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@MajorRage said in US Politics:
@JC said in US Politics:
I don’t care if he’s Presidential. LBJ wasn’t, and he passed the Civil Rights Act.
As for the economic data, I’m sure you can explain it to me.You and I both know that you don't need anything explained. You also know that one person see's, another sees differently. Lost count of the times we'd receive back to back viewpoints the morning after economic data from banking economists which were completely opposite. It became a running joke.
You see that’s where you and I diverge. His job is to lead the country, not his voters. He can get away with being partisan (BTW I’m not suggesting for a moment that the Democrats are any better) until a crisis comes along that needs everybody to buy in, not just your base. When the shit hit the fan Trump signally failed to do that. And his personality is such that he can’t admit to any error or misjudgement, he doubles down and attacks the messengers. It’s incredibly immature.
In any event, what’s the endgame? A continual ping pong match of one half of the country screwing over the other half? That kind of self-destructiveness isn’t something a leader should encourage, but it’s as natural as breathing to Trump.
Not sure we diverge that much. Granted, it's not great country leadership to only serve the people who vote for you, but to an extent, politics has been going down that path for a while. It's one of the reasons a few observers (who I respecT) are seriously questioning democracy. Left & Right are currently too far apart.
Totally agree he's been sadly lacking in many areas the last few months when a style of bring it all together leadership was required.
Not much, no. I’ve said that.
Well at least you also acknowledge that the climate of recent months wasn't his fault ... a few don't.
But all of those things are city, county or state level responsibilities. How were any of them Obama’s fault, or the remedying of them Trump’s achievement?
Both of them put the reasoning firmly at Trump's feet. It's up to me whether or not I buy into that or not - I don't really know enough about Lander, Wyoming or Madison, NJ to defend/argue. I would suggest these guys do tho.
A few observations, some of which are based on discussions with a very good, NYC-based, mate, who is staunchly anti-Trump.
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Trump has actually done some things which have had a big positive impact on the economy. Reducing the Federal tax rate from 35%, with State tax on top, has both boosted earnings and encouraged a fair bit of US controlled business to come back onshore. But more important has been his eliminating multiple layers of often conflicting regulation. Where previously there were sometimes Federal/State/County and Municipal regulations, often conflicting, there has been substantial simplication and that has stimulated the economy enormously. In recent years US GDP growth has left Europe behind.
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China ought to be much more of a worry than US. China talks about free trade and environment, but the reality is that it honours the rules only in the breach. So competing with China under WTO rules is a losing game. Likewise the Paris Accord is meaningless. Chinese property 'rights' are a joke, albeit a sick one. And whereas US is still a democracy (of sorts) there is nothing in China to counterbalance the CCCP. Trump has been quite right to call China out for eating its lunch. Recent WHO deficiencies just a continuation.
Trump is very pragmatic election-wise. How ironical that much of his voter base are ex-Democrats. Despite all the spiel that globalisation is good, they have precious little to show for it. Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee looks down its nose at these people and has the temerity to tell them how they should behave. Good luck swaying swing voters with that!
All that said, Trump is a caricature of a statesman, and surely it would not be beyond the wit of man for the DNC to get off its high horse and find a popular and sensible centralist candidate to take Trump down.
Instead they come up with Biden.
Expect echoes in November of the words of Wobblie great, George, 'Four more years'.
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@Victor-Meldrew yep, as has been mentioned already, they are just running the 'I ain't Trump' campaign, which isn't gonna pick up new voters, instead will lead to more sitting on thier hands thinking what's the point, while the fervent Trump fans will be out as they do.
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@taniwharugby said in US Politics:
@Victor-Meldrew yep, as has been mentioned already, they are just running the 'I ain't Trump' campaign, which isn't gonna pick up new voters, instead will lead to more sitting on thier hands thinking what's the point, while the fervent Trump fans will be out as they do.
I agree that Biden doesn't feel like the kind of guy to move the needle. I've said it before, IMHO the key to the Dems winning is Trump himself. If he creates enough outrage that more anti-Trump voters come out in force than Trump supporters, the Dems will win. But they may not come out because they feel Biden is a superior candidate
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Biden has another problem.
His own party has a large number of rather fanatical socialists.
Trying to get the hard core Bernie vote while not coming across as too left to the swing states centrists is a problem.
Of course, Trump will exploit this division to the hilt. -
@Frank said in US Politics:
Biden has another problem.
His own party has a large number of rather fanatical socialists.
Trying to get the hard core Bernie vote while not coming across as too left to the swing states centrists is a problem.
Of course, Trump will exploit this division to the hilt.It will be a big ask to see all of these groups vote for Joe just because they don't want Don. If Trump loses I would look back and say his tactic of appearing tough to his base but creating as much outrage as he has would have cost him. But his core are staunchly behind him so all of those dems voters, including Bernie's lot will need to come out if they are to win
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@Frank said in US Politics:
It's happening.
Summary: Let's abolish the police. We don't have a clue what we are going to replace them with nor the impact it's going to have on crime, public safety and people's lives, but at least we can feel virtuous and say we did something.
What could possibly go wrong?
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@Frank said in US Politics:
It's happening.
Ummm.
I saw a tweet that showed the mayor of Minneapolis being booed for NOT defunding the Police.
Is this for real or more trolling from fuck knows what side of the divide, especially given they can't spell 'willing'.
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@booboo said in US Politics:
I saw a tweet that showed the mayor of Minneapolis being booed for NOT defunding the Police.
Is this for real or more trolling from fuck knows what side of the divide, especially given they can't spell 'willing'.Some words spring to mind: Pitchforks, Mobs, Group-think, heretics, rage over reason, emotion over fact.
Politics. US-style.
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I had lunch with my Zimbabwean friend yesterday. This madness has actually gotten to the point where some of her white friends have messaged her to apologise for their 'white privilege'. The kind of person who demands others take a knee for them are not the kind of people who should have any power at all.
I'm starting to think there is a parallel here with the turning away from religion. Maybe people really do need something to worship and believe in. I'm no charlie church but give me preachy Christians any day over this mess.
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Not taking the piss here, but I do wonder how long it will be until there's a campaign in the US for white people to pay a "white privilege" tax.
US Politics