At this point I think I’d take a Republican President in 2024 , just as long as his name isn’t Trump.
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Why?
Unless your politics are far right then the hope should be for Democrats every time. Even shit Democrats are better than Republicans - that party is insane.
Don’t get sucked into thinking Nikki Haley is any better, she just knows thats the look to go for while Trump rants about making himself a dictator.
Of course if your politics align with the Republicans (I’ve no idea) then yeah go for it.
Biden is no one’s hero, no one’s idea of an ideal President but he’s also massively unfairly judged because much of the narrative around him is shaped by Fox News. “Biden is old” while ignoring Trump’s age, “Biden is senile” when he stumbles on a word while ignoring the bat shit insane (not to mention completely unintelligible) stuff coming from the right.
Good example of this was Joe Rogan recently. He was laughing at Biden for saying the American Revolutionary Army used Airbases to win the war. For a good few minutes they laugh about it, saying how Biden has no idea what day it is etc. Then the producer pulls up the clip and explains that Biden was making a joke at the expense of Trump because it was actually Donald Trump who said it, not Biden and Biden was quoting him. Cue all the laughter stopping and Rogan immediately excusing it saying “oh well clearly Trump just misspoke”.
The field of con-artists and zealots on display from the Republicans have every flaw and more that Biden is accused of. Then on top of that they also have far-right, anti-Democratic leanings. All you have to do is scratch the surface.
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Because I can’t think of a single person that I despise more than Trump. The fact that this guy , who so clearly planned and led an insurrection and is upto his neck in indictments and corruption , is being treated like he’s just some normal candidate , both by his party and the media , completely fucking blows my mind.
And then to have to imagine what would happen if he manages to push the Washington case back beyond the election and prevail in the General Election. Presumably we’d all be forced just to sit back and watch while this most malignant and mendacious of men would simply swat away all charges against him and embark upon his tour of retribution , with all that would entail for the US and the rest of us. Let’s not kid ourselves as to just how bad it would get ; Putin gets Ukraine , Xi takes Taiwan , US pulls out of NATO … and on and on.
If having to stomach another Republican asshole accede to the Presidency meant that that fucker could not then right now I’d settle for that , because if he does get the nomination then there’s every chance of him beating Biden despite everything.
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This is no doubt the logic that she is hoping might make her a credible candidate.
You’d be a fool to think it was just him and not the party.
The scary thing is whether we can expect the GOP to return to some sort of normalcy/decency once he is gone , and the answer is probably no. That party is now so in thrall to those MAGA fuckwits , and led by the nose by the equally nihilistic talking heads at Fox , that it is almost impossible to imagine another course that they might follow.
Maybe another drubbing at the polls and the possibility of a new editorial line being taken at Fox with the retirement of Murdoch Snr. might enable it , but at the same time that lunacy is so embedded now in the party , and their contempt for even basic governance so ascendant that even then they would probably still be happier just trying to blow everything up instead. That’s how they gurantee themselves re-election and generate the money , and that’s really all they give a fuck about.
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If anything Lachlan is significantly further right than Rupert.
The top priority for the next election has to be no more Trump.
How we get there remains to be seen.
Will legal jeopardy catch up with him, such that he is disqualified or perhaps even in jail? Hopefully, but I’m not holding my breath, as his whole life he has shown an uncanny ability to operate above the law, and anything that gets close, that would sink another person without trace, doesn’t seem to stick to him in the same way. It is appalling, but true.
The second way another Trump Presidency might be stopped is via electoral defeat to a Democrat. If it is Joe Biden, bring it on. There is risk there, as he is very old. Talking about Trump’s age doesn’t change that. Biden is old and past it. But if he is the preferred candidate to defeat Trump, hopefully he does so, resoundingly.
If it is another Democrat who comes to the fore, say someone like Gavin Newsome, again the main point is that they defeat Trump.
If the law doesn’t defeat Trump, and no Democrat is able to defeat him, then the last hope to achieve the objective would be another Republican. If that is Nikki Haley, so be it.
Do I like her politics? No!
Will she automatically reform the Republican Party and bring about decency and better norms? No!
BUT if Trump represents a clear threat to democracy, and he does; and to stability around the world, and he does; and if defeating him is the top priority, and it is; then however it comes, I will take it.
The order of preference for his defeat would be:
- Legal means/disqualification/incarceration
- A Democrat winning, Biden
- Another Democrat winning e.g. Newsome
- Another Republican beating him in their own internal race, e.g. Haley
And while I’m on it, I could happily flip 2 and 3, but the main objective must be defeat for Trump.
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Yeah , but I think I remember reading somewhere that in the wake of the mega-payout to Dominion that the more rabid of the talking heads will likely be kept on a tighter leash. That is to say they will no longer be allowed to simply act as megaphones for the election deniers and conspiracy theory nutcases of the MAGA crowd.
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Fuck I hate Joe Rogan.
So many people I know have sent me clips to watch, usually him ‘telling it like it is’ on something he has NFI about.
The best thing Bill Burr ever did was tell Rogan to STFU about masks during the pandemic, based on the premise that neither of them knew what the fuck they were talking about.
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And Rogan’s comedy is fucking tripe, too.
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100%
Lachlan is a genuine believer while Rupert has always despised trump and repeatedly tried to use his network to lift up other challengers to trump. It has been said that his engagement that was cancelled last year was done so because she fell into Lachlan’s camp and he couldn’t abide by that nonsense in his private life.
The twist is though that the way the succession plan works after Rupert’s death means control gets shared along the kids and the rest of them are all either relatively apolitical to center left and all dislike him and reportedly don’t want him to run the network.
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I also think it’s worth pointing out that people who think a non-trump republican president would be relief or some other glimmer of positivity are kidding themselves on the hold the crazy faction of the movement now have on the party making a non-maga presidency for any republican impossible
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Christmas is a time for family…
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As much as he’s been discredited recently , Luntz is right about one thing when it comes down to the biggest determinant of Biden’s unpopularity ; It’s his age , and the public’s perception of him as a doddering and diminished old man. The Republicans’ hammering of that one inescapable fact is the reason for his sinking numbers , and the reason that Trump , despite everything , still has a chance.
Not sure about this. In actual fact Trump is at least as doddery as Biden and the ‘age’ line is just the easiest one that will stick for the hysterical Republican media. If the candidate was another it would be some equally hypocritical and hysterical line about ‘experience’ or ‘their cousin had an affair’ or some other BS. These days these kinds of OTT attacks are all the right know how to do.
… the 40 year old son having a gun locked in a secure safe … 
It’s all about perception and messaging and the Republicans win that game hands down.