Ms Haley has stated she does not know if she will honor her pledge to support the GOP candidate if Trump wins the primaries. I wonder what she will do.
One point I did not mention concerning my reasoning for Biden winning over Trump is the amount of funds the Biden campaign has raised over Trump. Major Republican donors are just not putting their money on Trump. Usually, the person with the most funds to spend wins.
Over on the Ukraine thread - because Trump winning is a key part of Putin's strategy - @Gramps49 and I were explaining why an objective view suggests Trump is not on course to win in November.
One key part of the argument for me is that Trump is consistently under-performing relative to his polling. Or to put it another way the polls of the primaries have consistently and significantly over-estimated Trump's support. The following is an explanation of what I mean.
State:________Polling prediction:___Real result:___Difference:
California__________+57.8_________+60.7_________-2.9
Iowa_____________+34.0_________+29.7_________-4.3
Massachussetts______+34.9_________+23.1_________-11.8
Michigan__________+60.7_________+41.5_________-19.2
N. Hampshire_______+17.6_________+11.1_________-6.5
North Carolina______+52.6_________+50.6_________-2.0
South Carolina______+35.8_________+20.3_________-15.5
Tennessee_________+65.7_________+57.7_________-8.0
Texas____________+67.3_________+60.5_________-6.8
Virginia__________+60.4_________+28.3_________-32.1
Average result compared to polling: -10.3%
So we have good evidence that current polling methods are significantly overestimating Trump's level of support. Therefore a narrow lead for Trump in national polls most likely is in reality a comfortable lead for Biden.*
As I have said before and elsewhere, I am counting no chickens and will not relax until it's a done deal but the data thus far is a lot more encouraging than it may seem.
AFZ
*The opposite is also true for Biden - he is out-performing his polls in the Primaries.
I agree with you, I'm just freaking terrified because we had such a weird election outcome in 2016--and because humans, we just screw up so much. How I wish this was over, and all safe.
If, for whatever reason, various prosecutors had decided to not bring charges against Trump before the 2024 election, would DeSantis, Haley, or someone else have had more of a chance in winning the nomination?
It seemed like a competitive race between Trump and DeSantis at least for the nomination until Trump was indicted for the first time.
This is merely hypothetical - the prosecutors decided not to worry about the political ramifications of having a candidate on trial in an election year and that was probably the right thing to do. I’m just wondering what would have happened if they had decided, wrongly I suppose, to wait until after the election to proceed with their cases, as some people were arguing that they should have.
I’m only interested in what the effects would be before the election. If they wait to prosecute and then Trump wins the election, then likely Trump never goes on trial until after he leaves office, if ever.
Well, as Aslan says, "Nobody ever hears what would have happened." If I had to guess, we'd still be in this same place, and very likely even worse off.
Trump's a narcissist. He wants adulation, power, the worshipping masses. If he didn't already have something to have rallies about, he'd come up with something. Having had a taste of the spotlight running for president gets him, he's not going to give that up regardless of his legal situation. (I think he wants to actually BE president a lot less; the ratio of attention to work-you-can't-get-of is much worse, even with his slacking ways.)
So no, if anything the prosecutions have probably slowed him down a bit. But we were always going to be here. Trump's ego plus his idolaters' idiocy and the party's general craven spinelessness guaranteed it. I doubt anything short of his death would turn them to another candidate.
I’m only interested in what the effects would be before the election. If they wait to prosecute and then Trump wins the election, then likely Trump never goes on trial until after he leaves office, if ever.
If he gets in I assume he is perfectly capable of ruling that presidential immunity from any charge should be a lifelong benefit of the job?
That's when we're going to be in a state of constant constitutional crisis, as the Constitution is already his biggest and most dangerous opponent, and that's what stands in his way for decreeing eternal immunity, or any other damn thing he thinks up. And the courts are going to drown in the lawsuits.
I agree with you, I'm just freaking terrified because we had such a weird election outcome in 2016--and because humans, we just screw up so much. How I wish this was over, and all safe.
Yep. It's really important, I think to always have the 4-way risk assessment grid in one's head. The issues with risk is always how likely something is and how bad it is, if it happens. I am pretty good at walking along a narrow path without falling over. That doesn't mean I'll walk along a tight ledge with a 1000' drop though. The odds of me falling may be pretty small, but the consequences of doing so, quite significant.
I’m only interested in what the effects would be before the election. If they wait to prosecute and then Trump wins the election, then likely Trump never goes on trial until after he leaves office, if ever.
If he gets in I assume he is perfectly capable of ruling that presidential immunity from any charge should be a lifelong benefit of the job?
Not really. He could claim that—he is claiming it—but it’s up the courts to rule on it.
What he could try to do is pardon himself, perhaps once when he gets into office and again as his last act before leaving office (assuming he’d be willing to leave office). And that would be yet another untested thing, whether a president can pardon himself.
If you have watched some of Trump's most recent speeches, you will note the many times he flubs up his thoughts, like he forgets the point or the next line. He equates Harris with Pelosi. He seems to think he is running against Obama.
National polls asking about the mental capacity of Trump indicates 57 of those polled are concerned about his capacity, vs. 60 percent for Biden. A virtual dead heat.
Biden will be giving his State of the Union on Thursday. If he can show energy and not flub up what he is saying, it just might persuade voters to give him another chance.
Trump's support is astonishingly soft. Polls indicate 6 out of 10 of his supporters say a felony conviction will impact their decision in the general election.
...but a subsequent president could undo such a ruling?
I’m not sure what you mean by “ruling.” Presidents don’t make rulings, at least not in the same sense that courts do.
A president can issue executive orders, and subsequent presidents could change or revoke those executive orders. A president also has the power to pardon; subsequent presidents cannot withdraw that pardon. But whether and in what circumstances a president has immunity is a question for courts, not the executive, to rule on.
Uncharted waters... I haven't been following the election coverage closely - I find Trump's rhetoric and vitriol very offputting - but have been dropping into it now and again to try to figure out which way the wind is blowing. I just hope the America that we all used to know will come to the fore again in November.
Trump's support is astonishingly soft. Polls indicate 6 out of 10 of his supporters say a felony conviction will impact their decision in the general election.
Hypothetical questions are notoriously unreliable anyway, doubly so when there is an obvious "right" answer that all but the most ardent Trumper will be aware of. Everyone knows that a felony conviction *ought* to stop them voting for him, and so they say it will, but I'm not inclined to believe it. They'll have a full platoon of talking heads to convince them that a conviction doesn't count, or doesn't matter, or is all the fault of Jewish Space Lasers, or whatever else gives them enough juice to keep the cognitive dissonance engine running and allow them to vote for him anyway. I think this because, if there was a point where someone would voluntarily get off the Trump train because of his behaviour it would have been 50 miles back along the track. If you're still supporting him now it's because you've already decided you don't give a shit how he behaves.
...but a subsequent president could undo such a ruling?
That's the thing, this will all wind up in the courts being tested against the Constitution. Because so many of the things he does, or threatens to do, are the kind of things nobody else has ever come out with before, having some degree of shame and self-respect. But he hasn't got that. He walks through norms like they aren't even there, and the laws don't exist that could spell out "No, a president may not send SEALs after a political enemy to kill him, and then be immune from criminal charges for the rest of his life," because it never entered anybody's head that we could elect someone mad enough to say such a thing--let alone do it.
So now we're scrambling to play catch up.
And since his fertile imagination can come up with sixty-odd criminal idiocies before breakfast, he's always going to have the jump on us, who have to take weeks and months to enact another law to stop him.
About executive orders--presidents are not omnipotent. They can sign an executive order for just about anything, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen. The law and the courts are there to prevent it.
Basically what prevents any president from making a stupid or criminal executive order is
a) an existing law, or
b) the Constitution and its logical implications, as worked out by the courts (but only after some idiot challenges it).
c) Oh, and a sense of public shame, which he hasn't got any of.
What happened in his term of office was he'd try to do some damn illegal thing and his advisors (the ones who had a hint of sense, and even occasionally a spine) said "You can't do that, if you try then X will happen." And sometimes they were able to talk him out of it. Sometimes he went ahead and ended up in the courts (as with the Muslim ban evil).
He had a hard enough time finding anyone who would serve under him the first term--it was an open scandal. May there not be a second.
Yes. That was when the term "alternative facts" entered the language.
Thanks, all, for the clarifications. I feel better equipped to make sense of what I'm reading now. It's going to be a difficult year with elections on both sides of the Atlantic, no particularly popular candidates, and an already turbulent international political situation. May the steadiest and sanest win.
Trump's ego plus his idolaters' idiocy and the party's general craven spinelessness guaranteed it. I doubt anything short of his death would turn them to another candidate.
Here is The Guardian's article on Mitch McConnell's endorsement.
That Guardian article said Nikki Haley "dropped out." The description I heard on another report was that she had "suspended" her campaign" which didn't sound as final.
My guess would be she’s still hoping something sudden and drastic will happen to Trump, leaving her more or less the only candidate standing. I doubt she has much to lose now by dragging her feet.
My guess would be she’s still hoping something sudden and drastic will happen to Trump, leaving her more or less the only candidate standing. I doubt she has much to lose now by dragging her feet.
Thanks @Lamb Chopped I was guessing that might be the case, and hoping that something like a long jail sentence would take Trump out of the picture.
@Huia No one ends their campaign. They always suspend them, because legally they cannot end their campaign until it has paid all its debts. So campaigns usually continue to exist as legal entities and to fundraise even after the election is over.
I haven't had a chance to see the SOTU yet but a quick browse of the Fox News website suggests he did very well. Some grudging compliments and muted criticism.
I thought Biden did real well with the SOTU. He stayed on point. When he went off script, it was when he set up the Republicans to respond to a point, They often took the bait, and he reeled them in hook, line and sinker. He came across with vigor and clarity.
The next day, people were expressing concern about the other guy's mental acuity
It will be interesting to see where the pulls will put Biden this next week.
He ran in 2020 because he knew Trump needed to be defeated and he believed deep down that he had a best chance of that. That may be hubris or arrogance but he didn't run for himself, he ran for his nation.
Again, you can disagree with him, you can think him useless, you can think he's misguided, you can think him many things. But. But, the passion that drives him is true patriotism, it is a belief that Trumpism must be defeated and he can make things better for the American people and the world at large.
He is an old man. He is not perfect, none of us are but he is most definitely a driven man who's record in office is excellent.
It was a great speech.
On a tactical note, I think it was a huge strategic error for the Repubs to run on Biden's age and frailty.
Biden is old and he looks it. However, when he actually speaks or goes campaigning, he is light years away from how they portray him. MAGA cultists won't see it, of course and their plastic messiah can do no wrong but in the heat of a campaign, Trump just looks more and more deranged.
The undecideds and floating voters may look at Biden and think him too old because they've been primed to ask that question. But when they see Biden is so much better than billed and Trump is increasingly bat shit, what then?
Another sign Trump's support is weak. He endorsed Lauren Boebert, a former congresswoman for the 3rd District in Colorado. for the 4rth District this next go around. The 4th District is considered a strong Republican district. However, she is trailing four other candidates for the same seat. Of course, some people are thinking she is carpetbagging, and she was recently kicked out of a Denver theater for inappropriate behavior with her date (she has since apologized), and her son is accused of a string of burglaries as well as having sex with an underaged partner.
Maybe Trump can kill someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it, but his endorsements are being held to a higher standard.
I had a friend today point out one of the assumed nominees is running out of a sense of duty to his country. The other is running for himself. Is it hard to guess who is who?
@alienfromzog I watched that speech- it was very impressive. I never had a clear picture of Joe Biden before, but I though his sincerity shone through.
Am I the only person in the world who confuses her with Lorena Bobbitt?
Meanwhile I watch from afar in fear and trembling, with just a hint of hope.
As a matter of interest, where can I find good unbiased commentary ... I subscribe to WaPo but their skew is mostly so obvious it's nearly Fox mirrored ... and while I enjoy sites like MSNBC, and the commentators like Colbert and the vastly entertaining but seemingly ever-drunk (sometimes actually so) Seth Meyers, is there any site I can find reasoned and in depth BBC-style interview and analysis?
I'd recommend Slate, but they're behind a paywall now, and I don't THINK they're giving away monthly free articles as a teaser. Their ideological slant is left-liberal, but they're not just Team D cheerleaders. Some balanced and insightful analysis.
Slate was founded by Bill Gates, but is now owned by whatever spin-off company of the Washington Post. I haven't been a regular reader for a few years, due to the aforementioned paywall.
I am working on my Sermon for this Sunday. Entitled We want to see Jesus. I may touch on the General election, not to endorse anyone, but just to say if we want to see Jesus we should vote for the candidate who is more like Jesus. I will be quick to say, this is not a political endorsement as well.
I am working on my Sermon for this Sunday. Entitled We want to see Jesus. I may touch on the General election, not to endorse anyone, but just to say if we want to see Jesus we should vote for the candidate who is more like Jesus. I will be quick to say, this is not a political endorsement as well.
What do you think about this idea?
Well, since you asked, I’m not sure where that gets you. How does voting for the candidate who, in my eyes, is most like Jesus help me see Jesus? Wouldn’t the Christian Nationalists being discussed in another thread say they vote for the candidates most like Jesus?
Without knowing more context, I’m afraid the suggestion to vote for the candidate who is more like Jesus if you want to see Jesus comes across as little more than a gratuitous political plug to me.
But maybe that’s just me. You know the congregation you’re preaching to. Feel free to pay me absolutely no heed at all.
I am working on my Sermon for this Sunday. Entitled We want to see Jesus. I may touch on the General election, not to endorse anyone, but just to say if we want to see Jesus we should vote for the candidate who is more like Jesus. I will be quick to say, this is not a political endorsement as well.
What do you think about this idea?
Well, since you asked, I’m not sure where that gets you. How does voting for the candidate who, in my eyes, is most like Jesus help me see Jesus? Wouldn’t the Christian Nationalists being discussed in another thread say they vote for the candidates most like Jesus?
Without knowing more context, I’m afraid the suggestion to vote for the candidate who is more like Jesus if you want to see Jesus comes across as little more than a gratuitous political plug to me.
But maybe that’s just me. You know the congregation you’re preaching to. Feel free to pay me absolutely no heed at all.
Well, presumably, as you say, Gramps knows the congregation, and believes they have a similar idea to his about what Jesus would be like. So, not like he's going up to random strangers on the street and saying "Vote for people who are like Jesus!", in which case, yes, he'd probably run into the Christian Nationalist problem you mention.
And if Gramps DOESN'T have a clear handle on how his congregants would interpret the phrase, then the issues at his church would probably go a bit beyond voting, as the membership might be a little theologically scattered.
I would go with voting for the person who is closest to what Jesus taught not closest to Jesus. But yes Gramps knows the congregation. By emphasising the teaching you get right to the matter.
Up date on the Sermon. I did not specifically use my thoughts as I said I was considering. I found a poem that essentially said the same thing. But the people could tell what I was referring to and seemed to agree.
After what Trump said in Ohio, though, about there will be a bloodbath if he is not elected, maybe I should have been more explicit myself. It was the way he said it that may have been interpreted differently. He was talking about a possible severe economic downturn resulting in a bloodbath.
He forgets at the end of his last term people could not buy toilet paper and we were stacking dead bodies in refrigerator trucks.
Today, our local paper had the results of an online poll from this last week. The question was, if the election were held today, who would you vote for. There were 900 responses. 44% said they would vote for Biden. 43% said they would vote for Trump. 13% said they would vote for someone else. This is an unscientific poll, though. But what is significant is other than three universities in the area, this is a very conservative area. I was surprised Biden came on top.
“In this polarized nation, where divisions run deep,
Jesus’ presence can still be found, if we dare to seek.”
Listen to His Words: Open the ancient pages, read the Gospel’s grace, In His teachings, find wisdom for our troubled space.
Love Beyond Boundaries: Jesus crossed lines, embraced the outcast, His love transcends politics, it’s meant to last.
Serve with Compassion: In soup kitchens, shelters, streets, and strife, We glimpse Jesus when we give life to life.
Pray for Unity: Kneel not just for our side, but for all, Seek reconciliation, let love’s curtain fall.
See the Least and Lost: In the marginalized, the hurting, the weak, Jesus whispers, “Blessed are the meek.”
Speak Truth with Grace: When debates rage, and tempers flare, Let Jesus’ words guide, with kindness rare.
Remember His Cross: The rugged wood, where love and justice met, There, we find Jesus, our polarized hearts reset.
So, in this divided land, let’s seek His face,
For Jesus’ love knows no party, no race.
Comments
She suspended her campaign. She congratulated Trump, but she said it is up to him to win her people's votes. She has not endorsed him, yet.
Mitch McConnell has now endorsed Trump.
One key part of the argument for me is that Trump is consistently under-performing relative to his polling. Or to put it another way the polls of the primaries have consistently and significantly over-estimated Trump's support. The following is an explanation of what I mean.
The polls in this case come from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statewide_opinion_polling_for_the_2024_Republican_Party_presidential_primaries
For simplicity, I have just used one set. Greater precision would be achieved by taking the averages but I haven't done that. Anyway, you'll get the idea (all numbers refer to Trump's winning margin):
State:________Polling prediction:___Real result:___Difference:
California__________+57.8_________+60.7_________-2.9
Iowa_____________+34.0_________+29.7_________-4.3
Massachussetts______+34.9_________+23.1_________-11.8
Michigan__________+60.7_________+41.5_________-19.2
N. Hampshire_______+17.6_________+11.1_________-6.5
North Carolina______+52.6_________+50.6_________-2.0
South Carolina______+35.8_________+20.3_________-15.5
Tennessee_________+65.7_________+57.7_________-8.0
Texas____________+67.3_________+60.5_________-6.8
Virginia__________+60.4_________+28.3_________-32.1
Average result compared to polling: -10.3%
So we have good evidence that current polling methods are significantly overestimating Trump's level of support. Therefore a narrow lead for Trump in national polls most likely is in reality a comfortable lead for Biden.*
As I have said before and elsewhere, I am counting no chickens and will not relax until it's a done deal but the data thus far is a lot more encouraging than it may seem.
AFZ
*The opposite is also true for Biden - he is out-performing his polls in the Primaries.
It seemed like a competitive race between Trump and DeSantis at least for the nomination until Trump was indicted for the first time.
This is merely hypothetical - the prosecutors decided not to worry about the political ramifications of having a candidate on trial in an election year and that was probably the right thing to do. I’m just wondering what would have happened if they had decided, wrongly I suppose, to wait until after the election to proceed with their cases, as some people were arguing that they should have.
I’m only interested in what the effects would be before the election. If they wait to prosecute and then Trump wins the election, then likely Trump never goes on trial until after he leaves office, if ever.
Trump's a narcissist. He wants adulation, power, the worshipping masses. If he didn't already have something to have rallies about, he'd come up with something. Having had a taste of the spotlight running for president gets him, he's not going to give that up regardless of his legal situation. (I think he wants to actually BE president a lot less; the ratio of attention to work-you-can't-get-of is much worse, even with his slacking ways.)
So no, if anything the prosecutions have probably slowed him down a bit. But we were always going to be here. Trump's ego plus his idolaters' idiocy and the party's general craven spinelessness guaranteed it. I doubt anything short of his death would turn them to another candidate.
If he gets in I assume he is perfectly capable of ruling that presidential immunity from any charge should be a lifelong benefit of the job?
That, or God help us, actual civil war.
Yep. It's really important, I think to always have the 4-way risk assessment grid in one's head. The issues with risk is always how likely something is and how bad it is, if it happens. I am pretty good at walking along a narrow path without falling over. That doesn't mean I'll walk along a tight ledge with a 1000' drop though. The odds of me falling may be pretty small, but the consequences of doing so, quite significant.
AFZ
What he could try to do is pardon himself, perhaps once when he gets into office and again as his last act before leaving office (assuming he’d be willing to leave office). And that would be yet another untested thing, whether a president can pardon himself.
You and me both!
National polls asking about the mental capacity of Trump indicates 57 of those polled are concerned about his capacity, vs. 60 percent for Biden. A virtual dead heat.
Biden will be giving his State of the Union on Thursday. If he can show energy and not flub up what he is saying, it just might persuade voters to give him another chance.
Trump's support is astonishingly soft. Polls indicate 6 out of 10 of his supporters say a felony conviction will impact their decision in the general election.
A president can issue executive orders, and subsequent presidents could change or revoke those executive orders. A president also has the power to pardon; subsequent presidents cannot withdraw that pardon. But whether and in what circumstances a president has immunity is a question for courts, not the executive, to rule on.
Hypothetical questions are notoriously unreliable anyway, doubly so when there is an obvious "right" answer that all but the most ardent Trumper will be aware of. Everyone knows that a felony conviction *ought* to stop them voting for him, and so they say it will, but I'm not inclined to believe it. They'll have a full platoon of talking heads to convince them that a conviction doesn't count, or doesn't matter, or is all the fault of Jewish Space Lasers, or whatever else gives them enough juice to keep the cognitive dissonance engine running and allow them to vote for him anyway. I think this because, if there was a point where someone would voluntarily get off the Trump train because of his behaviour it would have been 50 miles back along the track. If you're still supporting him now it's because you've already decided you don't give a shit how he behaves.
That's the thing, this will all wind up in the courts being tested against the Constitution. Because so many of the things he does, or threatens to do, are the kind of things nobody else has ever come out with before, having some degree of shame and self-respect. But he hasn't got that. He walks through norms like they aren't even there, and the laws don't exist that could spell out "No, a president may not send SEALs after a political enemy to kill him, and then be immune from criminal charges for the rest of his life," because it never entered anybody's head that we could elect someone mad enough to say such a thing--let alone do it.
So now we're scrambling to play catch up.
And since his fertile imagination can come up with sixty-odd criminal idiocies before breakfast, he's always going to have the jump on us, who have to take weeks and months to enact another law to stop him.
Basically what prevents any president from making a stupid or criminal executive order is
a) an existing law, or
b) the Constitution and its logical implications, as worked out by the courts (but only after some idiot challenges it).
c) Oh, and a sense of public shame, which he hasn't got any of.
What happened in his term of office was he'd try to do some damn illegal thing and his advisors (the ones who had a hint of sense, and even occasionally a spine) said "You can't do that, if you try then X will happen." And sometimes they were able to talk him out of it. Sometimes he went ahead and ended up in the courts (as with the Muslim ban evil).
He had a hard enough time finding anyone who would serve under him the first term--it was an open scandal. May there not be a second.
Thanks, all, for the clarifications. I feel better equipped to make sense of what I'm reading now. It's going to be a difficult year with elections on both sides of the Atlantic, no particularly popular candidates, and an already turbulent international political situation. May the steadiest and sanest win.
Here is The Guardian's article on Mitch McConnell's endorsement.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/06/mitch-mcconnell-endorses-trump
Craven spinelessness is an understatement? Or is winning everything? Looks like moral bankruptcy to me.
That Guardian article said Nikki Haley "dropped out." The description I heard on another report was that she had "suspended" her campaign" which didn't sound as final.
Is she completely out?
Thanks @Lamb Chopped I was guessing that might be the case, and hoping that something like a long jail sentence would take Trump out of the picture.
AFZ
The next day, people were expressing concern about the other guy's mental acuity
It will be interesting to see where the pulls will put Biden this next week.
He ran in 2020 because he knew Trump needed to be defeated and he believed deep down that he had a best chance of that. That may be hubris or arrogance but he didn't run for himself, he ran for his nation.
Again, you can disagree with him, you can think him useless, you can think he's misguided, you can think him many things. But. But, the passion that drives him is true patriotism, it is a belief that Trumpism must be defeated and he can make things better for the American people and the world at large.
He is an old man. He is not perfect, none of us are but he is most definitely a driven man who's record in office is excellent.
It was a great speech.
On a tactical note, I think it was a huge strategic error for the Repubs to run on Biden's age and frailty.
Biden is old and he looks it. However, when he actually speaks or goes campaigning, he is light years away from how they portray him. MAGA cultists won't see it, of course and their plastic messiah can do no wrong but in the heat of a campaign, Trump just looks more and more deranged.
The undecideds and floating voters may look at Biden and think him too old because they've been primed to ask that question. But when they see Biden is so much better than billed and Trump is increasingly bat shit, what then?
AFZ
You are too kind.
Maybe Trump can kill someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it, but his endorsements are being held to a higher standard.
I had a friend today point out one of the assumed nominees is running out of a sense of duty to his country. The other is running for himself. Is it hard to guess who is who?
Am I the only person in the world who confuses her with Lorena Bobbitt?
Meanwhile I watch from afar in fear and trembling, with just a hint of hope.
As a matter of interest, where can I find good unbiased commentary ... I subscribe to WaPo but their skew is mostly so obvious it's nearly Fox mirrored ... and while I enjoy sites like MSNBC, and the commentators like Colbert and the vastly entertaining but seemingly ever-drunk (sometimes actually so) Seth Meyers, is there any site I can find reasoned and in depth BBC-style interview and analysis?
I'd recommend Slate, but they're behind a paywall now, and I don't THINK they're giving away monthly free articles as a teaser. Their ideological slant is left-liberal, but they're not just Team D cheerleaders. Some balanced and insightful analysis.
Slate was founded by Bill Gates, but is now owned by whatever spin-off company of the Washington Post. I haven't been a regular reader for a few years, due to the aforementioned paywall.
What do you think about this idea?
Without knowing more context, I’m afraid the suggestion to vote for the candidate who is more like Jesus if you want to see Jesus comes across as little more than a gratuitous political plug to me.
But maybe that’s just me. You know the congregation you’re preaching to. Feel free to pay me absolutely no heed at all.
Well, presumably, as you say, Gramps knows the congregation, and believes they have a similar idea to his about what Jesus would be like. So, not like he's going up to random strangers on the street and saying "Vote for people who are like Jesus!", in which case, yes, he'd probably run into the Christian Nationalist problem you mention.
And if Gramps DOESN'T have a clear handle on how his congregants would interpret the phrase, then the issues at his church would probably go a bit beyond voting, as the membership might be a little theologically scattered.
After what Trump said in Ohio, though, about there will be a bloodbath if he is not elected, maybe I should have been more explicit myself. It was the way he said it that may have been interpreted differently. He was talking about a possible severe economic downturn resulting in a bloodbath.
He forgets at the end of his last term people could not buy toilet paper and we were stacking dead bodies in refrigerator trucks.
Today, our local paper had the results of an online poll from this last week. The question was, if the election were held today, who would you vote for. There were 900 responses. 44% said they would vote for Biden. 43% said they would vote for Trump. 13% said they would vote for someone else. This is an unscientific poll, though. But what is significant is other than three universities in the area, this is a very conservative area. I was surprised Biden came on top.
“In this polarized nation, where divisions run deep,
Jesus’ presence can still be found, if we dare to seek.”
Listen to His Words: Open the ancient pages, read the Gospel’s grace, In His teachings, find wisdom for our troubled space.
Love Beyond Boundaries: Jesus crossed lines, embraced the outcast, His love transcends politics, it’s meant to last.
Serve with Compassion: In soup kitchens, shelters, streets, and strife, We glimpse Jesus when we give life to life.
Pray for Unity: Kneel not just for our side, but for all, Seek reconciliation, let love’s curtain fall.
See the Least and Lost: In the marginalized, the hurting, the weak, Jesus whispers, “Blessed are the meek.”
Speak Truth with Grace: When debates rage, and tempers flare, Let Jesus’ words guide, with kindness rare.
Remember His Cross: The rugged wood, where love and justice met, There, we find Jesus, our polarized hearts reset.
So, in this divided land, let’s seek His face,
For Jesus’ love knows no party, no race.