Ready for the mega-ugly 2024 rematch? The perennial optimist vs. the perma-troll
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Time to dial it up to 11, as Nigel Tufnel would say.
If my fellow Louisvillian Dr. Hunter S. Thompson were still among us, this is when he'd drop multiple hits of acid, snort up enough marching powder to keep his shirts stiff for several months, drink copious amounts of Wild Turkey sufficient to numb or knock out the average human being — and then show up at a White House briefing in shorts, drenched and babbling like a ferret on Benzedrine.
Hunter actually did show up, according to his Playboy Interview, for a press briefing in nearly such a state, but today no one does. Hell, Hunter was the only one who ever did.
There are plenty of reasons to do so today. The debt ceiling. Infrastructure. Build Back Better. Not to mention that video surfaced this week of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham being booed by his own supporters for suggesting they get the COVID-19 vaccine. Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and others from the alternative-facts coalition continue to undermine the government they serve. And the United States as I know it, according to a growing number of pundits and analysts, continues to slouch into oblivion; merely weeks or months away from death.
The world's in trouble. There's no communication, as Joan Jett told us.
Perdition isn't a done deal, no matter what you may see on television or the internet, or hear in your secret meetings with the odd handshakes. But the rending of hair and gnashing of teeth among the members of a Democratic Party that seems intent on duplicating Christopher Walken's self-destruction in "The Deer Hunter" is enough to lead soulless members of the Republican Party to guffaw in hearty laughter, never realizing they're laughing at their own demise.
Meanwhile President Biden continues to preach about getting people to work together, with very little return for his efforts — even according to his loyalists.
Compounding those problems is the coming census-mandated congressional redistricting. First Amendment attorney and activist Nora Benavidez is among many who believe redistricting is one of the most important and least-covered current news issues. "It is a direct threat to majority rule," she told me.
If the GOP can gerrymander enough districts in key states, they can quite likely situate themselves to take back the House, the Senate and ultimately the presidency — without a majority of popular votes, if necessary (as often seems to be the case recently with Republicans).
We know the election wasn't stolen in 2020 and we also know Trump is setting up to try and steal it in 2024. Whether or not he runs for office is irrelevant. If the Republican Party is successful at manipulating congressional districts, and continues to replace election workers with flunkeys who will do whatever Trump wants, then Trump will have the mechanism in place by which he can reclaim the presidency.
Whether he will opt to be king or the king's puppeteer will then be a far easier decision for him to make. Considering that many people who know Trump, like his longtime former fixer Michael Cohen, believe he won't run for a second term, it's easy to see how he could still take advantage of the situation without having to expose himself again to the pressures of the presidency. Never mind that some, like former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham, believe Trump isn't healthy enough for another run.
Trump keeps the rest of the world busy dealing with other issues by throwing shade while his loyalists continue to lay the groundwork for authoritarian rule. As late as Tuesday in Michigan, President Biden had to reinforce the fact that he was a capitalist and that he won the election last year. He's fighting the Big Lie nine months into his presidency and seems mired in the past because he can't get ahead of the news curve. Trump plays the media like a fiddle to create the news.
But you can't just blame the press. We cover it because it's money for us — and it's only money for us because it's of interest to the general public. Trust me, if as many Americans tuned into a chess match, a jazz concert, local theater or a talking polar bear reading Socrates out loud in a Fran Drescher accent, we'd air that. Because whatever sells, baby — that's what corporate journalism is all about.
When Biden isn't addressing the withering accusations tossed at him by the Trump crowd, he's endeavoring to see if he can sell us his vision of America. Tuesday, on the stump in Michigan, he implored us to "Invest in resilience."
Hey, It's almost like he gets it. He's not going to go Hunter Thompson or Nigel Tufnel on us, but Biden certainly recognizes the nation is at a serious crossroads. Or, as he put it, "We're at an inflection point. . . . We risk losing our edge as a nation. Our infrastructure used to be the best in the world . . ."
It's not even close today. Our ranking as a developed nation for students seeking post-high school education led the president to say, "We're at the bottom of the heap."
Biden also proposes expanded access to community college, Pell grants and other expanded educational opportunities. It's hard to see where a working-class family would disagree with the federal assistance Biden proposes giving them by redistributing a small portion of the wealth of the richest Americans into the pockets of the poorest Americans so we can achieve something greater together.
Despite the "inflection point" Biden claims we've reached, he remained decidedly even-keeled and optimistic in Michigan, making what amounts to his latest stump speech. He avoided dialing it up emotionally, calmly reiterating that no one making less than $400,000 a year would pay more taxes — and saying that's why he won't back an increase in the gas tax, because people in the middle or working classes spend a much greater proportion of their income on gasoline than the wealthy do.
Biden's demeanor was calm, but his pitch dialed it up several notches. He again proposed the end to 40 years of supply-side economics that have created an immense gulf between the richest and poorest American citizens. Biden's appeal is to every working-class person across the country, but some of those people continue to roar against the Lion in Winter. Biden's sane detractors question his policy decisions while the insane continue hypocritical personal attacks or claim that Biden is one of the Illuminati, or is merely a skin-suit worn over a lizard body.
The bottom line is that Trump and his minions have been very successful in politicizing and contaminating every aspect of life in the United States. Music. Cinema. Arts. Food. Sports. Science. All of it. This has made it increasingly difficult to get anything passed in Congress. It threatens to make it prohibitive to deal with the basic needs of society. Those who are stirring up the storm want you to forget the reality of what Biden is trying to do — and to ignore the power grab the GOP is trying to make.
No great civilization can stand without addressing its infrastructure. Biden not only acknowledges that but takes it a step further, saying that the world of tomorrow is about economic competition, and we have to wake up to the fact that we must work together to survive and thrive. Authoritarian regimes believe democracies are too weak because we respond more slowly to stimuli than do autocratic governments that can turn on a dime through the will of a single head of state.
Biden, the eternal optimist, sees the U.S. not only competing with the world but once again leading it, while simultaneously closing the gap between the rich and the poor and providing better education to all Americans. At least that's the sales pitch. It is worth noting that Biden describes and envisions a world 10 years down the road, not a world that changes every 10 minutes according to what television show you've been on or watched. He is trying to chart a future he may not live to see.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they will never sit, the Greek proverb tells us. The Bible tells us wise men plan for the future.
We should at least listen to someone who has a vision of the future that isn't a dystopia plucked from the recesses of Hell — and not dismiss his proposals as politics as usual. Because there's nothing usual about today's politics.
You can't dust for vomit and life isn't a reality show, but we do need to dial it up to 11.
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Biden won't run again due to health reasons.
Harris is a highly disliked joke of a VP and won't run.
Trump won't win the nomination
So, you're have it from the "horses mouths, plural" or are you become a prophet?
I agree with you about Biden. As for Trump, it’s all about if he decides to run or not. If he does run I don’t see anyone standing against him in the primaries other than some stand in for the never Trump establishment wing of the party, a person like Jeb Bush but not him. The better the GOP does in the mid term election the more likely another Trump run will be. The reverse is also true as the credit or blame either way will largely go to him.
Artful Liar Donald J. Trump is a political predator.
pffft, remind me to worry about it 3 years from now.
Bluntly, Biden has too much faith in the political right to have the best interest of all Americans in mind. He wants to "work with them" while they want to bury him.
As the article says
What the fuck do you think the left did during Trump's tenure? He had America First written all over his actions.
FFS there are none so blind....................................
Including the deaths of over 600,000 Americans due to his inaction over the pandemic? Back then, America was 1st in number of deaths.
Donald Trump was not psychologically, or ethically, or morally fit to hold office in the United States of America. On the day he was elected in 2016 he was a KNOWN pathological liar, crook, bigot, moron and cheat. What the hell is wrong with you?
What should he have done? Shut the whole country down? What would you have done?
Not NEAR what the hell seems wrong with you. You seem to be a man possessed............
You are the one who just asked me why Trump was opposed by the "left". My question is WHY THE HELL DIDNT YOU OPPOSE HIM ?
I dont do this "both sides " bullshit. I tell people the truth.
Says the person who voted for a dementia patient
Says who voted for an old fart
who lies like its part of daily prayer. Clearly likes the smell of Donald's lies.
“I tell people the truth.”
LMFAO. What a steaming pile of bullshit that comment is.
Trump is both a dementia patient, and a crook liar bigot moron and cheat. The most unethical person to ever run for president on a major party ticket.
That seems to be why a lot of you voted for him.
The only one responsible for your delusions is you.
All one has to do is look back to see how well things were going under trump, then look how shitty things have gotten under dementia boy. And i’m not alone, look at the polling numbers. Seems your delusions are failing you.
Things were not going well under that steaming pile of shit.
Would trmp have been able to allot relief monies without the help of Democrats?
Correct. He wouldn't have. What's your point please?
It sounds like you don't think they did shit. Here I go again with thiinking I know what's in someone's head, so if that's not what you meant, I sincerely apologize. And as someone else is so fond of telling me maybe my reading comprehension is a bit rusty
Not what I meant and that's okay. That was the problem. Very little of the good things that got done under Mr. Trump got covered up by the incessant Russia, Russia, Russia bullshit and the subsequent "show me the man and I'll show you the crime" crap trying DESPERATELY to find something, anything to impeach and get him out of office. That is what I meant There was a lot of good. Kudos to all that got the good done.
If Russia did not exist Trump would still be completely unfit to hold office in the United States of America.
Nothing good happened under that criminal enterprise of an administration except for the thug in chief and those who paid for his favors.
Opinions do vary
Opinions may vary but the truth doesn't.
Yeah, you wanted a KNOWN pathological liar, crook, bigot, moron, and cheat to be president of the United States.
These descriptions are not opinion, they are proven fact.
Let's see. Pfiezer took no "Warp Speed" money, yet produced a vaccine 1st. That would indicate that "Warp Speed" slowed down other companies, OR made absolutely no difference in the speed they were developed.
But you were opposed when democrats proposed relief money. And much of Trump relief money was not issued, and much of the small business relief money made it into his friend's pockets.
This op/ed in the NY Times seems to disagree with you1. Trump recently signed 3 bills to benefit Native people. One gives compensation to the Spokane tribe for loss of their lands in the mid-1900s, one funds Native language programs, and the third gives federal recognition to the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Montana.
1. Trump recently signed 3 bills to benefit Native people. One gives compensation to the Spokane tribe for loss of their lands in the mid-1900s, one funds Native language programs, and the third gives federal recognition to the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Montana.
2. Trump finalized the creation of Space Force as our 6th Military branch.
3. Trump signed a law to make cruelty to animals a federal felony so that animal abusers face tougher consequences.
4.) Violent crime has fallen every year he’s been in office after rising during the 2 years before he was elected.
5. Trump signed a bill making CBD and Hemp legal.
6. Trump’s EPA gave $100 million to fix the water infrastructure problem in Flint, Michigan.
7. Under Trump’s leadership, in 2018 the U.S. surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest producer of crude oil.
8. Trump signed a law ending the gag orders on Pharmacists that prevented them from sharing money-saving information.
9. Trump signed the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act” (FOSTA), which includes the “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” (SESTA) which both give law enforcement and victims new tools to fight sex trafficking.
10. Trump signed a bill to require airports to provide spaces for breastfeeding Moms.
And that's just 10 of the 123 that the author states. Enjoy the read and learn some history outside what you read on Yahoo News
Sorry about the formatting as this is supposed to be a list not a paragraph. Anyone knows how to change it let me know.
Only the last round and then only parts of it.
Bullshit. If anything it gave the others an advantage that Pfizer wasn't about to put up with and thus sped up their development to be first and cash in. Isn't that what ANY business would do?
Your comment is so off base and lacks a sense of reality
But murder rose 20% in 2019 and 25% more in 2020...
Typical BS about leadership. We were tied with Russia in 2016. Congress also increased American competition in 2015
by lifting a 40 year ban on exporting oil. Saudi Arabia & Opec limit their production deliberately.
They aren't worried about being first on some list.
Great. He also implemented a gag rule on family clinics by blocking Title X money to any clinic that advises women about abortion options. Nice way to treat the First Amendment.
I think he also set a record for renaming Post Offices...
btw, NYT is paywalled, not the best source.
Didn't Operation Warp Speed also help speed the approval process removing red tape and aligning all the parties to moving the review and approval along? How long could we have waiting for FDA emergency approval without that help?
Off base?
The one company that didn't take Warp Drive money, was actually the 1st company to produce a viable vaccine. How do you explain that FACT in relation to the earlier comment of "What inaction would that be? Warp speeding the vaccines?"?
Nope. FDA emergency approval was a thing long before Warp Drive was a twinkle in Trump's eye.
I explained it for you already. You just needed to read and comprehend what was written
"Ultimately, it was the War on Terror that would give rise to emergency use authorization. After the events of September 11, 2001 and subsequent anthrax mail attacks, Congress enacted the Project Bioshield Act of 2004 .
FDA’s newfound EUA authority would be used relatively sparingly for the first 16 years following its enactment. During that time, its most extensive use was in combating the H1N1 swine flu pandemic of 2009 by authorizing medical equipment and existing influenza drugs. Health policy experts would look back on the use of EUA against H1N1 as an overall success . It would also be used (pursuant to an amendment allowing for preemptive EUAs) to authorize occasional countermeasures in anticipation of MERS, Ebola, Zika, and other epidemics, none of which ultimately materialized in the United States.
Then came COVID-19. In February 2020, HHS Secretary Alex Azar declared the pandemic a national health emergency warranting emergency use of in vitro diagnostics, followed by subsequent declarations in March warranting emergency use of other countermeasures ."
none of what you posted says anything about Phizer
what does any of that have to do with Warp Speed?
I wasn't commenting on Pfizer. I was answering another statement from Tessy that nothing good happened under Trump.
Again, I wasn't answering anything about Warp Speed if you look at the comment I was responding to. Are you okay?
that's a loaded question...
Funny LOL
As I was responding to Jim NC and his comment dealing with the Pfizer vaccine, you are incorrect. I was not talking about the overall EUA authority as the discussion thread was talking about COVID vaccines.
Operation Warp Speed was formally announced on May 15, 2020 in the White House Rose Garden.
The FDA issued the first Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in people aged 16 years and older, on Dec 13, 2020.
Warp drive...........seems some people watch too much TV
Well, so far, Pfizer is still the only FDA approved vaccine and the booster is emergency approved only
with Moderna, J&J and the others all still waiting in that FDA conga line dance.
The 2 are not related. Prior to Warp Drive the FDA still had the ability for Emergency Use Authorization.
do you do this deliberately? Do you argue just to argue?
I was responding directly to a specific question and provided a specific line of thought. That President Trump used Operation Warp Speed to help remove red tape and speed up the use of the emergency use authorization by the FDA for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Why do you feel a need to use one sentence and misconstrue it away from what a person is talking about in order to argue? You don't get additional points or extra cookies for posting the highest number of posts.
It is finally down in a report from the J6 investigation that Trump indeed try to illegally overturn the election. But of course the Republicons disagree so it is true.
It was a report from the HJC, not the J6 panel. Apologies, but it is first nail in his political coffin and that is what matters.
Seems ass-backwards to me.
After all, progressive liberals already hammered the last nail in at least a half dozen times before the first one!
What does it take to make Artful Liar Donald J. Trump shut up?! I watch people talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and . . . that pie-hole fool talk and talk and talk and talk some mo'! Artful Liar is as wrong as days and nights are long! Why can't he be properly made to toe-the-line like the rest of civilized humanity?!
Where is the right 'brute' needed to check an impossible fool?!
Well, for starters, the people obsessed with him would have to quit hanging on his every word. Without viewers, the media would move on to other things.
Bye.
[deleted]
My answer might end up with a visit from Trump's brown shirts. Hint...LHO.
NAIL #2 - House Panel Finds Trump Filed Misleading Financial Information About D.C. Hotel.
If I had a hammer....Everybody sing!
gee, nice to know Democrats are more focused on what Trump did a few years ago rather than work to pass the infrastructure bill progressives are holding up.
Man, that sounds real productive and beneficial to all!
Perhaps Joe should have been honest all along when he helped to negotiate the bipartisan infrastructure bill, instead of promptly renigging on it and tying it to his larger spending wish list bill.
2024 is three budgets, political forever, from now...
And wtf does that have to do with my comment?
The question is, what does your comment have to do with the anything of topic here?
Jeez, you don't know what I am talking about, fail to comprehend how my comment relates to the subject matter--despite me quoting the part I specifically responded to, can't seem to link your comment in any way to mine, and now you want to talk this shit?
LMMFAO
Fast. Witty. On the mark. And drops the mic and hammer on Sinema and Manchin. Especially Manchin and the 'paddle boaters.' That is going to bite him properly on his ass!
Please, if you are going to be "informed" by late night television comedians and talk show hosts, just bypass me with your little cartoon videos.
I really love how vile Democrats are in referring to Sinema and Manchin. It's just like they are Republicans!
How so?
The majority of Americans don't want the massive spending bill Democrats are attempting to ram through. I doubt that Manchin is worried about reelection in his state, though, and Democrats better pray he remains in office so they can hold onto the "majority"'
Bye.
good talk.
They should be. WV is one of the poorest states in teh Union. Ever driven thru WV? Beautiful country but there's quite a few bridges crossing the deep valleys. I woudl think that WV'ers would want to make sure that those bridges are going to hold up and not collapse
I am sure that they know Manchin voted for the infrastructure bill that progressives are holding up from passing the House.
Hell, he dropped the entire tool box on these idiots.
Seriously, what gets me is some of these "non-stop presenting" policy proposals need to be played out so we, the voting public, can see how they perform in practice. In order to know if they work or not. It is mind-numbing that congress (states) plays politics with people's livelihoods. After all, politics is about and for the benefit of people.That said, I can see the counterargument that once you institute a program or policy it can cause havoc to delete it. Blah!
Still, these "non-stop presenting" proposals do not die on the vine but linger president after president. . . .
Do those kyackers really think that a politician on a million dollar yacht cares about the poor? He is the definition of "Let them eat cake."
Honestly, I am tired of Joe Manchin and this ordeal he is undertaking. Though I can understand the "complexity" of giving people all that they want and can ask! There is so much that needs help in our world. On one hand we have a party that wants to maybe do too much and on the other-hand we have a party dedicated to getting all it can out of people rightly and wrongly.
What is real clear (according to polls) is people are asking for real help!
Oh, thank God you aren't referring to the BIPARTISAN infrastructure bill that progressive Democrats won't even vote on!
Because it certainly is proof that BOTH parties (at least some of the members) can and will work together.
The problem is now how to get progressives on board.
All they will get for their efforts is lip service.
Bye.
Hi!
Yeah. Because Manchin is of the status quo school: Do the barest minimum and let corporate titans run transitions in society.
Blaming Republicans for what Democrats are doing is not going to work. People are smarter than to fall for that old crap again.
Nancy has a bill already passed by the Senate--a billon real infrastructure that is needed and benefits all--and progressive Democrats refuse to even allow a vote on it.
IMPASSE.
What President Biden should do is tell Artful Liar and his "minions" if a political war or any other kind of war is all you will accept then I will go to the theater and tell liberals to "power up."
[deleted]
Nice potshot. Off target and overly broadbrush.
Okay.
And then what?
Bye.
[Deleted]
Really? A rematch between two octogenarians?
If Biden is up to it and runs the odd will favor him...
Trump will be an ineligible felon by November 2024.
You hold on to that reeeeeal tight now.............LMAO
By 2024 biden will be wearing a bib, eating baby food, shitting himself, and wondering who moved nevada away from iowa on the map.
Biden nor any of us give a damn about ad hominem rhetoric. [Deleted]
I'm sure that's whatshisname right now.
That's what Reagan meant!
The author completely ignores all of Biden's failures.
The author must be wearing blue colored glasses; and suffering from a massive case of TDS.
Other stupidity from the author:
Biden and the Democrats have been as divisive as hell. Disagree with def Fuhrer and he will sick the DOJ and FBI on you. Just ask anyone that disagrees with their local school board (otherwise know as the Democrat indoctrination clinic). The Democrats hold a very slim majority in the House; and an even split in the Senate- yet have a completely "go it alone attitude" siting a mandate they don't have. Suddenly they want Republican help on raising the debt ceiling so that they can have the cover of it being bi-partisan? Not surprising McConnell told them to use reconciliation.
Democrats never, ever, use gerrymandering to win w/o having a majority of the votes./S They even manage to game the system in places like California that are supposedly gerrymandering proof.
Leftist BS. Name one law that Republicans have passed that affects any group adversely; or doesn't provide oversite (which is required) to the vote counting process. Democrats are just PO'd that they will not be able to send home the observers and then start counting votes again w/o supervision.
3.5 trillion dollar porkulus reconciliation bill fulfilling the far left's most fervent wish list is the reason Biden needs to defend himself. Act like a socialist get called a socialist.
"Invest in resilience" what utter BS. If the reconciliation bill was so damn important they could break it apart into it's main components and negotiate in good faith to get them passed separately. Instead we are heading for another "We have to pass the bill to see what is in the bill" moment.
Once again, utter BS. Democrats will never get that business don't pay taxes. A tax increase on businesses is a tax increase on everyone. Businesses either cut costs - meaning labor- lower wages or layoffs; or they raise the price of their product to offset the new tax. Either way those making less than $400,000 a year are going to pay.
Funnily enough the wealth gap grows more when a Democrat is in the White House. Just ask Obama.
Damn those 1%er Democrats!
The 1.5 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill addresses that. The 3.5 trillion porkulus reconciliation bill doesn't. It is as simple as that.
I don't want either of these old farts to run.
It doesn't seem to matter what we want. Democrats aren't going to primary a sitting Democrat President; and Trump's core supporters are still too strong for any Republican to come forward.
The only thing that could change things is if the Democrats finally get Trump. Odds aren't good as they have been trying since before he took office; and they are still striking out. Or the Republicans pay the Democrats back and impeach Biden fully after midterms. Which would leave Kamila Harris in charge; who was last seen ducking her job after the Afghanistan fallout. Not sure anyone (and that includes Republicans) wants Harris in charge of anything after the way she "handled" the border and immigration problems.
Maybe things will change drastically in the next 3 years; but right now both parties are set in stone in who their nominees will be.
Not so sure. Biden said in the beginning he wanted one term.