Out of a population of 320 million they pick this two twats.

[TinnitusEar]

AIBU to expect the USA, with a population of 320 million, to come up with better candidates than Trump and Biden?

People amaze me who let bias lead their head.

As a leader Trump did very well. As a decent human being - well not so much. As a leader Biden and Obama did nothing but create problems and debt internally and externally.

US maybe, but it’s also the foreign policy stance you have to keep an eye on

Our PMs don't carry the 'unofficial' title of "Leader of the Free World"...

Biden v Trump is a fucking awful prospect

There aren't many people who could put themselves forwards in the USA. To stand even a remote chance of being elected, you need to be a multi billionaire who is born in the USA who isn't employed full time.

I agree, OP. I was briefly in the US this week on a business trip and it just blows my mind how a country that is capable of such great things in terms of innovation, technology, art, literature etc and that has attracted generations of smart, hard-working immigrants could have ended up with such diabolical leadership options. What the hell happened?

I know we have lousy politicians in the UK too, but the ramifications of bad leadership in the US are far more serious and destabilising for the wider world.

I’m interested to know what great things Trump did as a leader that you’re referring to? He’s done two things: 1) put 3 extreme right wing justices on the Supreme Court, who when interviewed for their confirmation, were specifically asked about Roe v Wade. ALL justices said that Roe was settled precedent. Fast forward to the 3rd being sworn in, and they immediately overturn it with the Dobbs decision. They all lied to get on the Supreme Court and went back on their word when they had the majority to overturn Roe. Trump is on film bragging that he ‘killed Roe’. So yes, he dragged 1/2 of the population backward 50 years. 2) Trump put through a huge tax cut which mainly benefitted millionaires, not everyday Americans.

This. Trump has openly announced he will cut funding to Ukraine, which will give Putin carte blanche to do whatever the hell he wants against a country with minimal defences.

They'd rather have old white men than highly qualified woman. So it's not really a population of 300+ million to choose from.

Yes I've been wondering the same thing! Two old (one elderly) white men in a country with some wonderful, dedicated and innovative people doesn't make sense to me at all. How can this be? If Biden gets in he's going to be 85 by the time his term ends (although I don't think there is much chance of him being re-elected so I guess it doesn't matter).

Then again we have had Johnston and Trust

Seriously? Supreme Court Justice Ginsberg said in 1989 Roe V Wade is bad law and going to be over turned and Dems should fix the law before it is - but no one did. Don't blame Trump.
Trump got Nato members to agree to honor commitments which until then ONLY UK did.

Trump singlehandedly and without Congress got China to agree to cut trade deficit $500 billion per year! Trump got off shore corporate profits returned to US for investment at home totaling over $800 billion. Trump got everyone to start paying attention to China and global aspirations. Trump got first real wage increases since 1989. Trump got covid vaccines developed in record time, etc!

My ideal was Nikki Haley and Mike Pence but rabid idiots in Dem party screwed that up

Well, that's ageist rubbish, isn't it? You may feel he's too old to be leader, but there's absolutely no evidence that he needs help with bathing, using the toilet etc, nor is he having any particular difficult walking. But he's old, and therefore he should be in a care home.

I may be wrong, but I think there's a convention that a 1-term president who wishes to run again is not opposed by his own party.

Please don't shoot me for being ageist but Trump and Biden are too old to work let alone run a nation!

We're not doing any better are we? And don't get me started on Russia, China and most of the Middle East.

It’s because no sane person would want the job, it was probably just about bearable before social media but now with nutters hounding you and your family and scouring every little thing you’ve ever done or said online to the nth degree and making stuff up about you and stalking you for the rest of your life, anyone with an ounce of sense would self-exclude.

Be honest now - that's not actually your opinion.

Like all the rest of the anti-Biden threads we've seen recently here (some like this one are thinly disguised by a reference to Trump) the opinions are not original, and the source is easy to track down.

All the references to puppetry (on another thread it was 'propping up') and unseen hands/ higher powers controlling politics come straight from Q Anon and other shite stirring sites.

This one doesn't even pretend to be partial.

*impartial

Interested to know what precisely about Biden you found to be diabolical in your week in the US?

How has his leadership over the last four years contributed to destabilisation of the world?

Answers on a teeny tiny postcard please.

Yet another very unsubtle line from the right fringe.

I totally agree. It amazes me that that enormous country can only come up with such a paltry choice for its next President as these two. Both the Republicans and the Democrats could surely do much better!!

If I really had to choose then I would vote for Biden as the least worst option (and because I could simply never vote for Trump), but I like neither.

I acknowledge too that the politicians leading the UK in recent years have also been very much less than perfect.

There are to be elections on both sides of the pond this year, very possibly at broadly similar times. It will be very interesting all around, but I particularly dread what might come out of the US.

Careful - 'the fates' might be listening.
(ie stranger things have happened).

It's all utterly depressing. What with the madman Putin laying waste to Ukraine & the situation in Israel / Palestine (not even going there but a trajedy for all)

Sorry but YABU because the question implies that there are 319,999,998 better people in the US. That's just not true. Take out children and those in prison, take out the people who are ineligible to stand because they're not full citizens or born outside of the US and the number is much smaller.

More importantly, believe it or not, a huge number of people who could still be in the running are worse than Trump and worse even than Biden. How the fuck can that be, you might ask, but seriously, it's true. There are some seriously deranged people with unhinged views in America. People that make Trump and Biden look like saints.

That point aside, I think the reason we've got Trump v Biden is the same reason we have Sunak v Starmer in the UK - democracy leads to poor choices because nobody sticks around long enough to sort the country out, therefore populist short-termist candidates win. Five years isn't long long enough to change a country's direction. If a country switches between parties every 5 years or even every 20 years nothing will improve because there is no clear plan.

That's not to argue alternatives to democracy are better - they're worse. But political parties and politicians value POWER above their country or their voters (or the wider world). POWER is what candidates crave.