US Election & Presidency

^^^ Totally agree with the last two posts.

We imagine that much of the Harris vote is just an anyone-but-Trump vote, but I think it cuts the other way too.

The Left can at times be so insufferably patronising and condescending, that I’m sure much of the Trump vote is an anyone-but-them vote.

They can dive into the cross-tabs all they like to divine where they went wrong — was it young black men, Arab-Americans in Michigan, suburban women in Pennsylvania, Latinos here, union workers there…? A pointless exercise.

I think Steve Bannon has it right. This isn’t about race or age or geography or gender. It’s simpler than that. It’s a battle between the haves and the have-nots; between “regular people” and the “elites”.

And for all his posturing as a make-believe billionaire, Trump speaks in the tone and tenor of the have-nots. He’s got the same anger, the same sense of grievance. The second-tier developer from Queens, with a store-bought degree, who was never accepted in Manhattan high society. His unspoken campaign message has never changed since 2016: “I hate the same people you hate.” … And that message resonates.

My advice to the Democrat establishment and their mouthpieces at CNN and MSNBC … Don’t spend the next four years wringing your hands, pacing the floor, and asking yourselves how can “these people” like Trump so much? What is it about HIM? … Instead, look in the mirror and spend a little time asking: why do they hate us so much?

I mean yeah.

(06-11-2024 14:56 )Goodfella3041 Wrote:  ^^^ Totally agree with the last two posts.

We imagine that much of the Harris vote is just an anyone-but-Trump vote, but I think it cuts the other way too.

The Left can at times be so insufferably patronising and condescending, that I’m sure much of the Trump vote is an anyone-but-them vote.

They can dive into the cross-tabs all they like to divine where they went wrong — was it young black men, Arab-Americans in Michigan, suburban women in Pennsylvania, Latinos here, union workers there…? A pointless exercise.

I think Steve Bannon has it right. This isn’t about race or age or geography or gender. It’s simpler than that. It’s a battle between the haves and the have-nots; between “regular people” and the “elites”.
And let's face it we've been down that road before over here, and the gulf between "regular people" and "Elites" here is just as wide, but are we actually having that discussion properly?

And for all his posturing as a make-believe billionaire, Trump speaks in the tone and tenor of the have-nots. He’s got the same anger, the same sense of grievance. The second-tier developer from Queens, with a store-bought degree, who was never accepted in Manhattan high society. His unspoken campaign message has never changed since 2016: “I hate the same people you hate.” … And that message resonates.

My advice to the Democrat establishment and their mouthpieces at CNN and MSNBC … Don’t spend the next four years wringing your hands, pacing the floor, and asking yourselves how can “these people” like Trump so much? What is it about HIM? … Instead, look in the mirror and spend a little time asking: why do they hate us so much?

Let's face it whatever the policies Trump comes up with now - they have to benefit "all" not just "the few" but I wonder if at the end of the day, he'll be certainly looking to complete some "unfinished business" from his previous administration.

(06-11-2024 11:49 )skully Wrote:  And so it begins, Handmaid's Purge Idiocracy incoming. I fear for those that aren't straight, aren't white, aren't male, aren't Christian (or Jewish) and aren't wealthy that live in America. We should be worried about what is about to happen and all of the knock on effects around the world that it leads to. We rely on America too much.

Our world, I fear, is heading towards another global war, it may not be soon, but at some point the sheer amount of hate that we're seeing is going to bubble over, and if the people in charge at the time aren't the right people, then we are all in trouble. Even now, Putin may nuke Ukraine if Trump pulls America out of NATO and Israel may completely flatten Gaza. It's not like they have been holding back with Biden in charge, so with Trump, who knows how far Russian and Israel will go.

I am concerned. Unchecked power isn't something anyone should have.

What about China & North Korea?

What about them? Not relevant to my point.

So the nightmare returns.
And the 2.0 version will be more personal, isolationist, narcissistic, dictatorial, anti democratic, inflammatory and economically disastrous than anyone dare imagine.
Make no mistake the world will be a more dangerous place than ever before thanks to unchecked and uncontrolled power of a tyrannical threat to the global economy, to women, to a range of ethnic groups, to a whole range of defenceless individuals in America and around the globe and to the social fabric and tolerance level of ordinary citizens of the United States.
My heart has sunk today. I fear for humanity both in America and around the world. The human consequence of such a seismic shift in ideology and policy will be more severe than the first time Trump took office. There will also be key additional differences this time. For a start he has had time to prepare an agenda with four years to think about it. Four years laced with bitterness, a feeling of need for vengeance and a stronger desire than ever to impose his will. This inherently makes his second term potentially more destructive and more damaging than the first.
The consequences this time could be far more profound and longer lasting in their impact, possibly to the point of actually being terminal.

The security of NATO nations and those non NATO nations that wish to join within striking range of Putin now must now be deemed in some doubt.
Ukraine is now faced with greater peril than ever before with the potential withdrawal of financial and military support to defy the Russian invasion.
And if Ukraine falls the inevitable question will be Who next?

The economic consequences of imposing tariffs on imports from not just China but other more friendly nations as well might seem an appetising idea for the America First agenda at first glance. But in reality it creates inflationary pressures on both the US and countries around the globe which in turn has interest rate rises attached. Individuals and families suffer all over the shop.
Tax cuts imposed by Trump will favour the rich rather than the poor so those struggling will not feel any positive meaningful change to their lives.

The healthcare system will spiral into further decline and become a rich persons game even more so than it is already. The poor and disadvantaged will not be looked after by a man who favoured his own warped idea of liberty over very real life itself with his appalling mismanagement of the COVID crisis.

The salvation of our planet is now even more at significant risk from a climate change denier. "Drill baby drill" is the immortal cry to set in motion a path to more man made natural disasters within America to which Trump will greet with the metaphorical shrug of the shoulders and shameless blaming of China.

The gun crime situation will get worse.
The justice system will not only be weaponised but also see a huge wrecking ball run through it by a man intent on self preservation as much as trying to put enemies behind bars for no other reason than his own disgusting and disreputable behaviour. This is a man who has already gerrymandered with the make up of the Supreme Court and one who will no doubt try to get all charges against him thrown out by virtue of Presidential privilege.
He has already said he will seek the release of those convicted of offences of January 6th in the storming of Capitol buildings.
Violence that he incited through dangerous rhetoric and tone.

And of course it won't stop there. No doubt he will try and 'fix' the system to make it as difficult as possible for the Democrats to ever win power of any capacity in future. He is undoubtedly a threat to democracy with flagrant abuse of power.
What he has already done to the justice system he will do to the electoral system as much as he can.

All in the pursuit of self congratulation, self righteous narcissism and self preservation with no care for humanity. This is a man devoid of any compassion, integrity, decency, honour or basic courtesy.

And yet he has roundly thrashed Kamala Harris and the Democrats despite being a convicted felon, a mysogynist, a racist, a xenophobe, a fascist and an out of control lunatic liable to dangerously combust at any moment.

Questions for the Democrats of course.
Harris did not succeed where she needed to.
She failed to do what I previously asked in this thread.
To demonstrate sincere contrition that people feel left out but also present a way forward that those people could get behind.
To recognise that the Biden presidency had been deemed ineffectual on people's lives and how they feel.
A separation from the Biden era was always going to be hard for her to transmit on the basis she was his VP. But she did not convince people to buy in to any sort of policy vision at least in part because of the absence of one.
She in fact failed to such a degree that the swing states went red pretty much in unison and Trump now looks to have won the national public vote share as well as a final insult.
She played the fatal error card of belittling Trump to an audience that already knew his flaws. Predictably enough it didn't win hearts and minds of the people she needed to persuade. It became a tidal wave of negativity and scaremongering which for all its justification in one sense was always likely to be counter productive in another sense.
She did not see the sense of betrayal amongst American citizens.
The lost, the disenfranchised, the forgotten and the frightened.
Human tendency is often to go anti establishment in reaction to those feelings. For all the reasons to despise Trump he has relentlessly tapped into the loathing of the state and the establishment that is no doubt deemed to negatively impinge on individual freedoms.
He has fed people conspiracy theories and lies in a spirit of bombast and hate.
But Harris failed to come up with a plan to cut through all of that.
It was a herculean task made even more difficult by Biden not relinquishing power anywhere near soon enough and boxing the Democrat party in to an uncomfortable place. She tried but it was not enough.
History will not look kindly on Joe Biden or Kamala Harris.
They both strike me as decent people but grossly strategically incompetent and lacking the foresight and ability to see the pain people feel and what lies at the core of it.

The results will be chaos, disorder, tyranny, conspiracy theory and possibly war. Tensions will only rise. This unchecked power will further embolden other unchecked power such as Putin, Netanyahu and any other pretenders to the mantle of almighty tyrant you might care to imagine.

America has been betrayed today.
The world even more so.

Innocent folk all over our planet now wait to see the extent of hell unleashed.
Two things we can be sure of.
1. It won't be pretty
and
2. Trump will blame everyone but himself when shit hits the fan.

Fear giving way to isolationism.
Hope giving way to division and rancour. America divided and defeated. The finest in humanity in utter despair.

A country and a world condemned to the tendencies of the very worst in human nature and all the horror it will bring to bear. A sad day indeed.

(06-11-2024 19:01 )Snooks Wrote:  Snip

But other than that, you're not too worried?

C'mon, if we don't see a funny side here and there, we'll all go mad

I won't be posting this very often, cause you never know what will happen but...........
1461 Days Until the 2028 Election (hopefully)

Just trying to keep up hope, it's been a rough 24 hours

Been watching interviews with people in the US talking about who they voted for, the amount of times I've seen "voted for Biden last time, feel so much poorer, can't afford groceries so I voted for Trump this time."
As Bill Clinton's strategist, James Carville once famously said ""It's the economy, stupid."