US Presidential Election 2024

[Nearly Sane]

Yes. I added the 'almost' because there are so many people in the cult that will just unquestioningly lap it all up and believe every word.

I wish I could find it almost hilarious. This sort of division is scary. I console myself with the idea that it's always been there in some form but that the internet makes it more visible but I think it's true that it is much more widespread. In an environment where there's been an assassination attempt on a candidate, my sense of humour is diminished.

[Nearly Sane]

I note some parts of the Democrats are pushing for the VP nomination to be Bernie Sanders who is a year older than Biden.

[SteveH]

I note some parts of the Democrats are pushing for the VP nomination to be Bernie Sanders who is a year older than Biden.

10 or more years ago, I'd've cheered him on, but the dems need a younger veeo.

[Stranger]

Now that Biden's gone, remember, Trump is too old (among other things)👇

Have you got the original link to that image, I could use it elsewhere?

Side note to moderators: I do wish people would stop using attachments, at least for images that are already online. I'm assuming you didn't make that yourself, so you must have had to download it and then upload it again to this server (taking up space here). Why? Wasn't the point of introducing images to make the place look more interesting? Attachments are totally invisible if you're not logged in, so instead of looking more interesting to non-members, a lot of it now looks incomprehensible, with lots of posts just being ".". Sorry, rant over....

Sorry ad, I thought I was replying to NS for a minute (brain fade).

[ad_orientem]

Have you got the original link to that image, I could use it elsewhere?

Of course. I don't make memes. I just steal them. This one I got off Twitter.

https://x.com/DucuGavril/status/1815553210838392942?s=19

[Stranger]

Of course. I don't make memes. I just steal them. This one I got off Twitter.

https://x.com/DucuGavril/status/1815553210838392942?s=19

Thanks, sorry about the rant, as I've just edited my post to say, I thought I was replying to NS.

Doubly ironic, as twitter links don't seem to work here as images here!  .

[jeremyp]

Of course. I don't make memes. I just steal them. This one I got off Twitter.

https://x.com/DucuGavril/status/1815553210838392942?s=19

Of course the meme is wrong. There's nothing in the US Constitution to stop a geriatric impeached felon from running as US president, not even one who is in prison.

[SteveH]

Harris on a roll. Looks as though she's got the nomination in the bag. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/23/kamala-harris-campaign
It's only just occurred to me that "Kamala" is an unusual spelling of "Camilla"!

[ProfessorDavey]

It's only just occurred to me that "Kamala" is an unusual spelling of "Camilla"!

Pronounced differently - she put out a somewhat tongue in cheak video when she became VP candidate in 2020 on how it is pronounced.

[ProfessorDavey]

Rundown on Harris's possible running mates.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80ekdwk9zro

My thinking would be either Kelly or Shapiro.

[Nearly Sane]

My thinking would be either Kelly or Shapiro.

The money going on Kelly currently.

[ProfessorDavey]

The money going on Kelly currently.

He's got a great backstory that might negate some of Trump's - 'I'd be dead but for god' schtick. And I'd love the 'but we've got a guy who's been in space' line to ... err ... trump Trump.

But Arizona has less EC votes than Pennsylvania and Shapiro is a rising star with a reputation of getting stuff done.

[Dicky Underpants]

Agree, I think that it won't be till after the Democrat convention that things will be in any sense normal. The VP pick becomes significant as Trump's pick of Vance felt like he wasn't really that bothered in extending his appeal apart from relative youth. Harris was pretty well locked in as VP so the package was known.

Regarding Trump's VP pick of J.D. Vance, he seems to have got a duplicitous self-server, just like himself - ready to stab him in the back (I wouldn't shed any tears) when a suitable moment presented itself.

“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy,” Vance said in an interview with Charlie Rose in 2016, while publicizing his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.” “I never liked him.”

“As somebody who doesn’t like Trump, myself, I sort of — I understand where Trump’s voters come from*,” Vance later said in the Rose interview. “But I also don’t like Trump himself, and that made me realize that maybe I’m not quite part of either world totally.”

During Vance’s Senate Republican primary in 2021, the interview clip was used regularly in ads from Club for Growth Action and USA Freedom Fund, who were backing another Republican candidate and aimed to show discord between Vance and Trump.

“My god, what an idiot.”
Also included in the ads from Club for Growth Action and USA Freedom Fund were some of Vance’s since-deleted tweets criticizing the former president.

“My god what an idiot,” Vance wrote in one of the tweets. It was one of many tweets now deleted.

“America’s Hitler”
Vance once questioned whether Trump could be “America’s Hitler” in a private Facebook message in 2016 to one of his former roommates.

It was that or a “cynical asshole like Nixon,” Vance wrote in messages to former Yale Law School classmate Josh McLaurin, now a Democratic state senator in Georgia.

The Evangelical right will no doubt accept Vance's change of heart, considering it to be some kind of Damascus conversion experience. They probably think that Trump himself is a fervent believer, and has a word-perfect knowledge of the Bible.

*Italics D.U.

[Nearly Sane]

He's got a great backstory that might negate some of Trump's - 'I'd be dead but for god' schtick. And I'd love the 'but we've got a guy who's been in space' line to ... err ... trump Trump.

But Arizona has less EC votes than Pennsylvania and Shapiro is a rising star with a reputation of getting stuff done.

In addition to those in the article, the market seems to like Tim Walz

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Walz

[Nearly Sane]

Regarding Trump's VP pick of J.D. Vance, he seems to have got a duplicitous self-server, just like himself - ready to stab him in the back (I wouldn't shed any tears) when a suitable moment presented itself.

The Evangelical right will no doubt accept Vance's change of heart, considering it to be some kind of Damascus conversion experience. They probably think that Trump himself is a fervent believer, and has a word-perfect knowledge of the Bible.

*Italics D.U.

Trump likes the conversion too. I'd be careful stabbing Trump in the back for the foreseeable. The Republican Party is becoming the Trump party.

[Stranger]

It's only just occurred to me that "Kamala" is an unusual spelling of "Camilla"!

Pronounced differently - she put out a somewhat tongue in cheak video when she became VP candidate in 2020 on how it is pronounced.

Had a look, and apparently it's pronounced 'comma-la' (as in the punctuation mark).

[Nearly Sane]

Republicans still favourite to win but the odds have shifted considerably with Harris looking certain to be confirmed.

[Gordon]

If a head of steam builds around Harris, and she actually managed to beat Trump, I wonder what how all the Trumpophiles will respond. No doubt there will complaints it was a 'fix' - but there is something scary about the amount of vitriol in US politics that could be a bigger issue than what happened in Washington when Trump lost last time.

[Nearly Sane]

Trump been suggesting that the second debate should either be cancelled or held on Fox News.

[Stranger]

Trump been suggesting that the second debate should either be cancelled or held on Fox News.

The Republicans seem to be scared. There is actually a lot of them trying to claim that Biden stepping down and Harris taking over as candidate is undemocratic, "ignoring the will of the people", and even illegal under state laws (even if it was, have they forgotten that Presidential 'official acts' are now above the law?)

Irony off the scale.

[Nearly Sane]

The Republicans seem to be scared. There is actually a lot of them trying to claim that Biden stepping down and Harris taking over as candidate is undemocratic, "ignoring the will of the people", and even illegal under state laws (even if it was, have they forgotten that Presidential 'official acts' are now above the law?)

Irony off the scale.

I think they really wanted Biden to be the candidate. I think that they probably regret going after him after the State of the Union as hard as they did because it's ended up here. There is also that they will have planned a campaign against Biden, and that would have concentrated on whether he was capable, and will have to pivot the attacks.

A lot of this will be an attempt just to muddy the water till they can have time to change it, but yes, I think they are uneasy about this. That the change also means a new VP nominee may be even harder for them to deal with.

[ProfessorDavey]

The money going on Kelly currently.

As coincidences have it - I started watching a 3 part documentary on the Columbia space shuttle disaster last night (highly recommended) and who should be one of the talking heads - Mark Kelly. Seemed a very sensible and articulate chap - probably well suited to be VP.

But, I still don't think he will get it (or rather shouldn't get it). If it is Harris/Kelly, then it is an entirely SW sunshine state ticket. Too easy a hit for opponents - 'look they're both from the SW - they don't get folks like you, they aren't interested in folks like you'.

I gather also that Shapiro is standing down after two terms as governor, so probably easier to persuade.

[ad_orientem]

I think they really wanted Biden to be the candidate. I think that they probably regret going after him after the State of the Union as hard as they did because it's ended up here. There is also that they will have planned a campaign against Biden, and that would have concentrated on whether he was capable, and will have to pivot the attacks.

A lot of this will be an attempt just to muddy the water till they can have time to change it, but yes, I think they are uneasy about this. That the change also means a new VP nominee may be even harder for them to deal with.

They'll concentrate on race and gender. You can see it already on social media by Trump supporters.

[Nearly Sane]

As coincidences have it - I started watching a 3 part documentary on the Columbia space shuttle disaster last night (highly recommended) and who should be one of the talking heads - Mark Kelly. Seemed a very sensible and articulate chap - probably well suited to be VP.

But, I still don't think he will get it (or rather shouldn't get it). If it is Harris/Kelly, then it is an entirely SW sunshine state ticket. Too easy a hit for opponents - 'look they're both from the SW - they don't get folks like you, they aren't interested in folks like you'.

I gather also that Shapiro is standing down after two terms as governor, so probably easier to persuade.

Where is the documentary, would be interested in watching it.

I agree with the point about the states coverage but Shapiro is a lawyer, so that makes the attack, it's an all lawyers ticket and lawyers aren't like you.

I see he's also Jewish, and quite a conservative one, which may help shore up some support that they may be struggling with - obviously that may alienate some as well but I think they would look on that as lost anyway, and not to Trump.

[Nearly Sane]

They'll concentrate on race and gender. You can see it already on social media by Trump supporters.

The loons, and the tacit support given to them, yes, will do that. And Vance has already started with the attack that Harris as he puts it because she doesn't love the US, but means is black, is not suitable. The overall strategy will have been based on Biden being the candidate, and Harris the VP. They can use some of the stuff they would have used against Harris anyway, but they were due to go big on Biden's incapacity. That was a strong strategy with undecided, I'm not sure going after Harris for her race and sex works as well with that section of the electorate.