2020 Presidential Election

[rsvman]

If Biden skips the next debate and publicly attributes it to covid fears, the Trump base will see him as spineless and a "scaredy cat."


Wait, they already see him as spineless and a scaredy cat. So nothing would change. And I agree that with a huge lead, skipping wouldn't hurt Biden's chances of winning the presidency at all. On second thought, going ahead with the debate is tantamount to giving Trump another length of rope. Trump took a nosedive after the first debate, and he might well middle-school-argument his way into taking another nosedive if another debate is held. I don't think he can stop himself from interrupting and generally behaving like a bully with steel-toed boots.

But, with the big lead that Biden enjoys now, he doesn't really need Trump to take yet another nosedive.




At this point, it might be best for the Republican cause if Trump were to give up entirely on winning the White House and focus all his attention on getting his SCOTUS candidate approved before the election.


/stream of consciousness post

[budwom]

Agree completely with skipping the next debate. They are entirely justified in doing so unless the WH can provide complete transparency that Trump AND anyone on his team coming to the debate is well out of the positive woods.

There isn’t a work place in America right now that would do anything other than tell sick employees to stay far away and self-isolate. It also eliminates a potential Biden stumble.

Meanwhile, we’re onto the great VP plexiglass pre-debate debate, round 3.

I definitely do not expect to see Trump's maskless entourage at any future debate should one actually occur.
I still marvel at Biden's situation...Trump has been on a downward spiral ever since the Bible Walk from the White House...I'll watch 30 minutes of network news and hardly see Biden mentioned at all...Why become active when POTUS is doing all the work for him?

[ClemmonsDevil]

He could have said Four Corners, and crashed the board.

I will stick to the beer thread and politics. Sharing my thoughts on this during the season will earn me some death threats.

[PackMan97]

At this point, it might be best for the Republican cause if Trump were to give up entirely on winning the White House and focus all his attention on getting his SCOTUS candidate approved before the election.


/stream of consciousness post

If I'm a Republican, there is really only one goal right now...figure a way to keep the Senate. I'm not optimistic at that, but given the critical times we are in, giving one party power over the White House and both chambers of Congress. That will allow Democrats to do a lot of the things Republicans say they don't want. Expanding Medicare/Affordable Care Act. The Green New Deal. Items from the BLM agenda. Increased taxes/regulations, etc. As much as Republicans say they want to stop the Democrats, they appear to be on the verge of handing Democrats all the power during what could be a transformative phase in US history.

A lot of time has been spent on Biden and how Democrats choose the more moderate candidate because the stakes were too high for this election, it certainly seems the Republicans went the other way. I guess we'll find out in less than a month which side choose wisely.

[OldPhiKap]

If I'm a Republican, there is really only one goal right now...figure a way to keep the Senate.

Yup. It is hard to look at Trump floundering -- his Twitter feed today is scary psychobabble frankly* -- and feel like he is gonna pull this one out.


*By that, I mean more than ususal. Don't Social Media on drugs, kids.

[budwom]

I bet Steve Mnuchin is hiding under his couch, awaiting clarity that may or may not come.

[Kdogg]

They should be playing stall-ball at this point and trying not to let anything happen that can shake up the race at all. Winning 350+ electoral votes may sound fun but it still nets you the same prize that 270 EVs does.

I think I will have to report you to a mod for straying off-topic and bringing basketball into the conversion.

As with the basketball team, I understand the logic of stall ball but you run the risk of Wayne Turner coming and it blowing up in your face. If the VP debate is a draw or a Harris win, then they might skip the debate on October 15. That date is already board line under the CDC recommendations for exposure.

[Tripping William]

I think I will have to report you to a mod for straying off-topic and bringing basketball into the conversion.

As with the basketball team, I understand the logic of stall ball but you run the risk of Wayne Turner coming and it blowing up in your face. If the VP debate is a draw or a Harris win, then they might skip the debate on October 15. That date is already board line under the CDC recommendations for exposure.

Too effing soon!

[JasonEvans]

I get what you're saying, but I'm not sure it's exactly the right metric. I mean by that logic (comparing to the historical average), everyone in politics would be a flaming liberal because they're anti-slavery and pro-women voting. At the end of the day, the Democratic Party sent a strong message by nominating Biden and not Sanders or Warren. If the far left really had as much power over Biden as some are attempting to say, Warren would be the VP and his health care plan would look very different. He really is the more moderate candidate, and I think he's generally done a good job in walking the line between different groups (and this is reflected in the polls).

Did folks watch Biden's Gettysburg speech yesterday? It was all about bipartisanship and a return to government working together for the benefit of all-Americans. He repeatedly said, "I will not be the president of Blue states, I will be the president of all states." It was very much the opposite of the rhetoric Trump has used for much of the past 4 years. Biden sure seemed to say he wants no part of blowing up established governing norms like the filibuster or the number of Supreme Court judges.

Now, I have no idea how he will govern if elected. I don't know how he will respond if the GOP in the senate refuse to work with him. Once elected, he may change his tune based on pressure from within his own party. But, at the moment, he sure sounds about as moderate as one can expect from a major party candidate in these highly partisan times.

[Hartford Dukie]

Trump often shares Rasmussen polls. Even with the Republican lean, they now have Biden up 12 - 52-40. That's up from 8 point lead last week.

"President Trump’s debate performance followed by his coronavirus diagnosis appear to be digging an even deeper hole for him this week. Democrat Joe Biden now has a 12-point lead over the president in Rasmussen Reports’ weekly White House Watch survey."

Even not Evan

https://www.rasmussenreports.com/pub...se_watch_oct07

[OldPhiKap]

Appellate court rules against Trump (again) on the State of New York's AG subpoena for Trump taxes. Trump's last card is to ask the Supremes for a stay. He would need 5 of the 8 justices to grant it in the next two weeks (+/-), and that's not gonna happen.

[JasonEvans]

I definitely do not expect to see Trump's maskless entourage at any future debate should one actually occur.
I still marvel at Biden's situation...Trump has been on a downward spiral ever since the Bible Walk from the White House...I'll watch 30 minutes of network news and hardly see Biden mentioned at all...Why become active when POTUS is doing all the work for him?

Not to diminish Joe Biden's accomplishments but...

In the primary season he floundered around until Democrats suddenly looked up and saw Bernie Sanders as the front-runner and thought, "uh-oh, this guy cannot win." At that point, many felt Biden was the only viable candidate still standing. Apologies to the women, the small-town midwestern mayor, and the billionaire but that is how it looked. I can imagine the race being very different if Booker or Bennett or Beto or Bullock (jeeze, lots of Bs in the Dem field this year) had still be around coming into South Carolina.

Then he never even really had to do the one-on-one thing with Bernie because of Covid.

Then he got to hang out making Zoom calls while Trump fumbled Covid and gassed lawful protesters.

Then he showed up and got yelled at for 90 minutes and no one really cared what he said because the other guy had acted like a frustrated 6-year-old.

And now he has the largest lead on an incumbent President since FDR beat Hoover in 1932.

Look, Joe has had some really tough stuff to deal with in his life, but this sure feels like one of the easiest paths to the White House in a long time.

[JasonEvans]

Appellate court rules against Trump (again) on the State of New York's AG subpoena for Trump taxes. Trump's last card is to ask the Supremes for a stay. He would need 5 of the 8 justices to grant it in the next two weeks (+/-), and that's not gonna happen.

Feels like the NY AG would have a NYTimes subscription but if they gotta fight it out with the Supremes, so be it.

[elvis14]

Not to diminish Joe Biden's accomplishments but...

In the primary season he floundered around until Democrats suddenly looked up and saw Bernie Sanders as the front-runner and thought, "uh-oh, this guy cannot win." At that point, many felt Biden was the only viable candidate still standing. Apologies to the women, the small-town midwestern mayor, and the billionaire but that is how it looked. I can imagine the race being very different if Booker or Bennett or Beto or Bullock (jeeze, lots of Bs in the Dem field this year) had still be around coming into South Carolina.

Then he never even really had to do the one-on-one thing with Bernie because of Covid.

Then he got to hang out making Zoom calls while Trump fumbled Covid and gassed lawful protesters.

Then he showed up and got yelled at for 90 minutes and no one really cared what he said because the other guy had acted like a frustrated 6-year-old.

And now he has the largest lead on an incumbent President since FDR beat Hoover in 1932.

Look, Joe has had some really tough stuff to deal with in his life, but this sure feels like one of the easiest paths to the White House in a long time.

I've thought the same thing, the stars aligned for Joe in a big way (kinda like 4 years ago). This isn't really about the horse race but here's what I think is a true statement:

If XXXX wins the election, things aren't going to go well.

Now, take any name you want and put it where I have "XXXX" and that statement will be true. Be it DT, Joe, Barak, Michelle, W, Mitt, LeBron, Shane...doesn't matter. Things are such a mess right now that we are in for a difficult 2021, 22, 23...

From a horse race perspective I think that the midterms might be a big red wave as all of a sudden everything gets blamed on the blue wave from this year.

[YmoBeThere]

Not to diminish Joe Biden's accomplishments but...

In the primary season he floundered around until Democrats suddenly looked up and saw Bernie Sanders as the front-runner and thought, "uh-oh, this guy cannot win." At that point, many felt Biden was the only viable candidate still standing. Apologies to the women, the small-town midwestern mayor, and the billionaire but that is how it looked. I can imagine the race being very different if Booker or Bennett or Beto or Bullock (jeeze, lots of Bs in the Dem field this year) had still be around coming into South Carolina.

Then he never even really had to do the one-on-one thing with Bernie because of Covid.

Then he got to hang out making Zoom calls while Trump fumbled Covid and gassed lawful protesters.

Then he showed up and got yelled at for 90 minutes and no one really cared what he said because the other guy had acted like a frustrated 6-year-old.

And now he has the largest lead on an incumbent President since FDR beat Hoover in 1932.

Look, Joe has had some really tough stuff to deal with in his life, but this sure feels like one of the easiest paths to the White House in a long time.

Beto's mistake, IMHO, was entering the presidential race. I think he would be leading Cornyn in the Texas Senate race right now. But much has transpired since the time that decision was made.

[MarkD83]

I think I finally understand Trump...…

Pence is not Snape....Trump is Snape. The past 4 years was designed to destroy the Republican party from within.

[Matches]

Seeing a lot of speculation that the GOP will pressure Trump to resign before the election to save the down ballot.

It won’t happen. He won’t do that. However, if he loses and fails to successfully contest the results, I predict he resigns before the inauguration and Pence pardons him. The narrative will be that they are protecting him from “malicious prosecution.”

[CameronBlue]

Did folks watch Biden's Gettysburg speech yesterday? .

Thank God he didn't start off with "Four score and 7 years ago...". See, Joe has had issues with plagiarism...never mind.

[Bostondevil]

I realize that political ads are all manipulative. Sheesh. I'm not an idiot.

I was just saying that it seems that some people on this thread, despite knowing that political ads are manipulative, didn't recognize that that one was, too. If anything, even more manipulative than most. I don't care that candidates use manipulative ads; it's what they do. I was only trying to point out that manipulation, especially manipulation that is fundamentally sentimental, should be recognized for what it is.

Biden runs another ad that is actually much worse than the dog ad is in terms of trying to play with people's emotions in order to get votes. You've probably seen it; it goes through the litany of his personal life's disasters with sappy music in the background. He then loosely ties it to his agenda by saying something like "Health care is personal to me." That particular ad, in my opinion, is actually offensive.

I'm sympathetic to the fact that he has lived through some terrible times. I just don't like vying for the sympathy vote disguised as a policy matter.


All y'all may like that ad, too, or think it's brilliant, and that's ok, I guess. If it strikes a chord with you, it strikes a chord. To me it feels blatantly emotionally manipulative, and that trips my radar in a bad way; gets me to growling, if you want a dog equivalent, or makes my ears go back some, if you prefer a cat equivalent.

I don't like a candidate playing on my EMOTIONS for a vote. Tell me what you are going to DO for me. Tell me what your PLANS and your POLICIES are.



And since I'm ranting about political ads, which I generally despise, I'll add one more thing. I prefer to give my vote to a candidate who tells me why I should vote FOR him/her, rather than one who tells me why I should NOT vote for his/her opponent. People who make ads apparently believe that I am part of a very small minority, given the ratio of attack ads versus ads that actually encourage me to vote FOR somebody.


OK, that's it. I am done talking about ads in this thread. Almost sorry I brought it up.

Just to clarify - the White House Dogs ad was NOT put out by they Biden campaign. It was put out by . . . people who love dogs. (There was no "I'm Joe Biden and I approved this message.")

[ClemmonsDevil]

Seeing a lot of speculation that the GOP will pressure Trump to resign before the election to save the down ballot.

It won’t happen. He won’t do that. However, if he loses and fails to successfully contest the results, I predict he resigns before the inauguration and Pence pardons him. The narrative will be that they are protecting him from “malicious prosecution.”

Pence can only pardon from Federal charges. Trump is being investigated by the state of New York. Federal pardons do not apply to state charges.