comment by Samus (Isle of) Arran (U22669)
posted 24 minutes ago
It was a very obvious outcome, what we are witnessing is how the absolutely pathetic, weak, feckless, chinless centrism.

Obama > Trump
Macron > LePen

It's happening all over Europe Geert Wilders in Holland, the rise of the AFD in Germany, Melloni in Italy

The UK was mildly insulated from this effect (brexit aside) as we had a lunatic right wing government from 2010 onwards, Starmer will now entrench the pain by "making tough decisions" and in a few years we'll be mover from Starmer > Badenoch/Farage

The chinless centrists those who consider themselves "the grown ups in the room" when in reality they are the spoiled brats who demand everyone support them as they believe they are correct, this cohort will f**k us all
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I want much more bold policy from Labour. But we should be careful to avoid wishful thinking. The last five years of hard-right populist Tory government came about after an election when the people were given a choice between a Tory government that no one really liked, that many were tired of, that had given us the misery of Austerity and a genuinely left-wing alternative.

comment by Calafiori knows how to Partey (U21076)
posted 19 minutes ago
Trump does know what he's doing, deranged as he does sound. The way he cultivates a lie into his MAGA Base is begrudgingly clever.
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Oh yes, he is the greatest con man the world has ever seen. He has fleeced his supporters of their hard earned cash all the way to the Whitehouse, again.

Mark Twain : A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.

Updated 2025 : A lie can travel many times around the world while the truth is still in bed dreaming.

Polling consistently indicates that high inflation rates under Biden and the border security issue (which actually hasn't changed a great deal under Biden vs Trump) were the two predominant issues that motivated people to vote for Trump.
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If I'm remembering right the Republican's actually torpedoed Biden's border plan solely so they could run on how Democrat's aren't doing anything about the border.

It's one of the weirdest thing's about American politics now, that they just object each other's policies because it came from the other party.

comment by FieldsofAnfieldRd (U18971)
posted 49 minutes ago
comment by Striketeam7 - staying humble (U18109)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by Clockwork Red: Rúben's Train (U4892)
posted 2 minutes ago
The Democrats, kept a clearly less than 100% mentally competent man in charge right up to the point where they could not hide his frailty any longer. Why were they not preparing sooner?

--------

A fair point, but the other side have done it for nine years and it's worked out OK.
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Trump has his faculties, it doesn’t always seem like it, be he is all there.

Biden - faaaack knows who was pulling his strings the last 2 years, he could barely talk at times
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He, wrongly, accused immigrants of eating cats and dogs.

But he's got all his faculties apparently.
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How many more votes did that reprehensible comment get him.

You are misjudging him completely if you think that was a sign of him losing mental fortitude - it was quite the opposite.

mu52...

Wait until you find out that virtually every post-war President would have been hanged if the Nuremberg Principles were applied!

Trump as an individual is what he is. We all know that. But that's largely irrelevant. What matters is the policies of his party, and who the main parties ultimately represent when push comes to shove.

We have completely broken political discourse across a tiny, narrow spectrum operating within an economic framework that simply doesn't serve the needs of the majority of people. I think we're in a pretty dark place politically and economically and people like Trump are a symptom of that, rather than the cause (though he certainly plays a role).

comment by Striketeam7 - staying humble (U18109)
posted 10 seconds ago
comment by FieldsofAnfieldRd (U18971)
posted 49 minutes ago
comment by Striketeam7 - staying humble (U18109)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by Clockwork Red: Rúben's Train (U4892)
posted 2 minutes ago
The Democrats, kept a clearly less than 100% mentally competent man in charge right up to the point where they could not hide his frailty any longer. Why were they not preparing sooner?

--------

A fair point, but the other side have done it for nine years and it's worked out OK.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Trump has his faculties, it doesn’t always seem like it, be he is all there.

Biden - faaaack knows who was pulling his strings the last 2 years, he could barely talk at times
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He, wrongly, accused immigrants of eating cats and dogs.

But he's got all his faculties apparently.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
How many more votes did that reprehensible comment get him.

You are misjudging him completely if you think that was a sign of him losing mental fortitude - it was quite the opposite.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

JD Vance ran with that line over and over, and when it was exposed as a total fabrication, he shamelessly said it's the media's job to fact-check, not his. Trump is losing his mental acuity, but outlandish claims obviously aren't vote losers.

comment by -bloodred- (U1222)
posted 32 minutes ago
Trump does know what he's doing, deranged as he does sound. The way he cultivates a lie into his MAGA Base is begrudgingly clever.
---------------------
There are definitely people around him who know what they're doing, but I reckon Trump is genuinely as stupid as he comes across.

For whatever reason though he inspires a cult-following following in stupid people, and it makes him an extremely useful idiot for smarter people looking for power and influence (Musk and the like).
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Exactly this - mentally Trump is fine, he just isn’t an intellectual. However, he is smart enough to listen to the “right” people, the people that could give him power and he is smart enough to carry out their instructions.

The way some people are getting this mixed up with his mental faculties dimming is how he is in power - he was underestimated by the left every step of the way in this campaign, to a point where the democrats were going to run Biden against him again despite clear evidence that age has caught up with Biden mentally

I wonder how many votes his Arnold Palmer remark got him

Trump didn't even need to be that good to win. A lot of the left's incompetence played into his hands.

I think it's less so Trump is this genius in tune with the American people and more he just flings so much out there that some of it sticks.

Add to that his cult of personality and people just believe whatever he says without checking for themselves.

comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Striketeam7 - staying humble (U18109)
posted 10 seconds ago
comment by FieldsofAnfieldRd (U18971)
posted 49 minutes ago
comment by Striketeam7 - staying humble (U18109)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by Clockwork Red: Rúben's Train (U4892)
posted 2 minutes ago
The Democrats, kept a clearly less than 100% mentally competent man in charge right up to the point where they could not hide his frailty any longer. Why were they not preparing sooner?

--------

A fair point, but the other side have done it for nine years and it's worked out OK.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Trump has his faculties, it doesn’t always seem like it, be he is all there.

Biden - faaaack knows who was pulling his strings the last 2 years, he could barely talk at times
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He, wrongly, accused immigrants of eating cats and dogs.

But he's got all his faculties apparently.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
How many more votes did that reprehensible comment get him.

You are misjudging him completely if you think that was a sign of him losing mental fortitude - it was quite the opposite.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

JD Vance ran with that line over and over, and when it was exposed as a total fabrication, he shamelessly said it's the media's job to fact-check, not his. Trump is losing his mental acuity, but outlandish claims obviously aren't vote losers.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You will be doomed to repeat your mistakes then.

You think that man has lost his mental capacity, not a chance, he played his hand in this election like no other before - he has convinced/duped (depending on your outlook) the majority of Americans (he won the populist vote as well) to go along with his ideas - some of which are faaaacking mental/Outlandish (depending on your point of view)

But sure, he is mentally diminished

comment by The Welsh Xavi (U15412)
posted 1 minute ago
I think it's less so Trump is this genius in tune with the American people and more he just flings so much out there that some of it sticks.

Add to that his cult of personality and people just believe whatever he says without checking for themselves.
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It’s the sum of its parts - but to claim a man who is a convicted felon but managed to become POTUS for a second time is in anyway mentally diminished is laughable

He has lost his marbles but has won the populist vote - with the economy being a huge factor. The American people now entrusting the economy to a man who has been bankrupted 8 times

A convicted felon would more than likely be ineligible to receive a visa for the usa but a convicted felon can be elected to run the country.

comment by Roy's Keane (U11635)
posted 12 minutes ago
A convicted felon would more than likely be ineligible to receive a visa for the usa but a convicted felon can be elected to run the country.


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Indeed

As the song says, it’s a mad world

The fact that the only choice the American people had was between a mad candidate and a dimwitted one shows just how corrupted the political system is. The Democrats didn’t want a competent president, they wanted someone they could control.

comment by Striketeam7 - staying humble (U18109)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Roy's Keane (U11635)
posted 12 minutes ago
A convicted felon would more than likely be ineligible to receive a visa for the usa but a convicted felon can be elected to run the country.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Indeed

As the song says, it’s a mad world
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comment by Glen Bulb (U1449)
posted 2 hours, 12 minutes ago
We had Boris Johnson remember, couldn’t lie straight in bed
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He was elected though.

comment by Terminator1 (U1863)
posted 0 seconds ago
comment by Glen Bulb (U1449)
posted 2 hours, 12 minutes ago
We had Boris Johnson remember, couldn’t lie straight in bed
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He was elected though.
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*wasn’t

I think it says more about the intellect of your average Yank. I would not say they are all as thick as mince. But a sizable number are. Trump wouldn't get voted in in a banana republic, I suspect unknown pygmy tribes n the Amazon rainforest have a greater intelligence than your average American.

comment by Cesario (U22905)
posted 7 minutes ago
The fact that the only choice the American people had was between a mad candidate and a dimwitted one shows just how corrupted the political system is. The Democrats didn’t want a competent president, they wanted someone they could control.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

This never got discussed enough, who was the real power behind Biden? It sure wasn’t Harris.

Biden was almost literally a puppet at the end, he didn’t know what day of the week it was.

Trump has some real shady people behind him as well.

Maybe the Democrats will do better with their future choices. Harris only having 3 months to campaign definitely hurt her and the blame for that is squarely on the democrats

comment by sandy, golden boot winner fa cup 1901 (U20567)
posted 2 minutes ago
I think it says more about the intellect of your average Yank. I would not say they are all as thick as mince. But a sizable number are. Trump wouldn't get voted in in a banana republic, I suspect unknown pygmy tribes n the Amazon rainforest have a greater intelligence than your average American.
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Meanwhile we voted for Brexit

What a glorious day and time to be alive.
The tears of millions of libs and Forest 3rd in the league.

Emily Maitlis’ meltdown was beautiful.

comment by Cesario (U22905)
posted 1 hour, 14 minutes ago
The fact that the only choice the American people had was between a mad candidate and a dimwitted one shows just how corrupted the political system is.
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You don't become an AG by being dimwitted.

There are sticks to beat this campaign with, that is certainly not one.