2024 US Presidential Election

Fat boy needs a diet whisky for breakfast, then whisky for lunch followed by a sensible Big Mac.

 

He is living well, owns 500 companies, and is running for president, for the second time.

Biden would never have won, if not for COVID-19. This time, he doesn't have that issue, so I'd be worried if I were him and apparently his backers are, with all of these indictments flying around. He is not responsible for paying everybody's legal bills. The trials have not even started yet.

Yes, Trump is somewhat obese but he has never drunk alcohol, in his life, taken drugs, or smoked cigarettes. Everybody has at least one bad habit, Trump's are junk food and skirt-chasing but for a politician, the latter one is normal. In fact, it is the reason many of them went into politics to begin with, which Trump did not have to do.

The war-mongering politicians who support Biden encompass both Democrats and Republicans. He will do whatever they want, regardless of how many needless deaths there are.

 

Anyone watched Wednesday’s GOP primary debate? I have some thoughts:

- Can you believe we're in the 21st century and Republicans are still going on about abortion like it's a calamity that will ruin us all. What an absolute waste of time.

- Pence has good debate tactics. Mopped up Vivek Ramaswamy pretty well IMO, highlighting his inexperience. Christie went after Vivek too.

- I think this Vivek Ramaswamy guy embarrassed himself when delving into foreign policy discussions. This so-called 'outsider' seems to be following the same path as Trump in his campaigning strategy, yet all he's managing to achieve is boosting Trump’s stature and propping him up. Maybe he’s just looking to be Trump’s running mate.

- DeSantis never answers the questions. Just regurgitates his talking points. The dude is so bland.

- Tim Scott is very ordinary and by the books. I think he’ll be one of the first ones to drop out of the race.

Bonus: Trump’s mugshot.

 

Very scary and bizarre.

LOL!

 

He's like a typical politician, then.

 

Trump posted this, himself.

 

I'm kind of an outsider -- I used to be a frequent visitor to the States...

But for a country that places so much value on "image", how could a photo like that be in Trump's interest?

There's a lot about the U.S. that I thought I had figured out. Now I'm not so sure.

 

I think Democrats should be more concerned about all the Fentanyl deaths and the unborn who have no voice. There are a lot of people that can’t have kids and want to adopt. Plus the father should have some say regarding the unborn.

I thought Biden was the bland one. At least DeSantis wants a secure border, something the Democrats completely ignore except RFK Jr. who seems to make a lot of sense on many topics. I watched his informative interview with Tucker Carlson on X.

 

Trump's interest is in whining that he's now been indicted four times and quickly send money to me to pay my legal bills or some thing like that. Posting his mug shot only makes the rubes feel sorry and donate, donate, donate!

 

Yeah, it’s extremely baffling considering the conservative majority Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade not too long ago, leaving it up to the states. What more do these people want?

What’s Biden have do with the GOP primaries? He’s not in it.

True. It was just annoying seeing the Fox News moderators ask straightforward yes or no questions, only for DeSantis to decline even the most basic response. Unlike some other candidates who did manage to provide clear yes or no answers, he seemed to sidestep that approach entirely. He came across as totally pretentious.

I guess you could call it a historic image – the first inaugural mugshot of a former U.S. president ever. -.-

 

The thing with American politics is that it's so vastly different from what we have here in the UK, and to some extent, Europe. The US’s Democratic Party would be somewhat centrist on our left/right spectrum, and the Republican Party would fall more into what we consider our far-right. This means that if I were American I’d be much more inclined to vote for the Democrats, but in the UK, I'm a conservative voter (even though they are just as trash and as useless as all the other parties, in my eyes). Our labour party would be much more far-left, by comparison, in the US.

I find some of the Republican policies and ideologies to be draconian and too religiously motivated. On the one hand, they have banned early abortions, and on the other, they masturbate over their guns whilst mass shootings continue to kill a ridiculous amount of people without anyone wanting to put stronger checks in place. It's pure insanity.

Economically, I'm much more right-wing, but socially, I'm more of a centrist. I'm a hybrid of various parties' beliefs, so no party fits all of my ideals. For example, I believe that our main infrastructures like gas, water, and energy, should be nationalised and controlled in the public interest as they have a significant effect on our economy. This is more in line with what Labour want. I also want to keep our NHS the way it is; I just want it to be run better, and again, this is more of a Labour thing. However, I don’t like Labour’s fiscal policies and the way they spend and use our money. There are also too many other things about the Labour Party that I just really don’t like.

With all that being said, I think Joe Biden has been a disaster of a president and would go as far as to say that he has been worse than Trump, in my very humble opinion. I think Joe has been a total car crash.

 

Do you have any facts to back up your opinion? Or is this just your opinion?

 

I will offer an example as to why the Biden administration has been worse than Trump's, as I agree with the post that is quoted.

Joe Biden said, during his campaign in 2020, regarding Trump's handling of COVID-19, "...anyone who is responsible for that many deaths. should not remain as president of the United States of America." At that time, during Trump's term, there were 220,000 deaths from COVID-19, which increased to nearly 400,000 by the time Biden was inaugurated. However, during Biden's term, COVID-19-related deaths increased by over 600,000. To date, despite what he said in 2020, Biden has not resigned or ever addressed his failure to curb COVID-19 deaths, which was one of his main campaign promises, if not the top one. In his own words, and by his own standards, he should not remain as president of the United States of America.

 

Where does one start?

He made disastrous decisions regarding the withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan which led to the rise of the Taliban and the reversal of women's rights over there. It meant that all the troops that lost their lives over there did it for nothing.

He failed with COVID-19 even though he was very outspoken about it.

He's done nothing to address the immigration issues (there's a similar situation in the UK). Bad policies can lead to atrocities and human traffickers taking advantage of people.

He made numerous errors regarding the US’s energy policies which aided Russia immensely. Before Biden's administration, the US had become a net exporter which gave their economy a huge boost, and it put pressure on autocratic petro states like Russia. His decisions to close various pipelines made the US and the rest of the world more dependent on Russian oil and gas and put Russia in a stronger negotiating position. I'm aware he was trying to implement greener sources of energy, but there's just too much of a shortfall to fulfil the current needs to go to the extremes that he did. It was wishful thinking on his part knowing what was at stake.

Crime has gone through the roof since he took over. LA, particularly San Francisco, is a disgrace. You can blame the local governors, but it is ultimately Joe Biden's job to step in when things get that far out of control, and as far as I'm aware, he hasn’t done anything to help.

There's been a lot of radicalised teaching around gender being introduced into schools around very young kids. I find it totally unnecessary, and no, I'm not some sort of bigot for thinking this way; far from it. I'm for equal rights, but I believe the parents have a right to know what's being taught to their kids as it's very easy to confuse young impressionable minds.

Joe is spending way too much and is driving American debt to unprecedented heights. He is not to blame for inflation, but he hasn’t done anything to help the situation, either.

He did nothing to help the supply chain bottlenecks which were a huge problem.

I thought his response to the Maui disaster was slow and very underwhelming. There's even footage of him falling asleep at a survivor's meeting. He also compared people losing their homes and everything they owned to a kitchen fire he once experienced! It was embarrassing to watch and very misguided.

The controversies surrounding his son, Hunter, keep piling up with the discovery of cocaine in the White House being the latest.

Also, I don’t think it's wise to have a man - who is clearly going through a noticeable cognitive decline - run the most powerful nation on Earth. Would you want a surgeon operating on you who can't even remember what day it is?

There are many other things, but these issues came to mind first. I just don’t think he's been a good president, and I believe there's been a decline in the most important metrics that affect American living standards.

 

Sounds like opinion; links please.

 

Which part is opinion?

 

Latest numbers: Morning Consult currently has Trump leading against DeSantis by a margin of +44 points.

There’s just no way this can be right, Ed. The European Union were already overly reliant on Russian energy long before Biden assumed office. That Merkel chick practically handed Germany’s economy to Vladimir Putin. Then Russia starts an illegal war with no provocation, and then these EU countries bear the consequences (silly them), scrambling and rushing to secure gas and oil from other sources, as a way to support Ukraine. The EU has completely turned away from Russia now. Biden has signed an executive order that straight up bans the import of Russian oil, gas, and coal to the US. China and India are Russia’s main buyers now, to the surprise of no one...

So I’m not sure how you can conclude that everyone (including the US) is now dependent on Russian oil and gas, especially when factoring these ongoing events. It doesn’t add up, Ed.

If we consider anything, it's that Biden's firm position on restricting Russian gas has actually created a substantial new opportunity for US gas suppliers. US has replaced Russia as Europe’s top oil supplier. If you’re looking for something specific — In 2022, Europe became far the biggest market for US LNG, representing 65% of its exports.

I do think some of your other criticisms for Biden are fair though.

 

You are right about Europe being too overly reliant on Russia for energy, particularly Germany, as around 40% of their gas came from Russia at the time they invaded. My criticism comes at his timing and how he reacted in the aftermath and prior to their invasion.

John Kerry was more concerned about Russia breaking their climate change commitments which showed how naive and misplaced Biden's focus was. Even though Putin is 100% to blame for the invasion, Biden's energy choices played into Russia's hands at the time, and leading up to the invasion.

He made things hard for the oil and gas industry with more rules, which really slowed production, and then he pulled the plug on the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the US whilst effectively giving the thumbs up to Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline that brought gas to Germany just prior to the invasion.

Here are two excerpts from the BBC and Reuters:

So, bottom line, these moves just made everyone rely more on Russian oil and gas at the time giving Russia more power. It meant that the sanctions he created were pretty pointless.

I feel he showed extreme weakness in the face of pure evil. He could have done a lot more. He may have made the right moves as a long-term plan, but it was a bad time to execute these things in the midst of an invasion that could have escalated quite catastrophically.

I didn't say that, and that's not what I meant, but I can see how you may have misinterpreted what I said. I was talking about the time leading up to the invasion and just after. His decisions aided Russia.

 

Don’t mistake politicians for people, they are not.

That’s nice. Now the US fascist government can gouge Europe for oil and run them into the ground. Read about the Minsk accords and what actually happened to start this proxy war. You’re entitled to your opinion, not to your own facts.

MONEY!

Trump doesn’t drink alcohol.

Meanwhile the Democrats sat on their asses and did not codify Roe v Wade when they had plenty of opportunities to do so. You’re being played if you think either party cares about you.

 

@Joey72, is there not even one politician who you like or think may care about you?

 

Europeans overwhelmingly supported Biden for US president, in 2020, and were overcome with happiness when he was declared the winner.

They got what they wanted and now they are finding out, the hard way, that he is not the leader that they thought he was going to be.

 

Political debates are notoriously heated and full of people who think they are always right, and I include myself in this. Our beliefs are our beliefs, and nobody is going to change each other's minds on a forum; I can personally guarantee this. If this were to happen, I’d be amazed

As long as there is no hatred involved in one’s beliefs and opinions, then we should welcome the freedom of expression that is allowed here. I like the fact that we are not all robots repeating a common theme but rather say what we feel with genuine passion. I see many people on social media and I often wonder if they are posting their genuinely-held opinions or if they are reflecting the opinions of others because they think that’s what people want to hear. One should always say their genuine opinions otherwise you are committing political suicide. It’s all about integrity for me.

With that said, how long do you think it will be before @Juan brings interest rates into this thread?

 

Trump is the first of many attempted fascists from the GOP. They have found that the path to authoritarianism is as easy as telling certain lies to a remarkably large chuck of the population. The next one will court and rely on those same voters. The next one will be smarter than Trump. After the prosecution and hopeful guilty verdicts against Trump, the US needs to pass laws to prevent such a threat to democracy from ever getting this close again. Trump is the first and he will not be the last.

Those of us with true skin in the game know how dead serious our next presidential election is and that a Trump defeat will be a win for democracy.

 

@Ed209, agree to disagree then. I feel like you’re exaggerating the impact of Biden’s energy policies.

This doesn’t mean anything. Biden doesn't have the authority to dictate Germany's actions. I don’t recall the Nord Stream 2 pipeline ever entering service for the Germans by the way. I know it was finally completed in September 2021, but its certifications were completely halted after the invasion. And then someone (definitely the Russians) sabotages the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. It was never in use.

The fact of the matter is that, whatever negotiating power (due to Biden’s policies) you think Russia may have had before the invasion, was significantly reduced when they made the ill-advised choice to invade Ukraine. It resulted in a decline in their buyer base, particularly in Europe, forcing the Russians to sell their oil below the standard benchmark price.

Good. With all these wildfires and extreme weather patterns we’re seeing, the last thing we need to see, is the deregulation of the the oil and gas sector.

As for Biden’s push for clean energy, I for one think it’s a great plan and it’s an ambitious one at that. The legislation he signed into law (IRA) aims to transform the US into a hub of clean technology. I think the Ukrainian war has accelerated this shift into clean energy for the Europeans as well, and I think by increasing investments in this sector, it’s going to result in a diversified energy portfolio, ultimately giving us reduced energy expenses while also making Russian oil far less appealing in the long run, pushing them further down the path of a pariah state.

As you've already pointed out, this strategy is playing the long game, so I’m not surprised why some people are complaining in the present time. Patience and incremental change will be key. And by the time this clean tech transformation come through, Biden will no longer president (he might not even be alive), so when future presidents start to nab the credit for this transition into clean tech, I want all you guys to remember Biden

I respect your opinion and agree with many other things you say, @Ed209. But on this particular matter, I vehemently disagree.

Roe was the law of the land for more than 50 years. The Supreme Court doesn’t frequently overturn its prior decisions, so it’s pretty rare to see these kinds of reversals.

Sure, the Democrats could have codify Roe into law at anytime, but unfortunately they are too busy cleaning up the mess the republicans make whenever they assume power, which is a pattern that dates back to the Reagan era. No time to codify Roe.

Republicans spend their time in the White House wrecking and looting everything, Democrats eventually get in and use their time to repair things, but since they can’t snap their fingers and magically fix everything (in 1 or 2 terms), Republicans get to paint them as ineffective, and then the cycle repeats itself.

 

This was a noteworthy moment for Nikki Haley in last week’s debate. Ramaswamy got annihilated on the topic of foreign policy.

 

The problem I have is that by cutting production he contributed to the rise in the price of oil at the worst time possible. I have always been on the side of finding renewable energy sources to replace dirty fossil fuels, but cutting production during such a geopolitical landscape was a mistake, in my humble opinion. We just don't have the infrastructure yet to supply the massive energy shortfall, so this put pressure on the barrel price of oil (which had a direct effect on inflation).

India became a gateway to the EU. They imported Russian oil and sold back the refined fuels to European countries. It's like this somehow makes it ok as they are importing some of their energy from India. It makes me laugh at how corrupt geopolitics are. It's like, let's just pretend the oil isn't from Russia and then everything will be ok, lol. This was widely reported. Here’s one example:

Fuels from Russian oil gets backdoor entry into Europe via India
An excerpt:

I agree, and it is essential that we move over to renewable energies, but why can't we do both? I think there needs to be significantly more investment whilst we taper off fossil fuels at a rate that doesn't destroy the working man.

The Republicans fucked up massively by overturning Roe. But then they have always been obsessed with abortions and women’s rights. People will still seek out abortions regardless; it just means people will go elsewhere, and in some cases, they will resort to backstreet operations like what went on in Ireland.

 

The Supreme Court made the right decision as it probably reduced abortions and thereby saved many lives. The U.S. doesn’t have to model their ways by what England does. Reagan’s views on abortions were the right ones. The Democrats are making fools of themselves with the open borders and all the Fentanyl deaths under Biden’s watch. Trump’s remain in Mexico was a much better policy. They won’t even acknowledge the massive influence peddling schemes made by the Biden’s or the corruption in the DOJ and the upper echelons of the FBI. Bidenomics and the Democrats are a joke and recent polls prove it.

 

Republicans know they need a poorly educated base. It’s all about expanding their voter base. Extremely limiting any abortion forces more people into parenthood early, dwindling their chances at achieving higher education and better paying jobs. Poorer education in schools (and less focus on critical thinking/differing perspective) also likely churns out more voters for them in the future too. That’s all they care about, there is no morality.

More education and perspective in schools = likely more democratic voters. That can’t be allowed to happen. Those people think for themselves and don’t follow whatever manifesto that Fox News/OAN, etc are pushing.

Didn't he just surrender and was arrested for election interference? Strange to admit it, but I guess not everyone knows this.

 

Yes, he surrendered and was arrested. It was a very stupid idea for Georgia to take a mugshot of Trump. With his talent for promotion, he used it to his advantage and raised 7.1 million from it.

Trump raised $7.1m after Georgia booking, mugshot

Donald Trump's trial for election interference goes to court on March 4, 2024, the day before Super Tuesday. If this is not election interference, I do not know what is. If there is a pro-Trump mole in the Democratic Party or the Dept. of Justice, they could not have done a better job of helping him.