OT: Democratic Primary Thread

[Clyde_Style]

Read on Twitter

Trump in full Don Corleone mode threatening that he has dirt on people and he'll use it

Speculation on Twitter is Trump is actually referring to a Republican, not a Democrat, i.e. Lindsay Graham who has recently taken some public steps away from Trump in advance of the election.

Since it is widely assumed Graham is severely compromised (he admitted on TV his campaign was hacked) based on the abrupt about face from hard core Trump hater in 2016 to Trump succubus after their famous ride in Trump's golf cart, it stands to reason Trump is using his bully pulpit to threaten Graham with revealing whatever blackmail he has on him.

P.S. That Steve Mnuchin guy sure is creepy. He is like one of the Wicked Witch of the West's underling flying monkeys leering in the background.

[Jalen Bluntson]

Trump is morbidly obese and growing before our eyes, wears a girdle to hold in his gut and support his back, was rushed to the hospital under mysterious circumstances last Fall and has been slurring his words ever since. He can't walk down a slight incline without taking baby steps or drink a glass of water with one arm just like a stroke victim.

Biden has given half hour long public speeches recently that were coherent and without a script. Trump goes to a rally in Tulsa and spends twenty minutes of that time babbling about being able to walk and drink a glass of water without once addressing the covid crisis. Biden's mind is still in the game. Trump's mind never was in the game and it is receding even further rapidly.

What is the basis for you betting on Biden being incapacitated sooner?

Biden was stammering and forgetting numbers and dates quite a bit. Blurting out "get off my lawn" type comments. Then he was out of the public eye for a while. I haven't seen him recently though.

I didn't know about Trump and hospital visit. He's a stuttering prick too. A possible stroke could explain a few things. I can't stand him either way but...Biden wasn't looking any better for a while there.

I have watched both of them more than enough to say the current version of Biden is massively more functional on both a physical and cognitive level than Trump.

Biden's mental processes always had a glitch that has put him on the blooper reel and there is no denying that. But that has nothing to do with his age. He's legendary for sometimes blurting out odd things. It is a lifelong bug in his operating system, not a sign of decline.

Biden is pretty much the same guy, just a little slower. Watch Pelosi. She's 80. She's still sharp as a tack, but at their age the verbal functions can be get impeded to some degree. Both her and Joe have marbles in their mouths sometimes that sounds like older people wearing dentures. Her delivery has slowed down a bit, but her intellect has not. She's still on point.

You've been pitched Biden's blooper reel and been sold the notion that he is close to being a vegetable. I'm not attacking you when I say it is patently false and ridiculous since I merely think you've been misinformed by people with bad intentions towards Biden.

He is going to be a one-term president and he is sane enough and wise enough to understand that. I think that speaks to his intelligence and desire to serve and then step aside. A person who was deficient mentally would not be able to ascertain the situation that clearly.

Trump, however, is mentally ill. His niece has a pH.D in Psychology and just released her book on her uncle. She knows what she speaks of when she says the man is afflicted by a wide range of mental problems.

So I have to ask:

Why this obsession with Biden's age when not only is Trump of a similar age and vastly more unhealthy when clearly it is only Trump who is afflicted with severe psychological issues?

Why is this red herring about Biden's cognitive decline being used to avoid the issue of Trump's far more serious lifelong cognitive dysfunctions that are truly destructive whereas Biden's lifelong cognitive issues are largely benign?

Do you not see the gross disparity between those two concerns?

I haven't been sold anything. Both sides are attacking the other guys mental state. I'm just giving an opinion on what I was witnessing watching Biden speak to the media. Trump isn't fit for his job. Both are not my preferred choices for the job. Oh well. I'm just giving my opinion on what I see with these guys. I am sure we will get a great look during the debates.

[robillionaire]

Read on Twitter

Trump in full Don Corleone mode threatening that he has dirt on people and he'll use it

Speculation on Twitter is Trump is actually referring to a Republican, not a Democrat, i.e. Lindsay Graham who has recently taken some public steps away from Trump in advance of the election.

Since it is widely assumed Graham is severely compromised (he admitted on TV his campaign was hacked) based on the abrupt about face from hard core Trump hater in 2016 to Trump succubus after their famous ride in Trump's golf cart, it stands to reason Trump is using his bully pulpit to threaten Graham with revealing whatever blackmail he has on him.

P.S. That Steve Mnuchin guy sure is creepy. He is like one of the Wicked Witch of the West's underling flying monkeys leering in the background.

based on this clip alone (i admittedly haven't read up on this) he doesn't say a democrat, he says "someone on the other side" which to him means anybody who isn't part of his cult so he could very well consider someone like graham who has been critical of him to be on "the other side"

[HarthorneWingo]

I, for one, never would’ve believed that the DNC strategy would be “Let’s find someone who is just a little better than Trump.” But here we are, again.

What a brilliant strategy.

[Clyde_Style]

Read on Twitter

Trump in full Don Corleone mode threatening that he has dirt on people and he'll use it

Speculation on Twitter is Trump is actually referring to a Republican, not a Democrat, i.e. Lindsay Graham who has recently taken some public steps away from Trump in advance of the election.

Since it is widely assumed Graham is severely compromised (he admitted on TV his campaign was hacked) based on the abrupt about face from hard core Trump hater in 2016 to Trump succubus after their famous ride in Trump's golf cart, it stands to reason Trump is using his bully pulpit to threaten Graham with revealing whatever blackmail he has on him.

P.S. That Steve Mnuchin guy sure is creepy. He is like one of the Wicked Witch of the West's underling flying monkeys leering in the background.

based on this clip alone (i admittedly haven't read up on this) he doesn't say a democrat, he says "someone on the other side" which to him means anybody who isn't part of his cult so he could very well consider someone like graham who has been critical of him to be on "the other side"

Sure, there are probably a few ways to parse who his intended target is.

That we're watching a president speak like this is unbearably sad to me, but not at all shocking. I've assumed since 2016 that the whole infrastructure of the GOP has been turned into a wholesale blackmail operation to keep the party membership in line.

It appears the only one they couldn't corral was Romney. Not saying he's a good guy, but he may turn out to have been the only one of them not totally caked with mafia chit.

[HarthorneWingo]

NYT

A record 5.4 million people lost their health coverage amid the pandemic, a study found.

The coronavirus pandemic stripped an estimated 5.4 million Americans of their health insurance between February and May, a stretch in which more adults became uninsured because of job losses than have ever lost coverage in a single year, according to a new analysis.

As Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports, the study, to be released Tuesday by the nonpartisan consumer advocacy group Families U.S.A., found that the estimated increase in uninsured laid-off workers over the three-month period was nearly 40 percent higher than the highest previous increase, which occurred during the recession of 2008 and 2009. In that period, 3.9 million adults lost insurance.

“We knew these numbers would be big,’’ said Stan Dorn, who directs the group’s National Center for Coverage Innovation and was the author of the study. “This is the worst economic downturn since World War II. It dwarfs the Great Recession. So it’s not surprising that we would also see the worst increase in the uninsured.”

-more-

[Phish Tank]

I, for one, never would’ve believed that the DNC strategy would be “Let’s find someone who is just a little better than Trump.” But here we are, again.

What a brilliant strategy.

Voters seemed to disagree


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[duetta]

Joe Biden, the candidate, will never be for M4A. There is no political reason to.

Joe Biden, the President 3 years from now? Maybe.

Exactly. If the Supremes take out the ACA...then M4A becomes much more of an immediate possibility.

They need to figure out and explain the funding strategy for M4A - something that Sanders never attempted. People need to understand where the dollars will come from (and it should be significantly cheaper than what we have today - which is costing us 17-18% of GDP as opposed to the 8-9% of GDP in the UK and Canada, and 12-13% in Western Europe and Japan). But we need to explain in extremely granular terms where the funding will come from, and what will happen to the compensation we all receive from our employers when it provides employer-based health insurance; will these corporations instead pay that money out in taxes to the federal government (on our behalf); or will they attempt to pocket it?

They also need to lay out a plan to train a new generation of doctors (essentially for free) - since we don't have enough personnel right now for truly universal coverage (thanks to the artificial limits that the AMA has put on Medical School enrollment and residencies for decades); and too many of the doctors that do exist got into medicine for the money and not for the altruism. We're likely going to need a plan that will allow them to stay largely outside the main system until retirement.

I agree that the Coronavirus downturn is making the need for M4A much more urgent (even if we eventually end up with a two-tiered system). The problem is that the majority of Americans do not reside in the same echo chamber as the current primary advocates for this program. If we push too far, too fast, we can easily end up empowering the people who want to keep or even make more problematic the existing system.

[HarthorneWingo]

I, for one, never would’ve believed that the DNC strategy would be “Let’s find someone who is just a little better than Trump.” But here we are, again.

What a brilliant strategy.

Voters seemed to disagree
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That’s why we ended up with Trump. Our media/press failed us. They’re more interested in ratings and making money.

[Phish Tank]

Joe Biden, the candidate, will never be for M4A. There is no political reason to.

Joe Biden, the President 3 years from now? Maybe.

Exactly. If the Supremes take out the ACA...then M4A becomes much more of an immediate possibility.

They need to figure out and explain the funding strategy for M4A - something that Sanders never attempted. People need to understand where the dollars will come from (and it should be significantly cheaper than what we have today - which is costing us 17-18% of GDP as opposed to the 8-9% of GDP in the UK and Canada, and 12-13% in Western Europe and Japan). But we need to explain in extremely granular terms where the funding will come from, and what will happen to the compensation we all receive from our employers when it provides employer-based health insurance; will these corporations instead pay that money out in taxes to the federal government (on our behalf); or will they attempt to pocket it?

They also need to lay out a plan to train a new generation of doctors (essentially for free) - since we don't have enough personnel right now for truly universal coverage (thanks to the artificial limits that the AMA has put on Medical School enrollment and residencies for decades); and too many of the doctors that do exist got into medicine for the money and not for the altruism. We're likely going to need a plan that will allow them to stay largely outside the main system until retirement.

I agree that the Coronavirus downturn is making the need for M4A much more urgent (even if we eventually end up with a two-tiered system). The problem is that the majority of Americans do not reside in the same echo chamber as the current primary advocates for this program. If we push too far, too fast, we can easily end up empowering the people who want to keep or even make more problematic the existing system.

Implementing M4A, with or without the ACA decision, will be hard. Republicans will immediate challenge it in court and utilize the circuit court judges that Trump appointed over the past 3.5 years to affirm their stance.

Private insurance ban -> check
Anything related to abortion -> check

Due to the implementation of Medicare itself, there are less constitutional issues with M4A than there are with ACA. But Republicans are known to exploit any and every minor quirk that's subject to a constitutional interpretation. In other words, start ponying up on lawyers or make sure you prioritize the importance of the judiciary

[Phish Tank]

I, for one, never would’ve believed that the DNC strategy would be “Let’s find someone who is just a little better than Trump.” But here we are, again.

What a brilliant strategy.

Voters seemed to disagree
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That’s why we ended up with Trump. Our media/press failed us. They’re more interested in ratings and making money.

This is true. Not sure if it was meant in rebuttal to what I said , but I have gripes with many in the media/press for how they treated 2016 and how they cover Trump now.

[HarthorneWingo]

Joe Biden, the candidate, will never be for M4A. There is no political reason to.

Joe Biden, the President 3 years from now? Maybe.

Reemphasizing the 2nd sentence.

It’s a stunning admission. 70% of Americans want M4A. This is who Biden is. He will politicize these issues. In this respect, he’s no different that Trump.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/former-cdc-directors-trump-coronavirus_n_5f0da459c5b6df6cc0b140d1

That just goes to show that Biden is playing politics with our healthcare (and economy) which recently called a “human right.”

What happens when everyone makes a bee line for the public option like it’s Black Friday because they don’t want their employers based policies? If they opt out of those, maybe they can get an increase in their salary? Why would employers want to continue to spend money on healthcare insurance premiums when they can pocket some of that money if they no longer have to provide it?

What’s stopping that from happening?

[GONYK]

Joe Biden, the candidate, will never be for M4A. There is no political reason to.

Joe Biden, the President 3 years from now? Maybe.

Reemphasizing the 2nd sentence.

It’s a stunning admission. 70% of Americans want M4A.

That just goes to show that Biden is playing politics with our healthcare (and economy) which recently called a “human right.”

What happens when everyone makes a bee line for the public option like it’s Black Friday because they don’t want their employers based policies? If they opt out of those, maybe they can get an increase in their salary? Why would employers want to continue to spend money on healthcare insurance premiums when they can pocket some of that money if they no longer have to provide it?

What’s stopping that from happening?

He should be playing politics with it. He's trying to win an election.

Unless your scenario is going to happen by Nov. 3rd (which would make it Trump's problem), there is no reason for Biden to change his platform.

He became the nominee with that platform, and defeated someone advocating for M4A with that platform.

[HarthorneWingo]

Reemphasizing the 2nd sentence.

It’s a stunning admission. 70% of Americans want M4A.

That just goes to show that Biden is playing politics with our healthcare (and economy) which recently called a “human right.”

What happens when everyone makes a bee line for the public option like it’s Black Friday because they don’t want their employers based policies? If they opt out of those, maybe they can get an increase in their salary? Why would employers want to continue to spend money on healthcare insurance premiums when they can pocket some of that money if they no longer have to provide it?

What’s stopping that from happening?

He should be playing politics with it. He's trying to win an election.

Unless your scenario is going to happen by Nov. 3rd (which would make it Trump's problem), there is no reason for Biden to change his platform.

70% of Americans want it and if it’s not clear already, we need it.

[GONYK]

It’s a stunning admission. 70% of Americans want M4A.

That just goes to show that Biden is playing politics with our healthcare (and economy) which recently called a “human right.”

What happens when everyone makes a bee line for the public option like it’s Black Friday because they don’t want their employers based policies? If they opt out of those, maybe they can get an increase in their salary? Why would employers want to continue to spend money on healthcare insurance premiums when they can pocket some of that money if they no longer have to provide it?

What’s stopping that from happening?

He should be playing politics with it. He's trying to win an election.

Unless your scenario is going to happen by Nov. 3rd (which would make it Trump's problem), there is no reason for Biden to change his platform.

70% of Americans want it.

Then they should have voted for it

[Phish Tank]

It’s a stunning admission. 70% of Americans want M4A.

That just goes to show that Biden is playing politics with our healthcare (and economy) which recently called a “human right.”

What happens when everyone makes a bee line for the public option like it’s Black Friday because they don’t want their employers based policies? If they opt out of those, maybe they can get an increase in their salary? Why would employers want to continue to spend money on healthcare insurance premiums when they can pocket some of that money if they no longer have to provide it?

What’s stopping that from happening?

He should be playing politics with it. He's trying to win an election.

Unless your scenario is going to happen by Nov. 3rd (which would make it Trump's problem), there is no reason for Biden to change his platform.

70% of Americans want it.

Where are the 70% located? If it's heavily tilted towards NY, MA, IL, NJ, and CA... that percentage doesn't matter.

Find the polling by state....

[HarthorneWingo]

He should be playing politics with it. He's trying to win an election.

Unless your scenario is going to happen by Nov. 3rd (which would make it Trump's problem), there is no reason for Biden to change his platform.

70% of Americans want it.

Then they should have voted for it

That doesn’t excuse Biden from politicizing the issue. People voted for Trump too. How’s that work out?

[HarthorneWingo]

He should be playing politics with it. He's trying to win an election.

Unless your scenario is going to happen by Nov. 3rd (which would make it Trump's problem), there is no reason for Biden to change his platform.

70% of Americans want it.

Where are the 70% located? If it's heavily tilted towards NY, MA, IL, NJ, and CA... that percentage doesn't matter.

Find the polling by state....

PT, are you really going to play electoral politics with healthcare programs? Is that how FDR did it?

[GONYK]

70% of Americans want it.

Then they should have voted for it

That doesn’t excuse Biden from politicizing the issue. People voted for Trump too. How’s that work out?

Biden isn't politicizing the issue. He just disagrees with M4A being the right path forward.

He's disagreed with it as a solution from the beginning, and people voted for him over the guy who advocated for it.

Why should he change it now? We will probably have a Covid vaccine by the time he's sworn in, if he wins.

He's giving the people what they voted for.

[HarthorneWingo]

Just out of curiosity, will Biden be politicizing any other crucial programs that our country need? And just as I I ask the question ... more weak tea from Sleepy Joe. Just like Obama.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-climate_n_5f0dc2b7c5b63b8fc10ee04b