2020 US Presidential Election Discussion (primary & general)

[Guardian Enzo]

Tinfoil hats for all.

[coded321]

^you using the tinfoil hats insult to delegitimitize us is the equivalent of trump cult using fake news to delegitimitize any news unfavorable to trump.

[Toukairin]

On a different topic, what the hell is wrong with Trump? He keeps on spinning stuff about the coronavirus while there is a desperate need for better resource deployment and, especially, FACTS. Is there nobody who tells him to sit in the corner while experts are trying to do their job? If that is not enough, then a slap in the back of the head is in order.

Related to that, Ted Cruz is one of a few GOP politicians being in self-quarantine right now after one of the attendees from the CPAC has been tested positive for the coronavirus.

edit: BBC published this piece to tell us in very full detail that this virus is beyond anything that Trump has ever faced of a challenge as POTUS.

[coded321]

considering he fired the pandemic response team, made massive cuts to the cdc, and his administration's poor response to the coronavirus already, of course he's trying to spin things to protect himself and his reelection chances. as if he gives a damn about how the coronavirus might hurt the people, all that matters is that HE doesn't get hurt by this.

[Toukairin]

Originally Posted by coded321

considering he fired the pandemic response team, made massive cuts to the cdc, and his administration's poor response to the coronavirus already, of course he's trying to spin things to protect himself and his reelection chances. as if he gives a damn about how the coronavirus might hurt the people, all that matters is that HE doesn't get hurt by this.

Yeah, but we have seen a great example of what willful disinformation and others efforts at distorting facts have done in China. They are paying a huge price for having behaved like fucking idiots who only think of the wallet before human lives. Make no mistake: there will be hell for the CCP to pay down the road in China when people are pissed off at how things were badly handled. It's already bad to think that the WHO and China have already been woeful in their reaction to the problem, but this in the US is another kind of stupid.

Trump made mistakes with those cuts, but that does not mean he cannot reverse them. Politicians make U-turns all the time when necessity calls for such sensitive move. And if Trump thinks he would not get hurt by the virus, he better think twice again. That idiot loves shaking hands left, right, and center, and he was at the most recent CPAC. All it takes is one individual with the illness being in close contact with the whole political class, and then this is it. In Iran, a chunk of the political class already got ill; some of them also died. Everyone should let that sink in.

[Magin]

The problem is, Trump is basically a tsundere for China and North Korea. On TV, he'll act all tough on China and North Korea, but it's a fact that he actually admires the fact they're dictatorships... and wants to be like them.

[Key Board]

To be fair, China has been changing their rules for reporting infections and even suppressing them.
But they've taken quarantine measures seriously, and shared the virus genome with the world in record time.

They're still doing better than the US, I think.

[coded321]

One of the very few benefits of having an oppressive government, it's easier to enforce mass quarantines and restrict movement of the people.

[Key Board]

True I suppose, but it's not just China the US is lagging behind.

https://i.imgur.com/hSHN8EV.jpg
https://www.businessinsider.com/coro...-behind-2020-3

//

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Toukairin

On a different topic, what the hell is wrong with Trump? He keeps on spinning stuff about the coronavirus while there is a desperate need for better resource deployment and, especially, FACTS. Is there nobody who tells him to sit in the corner while experts are trying to do their job? If that is not enough, then a slap in the back of the head is in order.

Related to that, Ted Cruz is one of a few GOP politicians being in self-quarantine right now after one of the attendees from the CPAC has been tested positive for the coronavirus.

edit: BBC published this piece to tell us in very full detail that this virus is beyond anything that Trump has ever faced of a challenge as POTUS.

I told you so...

[Solace]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

The hatchet job on Biden has certainly already started - you have the Sanders campaign in full-on Trump mode doing their dirty work for them already - and it will be unrelenting through Election Day. Maybe that will be enough, but Trump appears to have a ceiling that he's never been able to break through so the only way he can win is by depressing opposition turnout. The longer Sanders and his acolytes try to destroy Biden the easier it will be for Trump to finish the job.

Sheesh, did Sanders personally come into your house and piss on your breakfast?

You know what will sink Biden? The two things Bernie won't talk about: Joe's mental problems, and Joe's creepy pedo shit. He'll call out Joe on policy all day long but he won't attack him personally.

But Trump will. Expect it. There's a mountain of clips that don't even need to be taken out of context that most people have either never seen, or have forgotten about. This isn't even including the problems with his son and brother.

You thought "Communist Bernie" was bad, that it would sink Bernie in the general? Man you haven't seen what the Republicans are going to do to Joe.

Look, Joe shouldn't be running for President. It's genuinely sad to see him fading in the public eye like this. You can not like Sanders all you want, but there is a stark difference in mental and physical performance between the two. Especially considering Sanders had a heart blockage last year.

[Guardian Enzo]

Won't talk about it? It's their entire campaign narrative already!

Considering Trump is obviously in a serious state of mental decline himself, that's a double-edged sword for them to wield. Plus, Biden has the advantage of being a well-known and generally well-liked (sorry, but it's true) figure already. He can't be "defined" by the Trump attack machine because there's virtually no one who doesn't have an opinion about him already. The bar for him in terms of his mental faculties is going to be pretty low, to be honest, and he'll be carefully managed by his campaign.

I didn't want either of these guys to run, or be the nominee. I don't think we need 80 year-old men running for president - I think it's a bad idea. But Biden is going to be the nominee - it's not a matter of wanting it or not wanting it, it's a fait acompli at this point. And I don't think Democrats (or Sanders) should be trying to destroy him themselves when he's going to have to be the one to take down Trump.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Won't talk about it? It's their entire campaign narrative already!

It's not. He literally just said yesterday, when asked, that he would not touch the subject. Don't confuse what some supporters on Twitter are saying as him personally endorsing what they're saying. He doesn't talk about it at rallies, he doesn't make ads about it.

The narrative among non-Biden supporters is changing to the topic because the topic has been buried for months due to the fact that Biden wasn't the front runner. Now he is, and people are looking at him seriously again. The media had concerns about this last year and as late as February this year.

Considering Trump is obviously in a serious state of mental decline himself, that's a double-edged sword for them to wield.

Trump is the master of word salad but he's articulate enough to convey how much of an asshole he is. That's not the case for Biden. You can clearly see Biden struggling to speak correctly and failing at it.

Plus, Biden has the advantage of being a well-known and generally well-liked (sorry, but it's true) figure already.

No argument. People like him more than Hillary. He's certainly looked upon more favorably than Trump. But that's not a high bar.

He can't be "defined" by the Trump attack machine because there's virtually no one who doesn't have an opinion about him already.

That's nonsense. With enough work, you can change opinions and perceptions. Just ask Bloomberg. Rained money, rose in the polls like crazy. True he didn't win much, but considering he skipped the first four states and a year of debates people should be shocked that he was doing as well in the polls as he did. He wasn't even running a serious ground campaign.

The bar for him in terms of his mental faculties is going to be pretty low, to be honest, and he'll be carefully managed by his campaign.

He's already being managed by his campaign. He doesn't really do interviews, his public appearances are limited and when he does appear, he doesn't speak for very long.

I didn't want either of these guys to run, or be the nominee. I don't think we need 80 year-old men running for president - I think it's a bad idea. But Biden is going to be the nominee - it's not a matter of wanting it or not wanting it, it's a fait acompli at this point. And I don't think Democrats (or Sanders) should be trying to destroy him themselves when he's going to have to be the one to take down Trump.

I'm not a fan of 80 year olds running for President either. It says a lot about our current political parties, honestly. That said, Joe Biden's problem isn't Bernie Sanders. It's Joe Biden. Bernie didn't make Hillary lose in 2016. She did that all on her own. Biden's no different.

[Guardian Enzo]

Bernie did a hell of a lot to help Hillary lose in 2016 (she still won the popular vote by over 2%). He can do the same to Biden now, if he chooses. With his own political career effectively ended by the results last week and tonight, he has to start thinking about his priorities and his legacy. But just what that means to him is anybody's guess.

[coded321]

^to think that serving and fighting for the people, not corporate interests, is wrong because it goes against party unity and all that crap.

[OH&S]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Bernie did a hell of a lot to help Hillary lose in 2016.

Just because you repeat something hundreds of times in your head, it doesn't make it any less wrong. Despite winning the popular vote, Hillary was a uniquely unpopular candidate and her general campaign strategy is what caused her to lose the rust belt in 2016.

You've gotta let go of your hate boner for Bernie; especially now that it looks like Biden's got this in the bag.

---

The one saving grace for Biden being the nominee is that at least the Democrats have been invigorated to go out and vote for him in increased turnout. Democrats always win if the turnout is high.

The big risk of course is Biden's declining cognitive ability being on full display. Trump might be the same but he's also an entertainer and his voter base are practically cultists at this point. That's only half true for the Democratic voter base.

[Magin]

I may not like Biden, but will I vote for him? Yes.

Do I think Biden will lose to Trump? Also Yes.

Unless the same amount of people who showed up and voted for Biden over these past two weeks show up for the general and vote as well, it's starting to look more and more like America as we know it won't exist in 2024. Hell, the planet in general (because America has a giant influence) will probably become a hellscape. Guess it's time to adopt the mentality of "as long as I'm surviving, everyone else can fuck off"

[coded321]

what invigorated the voters wasn't biden himself, it was the media and and the dnc invigorating voters for biden. if this had been a one on one race between biden and bernie from the beginning, biden 100% would have lost. in the same way trump pulls a con on his base, the dnc and the media pulled a con on democrat voters. the question is if they can keep this up till november. Another question is if hatred for trump would be enough to energize voters to vote for a very weak candidate.

[Magin]

Honestly, there's a part of me thinking that now the media will give a ton of time to both Biden and Trump... because what feels like the only difference between the two is the letter next to their name. Otherwise, the media and more specifically, the billionaires backing the campaigns have already won. If Biden manages to win against Trump (he probably won't, but who knows?), then I can at least say America is taking baby steps. But with an almost certain four more years of Trump on the horizon... well, at least I've decided to stay in Japan for the rest of my life.

[coded321]

^any tips on the immigration process in japan? always did want to come to japan. in the miracle biden wins, they better have a very competent vp backing him cause i honestly don't think he'll last his first year. hell, i'd be invigorated if obama became biden's vp. that way, when biden retires early, we're back to an obama presidency... yeah, wishful thinking i know, but i need something to keep me sane.