Rachel Maddow is a lesbian, practicing Catholic - says it all really. As Orwell said: "One cannot really be Catholic & grown-up."

You know I shan’t be trawling through your rants for your so called evidence. I’d provide links to the Washington Post or the New York Times for you but I doubt you’d follow them up.

I have now sufficient funds to last me the rest of my life. Provided I don't buy anything.

It is more a change in mind set in the US and the West generally. When it came to putting a cross on the paper, voters essentially drifted towards those who more or less reflected their views and who they were confident would govern the least-worse effectively.

Now it is more a case of who will entertain them. It has morphed into something closer to a reality show. Trump and Johnson were never statesmen. They were comedic front men. Those not cheering on their bon viveur while holding up hand written placards, as at a WWF match, were crossing fingers and toes that those behind and around them were governing while they "entertained".

The "likes of her" will never come close as she cannot deliver the one-liners.

I think there's a lot of truth there.

Also, with Trump, let's not forget that America still has a strong identity and therefore masses of the population that believe in being a gun-toting, war-mongering, 'us against the world' nation. Trump can brighten that flame burning in many, better than many.

The lines of 'he lied, she lied' and trying to defame the opposition always seem bizarre to me, and arguing about them beyond futility, as they are just as bad as one another.

I believe where Biden has failed is in hitting Americans in both of their most vulnerable places - this identity and their pockets.

His appeal to minority groups and the far left may have stirred up some support but that is beginning to wane, again most likely worsened by poor economic performance.

If Trump is to be successful I would think much of that would have to do with contempt and disillusionment with the overtly incompetent Biden. Unfortunately, competence, much like over here, has become less and less an integral part of the job spec as the likes of slagging off the opposition, paying lip service to (or creating your own) zeitgeists and stirring up the masses has become more and more key.

Any Trump victory will be one of personality surely, with performance/competence in post being a caveat or footnote.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

Criticisms of Biden and Trump being what is offered to the US people is of course fair comment as far as I'm concerned.

The west should be meritocratic and this is clearly not an example of that.

We all know that these two are really just figureheads of two opposing camps. They are both controversial figures even on their own sides.

With America you get the impression of impending crisis.
Same as you do with China/Taiwan. It's all just a question of when....much like Russia/Ukraine was over ten years in the making America is a clusterfeck just waiting to happen....not that I'm saying it's going to be two armies facing off against each other but instead it's more likely to be civil unrest leading to political separation.

Edited by Stirlingsays (16 Jan 2024 11.54am)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

All he is and all he ever was is not Trump.

One day into his tenure and the public realised what they had done. Now they want him out and will vote Trump as he is not Biden.

A sorry state of affairs.

Had the DNC got their act together and had Biden engaged what few brain cells he has left, there would be another candidate lined up to replace Biden as the Democratic candidate. Pretty much any moderate to conservative candidate with a clean track record would trounce Trump at the general election as there are just so many red necks and white Christian evangelicals out there.

Edited by silvertop (16 Jan 2024 12.28pm)