I actually think the opposite is true. We've lived in a strong candidate, weak party country for a long time now. Trump has completely remade what it means to be a Republican and the entire party has caved to his whims. A strong party, backed by voters who prioritize issues over personalities, would've cast him out and forced him to create a viable third party. That didn't happen. Hell, the GOP didn't even have a party platform in 2020. The same can be said for Democrats under Barack Obama. He expanded the electorate because of who he was, not because millions of non-voters suddenly fell in love with the Democratic platform. And it's a gross misunderstanding of the electorate by Joe Biden. I'd argue very few people voted for him in 2020. Trump's force of personality dominates both the GOP and drives Democratic turnout. If we lived in a strong-party, weak-candidate system the Democratic party would be dominant on the main issues. But, that only works in a parliamentary system and we live in a forced, often contradictory, binary that strong personalities exploit for personal ends.
You cannot say he did not try. He literally asked to 'find votes'. People left his rally and attacked US Capitol in session. He created a bunch of followers who are not going to believe the elections if their side did not win!! Here is how I approached elections until(and including) 2016. I had a preference but I was not worried about other candidate winning. Even in 2016, I had concerns but thought President Trump would be different. Next 4 years of Trump is what got me worried. In 2020, I voted Biden. Now I saw 4(almost) years of Biden. I wish there was another candidate on Republican ticket and I wish there was a younger candidate on democratic ticket. But we are here now. I cannot vote for Trump because I am worried of what he would do to this country. He may not succeed but I am convinced he will not stop trying. He tested the checks and balances of American constitution like no one before. On the other side I am worried about Biden’s age and unknown. I don’t agree with everything he did but he delivered a semblance of governance that I was familiar with. To me it seems less of a concern(still a concern) than that of Trump but this is a difficult place to be in the world of binary choices!!
George Clooney: I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/10/...-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb he's says he's a lifelong democrat, like it's good thing. I find just sad. By George Clooney Mr. Clooney is an actor, director and film producer. I’m a lifelong Democrat; I make no apologies for that. I’m proud of what my party represents and what it stands for. As part of my participation in the democratic process and in support of my chosen candidate, I have led some of the biggest fund-raisers in my party’s history. Barack Obama in 2012. Hillary Clinton in 2016. Joe Biden in 2020. Last month I co-hosted the single largest fund-raiser supporting any Democratic candidate ever, for President Biden’s re-election. I say all of this only to express how much I believe in this process and how profound I think this moment is. I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As a vice president and as president. I consider him a friend, and I believe in him. Believe in his character. Believe in his morals. In the last four years, he’s won many of the battles he’s faced. But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can. It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe “big F-ing deal” Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate. Sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter Get expert analysis of the news and a guide to the big ideas shaping the world every weekday morning. Get it sent to your inbox. Was he tired? Yes. A cold? Maybe. But our party leaders need to stop telling us that 51 million people didn’t see what we just saw. We’re all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we’ve opted to ignore every warning sign. The George Stephanopoulos interview only reinforced what we saw the week before. As Democrats, we collectively hold our breath or turn down the volume whenever we see the president, who we respect, walk off Air Force One or walk back to a mic to answer an unscripted question. Is it fair to point these things out? It has to be. This is about age. Nothing more. But also nothing that can be reversed. We are not going to win in November with this president. On top of that, we won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate. This isn’t only my opinion; this is the opinion of every senator and congress member and governor that I’ve spoken with in private. Every single one, irrespective of what he or she is saying publicly. We love to talk about how the Republican Party has ceded all power, and all of the traits that made it so formidable with Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, to a single person who seeks to hold on to the presidency, and yet most of our members of Congress are opting to wait and see if the dam breaks. But the dam has broken. We can put our heads in the sand and pray for a miracle in November, or we can speak the truth. It is disingenuous, at best, to argue that Democrats have already spoken with their vote and therefore the nomination is settled and done, when we just received new and upsetting information. We all think Republicans should abandon their nominee now that he’s been convicted of 34 felonies. That’s new and upsetting information as well. Top Democrats — Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Nancy Pelosi — and senators, representatives and other candidates who face losing in November need to ask this president to voluntarily step aside. All of the scary stories that we’re being told about what would happen next are simply not true. In all likelihood, the money in the Biden-Harris coffers could go to help elect the presidential ticket and other Democrats. The new nominee wouldn’t be left off ballots in Ohio. We Democrats have a very exciting bench. We don’t anoint leaders or fall sway to a cult of personality; we vote for a president. We can easily foresee a group of several strong Democrats stepping forward to stand and tell us why they’re best qualified to lead this country and take on some of the deeply concerning trends we’re seeing from the revenge tour that Donald Trump calls a presidential campaign. Let’s hear from Wes Moore and Kamala Harris and Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear and J.B. Pritzker and others. Let’s agree that the candidates not attack one another but, in the short time we have, focus on what will make this country soar. Then we could go into the Democratic convention next month and figure it out. Would it be messy? Yes. Democracy is messy. But would it enliven our party and wake up voters who, long before the June debate, had already checked out? It sure would. The short ramp to Election Day would be a benefit for us, not a danger. It would give us the chance to showcase the future without so much opposition research and negative campaigning that comes with these ridiculously long and expensive election seasons. This can be an exciting time for democracy, as we’ve just seen with the 200 or so French candidates who stepped aside and put their personal ambitions on hold to save their democracy from the far right. Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024. Narrator: Joe Biden is not a hero.
Biden is physically declining at a geometric rate, no amount of stubbornness can overcome that. And the things he needs to do to recover politically will make his physical condition worse (e.g. playing a round of golf with Trump would kill him). But I didn't see him making it this far, so perhaps he can hang on (although I wouldn't put it past certain interests to work to hasten his demise).
Good points, if he gets in a second time, he will be much smarter than the first time. Now that he knows he will have complete immunity he will have no fear and he will put people around him who have the same mindset. What kills me about the gop is they have no plan on how to fix anything, yet people just fall for the old Oke doke...........
TBH that felt pretty tame and was an apt analogy. I'm sorry it hurt your feelings. It's not outrageous to think that a Trump win won't result in permanent harm to the electoral system. The odds will always be against such a thing, even if that is their #1 stated goal. However, what is outrageous, is to not be bothered by the non-zero possibility of it. "They didn't manage to **** everything up last time, what's the worst that could happen" is one of the dumber takes I've ever heard. I do not apologize if that offends you. The concerns about Trump and his admin taking a big fat **** on the rule of law vis-a-vis elections didn't fall out of the clear blue sky, you know. That was a product of the words and actions of Trump and his army of sycophant bureaucrats.
That's enough of all that. I engage with you civilly and you respond with condescension and insults. That's fine. You've lost your privilege of engagement with me. I hope Trump doesn't throw you in one of his gulags or whatever it is your worried about. Good luck.
The mere existence of elections doesn't guarantee a functioning democracy. Russia, for instance, holds elections, but they are widely regarded as undemocratic.
The Reds are fighting against demographics and are hungrier to break things to get what they want. Blues should fear that focus and drive given how fractured they look, though the way they've been overreacting has caused plenty of unforced errors.
I believe that people underestimated the risk Trump posed to democracy in 2016. It's interesting to see how this concern is now being reframed as if it was overestimated. That wasn't the case. Before Trump's attempts to challenge the 2020 election results and the January 6 incident, most analysts and scholars I followed weren't seriously worried about him refusing to leave office if defeated. Their primary concern was that Trump's actions and disregard for traditions and norms might erode democratic institutions and processes. In hindsight, it's clear that most of them actually understated the risks. Today, the landscape has shifted even further in three concrete ways: Trump shows no regret for what he did on January 6 and continues to lie about the election being stolen. Not only has Trump not been held accountable for January 6, but Republicans are rallying around him and dismissing January 6 as inconsequential. The Supreme Court decision granting presidents absolute immunity for official acts has significantly increased the risk. Trump isn't the only person to be concerned about. It's the damage he has done and can continue to do to the system that should be the primary concern. This was what most scholars warned about in 2016 and 2020, and they were right.
Election results are challenged often. If voters thought Trump was a threat to democracy, he wouldn't be pulling away in the polls. Dems need a better message than those scare tactics.
Spot on. The gaslighting about the Trump camp's desire to wipe their asses with the concept of free and fair elections is amazing. It's like there's a group of people in this country who are just absolutely determined to discover what the "find out" part is in the saying "**** around and find out".
I think it will be Harris-Cooper or Harris-Beshear. Joe Biden will be given a prime time speech at the convention and it will be praised and media will predictably say something like “where was this guy the last four years?” In the end, I think the worst thing that could’ve happened to Trump was Biden performing THAT badly in the debate. He’ll look back and wish he never agreed to debates before the Democratic convention.
this neurologist has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation . . . as does NBC News
https://www.wsj.com/articles/joe-bi...ives-2024-election-0705e8ea?mod=hp_opin_pos_1 Why the Left Is Throwing Biden a Lifeline AOC and Bernie Sanders are betting the President will reward their loyalty in a second term. By The Editorial Board July 10, 2024 at 6:00 pm ET President Biden is phoning friends across his party to rally support, so pay close attention to who is answering the call. His staunchest defenders are on the left, while moderates in swing districts are asking the President to withdraw from the race. There’s more than 2024 electoral calculation behind this highly revealing political turn. No one outside the Biden family has been more fiercely pro-Biden since the President’s debate flop than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Queens firebrand promised reporters that Mr. Biden won’t leave the race and pledged to campaign for him through Election Day. This show of faith came after she said she “spoke with the President extensively” over the weekend. A Commander in Chief pleading for support from an often critical House backbencher is something to behold. Another stalwart for the President is Sen. Bernie Sanders, who says he believes Mr. Biden can still win—if he campaigns on the Bernie agenda. Even Rep. Ilhan Omar, who has been denouncing Mr. Biden’s Israel policy for months, is now in the Save Biden camp. This week she said “he’s been the best president of my lifetime, and we have his back.” There’s an ideological method to this loyalty. Ms. Omar has a point about Mr. Biden’s first term. While the President campaigned as a moderate uniter, in office he has tried to be the second coming of FDR. Despite losing the 2020 primary to Mr. Biden, Sen. Sanders gave his endorsement in return for Mr. Biden signing up to the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force. The agenda included drug price controls, an expanded child tax credit, massive green energy commitments, and Build Back Better entitlement expansions. Only Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema stopped him from delivering on more or less the entire Bernie Sanders policy wish list. If progressives save Mr. Biden now and he goes on to win re-election, the left will be well positioned to cash in again. Mr. Sanders is clear about what he expects in return for sticking with Mr. Biden. In his statement defending the President, he urged Mr. Biden to support a national “living wage,” a payroll tax hike, medical debt cancellation and much more. “Biden and Democrats can win this election if they address the needs of the working class,” he said. The desperate President is turning to the left because he knows these Democrats don’t face electoral challenges. Progressives are running in safe seats or in Democratic states where Donald Trump has no chance to win. But in his desperation, Mr. Biden is also making a possible second term even more hostage to the left. Bernie and AOC have plenty of unfinished policy business they hope to get done if Democrats control the White House and Congress. Things will work out for progressives even if Mr. Biden wins but doesn’t make it through the entire four years. Their dream scenario would be for President Biden to win, then retire and pass the Oval Office on to Vice President Kamala Harris, who ran as a whole-hearted progressive in the primaries in 2020. Mr. Biden’s political vulnerability, and his turn to progressives for a lifeline, raises the policy stakes even higher for the November election. Bernie Sanders may believe social spending is free, but his political fee is steep. Appeared in the July 11, 2024, print edition as 'The Left Throws Biden a Lifeline'. lol. "Even Rep. Ilhan Omar, who has been denouncing Mr. Biden’s Israel policy for months, is now in the Save Biden camp. This week she said 'he’s been the best president of my lifetime, and we have his back.' ”
