[Rancid]

When Trump lies it's almost effortless for him, and the casualness of it is dangerous because it appears sometimes indistinguishable from when he's not lying, which means people can't tell if some of the lies are actually lies unless they already know the actual truth. Some of his lies he also seems to actually belief himself, like "the big steal", and so it seems like the truth and is therefore convincing unless, again, you know otherwise. The man is an effective con artist, likely honed with a lifetime of practice. Like it or not, it's a huge plus for him as a politician.

Some politicians you can often tell when they're lying because they just aren't good at it.

We also live in post-truth era, where lies are just accepted more. Trump is perfect for this era of politics.

[Rancid]

Yeah but who would you rather sit down and have a beer with?

Who are we talking about here, and why does that matter?

[Unthinking Majority]

Who are we talking about here, and why does that matter?

The people running for POTUS. Was just a joke since some people base their votes from that question.

[Unthinking Majority]

Are people who are still avid Trump supporters stupid or evil? Or both? Or does it depend on the person?

[Istanbuller]

Younger generation Democrats are much more likely to be far left. It is no longer the party of American liberals. So it can be better that Democrats stick to Biden.

Biden's replacement can be a far left person. That means Democrats losing independents and moderates.

[Rugoz]

Younger generation Democrats are much more likely to be far left. It is no longer the party of American liberals. So it can be better that Democrats stick to Biden.

Biden's replacement can be a far left person. That means Democrats losing independents and moderates.

Nonsense. Both Shapiro and Whitmer are governors in swing states.

[noemon]

Almost all significant inflation happened due to COVID and thus the reduction in supply of most goods and increase of demand in certain goods/services. It seems this has created new pricing norms across entire industries with businesses obviously not wanting to reduce prices post-COVID unless forced to via price reductions from their competitors.

Covid inflation does not cancel out Russia-Ukraine inflation with its adjacent fertiliser crisis, food crisis & energy crisis.

[Istanbuller]

Nonsense. Both Shapiro and Whitmer are governors in swing states.

Trump leads in swing states according to polls. Inflation problem and other problems won't go away even if Democrats replace Biden.

Also there isn't enough time to hold primaries again. It is just too late.

[KurtFF8]

This was just one debate. Former President Obama lost his first debate during his second re-election bid. Hillary won all her debates against Trump. Debate victories or multiple debate victories doesn't necessarily mean that the person who won the debate(s) will be elected.

No but they can also be a disaster. Nixon's debate v Kennedy helped to sink his chances. The thing about Biden's performance in this debate isn't merely that he "lost the debate" but that he could barely hold together a coherent point and either trailed off or just wasn't really capable of engaging in the topics in a meaningful way.

[JohnRawls]

Covid inflation does not cancel out Russia-Ukraine inflation with its adjacent fertiliser crisis, food crisis & energy crisis.

You are both sort of right. There are two inflations that were going on at the time:

1) One was demand side inflation aka printing money.
2) The other was supply side inflation that happened due to Covid restrictions and Russia-Ukraine war.

US inflation was mostly demand side 70-30%.
EU inflation was mostly supply side inflation 70-30%.

If you look at the statistics.

[Rugoz]

Crude oil and gas prices in the US have been back to pre-war levels for more than a year now. The war in Ukraine is a non-factor at this point when it comes to US energy inflation.

Also, the idea that the war would not have happened with Trump at the helm is idle speculation. For Putin, the war had to happen at some point. Maybe he would have waited another 4 years because Trump is unpredictable, maybe not.

Trump leads in swing states according to polls. Inflation problem and other problems won't go away even if Democrats replace Biden.

Also there isn't enough time to hold primaries again. It is just too late.

Jeez. Those Democratic governors were elected in swing states, that's my freaking point.

There's no need for primaries. The delegates can vote for whoever they want at the convention. If Biden leaves the race.

[JohnRawls]

Crude oil and gas prices in the US have been back to pre-war levels for more than a year now. The war in Ukraine is a non-factor at this point when it comes to US energy inflation.

Also, the idea that the war would not have happened with Trump at the helm is idle speculation. For Putin, the war had to happen at some point. Maybe he would have waited another 4 years because Trump is unpredictable, maybe not.



Jeez. Those Democratic governors were elected in swing states, that's my freaking point.

There's no need for primaries. The delegates can vote for whoever they want at the convention. If Biden leaves the race.

The war would have happened irrelevant of who is in charge of US. Putin needed it for his popularity and his endless presidential terms not to loose power. US is irrelevant in this dialogue.

[Rancid]

The war would have happened irrelevant of who is in charge of US. Putin needed it for his popularity and his endless presidential terms not to loose power. US is irrelevant in this dialogue.

I think it still would have happened under a second Trump term. During covid lock downs is when Putin got deep into his reading of history to justify why Ukraine should be his, which is probably the single biggest motivator for the war. Probably bigger than stopping the expansion of NATO (which he failed at, and in fact, caused through his own action).

Trump would try to stop the war if elected though. Not because he actually thinks Putin is right, but to win against the democrats. All he cares about is to be able to call himself a winner, and to get personal benefits. Pretty easy to understand, but breaks the typical way politics works. Hence why he's all over the place on different issues, hence, his unpredictability.

Reminds me of that Republican many election cycles ago. He was asked his question about a topic. His response was "What is the democrat position on this?" When they told him, he just said "well, i'm the opposite of that". To some degree, this is what Trump does as well. I think this is his position with Ukraine. Also doesn't hurt to have fellow dictators on your side.

In all, Ukraine isn't a big factor to the typical American voter. Americans tend to vote on domestic issues far more than foreign policy. Hence, why you see the emphasis on things like abortions rights, immigration (which only becomes a problem right before an election for some reason) , Jan 6th, the supreme court rolling back rights, "project 2025", the environment, student debt, etc. It's like 90% domestic issues most of the time.

Still, we are in an age, where truth matters even less than it did before. Trump lied like hell in the debate, and no one really gives a shit. The focus is on the "energy" and the performance, not the substance.

[JohnRawls]

I think it still would have happened under a second Trump term. During covid lock downs is when Putin got deep into his reading of history to justify why Ukraine should be his, which is probably the single biggest motivator for the war. Probably bigger than stopping the expansion of NATO (which he failed at, and in fact, caused through his own action).

Trump would try to stop the war if elected though. Not because he actually thinks Putin is right, but to win against the democrats. All he cares about is to be able to call himself a winner, and to get personal benefits. Pretty easy to understand.

Reminds me of that Republican many election cycles ago. He was asked his question about a topic. His response was "What is the democrat position on this?" When they told him, he just said "well, i'm the opposite of that". To some degree, this is what Trump does as well. I think this is his position with Ukraine. Also doesn't hurt to have fellow dictators on your side.

In all, Ukraine isn't a big factor to the typical American voter. Americans tend to vote on domestic issues far more than foreign policy. Hence, why you see the emphasis on things like abortions rights, immigration (which only becomes a problem right before an election for some reason) , Jan 6th, the supreme court rolling back rights, "project 2025", the environment, student debt, etc.

Still, we are in an age, where truth matters even less than it did before. Trump lied like hell in the debate, and no one really gives a shit. The focus is on the "energy" and the performance, not the substance.

How would Trump stop the last Russian election from happening?

[Rancid]

How would Trump stop the last Russian election from happening?

He wouldn't, why and how would he do that? What of everything I posted would suggest that I implied that?

[JohnRawls]

He wouldn't, why and how would he do that? What of everything I posted would suggest that I implied that? :?:

Putin was in violation of the 2 term limit during this election which he previously cheated by using Medvedev. So he needed this war to be more secure with his popularity falling and to justify the crackdown. How does Trump stop this?

[Rancid]

Putin was in violation of the 2 term limit during this election which he previously cheated by using Medvedev. So he needed this war to be more secure with his popularity falling and to justify the crackdown. How does Trump stop this?

I think some major wires are crossed here.

Why are we talking about Putin term limits?

In my statement above, I said if Trump is elected, he will try to end the war in Ukraine (as in, try to stop all aid to Ukraine). That's it.

My first sentence is agreeing with your statement.

[Negotiator]

The war would have happened irrelevant of who is in charge of US. Putin needed it for his popularity and his endless presidential terms not to loose power. US is irrelevant in this dialogue.

Oh-oh.

Congrats, your echo bubble holds very tight indeed.

Even western funded polls in Russia have shown Putins popularity at very high levels throughout. His all time low was in 2019 when he raised the retirement age, and even then he still polled around 60%.

Right now he's at 86.8%, very close to his last election result (88%).

Thats because the west constantly confirms Putins claim that the west is opposing Russia.

Just an example, russians are thrown out of sports events. Why ? Did we ever throw US americans out of sports events ? And the USA constantly is at war ever since WW2.

Russians also cant buy anything western anymore, they cant travel to the west, rich russians get stolen from in the west (if they have invested there), etc.

Its racism.

All this why Putin couldnt possibly be more west friendly. He wanted to join the EU and he wanted to even join NATO. But our western elites deeply disrespect Russia and want to torn it apart. So much so that they even publically admit it, and have done so since decades.

So yes, the west doesnt need Russia as a friend. Well, at least our elites dont. They want Russia as an enemy. Historians say this is the case since around 1840 - not because of anything Russia has done, but because the UK empire at the time realized that Russia was too big and strong and they wouldnt just do what the UK dictates to them.

And the average russian has figured that out by now.

And yes such popularity is completely unimagineable here in the west where NO leader even polls 50%. Thats because our leaders STINK BIG TIME. Okay, none stink so much as the german ones. But they all stink a lot.

While Putin started fixing the horrible state of Russia when he came in power. And he immediately got bad press from the very start in the west for that. They loved the drunkard Boris Jeltzin despite the fact that Jeltzins rule was so horrible, the life expectancy of male russians dropped to 58 years, like it was a developing country.

If you do whats in the economic interest of regular people you CAN reach 50% approval and beyond, easily. And lot of leaders outside the west have such high approval ratings, though Putin is recently a record, for obvious reasons.

Thats also why outside the west many people are siding with Russia, and why many nonwestern governments refuse to help Ukraine. Well, effectively they refuse to help Ukraine destroying itself, but thats besides the point.

Not that there is much Ukraine left to destroy in the first place anymore.

[JohnRawls]

Oh-oh.

Congrats, your echo bubble holds very tight indeed.

Even western funded polls in Russia have shown Putins popularity at very high levels throughout. His all time low was in 2019 when he raised the retirement age, and even then he still polled around 60%.

Right now he's at 86.8%, very close to his last election result (88%).

Thats because the west constantly confirms Putins claim that the west is opposing Russia.

Just an example, russians are thrown out of sports events. Why ? Did we ever throw US americans out of sports events ? And the USA constantly is at war ever since WW2.

Russians also cant buy anything western anymore, they cant travel to the west, rich russians get stolen from in the west (if they have invested there), etc.

Its racism.

All this why Putin couldnt possibly be more west friendly. He wanted to join the EU and he wanted to even join NATO. But our western elites deeply disrespect Russia and want to torn it apart. So much so that they even publically admit it, and have done so since decades.

So yes, the west doesnt need Russia as a friend. Well, at least our elites dont. They want Russia as an enemy. Historians say this is the case since around 1840 - not because of anything Russia has done, but because the UK empire at the time realized that Russia was too big and strong and they wouldnt just do what the UK dictates to them.

And the average russian has figured that out by now.

And yes such popularity is completely unimagineable here in the west where NO leader even polls 50%. Thats because our leaders STINK BIG TIME. Okay, none stink so much as the german ones. But they all stink a lot.

While Putin started fixing the horrible state of Russia when he came in power. And he immediately got bad press from the very start in the west for that. They loved the drunkard Boris Jeltzin despite the fact that Jeltzins rule was so horrible, the life expectancy of male russians dropped to 58 years, like it was a developing country.

If you do whats in the economic interest of regular people you CAN reach 50% approval and beyond, easily. And lot of leaders outside the west have such high approval ratings, though Putin is recently a record, for obvious reasons.

Thats also why outside the west many people are siding with Russia, and why many nonwestern governments refuse to help Ukraine. Well, effectively they refuse to help Ukraine destroying itself, but thats besides the point.

Not that there is much Ukraine left to destroy in the first place anymore.

Putin support fell to around 30-25% according to list experiments and so on with the war, all according to plan by the looks of it.

[QatzelOk]

Yeah but who would you rather sit down and have a beer with?

I would prefer to have a beer with Joe Biden because:

1. He would forget that he had paid for the previous round, so you could get him to pay for every round of beer.

2. If you want other drugs like cocaine, he would be able to score some relatively easily. I don't consume cocaine, but many people do, and would appreciate this extra perk.

...A blowhard who makes things up met a confused, addled man who is past it: This is the instant orthodoxy among mainstream media—how swiftly do they settle on what they will write and broadcast in boring unison—seems right but nothing like the right story. The right story is that we are in immediate, very serious, very consequential trouble. In the immediate, we had better consider carefully the beyond-dispute, recorded-on-television reality that a demented man now stands (for however many hours a day he can stand) as the world’s most powerful leader. And if human beings are at bottom sight animals, Americans most of all, they can now see, if they care to admit what they have seen, that these two men present no sensible choice and stand as insults to those who persist in the act of voting....

The world's premium power is choosing between a conman's conman, and a conman with dementia. The decline has never been more obvious or more frightening than this.