To find it hard to believe that the US can find no better presidential candidates than Biden or Trump?

[DisquietintheRanks]

33 million adults and that's the choice? Really?

I am well aware that a country who ended up with Truss as PM is in no position to cast the first stone and Americans must vote as they see fit, but am I the only knew who finds the thought of another Biden/Trump face off profoundly depressing?

I'll happily vote for Biden again. I'm impressed with his ability to capitalize on his decades of experience in managing a turbulent political landscape.

Is Biden actually still alive???
He always seems to be propped up by someone when I see him 😂

Most of their power is theoretical - they agree not to use most of them and parliamnet/people agree not to take them away - (the disc world has a similar set up with the Wizards and Vetinari which pokes fun at idea).

Queen Ann was the last monarch to refuse to sign a bill into law.

Sure but the idea that there is an equivalence between them, as some are suggesting, is woefully naive. Trump is a sociopath who will attack, demonise and denigrate anyone and everyone for a sound bite. He turned the US into a very dangerous joke for four years, one where everyone was afraid to laugh. Biden is a bit old and largely competent. The republicans have basically become an extremist party that I struggle to think of a counterpart in Europe that isn’t super fringe or banned. The democrats are soft c Conservatives, from a UK perspective there’s really noone on the centre of left in the USA.

Where's Kanye, has he given up?

Well, it's already underway isn't it. In Western democracies we are all getting poorer, more divided, lower productivity and our children have fewer opportunities and will have poorer health and lifestyles. We'll also continue to see a more authoritarian and interventionist style of government, with big tech companies continuing to gather more power against democratically elected governments.

This process has been underway since the 90s but was masked during that decade by a glut of cheap debt which led to wildly inflated asset prices, falsely coninvincing the middle classes that they were richer than they really were. (Which is why they're so outraged now. No one enjoys being slapped in the face by reality.)

By 2123 I expect we'll have a Chinese style one party state and UBI. And that will be fine. Gen Z polls consistently showing the younger generation valuing equity and government support over freedom of choice and free markets.

Things change! Humans will muddle through as we always do :-)

Agree. The whole 'they're two old men with no real difference between them' thing is tiresome.

Biden is senile and should retire

@MissHavishamsMouldyOldCake no, I never said that. You interpreted it as that. You seemed to be overlooking that the US president is a duel role. I said that I prefer a constitutional monarchy. It means that we have had some prime ministers (i.e. heads of government) that have originated from non multi-millionaire backgrounds. Think about it, Keir Starmer is in the running next. It’s not a pre/requisite to be super rich as it is in the US. It also means that our head of state is politically neutral and spends their time serving the country. As I said, I prefer it.

I know perfectly well how the Irish system works thank you.

He would be as sane as the other two. It's let's pick the best of two bad choices.

One employed a male to sterilise all the USA autistic children as the minister of health. He also employed a sub minister of radiation clean up who was taking women's clothing from suitcase conveyor belts. Who could have guesses that there would be issues with their ideology?

I was reading an article that suggested the United States would most likely cease to exist and that various 'red' states would choose to secede from the union. Not sure how that would work practically.

They have to go with a peaceful national divorce.

Women will have a choice, go with blue states that don't know what a woman is and gaslight your children about biology.

Go with a red state, okish for religious women.

I can imagine that it's going to be a tough choice for non religious lesbians or women who will always want to abort.

By 2123 I expect we'll have a Chinese style one party state and UBI. And that will be fine
My crystal ball is nowhere near powerful enough to see that far into the future ...you must have one of the expensive ones ☝🏻👀

I'm not sure how peaceful divorce happens when not all the seceding states are in one geographical mass. And it's not exactly cut and dried in terms of states when there are blue cities in red states and vice versa. I can't see anything like that going peacefully, doesn't seem to be the American way. And the red states tend to be much poorer, and would only get poorer still.

I seem to remember that our last election was a choice between parties led by Johnson or Corbyn. Not sure we can criticise the Americans...

OP most people that follow US politics think that De Santis is the most likely to be the Repulican nominee, not Trump.
If that's the case then Biden is in real trouble as he is far, far too old for this and it shows.

Yes Texas and Georgia have some blue cities and are red elsewhere. I would guess that the gun without being used in those states would be enough to make people move out without force being used.

I thought this but DH watches more US media and they do seem focused on Trump which DH says gives impression Trump stands a serious chance - which seems insane with all his legal problems.

DeSantis is sliding, and so far proving he's not ready for any kind of national exposure. 6 week abortion ban, don't say gay bill looking to be extended to 18 year olds ridiculous fight with Disney all show he's no idea what plays outside super red states. Even Florida state republicans are now backing Trump over their own governor. Did you see his bobble head performance in Japan?

I'd rather it was someone younger than Biden, but he's been more effective than expected, his record on what he's managed to get bipartisan support to pass is really pretty good.

polling doesn't mean a whole lot this far out from the presidential race but Trump is polling stronger than DeSantis at the moment.

I doubt whether either of them will do that much.

Trump seems to spend a large proportion of his time fighting legal battles, arguing with previous supporters, tweeting controversial stuff and playing golf. Not much time for anything as unimportant as policy.

Biden, well to be honest I'm surprised he makes it out of bed most days.

So the US effectively rudderless for the best part of 12 years. Just do away with the president. Save the cost of the beast, Air force one, all the security crap and spend the money on something more worthwhile instead.

I propose we install a large portion of spotted dick and custard in the oval office.

That may be the case.

California has been experiencing a lot of climate change and is on a fault line, long term who knows if the wealth from that state will carry on.

I also noted that there was a big change in CNN and Fox, some call them legacy media.

In my youth music made money from a record now it is a tour.

Films made more than streaming series.

Anyone who wants power needs to have the wealth of the blue States coupled with the gullibility (due to lack of education, poverty religiosity etc ) of the red States

As far as I know, the Republican party has not yet elected Trump as their candidate. He can run as an independent candidate, though, if he likes.

The "But Democrats and the KKK" thing is rubbish. It's like paying attention to the names of sports teams but not who played on them. The people who did that all left the Democratic Party in the 1960s and became Republicans. Google the "southern strategy". It's like saying, "But the Republicans were against slavery in 1861 so they must be against racism now".

And TBH, after Trump got Roe v Wade overturned thanks to his court picks, I'm appalled that anyone who supports women thinks Trump would be better, "woke nonsense" or not.

The Democrats are really a large coalition with a lot of views--some quite moderate, some definitely left of centre. Right now there will be a lot of jockeying about to see if anyone wants to challenge Biden. RFK is a joke and has no chance. His name isn't enough to overcome his anti vaccine nonsense (which well predates Covid). It's a bit of a tired trope that the Democrats are like the Tories.