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The Biden Presidency

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bruto said:
I suppose it all comes down to how where you place the boundaries of stupidity.

A person drives a car with great skill and precision. Is he smart or stupid? I would contend that if he drives it the wrong way down the interstate, he's stupid no matter how well he shifts the gears.

e.t.a. or this, perhaps: A demagogue leads stupid people with a pack of lies. If he does not believe the lies, then perhaps he's just a bastard but not stupid. I would contend that if he does, then he's a stupid bastard.
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Your simplistic analogy doesn't work. Reducing it to driving a car is just not the same thing.
 
Biden is learning!

Politico tweets

@politico
Once again, the president and his party are poised to completely sidestep Senate Republicans whom Biden long argued he could work with
 
Stacyhs said:
But no one's claimed he's a "smart man".
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Did you really not understand what I meant by "not smart"? I'm saying he's stupid. Again. You're getting stuck at every step, for some reason. Let's focus.

You keep claiming he's an "idiot". And he hasn't "failed at everything" as you claimed. Sure, he lost his casinos, and many of his other enterprises and he's in debt for some of his other buildings, but some of his projects have been successful. For example, some of his golf resorts and he built a very successful brand name. Michael D'Antonio, (Trump's biographer) said “Donald is brilliant about turning himself into a walking brand, and he seized that opportunity pretty early.” No, Trump is not business genius, but he is no idiot, either. His gift lies in other areas an as said earlier.
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Again, you are under the impression that stupid people can't succeed.

And you really do seem to be saying that he's smart, despite saying that no one claims he's smart. Which is it?

Really? Name another 'idiot' who has managed that.
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Ben Shapiro, for instance. There are plenty to choose from in the GOP and in right-wing media, to name only one source. And I'm not talking about just the grifters, who tend to be smarter than they make it seem.

I don't think they are quite so hidden. They seem rather obvious to me.
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Yeah, that's the problem. You've made something up about other people and you believe your own BS. This is what seems to be driving your argument rather than the actual evidence.

Why else argue so vociferously against something so benign as Trump likely having reading learning disabilities and instead insisting he's just plain stupid?
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First of all, the two aren't mutually exclusive. Second, because I've seen no evidence that he has a reading or learning disability. Third, because almost everything he's said and done in the last 30 years has demonstrated my claim. So even if you're right, something you can't know, it doesn't matter, because it has nothing to do with whether he's stupid. Your entire objection is irrelevant.
 
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Belz... said:
How about we've seen the evidence and decided that he's not a smart man, by any measure?

He's bad at everything; he fails at everything except conning idiots. He's consistently lost money all his life. He says stupid things all the time. He can't even come up with smart lies.
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And even with his one true skill, conning idiots, he doesn't think it all the way through. Take a look at the recent stories about the "recurring payments" scam he pulled in the last few weeks of the election. It raised well over a hundred million dollars, which by any measure makes it a pretty successful scam.

But of course, Trump didn't think it all the way through. He got to the point where he had the money, but didn't bother to think about 2 major factors: Firstly, the recurring payments in many cases added up to more than the person was legally allowed to donate, so he had to give some of the money back. Secondly, a lot of people, once they realized what had happened, demanded refunds, which Trump also did not think of.

So he had to pull yet another scam, the "Stop the Steal!" fundraising post-election, just to come up with the money he needed to refund all those people. A "successful" con once again, even though it really only succeeded in fixing the screw-ups of the first con.

And consider the situation for the country. Had Trump not needed the millions of dollars from the StS con to fix the earlier con, would he have still be beating that drum months later? Could Trump's screwed-up cons be directly implicated in the attack on the Capitol?

Not being able to see even one iota past the $$$$$ is pretty stupid. Trump is a driver who steered towards a wall, then tried to fix it by steering towards a cliff.
 
Trump's "success" in the 2016 elections is essentially evolutionary: for 30 years he's been saying the same stupid ****, and by 2016 the political environment had changed so that his stupid **** now worked on a portion of the voters. It isn't because Trump is smart or adapted to the situation; it's that the situation happened to align with his stupidity.
 
Stacyhs said:
Well, for someone who's 'stupid' he's certainly been smart enough to tap into what 74 million people in this country wanted so badly he's taken on cult status. Name another Republican leader who has been 'stupid' enough to do that.
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I view the Trump phenomenon as a perfect storm, where his brand of stupid just happened to align with the dimwitted times. A rogue wave.
 
There are copious threads in which to discuss the previous President; this thread is about the current one. Please keep to the topic, thank you.
Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: zooterkin
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
And,we need bigger margins in 2022 in both Houses. This is a must!!!

Especially in the Senate because we can't afford to have McConnell back in power. He's been on his high ******* horse much too long. Let that man stew some more, he's not done cooking.
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I very much fear the opposite will happen. Overreach by Clinton and Obama going for healthcare resulted in the disastrous elections of 1994 and 2010. I see Biden going down the same path, even if it's not healthcare.

acbytesla said:
This is why I believe it is imperative to make DC and PR States and do Congressional reapportionment legislation. Eliminate Gerrymandering. Do these things and America becomes a democracy again.
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Highly desirable; ain't gonna happen.
 
Trebuchet said:
I very much fear the opposite will happen. Overreach by Clinton and Obama going for healthcare resulted in the disastrous elections of 1994 and 2010. I see Biden going down the same path, even if it's not healthcare.
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Sooo completely different circumstances in that many voters didn't believe they benefited from the ACA and it was easy to demonize it as welfare. In this case everyone can see the economy is suffering and it's called a stimulus bill. Easier to block demonization even though the GOP is trying hard to claim it is a Democratic giveaway for Green New Deal funding.

I don't see the GOP charges sticking at this point.
 
I could see him getting killed in the booths over trying to push through gun control. But I think most of what he's been pushing through now is very popular. Party line votes on bills that have 70-80% public support is just fine. And people have been waiting for something on healthcare for a long time.
 
dirtywick said:
I could see him getting killed in the booths over trying to push through gun control. But I think most of what he's been pushing through now is very popular. Party line votes on bills that have 70-80% public support is just fine.
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Right now, a large majority of people (57%) actually favor stricter gun control legislation. (See: Gallup.com)

Unfortunately, it doesn't necessarily mean gun control wouldn't hurt the Democrats.... after all, the republicans seem to be masters at making people vote against their own self-interests.
 
Segnosaur said:
Right now, a large majority of people (57%) actually favor stricter gun control legislation. (See: Gallup.com)

Unfortunately, it doesn't necessarily mean gun control wouldn't hurt the Democrats.... after all, the republicans seem to be masters at making people vote against their own self-interests.
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That's true, but the loss of any seat, especially the Senate, in the next few years is going to absolutely stall any agenda. And the way things are structured, they'll probably have to pull in 60% of the national vote to do it. And they'd probably be more comfortable if they had 51 seats in the senate so Manchin has to cool it a bit.
 
Segnosaur said:
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Unfortunately, it doesn't necessarily mean gun control wouldn't hurt the Democrats.... after all, the republicans seem to be masters at making people vote against their own self-interests.
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With reference to this, I went looking for the H.L.Mencken quote -"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." and also found this one - "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

I knew he was a smartarse, I didn't know he was also a prophet! :eye-poppi
 
Trebuchet said:
I very much fear the opposite will happen. Overreach by Clinton and Obama going for healthcare resulted in the disastrous elections of 1994 and 2010. I see Biden going down the same path, even if it's not healthcare.
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I disagree. It's not overreach, it is failing. Clinton failed on his attempt. But that was only partially his fault. Obama passed the healthcare, but it should have been a lot better. It's doing it half assed that is the problem. I believe Biden is doing it the right way. The people hired him to "git er done". And from what I see, he is.

Go big, or go home.


Trebuchet said:
Highly desirable; ain't gonna happen.
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Probably not and that is why democracy is endangered. Between gerrymandering and that reapportionment is happening before the next election Biden could very well lose control of the House. The Senate OTOH looks better for the Dems.
 
dirtywick said:
That's true, but the loss of any seat, especially the Senate, in the next few years is going to absolutely stall any agenda. And the way things are structured, they'll probably have to pull in 60% of the national vote to do it. And they'd probably be more comfortable if they had 51 seats in the senate so Manchin has to cool it a bit.
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As much as I'd like to see some gun control, I'd pass on reform of that right now. Bigger fish to fry.
 
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