I have previously written (here and here) about the need to break the duopoly of power in this country by creating greater opportunity for other parties and candidates. Every presidential election, the voters are told that they have to chose between two candidates who garner little support in their own right. It is the continual replay of “choosing between evils” option for voters. Now we have a new disgrace: a majority of polled voters in swing states view both Donald Trump and Joe Biden as mentally unfit but are told that they must chose between them.
The poll of 4,143 likely voters in the pivotal states of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin was shocking, even for those of us who have been long critics of the duopoly system. A 51% majority said Trump is mentally unfit to be president while 52% felt the same way about Biden.
Those figures generally track the rest of the country. In a CNBC/Change Research nationwide poll, 55% said Trump was mentally unfit and 52% said that Biden was mentally unfit.
They do not fare much better on physical fitness. Only 52% said Trump is physically fit to be president while 54% felt the same way about Biden.
Every four years we are faced with the same unpopular choices but we now have two candidates that most voters consider mentally unfit. Every four years I hope that voters will finally get sufficiently angry to make real changes in our political system to break up the hold of the political establishment on our elections. We are a nation of over 300 million but have produced two candidates that the majority concerned mentally unfit. That captures the insanity of our times perfectly.
“And that “stuttering” thing doesn’t make him mentally unfit.”
Agreed.
Ted Cruz has a bit of a stutter, and, whatever else one may think of him, he is not mentally unfit.
Stuttering doesn’t make anyone unfit. The lack of intellectual capacity does. Biden who was never a very intelligent person only retains the outward appearance of a man who has all his marbles. Put him in the middle of the country with a couple of hundred bucks and I don’t know if without asking for help if he could actually make it home.
I’ve dealt with people like that and wouldn’t sign an agreement with them unless the attorney was present. Two reasons. One it is wrong to take advantage of a person in that state though the Democrat party has no problem with trying to take advantage of anyone. Secondly doing so opens up a whole set of legal problems but the power brokers already have decided how they will take over the seat of power.
Allan, who was never a very intelligent person, only retains the outward appearance of a man who has all his marbles. Put him in the middle of the country with a couple of hundred bucks and I don’t know if without asking for help if he could actually make it home.
As a charitable service to those with intellectual disabilities since Anonymous the Stupid already has learned how Stupid he is I am going to help advance his knowedge regarding things discussed on this blog. In the following Trump corrects the mistakes and failures of the Obama Administration
—-
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-signs-va-reform-bill-following-through-on-campaign-promise
Trump signs VA reform bill, following through on campaign promise
Oh gee, I thought this was going to say the Mexicans paid for the wall. My bad.
The Mexicans have placed thousands of troops on their northern and southern borders to interdict travel through Mexico to the US. I would say that is better than them paying for the wall. Of course small minds don’t know how to trade one thing for another so we have to let them live in ignorance.
I would say that is better than them paying for the wall.
The point of the wall was to decrease the number of illegal border crossings into this country. With Mexico paying troops to accomplish that goal, then they are effectively doing the same thing.
Yes, but the Bug has difficulty understanding that.
I doubt Bug doesn’t understand it. As with nearly all of Trump’s accomplishments over the last 4 years, the anti-Trumpers cling to a zero-sum analysis of what he campaigned on and what he has done. Well, that’s if they’ve reconciled the fact he was legitimately elected. As we’ve seen, that’s a fairly high bar for most of them.
Bug seems to know only left and right so if there is a yes vs no and someone on the right takes Yes he automatically takes No. That just got him into trouble again on one of his positions.
Allan has intellectual disabilities.
Has Allan the Stupid learned how Stupid he is?
There have been many siren calls for third party election of a President throughout our history. None have triumphed. A cursory look reveals
39 attempts for the Presidency. There have been many different name applied to these attempts ranging from Socialist (6 times), Independent (6 times) a lengthy drive from the Prohibition Party (6 times 1884 – 1916). Other names include Constitutional Democratic, States Rights Democratic(Dixiecrat), Independent Democratic-Republican, The Greenbacks, Progressive (Theodore Roosevelts “Know Nothings”), Libertarian and of course the Green Party, plug a multitude of others. Only two have placed better than third among the voters, The Constitutional Democratic Party 1860, and the Progressive Party 1912. The United States has muddled through many Presidents and found success with others. Why change something that has made the United States of America the shining beacon of all countries of the world, and a place that attracts many of the world inhabitants to seek it’s fruits.
Trump is just rude. Consistently so, and an equal opportunity curmudgeon. Anyone polled who thought he suffered a mental deficiency may be laid at the door of the Democrat-controlled media and activists who spread that rumor maliciously.
President Trump was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. What is noteworthy is that his nomination was due to actual accomplishment in Middle East Peace, rather than simply converting oxygen to carbon dioxide as the first elected black president, as was the case with President Obama. In fact, the most common criticism of the honor for the latter was that he had not done anything of note. It was merely what he looked like that formed the basis of his award.
However, since President Trump is generally rude, considered too bourgeoise by the elites, and there is an international Left leaning PR campaign against him, it is highly doubtful that he will be recognized for any accomplishment.
To be honest, when I first learned Trump was running for President, I was emphatically opposed. Yet he won me over, and I have been pleased with many of his accomplishments. His Twitter posts, not so much, but that was predictable.
Karen, you do realize he is quite personable and charming in private.
When dealing with crazies on the right and the left that have been destroying the country sometimes one has to be rude. People need to wake up. I’ve had business dealings on highly important and expensive issues where a lot was at stake. The four letter words on occasion came out as did the threats of suits and all sorts of horrible things. Then a deal was reached where each side recognized the other’s boundaries and then when everything was finished we would be on a first name basis and go out to lunch.
This all has to do with the power of Money. Why would Trump care about race and things of that nature. In business his job is to do what needs to be done. Race and insults aren’t important because unless there was bad faith involved both sides leave the table with money and are happy. Most of the times all else is forgotten.
Allan – I have heard that he is very nice in person. I was referring to his rather pugnacious public interactions.
There was a sweet little story I heard about a while ago. A personal trainer was in a MMA fighter’s team years ago. He’d brought his young son with him, whose arm was in a cast. Money was tight, and the trip, while necessary for his business, had strained the family’s finances. Trump had just finished talking to another fighter, and he came up to their group and started talking. He was very kind to the boy, and asked about his arm, as well as his future plans. He was very personable. When they returned to their room, they discovered that he’d given them carte blanche. Comped the room, as well as anything else they wanted to do at the hotel. As long as it was at the hotel, it was free. It was incredibly generous, and came just at the right time.
Years later, this same trainer managed to get a backstage pass at a Trump campaign event. When he got to Trump, he could tell that he recognized him, but wasn’t sure where to place him. So he told him that he wanted to take the chance to thank him for what he did for him and his family at that fight years ago. Trump remembered his son, and even asked how his arm had healed. This was years, and thousands of interactions with people, later.
There are many stories about Trump’s kindness to everyday people. When he was running, I recall women coming forward to say how women and minorities had incredible chances to attain upper management positions at his companies, at a time when the glass ceiling was 8 feet thick. He doesn’t care about race, but rather performance.
There seems to be some sort of instant amnesia where the false accusations against Trump are concerned. I recall what absolutely blew up my family began with the meme he forwarded, of Hillary Clinton locked up, with all the money regarding her foundation corruption allegations referenced, and a sheriff badge. She declared it was antisemitic, because the badge was a 6 pointed star. There were no internal lines, to make it a recognizable SOD, nor was the context antisemitic, as Clinton isn’t Jewish. I recall listing all these real sheriff’s organizations, rangers, even gymkhana teams, that used 6 pointed stars as badges. There was no reaching her.
Ya know, I never did get an apology when Trump became the first sitting president with a Jewish first family. Nor when he moved the embassy of Israel to Jerusalem, as other presidents before promised, but failed to do. Nor when he maintained close times with Netanyahu. Nor when he openly supported Israel. Nor when he had Nikki Haley defend Israel and stand up to the Muslim coalition that kept bashing the country. Nor when he demanded, and succeeded, in getting Saudi Arabia to grant admission to the first Jews to set foot on its soil in many years – his daughter and son-in-law. Nor when he brokered the Israeli-UAE and Bahrein peace deal.
I mean, if they aren’t going to admit they were wrong and maybe, possibly, Trump voters aren’t antisemitic Nazis after Trump brokered a Middle East peace deal that helped Israeli relations, then I don’t know what would do it.
That whole anti-semitic thing was thrown on the pile of false accusations they forgot about something like 58 false accusations ago. I really should list them so I can keep track…for posterity. Future generations are not going to believe the level of viciousness or lack of critical reasoning.
Great story. You are better informed than most. We are seeing the democrats of today trying to grab power the way despots do. Some of what they are doing looks like a Lenin power grab where despite having the minority his group was called the Bosheviks (greater). He used any method possible. Violence and decpetion was part of it.
Karen — I agree with Allan, that is a great story and thank you for posting it. It agrees with other personal stories that have slipped out. This country, and the world, is very fortunate that this man is our president.
Trump is not just rude, he’s a repulsive bragging liar who respects you so little Karen, he barely tries to make his lies believable. If you can stomach him, you probably stomach his endless BS and bragging too. No doubt you’re thrilled to learn he actually did know the Covid virus was seriously lethal and then lied to us all, including even now when he keeps promising a vaccine by the election. You must be very proud of that vote.
Trump is not just rude, he’s a repulsive bragging liar
You know Gainesville, we often don’t see ourselves as others do.
BTB – do you have amnesia? Have you forgotten that whole exchange with at a White House briefing waaaaay back in March? asked whether he’d lied about Covid. Months ago, Trump said just about the same thing as he told Woodward. He said that he wanted to maintain a positive outlook, and prevent a panic. You know, like a toilet-paper hoarding, hand sanitizer gone for 3 months panic? Back in March he told the press pool that we’re talking about the possibility of more people dying from Covid than in the world wars. That’s incredibly serious. So he tried to rally the country.
Remember when Trump closed travel between China, and Biden, Pelosi, et al called him a xenophobe, and opposed it?
Remember when the CDC failed to produce a high throughput, accurate field test? The kit tested positive for distilled water. He threw it open to private industry, which is why we have widespread testing availability today.
And yet, Woodward basically repeated the Q&A session from March, and Democrats pretend it’s some gotcha moment. This already has been discussed 6 months ago, in public, with the press, including his referencing Covid-19 as the Wuhan “flu”, or using terminology such as “flu like.” I have disagreed with some of his characterizations, including comparing it to the flu. I did not agree with his eagerness to reopen businesses, while at the time time acknowledging that people desperately wanted to save their businesses. But this is not some sort of plot to deliberately allow Covid to have free rein of the country. Rather, the states were in charge, and many states shut down commerce.
And yet, the government cannot prevent individuals from flouting Covid recommendations. They kept going to parties, congregating, protesting, rioting, and otherwise getting up close and personal with as many people as possible. The young quickly grew bored, socialized, and then brought it home to Mom, Dad, and Grandma. I have witnessed this, with my own eyes. I have seen old, young, Republicans, and Democrats ALL refusing to wear masks, and refusing to distance themselves. It’s so frustrating. Unless the country revives a sense of personal responsibility, this virus will just keep consuming more hosts. It’s so stupid.
Am I proud of my vote? Absolutely. Is this a question?
My impression of the Democrat Party
1. They want to defund or in some cases, abolish the police. This has already led to increased crime and MURDER
2. Democrat city leaders told cops to stand down, and tolerated rioting. Seattle even ceded full city blocks
3. Democrats have allowed total anarchy in areas they control
4. Democrats want to reduce policing AND they oppose the 2nd Amendment. Are criminals lobbying them?
5. Democrats oppose free speech. See the country wide harassment and intimidation of invited conservative speakers. See myriad Turley blog posts on university prejudice against conservatives.
6. Democrat identity politics are inherently racist. They judge someone’s worth, or the value of their opinions, based upon their race, gender, and sexual orientation.
7. Democrats are increasingly racist against whites and misandrist.
8. Democrats falsely accuse America of being a racist country, as well as being founded upon slavery. Slavery was ubiquitous, and in fact still exits in Africa today. Therefore, no country at the time would be “founded” upon slavery. Why would it be? It was everywhere. Rather, it was founded on the ideal of freedom and Judeo Christian values. As it evolved, it extended those freedoms to all its people. The West was at the forefront of the abolition of slavery. To hold the US, and the US alone, accountable for this ubiquitous human condition, when it actually was the champion of getting rid of it, is absurd.
9. Democrats are intensely bigoted against conservatives. I have routinely been called racist, Nazi, anti-semite, and other truly horrid names because I vote Republican. All lies. But this has become normalized.
10. Democrats openly call black conservatives racist slurs. It’s like nothing has changed from its days of the KKK. Blacks had better know what’s good for them and vote Democrat or be publicly humiliated and punished.
11. Democrat run states like CA are consistently voted the most hostile to businesses. Business owners, and individuals not only move out of state, but they view it as “escaping” the high taxes, and regulations. This kind of bitterness towards their state is not normal for most other parts of the country. They leave and take their tax revenue with them. Dems usually tell them not to let the door hit them in the behind, but now they are beginning to realize they need that money. So…
12. Dems in CA are trying to pass a wealth tax that would tax the rich on their assets. If they move out of state, they will still owe the tax for the next 10 years. Don’t all socialist countries try to punish people for leaving? The bill might not pass, but the rich are getting the message. Property values are increasing rapidly in states like ID, MT, WY, etc.
13. Dems are bought and paid for by big unions. They donate astronomical amounts of money, the likes of which makes the NRA contributions look like pittance. Then those politicians write laws that benefit them – such as the law that banned gig workers in CA. Just absolutely wiped them out…during a pandemic! No more setting your own schedule. They capped charter school attendance at February levels, before the pandemic. Have to make the teachers unions happy. Students were leaving public schools in droves because all day ZOOM classes have sucked. Then there are the Prop 13 business protections on the chopping block, put on the ballot to appease, again, the Teachers Union. Without these protections, the property taxes of industrial and commercial areas would skyrocket, with the cost of goods and services along with them. During a pandemic when so many employers are barely holding on by their fingernails.
Democrat policies drives businesses away. I wouldn’t vote for a Democrat to be in charge of a state, let alone an entire country, at a time when we need business to flourish and build the economy back up. Put Dems in control, and we’ll devolve into a Third World country, with our social credit dependent upon race, jobs in the toilet.
The Democrat platform appears to be nothing more than they hate Trump, they would vote money from the treasury to the people, but not until after the election, they hate Trump, they hate the cops, they hate Trump, they hate whites, they hate cis gendered men, they hate Trump, they were for closing the border after they opposed it, and they hate Trump. Oh, and they would also throw open the national border to bring in as many people as possible to compete for the diminishing jobs.
Will I be proud of my vote in November? You’re darn right I will.
Vote responsibly. Don’t vote to turn the US into a Third World Country. See how CA is doing. We’ve got poop and dirty needles on sidewalks in front of playgrounds, business escape by droves, and the cost of living is astronomical.
“They capped charter school attendance at February levels, before the pandemic. Have to make the teachers unions happy.”
A comparison of NYC Charter Schools to Public Schools for the year 2017-2018 revealed that minority students in low socio economic areas going to Charter Schools blew the Public Schools to smithereens.
This was a head to head comparison that was not cherry picked where the demographics and social economic status were virtually the same and the the different schools were all in the same building comparing grade to grade.
The results are out for others to look at and is reasonable scientific proof that Charter Schools at least in this area should be permitted to thrive while the Mayor of NYC would like to close them down.
This study as done by Thomas Sowell and the results are in his newest book Charter Schools and Their Enemies. A sample of the finding follow. Definitions and placement ratings used were from NYS and not created by the study.
I cannot copy any of the results from the appendix so I will provide the only first one.
Alexander Humoldt School vs KIPP Charter School 3rd grade language arts test results (there are pages of data) where both schools are housed together.
Rankings based on four proficiency levels: 4 above proficient 3 proficient, 2 below proficient, 1 very low proficient. KIPP is the Charter School
Hubolt: 1 -28% 2-37% 3-33% 4-1%
Kipp : 1 – 7% 2-19% 3-68% 4-7%
This is not unique. It is typical and demonstrates that democrats and the teachers union are against providing the best education for minorities and those of low socio-economic means. They call others racsists but based on their attempts to stop the growth of Charter Schools shouldn’t they be called the racists? If such a thing as systemic racism exists it is in the education system and this study demonstrates a way out and empiracally would also help to improve the Public Schools.
Karen: your posts prove the effectiveness of the Fox News indoctrination campaign. The “Trump is rude but still a better President than Obama” story line is is put out by pro-Trump media when they can’t argue or explain away things like the actual recordings where Trump admitted lying about the coronavirus pandemic They couldn’t spin this one away or call Woodward a liar or pawn of the “Democratic-controlled media” when it’s on tape. So, when he mocks a disabled reporter, or insults a Gold Star family or insults a reporter who asks a question he doesn’t like, calls a world leader or critic a childish name or even insults a war hero like John McCain, it’s just “rudeness”. No, it isn’t–it’s mental illness, and you have to be a really gullible disciple not to realize that this is not how a POTUS should behave. Trump is a chronic, habitual liar, narcissist, xenophobe, misogynist racist and sociopath. He has been all of his life. Read the book written by Dr. Mary Trump, his niece, who is qualified to opine about him, having known him all of her life, and she is a clinical psychologist.
As to the pandemic he allowed to spread to the point that over 6 million Americans have been infected and more than 196,000 have died, the lie Kellyanne came up with to cover the pandemic lie is that he wanted to avoid panic, as if there could ever be anything resembling altruism motivating this deeply-flawed person. There is a big difference between being rude and being a sociopath, someone who is incapable of empathy, which is what Trump is. He is also a malignant narcissist–everything is about him, him, him, his glory, attention, adulation, walking down the steps where Lincoln addressed the troops, “Trump” spelled out in fireworks on the National Mall. A repulsive display of arrogant narcissism by someone who cheated to get into the White House he uses as a background for photo ops.
Well, now we know not only that Trump was told that this was a dangerous virus that was easily spread and would be deadly, but that he chose to lie about it, and that he muzzled CDC doctors and stopped them from warning us, too. There can be no doubt that if we were told the truth sooner, many thousands of lives would have been saved, yet true believers like you still support this turd, which is what I find shocking. Now that we know, is there panic? No, but many Americans now fully realize and understand that their government lies to them, that we will not be told the truth about just how dangerous this threat really is, that this has become a political tool of Trump, and we must save ourselves. We can’t trust the FDA if they claim they have a safe vaccine just in time for the election. In fact, the true disciples still consider wearing masks as some sort of anti-Democrat political statement. The real reason he lied about the pandemic was to avoid spooking the stock market, so his rich friends could keep making more and more money. He also thought he could prevent the fallout that the virus would cause, instead of taking steps to contain it, which would have hurt the economy, but to a lesser degree and for a shorter period of time, as proven by what has happened in other countries. Truth is, he inherited a booming economy from Barak Obama that he has singlehandedly destroyed by lying and playing down the pandemic. He keeps lying. Just yesterday, he said that we’ve “turned a corner”, which is not true, Cases continue to surge.
People like you don’t care because he has “won you over with his accomplishments”. What “accomplishments”? How many people have to die or lose their jobs before you see the light? There are still over 10 million people without jobs, and when some who previously were laid off get re-hired, he tries to claim he “created” jobs. More lies. You prove your discipleship when you write off criticism of Trump as rudeness considered too “bourgeoise” by “elitists”. That’s the hook they use–they play on the resentment of non college-educated people like you who resent educated people, especially women and minorities, because you wrongly perceive that they look down on you. Wake up. Be big enough to admit that the real problem is your inferiority complex. No one is looking down on you, except Trump and Fox News. They are taking advantage of your misperceptions and resentment. They are the ones abusing you, not the “leftist media”.
And the so-called Nobel Peace Prize nomination that your fat hero has craved for so long is just as phony as he is–the nomination was from a far right-winger who has no credibility. Trump craves this because Obama received the award. And, no, Trump didn’t broker any peace plan in the Middle East or do anything worthy of the prize. UAE and Israel had already been informally engaging trade for years, but Trump saw a way to take credit for it, just like he tries to take credit for lots of things he doesn’t deserve. Israel let him do it because he moved the embassy to Jerusalem, which makes it appear that the US supports Israel over the Palestinians. Try reading up on this, Karen, you might learn something.
You are either a full-blown disciple or you are a troll. Stop being a Trump Chump. TRUMP LIES– PEOPLE DIE. That’s not bourgeoise–it’s a fact.
Courtesy Natacha, > 900 words on the subject of some other person being mentally unfit.
Oh, my God, Natacha. Are you STILL obsessing over Fox? Conservative media exists. Get over it.
Magnus Jacobsson, a member of the Swedish Parliament, and Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a member of the Norwegian Parliament, each nominated Trump for a Nobel Prize. I know this has to absolutely eat you alive like acid, but Trump negotiated some major peace deals in the Middle East. Trump famously kept a promise that the US made, and then failed to live up to, for years. That is, moving the embassy too Jerusalem. I recall when the false allegation was going around with gusto that Trump was an antisemite. The total and complete lack of critical reasoning it would take to proclaim the first sitting president with a Jewish first family an antisemite is astounding. But there it is.
Hey, I’m just grateful you finally slunk away on the Russia propaganda.
What did Obama win the Nobel Peace Prize? Simply for being the first African American president. He got a coveted international award for what he looked like. There was a furor soon afterward, as he took up a drone strike list. Meanwhile, Trump was nominated twice for what he accomplished. That is a big difference.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/516022-trump-nominated-a-second-time-for-nobel-peace-prize
“Trump lies – people die.” Okay. Try to remember long, long ago, waaaaay back to March, 2020. During this time, in a press conference, Trump was asked all about whether he played down the Covid crisis. I have seen this press conference. Trump said that they stood to lose as many people, or more, as in world wars. There really is no positive take on it. However, he saw his job as leader to rally the country. Keep people hopeful. And avoid an irrational panic. He closed travel to China and Europe (in which the Dems called him a Xenophobe.) When the CDC couldn’t roll out an accurate test, he went to private industry. He negotiated for massive upsurges in ventilator and mask manufacture, no mean feat as China had bought up most of the world’s supply. What remained was being used in their own countries of manufacture. He expedited R&D on vaccines and treatment research. Individual states shut down commerce. A pandemic was declared. Yet, the government can do zero about individual people flouting the rules, and going out and partying, rioting, protesting, and otherwise congregating in large numbers, and then bringing disease home to Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa.
I have seen with my own eyes young, old, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, political agnostic, atheist, etc ALL going out without masks. NO social distancing. Gleefully feeding hosts to this disease. Unless Trump put us all in prison, I don’t see how the government could completely stop the spread. Contact tracing is a wonderful idea, epidemiologically. However, the government does not have the right to force people to report their contacts and whereabouts. Other countries, without our level of individual rights, can mandate this. Other countries engaged in mass arrests. There is a limit to what we can lawfully do. Apparently, there is also a limit to our eroding culture’s sense of personal responsibility and civic duty to slow the spread of a disease.
“You prove your discipleship when you write off criticism of Trump as rudeness considered too “bourgeoise” by “elitists”. That’s the hook they use–they play on the resentment of non college-educated people like you who resent educated people, especially women and minorities, because you wrongly perceive that they look down on you.” Look. If you have to resort to lying, then you already know you have no argument. I do have a degree, which I have told you repeatedly. I am educated, and a woman, so why would I resent educated women? Why would I look down on minorities? I assume you made the racist accusattion because that’s the play when you have no case, right? I judge people by their character. I frankly could care less what someone looks like. My best friend growing up was black. I have black, Latino, and Asian friends now. My sister married a minority, so my own niece is Latina. Lying about someone, calling them a racist, is a real dirtbag thing to do.
You voted for a guy who entered the race coming down an escalator talking crap about Mexicans and is orange with a cow flop on his head.
Good thought, Bug,
And yet he beat the annointed Democrat who had the media, the Deep State, and big tech supporting her, and he did it spending far less than she did.
He has superpowers.
And Biden? Still searching for his next sentence.
But Bug…your bile and pain is lovely to see. Please keep whining and spitting venom.
Young, your bile and pain is lovely to see. Please keep whining and spitting venom.
And you voted for a psychopathic war criminal who lost to the bad orange man who lives inside your feeble childish brain 24/7.
A 51% majority said Trump is mentally unfit to be president while 52% felt the same way about Biden.
It would be helpful to know how those polled measure mental fitness. They should also ask them what their primary source for news is and what search engine they use to gather facts on the internet. How many of them believe in truth over facts? As Bret Baier discovered recently, Biden’s [soon-to-be-former] press secretary certainly does:
Joe Biden’s National Press Secretary T.J. Ducklo repeatedly refused to answer simple “yes or no” questions on Thursday night during a segment of Fox News’s “Special Report.” It was one of the few times in Biden’s entire campaign that a representative has responded to real-time inquiries from any non-leftist corporate media.
Ducklo not only dodged Baier’s questions repeatedly, he refused to say whether Biden uses a teleprompter to feed him replies when he does corporate media interviews. Ducklo also falsely claimed Biden did not early this year condemn President Trump’s decision to close travel from coronavirus-infected areas, a decision credited with saving tens of thousands of American lives.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/09/11/bidens-press-secretary-refuses-to-say-if-biden-uses-teleprompter-in-interviews/
Olly writes: “..responded to real-time inquiries from any non-leftist corporate media”.
Olly, they’re known as ‘rightwing media’.
Actually it was the author of the piece, Jordan Davidson, that described it that way.
A 51% majority said Trump is mentally unfit to be president while 52% felt the same way about Biden.
All Right!!!
Trump wins this news cycle.
Olly, thanks for posting.
Mentally unfit:
For Trump means his rhetoric can be offensive and doesn’t sound like the type of rhetoric normally expected from a President. Obama’s rhetoric was much finer as the Russians moved into Crimea and took part of the Ukraine. In fact Obama made sure his rhetoric didn’t have to be tested as China militarized land not formerly islands and started taking control over the China Sea disregarding the rights of others such as Vietnam. On and on Obama was concerned with how he sounded. On the other hand Trump got the job done. Trump dealt with contracters and the like in NYC so most people aren’t aware of how people actually talk to get the job done. I’m used to it and it is a different world.
Biden was never fit for the Presidency or to be VP. When he was mentally fit he was able to enrich the Biden family by selling America down the drain militarily and economically. When it came to the American people who were suffering and even losing their jobs to China he had that endearing smile. Today he is unable to cogently answer simple questions so of course he isn’t fit if he ever was. The portion of the country that thinks he is fit need some self reflection about their own mental fitness or need to stop praying at the leftist temple of Marxism, racism, envy, self enriching etc.
The trope that Biden is mentally unfit was started by Russian trolls, and repeated by Trump and Fox News. Where is the proof? What are the facts? There’s plenty of proof of Trump’s incompetence. It amazes me that disciples of Trump can see the trashed economy, small businesses closing, 6 million+ infected Americans, 196,000+ deaths, unemployment over 10%, and Trump still lying about “turning the corner’ on the pandemic, but still support him. How bad does it have to get to shake your faith? How many insults does he have to lodge at veterans and members of the military before you see the narcissism of this coward who dodged the draft? The claim that closing the border saved “tens of thousands of American lives” IS ANOTHER LIE. The virus was already here, and more than 40,000 people traveled from China after the ban, so where are the facts to support this claim? Trump closed the border to try to leverage China into a trade agreement. It backfired. Biden certainly didn’t have the full facts back in early February like Trump did, but you still want to criticize him for opposing the ban at the time.
The trope that Biden is mentally unfit was started by Russian trolls, and repeated by Trump and Fox News.
Well, for starters, let’s begin with your proof that statement is true. What are the facts? How exactly do Russian trolls place video and audio of Biden mumbling incoherently in the public sphere? And given what we’ve seen from your postings over the last 4 years, it’s no surprise you consider what you see from Biden to be the personification of a man mentally and physically fit to be your president.
So, in your bizzarro world the Russians have taken over Sky News in Australia?!
‘Biden’s cognitive issues can no longer be ignored’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA-GoeFGyIc
BTW, how’s that “Defund the Police” meme working out for your Party, Natacha?
So, now we have a nation of mental health experts? The reality is that the vast majority of Americans – people the world over – barely know enough to come in out of the rain and the “educated” are still idiot. They don’t have the mental capacity to make such an observation. As for polls, they can be manipulated to say whatever the pollster wants it to say. Polls, like debates, are a waste of time and money.
semcgowanjr: speak for yourself. I doubt if you really know any Americans.
On a daily basis, people make judgments about things that most people aren’t experts on: politics, healthcare, economics, …
It’s wholly appropriate for voters to consider whether they believe a presidential candidate to be mentally fit, even if voters aren’t experts in such assessments. Would you rather that voters ignore this issue?
Despite hurricane force headwinds Trump has been nominated for a Nobel for advancing peace in the Middle East. Now the government under Trump has been nominated for another Nobel for another peace deal and it looks as if more deals are coming. Trump, unlike Obama, has actually earned his nomination.
But I wonder how Biden would do negotiating with a teleprompter in front of him so he will know what to say next? I can imagine the headlines: Middle East in flames because of new wars.”. The man is so near senility they have to keep him in a basement and let Kamala do the engagements.
I haven’t trusted these polls since all of them [but one] predicted Hillary would win by a landslide.
Both N Korea and Iran have increased their nuclear capabilities significantly while Trump was f..king around.
Blame Obama for Iran and blame all recent Presidents for North Korea. Trump is the only one that addressed and attempted to alter the scenario. Democrat malicious action and its impeachment hoax let the leaders of both countries think that time is in their favor. That is a terrible way of negotiating. It’s like playing poker and letting your opponent see your cards.
Democrats in todays world are notorious for selling America down the drain for political or personal profit.
Since Trump pulled us out the agreement with Iran and increased sanctions they have purposefully, and under the eyes of the IAEA cranked up plutonium production an dnow have enougn for a nuclear weapon. They are continuing this effort. Under the agreement they had not and that was verified by the IAEA and US and Israeli intelligence. Obama put together the deal that stopped their production and Trump ended that deal AND GOT NOTHING FOR IT. He got nothing from N Korea either except a h..d on.
DPRK was not going to give up its weapons under any circumstances. That deconfliction by Trump was smart and has made Korean peninsula a safer place.
A lack of war with a nation like DPRK is itself a benefit gained by this choice. War with DPRK would be an awful outcome for our ally the ROK, South Korea.
However, I have to agree that the Iran deal engineered by John Kerry, under Obama, was worthwhile and constructive under the circumstances.
I do not join my Republican friends in condemning it.
I think we would have been fine keeping it and it was a net plus for regional stability.
It had downsides of course. And, junking the deal has had some pluses.
So, while I respect the Iran deal, at the same time, I do not condemn Trump for cancelling it, as this was a sovereign prerogative as well.
How will it play out in the end? Not clear yet. There has been disruption of business and there has been some problems with European allies who banked on the deal.
So, the long term effects of that have not fully played out yet.
Trump deserves some credit for limiting the fireworks with Iran to killing Soleimani which was a good move. But staying out of a general war.
I don’t favor demonizing Iran as a nation. The mullahs are actually not crazy. They are adversaries for America and certainly enemies of Israel, which is an American ally. So the matter is complicated. But in my view, they act like they are sovereigns of their own country, which they are. This is not inherently a problem. Under an older Westphalian order that would not really be a big problem for the rest of the world. Maybe it stinks for Iranians but I think retaining a certain level of Westphalian order among nations is a net plus for international stability and our diplomats should keep this context in mind.
As voters we should educate ourselves and consider both the interests of the United States as a sovereign actor, but also how the United States has successfully used transnational organizations and deals in the past to advance our interests successfully. The matters are complex, and we should not oversimplify them.
Read the papers stolen from the Iranians by the Israelis. The Iranians were not even monitored in an effective way. In a short time the Obama plan to stop Iranian development of nuclear weapons would be over and they would be free to build what ever they wanted, but that is nothing new. They were building under the treaty.
This is one of the worst failures of any Presidential administration. Obama had plenty of others.
By the Book — Iran does not have any weapons plutonium, Pu239. Iran does have a sizable store of enriched uranium. This would require further enrichment before being usable in a si-called bomb.
so-called
“So, now we have a nation of mental health experts?”
No.
But, if you are taking the election seriously, this has to go into your calculus of whom you intend to vote for. Plus, people were simply responding to a poll question, there is nothing presumptuous about simply answering a poll question. If one doesn’t feel qualified to give an answer, than one can simply say so. The issue is especially important in an election where one candidate is a highly bombastic man in the habit of saying weird things, and the other is a career gaffe-machine, who is now showing signs of cognitive decline. I am not a doctor and do not claim to be offering a diagnosis, but am simply observing similar patterns that I have seen in older friends and relatives who have had alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. It is a grossly irresponsible citizen who would pretend not to notice these things on the ground that he is not a mental health expert and thus has not qualified to have an opinion.
Full disclosure: I say these things as someone who actually likes Joe Biden, voted for him twice, and am now a Trump Democrat.
I think debates are not a waste of time and money. I think they can reveal a lot of things we need to know. Looking forward to a live debate between DJT and Joe
Again, recently asked if they feed him the answers via TelePrompTer, his press secretary goes into a flurry of evasion. They’re going to insist on a Zoom debate. The Republicans on the Commission on Presidential Debates are the sort easily rolled 20 years ago (John Danforth is on the Commission); as of now, there likely isn’t one of them who isn’t NeverTrumpaloo refuse. So, the White House will be given an ultimatum – Zoom or nothing – and then the cr!p media will go into propaganda overdrive when Trump refuses to co-operate.
Why do I have a feeling they over sampled Democrats again?
One day I ran into a friend (a lawyer) and he asked my if I had watched President Obama’s speech the night before, I can’t remember which one. I said ‘yes’, but he really didn’t really SAY anything. He responded, all excited, “I know, but didn’t he sound great!”. I responded, “I thought you learned critical thinking in law school”. My point is that we as an electorate are conditioned to respond to the SOUND of the rhetoric, we don’t necessarily pay attention to the actual words and their meaning. If it sounds good or makes us feel good then that person delivering it must be the smartest, the best. I think of the William Hurt character in Broadcast News, he looked good and sounded good but … We also accept constantly being Gaslighted. If the media says it, if politicians say it then it must be true even if what we see and hear from those in the situation is actually different. A professor of mine once told me the American voter is lazy, it is easier for them to accept the emotional aspect of a candidate rather than think about the policies being promoted and their possible consequences. President Trump doesn’t talk like any person in or running for any political office, he spent his own money on his campaign, he talked about all the things everyone outside bubbles of the East and West Coast talk about and not only said he would fix it but actually tried to and accomplished some of ii, if not the majority. And he is hated for it. He is not a member of the club and he doesn’t care to be. We are used to politician saying one thing to get elected but once in office say they can’t do it because….pick a reason. Basically they lie. I am an independent, I have voted according to policy not emotion, and I have voted for both parties. I do not think President Trump is either mentally or physically unfit for office just because someone tells me I should think it. However, I do think that a vote for Vice President Biden is really a vote for Senator Harris because I do not think he will finish his first term if elected.
My apologies for being so long winded.
Absolutely correct about how the sound of a candidate impacts voters. I believe it is as much a beauty contest as it is a political contest. Someone that does not look or sound like the person we imagine should hold this office will not be elected. Warren is a perfect example: sound-wise and her appearance projects the image of a crotchety old school marm, a person we’ve all had experience with and one we would not want to revisit. Sanders is a cantankerous old curmudgeon who’s appearance and voice is about as enjoyable as fingernails down a blackboard. Both Biden and Trump have the look, but their voices are 50/50. Obama was great because he would just talk many times, but then eventually even he resorted to Political Speech Making 101 of preaching hellfire and damnation about the other side and how you’ll go to hell if you support them, as both Trump and Biden do all the time.
But not worry, this election will prove to be more vicious and ruthless than 1828, and then will probably lead to our own version of the ‘Reign of Terror,’ to be followed shortly thereafter by a second civil war. Things are looking just perfect! (a la Capt. Dan)
Some of the most infamous mass murdering dictators in world history were very compelling speakers.
It is our flaw. We fall for the honeyed tongue and smooth demeanor. I would rather have a stutterer who was eminently capable of bringing the country to prosperity and governing geopolitics, than a smooth talking, charismatic Lenin or Chavez.
I do think that people no longer abide by the will of an election. The last 4 years have shown Democrats refuse to accept the rules of the election, when it does not go their way. They seek to destroy the electoral college, which requires presidential candidates to care about all 50 states, and instead want the dictatorship of the majority of a few urban areas.
No matter who wins this next election, I foresee that the other side will not accept it. The Democrats have already shown they will not accept losing. If Republicans lost, they will point out the fact that mass mail in ballots and ballot harvesting are obvious sources of fraud. They will give New Jersey as an example.
Buckle up. We are in for a bumpy ride. The Pavlovian Dogs of War are trained and ready to respond to the latest, carefully crafted headline.
Karen, you’re full of s..t. Democrats have had no choice but to accept losers like W and Trump taking office and have done nothing outside the constitution or any other laws to resist them politically. Impeachment of Trump – an option the GOP lept at over a blow job for Clinton – was practically forced on them by his criminal behavior and they have not stooped to the record breaking filibusters of the GOP when Obama was in office or the stealing of his SC seat. Let’s see what your corrupt and Trump owned party would do when a Democrat is put in office who lost the vote. Until then, thank your lucky stars that hasn’t happened and be thankful the opposition has remained lawful and loyal.
“be thankful the opposition has remained lawful and loyal.”
Man! You have not been paying attention!
More than you. Tell me where I’m wrong.
there was evidence that Chicago organized crime delivered thousands of votes to JFK in the 1960 election, winning him state of Illinois electoral votes.
Nixon decline to contest the matter
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-nov-09-mn-51973-story.html
“Some of the most infamous mass murdering dictators in world history were very compelling speakers.”
Some of that had to do with the fact that they had what we might charitably refer to as captive audiences.
It was thought to be extremely unhealthy to be the first one to stop clapping at the end of one of Joseph Stalin’s speeches.
Karen Ann is just our usual troll with a different name. How boring!
Karen I think the word you were looking for when you said gaslighted, maybe the right word was “conditioned,” ie, we are conditioned to like a certain manner of speaking
Obama’s way of talking was slick, it was Yankee professor talk.
Clinton’s way of speaking was southern Democrat intonation.
Trump’s way of talking is New York construction worker style talk
Biden, ha, wow, he used to be sort of charming in his gaffes but now it is just sad dementia stuff
anyhow, maybe the media gaslights us too, but, gaslighting is a different thing
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/here-there-and-everywhere/201701/11-warning-signs-gaslighting
Very well said.
Karen, Trump didn’t spend his own money on his campaign, he made money on it – some of that probably illegally – and people hate him because he’s a repulsive lying con man who purposefully pretended the virus was a minor problem, and almost 200k deaths later is still pumping sunshine BS while sabotaging his own administrations guidelines for citizen response. Every president has blood on their hands as they are forced to make life and death decisions. Trump has blood on his hands from pure inaction and deception. He’s a killer, literally.
My post is to Karen Ann.
The above is idiocy, not unusual for btb.
Trump didn’t make money off of his campaign. In fact over all Trump has probably lost a Billion dollars or more by being President.
What Trump said about the virus had no impact. What impacted the virus was the stupid things that were done like Cuomo’s killing of Nursing Home residents. Isolating the vulnerable, sick and elderly, was the singular thing that needed to be done but most of that are things done on the state level. As far as putting back together the resources necessary to fight a pandemic Trump can be rated quite highly. From depleted stocks of PPE and depleted intellectual capacity Trump reversed everything and did quite well, so well that we might have a vaccine before the end of the year something considered impossible as many felt it might not be possible and others though 2-3 extra years were needed.
Trump and his fay a.s relatives made a killing on the tax cuts he signed into law. I just loved Ivanka coming out on TV the day after to talk about how good it was for America, without by the way mentioning how good it was for her and her boy-hubby.
Trump didn’t pass the tax laws to benefit himself and they weren’t done in a vacuum. If you want people to work and produce you want to maintain reasonable tax rates. If you increase tax rates on the rich when raising tax rates you have to lower them when you lower tax rates. The whole tax structure is poor and needs to be redone. That tax structure which creates the problems you scream about is the tax structure you and democrats support.
Take a look at what is happening in NY because the politicians think like you. Cuomo wants to “buy lunch to keep the big taxpayers in NY. One needs more than lunch to do that.
Bo0ok. Did it ever occur to you that every single POTUS ends up with blood on his hands? The very essence of the office may be to choose who dies.
In the public health question that I think you are alluding to, there is a choice between COVID deaths and the deaths that necessarily result from the downside impact of quarantine and cancelled economic activity. Suicides, ODs, to say nothing of lost elective and preventative health care treatment, or the decaying of the economy which supports human life with business like making and selling FOOD. Now maybe you believe Trump chose wrongly. Maybe that is true or maybe not. Certainly the COVID restrictions are having a huge impact on unemployment. And an argument can be made that such a tradeoff leads to more human suffering not less, and a more severe lockdown coordinated from the central government rather than state by state, would have been worse. Some people are sure of their opinions one way or another. Im not so sure. Perhaps we won’t know until years from now.
The point is, any POTUS would have had tough calls to make that would lead to deaths on either side.
War is a similar choice. George Bush decided for whatever reasons, a lot of Iraquis were going to die. I suppose he probably thought it might save American lives. Maybe that did work out, one never knows, or maybe it didnt. Maybe he just ended up killing a lot of Iraqis and it had little impact for us. But that is the essence of the sovereign choices that a POTUS makes.
I said that Kurtz.. What is wrong with you?
If presidents do it out of inaction and intent based on purely political considerations, that’s criminal derelection of duty and he’s a murderer with tens of thousands of lives on his hands – for no good f..king reason.
PS There never was black and white choice between doing what’s right and closing down and in fact if he had done what is right – you want me to spell it out, because that is easy – we’d have closed down even less.
OK. I didn’t fully understand you.
“Trump has blood on his hands from pure inaction and deception. He’s a killer, literally.”
Acute, terminal TDS.
btw, you should learn the meaning of the word “literally.” It’s a sure sign of someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
Jay, tell me why a guy who has the most power of anyone in the world knowingly downplays the seriousness of a problem while avoiding anything but the minimum, while sabotaging his own administrations guidelines for the public, and which has now cost us almost 200k lives and counting is not a murderer. Do you want to argue for manslaughter?
Trump didn’t cause the virus. It came from China, which is why it’s called the China Virus. After the Chinese discovered that the virus was spreading in Wuhan, a person could get a flight from Wuhan to San Francisco or Los Angeles. This was after the Chinese government shut down flights from Wuhan to anywhere else in china. Now, why would they have allowed that? If you want to be throwing around words like “murder” or “manslaughter”, then I think you should be looking to china, not to anyone in the US government.
Also, the death toll in the US would not have been nearly so high but for the disastrous decisions in jurisdictions like New York who decided to send China Virus patients to recuperate in nursing homes where they could infect large numbers of the most vulnerable citizens. That is completely on Cuomo and other similarly situated governors. (For the record, I am not calling Cuomo, et al. murderers, nor even guilty of manslaughter, but simply dumb, and perhaps grossly arrogant in their refusal to accept any measure of blame). Indeed, because of the 10th Amendment, the China Virus response is largely in the hands of state jurisdictions.
You rant dyspeptically about Trump being a murderer, without specifying what actions he might constitutionally have taken to save any additional lives. You strike me as a very unbalanced person indeed.
Good day to you, sir!
Jay your ignorance is beyond repair. No one claims Trump caused the virus, he just facilitated it by not taking it seriously even though he knew it was serious. Look at the numbers Dude! We have 4% of the world’s population and 25-28% of it’s cases. A US passport is useless because no one will let us travel BECAUSE WE ARE TOXIC! You know what he should have done and what any president thinking about something other than himself would have done?
1. Promote simple guidelines for safe practices by citizens and that would include mask wearing and safe distancing. It would be on multiple public announcement on TV/Raido/Internet/ and billboards. He would personally emphasize this and act responsibly and himself, serving as a model. (Instaed he sabotaged his own administrations guidelines repeatedly by example and in words.)
2. Use the Production Act to get PPEs and testing up to whatever speed we needed and establish a fedral clearing house to allocate these resources to teh states based on need around the country. He didn;t do that and governors were trying to outbid each other for limited resources.
3. Act in concert with other countries around the world to help and share resources. Instead he’s undercut international health agencies in his typical attempt to shift responsibility and blame, just like the “it’s China’s fault” BS line you swallowed hook line and sinker.
Good day to you, sir!
It’s the Trump virus.
Yes, you believe you are an “independent thinker” because you believe Biden is going to die. I know where you heard that, and it’s just another hook used by Fox News to work on disciples like you, including pandering to racism because Harris is bi-racial. What could Harris possibly do worse than Trump, and why would you believe she wouldn’t be successful if it came down to that? Why do you just believe things like this because Fox tells you? What do you know about her that you didn’t hear on Fox? She is a United States Senator, and, unlike Trump, didn’t cheat with the help of a foreign government to win her election. She was a successful prosecutor. She is bright, articulate, is well-liked and has been very successful.
As to Trump: take a look around: how many small businesses are suffering, how many people have died or gotten sick from the virus that Trump lied to you about, and how many are unemployed? Most of this is entirely his fault, because he is NO leader, he doesn’t know what to do, and because he cares only about himself and his rich friends he wouldn’t take the steps early on to bring this pandemic under control because he knew it would hurt the economy. The recession we are in is worse and is lasting longer as a result. Look at his history: he was supported by his father well into his forties, he’s never had a real job, he’s never been accountable to a Board of Directors, he bankrupted 6 businesses, no US bank will loan him any money, he’s indebted to Russians because of his failures as a businessman and he needed to borrow money to keep his businesses afloat, and the only success he’s ever had was with a reality TV show–“The Apprentice”. He was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives and 48 U.S. Senators voted to remove him from office. These are facts, not opinions. His “presidency” is one of the most-unsuccessful in US history, and still you support him, believing yourself to be an “independent thinker”. Well, why not think about these facts. Don’t be a Trump Chump.
Give peace a chance. Peace is coming to the middle east. Because Trump is in office and not Hillary Clinton. Not a small thing.
PS Kamala Harris is not well liked with black voters — and not even in her own state. She didn’t even get to Iowa before her primary campaign imploded.
Where are your facts about “peace is coming to the middle east because Trump is in office and not Hillary Clinton”? More slop served up nightly to the disciples courtesy of Fox News. There won’t be peace in the Middle East until the right of the Palestinian people to a homeland where they are under their own rule happens and they are not under Israel’s control. Their roots in this region of the world go back just as far as Israel’s. Israel temporarily stopped building in territory to which Palestinians have rights, but they’ll probably go right back to doing it again. because they always have. They’ve stopped building in Palestinian territory before. That is the source for conflict in Jerusalem, at least, and the mistreatment of Palestinians pisses off other Middle Easterners. The U.S. should stay out of this conflict because it’s none of our business. Instead, to make it look like the US favors Israel over Palestine, Trump moves the Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a symbolic gesture to say to Palestinians: “the US favors Israel and recognizes their claim to Jerusalem”. How does that benefit the American people? It doesn’t, but it gets wealthy Jews to donate to Trump. And, it gets the disciples believing that Trump is some sort of successful statesman. He isn’t. Israel and UAE had already been importing and exporting to one another for a long time.
We were discussing Kamala Harris’s accomplishments, such as a law degree, being a prosecutor, and getting elected US Senator,without cheating like Trump did. No, she isn’t popular with some blacks, because as a prosecutor, she didn’t cut blacks any slack, as some believed she would because she is bi-racial. If anything, Trumpsters should approve of her. She is brighter, more articulate and far more accomplished than Trump any day, but why do people like you believe that Biden is going to die? Biden is only 3 years older than Trump, and he is far more physically fit. Just more of the lying about Biden being incompetent and physically unfit without any evidence.
Did you see the article in The Atlantic today? They are calling for the Nobel Peace Prize to be ended. Why? Because apparently they think Nobel Peace Prizes are only for suckers and losers now that President Trump has been twice nominated for a Peace Prize, with a third likely to follow.
“…with a third likely to follow.”
Don’t get ahead of yourself.
Many here have mocked the NPP but, now that Trump has been nominated again, it’s a great thing, according to these same folks.
No one claims Biden is physically unfit. It’s the brain fitness that most are concerned about. Yes Biden is only 3 years older but he looks OLD. Biden has aged rapidly in the past year or two. You’re a nurse, right? What are your observations about Biden’s mental acuity, and his hiding out in his bunker avoiding hard interviews, obviously reading from pre-loaded teleprompter answers to questions? It’s outrageous what they think they can get away with because the media will cover for Biden.
AFAIK, Biden didn’t use a teleprompter when interviewed by Jake Tapper, recently.
How do you know? Also how do you know he wasn’t provided the questions and answers in advance? We know from the Cuomo / Michael Cohen tapes that the MSM is doing this type of preparation.
Go back to the Republican primary debates of 2016 and follow Trump up to now. If you think he is sane then you have a problem. Trump comes off like a blithering idiot more often than not. He’s always been that way. Biden with dementia is a far better choice.
As far as expanding the choice for leadership in this country, that is impossible until money is taken out of the equation. The US system is an oligarchy. The election process is a circus, entertainment, designed to keep thinking out of the equation. The other democracies have done this and are far more democratic than the US. The first step in changing is realizing that a change is needed. The greatest obstacle to change in the US is American Hubris. We’re not number one, anymore.
If you honestly believe that we should elect person with dementia to be the unitary executive, then you’re a fascist who seeks to overthrow the republic and replace it with an unaccountable bureaucracy.
Mike Bloomberg’s failed presidential campaign – on which he spent more than a BILLION dollars in a just a few months – is proof that the United States is not an oligarchy and that money is not the deciding factor (or, even a controlling factor) in our politics.
Ultimately, however, your belief that “we’re not number one, anymore,” perfectly explains your hatred of President Trump. You simply don’t like this country. One wonders why you still live here.
I like this country but see its faults and hope that the will be corrected in order to make this country greater, where it counts. I do not mindlessly ‘love’ this country to the point where I believe the lies and fabrications of a poltroon such as Trump. America has problems. The first step is to recognize this. The greatest problem is the election process. Only those backed by concentrated funding get a shot. The subject matter discussed is nothing but BS. The entire process dumbs down the American voter. Your immediate tendency to label anyone with whom you disagree a fascist illustrates better than I can, just how polarized and dumbed down voters can get. Fascist, communist, socialist, progressive, etc. Without a thought you dive for the labeling, just like Trump; because he and his followers have nothing else, dumbed down.
Um Mikey is not cut out to be a POTUS for a lot of reasons that money can’t change
But money finds a way. The US has a serious oligarchy problem alright. Mikey has huge influence regardless of his poor primary showing
he is a centi-billionaire. That goes a long, long way
“Mike Bloomberg’s failed presidential campaign – on which he spent more than a BILLION dollars in a just a few months – is proof that the [Democratic Party] is not an oligarchy and that money is not the deciding factor (or, even a controlling factor) in [Democratic] politics.”
FIFY. Bloomberg only ran in Democratic primaries.
Bloomberg was not the type of candidate to win elections even though he was a legitimate pick. What it proves is that the Democrat Party is run by a specific segment that stopped Bernie from winning and preferred to put a near brain dead individual to head the party rather than a candidate they didn’t have as much control over.
If the above wasn’t correct then last time Bernie would have been the candidate.
Today’s democrat party is run by billionaires many from the technology sector trying to get more power for themselves and would prefer to deal with China selling America piece by piece, have low American wages, be let alone as they monopolize the social media and media sector. I find it difficult to understand why democrats with good jobs would entrust their faith in people out to make them live in what used to be called “company towns”.
“Trump comes off like a blithering idiot more often than not.”
That’s a pretty subjective standard. I thought the Democratic debates resembled nothing so much as a chorus of blithering idiots. But that’s just my opinion. I thought they were competing to give Trump the best sound-bites for his campaign ads. Still, they managed to get other blithering idiots to vote for them; presumably people such as yourself.
I do not think that Biden, or anyone else with dementia, is a better choice than Trumpy, though I will grant that Biden, even with dementia, was a better choice than just about most of his rivals for the Democratic nomination. Exceptions: Tulsi, Yang, probably not anybody else. Indeed, even though he can’t even keep up with a teleprompter any more, he’s still a much better speaker than Beta O’Rourke.
Ha! People in Austin are always touting O’Rourke on ground that “he speaks fluent Spanish.” People in El Paso know better. He doesn’t even speak fluent English.
Biden appears to be sane and level headed when he speaks. Trump comes off like a blithering idiot. Trump has always come off like this. Anyone who speaks as Trump does-grabbing pussys, etc- and is not wealthy and privileged, would be seen as the dregs of society and an idiot. If there are drugs for dementia and Biden is on them, then that is possibly better than Trump, where no drugs can fix his idiocy. Listen carefully to Trump and then say that he is not irretrievably an idiot. All Trump represents to the voters that back him is someone they wish they were, someone who could get away with anything. Cut through the lies and look carefully at the statistics and next to nothing Trump says or has said, is true. Now, look at yourself. You actually see this idiot poltroon as your champion.
“Biden appears to be sane and level headed when he speaks.”
Small children have plastic dolls like that. Press a button and the doll speaks in a level headed way. That is Joe Biden.
“Listen carefully to Trump and then say that he is not irretrievably an idiot.”
“Idiot” is not really a defined, technical term. It appears to mean someone whose statements you disagree with; as I said before, you’re applying a highly subjective standard, that will not, and cannot, be universally accepted.
Nevertheless, I think your post would be much improved if we read “issacbasonkavich” where you write “Trump.”
Biden appears to be sane and level headed when he speaks. Trump comes off like a blithering idiot.
And I bet you thought that reflects well on your sanity and level-headedness. If they debate, Biden will be lucky not to blow a gasket during his opening statement.
Many voters in swing states are mentally unfit. Which is how Trump won.
Most voters view EITHER(not both) Trump or Biden as mentally unfit…fix your headline Turley.
Excuse my ignorance but I am a Brit and your politics are complex, but if the Democrats wanted to be elected why didn’t they put Sanders forward?
“Excuse my ignorance but I am a Brit and your politics are complex, but if the Democrats wanted to be elected why didn’t they put Sanders forward?”
Because in the US, most people, including most Democrats, still disapprove of Communism.
Ah, I see. I have come across this difference in political perspective between UK and US before. From Brit perspective he is a soft socialist/old fashioned liberal. Americans seem to conflate even mild socialism with communism, the latter fairly universally despised in UK. McCarthy heritage?
Republicans have a choice, Kanye West, because if you think Trump is sane, then you’re sure to think Kanye West is sane too.
Kanye will pardon Trump!! Better yet, in a 2nd Trump term he’ll be Secretary of State.
The only term Trump is going to get, is a term in State prison.
A good frog walk out of the White House is something that could benefit the country, certainly.
ha ha you guys are hilarious
If I were you I would keep the suicide hotline 800 number handy.
Because he is a Communist and this is America.
Yep, we all know how accurate polls are. Especially the ones from 2016! It’s cute how some people seem to think they will still have a country to be butthurt in to begin with if dems take power. I didn’t used to, but I’m starting to believe the average progressive really is a lo-fo consumed by personal grievance that has no bearing on any other living human.
The fundamental premise of your post – that voters lack choice – is provably false in the Republican party. As a political outsider (and, in fact, someone with more history supporting democrats than republicans), Donald Trump rose out of a field of 17 candidates that included sitting U.S. Senators (Cruz, Rubio, Paul, Santorum, Graham), current and former Governors (Kasich, Bush, Huckabee, Christie, Gilmore, Pataki, Jindal, Walker, Perry), and other outsiders (Carson, Fiorina). That’s a wealth of choice from which Trump won overwhelming support, and his unconventional style and outsider status proves that it’s not the duopoly that limits choice but rather is the mediocrity of the alternatives. Similarly, Bloomberg’s wasted billion dollars proves that it’s not the money either.
Your lack-of-choice premise may, however, be true in the Democrat party, where the primaries are rigged in favor of the insider.
As for the poll, you don’t provide a link to the results (and I can’t find it after a few searches), so it’s impossible to know whether this was a push poll, whether the questions asked about the candidates were the same, and whether the poll was an equal sample of democrats and republicans (party affiliation being the biggest predictor of opinion about the candidates personally, as opposed to their specific policy proposals).
Nevertheless, “mentally unfit” is a term so vague as to be meaningless (and you know that).
Democrats think President Trump is mentally unfit because they don’t like the way he thinks and the opinions he holds (opinions that have remained the same for decades, and that led him to make specific promises during the 2016 campaign and then keep those promises).
Republicans think Joe Biden is mentally unfit because they believe he has dementia (a condition that afflicts many people his age and isn’t his fault, but renders him actually unfit for the office of President and means that he either won’t actually serve or will be a figurehead for an unelected – and unelectable – radical tyranny).
Considering that, the choice is simple.
The democratic primaries were not rigged. The clear majority of democratic voters chose the centrist candidate in both of our last elections and it was not close in either one.
If you think they were rigged, what’s your evidence?
I think there was more inside pressure on Bernie in the last one than in this one. This information came from Donna Brazile. https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/11/02/donna-brazile-sanders-clinton-dnc-finances-weaver-sot-nr.cnn
And Tulsi Gabbard who is liked by some Republicans including myself, has made strenuous criticisms of Hillary’s influence over the party.
Nonetheless, Hillary won the primary in 2016.
Biden’s edge over Sanders in this one seemed even stronger. Why? I have a hypothesis.
People tend to misunderstand that the Democratic party voter is not in the slightest bit a radical. When you see these lunatics like AOC and so forth, they are winners in their own neck of the woods and have a vocal mass of supporters on Twitter but they have no relevance to Democrats in the midwest at all.
Biden is a known quantity, and known to be a moderate, and that’s why he won the Democrat primary. This is my interpretation. I am not a Democrat but I am surrounded by them in my usual circumstances.
The problem with this process if I were a Democrat, would be the status of the VP choice. The VP choice is more important when a candidate is elderly. And there are other concerns which may have an impact on Joe finishing a term should he win. They are obvious I do not need to repeat them. But observe that Kamala, is liked by few outside her impressive circle of billionaire donors.
I do not think that one has to be a radical “bernie bro” to be legitimately concerned about the influence of the large number of super wealthy donors giving to the Democrat side of the equation. They are buying influence. Of course that is always happening in American elections and we can’t make the problem go away, our system only seeks to contain the problem,. There is no utopian solution to it. But voters must look and reckon who bought Kamala her place and what will be the impact on the nation if this darling of the Silicon Valley tycoons gets the helm if Joe wins and then resigns.
https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-harris-more-billionaire-donors-than-any-other-democratic-candidate-2019-11
the headline speaks for itself
Kurtz re Sanders. That is helpful. Has there ever been an election where people were so worried? The extreme polarisation does not bode well. Like Brexit in UK each half of the country seems at the others throats. Hope the people find the best answer to the govt caused havoc.
By the Book, one would have to be blind to not see how quickly all of the candidates fell like Dominoes and left Biden standing. All it took was a call from Obama, the Democrat don.
Bill, you are exactly right. The only reason that someone might think Trump is mentally unfit for cognitive reasons is corrupt MSM reporting, which is a problem that transcends almost all others in this country, though It’s great for blogs.
Yeah, it couldn’t have anything to do with his many gaffes, like his comment at his rally the other night that “We are going to be appointing very pro-crime judges.” /s
Do Trump supporters hear how stupid he is, or do you just filter it out?
Meanwhile, he still hasn’t released a healthcare plan, despite promising to do so over and over and over again. For example, the WSJ: “In a July 19 interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Mr. Trump said: “We’re signing a health-care plan within two weeks, a full and complete health-care plan.” The two-week mark passed in early August with no action by the president.” He’s had more than three and a half years and still hasn’t produced a plan that will protect people with preexisting conditions.
Or maybe people are responding to his never-ending difficulty reading the teleprompter:
“Michigan gave us Motang. Gave us Motown, gave us the Mustang.”
video: https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1304217426607960064
He has the best words:
I dare anyone to post a transcript of any talk by Trump and then defend his word choice, his sequential thinking, his complete avoidance of multi syllabic wording. And then discuss all the bizarre movements he makes with his hands. Top it off with a discussion of his emotionally dead eyes.
“I dare anyone to post a transcript of any talk by Trump and then defend his word choice, his sequential thinking, his complete avoidance of multi syllabic wording. And then discuss all the bizarre movements he makes with his hands. Top it off with a discussion of his emotionally dead eyes.”
You’re way out in the weeds.
Post the transcript of any talk by one of these oppression-studies profs at any of our university’s and defend their word-choice, lack of sequential thinking, and over-reliance on vague, multi-syllabic argot and you’ll come up with more or less the same thing.
Excellent points! A well thought out response. Thank you.
“The fundamental premise of your post – that voters lack choice – is provably false in the Republican party . . ..”
A thoughtful post which I am pleased to endorse in its entirety.
IMO, it’s not the two party system that leaves us with such unappealing choices. It’s the fact that anyone who enters the public sphere is subject to the most disgusting vitriol and has no recourse to defend his or her reputation. So why would anyone who cares about their “good name” run for office? Hence we have those who care not for their reputations, but seek only power and fame. And that is down to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Sullivan! You really think all our troubles would be over if Bernie and/or Romney were thrown into the mix?
What a stupid FU column by JT, though it does explain his constant poking of his lathered up base of followers.. Voters getting mad, as JT hopes for, is not the appropriate means to a citizens achieving a more perfect democracy. Getting mad got us Trump, and his constant effort is to get us even madder. Hellllooooo!
Voters should get mad at themselves for being so stupid as to buy a package from 2nd rate lying con man with a repulsive personality.
JT needs to remember Pogo’s famous refrain: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
+10
I do have a shred of sympathy for Turley having to make sense of what they give him to work with. The integrity meter is reading in the low single digits with this schlock though. Jon has to step it up for Koch Industries for sure.
Voters have these opinions because the media purposefully plants the idea about Trump whereas they cannot hide the actuality about Biden, there in lies the difference, a corrupt media.
We are a nation of over 300 million but have produced two candidates that the majority concerned mentally unfit.
Biden is clearly senescent if not senile (which Bernie Sanders is not). No clue what definition of ‘mentally unfit’ these respondents are using. Trump doesn’t have much in the way of filters, but that hasn’t prevented him from running a complex business for decades.
Only 52% said Trump is physically fit to be president while 54% felt the same way about Biden.
Trump keeps a schedule which would exhaust a man half his age. What collection of group homes did they use for a sampling frame?
“Trump keeps a schedule which would exhaust a man half his age.”
LOL. He spends hours a day watching TV and tweeting. Really exhausting. /s
Trump, yesterday: “”I watched Liz McDonald. She’s fantastic. I watched Fox Business. I watched Lou Dobbs last night, Sean Hannity last night, Tucker last night, Laura. I watched Fox & Friends in the morning.”
video of him saying it: https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1304150319639793665
LOL. He spends hours a day watching TV and tweeting.
In your imagination only. You’re too transparent and not earning what they pay you.
I literally included a link to video of Trump saying ”I watched Liz McDonald. She’s fantastic. I watched Fox Business. I watched Lou Dobbs last night, Sean Hannity last night, Tucker last night, Laura. I watched Fox & Friends in the morning.” SMH that you attribute it to my “imagination.”
This guy obviously has people taping certain things he wants to watch. He has a big staff. And he gets more from watching tv than you or I. He was a tv star in his own right in case you forgot.
I almost never watch tv, maybe clips I get off social media, that’s about it. I rather despise TV. But, it is a major medium for communication and DJT is a master of it. So, we realize you hate him, but, his method in this respect seems quite sound to me. However much I could not accomplish it myself.
Likewise his tweets. I read twitter but i hate it. I have no idea how he says all these obnoxious things and makes it go his way. But he does. I do not need to be admire his methods,. to admire his results.
Dude, by WH records he sits in his BR until 11:00 watching TV and tweeting. Regardless of your opinion of what he says, he spends much if not most of his time obsessing over TV and personal vendettas and is an uninformed, uninterested , and unserious fancy man from 5th Ave. How much times does he spend on his hair and make up everyday?
You have no idea of how anything much bigger than a partnership or family business functions. Trump is a workaholic.
Kurtz, I use Tivo so I can get rid of all the commercials and segments not useful to me. I can also speed up the broadcast by about 30%. That means I can see the entire hour in about 35 minutes and less if I delete unwanted segments. Generally I watch when I am doing something else. It can record numerous shows at the same time so I can see what is on various networks. All in all if I get 15 minutes total out of an hour show that show is doing good.
Most of the news can be better seen on the net and I use a specific non commercial consolidator who has similar needs as I.
The most straightforward way “to break the duopoly of power” is to implement ranked choice voting, as that allows people to express their preference for another party even if there isn’t yet sufficient support for that party, and it allows people to still vote to prevent someone they believe to be dangerous from being elected/staying in office. We’d also find out much more about people’s preferences if their second-choice (etc.) candidate could get their vote when their first-choice candidate doesn’t have sufficient support.
Agreed. Well past time to adjust to this principle.
Disagree. Ranked choice voting system like that would absolutely destroy the parties. Both of them. I am not sure that would be wise. Maybe throwing out baby with the bathwater
I do agree that there are some merits in parliamentary style voting which allows for proportional representation. That is a different thing.
But that too, is presently not feasible under our existing arrangements
The main thing to do in order to disrupt the influence which can be bought through big money, is actually to kneecap the mass media. Because that is usually how it is done.
The internet had done a number on the mass media. But, then, social media emerged alongside the legacy media, as a new control mechanism of plutocracy.
The main way to kneecap both legacy mass media and social media conglomerates, is antitrust. It can be done., And should be done. Crush them into smaller size and it will help a lot.
Why doesn’t this happen? In part because they use their own megaphone to delude people into thinking it would be “bad,”
And they are also up to their eyeballs in the intelligence community’s decades long illegal mass surveillance of Americans.
So intel faction does not want their buddies in Amazon, Google, FB, Tweeter broken up and they apply their own suasion to the policy question
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54106863
“Snowden criticizes Amazon for hiring NSA boss” —> EXACTLY
Ranked choice voting system like that would absolutely destroy the parties. Both of them. I am not sure that would be wise. Maybe throwing out baby with the bathwater
It would do nothing of the kind. See Donald Horowitz on the incentive structure of the alternate vote.
The party officials did not nominate Biden. It was voters at state elections.
And that “stuttering” thing doesn’t make him mentally unfit.
You honestly believe that?
Yes I believe the “stuttering” went back to a young age with Biden. There are videos out showing him stuttering and even talking about it back in the 70s.