The Race For 2024

[Jimmy Higgins]

This shit is a repeat, I've seen it before in 2016 with Hillary Clinton and the allegations about her health and competence.

No it's not. I never said she was senile. She is still not senile. She is stupid and an asshole but she is not senile.
Who else is old but not senile? Jimmy Carter is not senile, even though he is a democrat and much older than Biden.

She's definitely not stupid. Inconvenient? Yes. Wrong? Sometimes. Stupid: definitely not stupid. Only a fool would think otherwise.

I'd say her major flaw is being more ambitious than she is principled, but people who run for President almost always are.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Watch it Emily, you're about to be declared a MAGA Trump fanatic if you continue down this trail.

So, Tomorrow is the debate. Here's some recommended drinking game rules:

• Trump talks about Biden being hopped up on drugs take a sip
• If Jake Tapper or Dana Bash bring it up, do a shot.
• But if they bring it up in the context of how Trump has joked about it, do a whole shot.
• If they bring up Trump joking about it but it’s clear they didn’t get the joke, do a second shot

Yes, he was joking, which is why in the MAGAverse, the MAGAs are saying Biden was drugged up for the SOTU. I was just joking! Isn't that what the bully tells the principal?

• If Biden admits that he’s wasted and finally cries out for help to stop the elder abuse being perpetrated against him by Jill and his White House handlers, cheers to him for finally breaking free of his captors and take a swig out of the bottle
• When (and let’s be honest, he’s going to do it) Biden tries to take credit for “creating 15 million jobs,” do a shot
• When Trump points out that the vast major of those “jobs” were positions returning after the COVID lockdowns were lifts, take a sip
• If that fact is brought up by either Tapper or Bash first, don’t drink anything…you’re either suffering from alcohol poisoning already or you’ve just witnessed history and will want to remember where you were when a CNN employee fact-checked a Democrat in real time
• Same goes for if Joe is corrected when he repeats his lie about inflation or gas prices being lower than when he took office
• Chug for 3 seconds if anyone informs the public that Biden drained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to try to get prices down, endangering our national security in an attempt to win reelection
• If Trump brings up Hunter first, do a shot
• If Joe does, then Trump says something like his brother suffered from addiction and he’d never attack someone for getting clean, the criticism is about corruption, don’t drink at all because you might have just witnessed a turning point in the election
• If Biden mentions Russia, do yourself a favor and don’t drink anything. He’ll likely mention Russia a lot, and claim Trump is somehow a tool of Putin because he thinks ending the war in Ukraine is a good idea
• But do a shot if Trump points out that Democrats are absolutely in favor of an immediate ceasefire and negotiations in Israel, where Jews are defending themselves from a very recent terrorist attack, while calling the concept of even broaching the subject of a negotiated ceasefire in Ukraine an affront to democracy without explaining how that is
• Don’t, however, drink enough to try to make sense out of this, otherwise you will die
• If Trump actually behaves take two shots
• If Biden doesn't have a senior moment take two shots

I'd recommend just drinking. This is going to be the most wasted time ever. Trump will argue that the end times are here and only he can steer the US from Armageddon. Trump will wage a war of hyperbole. Biden will say things are better than they were in 2020. Biden will say every single clicle a standing President has said (except last time) in a debate, taking credit for the sun rising everyday.

This will be the first debate P/VP I'm missing since 1988, and I was in sixth grade then. I remember being confused about why Quayle kept bringing up faith and God. I wasn't an atheist yet, but clearly I was on the path. We were supposed to draw political cartoons (again sixth grade), and mine mimicked how Quayle just wouldn't shut up about it, and Bentsen in my cartoon said something to effect 'You can either put your faith in god or the Duke'. The class didn't get it.

 

[marc]

I also watched the NBC version which is posted in this thread. I see a group of politicians listening to a guy for whatever the hell event they're there for. I see Biden gradually turn away, and walk off away from the group. I see other people in the group notice that he has walked away, and look at each other rather uncomfortably. I see one woman go after him while trying to simultaneously pay attention to the speaker, and try to direct Biden back to where he's supposed to be.

If the dude in charge of the country deciding he's bored with the event he's there for, and deciding to gradually wander off to look at something else instead of paying attention to the speaker is "normal" to you... well, you've got a different idea of normal than I do.

They were there to see the paratroopers. Biden didn't wander off to look at 'something else', he was turning to the paratrooper that had landed on the other side of the group.

 

[Elixir]

Biden will say every single clicle a standing President has said (except last time) in a debate

No presidential candidate has ever said “my opponent is a 34 times convicted felon!” in a debate. That I recall …
So you have that to look forward to.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I don't see him saying it. If Trump brings up Hunter, I'm certain the handlers have a few retorts set that'll include fatherly love and shoving it back to him, noting that he still loves his son, and that as a father of five, he knew Trump would understand the power of that bond. Gives Trump no where to go. People know Trump was found guilty, so they'll likely let that go.

If anything, they'll bring up the insurrection and Trump's lack of action to protect Congress.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Watch it Emily, you're about to be declared a MAGA Trump fanatic if you continue down this trail.

So, Tomorrow is the debate. Here's some recommended drinking game rules:

• Trump talks about Biden being hopped up on drugs take a sip
• If Jake Tapper or Dana Bash bring it up, do a shot.
• But if they bring it up in the context of how Trump has joked about it, do a whole shot.
• If they bring up Trump joking about it but it’s clear they didn’t get the joke, do a second shot

link

Republicans are still working to buffer the impact of President Joe Biden’s performance in Thursday’s debate, expanding the conspiracy that the executive leader is relying on “mind-altering” drugs in case he hits hard against Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, Tennessee Representative Andy Ogles took the inane idea a step further, touting his recently introduced bill dubbed “No Juicing Joe Act,” which his office said would require the White House to inform Congress any time Biden takes a drug “that could alter his alertness, judgment or mood.”

“‘No Juicing Joe’ would require him to divulge, to report to the American people, every time he takes a mind-altering stimulant like we know he’s gonna have to do before this debate,” Ogles told Newsmax’s Joe Pinion Wednesday. “They’re gonna have him juiced up and jacked up on some sort of cocktail so he can be lucid and take on or at least try to debate Donald Trump.”

Yeah, Trump was just joking, clearly!

 

[Elixir]

Yeah, Trump was just joking, clearly!

Covering for his consumption of the LD50 of Adderall.

 

[Swammerdami]

Will the two debaters stand on an open stage? With nothing to prevent Trump prancing around when it is Biden's turn to speak? Or nothing to stop Trump from shouting when his microphone is cut off?

Is the thinking that such misbehavior will make Trump appear to be a "loser"?

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

I watched a YouTube that reminds us of how very very shallow Trump's character is. (I'll hunt down the URL if needed.) Someone preparing a new book on Trump interviewed Trump and released some of the audios.

Trump was asked about Taylor Swift (whom Trumplickers have accused of being part of the Soros-Antifa conspiracy or whatever it is.) Reaching out to young voters, Trump had only good things to say about Miss Swift in the interview.

Or rather, 'good thing' singular. He said she was beautiful seven times, but then admitted to never having heard her sing. This seven-fold repetition of "beautiful" with nothing else to say struck me as very shallow, perhaps even misogynistic.

I myself am a Taylor Swift fan, but there are dozens if not hundreds of celebrities much more beautiful than her. For me, what makes her special is her personality and creativity. She writes her own songs and now even directs most of her own videos.

Yet Trump, trying his hardest to appeal to Swift fans could only some up with "... beautiful ... beautiful ... beautiful ... beautiful ... beautiful ... beautiful ... beautiful ..." What a pathetic excuse for a human brain!

 

[Emily Lake]

Watch it Emily, you're about to be declared a MAGA Trump fanatic if you continue down this trail.

Thus has it ever been. We're in a world now where if you're not a firewalled progressive, you get called a MAGAT, insulted left and right, and told you're one of the irredeemable deplorables who shouldn't be tolerated in society and all of your views are somehow fascist nazi dog-whistles.

We live in crazy times.

 

[Emily Lake]

So taking a few strides is wandering off now?

Be honest with yourself. If this had been a republican who disrespectfully wandered away from the person he was supposed to be listening to, and all of the other politicians there looked confused and awkward about it... would you be defending it as no big deal and making excuses about it?

Seriously, Biden is too old for this, and so is Trump. All of you who continue to insist that it's all just fine because "oh he's got good advisors" are tacitly supporting replacing an accountable president with a figurehead and turning over control of the executive branch to an unelected shadow government without the consent of the citizens.

At a minimum, you should be paying a whole fuck-ton more attention to the VPs, and trying to figure out if you want Harris running the country or whoever the hell Trump picks.

 

[Emily Lake]

He wasn't walking away, no one had to rush to get him. A staffer redirected him towards the camera.

Why did he need to be redirected in the first place? Is the president unaware of how cameras work? Or was he unaware that this was an event where he was expected to pay attention and comport himself professionally?

That's the problem here. I get that someone cropped the framing to make it look like he was wandering off toward nobody. But using the whole frame still shows the president of the US either wandering off without any comprehension of his actions or actively deciding "fuck this presentation I don't want to do this I'm gonna go over here". I can't figure out how any of you can pretend Biden's behavior there was a good thing with a straight face.

 

[Emily Lake]

This shit is a repeat, I've seen it before in 2016 with Hillary Clinton and the allegations about her health and competence.

No it's not. I never said she was senile. She is still not senile. She is stupid and an asshole but she is not senile.
Who else is old but not senile? Jimmy Carter is not senile, even though he is a democrat and much older than Biden.

Clinton isn't stupid. But yes, she is an asshole. So is Trump. So is Putin. Most politicians are assholes.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

So taking a few strides is wandering off now?

Be honest with yourself.

I am, President Biden took three steps, then three steps. And stopped. You and others are being creative with the words used to describe the events, "wandered off", "rushed", "looked confused". I don't see any of that in the video. I see this as another remix of the attacks on Hillary Clinton in 2016.

If this had been a republican who disrespectfully wandered away from the person he was supposed to be listening to, and all of the other politicians there looked confused and awkward about it... would you be defending it as no big deal and making excuses about it?

If I had seen that, maybe. But none of that is actually in the video.

Seriously, Biden is too old for this, and so is Trump.

Yes, but we are past the point of really being able to do anything about it. Biden would have had to not rerun in order not to be candidate. And the GOP base... well they... *sigh*.

All of you who continue to insist that it's all just fine because "oh he's got good advisors" are tacitly supporting replacing an accountable president with a figurehead and turning over control of the executive branch to an unelected shadow government without the consent of the citizens.

What I am seeing are attacks on Biden's competency which the bulk of evidence doesn't support. Biden is old, he looks old, moves like he is old. And he has never been a great speaker due to his speech impediment. Again, what do you want? These are the options we are stuck with. The guy that egged on an insurrection as it was happening and didn't call in the National Guard... and an old guy who looked at the Parachutists.

Regarding the rest, you've seen the Wizard of Oz right? Put one and one together.

At a minimum, you should be paying a whole fuck-ton more attention to the VPs, and trying to figure out if you want Harris running the country or whoever the hell Trump picks.

Harris would do fine. She is capable, smart, ambitious. She was my first pick in 2020. As far as Trump's VP, I'm more worried about the guy who hasn't accepted the 2016 or 2020 election results and is making himself adjacent to the Christian Nationalist movement.

There is no choice to be made here. It is Methuselah's great-grandfather or literal bust for the nation.

 

[Emily Lake]

There is no choice to be made here. It is Methuselah's great-grandfather or literal bust for the nation.

I seem to recall that back in 2016 when Trump was running the first time, progressives throughout the country were insistent that if he got elected, it was going to be the complete end of the country and doom would befall us all.

OMG, Trump is going to destroy democracy and drop nukes on people for no reason!

It didn't happen then, but the same talking points have been resurrected now. I'm not worried about Trump ruining the US. I'm worried about the unelected appointees for either of these two fossils fucking it all up.

 

[Elixir]

OMG, Trump is going to destroy democracy and drop nukes on people for no reason!
It didn't happen then

Not for lack of trying.
He will be much better prepared this time and infinitely more desperate. Biden is running for office. Trump is running for his life. He doesn’t care two shits about anything but keeping his own sorry ass out of jail. Ergo, democracy must go.

Why so many otherwise smart people fail to realize this, is a true mystery.

Even if Trump had the best of intentions and has been lying about his intentions, he won’t have time over the next few years to run a lemonade stand, let alone do any good deeds for the country; if elected he’d be busy dismantling the DOJ, FBI, CIA and all other LE entities he is able to hobble, not lowering HC costs, taming inflation, reducing student debt, creating jobs or any of the things Biden has been doing without fanfare.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

There is no choice to be made here. It is Methuselah's great-grandfather or literal bust for the nation.

I seem to recall that back in 2016 when Trump was running the first time, progressives throughout the country were insistent that if he got elected, it was going to be the complete end of the country and doom would befall us all.

I'm pretty certain I (among others) didn't think he had a shot in hell of winning. But that if he did, it'd be shitty. It was pretty shitty, in fact, it was worse than anticipated.

OMG, Trump is going to destroy democracy and drop nukes on people for no reason!

Quotes? Though Trump did talk the nuking card up with North Korea... before he went there and embarrassed the heck out of our country. Yes, inertia did help keep the damage down, that and the first time around, people in particular points of power sought to ensure Trump didn't do anything stupid militarily. He also did incite a large riot that evacuated the US Capitol, and Trump and Pence were not talking to each other, as the VP residence was under heavy protection from Trump's followers. But you know, these things aren't important to people like you. Trying to overthrow a federal election by conspiring with a handful of State Legislatures and the SoS of GA is nothing compared to a person in drag reading stories to children.

It didn't happen then, but the same talking points have been resurrected now. I'm not worried about Trump ruining the US. I'm worried about the unelected appointees for either of these two fossils fucking it all up.

Yeah, as you've shown in the past, windmills and molehills.

 

[laughing dog]

There is no choice to be made here. It is Methuselah's great-grandfather or literal bust for the nation.

I seem to recall that back in 2016 when Trump was running the first time, progressives throughout the country were insistent that if he got elected, it was going to be the complete end of the country and doom would befall us all.

OMG, Trump is going to destroy democracy and drop nukes on people for no reason!

It didn't happen then, but the same talking points have been resurrected now. I'm not worried about Trump ruining the US. I'm worried about the unelected appointees for either of these two fossils fucking it all up.

Trump's unelected appointees are already fucking it up. Trump is talking as if he will further cut what is left of our democracy if he is elected.

The talk about Biden's mental competency bothers me because compared to Trump's demonstrated dementia or Putin's delusionary views, Biden is the president of MENSA.

 

[marc]

Though Trump did talk the nuking card up with North Korea...

And hurricanes.

His term was a disaster in many ways. Limiting the damage was there were some sane people in the WH trying to block his stupid orders, with the hope he would forget giving them. If he gets in again he will make sure the staff he sets up will be loyalists, eager to enact his worst ideas.

 

[Toni]

So taking a few strides is wandering off now?

Be honest with yourself. If this had been a republican who disrespectfully wandered away from the person he was supposed to be listening to, and all of the other politicians there looked confused and awkward about it... would you be defending it as no big deal and making excuses about it?

Seriously, Biden is too old for this, and so is Trump. All of you who continue to insist that it's all just fine because "oh he's got good advisors" are tacitly supporting replacing an accountable president with a figurehead and turning over control of the executive branch to an unelected shadow government without the consent of the citizens.

At a minimum, you should be paying a whole fuck-ton more attention to the VPs, and trying to figure out if you want Harris running the country or whoever the hell Trump picks.

I don’t disagree that both Biden and Trump are older than is ideal for the office they both seek.

That said, Biden seems to be functioning much, much better than Trump. I believe he started at a much higher level cognitively, experentially, character-wise and in terms of basic morality and human decency.

Their ages simply are not relevant as we will end up with one or the other of these men. I much, much, much prefer Biden because I’d like the United States and its constitution to survive -and the free world in general.

Trump is an existential threat to democracy here and throughout the world.

 

[Toni]

There is no choice to be made here. It is Methuselah's great-grandfather or literal bust for the nation.

I seem to recall that back in 2016 when Trump was running the first time, progressives throughout the country were insistent that if he got elected, it was going to be the complete end of the country and doom would befall us all.

OMG, Trump is going to destroy democracy and drop nukes on people for no reason!

It didn't happen then, but the same talking points have been resurrected now. I'm not worried about Trump ruining the US. I'm worried about the unelected appointees for either of these two fossils fucking it all up.

You are incredibly naive with respect to Trump and the possibility of another term ruining the US. But good for you that you get the very real threat of his appointees doing long term damage to the US and to the world.