[Mathgod]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Because you've been staunchly defending Biden for months,

That's right. He has been a good president (Gaza aside). From a legislative perspective, he's been one of the best US presidents ever.

But there's a very important distinction to be made here. Being a good president does not mean you're good at winning elections. Biden's oratorical skills have declined to the point where I don't think he has a realistic chance of winning this election. When he's at his very best, such as SOTU or the video clip that was just posted, he gets a passing grade. But that's it. A passing grade won't be enough to defeat Trump. And he can only reach that level when reading off a teleprompter, which is a problem because you can't use a teleprompter at a debate.

Biden needs to know the best things to say, to hit Trump where it hurts. He failed at that miserably last night. He made the horrible mistake this week of spending so much time and energy trying to memorize details, figures, and particulars, when he really needed to be focused on big-picture, macro-level stuff. He needs bravado, charisma, and quick-wit to compete in these kinds of performative contests, and he just doesn't have it. It doesn't take a whole lot to defeat Trump in a debate, and Joe can't even clear that bar.

Biden won in 2020 only because Trump's presidency was a complete tire fire, culminating in his disastrous mismanaging of the covid response. He went into the 2020 election with the blood of an estimated 900k Americans on his hands due to his negligence. America was pissed off and voted him out. It was much more of an anti-Trump vote than a pro-Biden vote. This time around, it's going to be much harder to convince swing voters to vote for Biden, as he can't seem to shake the perception that he's too old for the job. After last night, that task of convincing people he's not too old went from challenging to virtually impossible. For this reason I think he doesn't have much of a shot this November and should be replaced asap.

But if he isn't, I'll still get behind him with everything I've got, because the alternative to him winning is something beyond unthinkable.

pretty much the only poster who has.

That's probably because I'm the only one on this board who's truly, fully paying attention to this stuff, and knows the true extent of the consequences of a Trump return to power.

If you knew for a fact that everyone and everything you care about would get thrown into a lava pit if Trump wins this election, would you be enthusiastically getting behind the democratic ticket for president, whether it's Biden or someone else? I think there's a pretty good chance you would.

Tossing out celebrities in the hopes that saves the day? Why would they throw away their good, comfortable lives to go into the political meat grinder? Funny story, but even if Trump wins they'll be just fine as obscenely rich people, whether staying in the US, or fleeing abroad.

Because self-sacrifice for the greater good is the only thing keeping our civilization from coming completely unglued. It's also the reason why our civilization exists in the first place. It's why the American Revolution, WWI, WWII were fought. It's why the Allies put a stop to the Nazi regime. It's why Arkhipov refused to fire the nuke that probably would have ended the world. It's why slavery was abolished, and it's why women secured the right to vote.

But if humanity has decided that it's done with altruism and self-sacrifice, we're done as a species, and the coming decades will bring us horrors and suffering on a scale far beyond anything we ever thought we'd see.

So to answer your question no, I'm not unaware that the rich and influential can take their ball and go someplace safe while most of the world burns and billions die. But if heaven forbid one of them wants to go down in history as a hero, now is their ####ing chance!