Mrk
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There isn't a serious liberal person of stature in the whole of the USA? I find that hard to believe.
Current Affairs 2024 POTUS race
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Mrk
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Well indeed, he'd get attacked from all sides - which is why it would be a terrible idea.
tsubaki
Player Valuation: £90m
It’s that line of thinking that has led to this sorry state of affairs. What is the point of working hard to reach a senior level as a military officer, governor, business figure or any other role where you’d learn the things you’d need to do that job right when someone’s wife or son gets bumped to the head of the queue?
Mrk
Player Valuation: £40m
If I was in Democratic politics for the right reason I absolutely would do whatever I could to prevent Trump winning. The left have the same problem here, they'd rather be right than in power. Winning is all that matters.
That's all lovely, but if he was the candidate people would start to take him seriously and that's when it would go tits up. Again, we've seen plenty of this in the UK with Benn, Corbyn, Foot, Johnson & Truss. Almost entirely unobjectionably benign people when making speeches to halls of people who already agree with them, but completely unable to withstand the scrutiny that comes with actual power.
Not sure, the paucity of candidates speaks more of cowardice and self interest than anything else. If those you mentioned were waiting in the wings and so very keen they'd have let themselves be known by now, the issue is the trump juggernaut of hate has also consumed the 'I hate politics' brigade and that's a sizeable percentage to start with, throw in a few that fancy being associated with a winner, and then the easily lead by fox and rogan and brand and all the other spivs and suddenly there's a bloc to move with just charisma as a starting point.
This will be evidenced very quickly, once the next 9 months are done and either Biden or trump get this next chapter, the democrats will be cutting each others throats left right and centre to become choice number one. The malaise has created a backlog and the dam is fit to burst.
The eagle eyed were watching trumps many many legal troubles slowly cascade upon him and wonder which would sink his ship, yet it's not happened yet, and all they can do is look around and wonder "how can this twit* keep going when a solitary whisper of what he's been found guilty of against me would have finished me ten times over", "is the thirst for trumps american way actually greater than the so called dream of justice and freedom?".
In terms of trump and trumpism, the worrying thought ought to be, (besides his getting in next) who has the money and effectively clean slate to try what he has next time round? Where's the next trump type coming from and imagine if that person wasn't such a dangerously mouthed individual - imagine trump had any natural ability at politics and media savvy at all. That's my fear for America.
tsubaki
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I don’t think it is cowardice so much as a consequence of Clinton deliberately blocking potential candidates 2008-2016, combined with Pelosi / Schumer not handing over power after that.
Its result has been a gap where capable people might have been able to credibly say they’d got the skills to do it.
Martin Alvito
Player Valuation: £50m
I can come up with any number of very imaginative prices I am certain you will not pay. The line of attack you suggest falls into that category for most career politicians. They're there for power, and they're not about to surrender it with certainty for the probability of defeating Trump. That's just reality.
If there's a solution, it has to involve not hamstringing the rank-and-file Democrats in Congress, end-of. Most likely, it would involve Biden looking at spring polling numbers and throwing himself on his own sword, the way LBJ did.
Mrk
Player Valuation: £40m
That's literally my point? Additionally, the idea that an outsider would come in and the leadership couldn't assert control over them and maintain their own power is dubious, as any outsider could only really succeed with their support.
What is clear is that replacing Biden with one of the nonentities currently in congress/leadership would not help their cause.
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Martin Alvito
Player Valuation: £50m
I think it's a mistake to think Trump is somehow replicable as a Trump 2.0 with brain cells to rub together and self-discipline. It's like thinking there's a smart Reagan 2.0 out there somewhere. Almost half a century of history says no one can replicate Reagan's ability to swamp members of Congress in calls and letters to pressure them on key votes. It was the result of the interaction between his skillset and the era.
I could go on. No leader in China since Mao has enjoyed his cult of personality. Remarkable leaders, good and bad, have a way of blocking anyone else from doing things that way. Human beings see the past through rose-tinted glasses. One has to be a bad former president to not have a much higher approval rating out of office than in. Trying to be Trump 2.0 just invites unfavorable comparisons, as DeSantis learned.
TN Toffee
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I was listening to an old episode of the Hardcore History podcast a few weeks ago, and it touched on something that gave me a bit of hope with regards to Trump and his following. There are hardly any examples out there of a second person being able to pick up the torch and carry on after a charismatic, cult-like figure is removed from the equation. Historically, it’s truly about that one, specific individual, and once they are gone the spell is almost always broken. The fact that Trump is nearly 80 bodes well in this case.
Big fan of that podcast—out of curiosity which episode was it? Alexander the Great?
Martin Alvito
Player Valuation: £50m
Have you seen what Trump did to the composition of the House, or how he cut McConnell off at the knees recently? History is replete with examples of political elites thinking they could channel and direct someone, only to get swamped by a tidal wave.
The broader problem is that we're not saying the same thing in what you highlighted. You want rank-and-file members to hand over every scrap of influence they will ever have, unless they become the fortunate few in leadership. They will not do that just to improve the chances of beating Trump. It's the same outcome for them (perpetual loss of power) win or lose, in your scenario. They insist upon an alternative less likely to prevail, where they retain some power if they win.
Biden might get confused and think she's "the help".
TN Toffee
Player Valuation: £25m
Prophets of Doom. It was a one-off episode about a group of religious fanatics that took control of Munster during the Reformation. It's in the back catalogue at this point and isn't free anymore, but at 3-4 hours long it's well worth the $5 or whatever he's charging for it.
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