biden victory. But Trump will be far worse.
As a progressive, I'm awfully tired of being on my heels. We can't make progress on the biggest issues of the day if we're always fighting racist trolls and the insanity of the MAGA hate cult. Our best hope for progress is soundly beating them, and encouraging others to join the fight so that we can continue to populate Congress with more progressive politicians. Progress has been made on that front. The bench is getting deeper. But for now, we are stuck with what we have at the top. The only way to change that will be to continue building on that bench so that some innovative leaders emerge.
100% agreed. I'm more cynical, though. We also can't make progress on the biggest issues of the day when the Democrats constantly run on a platform of "we are not quite as bad as the other guy" and that has been going on for decades. Voters do not like that one bit, and we saw the results in 2016, as well in 2000 (when Ralph Nader offered an actual vision). And 1992 with Ross Perot on the other side - except the Republicans responded differently.
This says it all :
Finally, this great line on DeSantis himself, lifted from The Bulwark:
- He was, in the memorable words of GOP consultant Stuart Stevens, “Ted Cruz without the personality".
I am exhausted by the constant narrative about these primary encounters.
I am exhausted by polls that have no relevance to the election!
It’s all media noise!
The reality is simple-- Trump is senile. He offers nothing but rhetoric about himself! He offers no vision for governing, other than his desire to gut important regulations.
He can’t read. That’s a fact established by everyone who worked with him.
He is incompetent for the job... even if he was not facing the indictments for his crimes! Yes criminal behavior!!
In this time where war is being waged in more than one play, we need an experienced leader who grasps his duty to the nation!
Trump offers violent behaviors!
He is unfit for the Presidency!
We the people know this!
Haley offers nothing!!!
Susan, your statements ring true and pretty much says it all. But Dave Leperts comments seem every bit as important. In 2016 MANY of “us” believed Trump was a reality show joke and no one could possibly vote for him. Boy were we wrong!! Even though 2020 Biden/Harris won and there was such relief and celebration, trump became oh so much worse. We must all commit to get the voters to VOTE. It seems incredible that any American could vote for the demise of our freedoms, and the fall of our Democracy. Can any of them really believe he cares one iota about anyone, anyone but himself? He does not, not for a moment. He simply wants everyone to bow to him at all cost. How could we have gotten here? It is true, sometimes we must be faced with what we don’t want before we really come to know what we do want.
With each passing day the abortion issue becomes a sharper sword that clarifies the GOP extremism. Wisconsin GOP just last week:
https://open.substack.com/pub/jessica/p/republicans-want-women-to-have-c?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1nx43t
It's forgotten by most, but back in 2016 Trump, in an interview with Chris Matthews, suggested women who get abortions should be "punished."
He absolutely did and he will do anything if he thinks it will help him get power.
Could not agree more Pat. The young vote-18 to 25-is not going to vote for Biden because he gives money to Israel to bomb Gaza. They don’t know or don’t care enough about Trump to be worried about him. They think he’s funny and odd. They’re not taught about democracy enough in school to be worried about losing it. I take Trump very seriously, and I think he has a very good chance of getting back into the White House if Biden does not start campaigning seriously.
This is my biggest worry. Not just among young people. I have personally been told by 5 very progressive mature acquaintances that they will not vote for “genocide joe”. No amount of debating how much worse tRump would be seems to get through. I am stricken.
Exactly Judith. You would think that Joe Biden is flying the plane and dropping the bombs personally. Nobody wants to put the blame on the crook heading up Israel.
Not true of my grandkids & mNy of the nieces & nephews. I also responded to someone’s comment that we should all check out Simon Rosenberg’s Hopium publications on Substack. It’s what we all need to understand enough to calmly show others WHY we should vote Biden/Harris. Don’t argue, just explain and educate
You are on to something. 2024 is eerily like 2016. In 2016, it was Hillary's to lose. And boy did she manage to lose! This time, it's Biden's. Hillary lost because she didn't think she needed to pay attention to voters. And Biden is showing some of the same things, as you can see by his low popularity ratings.
James Comey threw that election. Special place in hell for him. IMHO.
Hillary hurt herself with the email issue by having this "rules don't apply to me" attitude. And generally the attitude that she was somehow entitled to the Presidency.
Not to mention a huge Russian disinformation campaign on social media. Putin got what he paid for except that PAB was unable to rescind the Magninsky Act. Happily the act continues a major thorn in Putins side.
I see many comments here. I commented somewhere that it’s up to us to help carry the message. Check out Simon Rosenberg’s publishings here on Substack. His Substack news is titled “Hopium”. Everyone needs to get on board and learn the facts to rebut anyone that does not think President Biden has made a huge difference and to get off focusing on polls and his age
THANK YOU, Pat !!! I agree!
One big factor: the GOP's 25 year, daily effort to smear her worked, and essentially ruined her "brand." She simply turned a lot of people off, independents and many Dems, too. Comey was just the final nail in the coffin of her campaign.
Oh we definitely have to take his candidacy seriously.
Not to mention that he is a rapist and a criminal who had compromised national security.... multiple times...
Yes, I am exhausted by all the irrelevant media noise about this campaign, and completely agree with your entire assessment of this ncompetent monster who is attempting to take control of this country once again. So horrifying!! 😨
Plus, Trump stinks and has syphilis.
As much as you think Trump is an arrogant showman, your other option is going to be either Biden or Big Mike Obama who'll ride the minority train all the way to where you won't be able to spit the wrong way without some dude in a dress giving your kids a fondling look if they try to go into the multi gender bathroom cubes they have in predominantly democratic and rino republican cities and counties.
And I don’t think if Trump as an arrogant showman.
I know him since I lived in Brooklyn !
He is a criminal and a charlatan who has defrauded everyone who invested in him
He is a liar. With a malignant personality who has no regrets for the worst behavior. He is a rapist , according to a court of law… and disrespects and insults women.
And from his own mouth comes all the evidence of his utter contempt for our democracy. He spent today lying about Ms Carroll!
He is insane
As for Biden… I know what he has done. I know who he is. So make fun of him, but alternate facts are Not facts!
With Trump as their candidate, its very possible it could result in a huge loss for the GOP in November. Trump endorsed candidates did poorly in 2022 and I suspect will do even worse in 2024. The abortion issue is likely to make a several point difference across the board too. It is also a big motivating factor for younger people, especially women. Unfortunately, even if Trump is thoroughly defeated, he will still be spreading the hate and his cohorts that long for authoritarianism will continue to pose a threat to the future of the nation.
If the cards fall as expected, it could be a crushing loss for the GOP. We need to help make it so.
Yes yes yes. May it be so.
Additionally, the Democrats need to rally the black voters who hold huge sway in presidential election outcomes. A major factor in Clinton's loss in 2016 was their apathy toward Hillary and their absence on the election day that gave us tRump. I am not blaming black voters because their right to not vote is as sacrosanct as their right to vote. Perhaps if the DNC paid more attention to the concerns of the black community and if those political leaders in positions of trust (are you listening President Obama?) would become more active in the lead up to election day, it would guarantee a blue tsunami for Congress and the White House.
Extremism just last week in Wisconsin:
https://open.substack.com/pub/jessica/p/republicans-want-women-to-have-c?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1nx43t
Nikki Haley seems as opportunistic as Trump, if not quite as vicious. She says what her audience/polls want to hear; changes her position as needed (slavery, Confederate flags, Trump as convicted felon); and doesn't seem to have any foundational guiding principles. Does she have the moral courage to defy Trump, her funders (the Koch Network), or MAGA voters? Doubtful. This makes her a perfect Republican candidate.
Agreed, but she's still the lesser evil of the two.
Normally, I can accept a “lesser evil” as something slightly good. Not in this case! I don’t want the GQP running a “lesser evil” in case she gets votes that might otherwise go to Biden.
Even that would be better than another Trump term.
I don’t think he’s going to get one. She might. That’s not better.
I am afraid he might get another one, while she'd be a long shot in the general. Defeating him in the primary would prevent that and doesn't cost me anything - not even a postage stamp any more since we have online registration now.
Makes her the perfect Republican FEMALE candidate. Think about Liz Cheney, far more qualified, certainly checks all the conservative boxes, but not adequate for that corrupt crew because she isn't deferential enough, thinks for herself.
Liz will NOT say the election was stolen. Maga must say that or you are toast.
I would absolutely vote for Liz Cheney!
DeSantis might have done better if he had modified some Bud campaign slogans: This Ron’s For You, Where there’s life, there’s Ron, For all you do, this Ron’s for you, When you say Ron, you’ve said it all. Of course, he would have had to pass on “The Genuine Article!”
Well played.
LOL
I know it’s petty and I usually avoid voicing my petty thoughts, but I’d love it if the Super Bowl MVP goes to Disneyland instead of Disney World just to spite DeSantis. .
I do not consider that petty in the slightest, and I'd be in favor of a public petition to encourage it.
Petty thoughts are the only ones worth voicing.
🤣
Double Like
And yet, as Governor, he succeeded in destroying my Alma Mater, New College of Florida. He took a small diamond and replaced it with a big lump of coal smashed into dust
It was such a grift for his pals, too.
Coco the Clown (aka Richard Corcoran) is drawing a salary multiple times the amount paid to the previous president. Much of that money is being drawn from the coffers of the New College Foundation, a fund to which many alumni have contributed for decades (I graduated in 1980 and had been a reliable donor). No more donations from the vast majority of alumni. After graduating from New College, I attended a top-tier law school, which was a piece of cake compared to New College. Many of my peers, including many who had undergraduate degrees from top ten schools, struggled. I grieve for what he’s ruined. I graduated from law school with honors and had a blast.
Will be curious to see how enrollment fares as time goes by. I honestly can't imagine being a young woman and choosing to go to college in Texas, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin or any of the other batshit crazy maga controlled states.
Enrollment will be fine if prospective student-athletes get a tuition-free ride, which was this year’s travesty. The number of high school baseball players who are now first-years at New College (70) is the same number enrolled at the University of Florida (and New College doesn’t even have a baseball diamond).
FFS. Figures. I should have known corruption was the name of the game!
I suspect their end game, after they’ve milked it for all they can, is to get the school’s stunning bayfront property and sell it to some crony, with a prior agreement to be part of a business entity that develops that real estate.
FFS!
https://ctcl.org/new-college-of-florida/
Think you are onto something there!
Bowed out?? I don't think he was ever really in. Seriously, the man can't even smile without scaring people away.
It’s creepy AF.
Kind of like the Burger King in those creepy ads.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think the Burger King is less creepy than DeSantis.
👍
The sooner we're rid of the feckless opportunist Haley, the more attention can be paid to both tRump's ever-increasing senility and his galloping fascist rhetoric. Haley was a MSM "horserace" construct, as there really was no there there.
I tend to agree. She will get her clock cleaned soon, and we’ll all have to face the grim reality of Trump.
Jay, she has NO stature nationally, she projects only pandering, and she prolly is only dry-running for a 2028 GOP nomination...that's off, of course if tRump wins in November and later declares the 2028 election superfluous because he doesn't recognize the 22nd Amendment, and the "Democrat" candidate is removed from most ballots by order of the DOJ.
Lol, Ronny D using a Bud Light ad is hilarious. If he needed a legit quote to go out in style, there are plenty of famous quotes sites to choose from.
I would have preferred “you don't have Nixon to kick around any more, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference."
Great recall from 1962, when Tricky Dick lost the California governor's race to Pat Brown...but then again, the POS clawed his way back for many more news conferences, until finally decamping for San Clemente after resigning during the Watergate prosecutions.
I find it amazing (and hilarious) that no one thought to vet that quote before Ronnie used it!
Thank you for the clarity here. The one thing that has been brought to light is the OBSCENE amount of money in politics. $6400 PER VOTE! That very fact should eliminate the political career of DeSaster. He did not show a good return on the investment his backers made. At this point, the GOP needs to come to grips with the fact that the majority of people don’t like what they’re selling. You may not like Biden but the alternative is chilling. 🙄
Back when Ron was only one of many vying for successorship I marveled at the joyless collection of pretenders assembled: Ron, of course, then Ted Cruz, and Tom Cotton, the laff-a-minute stand-in for Lurch and finally Josh "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" Hawley. Ivy Leaguers all, this joy division was never in line for succession but one wonders who will step up once Trump has his cafe coronary.
For all the reasons to despise Trump, which I do and there are many, the guy has a the ability to work a crowd and is able to season his whackadoodle authoritarianism with a twisted sense of humor. DeSantis, Cruz, Hawley, and Cotton can’t crack a joke with a diamond drill.
Trump is (or was) a happy warrior. The rest, not so much. He also has a chip on his shoulder which mirrors his audience's. Elite though he may be, for the Maga crowds he will always be Charley the Tuna, the outsider who can't get no respect just like them.
I think you are on to something here when you said "... who can't get no respect *just like them*". That's exactly why so many people have turned away from democracy (not just here, but also in Europe and other places).
Calcified social mobility causes thwarted ambition which leads to nothing good.
*Increasingly angry and glum with each passing day though.*
Yeah, I hear he's not as pumped as he was in 2016. I still think his first run was a publicity stunt that went awry and took the nation down with him. Like Limbaugh Trump unearthed, almost accidentally, the great unhappiness in America's heartland.
Agree 100%. The video of rump at his rally when they announced his unexpected win says it all.
Do you realize that have just listed all 5 of The Top 5 Causes of Vaginal Dryness?
Perfect Blue!
Haven’t finished reading, but….. “Like a sickness that is finally diagnosed”…. Ah, yes.
The GOP primary was over when Trump formally announced. All the digital ink suggesting otherwise was the commentariat wanting a horse race and idealists who unreasonably believed coup plotters should not be viable candidates for re-election.
It wasn’t really. His poll numbers looked weak before spring of 2023. DeSantis was leading him. If the opposition had been stronger, maybe there would have been someone, but it’s all conjecture.
Lol, there were too many great quotables to list them all, but comparing DeSantis to a golem was my fave.
I think what bothers me the most about all this stuff is that this is considered to likely be a close election. I just am not understanding how that's possible. Doesn't that make half the country as crazy as Trump?
Also, if he's convicted, what happens then? That, I suppose, is an article of its own. Maybe you've written that already and I missed it. But it seems to me that he would never, ever drop out of the race. He wouldn't care one bit if that meant the Republicans lost in grand fashion.
Per Wikipedia, “[Eugene] Debs ran for president in the 1920 election while imprisoned in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary.”
Yup, and so will the main character for the American reboot of Clockwork Orange.
Loved the golem remark!
"I just am not understanding how that's possible." Simple: Gaza. Biden's response put Michigan back in play.
It shouldn't have. Trump would have done photo ops with Netanyahu bulldozing Palestinian homes.
That's not an excuse for Biden, though. The Arabs in MI aren't saying they are going to vote for Trump, but they are going to stay home. I'll grant you that Netanyahu threw him into a no-win situation here.
Netanyahu is actually, somehow, worse than Trump. He's responsible for 25,000 murders, and counting. Biden is a lot smarter than he's given credit for. I'm not giving up on the hope that he'll figure out a way to neuter Netanyahu in ways that aren't publicly known. The obvious answer to progressives (which I consider myself to be) is to hit Israel hard with a halt in arms and cash, but the honest truth is that he'd lose a lot more voters if he did that.
Biden did make a mistake in his early statements, but a lot of people were fooled by the Israeli government's propaganda (for example, there is no actual evidence of child beheadings). There is also the dual problem that Hamas leaders are generally very unpleasant people, too. But the U.S., in typical neoliberal fashion, ignores the fact that since the invasion, Hamas's popularity among Palestinians has soared to unprecedented levels.
The U.S. has always had a terrible approach to middle east politics. This has been a bipartisan effort, and it won't change with a Biden victory. But Trump will be far worse.
As a progressive, I'm awfully tired of being on my heels. We can't make progress on the biggest issues of the day if we're always fighting racist trolls and the insanity of the MAGA hate cult. Our best hope for progress is soundly beating them, and encouraging others to join the fight so that we can continue to populate Congress with more progressive politicians. Progress has been made on that front. The bench is getting deeper. But for now, we are stuck with what we have at the top. The only way to change that will be to continue building on that bench so that some innovative leaders emerge.
100% agreed. I'm more cynical, though. We also can't make progress on the biggest issues of the day when the Democrats constantly run on a platform of "we are not quite as bad as the other guy" and that has been going on for decades. Voters do not like that one bit, and we saw the results in 2016, as well in 2000 (when Ralph Nader offered an actual vision). And 1992 with Ross Perot on the other side - except the Republicans responded differently.
I guess this is what we get for crying wolf, because in this case, it's really quite true. I consider Trump an existential threat.
I'm sad that Biden's ad missed the one where he went on and on about Republican's eating their young.