US Presidency

Jonathan said:
Where to start?!
He's an affront to the office, for a start. Even if you don't take particular offence at any of his policies, it's important for a world leader to act in a dignified and respectful manner. He is absolutely incapable of doing that.
On a policy point of view:
* He has rolled back laws on women's rights
* He has rolled back environmental laws
* He has reduced protection for workers
* He has worked very hard to remove health care coverage for 10s of millions of Americans
* He has presided over an anti-science culture within his administration
* He has undermined the press, citing any report that contradicts his narrative as fake news
* He has hopelessly mishandled the covid 19 crisis
* He has presided over record unemployment
* He abandoned the Kurds in Syria, causing hundreds of them to be killed
* He suggesting injecting bleach as a cure for covid 19
* He ramped up xenophobia and racism in America, providing a platform and legitimising right wing extremism and white nationalism
* He pursued a policy of isolationism and protectionism, withdrawing from international accords
* He sucked up to dictators and despots
* He is subject to influence from foreign entities, not least because he's $400m in debt
* He has cost the US taxpayer almost $150m just to fund his golf trips
* He has been golfing 280 times during his presidency. He criticised Obama for about 4 trips during his terms.
* His entire cabinet has been demonstrated to be criminal, with numerous convictions. The same could be said for his family too.
* He is a serial tax cheat, hence the massive reluctance to release his tax returns.
* He is a fraud and has been bankrupt 6 times
* He has belittled and mocked those that have died in service of their country
* He has mocked and belittled the disabled
* He lies each and every day, about everything, serving only his own agenda.
* He is a serial sex offender and has admitted as much on tape.
That's just a few things off the top of my head. The list could go on and on. He is a total and utter c*nt and death would be too good for him.
*

WILLSAN said:
a couple of these I would agree with, some come down to perspective and some I dont recognise.

Most of these seem fair to me.

as above though, I personally think they pale in comparison to US involvement in the serbian war, iraq, afghan, libya and syria. the amount of foreign blood on the hands of each president from bush snr up to trump far exceeds that of trump himself.
everyone has different priotities of course but for me, that elevates him above the others.

Wayne_Cowdrey said:I'd say that Trump is in much better shape than an average 74 year old. He may be 'obese', but he's not particularly 'fat obese' in my opinion. Just naturally quite a big guy.

Nothing to do with the election, but thought I'd chip in because his health was mentioned.

WILLSAN said:
I think the most pertinent comparison for the world as it is today is xi 'pooh bear' jinping. mainly because the US is the only thing that stands between a world led by a flawed western democratic system and one led by an authoritarian chinese communist system. the more hyperbolic commentators have been known to describe trump as 'literally hitler' which I always thought was darkly humorous given that the challenger for leadership of the world's superpower could be described as such, without the hyperbole. whatever trump has done, it surely cannot compare to the persecution of christians, buddhists, uyghurs and falun gong. there is strong evidence that china is guilty of harvesting organs from political prisoners to order, for example. is there a more hideous crime than that?
to me, it just seems a bit clown world that people will lose their minds over trumps views on climate change or building a wall whilst there are people suffering in concentration camps in china right this minute and no one appears to care.
in terms of presidents, are you aware of the history of george bush snr? I have done a lot of reading on him over the years and the best comparison I can think of is the 'don corleone' of US politics. that guy has had his finger in some of US modern history's darkest moments from the bay of pigs, to the assassination attempt on reagan, to iran contra and the crack epidemic, to the franklin scandal, to the gulf war - the list is endless and his influence doesnt end with the end of his presidency. the man is as close to pure evil as is possible imo.
without going into detail clinton and obama are also worse. bush junior not so because he was basically a sock puppet to dick cheney.

EDCLARKE said:
How anyone thinks the Biden Harris ticket is a good one amazes me , I guess some people will be voting on an anyone but Trump basis.

WILLSAN said:
it does surprise me to see positive views on biden and harris. even my lefty friends are pretty unanimous in the view that they are a horrible choice. seems pretty obvious that the dnc basically strongarmed the nomination from actually popular candidates like sanders and gabbard because they didnt tow the party line.

Rick said:Don't they elect their candidates through the primary system?

Rick said:Don't they elect their candidates through the primary system?

I suspect Bernie's like Corbyn - popular with the base, useless with the people you need to win over. Except he hasn't managed to win the base...