2026 Mid-Term Elections

[Jimmy Higgins]

Trump doesn't even have charisma. The dude just rambles, but people sure do like the rambling.

He lacks charisma, but somehow has an indisputable cult of personality. Trump is on the stage doing the double jerk and his MAGA faithful love it.

Vance lacks that cult of personality. While there is much gnashing of teeth over the Democrats risks in 2028, the GOP is also facing the potential of having a non-Trump candidate running in 2028. I doubt the GOP know how that is even going to work.

 

[TomC]

Trump doesn't even have charisma. The dude just rambles, but people sure do like the rambling.

He used to. It's been awhile, but back in the day people watched his TV show with the catch phrase "You're Fired"
Like beauty, charisma is in the eye of the beholder.
Tom

 

[crazyfingers]

Trump has a strange way of sounding like he knows what he's talking about - if you don't actually think about what he's saying. It's the tone of voice.

Of course he is usually spewing nonsense. But if you don't pay attention to what he says and only pay attention to how he says it, he sounds like he knows what he's talking about.

 

[Elixir]

Trump has a strange way of sounding like he knows what he's talking about - if you don't actually think about what he's saying. It's the tone of voice.

Of course he is usually spewing nonsense. But if you don't pay attention to what he says and only pay attention to how he says it, he sounds like he knows what he's talking about.

Very true. Talking nonsense while pretending to be an actual president, convinces the slow MAGAts that because he says stuff they can’t make sense of, he must be much much smarter than they are.
Which is true if they’re uneducated, disinterested and lazy as fuck, like most MAGAts.

 

[Derec]

That is what makes them tyrants. A tyrant against a person with some dumb views.

Huh?

That is false. The Democrats need liberals and far-left liberals to vote and the Democrats need moderates to vote! So this means more left-wing people in areas that manage it and less liberal candidates in areas that can't handle it.

I hate how "liberal" is used as a euphemism for "left-wing" when many left-wing positions are decidedly illiberal.

But anyway, according to what you wrote here you should be opposed to Dems running the likes of El-Sayed and Hong in purple states like Michigan and Wisconsin.
And while D+[double digits] congressional districts will vote for more left-wing candidates, I think it is important to not run toxic candidates there as well. Toxic candidates like Adam Hamawy and Avila Chevalier will win in the general election baring some extreme circumstances, but they will also damage the Democratic brand overall.

No he doesn't. The dude is less principled than Bill Clinton, with one trillionth the charisma. The one thing I know about the 2028 election, which might be the only thing I know, is that frontrunners two years before hand, rarely become the nominee.

That is true. It's still long ways until 2028 and a lot can happen. Much will be dictated by the outcome of the Midterms too. If the far left loses the races in MI and WI, it will likely blunt their momentum.

Regarding Mamdani, Gore, Kerry, Obama, Biden were sequentially the most liberal Democrat in the history of Democrats in the General Election ads. So while the GOP will try to go with the anti-communism line, that actually isn't anything new.

None of the people you mention here said things like how their end goal is "winning socialism" by "seizing the means of production". Mamdani has.

 

[Derec]

She certainly isn't the first pick. The GOP opponent is even worse... and voted in Congress on January 6th to steal an election. So again, Hobson Choice.

I do not think Hobson's Choice applies here. Hobson's is a choice between taking what is offered and not taking anything at all - think of a child being told to eat what's for dinner or nothing at all. This is a choice between two bad alternatives, not between one bad option and nothing.

The thing about a Hong Governorship is that it can be a single term, if she gets too silly, she can be primaried, but that also helps reshift the Democrats a bit to the left from the right-leaning moderate position. If she is elected, I doubt she is 'defunding the police'.

Who knows what she will try doing. But sure, she can be voted out in four years. In the meantime, DSA would get a major boost from her victory which would make them more powerful in 2028.

 

[Derec]

This is the entire foundation of GOP support, and for that matter of the support-base of most neo-fascist parties in the West, such as Reform in the UK, Front National in France, AfD in Germany, and One Nation in Australia.

These European far right parties are thriving primarily because the mainstream parties failed spectacularly in stemming the flood of Muslim mass migration into Europe.

 

[Derec]

Pretty ironic coming from anyone arguing that promoting/hiring women or minorities is punishing white men.

When "promoting/hiring women or minorities" is done by discriminating against those who are not "women or minorities" then it is most certainly punishing white men. How can it be otherwise?

 

[Derec]

What dues admissions standards for medical school have to do with nominations for USSC justices?

They are part of the same left-wing ideology of discriminating against certain group in other to promote others.

My point is that test scores are point measures only and GPAs measure past performance of a student in a subsection of course offerings in a particular school. Either may be predictive across a population of future academic success but certainly prediction dues not always meet reality.

They are the best predictor of future academic performance. MCAT more so than GPA because of very different classes different premeds might take and because of very different grading between undergrad schools. A 3.9 at Clayton State University may be equivalent of 3.2 at Georgia Tech for example even when same classes are taken.
In any case, there is no reason to require lesser academic performance of black or Hispanic students compared to white and Asian ones.

USSC justice nominees are not chosen from a group of high school students or college students or law school students and certainly are not selected from any group of medical students. Nominees are chosen from a selection of jurists who have established themselves in their chosen fields and have demonstrated their excellence in performance of their work. Not as students but as professionals.

It's a different example, of course; but one that demonstrates the same ideology of discriminating by sex and race.

It strengthens the judicial system when it better reflects the population rather than merely one segment of society that has historically been treated differently than other segments of society as white makes have historically been treated closed with persons of color or women.

I do not think selection of SCOTUS justices should be based on making the court composition match that of the population. But even if you wanted to do that, how does representation require that two out of nine justices must be black? That is 22%, significantly more than the share of blacks in US population (14%). 11% is a better reflection of the population than 22%.

If historically justices had been primarily female or black or Hispanic or Asian or ( pick a demographic) I would argue just as much for candidates from other groups be considered.

People from all groups should be considered, and the best one chosen. The problem with Biden's Corrupt Bargain was precisely that everybody who was not part of a relatively small group was not considered for the seat. Biden agreed (in order to buy Jim Clyburn's support) to not consider anybody Asian for the position either. Or anybody with a penis. Biden was in effect telling 93% of the population: "fuck you, you don't matter".

If you wish to consider qualifications of USSC justices, it would be fair to consider Amy Coney Bryant to be less qualified than her fellow justices. OTOH, Brown Jackson is extremely well qualified and served more years in the bench ch and brought a greater amount and more diverse experience.

Who is Amy Coney Bryant? If you mean  Amy Coney Barrett, she does have extensive and varied legal experience as well.
From her wiki page:

• Clerked for judges, including Justice Scalia
• Worked in private practice, and worked on SCOTUS "Bush v. Gore" case during that time
• Law professor
• Judge on a US Court of Appeals

You and I may not disagree with many of her positions, but she is eminently qualified and has a lot of varied experience.

And I am not saying that KBJ is not qualified. She obviously is.
I am saying that Biden should not have restricted his search to black women only. I do not see how that is in any way defensible.

 

[Elixir]

you should be opposed to Dems running the likes of El-Sayed and Hong in purple states like Michigan and Wisconsin.

Normally I’d agree. But he’s probably going to win, if for no other reason than the incompetence and stupidity of the opposition “leader”.
And that’s a plus.
Add a sprinkle of schadenfreude, it’s like kicking them when they’re down (MMA Rules!). So …what’s not to like?

 

[Toni]

They are part of the same left-wing ideology of discriminating against certain group in other to promote others.

They are the best predictor of future academic performance. MCAT more so than GPA because of very different classes different premeds might take and because of very different grading between undergrad schools. A 3.9 at Clayton State University may be equivalent of 3.2 at Georgia Tech for example even when same classes are taken.
In any case, there is no reason to require lesser academic performance of black or Hispanic students compared to white and Asian ones.

It's a different example, of course; but one that demonstrates the same ideology of discriminating by sex and race.

I do not think selection of SCOTUS justices should be based on making the court composition match that of the population. But even if you wanted to do that, how does representation require that two out of nine justices must be black? That is 22%, significantly more than the share of blacks in US population (14%). 11% is a better reflection of the population than 22%.

People from all groups should be considered, and the best one chosen. The problem with Biden's Corrupt Bargain was precisely that everybody who was not part of a relatively small group was not considered for the seat. Biden agreed (in order to buy Jim Clyburn's support) to not consider anybody Asian for the position either. Or anybody with a penis. Biden was in effect telling 93% of the population: "fuck you, you don't matter".

Who is Amy Coney Bryant? If you mean  Amy Coney Barrett, she does have extensive and varied legal experience as well.
From her wiki page:

• Clerked for judges, including Justice Scalia
• Worked in private practice, and worked on SCOTUS "Bush v. Gore" case during that time
• Law professor
• Judge on a US Court of Appeals

You and I may not disagree with many of her positions, but she is eminently qualified and has a lot of varied experience.

And I am not saying that KBJ is not qualified. She obviously is.
I am saying that Biden should not have restricted his search to black women only. I do not see how that is in any way defensible.

Tell us for the 1000th time you do not actually understand test scores with relations to performance as a physician, using your own words.

You keep beating the MCAT scores when you are t beating the SATs or ACTs and you are completely ignoring the well established fact that Biden rejected an extremely well qualified candidate for USSC Justice and she was duly confirmed. Trump selected a not particularly well qualified woman because he says he would choose a woman. I don’t hear you bitching about that. Or about Brett Kavanaugh or Clarence Thomas. In any case, no USSC justice has ever taken the MCATs as far as I know.

Derec: This is the sad truth that I learned my first week of college: nobody gave a fuck about my perfect GPA or my stellar SAT scores.

Because they absolutely no longer mattered. The only thing that mattered was how well I did once I was in an actual university class.

Same thing for med school, law school, vet school, grad school, pharmacy school, etc.

Those things matter for admissions but not one single second after you’re admitted or denied admission.

Unless your spouse is getting pissy and you silently acknowledge to yourself that your SAT scores were much higher and in fact you beat his math scores by 100 pts.

In no way do her high school or GPA scores or her LSAT scores or how many tries it took to pass the bar matter at the point in her career at which she received the nomination, having been very thoroughly vetted before Biden named her.

There are many well qualified women who are black. They worked very hard to achieve their goals. They deserve the same consideration as white people, males, hispanics, asians, and anyone else.

The ones who usually get the boost are the white men. That’s fading now but no worries: they have other white men to champion them!

 

[laughing dog]

She certainly isn't the first pick. The GOP opponent is even worse... and voted in Congress on January 6th to steal an election.

So again, Hobson Choice. The thing about a Hong Governorship is that it can be a single term, if she gets too silly, she can be primaried, but that also helps reshift the Democrats a bit to the left from the right-leaning moderate position. If she is elected, I doubt she is 'defunding the police'.

The Wisconsin legislature is Republican. So the Democrats would need rural voter to elect more Democrats.

 

[laughing dog]

When "promoting/hiring women or minorities" is done by discriminating against those who are not "women or minorities" then it is most certainly punishing white men. How can it be otherwise?

When those hired or promoted are at least as qualified.

 

[Toni]

Trump has a strange way of sounding like he knows what he's talking about - if you don't actually think about what he's saying. It's the tone of voice.

Of course he is usually spewing nonsense. But if you don't pay attention to what he says and only pay attention to how he says it, he sounds like he knows what he's talking about.

See, I'd say the opposite. He uses a very limited vocabulary and doesn't use the words he has command of very well. He tends to bloviate and I always read that as someone who doesn't have command of the facts but is reading or remembering from a poorly crafted scrip authored by someone else.

 

[Tigers!]

Trump has a strange way of sounding like he knows what he's talking about - if you don't actually think about what he's saying. It's the tone of voice.

Of course he is usually spewing nonsense. But if you don't pay attention to what he says and only pay attention to how he says it, he sounds like he knows what he's talking about.

I have worked with so many people like that over the decades. In many jobs it is annoying to deal with but achievable. Some jobs it is most dangerous. Trump is a dangerous one.

 

[ZiprHead]

Who is Amy Coney Bryant? If you mean

Amy Coney Barrett, she does have extensive and varied legal experience as well.
From her wiki page:

• Clerked for judges, including Justice Scalia
• Worked in private practice, and worked on SCOTUS "Bush v. Gore" case during that time
• Law professor
• Judge on a US Court of Appeals
• Member of the Federalist Society
• Member of a looney Catholic adjacent religious sect

FTFY

Her title in the sect was literally "Handmaiden".

 

[ZiprHead]

Apparently hatred and bigotry against Muslims is considered to be a winning campaign strategy in Michigan, the state with the most Muslims in the entire country.

 

[crazyfingers]

Apparently hatred and bigotry against Muslims is considered to be a winning campaign strategy in Michigan, the state with the most Muslims in the entire country.

Trump Stokes Islamophobia by Calling Democratic Candidates ‘Jihadists’

Along with his comments about Muslim candidates, Mr. Trump spoke disparagingly of Somalis in the United States, saying “they’re not smart.”

www.nytimes.com

 

[blastula]

 

[ZiprHead]

I must say, he's quick.