It's not that I don't like Biden. He's been doing fine. But, and I've said this too much, I would've voted for Huntsman instead of second Obama because of the baggage the latter was carrying. His ability to cut through it all required significant amounts of diverted attention (it seemed).
So, with Biden, great job. But his age will cause some people to pause, as it should. Let's think eight years instead of just four, since the GOP is in such a vulnerable position. Consider some combination of Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Whitmer. Fire in their bellies, a good track record, and - so far - no one's accused them of killing scared children in order to harvest adenochrome, but that day will come when they announce. So I get that they'll take their time for the moment, so as to let Joe have the limelight he deserves.
Good conversation between you and kcar...and I think THIS is the discussion of the 2024 election. Does Joe not running (for whatever reason) put the Dems at risk? For all of the obvious concerns and problems, I can't imagine the Dems can produce a more viable candidate than an almost 82-year-old on election day Joe Biden. I like Buttigieg. I think Gavin Newsom on a national stage would be interesting to see. Hakeem Jefferies could be interesting. But nobody has the record and the leverage that Biden has. His age is THE issue, and until he is unable to do the job, it's hard to see anyone on the left doing it better. The debt ceiling deal proves that. He's still a pretty good politician.
I think the opportunity for the right is anyone but Trump. I think DeSantis has painted himself into a corner he can't win from, but if the Republicans can find their way into picking a younger moderate, they might offer a real option for anyone who thinks Joe is just too damn old. As a NJ resident, I have mixed emotions about him... but someone like Chris Christie, or Chris Sununu, of Glenn Youngkin, might be able to thread the needle.
I can't see any way that Trump defeats Biden, but if it's not Trump... Joe's age could be a much bigger factor in a year.
The Democratic party cannot expect to win in 2024 by defeating Biden in the primaries, even with someone combining the charisma of Obama and Bill Clinton. As it is, what don't you like about Biden? His age? He's got all his marbles. Inflation? Every other country is dealing with inflation. Dick Nixon, Gerry Ford and Jimmy Carter found out how hard it is for a president to curb or stop inflation.
It's not that I don't like Biden. He's been doing fine. But, and I've said this too much, I would've voted for Huntsman instead of second Obama because of the baggage the latter was carrying. His ability to cut through it all required significant amounts of diverted attention (it seemed).
So, with Biden, great job. But his age will cause some people to pause, as it should. Let's think eight years instead of just four, since the GOP is in such a vulnerable position. Consider some combination of Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Whitmer. Fire in their bellies, a good track record, and - so far - no one's accused them of killing scared children in order to harvest adenochrome, but that day will come when they announce. So I get that they'll take their time for the moment, so as to let Joe have the limelight he deserves.
I know it's fun to call someone dumb; lord knows I do it all the time under my breath.
But if we fall into the rhythm of thinking all Trump supporters are dumb, we're gonna get served. I know plenty of people who are 1) outwardly very humane, like taking in homeless pregnant mom and raising her as their daughter or 2) extremely smart, like the world expert in a species of fish genetics and a nice high chess ranking - but they still support Trump for whatever reason. And you know thhttps://radioparadise.com/#at - as incoherent as Trump is - he's the sock puppet and there are plenty of white guys with money who are gonna prompt him so he can stay a figurehead for their plans.
So making sure he doesn't screw up the country/world even more obligates people to believe (against the frequent evidence) that Trump, his circle, and his followers are worthy adversaries and ramp up the strategy - including the long game.
To me, part of that is leaving Biden behind and replacing him, close to the election, with someone younger and formidable. And those people exist. My suspicion is that they're being held back to avoid the inevitable "ermagherd they're not a citizen" stuff we've seen repeatedly. But, hopefully, somewhere there's a room of strategists who expect that they're up against something intelligent, coordinated, substantial, and bad for the nation.
I would have posted this sooner if I'd spotted your response.
Kurt's not dumb. I have a lot of respect for his grit and wide range of real-world experience. At times I've suspected he plays dumb—for instance when he posted something to the effect that he didn't provide evidence backing his claims because he wasn't skilled at looking stuff up on the Web. Or when Kurt repeated Trump's complaint that the FBI never took possession of the DNC's server hardware when it investigated potential Russian interference in the 2016 election even though he likely knew from his own experience in working with computers that images of the server OS and stored software were the relevant pieces of information (which the FBI had long had when Trump complained).
My best guess is that Trump, for Kurt—and many other bright, successful and patriotic Americans—Trump represents a vision of America that they think is under threat from foreign competition, immigration, minority groups intent on changing the status quo for their selfish benefit, politically entrenched elite groups sponging off the federal government, etc.
At this point in time, though, I don't have a lot of patience with people's continued support for Trump or even their willingness to make some excuses for Trump's behavior. Trump was president for four long, ugly and disastrous years. He happily prolonged and worsened divisions in America, promoted hatred and bigotry, caused 40% of our current national debt by an unnecessary tax cut for the rich, tried to dismantle our healthcare system, badly botched the national response to COVID (and almost killed himself in doing so) and tried to overthrow our federal government when he couldn't get the 2020 votes in battleground states "fixed" so he could win.
Kurt's not dumb. But at this point I read his posts defending Trump or claiming that Biden is a the biggest threat to the US with impatience and perhaps too much contempt. Trump had his shot. He was a F*#$king disaster. We are still slogging through the fallout of Trump's stupidity and disregard for the law. Did Trump really think he could get Raffensperger to change the 2020 GA presidential vote when he called on JANUARY 2, 2021—after GA had recounted the votes three times and certified the election? Did he seriously think he could stop the transition of power to Biden on January 6, 2021 by inciting a mob to storm the Capitol building and disrupt the formal presentation of electoral college votes? And how the F$%ck did Trump believe that he could get away with holding onto 300+ federal documents, some of them with the most classified designation, after he was repeatedly asked to return them and told that he was breaking serious laws by retaining them?
Kurt's support for Trump at this point reminds of a world-class physicist I met years ago, Paul Frampton. For all his considerable ability and accomplishments in the field of physics, Paul was and is a total boob in matters outside of the discipline. He became convinced that he had struck up an online romance with Denise Milani, an Internet model 30+ years younger than Frampton. He happily traveled to a South American country to move a suitcase for "Denise" to another country, but got arrested when the luggage was found to hold 2 kilos of cocaine. Clearly a honeypot scam—but Paul struggled and struggled to realize that he'd been duped. He served about 18 months in a very nasty Argentinian prison. You can read about it in a long piece in the New York Times Sunday Magazine called "The Professor, the Bikini Model and the Suitcase Full of Trouble."
Yes, I felt bad for Paul Frampton when he went to prison and almost died from digestive issues when incarcerated. But overall I loathe the man for all the damage he's done to the people around him, who tried to help him over the years. Because Paul just uses people without remorse—after all, he's The Great Frampton! Physics Genius! And sadly, people make all sorts of excuses for Paul because he's great at physics.
So I respect Kurt. But when it comes to Trump, Kurt is a sucker and a fool. People like him who support Trump risk damaging this country beyond repair.
You wrote
"To me, part of that is leaving Biden behind and replacing him, close to the election, with someone younger and formidable. And those people exist."
Sorry, you're stuck with Joe in 2024. David Letterman kinda summed up the situation back in 2004 when John Kerry was running against GW Bush shortly after our invasion of Iraq. The media and the White House kept pushing the notion that we were at war with terrorism and Bush was a War President. Letterman was talking to his uncle about Iraq and the lack of WMDs found and the chaos in the country after Saddam fell. The uncle wasn't happy with any of that and didn't think much of Bush but said, "You don't change horses in midstream."
The Democratic party cannot expect to win in 2024 by defeating Biden in the primaries, even with someone combining the charisma of Obama and Bill Clinton. As it is, what don't you like about Biden? His age? He's got all his marbles. Inflation? Every other country is dealing with inflation. Dick Nixon, Gerry Ford and Jimmy Carter found out how hard it is for a president to curb or stop inflation.
It seems contagious: see kurtster's comment that geoff_morphini replied to just below...
I know it's fun to call someone dumb; lord knows I do it all the time under my breath.
But if we fall into the rhythm of thinking all Trump supporters are dumb, we're gonna get served. I know plenty of people who are 1) outwardly very humane, like taking in homeless pregnant mom and raising her as their daughter or 2) extremely smart, like the world expert in a species of fish genetics and a nice high chess ranking - but they still support Trump for whatever reason. And you know that - as incoherent as Trump is - he's the sock puppet and there are plenty of white guys with money who are gonna prompt him so he can stay a figurehead for their plans.
So making sure he doesn't screw up the country/world even more obligates people to believe (against the frequent evidence) that Trump, his circle, and his followers are worthy adversaries and ramp up the strategy - including the long game.
To me, part of that is leaving Biden behind and replacing him, close to the election, with someone younger and formidable. And those people exist. My suspicion is that they're being held back to avoid the inevitable "ermagherd they're not a citizen" stuff we've seen repeatedly. But, hopefully, somewhere there's a room of strategists who expect that they're up against something intelligent, coordinated, substantial, and bad for the nation.
If the polling of who is the biggest threat to the US had a choice between Russia, China and Biden my guess is that Biden would win by a landslide.
.
If Biden loses in '24 do you really think he's gonna try and overthrow the federal government like Trump tried? Has he played Putin's Bitch like Trump did? Did Biden completely botch the response to a pandemic like Trump did?
>20 The only winner here is Russia, which succeeded in its mission to get its favored candidate elected, sow discord in the United States, and undermine public trust in American institutions.
Hence the current situation of many Trump folks being Pro-Putin in the Ukraine War. I'm sure he is working overtime to help his guy get in again so the US will pull back assistance as soon as he takes office.
