I can’t remember which thread I said it in but I did say we never should have fooled ourselves into thinking that Biden was ever a good debater. He never has been. I knew there was going to be trouble when I saw the video I posted in the other thread. The one where Trump was talking about his VP candidate being at the debate. Trump looked and sounded very similar to how he was in 2016. They jumped to Biden and a shoutout question asking if he was ready for the debate. He was doing the frail old man shuffle. He gave a very weak thumbs up. It’s shocking how much worse he looks from 2016.
That’s why I don’t like the term undecided. Disengaged is more apt. There are those who are disengaged from politics and with never engage. They hate the system or don’t think it matters. Others disengage because of the choices that are available. Those are possible to get out to vote. That’s where the younger non-voters usually are.
I seriously feel like if Biden had just started off his opening statement with, “Before we get started I just want everyone to know I’ve got a cold, so I’m sorry in advance for sounding like this!” and smiled, it would have gone a LONG way in buying him some goodwill.
Acknowledging that his voice was fucked up from the get-go would have been preferable to not addressing it at all and acting like it’s normal and acceptable for him to sound that way.
It’s WAY too soon to panic. Every speech Biden gives in the next 129 days is going to look like an enormous improvement in vigor. Compared to Trump, whose most frequent appearances on the news will be him napping in a courtroom.
That is absolutely what he needed to do. Now he needs a new campaign staff but Trump actually trapped him in corner by saying Biden should have fired people. If he dumps his campaign staff now he makes Trump look better.
I’m seeing a lot of Americans in my timeline turn to doomerism. Sooo… I’m guessing the debate went well?
…Ok, fear not my Yankee Brothers and Sisters. All Biden needs to do is turn the next debate into a trial. Throw away talking about American politics or economy, or whatever. Biden has Trump. He has him. The guy who refused to take the stand in his own trial. Biden has him ON STAND. Just go low. Be the most ruthless cutthroat prosecutor that would be disbarred. What is Trump going to do? Take the 5th? Pivot to policy? Ha! Be dirty and love it.
Give America the showboat trial it always wanted for Trump. When things go back to America… pivot back to Trump. When the moderators pose questions, give sound byte… then pivot back to Trump. Put the greaseball on trial. Never let the American people think anything else except Trump’s crimes and possible jailtime. Nothing else. Maybe Trump will get rattled? (who knows, maybe Biden has it in him to scare the guy).
Trump is a federal convict. He is possibly fighting for his freedom. Biden needs to get Americans to see Trump’s as crook. Nothing but a convicted crook.
The trouble with this is that it may well not be true. It may be that his voice is weak because he’s suffering from some kind of neurological disorder. If that’s the case then he can’t blame it on a cold because colds get better.
Not really the point of this thread, but succinctly: “Running the country” is not and never was a one-person job. Not even in “the buck stops here” sense. There are a gajillion “running the country” decisions made every single day that the sitting President has no hand in.
If I may, speaking as a non-Democrat this illustrates the issue. Nothing is free. It’s not that someone is getting something they are not. Most would sneer at the suggestion they go to New York. The issue is “we” are paying for it.
One of the benefits of the Parliamentary system with Question Period. Every major politician has to be able to stand up and defend or attack the opposition on a regular basis. Getting good at that takes practice.
[/quote]
I watched the ministers questions a lot during a time in my life. It was Majors at the time. It did amaze me how quick they had to be and were. Made me wonder how many US presidents could do the same. Very few. Obama probably but with a lot of practice. Maybe Clinton. Maybe Bush senior. It would really change American politics.
Which is the scariest part of Project 2025. Government runs because of the civil servants who do their jobs every day regardless of who is in the White House. Replacing them with toadies will be a disaster of epic proportions.
I’d say Trump hit a sore spot regarding immigration. There is a piece in the NYT currently titled “A Suitcase, 10 Countries, One School: A Migrant Family’s Search for Home” about a Venezuelan family that is now in New York. Eric Adams has complained about the cost to the city. I think there’s a definite feeling in most of the West now that “the government is taking care of strangers at the expense of its own people.” It’s come up as an issue in the US, Canada, and Europe.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Trump was bloviating and lying about immigration. But the soundbite about hotels could get some traction.
For me, this analogy doesn’t hold up. Driving an automobile is not comparable to “running a country” IMHO. The responsibility and tasks involved in “running a country”** are too diffuse.
** I keep putting “running a country” in quotes because IMHO it’s kind of not really a singular thing.
Re: “we can’t replace Biden!”—every other Western democracy does their entire campaign, start to finish, in less time than the four months remaining to us. It’s not that it can’t be done, it’s that we have never tried it.
And I question the belief that Biden is the best man for the job. In 2020, sure, but now people are just repeating beliefs as if they are facts like the incumbent advantage, which may be true for Congress but isn’t demonstrable for president.
Whenever immigration came up Biden should have just kept hitting back that he has a plan but Trump ordered his people in Congress to block it thus hurting all Americans. Trump hurts America for his own gain. Hit it over and over.
Yep Newsom has been awesome every time I’ve seen him speak, especially when he’s on hostile media.
I gather though that a significant proportion of california dem voters can’t stand him, so there may be significant fckups in his record.
With Biden…I’ve worried that Biden didn’t have the required oratory skills or vibrancy since the 2020 primaries. He was last, or second-last option for me among the candidates.
He’s done a fantastic job as president, better even than Obama. But, like Obama, we’re about to see a very awkward transition of power chat in the oval office.
I’ve been fine with the job he’s done so far. I don’t even see any better possible candidates out there. Reality is unfortunately extremely unreal at times and this is one of those times. It is astounding that there is a contest between someone who is clearly old but has demonstrated the ability to do the job and someone who wants to undo the constitution and democracy around the world.