2020 US Election Thread
 

With the Democratic Convention just finished and the Republican Convention coming up next week, plus a whole bunch of controversy in the US about mail-in ballots, etc, I thought it was time to open a thread to chart MB's own take on the whole pre-election roller-coaster. It's a topic that's worth separating out from the I Can't Believe That News Story thread, imo, even if some of the stories around this first covid-style election fall squarely into the I-Can't-Believe-It category.

If anyone wants to do their research thoroughly, here's the thread that covered the run-up to the 2016 presidential election:- https://www.musicbanter.com/current-...on-thread.html

As I recall, that long, long thread was closed several times during its working life when arguments got heated, so let's play nice this time round, gentlemen!

Well, Rasmusen now reports that Donald Trump has a 51% approval rating.

I take it with a grain of salt - they're typically more favorable to Trump than other polling agencies - but they were closer to correct about their 2016 election predictions than almost any other polling place.

CNN's recent poll shows Trump only a point behind in most battleground states

I think Biden's pick of Kamala won't really endear the ticket to moderates. At the Democratic National Convetion, they gave Republicans more speaking time than the left-leaning sect of their party. They're trying to pivot to the center with these Republican speakers but I don't think they're going to win moderates with warmongering liars like Colin Powell.

I still think Trump is going to win. And the corporate Dems won't mind. They'll be able to be the opposition party for four more years and raise more money as a result to go all in and fight during the midterms and the Presidential election of 2024.

I know the Dems picked the least inspiring candidate available.

It’s very foolish to dismiss how devastating an inability to impress is to a presidential candidate but whatever.

Trump could take no action against a pandemic, lose 200,000 American lives, advocate drinking bleach, and shoot a man on 5th Avenue and still win.

Democracy! Great. ****ing. Idea.

I agree with every sentiment here.

I have noticed that Trump has shifted the way he handles press conferences in the past month or so. He seems a lot....calmer. Not as much hyperbole and less insults and name-calling. Maybe his doctors have him on some downers or something.

I'm going to blame the Democrats if Trump gets elected again.

As you should. Next time they should put up someone better than a corporate cadaver of Christmas past.

i prob not voting has usual


trump will prob win BIden is a old fart

if biden win he will fake his own death week 1 and Bam the powers to be get there first women prez

And don't forget the deleted Trump thread.

What Did President Trump Do Now? Would have served the past 4 years so well. What fascist **** face mod locked that thread and ****ing why?

You don't remember the endless ****posting between Chula, Frown, me, and others that dominated the entire thing? Chula would come out with a poll or news story about a controversy and claim that NOW Trump is finished and we would all mock him mercilessly for pages and pages while Chula was flipping his ****, repeat ad nauseum. It was great. Height of MB drunken chaos.

I miss Chula.

Also: Four more years! Go Trump! Destroy that ****hole country!

:D

Can't see it getting as heated this time (on MB that is).

Worst reason ever to lock the thread.

I miss Chula too

Every time someone left or got fired from Trump’s cabinet he’d think the old rules were coming back.

I wonder how he’s doing. I wonder if he’s still sober.

Thank you! That was the thread I was thinking of, but couldn't find it. Yes, locking it is one thing, but deleting it seems unnecessary.

Yeah, when I opened this thread Chula was the first person I thought of too. I also hope he's doing ok. In a selfish sense I wish he'd come back to fight again his "Hillary for President" campaign, but for the sake of his blood pressure, it's probably better for him that he has moved on from MB. :(

Yes, the race is narrowing, Soundgarden. Your second link has this link inside it, which is good for giving the polling stats on a head-to-head matchup between Biden and Trump:-

https://edition.cnn.com/election/202...idential-polls

The first number to jump out is their poll of polls number:
Biden : 51%
Trump: 42%

Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I still see plenty of hope for a Biden win.

Here's some pre-debate hype for y'all.

:beer:

Seriously

It’s like wading into the lake slowly or jumping right in.

I thought you were gung-ho on accelerationism though? If you believe Trump will destroy America if re-elected (and Biden's loss would prove, once again, that a corporate neoliberal can't build a winning coalition against the right/Trumpism), that should pave the way for radical change and for the far-left to start winning the argument with Joe Sixpack.

Right?

I don’t want a far left America. I want there to be no longer such a thing as America. America will never be reformed. It cannot be saved. It’s inherently bad. It was founded on evil. America isn’t a house infested with termites. It’s just a mound of termites if you get what I’m saying.

Belarus is a trial balloon for our election.

I saw the insane brainwashed fanaticism of Trump supporters harassing protestors firsthand yesterday. This is going to be a civil war. It might already be here.

I wonder if the history books will be able to express 2000's cringe? Or will they pretend this isn't stupid just like every other part of history? Is that the secret behind all of history? Goofy stupidity that gets taken seriously because people can't handle the fact that the world they live in is just kind of dumb and embarassing?

yah know sometimes i think neither the President nor the Senate dont truly hold the power in the USA

That's your checks and balances at work for you.

Definitely. The power lies in the culture and behavior of the people. Who in America happen in to be toxic morons.

Kenosha sure looked like it.

Sometimes the cringe is captured by historians. Like the original Jamestown colonists hardly included anybody with medical and agricultural skills.

And Salem gets a laugh.

The civil war in Rwanda... World War One is often correctly portrayed as a big stupid war over nothing


But there are other acts of incredible idiocy that still get good reviews like the nuclear arms race. The entire Reagan administration. The denial of the toxic nature of Islam. The American Revolution.

and today endless dedication to the constitution capitalism and democracy despite mountains and mountains of evidence that it’s the most horrendous threat to humanity ever known... it looks good on paper but the proof is in the pudding and we’re drowning in pudding

What will Trump give rise to?

How likely is it that the Dems might run AOC in 2024 if they lose this year's election? I think she'd be old enough (by the time she gets inaugurated).

I don't want to wager to guess but based on current trends such a scenario only become more likely each 4 years

Honestly I think what Trump will give rise to is more existential a threat than any specific policies he enacted or tried to enact. He showed that you can ignore common practices that most politicians cling to by virtue of simple tradition and now many potential scumbags will take note of things they could potentially always have done if they had the balls to be the first one to do it. He has lifted even further the curtain that gave an illusion of responsible representative democracy in such a way that it's like a canon blast to that curtain.

It's possible that other politicians will start to become more 'Trumpian' after he loses. He has definitely shattered convention for what a President can do, say, or be. You seem to take a pessimistic view of this, and you don't do so incorrectly. But is it possible that, by shattering these conventions, we get another President from outside the realm of politics in the future who uses this new latitude of 'accepted behavior' to tell the American public the truth and lead it through a difficult period in history? I think so. I hope so. I hope that not all of the ramifications are negative ones.

I'm interested in what the Dems will do in the future but I'm perhaps more interested in what will become of the GOP after Trump. It may depend on whether he wins or loses. If he loses, I almost think they'll revert to a slightly more right-leaning version of what they used to be, with a greater focus on border security. I don't think they'll be able to find a candidate to fill the void of Donald Trump (unless they attempt to run Donald Jr.). If Trump wins 2020, he'll be the new Reagan after he leaves and I think it's more likely that the candidates of the party will have to reckon with Donald Trump's vision, more likely than not adopting most of his positions.

Trump'll win. In 2024.

Wouldn't that just be a bitch

I don't think many people have considered that possibility, but it is a real possibility. If Trump loses, he could run again.

I don't think he would though.

Or if he wins. He's already floated the idea of a "do over" term to make up for the one stolen from him by the do nothing Democrats via Russia gate .

Michael Moore warns that Donald Trump is on course to repeat 2016 win

Back to topic: during the Trump administration the caliphate was stop and with that the persecution of Syrian Christian by ISIL.

You mean the Trump administration stopped or rather, eliminated, the Caliphate? If so, do you believe this will play a role in the 2020 election?

I heard of Trump mention it once, but no it hasn't been mentioned in the media as many times as "Russian collusion" so I don't know if the average American even knows what happened.

What are you talking about? Nea mentioned that Trump has claimed that he and his administration have eliminated the Caliphate and that the media has not reported on it en masse. He also mentioned that they (the mainstream media) reported for about 2 years (implying that the US president was essentially a puppet of the Russian government) on an unfounded conspiracy theory that proved ultimately to be a massive waste of time, public attention and tax dollars and your take is "poor persecuted Trump"?

Ice Cream is overrated, except for the Wu-Tang song.



You didn't address any of my questions.