Just to be clear: lose to some other Dem in the primary, or lose to a Republican in the election?
That’s the problem. Trump has been cultivating his image for decades. You can’t just toss someone out there and have them act like Trump with any credibility. If it’s not Trump in 2024 it will be someone Trump picks.
Lose to a Republican.
I wouldn’t be remotely satisfied with any candidate who does not continue the accelerated policy of military support to Taiwan - to the point that I demand an unambiguous and overtly expressed readiness to go to war - total if necessary - in the event of any military action by the CCP against Taiwan. I would rather another world war than to sit by idly while a vibrant democracy like Taiwan gets their organs harvested like the Uigars in Xinjiang.
I also want a candidate that will unambiguously support our allies in the area, especially Australia.
I want a candidate who will press further on the issue of Hong Kong and make the CCP bleed (economically) for their overt betrayal of the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the destruction of Hong Kongs autonomy.
I also want a candidate that will work - so far as is feasible without gutting our own economy - to eliminate any and all economic interdependence on the CCP. A deal with the devil inevitably ends badly for all but the devil himself.
Trump wasn’t a rockstar by any stretch, but as much as I hate the everloving tar out of the man and the other things he has done, I will begrudgingly salute the fact that he was the best president in regards to CCP we’ve had in decades. Not a rockstar, just better. Kissenger be damned.
I would’ve agreed with you in the past, except it doesn’t appear to matter now. Remember, Trump was avidly pro Clinton and an open supporter of the Democratic Party who openly called Republican voters stupid before he was suddenly a Republican himself. It’s all on film, and people just… forget. Or assume the footage is deep faked.
Credibility doesn’t seem to matter. Just looking at this cycle, you can 180 on all your positions (Lindsey Graham) and come out unscathed. You can run as a moderate and then go hard right during your term, and then get re-elected by the people looking for a moderate (Susan Collins).
At this point, though I’m loathe to accept it as true, it really seems as though the rule among voters is: as long as you are saying what I want to hear right now, I will vote for you, regardless of what you do, have done, or have said.
Really? Can you provide a link to the film? When I Googled it, this is what popped up:
Thank you for setting out this response - I don’t agree with all of these but at least it’s a clear and understandable position.
I fear, however, you are overstating both the effectiveness of overt diplomatic belligerence on China and the extent of the economic leverage the US can exert without substantially damaging itself (as Trump’s tariffs have demonstrated). The US is China’s biggest market but it is not its only market, and China has already shown that it can do without US imports (particularly agricultural imports) by looking elsewhere.
China has never been susceptible to the strong-arm tactics the US has traditionally used on the rest of the world, and that has not changed. What has changed is the hard and soft power the US now wields, and the change is that both have greatly diminished - something which had been happening organically since the end of the last Cold War but which absolutely plummeted in the last four years. So while we can and should certainly support our allies in the region (including Taiwan) unreservedly, our ability to force China to do what we want - or to face down China if and when they decide to play chicken - is not that great. And the occupant of the Oval Office will need to base his or her strategy on that reality, not on the need to bluff and bluster for the domestic crowds as Trump did.
And none of that really indicates that Biden is “soft”.
The risk of this idea backfiring is high, very high, in that we could actually have to live under four more years of Trump rule beginning in '25 but I can think of two reasons why him winning the nomination might not be so bad.
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He prevents a more competent and equally fascist-leaning Republican from possibly occupying the White House.
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Donnie has proven that he can turn out Democrats like no one else in history. We won’t have forgotten who and what he is by November 2024.
If it’s a Trump, I think it will be Ivanka. Trump can’t let one of his sons outshine him while he is alive, but it’s a little different for a girl. I can totally see one set of Trump’s voters, the older, more Chauvinistic ones, taking to Ivanka as a sort of Lurleen Wallace (“Of course I would always listen to my dad’s advice!”) and for another set, the younger and female voters, seeing her as a kinder, gentler, more civilized Trump. I have no idea how the evangelicals would get around the fact that she’s Jewish, but they double-thought everything else, why not this?
trump cant run in 2024- he will be ineligible according to his own words.
No, the GOP will not nominate a woman in 2024. Not Ivanka, no female at all.
There’s probably some way to twist the Book of Revelation to indicate this gets us closer to the Apocalypse, which is a good thing in their mind. I know they’ve been thinking the end times are almost here ever since Israel became a country.
I think you’re giving the majority of voters way too much credit by implying they are actually listening to candidates. For 80% of the electorate the rule is: as long as you have the correct letter after your name, I will vote for you, regardless of anything.
I’m confused.
I’m not disputing your point, but what are you saying here? Or perhaps I mean: what did Trump say and how do you interpret that?
He’s saying that Trump maintains that he was re-elected President, which would make him ineligible to be elected again in 2024 since the 22nd Amendment says you can only be elected twice.
Which raises an interesting conundrum.
If elected but not inaugurated, is he prohibited from running in 2024?
If not elected but inaugurated, is he prohibited from running in 2024?
If he autogolpes, does any of this even apply in 2024?
I don’t necessarily agree that the GOP categorically won’t nominate a woman for President in 2024. If the idea is that it’s a party full of misogynists – we’ll, no argument from me. But the Republicans had a fair amount of success nominating and electing women to Congress this cycle. As long as she embraces the same conservative policies and rhetoric as her male peers in the party, I think Republicans like voting for a female candidate to tell themselves how non-misogynist they are.
But you may be right that it’s different for Presidents, who are expected to know about bombs and wars and stuff that girls just don’t get.
Yep, and you cant even serve twice unless one term is quite short.
He is being contradictory. If he was elected in 2020, then he cant run in 2024. But he has clearly said he is gonna run in 2024.
He’s not being contradictory if he’s unaware of the two-term limit or thinks it won’t apply to him.
Biden for now has to stay he’s running in 2024. If he decides not to run he can announce that mid 2023.
You have to take into account that he thinks his current term doesn’t count towards the limit because of the Russia investigation and his impeachment.
IOW, “They were mean to me, so I get a do-over!”
Talk about toddler-level thinking. By Trump that is, not you or me.