One of the things that is terribly discouraging about the state of discourse today is that, contrary to Pat Moynihan’s admonition, everybody has his or her own facts. In a post at Medium John Ellis lists four “illusions”:
- Biden is not too old
- Harris “has what it takes.â€
- Trump is done
- Trump can’t win
I agree with him that the first two are illusions but I honestly have no idea about the second two. I have never seen Trump’s appeal and have no idea why he commands so much loyalty among so many Republicans. Maybe the Republicans around here aren’t representative. None of them like Trump, either. I think that all of the Republicans around here that I know voted for Biden.
It is mind-boggling that so many people are in what I can only characterize as clinical denial about the first “illusion”. It’s deemed “fake news”, presumably since the news outlets they use (the NYT, WaPo, CNN, etc.) go to such lengths to avoid the rather obvious truth. If it’s fake news it’s fake news that has been commented on by the BBC, France 24, Deutsche-Welle, and Corriere della Sera. I don’t think he’s in full-blown dementia but let’s face it: he’s too old to be president.
I don’t know how one can take an opinion of #2.
Yeah, Harris didn’t leave a mark on the border crisis or on voting rights, 2 files she was given responsibility for. But on both one could see the limitations on what she could do independently of the west wing (i.e. she had a no power at all).
In truth, Harris isn’t that different from Biden; with his actions so far, ideologically Biden seems close to Harris. As for charisma — its not like Biden is knocking interviewers off their feet either.
So if Biden has what it takes; why not Kamala?
None of these can be judged as facts. All of these are just opinions. Do tax cuts always raise revenue? There are facts to support or not support that.
Steve
I guess I do think Trump is done, he just doesn’t know it yet.
For Republican hopefuls, taking on Trump is like crossing the Rubicon, you can’t go back. Take him on and you’ll have to take him down.
And never forget, he polls well and he fights dirty.
So, since leaders arise in response to events, we wait and watch for events to reveal themselves.
A real political crisis, or civil war to our south making the border crisis undeniable, along with a surge in Covid deaths that could plausibly be tied to refugees might be Trump’s edge.
“I have never seen Trump’s appeal and have no idea why he commands so much loyalty among so many Republicans.”
Because rightly or wrongly, he is viewed as the opponent of a clearly self serving and often corrupt, dysfunctional and uncaring state. People are tired of eating cake.
There is nothing inherent about Biden’s age that makes him too old.
Its Biden. All one has to do is watch clips of him from 10 or 5 years ago and the impairment is obvious to all who choose not to be blind. Objectively, he exhibits at least four signs of cognitive decline: 1) personality changes (his sudden anger outbursts, you dog faced pony soldiers), 2) frequent memory lapses, 3) losing train of thought when not strictly scripted, and 4) an embarrassing inability to be in command of facts and figures, even to the nearest billion.
It doesn’t mean he’s in early stage dementia, which implies physiological changes. It could be the cognitive lapses associated with aging and/or stress. However, in his job, the source is irrelevant. Performance isn’t. His handlers may count on the CNN’s of the world to run interference, but its on display for the world to see all too often.
I did say Trump polls well.
But as Drew says, that’s against incumbents. Any real Republican challenger has yet to reveal itself. (Gender neutral there)
and, as I have noted, it is not just Republicans making that observation. It’s Brits, French, Germans, Italians, Australians, etc.
Yes, it’s an opinion. But it’s an opinion informed by observation. Similarly, WRT VP Harris the only standard I can see by which she could be judged prepared to step into the presidency is a bizarrely low “prepared unless proven unprepared” standard. Her resume is extremely thin and her performance since assuming the vice presidency has not burnished that resume.
I know its considered impolitic, but Harris was an affirmative action pick. Excuse me, she “balanced the ticket” what with CA being so hotly contested and all.
I’m less concerned by her resume per se, but rather that her track record (before and after her VPresidency) reflects a person who has almost no chance of successfully stepping into a situation reasonably likely to occur given Bidens issues. Its Laurel and Hardy.