American Politics 3.0 - Back to Brunch

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

3. Joe, in spite of everything, is leading basically the only hot economy in the world right now. I find it pretty remarkable that they are not getting more praise for this, but Bidenomics (stupid) does seem to be working, and they've tripled down on America first.

Voters don't experience the economy in terms of GDP growth or stock market values. Things like wages, inflation, and housing costs are what they see, and none of those things are particularly rosy right now. Real wages are still lower than they were pre-pandemic, inflation is still above the target range (and might require an economic downturn to really fix), and housing affordability is at its lowest level in decades.

Unemployment is still low, so that's good. But the connection between GDP growth and the average person's experience is getting weaker and weaker, with the wealthy swallowing up most of the economic growth.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by photon

I thought the sign of a good leader was they knew how to assemble a team of talented people and let them do what they're good at rather than the leader saying "I alone can fix it."

I agree. And that's the scariest part of a second Trump term. Working for him last time was at best a career ender, and at worst a prison sentence.

As bad as it was to have to rely on Jared/Ivanka to moderate him from the really dumb things, what is going to happen when they're not there? Who is going to stop him from sending nukes into hurricanes this time around?

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by opendoor

Voters don't experience the economy in terms of GDP growth or stock market values. Things like wages, inflation, and housing costs are what they see, and none of those things are particularly rosy right now. Real wages are still lower than they were pre-pandemic, inflation is still above the target range (and might require an economic downturn to really fix), and housing affordability is at its lowest level in decades.

Unemployment is still low, so that's good. But the connection between GDP growth and the average person's experience is getting weaker and weaker, with the wealthy swallowing up most of the economic growth.

Inflation is his Achilles heal right now. The government has managed it about as well as it could without throwing us into recession, but it is a problem and unfortunately Biden is the face of it. And it's a big problem, because it affects everyone, unlike unemployment that only affects a small percentage even if it is high.

Trump is going to campaign on this, but his proposals will be a disaster. Hopefully the electorate can see that?

Donald Trump is vowing sweeping changes to the nation’s economy that threaten to reignite inflation — even as the former president blames President Biden for higher prices and says he’ll bring the problem under control.

With a substantial lead in the 2024 GOP presidential primary days before the Iowa caucuses, Trump has proposed imposing unprecedented new tariffs on trillions of dollars worth of imports and deporting undocumented workers on a vast scale. Both campaign pledges risk exacerbating the price spikes that have subsided over the last year, according to liberal and conservative economists alike, in addition to some estimates cited by the former president’s own advisers. If he’s elected, Trump could implement these policies at least in part without needing Congress to act.

Trump vows massive new tariffs if elected, risking global economic war

Trump’s enormously disruptive policy proposals come as he appears likely to jettison the more cautious and establishment-friendly economic advisers that restrained his most nationalist and confrontational impulses during his first term. These advisers — such as former treasury secretary Steven T. Mnuchin — now find themselves either at war with Trump or receding from his inner circle, potentially empowering more fringe voices.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...iden-campaign/

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by ResAlien

No clue who Dean Phillips is but #YangGang endorsed him for president so he must have some good ideas.

It's too bad that Trump says things, because this is probably the most interesting American political thing this week. Biden's sole purpose was to act as a stable counter to Trump in the last election, and it worked.

The Dems going with a younger and hungry candidate is the best defense against Trumpism in the next election, especially coming from middle America and not NY or Cali. Biden leads to Trump, Trump leads to hate, hate leads to Putin.

A vote for Trump is a vote for Putin! (I'm available to be hired for this years ad campaigns)

[Azure]

Originally Posted by marsplasticeraser

Wait, so you don't care about the outcomes, you're more concerned about how they get the outcome? That's crazy to me.

You'd be the guy running Joe Nieuwendyk out of town because you didn't think he was a good enough skater to succeed at the NHL, and that most of his goals were garbage goals. You'd completely ignore the 50+ goals he WAS scoring!

Whether Biden was the guy leading the charge, or was simply letting talented people lead the charge is irrelevant.

I do care about outcomes, but I am also not naive enough to think that the economy is the only issue that matters to people right now.

Just like in Canada, immigration is a major issue, and Biden is doing a pretty ####ty job with the border. To think that people, especially those in further south states do not care about this problem is ignorance. We are already starting to see a breakdown in public services in many cities and jurisdictions because of the migrant issue.

That is just a single issue. There are others as well that people look at beyond just the economy.

Biden is a terrible candidate, and the people supporting him are just to blind to see it, which is quite frankly pretty concerning.

We are fast approaching an election where its likely both candidates are senile old men. I know everyone wants to think the US is irrelevant, and no longer a super-power, but I think the last year has quite clearly shown everyone that Europe can't get their #### figured out, and China is falling off the map.

The US needs strong leadership willing to deal with obvious issues who also isn't likely to croak or fall down the stairs tomorrow.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Inflation is his Achilles heal right now. The government has managed it about as well as it could without throwing us into recession, but it is a problem and unfortunately Biden is the face of it. And it's a big problem, because it affects everyone, unlike unemployment that only affects a small percentage even if it is high.

Trump is going to campaign on this, but his proposals will be a disaster. Hopefully the electorate can see that?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...iden-campaign/

Seems obvious to me that imposing trillions of dollars in tariffs will actually significantly increase inflation, but you're right I doubt that most of the electorate will realize that.

[GirlySports]

DeSantis has dropped out endorsing Trump.

Just Haley left, we'll see on Tuesday if she can win New Hampshire.

[Whynotnow]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

DeSantis has dropped out endorsing Trump.

Just Haley left, we'll see on Tuesday if she can win New Hampshire.

The polls look pretty dire, she’s probably out too with a big loss. The US who claims quite loudly to be the best country in the world is about to run the least popular election ever to be held.

[devo22]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1749166793569051119

[driveway]

Originally Posted by Azure

Biden is a terrible candidate, and the people supporting him are just to blind to see it, which is quite frankly pretty concerning.

No one thinks Biden is a fantastic candidate. Many people point out that he is a much better President than he is a candidate.

[devo22]

not that it's surprising, but I'm still always fascinated by the lack of backbone when it comes to these candidates. Trump has viciously attacked DeSantis for months, he's given him nicknames like Meatball Ron, he's released attack ads like the pudding finger one ... and yet, the second he has to drop out, Ron immediately falls back in line and endorses the man, just to not aggravate the base anymore. Just like Ted Cruz back then: weak, spineless men without any principles. But again, hardly surprising.

[activeStick]

Going to be a wildly entertaining 10 months ahead!

[puffnstuff]

Originally Posted by devo22

not that it's surprising, but I'm still always fascinated by the lack of backbone when it comes to these candidates. Trump has viciously attacked DeSantis for months, he's given him nicknames like Meatball Ron, he's released attack ads like the pudding finger one ... and yet, the second he has to drop out, Ron immediately falls back in line and endorses the man, just to not aggravate the base anymore. Just like Ted Cruz back then: weak, spineless men without any principles. But again, hardly surprising.

Its who they are

[Ped]

Well, Ron has basically abandoned Florida for 10 months, and Florida has a heavy MAGA population, i would assume. It's not like he wants to go out and find a real job.

[edslunch]

The game is to get the VP position. Good odds that Trump doesn’t see out his term, plus the VP becomes the front-runner for 2028. I’d much rather have DeSantis as the backup plan than Vivek.

[Ped]

I think a lot of people are betting on it being Elise Stefanik.

[devo22]

Stefanik makes sense. She's a loyal bootlicker, so that's certainly less hassle than picking any of the primary candidates.

certainly doing her homework too, calling E. Jean Carroll a liar and Trump's trials a political witch hunt over the weekend. The orange wannabe-dictator will be pleased.

[Ozy_Flame]

300 million people in that country and the quality of the republican nominations and potential running mates is just absolute ####e. Like bottom of the barrel, bottom feeding, garbage munching ####e.

[direwolf]

Originally Posted by activeStick

Going to be a wildly entertaining 10 months ahead!

Entertaining is the last word I would use to describe it. More like terrifying. The U.S. is now one election away from descending into total fascism and putting a reprehensible, narcissistic, bat**** crazy lunatic back into the White House. I’m extremely worried about what that would mean for the rest of the world, especially Canada. MAGA style politics has already infiltrated places like Alberta and Saskatchewan, and it’ll only continue to get worse if the orange s*** stain is re-elected. These are scary times.

[nik-]

Vivek has been twerking for the VP nod basically since the start.