Hanaguma

It is sad. There is waaaay too much dead lumber at the top of both parties. Pelosi, McConnell,Schumer,Trump, Grassley, Feinstein, all need to let go. Yet they cling to power with bony fingers, desperate for one more slurp at the Washington trough. Twenty five Senators are over 70 years old!

There is really no question about whether Joe Biden is in decline. It is more than just "he's lost a step', he has obvious cognitive impairment. And I don't blame the Democrats for trying to keep him hidden from the public as much as possible. It was a good strategy during the 2020 presidential campaign. Joe has had more time off and fewer press conferences than any president in recent memory. But the media being complicit is the real problem. They have a responsibility to the public more than they do to their political preferences.

Most of them don't show up anyway. The "kids in cages" has been going on since the Obama administration. Hey, if you don't want your kids to be in cages, perhaps don't try to enter another country illegally...

Trump is equally at fault for using it. No one covered in glory here. Probably the best thing to do is not refer to it at all. It is history and has no bearing on the current situation. Trump lost, he was butt-hurt, but he'll get over it. But he will get over it a lot slower if you keep him in your dreams.

Please, you need to step away from the conspiracy theories. There are no dots to join. Trump is an ex president and is feeding off the fear of uninformed and easily panicked people. He really isn't that important, you need to stop paying attention to him. Better to concentrate on the current administration and how THEIR policies are influencing your life. Trump has no influence, other than what you choose to give him.

? Sorry I don't get what you want. I provided a "top 10" list of issues that voters think are very important. The "threat to democracy" did not make the list. Neither did environmental concerns, interestingly. So I am not sure what you want.

"The Big Lie" was an anti-semitic trope used by Hitler and the Nazis to falsely smear their Jewish compatriots. It is gaining traction lately in an attempt to link the GOP to Hitler's goons. But it really comes across as hysterical and not appropriate and has no place in modern politics. "But Trump did it" is a pretty poor excuse for the Democrats' strategy. Are your standards really that low? Plus at the time the GOP wasn't pushing a narrative that Democrats were threatening the foundations of the Republic. Sorry, you can't have it both ways. IF "MAGA people" are actually a serious and unique threat to the country, it is the height of cynicism and hypocrisy to spend even one thin dime to get them nominated.

The Newsweek article resorted to "the Big Lie", so it is tainted. The CBS results were interesting, but again does not put "threats to democracy" in context of other issues that are on the minds of voters. Pew does. Also showed that money and violence were the two biggest threats. These are sadly bipartisan problems, if anything more prevalent on the left. I mean, you see the Democrats actively funding MAGA candidates in primaries these days- all in the hopes of getting GOP candidates they think are beatable. How cynical is that?

No, I didn't. I said that it didn't figure in the latest Pew research. You gave me an 8 month old article. I am sure that some people care about it, but according to Pew there are many other issues that are seen as more pressing.

Could you perhaps be a bit more specific? All I see are big government spending projects that made inflation worse and feathered the beds of politically connected people. Plus an elderly man who should not be in charge of a nation. Joe should be thanked for his service and retired. I mean, he already IS half retired if you look at how much time he spends away from the White House.

Any article that uses the heinous anti-semitic slur "Big Lie" as part of its story is not worth reading. Also note that this article is 8 months old. The actual research done by Pew that I cited is within the past month. Please refer to it and comment.

Exactly, so why keep re-fighting it? Seems a bit of an insecurity complex at work. I can understand the mass media doing it. I mean, Trump was GREAT for business and they are pining for the ratings he used to draw. But normal people? Need to get over it and stop letting the Bad Orange Man dominate their days. He lost, he's just private citizen Trump now, stop the obsession. Otherwise, you are just giving him what he craves- attention.

According to Pew Research, these are the top 10 issues in order of importance: economy, gun policy, violent crime, health care, voting policy, education, Supreme Court, abortion, energy policy, immigration. How many of these issues did Biden address in his speech? How many do Democrats want to talk about at all? I don't see "democracy under threat" on that list. Gas prices? $2.28 a gallon in December 2020, stlil averaging $4.00 now, hardly a win for Biden. Inflation? 1.4% in December 2020, nearly 8% today. As for the abortion issue, it is pretty much 50/50. Most Americans favor some limits on abortion availability. Few are extreme- either wanting it banned or wanting it legal until the moment of birth. So what has Joe done to be proud of exactly? He would surely be campaigning on his record if he had one to tout. Not trying to drum up old divisions and fears.

Is it possible, just maybe, for a political discussion to not devolve into a Trump-based whingefest? Bad enough that the current occupant of the White House does it, no need for everyone else to as well. The former President isn't on the ballot this fall. The current administration IS, at least in policy form. That is why I found it rather discomfiting that President Biden said nothing at all about the issues that Americans care about in his speech. Inflation, gas and energy policy, immigration, none were even given a word. Which is a sad testament to the current administration. They see their only path to victory is in trying to re-win the past election and hope people don't notice.

Irrelevant. Stop trying to muddy the waters. We were talking about Biden and his false accusation. Are you willing to concede that Joe was wrong to accuse Trump of calling neo nazis "fine people"? That Trump has in fact heartily condemned racists and their ilk on numerous occasions?

Yes, hatred of white supremacists and KKK types, as evidenced in my quotes.

Keep wiggling. Keep moving the goalposts. She was a sore loser and did not want to admit that she lost (sound familiar)? Trump lost and didn't want to admit it. Hillary lost and didn't want to admit it. Biden piled on and called Trump "illegitimate". Do you forget the "Not My President" rallies?

Yes, after being badgered for months about his supposed non-condemnation of supremacist groups, Trump was understandably getting impatient with the Democrats and the mainstream media (but I repeat myself). Even Fact Check, hardly a Trump supporting group, acknowledged this; https://www.factcheck.org/2020/02/trump-has-condemned-white-supremacists/ To quote the Bad Orange Man, "Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans" and “The shooter in El Paso (after a mass shooting) posted a manifesto online consumed by racist hate. In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart, and devours the soul. We have asked the FBI to identify all further resources they need to investigate and disrupt hate crimes and domestic terrorism — whatever they need.”

In the Washington Post, September 2019, Hillary asserted that Trump stole the election. She said; “No, it doesn’t kill me (losing the election) because he knows he’s an illegitimate president,” she said. “I believe he understands that the many varying tactics they used, from voter suppression and voter purging to hacking to the false stories — he knows that — there were just a bunch of different reasons why the election turned out like it did.” She repeated the claim in several interviews such as on CBS news later that week. Bitter much? Three years after losing and still nursing a grudge.

Biden deliberately mischaracterized and misquoted the President. The facts are clear on that. Trump did NOT call the racists and neo-Nazis "fine people" yet Biden claimed that he did. It was a foul and divisive way to start his campaign. As for Biden calling Trump an illegitimate president, how often would he have to do so for it to 'count'? Once is just a 'gimme'? Yet to be fair Biden was not alone in disputing the results of the 2016 election. The losing candidate (Clinton) also did so for years. As did Biden's current press secretary. So the hyperventilating over Republicans disputing the results of the 2020 election needs to stop.

The lie is Biden's claim that, after the Charlottesville riots, Trump said that there were "very fine people on both sides" in the sense that some of the neo-Nazis were very fine people. Biden claimed, "With those words, the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it,". The President did NOT say that. He actually specifically CONDEMNED them. In fact, he said; "And you had people — and I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the White nationalists, because they should be condemned totally — but you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and White nationalists." This was in discussing the removal of Confederate statues, NOT the racist marches. And he was correct. The statue protest was one thing, the racist marches another entirely. Biden deliberately lied and deliberately misconstrued the remarks to make political points. The denial comes from this article: https://www.insider.com/joe-biden-says-he-agrees-trump-is-illegitimate-president-2019-5 A voter said that Trump was "an illegitimate President in her mind" and Biden said, "I absoultely agree".

Considering that Biden himself predicated his presidential campain in 2020 on a lie, and also was a 2016 election denier, he needs to be a bit more circumspect in how he talks. Some things he did not mention in his screed; inflation, opiod addiction, border policy, migrants, education, energy, prices, etc. Yet he DID manage to say "maga" 13 times. So who was the actual audience, I wonder.

according to Reuters the current President's approval now stands at........ 38%. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-approval-falls-holding-near-low-end-his-presidency-reutersipsos-finds-2022-08-30/

...then RICO statutes would surely apply, no? Again, you like so many others are allowing your <deleted> to colour your intellect. Not sure why, but The Donald really brings out the tiny fisted tantrums in so many people.

This sounds more like a "basket of conspiracies" than a "basket of deplorables". Interesting the story doesn't mention actual left wing violence- attempted assassination of GOP members at a baseball game, attempted assassination of Justice Kavanaugh, ANTIFA burning federal facilities across the country, etc. I guess since the "ultra MAGA" label didn't stick, Biden is going to go with "semi-fascist" instead. Haven't heard what exactly that means, but never mind. It plays well on Twitter.