My hope was we would see a slow shift after he was out of office like with Bush, but now I'm convinced he'll be the next Reagan. Decades from now we'll still be feeling the consequences while they talk about how he was the last great president who you could really trust.
Imagine a family member of yourself is currently fighting in a war, you’re being vocal about said war, but you’re actively ignoring said family member.
It’s probably because he doesn’t care to dig into an issue any further than what fits the current narrative that he’s pushing, which should be a disqualifying trait for anyone holding an office this high.
If you watch the dynamic of the video, Vance was there to show he could do it on the big stage. Trump was the boss there watching and trying not to jump in until he felt Vance lost the thread.
That’s a great thing to do, as a boss, for matters of middling importance. Not so great when you’re both fucking morons and are risking a global conflict.
Idiots here are going to attack me but i'm gonna pointing it out anyway: "former US marine drawn to Ukraine by curiosity and a sense of adventure but also felt a strong urge to help" doesn't sound like a good preamble to me
I hope he's a genuine guy and didn't go there just to shoot at somebody and fulfill their military training like many others have done.
I imagine it's a combination of not wanting to reveal sources and mechanisms for acquiring intelligence, needing to follow due process, unwillingness to show federal agencies interfering with a federal election, as well as a certain amount of fascism within the agencies involved.
Add to that the previously common assumption that "it can't happen here."
The real question is, why did the Biden administration not recognize the existential threat in letting them try again?
The real question is, why did the Biden administration not recognize the existential threat in letting them try again?
They did. And people were trying to warn everyone about this pretty much since Trump left office last time. Two problems. One is that people just didn't listen or didn't care. Especially his base. Trump could have ran Putin himself as VP and his base still would've voted for him. All the warnings in the world wouldn't have done jack shit.
The other problem is that, especially as the incumbent running for re-election, Biden can only say and do so much before giving off the appearance that he is using his position of authority to attack political rivals and interfere in elections. I'm not even saying he'd be wrong per se, but using a position of authority to make those accusations and have someone prosecuted, jailed, and/or disqualified from running is a common tactic in authoritarian regimes, and people absolutely would be making those comparisons, likening Biden to a wannabe-dictator trying to hang onto power. Trump absolutely would have latched onto that with a deathgrip, and given the political environment we're living in, he could have easily won by an even bigger margin than he did on the backs of people saying that Biden overstepped his authority by trying to have Trump disqualified based on what would be perceived as wild accusations and conspiracy theories.
And when it comes to political campaigns, perception is typically far more important than reality. Doesn't matter how true the accusations are. It would come off as a Biden conspiracy theory to try to have a political rival disqualfied, which most Americans are dead set against.
With lavish support from American donors and a fanatical base of nativist white nationalists to carry him across the finish line.
Americans simply do not want to believe that Trump is the product of American money and American ideology. It always has to be the Evil Outsider who caused the problems. COVID is a Chinese Disease. Low wages and high unemployment are the result of Latin American migrants working here illegally. Our national deficit is the result of (((Globalist Bankers))) tricking us into giving away too much Foreign Aid. And now even the popularly elected President is the product of an Evil Russian tricking the sweet, innocent baby-faced Mark Zuckerberg into posting right wing memes on the reactionary social media website.
Nothing is America's fault. We were forced into electing Donald. Twice. The Evil Foreigners are just that powerful.