Trump: Illusion, Mist and Bought?

[Aragorn]

we will have to see in my opinion. Biden has never really been articulate. He's sensitive. And aged. My opinion hasn't changed on Biden, he's an adapter and he will adapt. Zeitgeist has changed dramatically and that is where Biden will be. He will try to do the right things. Immeasurably better than the non-functional, even counter-productive bizarro world Trump administration. Another transition is what we will get to bide time for the new and improved. If history repeats, it will be a short tenure... I'm not counting on that one, though.

If you honestly, seriously believe that either the US Democratic Party or the US Republican Party are ever going to consent to a genuine change in policy, then I'm afraid you're being just as naive as the average US American voter lining up at the polling stations.

Don't forget who controls the two-party dictatorship in the USA. And I don't mean to toot my own horn here, but I've already elaborately documented several times why the USA is in reality a de facto fascist regime ─ the word "fascism" in the true sense of the word, not in the sense of a Nazi-like regime, because most US Americans understand even less of what fascism is than they understand what socialism is. If they did, then they wouldn't be supporting the system as fanatically anymore as they still are today.

Republicans or Democrats, they all still believe they're living in the greatest nation on Earth, that the USA would be a beacon of democracy and freedom, and that their precious US troops are liberating countries and spreading democracy.

It's documented but subject to interpretation. Especially when viewed through the lens of retrospective.

Oh come on, NotAPretender, you know that's bovine excrement. It was a mob ruling, and nothing else.

Sanders quit?! In my opinion, if he had felt that he was done immorally in the 2016 deal rather than just outfavored, he would have fought unto death this time.

Bernie knew that he could never win that battle. If you know ─ and again, this is documented ─ that all of the super delegates are going to vote against you, then what are you going to do? It's a "democratic process" and everyone is "free" to vote for whomever they want, remember?

So really, what are you going to do against the fact that every major player in your own party is going to vote against you, no matter what? That's like an abused child running to its own parents for protection. And if the child were to run away from home and become an Independent, then he'd have even less of a chance, because...:

• In many of the US states, an Independent candidate can neither run for office nor be voted for. State law forbids it.

• The financial cost of campaigning on his own would be prohibitive. Just look at the multi-million-dollar budgets and infrastructure that went into Hillary Clinton's campaign alone when she was up against Barack Obama in the race for Democratic nominee back in 2008, and then later again in 2016 when she effectively was the Democratic nominee in the presidential elections.
  
  Just to give you an example, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation alone ─ yes, them ─ donated USD $100'000'000 to the Clinton campaign in 2016. That's more money than I have ever seen (and will ever see) in my entire lifetime. It's about 10'000 times my annual income as a disabled and single person here in Belgium. Imagine how many hungry children you could feed off of that kind of money, huh? And that was just the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who, granted, were the most generous of Hillary's donors. But the millions coming in from the other corporate donors weren't all too shabby either, and there were dozens of them.

[Emil El Zapato]

lol ... perhaps ... if all else fails it resolves down to the American pepoes. They are the biggest stumbling block to progress. It's all about the Zeitgeist. Everyone from the single 'I' to massive groups have their own agenda. Once the 'necessary' agenda to break the self-induced stalemates becomes clear then something will happen. And it will happen or else We, Big We remain as naive as I am. Ultimately, the humans that can't agree will find their own planet to inhabit and can then happily fork it up to their heart's content. As it has been stated many many times before, it is just a matter of We and not the self-defeating us and them.

I think it is safe to say that the youngest generation has a much more generous notion of We than previous generations, but, of course, there are still those of that age that look to the legacy handed down to them. Here's a telling notion...Many youngsters don't see traditional family as the "FAMILY", they accept any into their scope of 'Family' if it fits their expanded concept. This is a trend that has been developing for 30 or 40 years and now it is integrated into the latest generation as a given.

[Wind]

The DNC wants to take back control of the presidential cabinet. Biden only serves as the bridge toward that goal. After that, they'll endure him and play him for as long as they can, but eventually they're going to get rid of Biden and move his running mate ─ i.e. the vice-president ─ into the number one position.

That's quite an interesting prospect considering that Biden's VP will probably be a woman and no Aianawa, he certainly won't be legit enough to pick Marianne Williamson for that position. It will be someone politically correct enough - bought and paid for by the corporations, maybe even a black woman just for the sake of the color of the skin, just like Obama was chosen by his Wall Street sponsors. No one wouldn't even care about Joe Biden if it wasn't for Obama.

The fake liberal Elizabeth Warren has been really hard trying to push for the VP position, so much that she betrayed Bernie Sanders and stabbed him in the back many times. I think those choices partly destroyed her reputation, at least in some circles which are more politically aware. I don't think that Biden's team wants her though, she's still too liberal for them. Even then, it would be quite a big deal that there could be a first female president ever in the history of US, albeit I think that many of us will be very thankful that it won't be Hillary Clinton. Her reputation surely preceeds her.

On second thought, can you imagine if Biden actually chose Clinton as his VP? That would be a stupid move for him.

[Aragorn]

That's quite an interesting prospect considering that Biden's VP will probably be a woman and no Aianawa, he certainly won't be legit enough to pick Marianne Williamson for that position. It will be someone politically correct enough - bought and paid for by the corporations, maybe even a black woman just for the sake of the color of the skin, just like Obama was chosen by his Wall Street sponsors. No one wouldn't even care about Joe Biden if it wasn't for Obama.

The fake liberal Elizabeth Warren has been really hard trying to push for the VP position, so much that she betrayed Bernie Sanders and stabbed him in the back many times. I think those choices partly destroyed her reputation, at least in some circles which are more politically aware. I don't think that Biden's team wants her though, she's still too liberal for them. Even then, it would be quite a big deal that there could be a first female president ever in the history of US, albeit I think that many of us will be very thankful that it won't be Hillary Clinton. Her reputation surely preceeds her.

On second thought, can you imagine if Biden actually chose Clinton as his VP? That would be a stupid move for him.

I reckon that, if Biden's running mate is to be a woman, it'll probably be Michelle Obama. And then the alt-right can come up with fake news tweets of how their vice-president ─ or president, once Joe's dementia can no longer be ignored ─ is a tranny.

[Emil El Zapato]

Biden is feeling the pressure of picking a black woman. My take is that many might view it as 'tokenism' whether that was the intent or not. I think the corner that Biden is in will get tighter and tighter. But as he is in a state of dementia it won't make any difference. Williamson should stick to organizing as that is what she is most suited for. It is all striking me as an sociological academic exercise at this point. Trump has done his worst, yet we are still here...Does any of it matter?

I think I should be President and I promise to nominate Fred as my running mate. Now that's an offer that can't be refused.

M. Obama does come from an environment of integrity...that would be a welcome change. You guys are just too cynical for me. We gotta have hope!

[Wind]

Hope and change?

[Dreamtimer]

I guess I'm just so used to the weakness of Dems being pointed out that it's difficult for me to see strength in the DNC. But I certainly understand what you're saying and you have very valid points, Aragorn.

[Dreamtimer]

No one wouldn't even care about Joe Biden if it wasn't for Obama.

I'm pretty sure the reason he has the support of the black community is because of Obama, as opposed to his own political record. He lost his bid too many times already and I was surprised he entered the race. Bernie was so strong against him in the beginning I didn't think he'd end up being the one consistently beating Trump in the polls.

I happen to know a couple millennials and even though they much preferred Bernie they'll be supporting Biden because they really want to get rid of Trump.

Trump has a record now. He's not just a fill-in-the-blank against Hillary, who was a terrible candidate.

That still confuses me. She could at least have gone through the motions of reaching out to folks in a large swath of America. But she didn't. Very foolish for someone who was so long associated with politics and power players.

I have not been following Biden's VP prospects. It seems to me if he's going to pick a woman of color it would be Kamala Harris or Stephanie Abrams. Abrams got way closer to beating her opponent than anyone expected and she's very capable. She would be a good choice for Biden.

[Wind]

According to many polls it would seem that Biden is far more popular than Hillary was. Trump will probably get into panic mode soon.

[Dreamtimer]

I think he already is. And he's doing his best to corrupt and weaken the Justice Department so his former cronies can get off.

[Aragorn]

I happen to know a couple millennials and even though they much preferred Bernie they'll be supporting Biden because they really want to get rid of Trump.

Trump has a record now. He's not just a fill-in-the-blank against Hillary, who was a terrible candidate.

And now the DNC is going for a "fill in the blank" against Trump. So it's really nothing other than a little back-and-forth, and nothing will change on account of US culture, US policy, or US-whatever. The status quo must not be perturbed, but the dog-and-pony show must carry on nevertheless, to leave the people with the illusion that they're living in a democracy.

[Dreamtimer]

Is it illusion to believe we could get it back?

Probably. But I just don't want to give up/in.

[Wind]

Where there’s a will there’s a way.

There really has to be the will though.

[Aragorn]

Is it illusion to believe we could get it back?

Probably. But I just don't want to give up/in.

It is not an illusion to believe that the Democrats could once again rule the White House. But in my humble (yet admittedly cynical) opinion, it is indeed an illusion to believe that the USA are ever going to change as a culture and as a crypto-fascist regime. The USA is so conservative and so insular that this crypto-fascism has already been in place since at least as early as the end of World War II, with nothing to threaten its existence.

It would take a truly cataclysmic event to ever change that ─ maybe another civil war. The power brokers in the military-industrial complex, on Wall Street, and in the oil, coal and pharmaceutical industries are never going to step aside.

[Chris]

Just my own two cents, but I expect Trump will win reelection in a landslide. Remember, the US elections aren't decided in California or New York or even in Texas, which are the most populous states. Presidential elections are won exclusively on swing state votes and last time round, it was 4 Midwestern swing states that won it for Trump. After all the mayhem that was caused by the Democrat-supported thugs on the streets of many major cities and the second, more serious wave of Covid that will result from it, there is just no way in hell that the rural white Midwestern voters the Democrats need to win over are going to swing back to Blue in this election.

Trump may be bad, but even I would probably vote for him over whatever radical revolutionary lunatics the Democrats want to put in power. The US may end either way, but with Trump in power, it may yet survive for a few more years as a political entity.

BTW, the Democrats themselves might be a centre-right party on paper (we might as well call them the Christian Democrats, like Merkel's party), but the sort of movements they support and the people behind them very much have a radical far-left revolutionary agenda.