Granted, Biden ought not to have clung so long to the assumption of his nomination. But we had a great candidate. The problem was that she was a woman of color in a nation with too many racist misogynists and too many who declined to vote to, perhaps, avoid looking like racist misogynists.
When I was around 18 or 19 years old, I remember actually being impressed with George H.W. Bush when he relented to raising taxes despite his "read my lips" promise. Even from that young an age, I have always thought it absurd for grown adults to hold others to promises, particularly when things clearly haven't worked out as expected. My response to people who angrily say, "But you promised!" is normally something along the lines of, "Are you five years old?"
When Joe Biden made that promise, he obviously was banking on a normal American justice system, and a permanent return to sanity in America with Trump gone. He was certainly not expecting Trump to actually return to power. Now, after the announced nomination of an openly vengeful thug for head of the FBI, by an openly vengeful thug of a President-elect, after watching Congressional Republicans go after Hunter to get to Joe, and knowing that Trump has corrupt judges on his side in the Judiciary, it is more than reasonable for Joe to change his mind.
Things obviously didn't turn out as expected. The good and great American people re-elected a crook, who absolutely needed no pretext to pardon the J6 terrorists any more than he needed one for all of the other corrupt pardons he handed out in his first term. If they now have a problem with the outgoing President taking understandable action on the basis of this once unthinkable disaster of an outcome, then the people who made this outcome happen should take a long look in the mirror, so that they may figure out a way to go fuck themselves.
Dems and MAGA can defame and blame Biden all they want, and when he's out of office, everything they pinned on him is only going to get exponentially worse. It's not out of the realm of possibility the tariff war quickly escalates consumer prices to absurd levels, forcing most middle and lower class households into food poverty. I bet the next pandemic will shatter our society by 2026. My money is on bird flu completely wiping out the supply chain of dairy products, chicken, eggs, and beef long just as the virus mutates with COVID or influenza to take out human beings. Since all Dems can do to grieve is meet in groups to scream at the ocean and rent out rage rooms, salvation perhaps rests in the MAGA base. They're armed to the teeth, easily provoked to anger, and have no problem storming government facilities. Once they learn they've been duped perhaps they'll rise up and settle the score. Look no further than the folk hero status the UnitedHealth assassin has already achieved. The victim can only blame himself. His entire industry is built upon a conflict of interest between the service provider and their customers. For UnitedHealth, customers are the adversary, investors are the priority. Most big businesses are built upon the same model. Perhaps the revolution is nigh, and Dems simply need to duck and cover when the bullets start flying.
I struggle, Ben, with what we've done to ourselves by reelecting this most horrible person to the presidency once more. I sincerely thought we had a winner in Vice President Kamala Harris, but call me naive then for thinking she would win, even by a slight margin. It's true that our better angels did not prevail this time, and there are so many reasons put forth for that. It seems that most voters did not acknowledge the reduction in inflation that was enacted during the Biden presidency since prices are still high. However, no one who voted Dump back into office looked seriously at his policy of imposing tariffs on various countries that will have a truly negative effect on the economy. This will throw the economy into a tailspin most assuredly.
Maybe Biden should have exited the political stage sooner so that we might have had an open primary and Harris might not have been nominated as the so-called "savior" of the party. Someone else could have emerged to galvanize the party in much more time than what Harris was given. However, I truly believe she ran a far more successful campaign than the old man whose campaign was shoddy and almost an absurd circus at times. Who can forget his meandering ruminations on sharks and being electrocuted - or whatever it was - during one of his campaign rallies over the summer? He always failed to mention what policies he would put forward if reelected. We all know he ran again to escape being held accountable for his many crimes and he has succeeded in avoiding being punished quite well.
Sadly, Dump's win seems to reflect the far-right leaning victories seen in other parts of the world right now.
Reading over the thread of what Kels puts forth in his comments below, I can't help but wonder if we are due for another pandemic under a second Trump presidency. It would be poetic justice if we did have one and we had the most negligent human on the planet in charge of eradicating this one. Of course, I don't wish this on us or anyone else, but there are signs regretfully of another one possibly brewing out there.
"It seems that most voters did not acknowledge the reduction in inflation that was enacted during the Biden presidency since prices are still high."
I wonder if it's because the political geniuses that run the entire party's campaign strategy on James Carville cliches from 1991 thought it was a good idea to not talk about how inflation had gone down during their administration.
Biden understood that, no, actually, when you are running for reelection you say that you are doing a really great job with the economy. The post-2016 depressive strategy of "well, we have to admit we suck a LITTLE bit, right?" was reimplemented once he was kicked out with predictable results.
Imagine Trump trying to express even a single smidgen of humility on his performance on the economy. Ask Trump how the economy is on February 1, 2025 and he'll tell you it's the greatest in the world, amazing, the best the world's ever seen in history, before anything has even happened. But no, you have to be real pragmatic and "acknowledge people's feelings." Jesus Christ, Democrats.
There are many annoying undercurrents in the party that Biden stood directly against, and even though the biggest problem is losing power I was already worried about losing him, specifically. He really was the perfect man to lead this party and the loss of his speech abilities at exactly the wrong time (if not an unpredictable one) is one of history's great tragedies.
Biden was an excellent president… especially given the context and what he had when he took over. To be president requires just a little bit of ego, one might say. And to then criticize that person for not wanting to leave the job or acknowledge he is still capable to play at that level is in conflict with that ego. Harris, was indeed excellent. That we try and hold her accountable for past immaturities…? C’ mon… that is a standard none of us could live to. Harris has achieved, has led, and grew massively into an excellent VP. To not “forgive” her for a bad campaign in 2020, or other misdemeanors in her past is silly. That’s why we should look at growth and learned experience. As mentioned in THE BANTER, she managed and delivered a campaign few others, if any, could possibly have done better. I think we should empathize for the gut-wrenching hell she has just begun to have to endure. Probably only Hillary could fully fathom. Biden and Harris are great! Should both be admired. And should both be appreciated.
One more thing… the standards we hold our officials to should absolutely be high. So, rather than beat down Biden and Harris… let hold Trump and his cronies to those same high standards. One pardon, protecting one’s son… yes… it should be criticized. But c’mon… in comparison to everything Trump has done… just last week…??
Walk and chew gum. Biden deserves credit for things he accomplished, and Kamala did indeed run a good campaign, etc. BUT, they both failed disastrously and UNNECESSARILY in Gaza. The fact that that element doesn’t even rate a mention confirms that you, Mr Cohen, suffer from the same fatal myopia that Biden, Kamala, and the DNC succumb to: you fail to understand that abetting GENOCIDE in the 21st-century doesn’t pass the test for America.
I agree… they failed. But nearly all presidents have big failures when it comes to the Middle East. I think the failure was, in an election season, choosing to walk an imagined center line instead of condemning and taking decisive action against Netanyahu. This was the mistake. Especially given the election calculation failed, anyway. But, the Middle East calculations are never black and white… But, in general, I agree with you. I really wish they had done more… because now the opportunity to do something… is gone.
I hate to tell many if you this, but 90 percent of the American public doesn't know where Gaza is and doesn't care about it. Hell most of the probably can't more than 25 of the states. And even if they did Aipac has spent decades making certain it didn't matter. They supported primary challengers to Democratic incumbents and got them defeated.
The pro Israel forces in US politics are deeply entrenched .. Biden wasn't the problem. He was a symptom of it but changing US policy on Israel is going to take years and a converted effort which just isn't there.
President Biden’s staunch support of Ukraine has resulted in the collapse of Assad and the weakening of Russia. Here is a reality no one is acknowledging: President Biden could not be a lame duck in 2023 or early 2024 because he had to get the funding for Ukraine secured, funding requested in the late summer of 2023 but blocked by trump and Speaker Johnson but Johnson finally had to give in and pass Ukraine funding in late April 2024, by then it was too late for President Biden to simply step aside. Had Biden been a lane duck, Mike Johnson would have never let Ukraine funding get through Congress. We are seeing the results of President Biden keeping his steady eye on the ball. The media, including our more liberal media is now controlled by greed and clicks and the media kept a steady eye on their ball of greed. The quiet competence of President Biden and the no drama leadership of President Obama does not sell like the daily scandals and divisive hate of trump and the Republican cult. I am thankful for this 4 years of humble competent leadership under President Biden.
Why do you feel the need to insult? Your need to insult says everything about you. I hope you make a New Year’s resolution to be a better and kinder and more respectful person.
You're the sharpest knife in the drawer. Lawrence O'Donnell made the same point months ago. Biden couldn't have said he wasn't running back when everyone was he should have for exactly the reason you mention.
"If you are angry about what happened, direct it at the oligarchs who financed Trump’s campaign. Or Elon Musk who turned Twitter into the biggest propaganda propagator in human history. Or Donald Trump, who lied and cheated his way through life all the way up to the presidency. "
“ What kind of precedent will we have set if both parties accept the premise that whoever’s elected is going to politically prosecute his or her opponents?”
That’s Chuck Todd arguing that we should allow just ONE party to accept the premise that whoever is elected is going to politically prosecute their opponents.
He’s saying it’s we should accept the Republicans lying about Democrats, but not allow Democrats to tell the truth about Republicans.
I can't tolerate the holier than thou comments from the likes of Tommy Vietor and Tim Kaine. It's obvious to those of us in the real world that Biden had no choice but to pardon his son. He wasn't going to pardon if he or Kamala Harris won. Really, Tommy, you would leave your son to the wolves and not do anything to help him. Axelrod is a dinosaur like others trying to stay relevant by spouting pundit nonsense. The landscape is different, has been and will be for the future. Dumping on Biden by the democratic pundits, operatives, and politicians make the party look like they are out of touch and have no one's back. Not a way to entice potential electorates. People like Cheri Jacobus and Vic Meyers "old white guy" are who to turn to. They will lead the way to how to resist. Also, The Banter of course. There's Popular Information, Pro Publica, and others like Jess Piper. I stopped watching Meet the Press, etc. plus the talking head panels on MSNBC. Really those are no different than watching a regular podcast.
Granted, Biden ought not to have clung so long to the assumption of his nomination. But we had a great candidate. The problem was that she was a woman of color in a nation with too many racist misogynists and too many who declined to vote to, perhaps, avoid looking like racist misogynists.
When I was around 18 or 19 years old, I remember actually being impressed with George H.W. Bush when he relented to raising taxes despite his "read my lips" promise. Even from that young an age, I have always thought it absurd for grown adults to hold others to promises, particularly when things clearly haven't worked out as expected. My response to people who angrily say, "But you promised!" is normally something along the lines of, "Are you five years old?"
When Joe Biden made that promise, he obviously was banking on a normal American justice system, and a permanent return to sanity in America with Trump gone. He was certainly not expecting Trump to actually return to power. Now, after the announced nomination of an openly vengeful thug for head of the FBI, by an openly vengeful thug of a President-elect, after watching Congressional Republicans go after Hunter to get to Joe, and knowing that Trump has corrupt judges on his side in the Judiciary, it is more than reasonable for Joe to change his mind.
Things obviously didn't turn out as expected. The good and great American people re-elected a crook, who absolutely needed no pretext to pardon the J6 terrorists any more than he needed one for all of the other corrupt pardons he handed out in his first term. If they now have a problem with the outgoing President taking understandable action on the basis of this once unthinkable disaster of an outcome, then the people who made this outcome happen should take a long look in the mirror, so that they may figure out a way to go fuck themselves.
Dems and MAGA can defame and blame Biden all they want, and when he's out of office, everything they pinned on him is only going to get exponentially worse. It's not out of the realm of possibility the tariff war quickly escalates consumer prices to absurd levels, forcing most middle and lower class households into food poverty. I bet the next pandemic will shatter our society by 2026. My money is on bird flu completely wiping out the supply chain of dairy products, chicken, eggs, and beef long just as the virus mutates with COVID or influenza to take out human beings. Since all Dems can do to grieve is meet in groups to scream at the ocean and rent out rage rooms, salvation perhaps rests in the MAGA base. They're armed to the teeth, easily provoked to anger, and have no problem storming government facilities. Once they learn they've been duped perhaps they'll rise up and settle the score. Look no further than the folk hero status the UnitedHealth assassin has already achieved. The victim can only blame himself. His entire industry is built upon a conflict of interest between the service provider and their customers. For UnitedHealth, customers are the adversary, investors are the priority. Most big businesses are built upon the same model. Perhaps the revolution is nigh, and Dems simply need to duck and cover when the bullets start flying.
MAGA will never admit they were duped. Trump will blame somebody else, and they will buy it.
I struggle, Ben, with what we've done to ourselves by reelecting this most horrible person to the presidency once more. I sincerely thought we had a winner in Vice President Kamala Harris, but call me naive then for thinking she would win, even by a slight margin. It's true that our better angels did not prevail this time, and there are so many reasons put forth for that. It seems that most voters did not acknowledge the reduction in inflation that was enacted during the Biden presidency since prices are still high. However, no one who voted Dump back into office looked seriously at his policy of imposing tariffs on various countries that will have a truly negative effect on the economy. This will throw the economy into a tailspin most assuredly.
Maybe Biden should have exited the political stage sooner so that we might have had an open primary and Harris might not have been nominated as the so-called "savior" of the party. Someone else could have emerged to galvanize the party in much more time than what Harris was given. However, I truly believe she ran a far more successful campaign than the old man whose campaign was shoddy and almost an absurd circus at times. Who can forget his meandering ruminations on sharks and being electrocuted - or whatever it was - during one of his campaign rallies over the summer? He always failed to mention what policies he would put forward if reelected. We all know he ran again to escape being held accountable for his many crimes and he has succeeded in avoiding being punished quite well.
Sadly, Dump's win seems to reflect the far-right leaning victories seen in other parts of the world right now.
Reading over the thread of what Kels puts forth in his comments below, I can't help but wonder if we are due for another pandemic under a second Trump presidency. It would be poetic justice if we did have one and we had the most negligent human on the planet in charge of eradicating this one. Of course, I don't wish this on us or anyone else, but there are signs regretfully of another one possibly brewing out there.
"It seems that most voters did not acknowledge the reduction in inflation that was enacted during the Biden presidency since prices are still high."
I wonder if it's because the political geniuses that run the entire party's campaign strategy on James Carville cliches from 1991 thought it was a good idea to not talk about how inflation had gone down during their administration.
Biden understood that, no, actually, when you are running for reelection you say that you are doing a really great job with the economy. The post-2016 depressive strategy of "well, we have to admit we suck a LITTLE bit, right?" was reimplemented once he was kicked out with predictable results.
Imagine Trump trying to express even a single smidgen of humility on his performance on the economy. Ask Trump how the economy is on February 1, 2025 and he'll tell you it's the greatest in the world, amazing, the best the world's ever seen in history, before anything has even happened. But no, you have to be real pragmatic and "acknowledge people's feelings." Jesus Christ, Democrats.
There are many annoying undercurrents in the party that Biden stood directly against, and even though the biggest problem is losing power I was already worried about losing him, specifically. He really was the perfect man to lead this party and the loss of his speech abilities at exactly the wrong time (if not an unpredictable one) is one of history's great tragedies.
Well said!
Biden was an excellent president… especially given the context and what he had when he took over. To be president requires just a little bit of ego, one might say. And to then criticize that person for not wanting to leave the job or acknowledge he is still capable to play at that level is in conflict with that ego. Harris, was indeed excellent. That we try and hold her accountable for past immaturities…? C’ mon… that is a standard none of us could live to. Harris has achieved, has led, and grew massively into an excellent VP. To not “forgive” her for a bad campaign in 2020, or other misdemeanors in her past is silly. That’s why we should look at growth and learned experience. As mentioned in THE BANTER, she managed and delivered a campaign few others, if any, could possibly have done better. I think we should empathize for the gut-wrenching hell she has just begun to have to endure. Probably only Hillary could fully fathom. Biden and Harris are great! Should both be admired. And should both be appreciated.
One more thing… the standards we hold our officials to should absolutely be high. So, rather than beat down Biden and Harris… let hold Trump and his cronies to those same high standards. One pardon, protecting one’s son… yes… it should be criticized. But c’mon… in comparison to everything Trump has done… just last week…??
Walk and chew gum. Biden deserves credit for things he accomplished, and Kamala did indeed run a good campaign, etc. BUT, they both failed disastrously and UNNECESSARILY in Gaza. The fact that that element doesn’t even rate a mention confirms that you, Mr Cohen, suffer from the same fatal myopia that Biden, Kamala, and the DNC succumb to: you fail to understand that abetting GENOCIDE in the 21st-century doesn’t pass the test for America.
I agree… they failed. But nearly all presidents have big failures when it comes to the Middle East. I think the failure was, in an election season, choosing to walk an imagined center line instead of condemning and taking decisive action against Netanyahu. This was the mistake. Especially given the election calculation failed, anyway. But, the Middle East calculations are never black and white… But, in general, I agree with you. I really wish they had done more… because now the opportunity to do something… is gone.
I hate to tell many if you this, but 90 percent of the American public doesn't know where Gaza is and doesn't care about it. Hell most of the probably can't more than 25 of the states. And even if they did Aipac has spent decades making certain it didn't matter. They supported primary challengers to Democratic incumbents and got them defeated.
The pro Israel forces in US politics are deeply entrenched .. Biden wasn't the problem. He was a symptom of it but changing US policy on Israel is going to take years and a converted effort which just isn't there.
President Biden’s staunch support of Ukraine has resulted in the collapse of Assad and the weakening of Russia. Here is a reality no one is acknowledging: President Biden could not be a lame duck in 2023 or early 2024 because he had to get the funding for Ukraine secured, funding requested in the late summer of 2023 but blocked by trump and Speaker Johnson but Johnson finally had to give in and pass Ukraine funding in late April 2024, by then it was too late for President Biden to simply step aside. Had Biden been a lane duck, Mike Johnson would have never let Ukraine funding get through Congress. We are seeing the results of President Biden keeping his steady eye on the ball. The media, including our more liberal media is now controlled by greed and clicks and the media kept a steady eye on their ball of greed. The quiet competence of President Biden and the no drama leadership of President Obama does not sell like the daily scandals and divisive hate of trump and the Republican cult. I am thankful for this 4 years of humble competent leadership under President Biden.
Why do you feel the need to insult? Your need to insult says everything about you. I hope you make a New Year’s resolution to be a better and kinder and more respectful person.
You're the sharpest knife in the drawer. Lawrence O'Donnell made the same point months ago. Biden couldn't have said he wasn't running back when everyone was he should have for exactly the reason you mention.
Any discussion of how the Trumpists won the election needs to include reference to their ratfucking.
https://open.substack.com/pub/statuskuo/p/the-musk-rat?r=2nzz7&utm_medium=ios
"If you are angry about what happened, direct it at the oligarchs who financed Trump’s campaign. Or Elon Musk who turned Twitter into the biggest propaganda propagator in human history. Or Donald Trump, who lied and cheated his way through life all the way up to the presidency. "
Perfect response
“ What kind of precedent will we have set if both parties accept the premise that whoever’s elected is going to politically prosecute his or her opponents?”
That’s Chuck Todd arguing that we should allow just ONE party to accept the premise that whoever is elected is going to politically prosecute their opponents.
He’s saying it’s we should accept the Republicans lying about Democrats, but not allow Democrats to tell the truth about Republicans.
I can't tolerate the holier than thou comments from the likes of Tommy Vietor and Tim Kaine. It's obvious to those of us in the real world that Biden had no choice but to pardon his son. He wasn't going to pardon if he or Kamala Harris won. Really, Tommy, you would leave your son to the wolves and not do anything to help him. Axelrod is a dinosaur like others trying to stay relevant by spouting pundit nonsense. The landscape is different, has been and will be for the future. Dumping on Biden by the democratic pundits, operatives, and politicians make the party look like they are out of touch and have no one's back. Not a way to entice potential electorates. People like Cheri Jacobus and Vic Meyers "old white guy" are who to turn to. They will lead the way to how to resist. Also, The Banter of course. There's Popular Information, Pro Publica, and others like Jess Piper. I stopped watching Meet the Press, etc. plus the talking head panels on MSNBC. Really those are no different than watching a regular podcast.