2024 USA Election: Wishin' and Hopin'

[filghy2]

Naomi Klein wrote an interesting article recently on Robert Kennedy Jr, arguing that he should be taken seriously as he may appeal to many people even though his stances are phony.
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...-not-an-option

It's certainly telling that someone who previously built a reputation on caring about the environment is now offering excuses for why the government should do nothing about climate change.

It's understandable that people are looking for alternatives in the current environment, but it's disheartening that this so often leads them to manipulative charlatans.

[Stavros]

Thanks for the link, I saw this the other day but didn't read it, and she does a good job demolishing Kennedy's drivel. My only slight annoyance is with the typically American refusal to talk about Capitalism, shifting the argument to a well-rehearsed one, like this:

"...a great many voters are hurting and rightfully angry: about powerful corporations controlling their democracy and profiting off disease and poverty. About endless wars draining national coffers and maiming their kids. About stagnating wages and soaring costs. This is the world – inflamed on every level – that the two-party duopoly has knowingly created."

American Capitalism has benefited corporations since the 19th century, while anti-trust laws have been passed and even implemented (notably the break-up of Rockefeller's Standard Oil in 1911), but the trend is hard to resist because of the wealth and influence it creates. So there isn't much of an intelligent debate on such big issues, but nit-picking on things like welfare, medicaid and so on.

What also strikes me is the faith some people put in the powers of One Man to heal the wounds, repair the damage, liberate them from bondage, restore their pride. That the main candidates for position of Redeemer are frauds like Trump, or just incapable, like De Santis, makes one wonder why this phenomenon has not died a death of a thousand exposures, not to mention Court cases.

Why don't Americans put more faith in themselves than some 'Great Leader'? We have just seen a wannabe Julius Caesar leave the stage in the UK, his career ended by his deluded belief in himself,. And on that basis, Joe Biden as an elderly, sometimes incoherent President, is at least a good manager of the affairs of State. I don't think American needs all that 'razzamatazz' or whatever its called, but who knows what will happen in the next 12 months?

[blackchubby38]

He is young, articulate and good looking -so why isn't he in the frame for 2024? That said, I don't know if he has been a success in California, or indeed, how to measure success in that complex State.

Gavin Newsom Gives Sean Hannity Blunt Fact-Checks In Fiery Fox News Clash (yahoo.com)

While I do think he is just being a surrogate for Biden, with an eye towards 2028, there are times it feels like Gavin Newsom is warming up in the bullpen just in case he is needed for 2024.

[Stavros]

While I do think he is just being a surrogate for Biden, with an eye towards 2028, there are times it feels like Gavin Newsom is warming up in the bullpen just in case he is needed for 2024.

Interesting...so I guess Newsom doesn't get on, or see much future for Kamala Harris?

[Stavros]

A pep talk for those for whom California ain't about dreamin' but real promise -though one would hope a solution to the homeless might be more possible than it seems to be, and as for the rental sector....but can't have everything I suppose.

California dreaming: How the Golden State plans to lead the resistance to Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis (msn.com)

[Stavros]

Vivek has amazing teeth, is that a vote winner?

[filghy2]

No surprise, but Trump is refusing to promise to support the Republican nominee if he doesn't win.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/0...ebate-00110599

[Fitzcarraldo]

No surprise, but Trump is refusing to promise to support the Republican nominee if he doesn't win.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/0...ebate-00110599

A pledge that was introduced for his benefit.

[Stavros]

Is it too late for the Media Baron to promote his Political Kin?

Rupert Murdoch is urging Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin to jump into the Republican presidential race, report says (yahoo.com)

And is Glenn a contender?

[Stavros]

I didn't see the debate but cull a few remarks from the report in The Guardian

De Santis
"I’m a blue-collar kid. I work minimum wage jobs to be able to make ends meet."

-Then like any other blue collar guy, say, from West Virginia, I went to Yale, then Harvard Law School, then the Navy....keep the dream alive!

Vivek Ramaswamy
"God is real. There are two genders. Fossil fuels are a requirements for human prosperity. Reverse racism is racism. An open border is not a border. Parents determined the education of their children. That nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to man. Capitalism lifts us up from poverty. There are three branches of government, not four. And the US constitution, it is strongest guarantor of freedom in human history."

-No prosperity before the commercial development of oil and gas in the 19th century? What is the nuclear family -three wives and five children? What if parents cannot read and write?

"“Part of the problem is we also have a federal government that pays single women more not to have a man in the house than to have a man in the house, contributing to an epidemic of fatherlessness."

-Not because some guys want to get laid but not be dads? Does this guy actually live in the US?

Tim Scott
"“I had the good fortune to have a mom who worked 16-hour days, making sure we had food on our tables. She taught me that if you’re able-bodied in America, you work, if you take out a loan, you pay it back, you commit a violent crime, you go to jail. And if God made you a man, you play sports against men,” the South Carolina senator said."

-So is he going to ban mixed doubles in Tennis, Badminton, and Squash, and ban sports where men and women compete together, like Horse Racing, Equestrian events, Luge? What about Ice Skating?

Republican debate veers from abortion and fentanyl to Trump and Ukraine as Harris attacks ‘extremist agenda’ – as it happened | Republicans | The Guardian

Ever get the feeling these guys are out of touch with what is happening in their own country?