Let go Brandon?

[BlodwynPig]

I don't think he can be removed from the ballot from a lot of states at this point, and he's locked up the DNC nomination so even if he dies he'll be the democrat on ballot papers in November.

I've mentioned it already but as trump's felony cases advance, there's a non-zero chance that US voters in November will be forced to choose between a jailbird and a corpse. Possibly even a pair of corpses, and you get to choose the colour rosette.

It's not likely, but it's feasible. Greatest democracy on earth and all that.

"The body has twitched... IT'S WAR!!!"

[dr beat]

Chernenko v Andropov

[hamfist]

Let them elect a combination of chatGPT and a magic 8-ball as upper / lower houses of government and president combined. It's about time it was tried.

[Ferris]

Let them elect a combination of chatGPT and a magic 8-ball as upper / lower houses of government and president combined. It's about time it was tried.

Twitch Plays Pokémon Legislating a Superpower

[Terry Torpid]

Looking at 2028 is their any chance we get a serious challenge from the "left" of the party?

Newsom, Whitmer, Mayo Pete all these are very underwhelming choices.

I just don't understand why they're so wedded to Biden. I know being the incumbent is usually advantageous, and stepping down after four years could look bad ("and since I'd achieved all of my goals as President in one term, there was no need for a second"), but surely no-one could blame him for retiring.

Anyone voting for Biden is really just voting for A Democrat, not Joe himself. So why can't the Dems dredge up some other bland liberal bloke to take his place? The people on that list may be underwhelming, but no more than Biden is, and at least they wouldn't be subject to speculation about senility or DEAD SOON.

[jobotic]

Exactly

[Ferris]

When a 77yr old bloke can stand up on stage and take shots at your guy for being old, he's probably far too old.

The DNC has just run one dogshit candidate after another. They're just institutionally wedded to these establishment hacks.

[Stonefish]

but surely no-one could blame him for retiring.

Yes, now the cat's out of the bag regarding his health it seems like a good face-saving way of stepping aside. I was curious if this was realistic at this point and found an article from December:

Are the Democrats stuck with Mr Biden? Technically, no. Although he is the presumptive nominee, Mr Biden's candidacy is not guaranteed until he wins the support of a majority of party delegates to its convention. Primary season begins with New Hampshire, on January 23rd, and runs until early June. In August delegates will gather at the Democratic convention in Chicago to cast votes on behalf of their state or territory.

But the president has an almost insurmountable advantage. He has the campaigning machinery of the Democratic National Committee behind him, and the support of virtually every senior figure in the party. But after strong primary challenges two presidents, Lyndon Johnson and Harry Truman, abandoned bids for re-election.

Mr Biden benefits from the absence, currently, of any viable challenger. The only Democrats running against him are Marianne Williamson, an author of self-help books, and Dean Phillips, a little-known distilling millionaire and Democratic congressman from Minnesota; both barely register in the polls. Kamala Harris, his vice-president, suffers from even worse approval ratings than Mr Biden. Two-thirds of Democrats who say the president should not run again have no idea who should replace him. Among the other third, Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, is the most popular choice. But he is thought to be keeping his powder dry for a run in 2028.

Even if a strong contender decides to enter the race against Mr Biden, they would already be behind. With each passing week more states close their primaries to new candidates. Deadlines in states with important early primaries, such as Nevada, South Carolina and Michigan, have already passed. Late candidates miss both the opportunity to win delegates in those states, and the important fundraising and media-coverage potential that comes with early momentum. Taking a swift lead does not guarantee a nomination—as Mr Biden proved when he bested Bernie Sanders, an early front-runner in 2020—but not being part of the race from the start makes things much harder for a candidate who has spent less time and money getting voters on side.
Even Mike Bloomberg could not make his late entry to the 2020 race work despite not running against a Democratic incumbent and pouring more than 1bn dollars into his bid.

The other scenario is that Mr Biden drops out without a serious challenger. But the time when he might reasonably have decided against a re-election bid was in early 2023, which would have allowed other candidates to run campaigns. If he dropped out now it would create a crisis in the Democratic Party, so the chances that he will do so—barring a serious health problem—are vanishingly slim. If it did happen, Mr Biden's delegates would have to vote for someone else at the convention in Chicago.

Mr Biden may not seem the best choice for the Democrats in 2024 to many. But at this stage, his party has little room to manoeuvre. An internal battle so close to the election could severely weaken the party ahead of a seemingly existential contest against Mr Trump. When Truman and Johnson withdrew their bids for re-nomination, the Democrats went on to lose the general election.

So um... not great...

[jobotic]

But they're going to lose anyway

[iamcoop]

What is the benefit of the Dems keeping Biden in place?

I get he's an incapacitated shill, but you'd have thought they'd just insert someone more capable to achieve their capitalist neo-lib aims, rather than risk it all on a man who's going to keel over any time soon?

I genuinely don't understand what the end game is here.

[Funcrusher]

I continue to be fascinated with how murky all this is. It seems crystal clear at this point that the report that was released yesterday was intentionally crafted to shiv Biden. All it needed to say was that Biden had forgotten he had the papers due to common or garden absent mindedness. Instead it contains multiple pages outlining in florid detail how shot Biden's memory is.

The weak sauce pushback from Dems today includes some utterly unconvincing attempts to suggest that Hur was somehow cowed into doing Republicans bidding by recent attacks on the judiciary. Just nonsense. He was appointed by Biden's AG. He's been put up to it by Dems who want Biden out. And the few speaking up for Biden included pretty much none of the big guns from inside the administration or the wider Democratic world.

The line that seems to be being repeated by liberal commentators is that 'this will stick to Biden' and make it difficult for him going forward and so on. We'll see what happens, but I still think the plan is to push him out.

[Funcrusher]

Yes, now the cat's out of the bag regarding his health it seems like a good face-saving way of stepping aside. I was curious if this was realistic at this point and found an article from December:

So um... not great...

Marianne Williamson only dropped out the other day and Dean Phillips is still running against Biden. If Biden steps down I wouldn't be surprised if Newsom or someone else could be inserted instead.

[BlodwynPig]

What's Biden's legacy. Forgettable stuff indeed

[Funcrusher]

What's Biden's legacy. Forgettable stuff indeed

Providing the armaments and funding for a live televised genocide and vetoing a ceasefire that could have ended it.

[jobotic]

Feinnstein and McConnell suggest that old-timers don't go quietly. Or aren't allowed to.

[Ferris]

It's a systemic problem, like a death of a thousand cuts but for awful decisions. If the writing is on the wall that 2024 is Joe's turn, which DNC member is gonna put their head above the parapet and say "no this is bollocks"? And how many people would support them? And what candidate is even out there?

If Joe loses, DNC members would still be important people in DC. They don't personally give a shit who wins in 2024, but if they start rocking the boat they might be out for good.

From a selfish myopic point of view, within the DNC you are better off being a biden 2024 apparatchik and hoping he wins. When he loses you can fuck off into the private sector with the connections you have or use trump to fundraise in 2028. It's almost better if your guy loses.

The opinions of actual human beings and/or values can be safely dismissed when making these decisions.

[Ferris]

Feinnstein and McConnell suggest that old-timers don't go quietly. Or aren't allowed to.

Another systemic problem.

If you're in your 80s and a member of Congress, do you retire and get trundled off to a forgotten old folks home somewhere (even a nice one), or hang on and publicly sundown in a place where you have power and meaning and a team of staff/press who hang on your every word plus world-leading healthcare round the clock?

Sure you get lost on your way to the bathroom, but the omertà of the DC press corps means no one has to know and the fact that a load of unelected weirdo staffers de facto wield your power without your say-so is just a price you have to pay.

I'm convinced the fear of being irrelevant is what motivates so many of these ghouls to keep their hands on the levers of power long past any pleasure or understanding until they expire.

[checkoutgirl]

fear of being irrelevant

It's not just politics. Vince McMahon is 80 and would probably still be in charge of WWE but for the allegations. Rupert Murdock only stepped down a couple of months ago and he's 92, bus pass age for 27 years. It must be difficult to cede power when you're a narcissist sociopath.

They could have pocketed a billion and fucked off to a private kingdom in their forties but bossing people around and fucking over other companies is the juice. That's their pleasure. If it annoyed them the stress would have killed them years ago.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

What is the benefit of the Dems keeping Biden in place?

i dont think they thought he'd last a full term. i think he was a reasonable choice at the time - Obama nostalgia was the best play against Trump

i think they thought harris would be an epic representation win but instead she's a synthesis of the least charming traits of hilary clinton and a policeman. there's a certain kind of genius liberal strategist that thinks that voting in a female president is impossible, but the voting-pulling power of having been "first female president" would be unbeatable. not only is this moronic but harris is astonishingly unpopular even with the most twitter-poisoned progressives

they've tried to whip up some excitement about other names but nothing happened. so they're stuck with him. i think maybe there's a probably with AI too: how do you control a narrative around someone's national stage debut when the possibility of a tsunami of deepfakes is there? Biden is a known quantity, someone else and there'd be a least a week where twitter would be nothing but him acting out the worst parts of Blazing Saddles or reciting the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in a Pepe the Frog shirt. they havent had time to manage their strategy of how to introduce someone to the media in a way that wouldnt like a storm of shit dominate the narrative for weeks.

[Mobius]

they need to push some younger talent. give AOC a mic, let her cook.

[pcsjwgm]

Unfortunately, AOC is just as incoherent in her own right as Biden.
https://twitter.com/AliAbunimah/status/1380627574817234953

[Video Game Fan 2000]

AOC is just Kier Starmer with dress sense

[BlodwynPig]

Anerica, eh, wut are they like?

[superthunderstingcar]

AOC is just Kier Starmer with dress sense

That sounds like an insurmountable obstacle to achieving power. Is there anyone in America who can clear this bar?

[Famous Mortimer]

AOC is just Kier Starmer with dress sense

A good line looking desperately for the tiniest fragment of truth to cling to.

[Dex Sawash]

The lady who was PM before Sunak*, any chance she was born in America? Maybe a bit too leftist for us.




*honestly forget name, wasn't May. Will update if I can recall her name.

[Dex Sawash]

I continue to be fascinated with how murky all this is. It seems crystal clear at this point that the report that was released yesterday was intentionally crafted to shiv Biden. All it needed to say was that Biden had forgotten he had the papers due to common or garden absent mindedness. Instead it contains multiple pages outlining in florid detail how shot Biden's memory is.

The weak sauce pushback from Dems today includes some utterly unconvincing attempts to suggest that Hur was somehow cowed into doing Republicans bidding by recent attacks on the judiciary. Just nonsense. He was appointed by Biden's AG. He's been put up to it by Dems who want Biden out. And the few speaking up for Biden included pretty much none of the big guns from inside the administration or the wider Democratic world.

The line that seems to be being repeated by liberal commentators is that 'this will stick to Biden' and make it difficult for him going forward and so on. We'll see what happens, but I still think the plan is to push him out.

They had a voice on natl people's radio yesterday discussing this report. Probably bs deflection but the report is assembled in a style rooted in district attorney investigatiin style that presents the state's case along with impediments to conviction such as the accused's plausibility of criming just being an oversight. Yes it looks like a political hit job but it is just good work by the team and suppressing the report isn't an option.

Will check nyt pitchbot on Twitter.

[BlodwynPig]

The lady who was PM before Sunak*, any chance she was born in America? Maybe a bit too leftist for us.




*honestly forget name, wasn't May. Will update if I can recall her name.

Liz 'Pork Markets' Trumps

[idunnosomename]

still sporting her Sex Necklace at the PopCon launch this week

[The Dog]

still sporting her Sex Necklace at the PopCon launch this week

Surprised to see even Davros wearing a suit a tie there.