He’s always been a weak man, just depressing it has taken 8 years to find a 5 foot 4 woman who can make that clear for the world to see
I still unironically think Jeb Bush should have walked across the stage and shaped up to Trump (wouldn’t have even needed to throw a punch, though I would have liked that too) and let the world see him flinch and squirm, when he made those comments about his wife. Trump is the classic weak bully, ready to play the tough man when he knows there’s no threat of consequences, I bet he’s never been in an actual punch on in his life
My actual wish is that he had gone the full Prescott and I do believe voters would have liked it even while the media retreated to the fainting couches
And then there is T Swift, if only a smal percentage of the 280 mio followers goes to register and actually votes there we have three things to deal with our anxiety
Oh, how Trump plays us for mugs all the time. He's barely six foot tall now. If that. In the 1980s, he said his height was 6'1". That's when he was a young man. If you go online and do an image search., you find plenty of photos where people have compared his alleged height to that of people he's standing next to. For example, he's clearly shorter than Justin Trudeau (6'2) or Barack Obama (6'1). How does he get away with yet another lie? He wears lifts. They were seen to fall out of his shoes at the assassination attempt. But it works. People still repeat his height as 6'3".
Tony, are you saying that because Trump is smaller than he pretends to be, he's heading for the chop? Accurate predictions have been made on much shakier ground than that.
Nick, IIRC Clinton lost blue wall states because she couldn’t motivate the same % of urban working class voters to come out and vote as Obama did. Consequently these states were taken by Trump on the overwhelmingly GOP rural vote. Looks to me as if Harris is more a motivator than Clinton was. And Dem ground war is apparently in way better shape than Trump’s. These are the two things I hang hang on to, to deal with anxiety…
Yes, Ted: Hillary was, let’s face it, a terrible candidate and an even worse campaigner. She never even visited Wisconsin! Kamala will not make those mistakes. This will be decided on voter turnout, especially by women.
US presidential historian Allan Lichtman, the co-developer of the Thirteen Keys to the White House predictive model, is adamant that it's not "campaigning" that wins elections, it's the governance of the incumbent political party that is what counts, and his official prediction for 2024 is that the White House party will be reelected. ("Governments aren't elected, they are only defeated." is an old truism often stated by Canadian pundits.)
I didn't watch the debate, so I don't know if either Trump or Harris spoke to the issue of antisemitism, but yesterday's Jewish Insider and The Forward both ran pieces about the joint statement signed by all Democratic Party members of the House of Reps condemning Tucker Carlson's platforming of David Irving's American Holocaust denying heir apparent, and Trump running mate JD Vance's failure to denounce Carlson. The JI piece references unnamed Republicans who are very concerned that this is an issue that could bite the Republicans badly in swing states. I guess we'll see, but recent polls have Jewish voters who intend to vote back up to the "norm" of over 75% supporting the Democrats. In 2020, it dropped to 70% Democrat.
I think what is difficult for progressives (me included) to understand about Trump is why apparently rational people believe that he is the right person to be President. He is a fraudster, a bankrupt and a rapist who has proposed no costed or thought through manifesto and expresses no belief or positive vision for how America should be run or what living in America should feel like.
It is a sad sign of how far the USA has fallen that so many think MAGA is the answer. This week I listened to great podcast called Transmissions which is the story of Joy Division and New Order. In the early 80s the most influential band of their generation looked to America for creative stimulation. The future lay across the Atlantic in 1983. 40 years later it is hard to imagine the same situation as the country hurtles towards its destination as a stagnant, reactionary and violent backwater.
I loved living there until 2012 but today's version is as sad as watching a close friend succumb to addiction or conspiracy theories. And if anyone can put forward good intellectual reasons to vote for Trump I would love to hear them,
Regarding Trump, you claim him to be a rapist on the basis of a (doubtfully impartial) civil verdict; that is, on the basis of allegation (and supposed likelihood), not of evidence or proof.
Trump's dishonesty is hardly a problem for him, given the universal dishonesty of modern US politics. Bankrupts are admired in the USA as gallant (if failed) risk-takers.
Harris can do nothing to make the US optimistic or vibrant again - rather the reverse. She certainly won't make it less violent again. At best, she will be an American Starmer.
I listened to Bob Woodward’s interviews with Trump. Trump’s admiration for Dictators seemed childlike in its naivety. It was scary to listen to. He’s quite paranoid too. He constantly says how smart he is. How tough he is. But smart tough guys don’t feel the need to repeat it to themselves incessantly. Kamala Harris did a good job I thought as she is pretty unflappable.
Yes I know she’s an Attorney. Attorney not, she’s not in a courtroom. She’s facing off against Trump who insecure, and flailing as he is, not to mention irrational is still is managing to have a real shot at a second term. Despite all those felonies. As for old, well aren’t most Presidents? I definitely think and stand by that he’s paranoid in the extreme. The “Deep State”?
Well said Nick, and I had to look up "gormless," that's a new one for me. I would have gone further if I was Harris, saying outright that the man is mentally unfit, with the pets reference - he's the crazy hateful uncle you can't invite to holiday dinners anymore. I would have said that precisely. But Harris did well.
It's a toss up indeed. At this point we need to focus on turnout - Taylor Swift can help with that, if she so decides. Last time she endorsed Biden, she put a link to voter registration - 35k registered that day. We need Taylor out there imploring people to register and vote. Every vote counts here, to be sure.
If she's elected, Harris will, at 5'4", be the shortest-equal US President with James Madison. The American electorate really don't like short men as presidential candidates.
The average POTUS height has been 5'11", with 18 Presidents at six foot or over, with Lincoln still leading (heading?) the pack at 6'4"; with LBJ, then Trump, narrowly following.
I still find it really hard to believe that he’s neck and neck with Kamala Harris after watching the debate, let alone other stuff he’s said. He’s a maverick and no one can know how he’d behave during a second term. It wouldn’t matter as much if it were not America.
What on earth makes you think Harris will make a better President ?
She's a completely unknown quantity. And won't be as pleasant in the White House as she is when campaigning.
And if she does win, it will be on the back of the Democrats' chief electoral weapon - the USA's huge army of career women.
How many of them keep cats is unknown. But it is known that most of them have liberal and feminist opinions. Also, that most of them are anxious and unhappy.
I've enjoyed the debate - and the debate about the debate, including this - as much as any non-American who's been petrified of the return of Trump...
One problem: I can't join in with the general jest about the cats and dogs claim. Here in Israel my wife and I used to live next door to migrant workers from the Far East. It's an area of South Tel-Aviv blessed with many street cats. Of an evening we would hear the screams of terrified cats from across the fence. Then the screams would end suddenly. A short while later we could smell the sizzling meat...
Wrong on Biden again Nick. What is it with you and that great man. The border crossing issue has been met... crossings are way down and a bill was killed by the Freedom caucus at Trumps behest.
He’s always been a weak man, just depressing it has taken 8 years to find a 5 foot 4 woman who can make that clear for the world to see
I still unironically think Jeb Bush should have walked across the stage and shaped up to Trump (wouldn’t have even needed to throw a punch, though I would have liked that too) and let the world see him flinch and squirm, when he made those comments about his wife. Trump is the classic weak bully, ready to play the tough man when he knows there’s no threat of consequences, I bet he’s never been in an actual punch on in his life
That is a terrific historical counterfactual
My actual wish is that he had gone the full Prescott and I do believe voters would have liked it even while the media retreated to the fainting couches
But I get that could never happen
Film stars at the Oscars can't do it.
And then there is T Swift, if only a smal percentage of the 280 mio followers goes to register and actually votes there we have three things to deal with our anxiety
I found the JD Vance barb in her sign off particularly amusing
"Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady"
Up to now 10 000 000 Likes on her Insta account, its only Likes but a lot of them
"Harris is 5' 4 1/4, and Trump is 6'3” "
Oh, how Trump plays us for mugs all the time. He's barely six foot tall now. If that. In the 1980s, he said his height was 6'1". That's when he was a young man. If you go online and do an image search., you find plenty of photos where people have compared his alleged height to that of people he's standing next to. For example, he's clearly shorter than Justin Trudeau (6'2) or Barack Obama (6'1). How does he get away with yet another lie? He wears lifts. They were seen to fall out of his shoes at the assassination attempt. But it works. People still repeat his height as 6'3".
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/new-footage-shows-why-donald-trump-is-so-obsessed-with-keeping-his-shoes-on/ar-BB1q0LWa
It is perhaps the perfect commentary on Trump and the world of self-deception, lies, and scams he inhabits.
Trump knows height counts in politics.
James I's elder son Henry, a strapping six-footer, died aged 18, exhausted by his own restless energy and athleticism.
Leaving his kid brother (4'11" and punily built) to inherit the Crown in 1625 as Charles I.
Oh dear.
Tony, are you saying that because Trump is smaller than he pretends to be, he's heading for the chop? Accurate predictions have been made on much shakier ground than that.
Nick, IIRC Clinton lost blue wall states because she couldn’t motivate the same % of urban working class voters to come out and vote as Obama did. Consequently these states were taken by Trump on the overwhelmingly GOP rural vote. Looks to me as if Harris is more a motivator than Clinton was. And Dem ground war is apparently in way better shape than Trump’s. These are the two things I hang hang on to, to deal with anxiety…
I agree Ted I was reading that such is the enthusiasm gap, Trump has just one local campaign office in Pennsylvania compared to Harris's 12
Yes, Ted: Hillary was, let’s face it, a terrible candidate and an even worse campaigner. She never even visited Wisconsin! Kamala will not make those mistakes. This will be decided on voter turnout, especially by women.
I am very impressed by her
US presidential historian Allan Lichtman, the co-developer of the Thirteen Keys to the White House predictive model, is adamant that it's not "campaigning" that wins elections, it's the governance of the incumbent political party that is what counts, and his official prediction for 2024 is that the White House party will be reelected. ("Governments aren't elected, they are only defeated." is an old truism often stated by Canadian pundits.)
I didn't watch the debate, so I don't know if either Trump or Harris spoke to the issue of antisemitism, but yesterday's Jewish Insider and The Forward both ran pieces about the joint statement signed by all Democratic Party members of the House of Reps condemning Tucker Carlson's platforming of David Irving's American Holocaust denying heir apparent, and Trump running mate JD Vance's failure to denounce Carlson. The JI piece references unnamed Republicans who are very concerned that this is an issue that could bite the Republicans badly in swing states. I guess we'll see, but recent polls have Jewish voters who intend to vote back up to the "norm" of over 75% supporting the Democrats. In 2020, it dropped to 70% Democrat.
Then Harris must be careful her well-known preference for the Palestinians isn’t on display during the campaign.
I think what is difficult for progressives (me included) to understand about Trump is why apparently rational people believe that he is the right person to be President. He is a fraudster, a bankrupt and a rapist who has proposed no costed or thought through manifesto and expresses no belief or positive vision for how America should be run or what living in America should feel like.
It is a sad sign of how far the USA has fallen that so many think MAGA is the answer. This week I listened to great podcast called Transmissions which is the story of Joy Division and New Order. In the early 80s the most influential band of their generation looked to America for creative stimulation. The future lay across the Atlantic in 1983. 40 years later it is hard to imagine the same situation as the country hurtles towards its destination as a stagnant, reactionary and violent backwater.
I loved living there until 2012 but today's version is as sad as watching a close friend succumb to addiction or conspiracy theories. And if anyone can put forward good intellectual reasons to vote for Trump I would love to hear them,
Regarding Trump, you claim him to be a rapist on the basis of a (doubtfully impartial) civil verdict; that is, on the basis of allegation (and supposed likelihood), not of evidence or proof.
Trump's dishonesty is hardly a problem for him, given the universal dishonesty of modern US politics. Bankrupts are admired in the USA as gallant (if failed) risk-takers.
Harris can do nothing to make the US optimistic or vibrant again - rather the reverse. She certainly won't make it less violent again. At best, she will be an American Starmer.
I listened to Bob Woodward’s interviews with Trump. Trump’s admiration for Dictators seemed childlike in its naivety. It was scary to listen to. He’s quite paranoid too. He constantly says how smart he is. How tough he is. But smart tough guys don’t feel the need to repeat it to themselves incessantly. Kamala Harris did a good job I thought as she is pretty unflappable.
Harris is an attorney - a barrister. Of course she did a "good job" in the debate.
Against a flailing and insecure (not paranoid) old man.
Yes I know she’s an Attorney. Attorney not, she’s not in a courtroom. She’s facing off against Trump who insecure, and flailing as he is, not to mention irrational is still is managing to have a real shot at a second term. Despite all those felonies. As for old, well aren’t most Presidents? I definitely think and stand by that he’s paranoid in the extreme. The “Deep State”?
Well said Nick, and I had to look up "gormless," that's a new one for me. I would have gone further if I was Harris, saying outright that the man is mentally unfit, with the pets reference - he's the crazy hateful uncle you can't invite to holiday dinners anymore. I would have said that precisely. But Harris did well.
It's a toss up indeed. At this point we need to focus on turnout - Taylor Swift can help with that, if she so decides. Last time she endorsed Biden, she put a link to voter registration - 35k registered that day. We need Taylor out there imploring people to register and vote. Every vote counts here, to be sure.
If she's elected, Harris will, at 5'4", be the shortest-equal US President with James Madison. The American electorate really don't like short men as presidential candidates.
The average POTUS height has been 5'11", with 18 Presidents at six foot or over, with Lincoln still leading (heading?) the pack at 6'4"; with LBJ, then Trump, narrowly following.
Some of Trump's advisors are populists, some are mainstream GOP. Indecision pay be playing a part in his decline.
"They're eating cats - they're eating dogs !" (about Haitian mIgrants) was vintage Trump rhetoric, but not hitting the mark.
Meanwhile, the Democrat campaign team - useless in 2016 - have engaged their brains and are performing brilliantly.
I still find it really hard to believe that he’s neck and neck with Kamala Harris after watching the debate, let alone other stuff he’s said. He’s a maverick and no one can know how he’d behave during a second term. It wouldn’t matter as much if it were not America.
What on earth makes you think Harris will make a better President ?
She's a completely unknown quantity. And won't be as pleasant in the White House as she is when campaigning.
And if she does win, it will be on the back of the Democrats' chief electoral weapon - the USA's huge army of career women.
How many of them keep cats is unknown. But it is known that most of them have liberal and feminist opinions. Also, that most of them are anxious and unhappy.
I've enjoyed the debate - and the debate about the debate, including this - as much as any non-American who's been petrified of the return of Trump...
One problem: I can't join in with the general jest about the cats and dogs claim. Here in Israel my wife and I used to live next door to migrant workers from the Far East. It's an area of South Tel-Aviv blessed with many street cats. Of an evening we would hear the screams of terrified cats from across the fence. Then the screams would end suddenly. A short while later we could smell the sizzling meat...
A cracker!
Wrong on Biden again Nick. What is it with you and that great man. The border crossing issue has been met... crossings are way down and a bill was killed by the Freedom caucus at Trumps behest.
One day you will realise he was St Michael.