Bob Costas Slams Trump on @CNN But Wants Biden To Step Aside
... you have to be in the throws of some toxic delusion in a toxic cult to believe that Trump has ever been -in any sense- emotionally, psychologically, intellectually, or ethically fit to be president of the United States
Costas cogently articulates a position on Trump and Biden with which I largely agree.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Jump to the middle around 6:53 minutes into the video:
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Biden should have acted as the elderly statesman and gracefully stepped aside. This is especially important given the dysfunctional GOP is going to nominate a demonstrable traitor.
Trump is a vindictive, irresponsible, narcissist, demagogue asshole who is the only PotUS in our history to try to steal a presidential election through fraud, coercion, lying, and incitement. An individual who could very well be a convicted felon by inauguration day. It is a profound failure of reason for anyone to even consider such a scoundrel, much less flock to him. This vindictive, cash-challenged, morally bankrupt individual with the powers of the presidency would be terrible for the nation.
Had Biden stepped aside, the Ds could have been in a strong position to ensure Trump does not get elected PotUS. We are stuck yet again with a fundamental failure of both parties to produce nominees fit to hold the most powerful office on the planet.
I think I've changed my mind on this and see why elite democrats have unhesitatingly supported a man who lacks the cognitive/physical abilities to manage a dairy queen. Given their race/sex obsessions the only alternative is Kamala Harris, and she's somehow a worse candidate than Biden. The racialist elite that leads the party would go absolutely ballistic if a black woman were bumped off the ballot in favor of some other biological combination. Imagine the uproar if another white boy like Gavin Newsom were handed the nomination by party leaders at the convention.
Historically, the incumbent makes the call. If the incumbent wants to run, he runs, if not he does not. The party falls in line with the wishes of the incumbent.
Biden should have stepped aside. Then the D party would have been free to secure their nominee.
But worse, the GOP (the electorate of same) is actually going to choose Trump. Trump is an order of magnitude worse than Biden for the nation and the GOP had (has) clear alternatives. Yet they inexplicably are going to nominate a scoundrel who should never hold any public position much less the presidency.
Stop saying what Biden should have done as if it's its fault
all of this is the fault of the Republicans, spineless Republicans ,and the truly deluded membership of the maga movement
Stop reading only 1/2 of what is written.
Mark my words, February 27th 2024, -- this stuff is going to get trump elected
Objective analysis is never a bad thing.
There is no way that one can pretend that Biden is a good nominee for the Ds. So you should not take that route. Deal with reality as it is. Biden should have stepped aside to allow the Ds a chance to produce a strong nominee.
Comments like yours cause the faults of Biden to be front-and-center, when in reality this seed is about the profound failure of the GOP.
You have to be able to accept criticism of the Ds. But here you ignore the powerful criticism of Trump and the GOP by Costas and focus your attention on the secondary and much lesser criticism of Biden. You are turning this seed into a debate about Biden. That is a dumb move.
it's still way too early, and there are bound to be lots of plot twists and turns before november. I want to see the GOP totally locked in to trump before all his baggage falls on them and there is no escape route. with another 8 months of republican face plants pending, the opportunity for democrats to usher in a replacement candidate that will be successful in november increases with time. republicans prove every day that they cannot function without a strongman in place, while democrats utilize the levers of democracy and it's a team effort to effect change.
So far, I see no movement in the GOP electorate or the GOP organization to prepare for a nominee other than Trump.
As the primaries ensue, the change moves more to a power play by the parties. In the case of the GOP, the party would have to buck its electorate. Not likely.
this SOUNDS like a reasonable expectation, but large parts of our population have already been convinced that he is being picked on by the legal system. at some point it will be too late to turn that perception around.
"bothsidesim " works, but in this case it is not working for the good.
viewpoints like yours are going to get trump elected. Everyone doesn't have your objective analytical way of thinking and you don't seem to understand that.
We don't need to hear any more how unfit Biden is
Why not? If it is true Americans deserve to know. If it is not true Joe should get out there and prove it so the people not voting for him for that reason will see otherwise. Maybe a cognitive test of both candidates or a couple debates would help dispel the feeling that Joe is unfit. Or prove he is. It is way too late to have a strategy of trying to hide his unfitness and hoping no one will notice
This is exactly how you turn an ally into an opponent.
Not really. Of the last four democratic incumbents, one was pushed out (LBJ) and Carter almost lost a primary to Ted Kennedy. The actual historical rule is that reasonably popular Presidents with no debilitating issues decides whether to run again. Two other examples similar to Biden reflect the general rule. In 1920 Woodrow Wilson's popularity had crumbled and his health was in shambles. The party pushed him out despite his wishes for another term. In '44, FDR was dying but his massive popularity and a successful conspiracy to lie to the American people about his health enabled him to secure another term. Biden is much closer to Wilson. He's objectively not popular and his health can't be hidden from the public like FDR's was.
en the D party would have been free to secure their nominee.
sure, but that would have exposed the fault lines Biden covers up. To bypass a black woman, the sitting VP of the United States no less , would cause even more problems with the voters Democrats needs to turn out than sticking with Biden does among independents. Harris's VP nomination made his second term attempt inevitable.
LBJ declined to run because of the Vietnam war. Carter chose to run and did.
Wilson was physically incapable of running. His wife was propping him up until the end of this term. It was an impossible situation for reelection. FDR is a prime example of the incumbent's wishes being preeminent.
Trump, however, is not the incumbent. There was an active primary where the GOP had the ability to nominate several who would have made decent presidents. Instead they are going to nominate a scoundrel.
How do you justify that?
"while democrats utilize the levers of democracy and it's a team effort to effect change."
Super Tuesday is just a week from today. If the Dems don't get off the pot and do something very soon, they are stuck with hair sniffing Joe.
A non answer.
How, specifically, does one justify nominating a vindictive, irresponsible, narcissist, demagogue asshole who is the only PotUS in our history to try to steal a presidential election through fraud, coercion, lying, and incitement. An individual who could very well be a convicted felon by inauguration day?
He declined because he was unpopular and was going to have a hard time winning because of Vietnam. The party did not fall in line for him as he almost lost New Hampshire to McCArthy and then RFK jumped in the primaries after which LBJ dropped out.
Carter chose to run and did.
No kidding. The point is he was challenged during the primaries and almost lost to Ted Kennedy.
ilson was physically incapable of running. His wife was propping him up until the end of this term. It was an impossible situation for reelection\
Again, he wanted to be re-nominated but was unpopular and physically damaged. The party did not fall in line with his wishes.
FDR is a prime example of the incumbent's wishes being preeminent
Again, that's my point and why I brought him up His wishes were preeminent because he was extraordinarily popular and that allowed him to hold the party's loyalty even as he was dying. The party falls in line for popular Presidents, it doesn't historically for unpopular ones as we've now demonstrated, again.
ow do you justify that?
Trump was challenged by legitimate candidates. That's much easier to justify than rolling over for an borderline incapacitated one.
How do you justify nominating a scoundrel like Trump when there were plenty of profoundly better candidates?
You have no specifics. Your response does not answer the question.
I am clearly against Biden being nominated.
How do you justify nominating a scoundrel like Trump when there were plenty of profoundly better candidates?
It's a primary system. He was chosen by voters over a strong field of alternative choices. The quality of the opposition and the hundreds of millions spent to defeat him demonstrate the strength of the attempt to unseat him by the party elites. He's simply too popular.
You justify Trump as the GOP because he is popular? This is how you personally justify Trump as the GOP nominee?
I justify him as the Nominee because he will win the required amount of delegates he needs under the rules in place.
You just go with the flow then? Whoever wins the required amount of delegates is all that you need to justify a nominee ... no matter how much of a scoundrel, you personally ignore all of that as long as he has the delegate count?
If you justify Trump as the nominee then you will naturally vote for him in the primary.
By all means, let me know how I can prevent Trump from being the nominee under the rules in place.
Not the question. Obviously you are not going to answer.
it's the peter principle at work in politics. one candidate is a criminal traitor and the other is approaching the perception of limited job effectiveness.
That bridge was crossed over a year ago.
The premise of this article ,and this is far from the only one if it's type ,is that if trump wins in November it will be the Democrats fault and biden's fault
to me this is an insane conclusion
no one seems to want to put the blame on the people who are actually caused this terrible situation, and those people are trump voters particularly the trump voters known as maga
after January 6th 2021 there was a fairly wide consensus that Donald Trump was a disgrace to American politics and government for what he had done to foment a riot, and tried to overthrow the government, and then stand back and watch as the terrible events of the day took place. He even told the rioters, after it was clear that dozens of policemen had been hurt, that he loved them and they should "remember this day forever."
in a sane environment ,like we have seen throughout the first 245 years of our nations existence, he would have slinked away from public life in utter disgrace, but that didn't happen, almost entirely because the republican politicians that could have insisted that happen almost all either came to back trump in a short period of time or at the least they took a wait and see attitude because they were afraid that trump would sic maga on them
blaming the Democrats and Biden for trump's continued popularity will do nothing but make it more likely that he will win the election in November. Blaming Biden and the Democrats for trump is an excuse
we don't need excuses, right now we need people of good faith to unite as best we can to keep the worst person ever to run for president of the United States out of office. That should be the sole focus ,not putting the focus or the onus on the Democrats or Biden
That is NOT the premise of this article.
The GOP electorate is at fault for nominating a scoundrel (Trump).
Biden is at fault for not stepping aside and the D party (organization) is at fault for not pushing him out.
Trump can only win if he is nominated. That falls on the GOP. Losing to someone as bad for the nation as Trump falls on the Ds.
I watched the entire Bob Costas interview and it is definitely one of his points that running Biden for president again will make trump more likely to win
we should be calling for the Republicans to force trump out
we hardly see even a fragment of that right now
bullshit
Yes it is definitely one of his points. That is very different than the whole of this article being that a win by Trump is solely the fault of the Ds.
You are totally misrepresenting what Costas said and the intent of this seed.
Read the article quote:
The intent is to emphasize how bad Trump is for the nation. Not pretending that the Ds have put forth a strong candidate is proper objective analysis.
And if that doesn't work? What can the dems do to help make sure Trump doesn't get in the white house?
I agree but that will only be called bothsiderism and ignored by the people that are more comfortable in only thinking it is always the other guys fault.
The only people at fault for trump's popularity are the people that like him or will vote for him as the so-called lesser of two evils. There are very few evils on this earth that he is lesser than.
And there seems to be millions of them that take a look at Joe and come to the conclusion Trump is the lesser of two evils. So does Joe do whats best for the country (if he really cares about Trump being president) and step aside so the dems could give people a candidate that would not be the lesser of two evils or do they continue to try and convince people Joe is not so bad even though his numbers and their own eyes would dictate otherwise?
Correct. The GOP electorate is solely at fault for Trump's eventual nomination. The D party and Biden are NOT at fault for Trump's nomination. The GOP is responsible for its house and the Ds are responsible for theirs.
The GOP electorate is at fault for nominating a scoundrel (Trump).
Trump can only win if he is nominated. That falls on the GOP.
People wishing Biden to step aside like Costas should have been having these conversations a year ago when they may have mattered. The fact is Biden is running and is the presumptive DNC nominee against Trump the presumptive GOP nominee. I'm as dismayed as anyone at the choices, but the conversation should now only be about how Trump shouldn't be anywhere near DC again and how we accomplish that.
They likely were. But they were deferring to the incumbent.
Which is the point of this seed. Costas was focused on Trump but objectively spoke of Biden too.
I see two separate points in his. Costas hit it on the head regarding Biden, I do not think that he should be the dems nominee, at some point he should have said I came to do what I promised to do and I will not run for another term with enough time to allow the party to pick from many other candidates. If he had done that he would have stepped aside with grace, and dignity and being an elder statesman would have stayed in the limelight in the Dem Party.
Now it's important to understand that I would have loved to have said the opposite and praised his determination to run for another term. As an American Indian President Biden has done more for us than any other president in history. There are two others that rate high, one Dem and one Republican. So it's not with joy that I wish he would have stepped aside.
The other point is that Costas was focused on Trump and his ''lack of everything'', and I do agree with his review Trump should never be anywhere near the presidency, but sadly from the primary results he will be the nominee for the GOP. The GOP had chances to end his political career but lacking backbone they bowed like servants to him and his crazy backers and now we will all have to suffer the consequences if he is elected.
Who would be the nominee if Biden steps aside? I do not see anyone that can win the general besides Biden. Easy to say Biden should step aside, much harder to name someone to replace him that could actually win.
Same goes for Trump, who would be the candidate that Maga and other Republicans can all support.
One recent opinion.
The MAGA crowd will mostly only support Trump. Haley is the obvious choice. But other decent candidates were running. The key for the GOP is to get a candidate that will win in the general. The portion of MAGA that will refuse to vote for the GOP nominee is not as important and getting independents to vote for the GOP candidate.