The President is more of a figurehead than anything. As long as they surround themselves with competent people, we're fine. We were fine with Alzheimer's Reagan and are fine with old man Biden. Senile old man Trump, however, presents a major problem exactly because he surrounds himself with "yes men" and evil.
You are a champion of Democracy, and America -nay, the world- is lucky to have you! Hey, by the way; were you equally upset when the political leader you shill for enacted a criminal conspiracy to overturn an election? It included fake electors, coercion of state officials and the VP, constant public lying, and a violent component where the Capitol was attacked and hundreds of police were beaten. Did that bother you? Or do you just pretend that it never happened?
Yes, because you identify with Reagan and liked him, falling asleep in meetings, forgetting cabinet members names, etc. is just normal aging. But when Biden did it...totally different.
I'm not Trump fan, but that was a different era. I lived through that and whether is was management by his executive team or just the lack of wall-to-wall coverage on social media, etc., there was no real concern about Reagan the way there was with Biden. This really only came out well AFTER he left office. It was NEVER an issue during his time in office.
Her approval rating is less than Joe's. That is going to change all of a sudden just because she is the presumptive nominee?
It's actually not. Not much better, but better nonetheless. And that's from old polls taken before Biden dropped out. We'll have to wait and see how this new dynamic affects upcoming polls to know the real answer here.
I tend to agree that a lot of it has to do with the differences in era. I think Reagan in his 70s would struggle to be President today and Biden in his 80s would have been fine in the 1980s.
Or it would be comparable. I will say though, that I never saw Reagan look as lost as Biden did at times. I don't know if he is or isn't actually "lost", but the optics are horrible. Again, optics were managed a lot better in an era with 3 channels on UHF and some independent VHF stations. Oh, and CNN before it sucked.
I think this is an under appreciated point. A president really shouldn’t be able to do much on his own. Both sides have inched forward with more and more executive orders, making the election more consequential. Still, there are many constraints that Trump ran into during his first term, embodied by the work of people like Sessions, Rosenstein, Comey, Wray, and Pence. What if all those posts were staffed by loyalists? Is there enough strength in these institutions beyond these people to resist corrupt capture? I should hope so, but I’d prefer not to find out.
Reagan announced his diagnosis in 1994, 6 years after leaving office. But the signs of his cognitive decline began in around 1987 and kept mostly hidden from the public. Reagan was a great communicator, but his last 18 months in office, didn't appear on TV as much. And his speeches were shorter, with less questions. A cognitive comparison used to diagnose the onset of Alzheimer's also proves the decline. Depending on the person, the first phase of Alzheimer's can last up to a decade, where decline is slow, and difficult to diagnose on a day-to-day basis. Would be interesting to see a similar study on Biden, but remember, he's had a speech impediment/stuttering issue since childhood. As for Harris, no Democrat is being disenfranchised. Harris was going to be on the ticket, and Biden stepping down now and Harris stepping in is no different than Biden being gravely ill or dying. That's just how many voters feel, that Biden isn't healthy enough to complete four more years in office. Six months? Yes. But four years > six months. It's also real early in regards to Harris vs. Trump polls. At worst, Harris isn't polling any better than Biden. But there are some signs she's polling a little better in some. And this is right after Trump got a convention bump, and before Harris has had a chance for one. Again, if she can keep the momentum going and the Ds have a good convention, the election is far from over.
I wouldn't waste a single second even addressing this ludicrous point. Instead, let them run with what may be the lamest and most contrived angle in the history of US politics.
The 14 million who voted for Joe because he was the only realistic candidate on the ballot? Don't feel bad. 13,999,999 of them are ecstatic with Joe's decision to step down.
Watching her first presidential rally (actually the first time I have watched anything but soundbites). She is a hell of a lot better communicator than Biden, and Trump’s road to victory looks far more difficult. I agree she wins all the voting blocks you mentioned. Seems like lower middle class voters in the rust belt will decide the next leader of the free world though. Really interested to see the polls in the coming weeks.
Yep, BS strawman crap from the gop. I'm sure they would rather the D party just forfeit the election since Biden stepped aside and there isn't time to set a whole slate of primaries.
