The 2024 Presidential Election- The LONG General Election

[Dr. Strangelove]

11 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

I would completely agree with you if he wasn’t 104 years old. 

Again, the main issue is that any other candidate probably loses.

[Ulty]

While I think we all agree that we would prefer younger, fresher leadership for the country, can anyone point to any real evidence that Biden's age has had a negative impact on his work performance or that he is unqualified for the job? 

 

I did not want Biden running in 2020 and am not excited at the idea of an 85 year old president, but I think he has performed better than most expected, and he has certainly outfoxed the Republicans.

 

Trump was all sorts of unqualified for the position, and continued/continues to engage in disqualifying behaviors, but among all of Trump's flaws, his age is pretty far down the list of concerns, and his age is not much different than Biden. Perceptions kinds of matter here: Biden visually looks like a feeble old man, while Trump is a crazy old man. More dangerous but also more entertaining. But honestly, Biden is in better physical and mental health than Trump.

 

I have been personally discouraged that the Democrats have not seemed to have a better long range strategy for the party, as Biden's age has never been a secret. The party has not done a great job positioning their next wave of younger stars. Kamala Harris has been nearly invisible as VP, and you don't see a lot of other Dems getting their names and faces in the media (the way the MAGA but jobs do), other than maybe Pete Buttigieg and Gavin Newsome. So there really isn't anyone to take Biden's place, and he's been pretty successful anyway.

 

Without any evidence that Biden's age is an actual detriment, other than the fear that he might die someday, I don't see it as much of a problem as others (although I will admit that the nagging concern simply won't go away). To me, he's far better than any alternative at this point. If you don't like his policies or his character, go after that instead. But the Republicans simply don't offer any winning policies in their place.

[RedDenver]

1 hour ago, Ulty said:

While I think we all agree that we would prefer younger, fresher leadership for the country, can anyone point to any real evidence that Biden's age has had a negative impact on his work performance or that he is unqualified for the job? 

 

I did not want Biden running in 2020 and am not excited at the idea of an 85 year old president, but I think he has performed better than most expected

x1000

[TGHusker]

2 hours ago, JJ Husker said:

I think your questioning the actions of the wrong side.  The better musing is, not sure why the Repubs don’t mix it up?

 

Both are too old and too cognitively challenged. But one has gotten pretty good results and has shown he can beat the other one. So the craziest thing is, why does one party keep going the insane route?

 

 

I agree with your take, but I think one thing is obvious - the GOP has shown very little inclination at the moment to get off of the crazy train.  Wt Trump's lead over his next competitor in the double digits, it seems unlikely the GOP will make the change.  My only hope, Obi Wan Kenobi, is Jack Smith.   What happens in the next couple of months could change the trajectory of the GOP primaries.  Yes, trump may retain the cult members but the rest of the GOP hopefully turns on the light bulb and start to center around one Trump killer candidate - who I think could be Tim Scott.  In 2016 it should have been Gov Kasich.  By what I'm reading, big money donors are having second thoughts about DeSantis - moving away from his alt right positions.  Some are now actively looking at Scott as an alternative -He's  reasonably conservative without the hard edge of trump, Desantis, Christie and also without the trump baggage of Pence and Hailey.   The big money people will be in horror when Trump is charged for J6 and charged by Georgia soon afterwards.  Horror, not because of the inditements but because he still has a lead in the polls and will be a sure loser in the general election if nominated.  Big money will want to reduce the field down to one or 2 alternative candidates.   

[nic]

15 hours ago, Dr. Strangelove said:

He's old, but I'm pretty happy with his accomplishments as a Democrat.

 

The most important thing is for dems to the Presidency. Republicans will win the Senate in 2024, so the real goal is to just win the Presidency to continue To control the judiciary process. There isn't much a Democrat can accomplish policy wise given that reality, other than to hold up judiciary appointments. 

 

I think Biden is slightly better than 50% right now, any other Dem would be less. The 2024 election is going to be extremely close, it's going to come down to 1-2% in 4 swing states. 

 

Furthermore, incumbency candidates enjoy a slight advantage. Throwing that advantage away in an election likely to be decided by less than 50,000 voters across 4 states would be borderline suicide to the Democrats.

 

 

Got it. You like what Biden has done and he has a better chance of winning. I have heard it said on this board  that Trump voters are maxed out, so I am not sure why any other candidate would be worse off as long as the Dem voters are motivated to vote against Trump. Which they are. I guess independents might vote for a 3rd candidate if they do not like the Dem candidate or they won't vote. Honestly the Dems need an Obama like candidate. Bidens approval is pretty low.

[nic]

On 7/14/2023 at 6:52 AM, JJ Husker said:

I think your questioning the actions of the wrong side.  The better musing is, not sure why the Repubs don’t mix it up?

 

Both are too old and too cognitively challenged. But one has gotten pretty good results and has shown he can beat the other one. So the craziest thing is, why does one party keep going the insane route?

 

 

Repubs have some alternatives....at least to the delusions of grandeur that Trump exhibits. Their Platforms are probably not much different. my theory is that Republicans and some independents will vote for Trump-like policies if they can find a candidate that doesn't come across like Trump and gets rid of the crazy. That said, Trump is the likely nominee right now because he holds a majority of motivated primary Republicans voters.

[Guy Chamberlin]

Yeah, I was really saddened when 2020 unfolded and left us with Joe Biden. We deserved something younger, stronger, and with a longer shelf life. I think I was pretty harsh on him throughout the election. But yeah. He surprised me. The expected amount of party grandstanding and pandering, but also some pretty sharp maneuvers by a D.C. veteran to push through the kind of common sense legislation we used to take for granted back when the GOP wasn't going all-in on cockblocking. I was terrified about Biden going off-page like he had a couple times in the campaign, but on the whole I will take 100% of Joe BIden's extemporaneous speaking over Donald Trump's often baffling and sinister speeches, statements, and social media posts. It's interesting that Ron DeSantis has no cognitive decline, but simply churns out words that are often inaccurate, cruel, and disturbing. 

 

If you saw Gavin Newsom on Sean Hannity, you'd have to think Newsom could step in and win  --- in a way Kamala Harris probably couldn't.

 

The real mystery is who Kamala pissed off in the Dem machine. She was hand-picked to be groomed, and I gotta think they control her visibility and agenda-setting, so her irrelevance in party politics must be intentional. 

[BigRedBuster]

4 hours ago, Dr. Strangelove said:

Again, the main issue is that any other candidate probably loses.

BS.  The Republicans are a total hot mess. Find good young reasonable candidates and grow the party for long term. 
 

so, you’re saying that if Biden doesn’t wake up tomorrow, nobody eke could beat Trump. 
 

Yeah…..don’t agree. 

[Guy Chamberlin]

I mean, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, even Mike Pence would present a younger, saner GOP without giving up a lick of conservative policy. But they will remain in the single digits and burn through their war chests. We keep talking about traditional Republicans wrestling the party back from the crazies, as if they're out there in numbers just waiting for a leader. But when given the chance -- in 2016, 2020, and in tons of state and local elections -- they remain loyal to Team Crazy.

 

The thoughtful former/current/wannabe Republicans on HuskerBoard appear to be outliers. 

[JJ Husker]

58 minutes ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

If you saw Gavin Newsom on Sean Hannity, you'd have to think Newsom could step in and win  --- in a way Kamala Harris probably couldn't.

 

The real mystery is who Kamala pissed off in the Dem machine. She was hand-picked to be groomed, and I gotta think they control her visibility and agenda-setting, so her irrelevance in party politics must be intentional. 

I agree. I think the problem is that they picked poorly. Probably too concerned with selecting a woman and a POC instead of longer term policy appeal. She comes off a bit b!^@hy and like she’s containing a much further left bent. Maybe that’s just me?
 

I don’t know how she fell out of favor other than they only were concerned about corralling certain voter demographics for Joe and never considered if she was actually viable for the top spot.

[JJ Husker]

39 minutes ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

I mean, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, even Mike Pence would present a younger, saner GOP without giving up a lick of conservative policy. But they will remain in the single digits and burn through their war chests. We keep talking about traditional Republicans wrestling the party back from the crazies, as if they're out there in numbers just waiting for a leader. But when given the chance -- in 2016, 2020, and in tons of state and local elections -- they remain loyal to Team Crazy.

 

The thoughtful former/current/wannabe Republicans on HuskerBoard appear to be outliers. 

Yeah I’m not sure those 3 can be considered any saner. And that is the Rs problem in a nutshell. The whole party is riding Ozzie’s crazy train. If you think about it, Trump is perfect for them.

[JJ Husker]

2 hours ago, nic said:

Repubs have some alternatives....at least to the delusions of grandeur that Trump exhvoters. Their Platforms are probably not much different. my theory is that Republicans and some independents will vote for Trump-like policies if they can find a candidate that doesn't come across like Trump and gets rid of the crazy. That said, Trump is the likely nominee right now because he holds a majority of motivated primary Republicans voters.

I have seen absolutely no sign of any R alternatives. Crispy Kreme is at least willing to say bad things about Trump but he isn’t happening. Cheney also but she ain’t gonna run and would never get party backing. All (yes all) others have pretty much the same asinine policy positions and character flaws as Trump….and I lean a bit conservative. There are no other alternatives on the horizon for the Rs. The R party needs to die and come back (or not) as something completely different than what they currently are.

[Ulty]

18 minutes ago, JJ Husker said:

Yeah I’m not sure those 3 can be considered any saner. And that is the Rs problem in a nutshell. The whole party is riding Ozzie’s crazy train. If you think about it, Trump is perfect for them.

This.

 

I mean, Tim Scott comes across as much more level-headed than most others in the GOP these days and seems willing to actually engage in civil discourse, which is refreshing.

 

However, he refuses to say anything that he disagrees with Trump about or distance himself from Trump in any meaningful way. Then when I was visiting Iowa last week, I saw a deluge of TV ads for Tim Scott, where he blathers on about Biden's America being a place for participation trophies and "transgender ideology" ruining women's sports. This is just more culture war bull$h!t that has nothing to do with policy or sanity. So Tim Scott can fund sand, too.

 

As long as any of these candidates try to avoid offending Trump and prioritize his cult as opposed to actually governing, they are all going to be crazy losers. Chris Christie is the only one willing to take that track, but he has as much Trump stink on him as anyone else given his prior involvement. They need to rebuild from scratch. I guess neither party has much interest in meaningfully developing a new class of future candidates.

[Scarlet]

Trump didn't hijack the Republican Party.  He gave it it's racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, authoritarian wannabe voice that nobody else thought would be politically acceptable before and now that they've seen it work, they're all on board 

 

You can count on one hand the number of Republicans who have actually condemned his demagogueary.   The party never tried to reel itself in.  Instead it veered harder right into the far reaches of right-wing dumbf#&%ery.  It's a dying message that has to resort to voter suppression and endless losing court challenges of "voter fraud".

 

The only sane Republicans have left the party and are like those here desperately sifting through a basket of loonie candidates and coming up with the likes of Tim Scott as some sort of hope.  Or they're still registered as Republicans in order to vote for the least MAGAiest in the primaries. 

[Archy1221]

3 hours ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

The real mystery is who Kamala pissed off in the Dem machine. She was hand-picked to be groomed, and I gotta think they control her visibility and agenda-setting, so her irrelevance in party politics must be intentional. 

Newsome should run and he probably would win against Biden and Trump.   
 

Kamala didn’t piss anyone off.  She is just a complete and utter dips#!t who can’t do anything but cackle and have “friends” like Willie Brown in order to get ahead.   She also happened to meet the demographic qualifications for a 2020 VP even though others would actually have brought a higher level of political acumen.    She brings no tangible benefit to Joe and his handlers quickly came to that realization after the election.