The problem with "anyone but Trump" is there isn't anyone "there"

[NWRatCon]

The Republican party would desperately not have to tie its wagon to the faltering ship that is Donald Trump, but what are the options? The field has not significantly changed since March - when all of the indictments started:

The 2024 GOP field: How they win, how they lose (Politico);​

Who’s ahead in the national polls? (FiveThirtyEight)​

Let's all stop pretending anyone but Trump will be the GOP presidential nominee (Salon)​

"Not only are all these "new" Republicans molding themselves into the MAGA image of angry culture warriors, but they are all also going to fail miserably to unseat Trump. All this talk about new blood is interesting to the mainstream press and their mostly non-Republican audiences, but it fails to understand what motivates most Republican voters, especially those who vote in primaries. They don't want fresh faces, or anything resembling change. The whole point of being MAGA is bitterly clinging to an imaginary past, and rejecting any reminder that time is marching on past the stale reactionary politics of people, like Trump, who haven't updated their worldviews since the 80s."
...
"Haley got some good press by bragging about raising $11 million in 6 weeks. Turns out the real number was closer to $8 million. Scott can't get much attention at all, except when he's bumbling an answer about abortion. And the more people see DeSantis, the less they like him, as his plummeting poll numbers and increasingly dry fundraising apparatus show. Realistically, the polls are where they have been for a couple of years: Trump is the frontrunner in the GOP primary race and no one else is close. That isn't going to change."

None of them are serious candidates. NONE OF THEM. They are all just hoping that they can survive longer than Trump and his myriad indictments, and that is no basis for electing someone. They have literally nothing on offer. (I miss Romney and McCain.)

 

[Exquisitor]

Nonsense, Biden is fine.

 

[NWRatCon]

Nonsense, Biden is fine.

Oh, I was focusing on the GOP. Biden is more than fine. Time will tell just how fine.

 

[RIP U.S. Democracy]

The Republican party would desperately not have to tie its wagon to the faltering ship that is Donald Trump, but what are the options? The field has not significantly changed since March - when all of the indictments started:

The 2024 GOP field: How they win, how they lose (Politico);​

Who’s ahead in the national polls? (FiveThirtyEight)​

Let's all stop pretending anyone but Trump will be the GOP presidential nominee (Salon)​

"Not only are all these "new" Republicans molding themselves into the MAGA image of angry culture warriors, but they are all also going to fail miserably to unseat Trump. All this talk about new blood is interesting to the mainstream press and their mostly non-Republican audiences, but it fails to understand what motivates most Republican voters, especially those who vote in primaries. They don't want fresh faces, or anything resembling change. The whole point of being MAGA is bitterly clinging to an imaginary past, and rejecting any reminder that time is marching on past the stale reactionary politics of people, like Trump, who haven't updated their worldviews since the 80s."
...
"Haley got some good press by bragging about raising $11 million in 6 weeks. Turns out the real number was closer to $8 million. Scott can't get much attention at all, except when he's bumbling an answer about abortion. And the more people see DeSantis, the less they like him, as his plummeting poll numbers and increasingly dry fundraising apparatus show. Realistically, the polls are where they have been for a couple of years: Trump is the frontrunner in the GOP primary race and no one else is close. That isn't going to change."

None of them are serious candidates. NONE OF THEM. They are all just hoping that they can survive longer than Trump and his myriad indictments, and that is no basis for electing someone. They have literally nothing on offer. (I miss Romney and McCain.)

Cowardly Mitch McConnell could have permanently removed this Trump nightmare from the Republican Party in Feb 2021, after the second impeachment trial. Now Trump gets to continue to be the entire country's nightmare for at least the next 15 months.

So much for McConnell being a "wise politician". All evidence to the contrary.

 

[Exquisitor]

Oh, I was focusing on the GOP. Biden is more than fine. Time will tell just how fine.

Yes, I agree, the Republican lineup are all nutcases, I'm sticking with Trump for the GOP, doubling down, though that's how I got him the first time, that he'll be easier to beat and do more damage to his Party. Whatever they do, they got to let him run. Lest some younger guy up and take Biden. Sound? More sound than you know.

 

[Jay59]

The Republican party would desperately not have to tie its wagon to the faltering ship that is Donald Trump, but what are the options? The field has not significantly changed since March - when all of the indictments started:
The 2024 GOP field: How they win, how they lose (Politico);
Who’s ahead in the national polls? (FiveThirtyEight)
Let's all stop pretending anyone but Trump will be the GOP presidential nominee (Salon)
"Not only are all these "new" Republicans molding themselves into the MAGA image of angry culture warriors, but they are all also going to fail miserably to unseat Trump. All this talk about new blood is interesting to the mainstream press and their mostly non-Republican audiences, but it fails to understand what motivates most Republican voters, especially those who vote in primaries. They don't want fresh faces, or anything resembling change. The whole point of being MAGA is bitterly clinging to an imaginary past, and rejecting any reminder that time is marching on past the stale reactionary politics of people, like Trump, who haven't updated their worldviews since the 80s."
...
"Haley got some good press by bragging about raising $11 million in 6 weeks. Turns out the real number was closer to $8 million. Scott can't get much attention at all, except when he's bumbling an answer about abortion. And the more people see DeSantis, the less they like him, as his plummeting poll numbers and increasingly dry fundraising apparatus show. Realistically, the polls are where they have been for a couple of years: Trump is the frontrunner in the GOP primary race and no one else is close. That isn't going to change."

None of them are serious candidates. NONE OF THEM. They are all just hoping that they can survive longer than Trump and his myriad indictments, and that is no basis for electing someone. They have literally nothing on offer. (I miss Romney and McCain.)

That's about rightDeSantis and Biden are the best of the rest.

At least Trump has four years of quality work on his resume.

Nonsense, Biden is fine.

Hear this, you foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear:
Jeremiah 5:21

 

[IQ57]

Because Trump is the GOAT.

 

[Exquisitor]

Hear this, you foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear:
Jeremiah 5:21

Hear what?

I can't tell you what you need to hear, Biden or Trump, not a hard decision.

 

[Craig234]

Chris Christies is the alternative.

 

[Jay59]

Hear what?

Facts. Don't be blind and deaf to them like so many posting in this thread.

I can't tell you what you need to hear, Biden or Trump, not a hard decision.

That's true.

For all his many faults Trump is a proven competent President while Biden is proven incompetent.

 

[NWRatCon]

Hear what?

I can't tell you what you need to hear, Biden or Trump, not a hard decision.

I didn't realize the idiot chorus was posting. It's like the vacuous cacophony of a pond full of Bull(shit)frogs on a Spring evening. I just close the window.

 

[Mithrae]

Cowardly Mitch McConnell could have permanently removed this Trump nightmare from the Republican Party in Feb 2021, after the second impeachment trial. Now Trump gets to continue to be the entire country's nightmare for at least the next 15 months.

So much for McConnell being a "wise politician". All evidence to the contrary.

Yeah, remember how they were all bumbling out the scripted nonsense about Trump's 2nd impeachment being all about removing Democrats' political rival?

Remind me again what McConnell's semantic rationale at the time was, something like "Trump clearly bears moral responsibility for provoking an attack on the seat of government, but he didn't incite an insurrection"?

 

[samiam5211]

The problem isn't the GOP Candidates, it's the GOP electorate.

Any one of the Republicans running should be 50 points ahead of Trump.

There is no excuse for supporting Trump at this point. No one should be a Trump supporter.

 

[jnug]

Cowardly Mitch McConnell could have permanently removed this Trump nightmare from the Republican Party in Feb 2021, after the second impeachment trial. Now Trump gets to continue to be the entire country's nightmare for at least the next 15 months.

So much for McConnell being a "wise politician". All evidence to the contrary.

Cagy and shrewd YES....wise......not really ever. Now he has clearly lost a few feet off his fastball....not sure he can even manage cagy and shrewd except in selected moments surrounded by a haze of confusion.

Then again, "wise" has been in short supply up on the Hill for a long time now. When you look at who is willing to go into politics now, the case can be made that "wise" left the building, has not returned and shows no sign of returning.

 

[Airyaman]

Chris Christies is the alternative.

Sorry but America (much less the GOP) will not vote for a morbidly obese man for president. The only reason Trump gets away with being obese is his charisma and it really isn't that "out front". When you look at Christie, you see a slob. That may sound harsh, but it is reality.

 

[jnug]

Sorry but America (much less the GOP) will not vote for a morbidly obese man for president. The only reason Trump gets away with being obese is his charisma and it really isn't that "out front". When you look at Christie, you see a slob. That may sound harsh, but it is reality.

Trump accomplishes much with the style of men's business attire he chooses and with photoshopped digital material. Christie is so big he could not make the work if he tried it. He might be as wide as he is tall.

No wonder Trump is the frontrunner. Have you ever seen such a collection of stiffs running for the GOP nomination. Well ....if you call what they are doing "running".

 

[Mycroft]

Ok. Let's just cut to the chase. All this talk about the other Republican candidates is a waste of time. They just don't matter. Trump WILL be the Republican candidate.

But, that doesn't mean your thread title is useless. It really does apply when talking about Trump and Biden.

The problem with "anyone but Trump" is there isn't anyone "there"​

And that's the truth. With Biden, there ISN'T anyone there.

 

[Mithrae]

The problem isn't the GOP Candidates, it's the GOP electorate.

I'd put more blame on the people with the megaphones than on the people who hear them.

Any one of the Republicans running should be 50 points ahead of Trump.

There is no excuse for supporting Trump at this point. No one should be a Trump supporter.

People are easily swayed by propaganda. Most Russians supported the Ukraine invasion. Most Americans supported the Iraq invasion. Most Germans supported the Poland invasion. As soon as you see people as things to be measured, you'll find that they don't measure up. We could waste our time cursing and swearing about the fact that this particular species of ape hasn't evolved as much as we 'should' have in the past few generations... or we could work on trying to fix (or at least draw attention to) issues like a broken plutocratic duopoly, the concentration of wealth and power which drives it, and the (relative) economic deprivation for the working classes which cause people to turn towards simplistic and comforting ideas like 'traditional' values and 'strongman' leadership just as they did in the 30s. There's a much better chance of fixing economic, social and political systems than there is of fixing human nature.

 

[samiam5211]

I'd put more blame on the people with the megaphones than on the people who hear them.


People are easily swayed by propaganda. Most Russians support the Ukraine invasion. Most Americans supported the Iraq invasion. Most Germans supported the Poland invasion. As soon as you see people as things to be measured, you'll find that they don't measure up. We could waste our time cursing and swearing about the fact that this particular species of ape hasn't evolved as much as we 'should' have in the past few generations... or we could work on trying to fix (or at least draw attention to) issues like a broken plutocratic duopoly, the concentration of wealth and power which drives it, and the (relative) economic deprivation for the working classes which cause people to turn towards simplistic and comforting ideas like 'traditional' values and 'strongman' leadership just as they did in the 30s. There's a much better chance of fixing economic, social and political systems than there is of fixing human nature.

I suppose it just depends on where you think the source of the problem is.

If propaganda works, it will be used. You can't stop it at the top.

if it didn't work, it would disappear. We are the reason it works.

 

[Mithrae]

I suppose it just depends on where you think the source of the problem is.

If propaganda works, it will be used. You can't stop it at the top.

if it didn't work, it would disappear. We are the reason it works.

Good grief, so your 'solution' is for humans to stop being susceptible to propaganda, rather than for example addressing the concentration of wealth and power which funds and incentivizes it.

 

[ttwtt78640]

The problem isn't the GOP Candidates, it's the GOP electorate.

Any one of the Republicans running should be 50 points ahead of Trump.

There is no excuse for supporting Trump at this point. No one should be a Trump supporter.

That‘s true to a large extent, but I saw a poll (source forgotten) saying that 37% of the republicant primary voters want only Trump, 37% want anyone but Trump and the rest were undecided. It’s still too early to tell who the republicants will settle for, but it doesn’t look like DeSantis has much of a chance of being the (eventual) not Trump choice.

 

[BirdinHand]

The GOP has no “bench” and they don’t seem to be developing one either.

If you look across the aisle, you can SEE that the DNC *is* developing their bench. They’re succession planning. They’re putting players in places for 2026, 2028, and beyond.

There’s nothing on the GOP side. There is no leadership within that party.

And that’s not good at all for America.

Because we *need* two strong parties to keep one or the other from running too far to the extreme.

Currently, the GOP has gone so far MAGA - they’re out of the “game”.

And yeah…I miss the McCain and Romneys of the world. Shit…when Christie is the only “reasonable” man in the race…

We are in trouble.

 

[samiam5211]

Good grief, so your 'solution' is for humans to stop being susceptible to propaganda, rather than for example addressing the concentration of wealth and power which funds and incentivizes it.

You act like one problem is less complicated than the other.

People are the reason that wealth has been consolidated. If we fixed it, it would be back in 100 years, because people are the same.

 

[H. E. Panqui]

We'd have a better government/society were we to choose officeholders randomly from the phonebook, etc., rather than allowing our ma$ter$ to foi$t these miserable Republicrat $hit-puppets. Word.

 

[ttwtt78640]

The GOP has no “bench” and they don’t seem to be developing one either.

If you look across the aisle, you can SEE that the DNC *is* developing their bench. They’re succession planning. They’re putting players in places for 2026, 2028, and beyond.

There’s nothing on the GOP side. There is no leadership within that party.

And that’s not good at all for America.

Because we *need* two strong parties to keep one or the other from running too far to the extreme.

Currently, the GOP has gone so far MAGA - they’re out of the “game”.

And yeah…I miss the McCain and Romneys of the world. Shit…when Christie is the only “reasonable” man in the race…

We are in trouble.

Hmm… who are these demorat ‘bench’ House, Senate and POTUS candidates?