He’s back - the big fella from the no-longer-so-Young Turks is fired up about Joe Biden and his allegedly diminished chances in 2024, and is determined to keep the Dems from running him again by declaring himself as a long-shot contender, with the hope it will give him the platform to spread his messages, to wit: that another Trump win would be disastrous (can’t dispute that), that Biden is weakened because of the age factor and his basic allegiance to donor money, other Dem Party approved choices based on poll numbers (Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, yikes Hillary) are just as likely as Biden to blow it in the general election (doesn’t matter if they can win debates and look good on the campaign trail, Trump is immune to that and they are all perceived as old style politicians as much as Biden is), and his hope is to get enough traction, should Biden drop out for whatever reason, to persuade the Democrats to look elsewhere for a strong nominee (conceding that it probably won’t be him).
He makes some good points, one of them being that name recognition in the primaries gets a lot more credit among party insiders than it deserves - an unknown with a strong message who out-performs the name brand politicians deserves party support, and if nominated is immediately no longer an unknown; in fact much better positioned in the general election to excite voters if his or her message is fresh and addresses real concerns.
Cenk himself may not be the ideal vehicle for this message. He expects to be attacked for some of the more foolish things he’s said in thirty-plus years as a media figure; his attitude is “Bring it on” - and they absolutely will (if they pay any attention at all). He seems confident that he can fight back effectively, but is that just typical Cenk bluster? Of course! Then there’s the tiny problem of his being a naturalized US citizen, which he claims he can beat in the Supreme Court, providing he gets anywhere close to nomination which sure as heck won’t happen. But I’ll let him make his case himself - hear him on Krystal, Kyle and Friends, interviewed halfway through the program. If you don’t know who Cenk Uygur is, this is as good a place as anywhere to get to know his routine. (Personally I’m not ready to slap a Cenk for President bumper sticker on my car, but I’d like to hear your reaction once you’ve listened.)
Until he has a much better response to the natural born citizen issue than “Nah, it’s cool”, I don’t see any reason to waste any time listening to him.
I hope this isn’t a thread shit, but I’ve never heard of this guy. So, yes, I googled him. I’m surprised that I’ve never heard of him given that he’s been on networks I watch and generally has views I can stomach.
Anyway, wikipedia notes that he may not be eligible to be POTUS, due to his status as a naturalized citizen.
He’d probably be a fine president, but I’d say his chances are slim.
Indeed they are, but he doesn’t want to stand back and do nothing, considering how convinced he is that Biden will lose.
As for the question of the Constitution allowing only US born citizens to hold the office - it’s patently unfair, undemocratic, and at least Cenk thinks it’s vulnerable to the argument that it violates the equal protection clause. If nothing else, I’d like to see that neutralized.
Right. A lot of what Cenk does is driven by his instinct to put his money where his mouth is, and his mouth is quite loud and filled with hubris - but his instincts are right more often than not, and he made no bones about his chances then or now of success.
Schwarzenegger didn’t run, maybe if he had the Supreme Court could have been persuaded to decide on the fairness of a rule that places a completely arbitrary restriction on who can hold that one particular office.
“Hi, I’ve posted a link to this 2 hour interview with this guy, and I really want you to listen to it before you engage with me on this topic.” That’s pretty presumptive, IMO.
I have never heard of him. I would not mind Arnold as President. His recent 12 minute video about hate and his visit to Auschwitz is beautiful. He is a lovely man.
Back to Cenk: I have no desire to entertain any change to the law that would get Elon Musk on a ballot and so I just have no interest in this man. Sorry.
Well since I gather that few respondents here have any interest in addressing his reason for mounting this challenge, and mine for writing this post about it, it might help if you did listen (it’s not actually two hours long; starts midway through the program, and I did give you a teaser - if it’s not interesting to you, don’t bother).