Biden vs. Trump debate

[*Nately120*]

(06-22-2024, 12:47 AM)HarleyDog Wrote: This is one of the best posts you've made in a while. Although, I don't think you give people enough credit. The average Joe (not Biden) I speak to who supports Trump is not a radical conservative. I don't think I've ever met one of those like many claim on this board. I agree. It's gonna be tough for Trump to change who he is on the inside. His drive and arrogance will always get the best of him.

I get what you are saying, but the thing about Trump and MAGA is that the fringe folks and the fringe ideas are front and center, rather than you know, fringe.  I've voted D, I've voted libertarian, and I've at least defended or agreed with certain republican politicians over the years.  I realize when I vote D that the party depends on people who are uncomfortably left, when I vote libertarian I realize I'm voting along with some people who want heroin sold in vending machines and every road privatized.  I get all that, but the idea has usually been that we need these fringe folks who vote with us because "we are closer than the other side to what they want, at least."

You point out that most Trump supporters aren't in the camp where they truly believe he had the election stolen from him, or that he needs to be a dictator, or that the USA and God himself will die if he doesn't win.  The issue is that Trump's rhetoric puts those fringe things that his reasonable supporters "know he doesn't mean" right up front and at the center of his campaign.

Each major party has to get the nuts out to vote or they'll have a really hard time winning but Trump is the first presidential candidate I can think of who specifically says what the fringe wants and then hopes/expects the non fringe to defend him and just say that he's spouting a bunch of nonsense he doesn't mean.  I get that, since having voted libertarian for over a decade I had to explain that I didn't want total anarchy, but it helped that Jo Jorgensen's campaign praised the policies to those in Switzerland and not like...some 3rd world anarchist or something decidedly less mainstream.

I'm not wild about Biden but I'm likely voting for him.  With that being said, it helps him keep my shaky vote since he isn't saying he is going to be a Communist on day 1 when he's reelected or that if Jesus came down from heaven to count the votes you'd find he won Kentucky and Oklahoma by "a lot."


tl'dr - All parties need fringe voters, but Trump and the MAGA stuff puts the fringe stuff front and center and expects people to openly agree with it, but also know that he doesn't mean it.  It'd be interesting to see a reasonable Trump supporter talk to the Trump supporters I know, because they are of the "He won in a landslide, he saved us, god picked him" variety.  I don't think that's ALL Trump supporters, but I'm not arguing with them...it'd be interesting to see you do so.

(06-22-2024, 09:44 AM)masonbengals fan Wrote: Blew everyone away? Surpassed a very low expectation would be significantly closer to the truth. 

Agreed, though I'll admit Biden showing some fire and having a sense of humor helps his shaky support.  The state of the union and his willingness to actually show up at the correspondence dinner helps calm his ulcer-ridden supporters. 

(06-22-2024, 09:44 AM)masonbengals fan Wrote: If you can watch that performance and compare it to his daily geriatric routine & demeanor, then tell us there was no medication involved then hopefully you aren't in the medical field. 

I'm all for drug testing both of them.

I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but if there is a magic potion out there that can even temporarily cure whatever Biden has, the American public should demand it be made available.  But even if medication is involved, what's the big deal?  Why is this considered cheating?  Trump has access to the same stuff, and I'd wager a lot of Trump voters are ingesting a daily cocktail of chemicals and drugs to keep them alive every day before they cast their super informed just as good as mine even though I'm not on medication vote, so meh...what's the rub even if it's true?  We are looking at a choice between two men who will be in their 80s in the white house, so wanting them to be free of medication when many Americans can't make it to 40 without big pharma propping them up on a daily basis seems a bit silly.

And the drug test is pointless because Trump is going to tell us what the results really are, and I already know what he will say.  Of course you already seem to know Biden is on drugs, so what's the point?  The people who believe an entire election was rigged are going to accept that a simple drug test wasn't?  I'm not holding my breath.