U.S. Presidential Election

[steviewevie]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

There's certainly a sense of the Democrats tying themselves in knots with this throughout and it's displaying in this sense almost of a party civil war, which at the very least means the convention next month will be contentious.

Torn between being loyal and hoping he steps aside. Feels inevitable now.

[Kurosagi]

2 hours ago, charlierc said:

There's certainly a sense of the Democrats tying themselves in knots with this throughout and it's displaying in this sense almost of a party civil war, which at the very least means the convention next month will be contentious.

 

There was an episode of House of Cards, can't remember what season, where Claire Underwood makes manoeuvers to successfully become the new nominee during the convention. Looks like the Democrats are heading for a crazy convention; popcorn at the ready.

 

They've tried to keep a lid on this, but what absolute berks thinking that it would all be fine and nobody would notice. Scandalous really given what's at stake.

 

Meanwhile Trump can't believe his luck as he reapplies more orange tinted teflon.

[steviewevie]

I see AOC, Sanders and Omar have all endorsed Biden...which is good...he needs to be told to go by his side of the party.

[Kurosagi]

It would be nice if he just got over his messiah complex and realises he needs to go himself.

 

If (when) it all goes shark frenzy in the water, I'm not sure it'll end up being an orderly coronation of Harris, but I'm long out of touch with the Democrat hopefuls to know who else will be making manoeuvers.

[FloopFiller]

The Republican National Convention is next week so if Biden is planning on dropping out chances are it won’t be until after that’s over as to not hand them any more ammunition. Trump also revealing his VP pick apparently which should be interesting. 
 

Here’s hoping Dems are biding their time and waiting for the right moment to drop the ‘Biden out, xxx in’ bomb, instead of the more likely scenario of them being totally fractured and completely f**king this all up at the last hurdle…

[steviewevie]

4 hours ago, FloopFiller said:

The Republican National Convention is next week so if Biden is planning on dropping out chances are it won’t be until after that’s over as to not hand them any more ammunition. Trump also revealing his VP pick apparently which should be interesting. 
 

Here’s hoping Dems are biding their time and waiting for the right moment to drop the ‘Biden out, xxx in’ bomb, instead of the more likely scenario of them being totally fractured and completely f**king this all up at the last hurdle…

 not sure he's going to make the end of the NATO summit.

[steviewevie]

disappointed he didn't call him a mad old c**t full of botox and meth.

 

[steviewevie]

Maybe Starmer actually wants a Trump presidency??! 🤔

[steviewevie]

good news if you don't like NATO I guess.

 

[steviewevie]

 

[pink_triangle]

I am sure the stress of the last couple of weeks can’t have helped, but clearly not up to the job. He is 81 and my dad is that age and not as sharp as he once was, that’s the aging process and it’s not one that can be reversed.

[LJS]

3 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

I am sure the stress of the last couple of weeks can’t have helped, but clearly not up to the job. He is 81 and my dad is that age and not as sharp as he once was, that’s the aging process and it’s not one that can be reversed.

Its not whether he is up to the job that matters  - its whether he looks & sounds like he is up to the job & even his best friends would have to concede that he just doesn't.

I don't see how he beats Trump. For the sake of the world, he has to go.

[FloopFiller]

6 hours ago, steviewevie said:

 

Also referred to Trump as his VP 😅 😭 Feel like every Biden appearance henceforth is gonna have more and more gaffes as the pressure builds until he’s inevitably forced out due to how ridiculous it’s getting. Like, mixing up some names isn’t the worst thing in the world, but mixing up THOSE names on the world stage when the world is watching and just waiting for you to f**k up…

 

Feel like this particular gaffe might be the one to seal the deal tbh. Just insanely embarrassing, especially at this moment where his mental state is being studied like it is and in front of all the other world leaders. He’s clearly buckling under the scrutiny and it isn’t gonna get better. Ignore everything I’ve said prior to this week 😅

Edited July 12 by FloopFiller

[steviewevie]

Sounds like he did ok in his press conference, just a shame about the gaffes...more clips for Republicans to show in ads repeatedly.

[steviewevie]

2 hours ago, FloopFiller said:

Ignore everything I’ve said prior to this week

I mean, you're not alone, a lot of people were taken aback by how bad he was in the debate.

Apart from how crucial this all feels because of Trump, it is also sad and humiliating. I quite like Biden, he's done a good job on home affairs as far as I can tell with these big spending packages, his foreign stuff has been a disaster though with Afghanistan and now Israel/Gaza. With the recent middle east conflict you have to wonder how much he was actually involved in any decision making, and do Netanyahu and other key players know the state of him?

Anyway, it is still unknown if he's going to step aside, but he's losing support from a lot of key Democrats, and just feels inevitable. But...who replaces him? Does Kamala Harris have a better chance?

Edited July 12 by steviewevie

[steviewevie]

Putin and Trump

[lost]

If anyones suprised by Biden's condition I'd suggest maybe starting to get your news from a broader range of sources even ones you consider "right wing" Its been blindingly obvious for a couple of years.

[FloopFiller]

19 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

Anyway, it is still unknown if he's going to step aside, but he's losing support from a lot of key Democrats, and just feels inevitable. But...who replaces him? Does Kamala Harris have a better chance?

I have no idea what chance Kamala actually has, and if I’m being honest, I don’t think it’s great given she wasn’t a particularly popular VP pick in the first place, but at this point anything has gotta be better than dragging Biden’s corpse across the finish line. Maybe attaching a good VP to the ticket could go some way to improving things?

 

Another option is Kamala stays on as VP and they bring in somebody else to take the main job, but that obviously comes down to if Kamala is happy to stay on in that position, and I’ve no idea who they’d go with who could reinvigorate the Dems - all of the main people seem to either be prime for attacks from the right or not quite up to the job, although obviously I’m not the most clued up in that department. I thought Newsom seemed primed to go given he did that debate vs. DeSantis a while back, but apparently he’s got some skeletons in his closet and is quite unpopular with a lot of people. Sure looks and acts the part though - proper movie version of a U.S. president. 

[FloopFiller]

1 minute ago, lost said:

If anyones suprised by Biden's condition I'd suggest maybe starting to get your news from a broader range of sources even ones you consider "right wing" Its been blindingly obvious for a couple of years.

He’s been a gaffe machine for a long time and obviously in decline for at least two years now, but I thought he would at least be able to take on Trump in a fair debate with the rules that were set in place and call him out on his BS, but he completely fumbled it and fell right in to the trap of not being able to counter any of Trump’s ‘firehose of falsehoods’ as they call it.
 

If elected, I believe he could still do the job with the team behind him, but he’s crumbling when it matters most with all eyes on him and the media are having an absolute field day with it. 
 

Also worth noting that Trump has also been in steady decline for a while now, but he’s always spouted absolute word salad and is at least still loud and brash so he’s getting a pass. 

[charlierc]

24 minutes ago, FloopFiller said:

He’s been a gaffe machine for a long time and obviously in decline for at least two years now, but I thought he would at least be able to take on Trump in a fair debate with the rules that were set in place and call him out on his BS, but he completely fumbled it and fell right in to the trap of not being able to counter any of Trump’s ‘firehose of falsehoods’ as they call it.
 

If elected, I believe he could still do the job with the team behind him, but he’s crumbling when it matters most with all eyes on him and the media are having an absolute field day with it. 
 

Also worth noting that Trump has also been in steady decline for a while now, but he’s always spouted absolute word salad and is at least still loud and brash so he’s getting a pass. 

I mean, he himself said he was a "gaffe machine" in an interview just before deciding to throw his hat into the ring for the 2020 Democrat primaries. So we warned.

 

Really you can't do a bigger one than the Putin one last night, although I think from what I saw, Zelenskyy did have some of his old comedian training to help him style it out.

 

The strangeness from those who watched the full press conference and analysed it that it kinda proved neither option - it didn't make a strong enough case that he's finished, but didn't exactly show him as in fighting form either.

[steviewevie]

 

[MilkyJoe]

The problem as I see it is that away from the argument about whether Biden is fit or not, he's still neck and neck in the polls. I think anybody else taking over from him at this late stage is pretty much guaranteeing a trump victory.

[steviewevie]

28 minutes ago, MilkyJoe said:

The problem as I see it is that away from the argument about whether Biden is fit or not, he's still neck and neck in the polls. I think anybody else taking over from him at this late stage is pretty much guaranteeing a trump victory.

neck and neck nationally...but it is certain key states that is worrying them. Apparently 12 months ago Trumps lot were hoping they would be standing against Harris, now they hope that Biden stays in place.

[MilkyJoe]

3 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

neck and neck nationally...but it is certain key states that is worrying them. Apparently 12 months ago Trumps lot were hoping they would be standing against Harris, now they hope that Biden stays in place.

Yeah I know what you’re saying. I just think that the fact he’s already in the job makes him still their best option. He has a few opportunities coming up to prove that he’s still on the ball but I agree if it gets worse he will have no choice but to step aside as the clamour for him to do so will become too much.

[FloopFiller]

Yeah him being the incumbent is a big advantage, but not sure how many more senior moments (and bad ones, at that) they can really handle at this point. Trump’s relative silence (compared to how he usually is, anyway) on the matter says it all really - his team have definitely told him to cool the attack rhetoric and let Biden f**k this all up by himself.