US election 2020
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Who do you hope wins the US Election? |
Trump |
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39% |
[ 9 ] |
Biden |
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39% |
[ 9 ] |
Don't Care |
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21% |
[ 5 ] |
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Total Votes : 23 |
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David
I dare you to try
Joined: 27 Jul 2003 Location: Andromeda
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Post subject: US election 2020 | |
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It might seem absurd to start a thread now about an election that’s almost two years away, but then, this is American politics – several politicians have already announced their candidacies, and more will follow suit over the next few months. The first debates will be held in a bit over six months, and the party primaries will kick off in early 2020.
It’s still unclear as to whether much will be happening on the Republican side of the fence. While primaries are always held, the convention is that sitting presidents don’t face any serious challenges. There have been exceptions to that rule – most recently, Ronald Reagan’s unsuccessful challenge of Gerald Ford in 1976 – but there’s every reason to think that, with all the scandals surrounding his presidency and lingering resentment from establishment figures, there’ll be a major push from a more conventional Republican candidate to unseat Donald Trump. Possible candidates here might be John Kasich or Ben Sasse; but given Trump’s popularity with the Republican base, nobody might be game enough to put their hand up and face humiliation.
On the Democratic side, however, the list of candidates is long and getting ever more crowded. Here are a few of the front-runners and what they stand for:
Elizabeth Warren: One of the most left-wing of the actual Democrats, Warren is most known for pursuing big bank CEOs over the 2008 financial crisis. She’s already announced that she’s running, and is one of the favourites to win. I’ve often thought that a candidate that strikes a middle ground between Clinton’s mainstream appeal and Sanders’ progressive politics would be best-placed to be the next Democratic candidate, and Warren fits that bill perfectly.
Joe Biden: The former vice-president under Barack Obama, Biden’s probably the candidate with the biggest name recognition right now, and has been the frontrunner in most polls. He’s probably among the more conservative candidates – he supported the Iraq War and has an unfortunate history of voting against de-segregation measures back in the 1970s, and presents himself as a more “common sense” moderate in opposition to progressives like Sanders. At 76, his age is likely to be a big factor in whether he decides to run, but if he does, one would have to think he’ll go pretty far.
Bernie Sanders: It’s unclear whether he’ll run again, but if he does then you’d think Sanders will, again, receive huge amounts of support from young leftists. He’s still going to be the only genuine socialist in the race (Warren’s still basically a capitalist reformist), and he’s my preferred choice by a mile. At 77, he’s likely to be the oldest candidate running, but let’s not forget that many of his competitors – including Warren, Biden and Trump himself – are also in their 70s. Sanders just happens to look like he’s 100 years old.
Kirsten Gillibrand: A real establishment Democrat, with significant corporate ties and vanilla liberal-capitalist policy agenda. She’s been most outspoken on cracking down on sexual harassment. Started off her political career very right-wing (for a Democrat) and gradually moved to the left on various issues as it became more fashionable – so not exactly much of a conviction candidate, by the looks of things.
Beto O’Rourke: Charismatic younger guy who narrowly lost last year’s mid-term senate race in Texas against Ted Cruz. For some reason everybody loves him at the moment, but from what I can tell his politics are pretty middle-of-the-road Democrat. Smokes weed and skateboards, or something.
Kamala Harris: Seems one of the slightly more progressive Democrats, though has a somewhat mixed record on criminal justice (she previously served as California attorney-general). I’m a bit undecided on her, but people seem to think she’ll go far in the primaries.
Cory Booker: One of the younger candidates in the race, and the only notable African-American politician on this list. I haven’t got a great read on this guy yet, but he has a bit of a reputation as a “moderate”, and thus perhaps more in the Clinton tradition.
Julian Castro: Has been talked up for years as a future president, and is probably slightly on the left of some of the other candidates (supports medicare for all, for instance). Don’t know a lot about him, but it seems he’s a fairly popular figure.
Tulsi Gabbard: One of the weirdest major candidates, Gabbard supported Sanders in 2016 but is a much stranger fish politically, fitting in loosely with what could be nicely called the “anti-imperialist left” – or, as those of the rest of us on the left like to disparagingly call them, “tankies”. Think John Pilger, George Galloway and the kind of leftists who share Russia Today links on social media. Basically, she never met a repressive foreign leader she didn’t like – Putin, Assad, Modi – but on the other hand tends to oppose all US wars and foreign intervention.
I’m sure some others will throw their hats in – there’s still the (unpleasant) possibility of a celebrity candidate like Winfrey or Zuckerberg running – and some of the above may yet decide not to run at all, but it’ll be interesting to see what pans out as the year progresses.
(As an interesting and kind of depressing sidenote, this will be the first time in nearly 50 years and only the second time in the history of the US that a party’s presidential primary has had more than one female candidate – which means that, for instance, we have never actually seen women debating against each other in a presidential primary debate.) _________________ All watched over by machines of loving grace |
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think positive
Side By Side
Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Location: somewhere
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A guy who smokes skateboards sounds interesting! _________________ You cant fix stupid, turns out you cant quarantine it either! |
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HAL
Please don't shout at me - I can't help it.
Joined: 17 Mar 2003
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There aren't many guys like that. |
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stui magpie
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
Joined: 03 May 2005 Location: In flagrante delicto
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think positive wrote: | A guy who smokes skateboards sounds interesting! |
I read it the same way/ _________________ Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down. |
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Skids
Quitting drinking will be one of the best choices you make in your life.
Joined: 11 Sep 2007 Location: Joined 3/6/02 . Member #175
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Current SB market for the 2020 presidential election;
Trumpinator $2.55
O'Rourke $6.50
Harris $9
Biden $13
Warren $17
M.Obama $17
Bernie $21
Pence $26
Gabbard $26
Klobuchar $31
Bloomberg $31
Booker $31
Gillibrand $34
Joe Kennedy the third $41
Shapirio $51
Hitlery $51
Oprah $51
Castro $67
Kayne West $201
Beyoncé $301
Oscar de la Hoya $401
Stormy Daniels & Wokko $501 _________________ Don't count the days, make the days count. |
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David
I dare you to try
Joined: 27 Jul 2003 Location: Andromeda
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Thanks Skids! Given the not-totally-remote possibility of Trump being impeached or resigning before the election, you’d have to think Pence and a few other Republicans would be worth at least long-shot odds. _________________ All watched over by machines of loving grace
Last edited by David on Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:17 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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stui magpie
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
Joined: 03 May 2005 Location: In flagrante delicto
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David
I dare you to try
Joined: 27 Jul 2003 Location: Andromeda
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There’s increasing will for that overhaul to happen, though. It was pretty much Sanders’ central campaign plank from 2016, and a number of major Democratic candidates have since jumped on board (including Castro, Harris and Warren – expect it to be a big topic of friction in the primary debates). _________________ All watched over by machines of loving grace |
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stui magpie
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
Joined: 03 May 2005 Location: In flagrante delicto
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It may well be a big discussion topic, but it's no where near a simple fix. Just saying to copy Aus Medicare system just won't work the way there's is structured.
There's far call regulation of fees, no PBS, it's all over the shop. Anyone who got elected promising to fix that is on a hiding to nothing, they'll fail. Badly. _________________ Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down. |
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David
I dare you to try
Joined: 27 Jul 2003 Location: Andromeda
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I'm sure there's no magic bullet solution, but a responsible candidate will be planning to lay the groundwork for whatever long-term transition plan is required. In any case, we can comfortably presume that the pro-Medicare candidates' arguments will be put under the microscope by "realists" like Biden and Gillibrand throughout the campaign. _________________ All watched over by machines of loving grace |
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stui magpie
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
Joined: 03 May 2005 Location: In flagrante delicto
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Have a read of those articles I linked to, it's no easy fix.
Plus other things I've read suggests that for some reason there's an institutionalised resistance to it. People in the US have a notorious level of distrust of federal government (see gun debate) and it seems to have been tried a few time in different guises over the past 100+ years, but the attitude has been it's not the role of the federal government. _________________ Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down. |
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Skids
Quitting drinking will be one of the best choices you make in your life.
Joined: 11 Sep 2007 Location: Joined 3/6/02 . Member #175
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They pay $2 for a gallon of petrol, $15k for a mustang, you can get a big breakfast for $1.99 with a free bloody mary, $3 for a packet of smokes... etc, etc.
You can't compare our Medicare system to whatever health system they have. It's a totally different economic structure. _________________ Don't count the days, make the days count. |
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HAL
Please don't shout at me - I can't help it.
Joined: 17 Mar 2003
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Like who, specifically? |
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Wokko
Come and take it.
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
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Wokko
Come and take it.
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
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If I had to choose a Democrat then I'll take Tulsi Gabbard I suppose, maybe Creepy Uncle Joe Biden. |
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