Trump

[PFVA]

Something something lock him up something?

There's a (very faint) possibility that Fani Willis might do that. The indictments have just come down in Georgia, and in the charges there's a fair amount of witness tampering stuff. From what I'm hearing, that's a big no-no for pretrial release in Georgia, so some of the defendants may find their movement somewhat restricted even if they are not put behind bars.

Trump's in a whole heap of trouble. I'm sure that it'll calm down his social media activities

I doubt. He will keep going. That's the way he is

And unless they are able to convict him of something that prevents him from from running he may even get elected.

[Harlequin]

And unless they are able to convict him of something that prevents him from from running he may even get elected.

Oddly, although people with even minor felony records are apparently forbidden to vote in some states, and prisoners banned from doing so in almost all states, neither criminal record nor current accommodation seem to barriers to becoming President of the country.

[KlaxonCow]

And unless they are able to convict him of something that prevents him from from running he may even get elected.

Oddly, although people with even minor felony records are apparently forbidden to vote in some states, and prisoners banned from doing so in almost all states, neither criminal record nor current accommodation seem to barriers to becoming President of the country.

Yeah, I read an article about it.

There's nothing in the qualifications to run for President about criminal conviction, so it doesn't disqualify you.

BUT, that said, the article noted that there's a more general law about not being able to hold public office if convicted of treasonous offences. This was brought in after the Civil War, basically, to weed out any "traitors", as it were, from the losing side and meant for Congress, not the President. Although, you know, the President is also a "public office", right?

But it does, apparently, still stand, as it was never repealed.

That said, the article did also note that this is theoretical, as it's never been actually tested in a court of law and so it's possible that the Supreme Court doesn't agree and won't read it that way.

But the only shot of actually legally barring him from running for President would be to get a conviction on the January 6th coup attempt, and argue that this is a form of treason. And hope the Supreme Court also reads it that way.

Yeah, there are qualification rules that demand you're a "natural born citizen" but not anything about being a lying, cheating criminal.

The Forefathers got a lot of things right, but they were also men of their time. So xenophobia's in their qualifications list, but not - for example - not murdering people. Priorities, huh?

I can make these jokes, as the UK - and, by extension, many Commonwealth countries, like Australia - have no citizenship test. For example, former Australian PM Julia Gillard was actually born in Barry in Wales. I do wonder if she ever watched "Gavin and Stacey" and longed for the home country? Possibly, as that's apparently why Rob Brydon's in the Barbie movie, as Margot Robbie - a fellow Aussie - loved the show and insisted on casting "Uncle Bryn" somewhere in her plastic doll epic.

But, yeah, no "natural born citizen" qualifications in these countries, as the logic is that you won an election. The people voted for you. Any such "we don't trust you for being a foreigner" tests, therefore, are to be implicit in the democratic act itself. If you trust this person to stand for the country, even if they weren't originally born in it, that's a decision for the people to make.

Which, I feel, is the most sensible way to do it. Because sometimes the better candidate for the job just wasn't originally born in the country.

For example:


The best modern Republican President that America will, sadly, never have. Now, that's a Presidential-level speech - compare and contrast to anything Trump's ever fucking said. And he wields Conan's sword, so who's going to fuck with that?

Mind you, also, this equally counts for Boris. He was born in New York. So, you know, swings and roundabouts.

[Dio]

I wouldn't go overboard about Arnie's political skills. Certainly, he's got more common sense than some - but not all - politicians, he's probably a bit less beholden to lobbyists than the average, and his writing on California politics is excellent reading, but he's not well regarded in his time as governor of California (although that job is a notorious dog, to be fair).

It's not really hard to hold people up against Trump and say "Wow, this person looks a lot more presidential than that narcissitic arse." I mean, you can even find yourself pining for any George Bush that might happen to wander past.

[F-ZeroOne]

So apparently the CONCLUSIVE and IRREFUTABLE report - or at least the associated press conference - may now not happen, apparently because Trumps legal team might have mentioned that repeating certain "alternative facts" might not lead to total EXONERATION.

[KlaxonCow]

I wouldn't go overboard about Arnie's political skills.

That's the thing. I don't think I am.

It's just that modern Republican Presidents (and I did specify "modern") have been such utter utter dog shit, for a very long time now, that he stands out, amongst Republicans, as amongst the least of a whole heap of very shit options.

I mean, you yourself actually implicitly acknowledged that by referencing their last attempt at a President:

I mean, you can even find yourself pining for any George Bush that might happen to wander past.

So it's not really saying that Arnie is awesome in absolute terms, but just that he's amazing in relative terms, compared to - in reverse order, leaving out the Democratic Presidents - Trump, George Bush Jr., George Bush Sr. and Reagan.

Sure, you could at least say that George Bush Sr. wasn't quite as dumb as his son or Trump, but he was a rather charmless idiot, who made repeated gaffes. Because they've been so much worse ever since, it might be easy to forget that. Read his lips "no new taxes" et cetera.

In the glow of Trump and Bush Jr., then Bush Sr. and Reagan might almost seem "normal", but they were rightly ridiculed and mocked in their time for being complete morons. They only look, in hindsight, as kind of acceptable Presidents now, because the standard has just gotten so much more terribly worse since.

(Kind of like how May might have seemed terrible at the time, but then you had Boris and Liz Truss following. Suddenly, she seems fantastic in the comparison and is treated like "a wise elder stateswoman" in the Commons when she speaks. But we all thought she was atrocious at the time, lest we forget.)

And, like, even Republicans were very suspicious of putting up an actor - in Reagan - for President. At the time, they were very much not sure about that and there was resistance. He only become the darling of the Republicans - their dream President - after being in office. Republicans themselves were absolutely NOT united in loving him before he got the job, and many thought they were throwing the election away to offer him up as a Presidential candidate.

And in a more rounded analysis, "Reaganomics" was just Thatcherism. By Reagans' own admission. He adored Maggie and basically all the economic policies that Republicans now love were outright steals of Thatcher's policies. Otherwise, the only other thing to recommend him was that, being an actor, he did know how to charm people, with amusing stories.

So, it must be understood, in saying Arnie is the best modern Republican President they can never have, it's just because the competition has been so utterly dire - complete dog shit - that it's an easy title for him to grab.

Arnie at least rightly condemned the coup attempt. That puts him above so many Republicans, in terms of honesty, right there, as they've got so many self-serving toadies in that party - trying to suck up to and excuse Trump - this actually stands out as remarkable.

I'm not so much saying Arnie's amazing, as just comparing him to a party that's so overflowing with self-serving mentally-retarded dog shit, he really does stand out as at least marginally human.

Yeah, the wooden stilted actor, known for playing an unemotional robot, is still leagues vastly more human than most of that dog shit party. That's just how atrocious they generally are.

Reagan was an idiot - who stole all his policies from Thatcher, basically, as he couldn't think of his own - but at least he had charm.

Ever since, it's been a sharp decline of ever-bigger idiots, with less and less charm. Until you arrive at Trump, who's so abysmally bad, I'd say his behaviour actually qualifies as a mental illness. It's beyond mere stupidity. There's actually something seriously wrong with him in the mental department.

In that dreadful comparison, Arnie is a fucking genius.

[Dio]

I'm not sure that such reductions are particularly useful in analysis of American politics. Reagan is a particular case in point. The majority of Republicans will insist that he's probably the best President of the 20th Century (much the same way the majority of Conservatives will say the same about Thatcher) and with less criticism from the what counts as the left of politics there. It's worthy of deeper analysis than merely calling him a dimwit.

Bush Sr. and Jimmy Carter are intriguing comparisons, if you want to dig a little into that. Both lost re-election, both are generally regarded as lackluster Presidents, but look at the actual actions (and post-Presidency careers, particularly in the case of Carter, who is without a doubt the best ex-President of the lot) and there's rather a different story lurking underneath.

[tufty]

And in a more rounded analysis, "Reaganomics" was just Thatcherism. By Reagans' own admission. He adored Maggie and basically all the economic policies that Republicans now love were outright steals of Thatcher's policies.

…

Reagan was an idiot - who stole all his policies from Thatcher, basically, as he couldn't think of his own

Nope.
https://books.openedition.org/pufr/4464?lang=en

[noodles]

What boggles my mind is that The Orange One is actually running for the presidency again at all.
You'd think the Republicans could find ONE guy that's better than that vulgar jackass.
Then again who nowadays would want that kind of public scrutiny in their lives, on top of the massive responsibilities ?
It's really despairing for democracy in the US.

[NorthWay]

What boggles my mind is that The Orange One is actually running for the presidency again at all.

And Biden is too?

Which begat my question: Has any US president died of age on the job?

[zip accident]

What boggles my mind is that The Orange One is actually running for the presidency again at all.

And Biden is too?

Which begat my question: Has any US president died of age on the job?

Nobody ever dies of age, there are all sorts of age related things that might get you, but age itself never does.

Franklin Roosevelt died of illness in the job.

[KlaxonCow]

Reagan was suffering from Alzeheimer's towards the end of his term in office.

As he had only a short time left in post, they just kept it quiet, worked around it and let him retire gracefully.


There is Wikipedia, of course:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_p ... _in_office

Since the office was established in 1789, 45 persons have served as president of the United States. Of these, eight have died in office: four were assassinated, and four died of natural causes.

[KlaxonCow]

Nope.
https://books.openedition.org/pufr/4464?lang=en

That just gives details on where Maggie got her ideas, though. That it was part of a long-running natural trend, across the political spectrum, towards monetarism, away from Keynesianism.

Reagan still basically got it from Maggie. Like, as I pointed out, Reagan actually admitted to this. It might have been "part of the Zeitgeist" as well - which explains what inspired Maggie to go down this route - but Maggie was his stated and confessed inspiration. He saw what she was doing and said "yeah, i want me some of that too".

That's not "analysis", that's just an open candid confession from the man himself.

(In fairness, sure, he might have said that and was himself underestimating the other influences upon him. But I don't know that it's possible or useful to even bother trying to get that precise about inspiration and influence. Reagan openly adored and admired Maggie - to a level where it's surprising that Nancy put up with it, frankly - and said so, in biography and interview, to acknowledge the sometimes almost devotional inspiration she gave him. And accounts from the British side of things - Portillo once spoke on this when "This Week" with Andrew Neil used to be a thing - corroborate that story.)

[tufty]

So, Trump's bail conditions have been set in Georgia. I personally don't think he's going to be able to meet them. Sure, 200,000$ of other people's money, he can do that, but keeping his mouth shut on social media? No fucking way.

He's supposed to be going in on Thursday, I suppose that's when the conditions start applying. That gives him 2 and a half days of ranting on "truth".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66576277

[KlaxonCow]

So, Trump's bail conditions have been set in Georgia. I personally don't think he's going to be able to meet them. Sure, 200,000$ of other people's money, he can do that, but keeping his mouth shut on social media? No fucking way.

Maybe, like Al Capone, that's how they finally get him.

"Contempt of court" over and over and over again, as he's completely incapable of stopping himself posting his incomprehensible man-baby wailing on social media.

He'll be done for "contempt of court" for wailing on social media about his arrest, So he gets arrested again for "contempt", and then wails on social media about that as well, which is another "contempt of court".

And so it carries on forever, as Trump is like a dumb child licking a battery.

Lick, "ow, that hurt". Lick, "ow, that hurt". Lick, "ow, that hurt". Forever. As his brain cannot make the association between the action and the consequences to ever comprehend that he needs to stop licking that battery.

And he ends up racking up so many "contempt of court"s that it's equivalent to ten life sentences and he's never let out of jail ever again.