Today In Biden Land

[TitoFan]

The establishment people in parties would like a different leader but that's impossible for different reasons. In the case of the GOP the base, or at least a big enough chunk of them, are still in love with Trump. They're Trump voters first and GOP voters second. Trump is going to win the nomination probably while under multiple indictments and there's nothing anybody can do about it.

The ones that aren't in love with Trump are scared of him.

In the case of the Democrats Biden is the least worst option. And he's the incumbent. Very difficult to get rid of unless his health goes. The party are going to back him and that's that. If he did have to step down there'd be a primary and it would tear the party apart. Harris would claim it should be her but I'm not sure even all of the black caucus would vote for her as they're interested in winning and she's a loser. But she'd have enough black support to cause a split in the party.

Harris IS a loser. On that point, I think we all agree on. Yes... Biden being the incumbent gives him an automatic leg up on everybody else.

A contested Democratic primary would be a gigantic clusterfuck and could cost the party any shot of winning the election. And there's just nobody on the bench in the party that's any good. Nobody with any kind of national profile who looks like a plausible candidate. Maybe Whitmer, the governor for Michigan I think would be a prospect in 2028. Can win in the midwest and is moderate (both go together). But loads of flaws, is a woman for starters. Amy Klobuchar was a similar type but sunk without trace in the 2020 primary. Voters weren't interested. The California governor is trying to set the stage for himself in the future but is a grandstanding tit. The Democratic version of Meatball Ron.

Yes... some of the better (or least bad) potential Democratic candidates are women... and frankly (rightly or wrongly), the American public isn't YET going to elect a woman President. Some voters may still have nightmares about Hillary Clinton, and that doesn't help. Nobody else stands out.

You can't manufacture candidates otherwise both parties would manufacture the perfect candidate for every election. You just have a bunch of flawed human beings who look in the mirror one day and see a future American president. Then these fuckers run in a quadrennial beauty contest. They have a bunch of image makers and advisors who try and sculpt them into the most electable version of themselves they can possibly be and a lot of them spend years and millions of dollars preparing to run but the majority just sink without trace. One thing about the endless bloody length of American election campaigns is they expose the people running in a lot of detail and the vast majority find they're not ready for primetime/garbage candidates stroke people/nobody likes them.

This is where I see it another way. It isn't (and has never been) about "manufacturing" candidates. That's precisely the recipe to come up with an artificial, fake fascimile of what a Presidential candidate should be. Sort of like a Miss America beauty pageant. Better the natural, uncoached, un-liposuctioned, un-surgically altered woman... than the manufactured Barbie doll that has been preparing for the occasion with a slew of helpers.

I refuse to believe that somewhere within the 330 million people in the United States (minus the obvious qualification requirements)... there isn't at least a handful of decent, intelligent, decisive, wise, driven, personable, leader-type individuals who could be perfectly capable of developing a following. Nowadays exposure is easier than ever, thanks to the blessing (sometimes curse) of social media.

Yes... I realize that this is a process. No one is going to jump into the POTUS seat without first having scaled the necessary career progression. Although there are a few precedents of past Presidents without much of a prior political career. Others have come from prior careers that no one could have foreseen. My point is... it's not impossible.

Hollywood has produced its share of movies on this topic... one of the better ones being "The Candidate," a 50-year old movie with Robert Redford in the starring role.

If you're right and it is, in fact, impossible... then that's a pretty damning statement on the American public and the political system in general.

We go through similar issue here (in Puerto Rico) with our own candidates and elections. In our case, anyone wanting to become governor, let's say... has to be willing to enter into the dirty political system and choose a political party... which pretty much compromises a lot of the ideals that person may have had to begin with. So yeah... I get it.

Which makes you wonder how Trump got elected. The reason is that the GOP voters are so radicalised by their bullshit media that they're basically domestic terrorists these days. And this isn't going away anytime soon, going to get worse in fact. The terrifying thing is they could actually elect Trump next year.

Well... that's the reason why Trump could possibly be elected in 2024. The reason he got elected in 2016, IMO, was a perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances. I remember thinking (and probably stating it on this forum) that 2016 was a historically unfortunate choice between Trump and the tremendously unlikeable and untrustworthy Hillary Clinton. And here comes the bombastic narcissist... bouncing all over the debate stages and promising shit that resonated with the masses... like "draining the swamp." A huge portion of the American public swallowed all that shit up like newborn puppies at their mother's teat.

The "radical, bullshit media" may have always existed... but definitely grew bolder and much more visible once Trump took over the Presidency. Of course CNN and Fox News have been for a long time at opposite ends of the spectrum. But once Trump became President, these opposite ends grew infinitely more distant from each other.

It's a fucking sorry choice America is facing. You have an outright crook on one side who will wreck the American democratic system and usher in an unknown length period of rampant criminality and corruption and significant economic damage if he's elected and he easily could be. On the other side you have an ancient old geezer who is past it and should not be running but there is unbelievably nobody better on the Democratic side. There wasn't four years ago and there isn't now.

If Trump were only "an outright crook" it probably wouldn't be as bad. But Trump isn't JUST "an outright crook." He combines that with being the ultimate "Yes-man" collector of men... puppets if you will. Anyone with individual thoughts or conscience gets destroyed. He's the world's biggest narcissist, which is downright dangerous in a position like President. If there's ever a contest to see who can name the most negative qualities of Trump as a person and leader... let me know. I'd like to submit my application.

The old geezer thing with Biden... it is what it is. Nobody can brush away Biden's age. A sitting President at almost 90 years old is unfathomable. Regardless of whatever medical teams he may have around him 24/7... a 90-year old man shouldn't be anywhere near the position of being leader of a powerful nation. So if there's nobody better on the Democratic side... that's on us (society). Can't say there hasn't been ample warning.

Yes... it IS a sorry choice America is facing.