Do voters trust Biden on. . . anything? Why are Democrats so mean to Dean Phillips? And what will Chris Christie do next? An update from the campaign trail.
"Having the necessary mental and physical health to be president": minus-23.
"Being competent and effective": minus-16.
Versus Trump. Trump!!! Ooof.
Considering how bad Trump is on these metrics, this is awful.
Immigration seems to be a mixed bag, with one metric being minus-35 and the other being plus-12. Of course, there's a lot of nuance there about our immigration policy which neither side gets right. We can have the problem or the solution, and our politicians have chosen the problem.
"Protecting democracy" is a dead heat.
The only bright spot for the Dems is abortion--no surprise there. I said a long time ago the GOP would rue the day that Roe was overturned.
The longest odds of all are that it will actually end up being a Biden v Trump election in November. It is more likely to be Phillips v Haley. Those two relative youngsters simply need to keep their campaigns on idle and wait for which of the two old crazy guys ends up definitively senile, dead or in jail, and odds are also good, so long as we are betting, that both crazy old coots will have vanished by Veterans Day 2024.
Phillips has as much chance at being the nominee as Kamala has being appointed to the Supreme Court. She may qualify as a jester in the court of public fools, and Newsome will be plugged in well before Phillips wakes from his afternoon nap.
Yeh you are probably right, but ain't no way a man who forgot he was vice president will make it to November nor Kamala the stealth presidential DEI diva. And if those two leave the stage nobody ever has to vote for Trump, particularly if he is convicted.
The political strategy of the Democrat Party is simple. 1. Elites run the country; 2. Blacks are fully dependable votes and exist in a form of utter dependency as they now wallow in cratering family formation and cynical (anti) racist rhetoric ensuring another generation of dependency rather than true liberation; 3. Cast all working class Whites as religious zealots who are retrograde and itching for fascism; 4. Stitch outcasts into a permanent voting bloc to backstop Black voters. LGBTQI citizens have little in common, but don’t let reason get in the way of the emotional pull of acceptance (whether true or simply publicly countenanced).
The conservative side of the political aisle offers nothing that is not reactionary. The conservative ability to engage coherently (and Ted Cruz is hardly the guy you want in the lead) is tone-deaf on things like abortion, incoherent on how they might really disconnect Blacks from their ill-fated love affair with their “dealer”, and speaking to everyone with some honesty about what happens when the border stays open forever. Yes. We ARE a nation of immigrants. There have been three forms. First, Europeans who were largely Christian (even the Jews had a difficult go). Second, Blacks by way of slavery. This was getting sorted properly before we destroyed the family with welfare and striving through affirmative action (which made everyone skeptical of achievement), and government housing (which wiped out a large chunk of intergenerational real estate wealth transfer, and now DEI (which is turning once-open Whites to defensiveness and bitterness…this is what shaming will do). Third, Muslim and Asian. The Democrats feel that a good voter is a good immigrant. We will see how that supports the nation. In about fifty years.
It’s the EVIL party versus the STUPID party, again. You can’t make it up.
I see this election completely differently. The Democrats are the party of regulation by government "experts." The Republicans are the party of relatively free markets and Constitutional government. The personalities involved are only a minor part of the election.
The basic question is, do government "experts" do better at deciding and regulating things than leaving most decision to the market? In other words, are the people able to give consent to be governed, or are they too stupid and ignorant to give informed consent? I think the history from 1600 on has been fairly clear on this subject. The people are much better at making decisions for themselves than any group of "experts."
Unchecked power is very corrupting. The reason Western democracy in general, and US Constitutional government in particular, are in peril is that decisions are no longer made primarily by elected branches of government. Unelected "expert" regulators make most decisions, ignoring people's votes and controlling the press.
Feudalism may be comfortable for folks who want to trade independence for the good lordship and "security" of guaranteed government support. However, strong man rule and "good lordship" was a consistent failure for all of history prior to 1600. I don't see the attraction. Relatively free markets have led to the greatest generation and distribution of wealth in human history. Socialism is a reactionary return to feudalism, and the economic misery it provides.
Making everybody dependent on government regulation and handouts will move our republic into a Roman Empire phase. The rule of law will be replaced by the rule of men. Our civilization will decline, because nothing will be maintained. The government will go bankrupt from welfare, aka bread and circuses. Large parts of the population, like straight white and Asian men, will be marginalized. They won't have any reason to want to defend the country in time of war. Military recruiting in the US is already suffering.
Identity politics is a ruse to make poor government performance irrelevant. Your identity never changes, so no matter how bad the government is, you still vote the same way. Similarly, making the election a popularity contest, rather than about how bad Democrats and Biden have screwed up the country, is the only way Democrats can win. You can't have a rude president with bad tweets, no matter how competent he was compared to the current mess.
Also, since men can become pregnant, and according to legal doctrine, people in their 80's can get pregnant too, everybody needs an abortion. You don't need any other rights, just an abortion. You can throw away the Constitution,and the rule of law, as long as you have free taxpayer paid abortions.
I think that was always the plan. Give us two options that are both awful but both of whom support the current neoliberal economic model and the neoconservative foreign affairs model.
Heads Wall Street wins.....Tails Wall Street wins.
Either way, the military industrial complex, the CIA and the NSA win.
In all circumstances, the moderate middle is left powerless and confused and angry while also going broke.
"Having the necessary mental and physical health to be president": minus-23.
"Being competent and effective": minus-16.
Versus Trump. Trump!!! Ooof.
Considering how bad Trump is on these metrics, this is awful.
Immigration seems to be a mixed bag, with one metric being minus-35 and the other being plus-12. Of course, there's a lot of nuance there about our immigration policy which neither side gets right. We can have the problem or the solution, and our politicians have chosen the problem.
"Protecting democracy" is a dead heat.
The only bright spot for the Dems is abortion--no surprise there. I said a long time ago the GOP would rue the day that Roe was overturned.
The longest odds of all are that it will actually end up being a Biden v Trump election in November. It is more likely to be Phillips v Haley. Those two relative youngsters simply need to keep their campaigns on idle and wait for which of the two old crazy guys ends up definitively senile, dead or in jail, and odds are also good, so long as we are betting, that both crazy old coots will have vanished by Veterans Day 2024.
Phillips has as much chance at being the nominee as Kamala has being appointed to the Supreme Court. She may qualify as a jester in the court of public fools, and Newsome will be plugged in well before Phillips wakes from his afternoon nap.
Yeh you are probably right, but ain't no way a man who forgot he was vice president will make it to November nor Kamala the stealth presidential DEI diva. And if those two leave the stage nobody ever has to vote for Trump, particularly if he is convicted.
Nine months is a long time for someone with dementia. Black swan event risk on both sides, given Trump’s legal issues.
The political strategy of the Democrat Party is simple. 1. Elites run the country; 2. Blacks are fully dependable votes and exist in a form of utter dependency as they now wallow in cratering family formation and cynical (anti) racist rhetoric ensuring another generation of dependency rather than true liberation; 3. Cast all working class Whites as religious zealots who are retrograde and itching for fascism; 4. Stitch outcasts into a permanent voting bloc to backstop Black voters. LGBTQI citizens have little in common, but don’t let reason get in the way of the emotional pull of acceptance (whether true or simply publicly countenanced).
The conservative side of the political aisle offers nothing that is not reactionary. The conservative ability to engage coherently (and Ted Cruz is hardly the guy you want in the lead) is tone-deaf on things like abortion, incoherent on how they might really disconnect Blacks from their ill-fated love affair with their “dealer”, and speaking to everyone with some honesty about what happens when the border stays open forever. Yes. We ARE a nation of immigrants. There have been three forms. First, Europeans who were largely Christian (even the Jews had a difficult go). Second, Blacks by way of slavery. This was getting sorted properly before we destroyed the family with welfare and striving through affirmative action (which made everyone skeptical of achievement), and government housing (which wiped out a large chunk of intergenerational real estate wealth transfer, and now DEI (which is turning once-open Whites to defensiveness and bitterness…this is what shaming will do). Third, Muslim and Asian. The Democrats feel that a good voter is a good immigrant. We will see how that supports the nation. In about fifty years.
It’s the EVIL party versus the STUPID party, again. You can’t make it up.
I see this election completely differently. The Democrats are the party of regulation by government "experts." The Republicans are the party of relatively free markets and Constitutional government. The personalities involved are only a minor part of the election.
The basic question is, do government "experts" do better at deciding and regulating things than leaving most decision to the market? In other words, are the people able to give consent to be governed, or are they too stupid and ignorant to give informed consent? I think the history from 1600 on has been fairly clear on this subject. The people are much better at making decisions for themselves than any group of "experts."
Unchecked power is very corrupting. The reason Western democracy in general, and US Constitutional government in particular, are in peril is that decisions are no longer made primarily by elected branches of government. Unelected "expert" regulators make most decisions, ignoring people's votes and controlling the press.
Feudalism may be comfortable for folks who want to trade independence for the good lordship and "security" of guaranteed government support. However, strong man rule and "good lordship" was a consistent failure for all of history prior to 1600. I don't see the attraction. Relatively free markets have led to the greatest generation and distribution of wealth in human history. Socialism is a reactionary return to feudalism, and the economic misery it provides.
Making everybody dependent on government regulation and handouts will move our republic into a Roman Empire phase. The rule of law will be replaced by the rule of men. Our civilization will decline, because nothing will be maintained. The government will go bankrupt from welfare, aka bread and circuses. Large parts of the population, like straight white and Asian men, will be marginalized. They won't have any reason to want to defend the country in time of war. Military recruiting in the US is already suffering.
Identity politics is a ruse to make poor government performance irrelevant. Your identity never changes, so no matter how bad the government is, you still vote the same way. Similarly, making the election a popularity contest, rather than about how bad Democrats and Biden have screwed up the country, is the only way Democrats can win. You can't have a rude president with bad tweets, no matter how competent he was compared to the current mess.
Also, since men can become pregnant, and according to legal doctrine, people in their 80's can get pregnant too, everybody needs an abortion. You don't need any other rights, just an abortion. You can throw away the Constitution,and the rule of law, as long as you have free taxpayer paid abortions.
I think that was always the plan. Give us two options that are both awful but both of whom support the current neoliberal economic model and the neoconservative foreign affairs model.
Heads Wall Street wins.....Tails Wall Street wins.
Either way, the military industrial complex, the CIA and the NSA win.
In all circumstances, the moderate middle is left powerless and confused and angry while also going broke.