Trump and democracy

[Glyn_Wigley]

Did I hear correctly this morning that he has done no preparation for the up coming presidential debate and will rely only on intellect?

He's relying on Biden to cock it up, in accordance with the picture he's painted (ie 'Sleepy Joe). Certainly not intellect. I'd be surprised if Biden lived down to Trump's image of him and didn't make Trump look like the intellectual pygmy he is.

[BillyStubbsTears]

So it turns out that Cambridge Analytica was used by the Trump campaign in 2016 to target black Democrat supporters and feed them social media stuff to out them off voting.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Channel4News/status/1310640924029059074

That is, of course, the same CA that Cummings' illegally used to pour lies into people's social media feed before the Brexit vote a few months before.

[Donnywolf]

It worked both times

[IDM]

Doesn’t make it right though..

[Donnywolf]

Totally agree IDM - its completely wrong but it worked - and who knows it might work for Trump again. The Genie is out of the bottle and I fear it will never go back

Cant believe Trump expresses very very radical views on all sorts of parts of the population and yet they somehow having heard that seem to forget they have heard that and still vote for him

[SydneyRover]

From the bit I watched ............ nothing unexpected ............ lunatic.

[Donnywolf]

The loser on the night was democracy itself because previous Debates which have reached all time lows were eclipsed by miles last night in what was little more than a Junior School Playground spat.

Thankfully I didnt watch - but the "highlights" and I use the term ironically were enough

[Metalmicky]

Anthony Zurcher summarises it well...

In a debate that was the political equivalent of a food fight, the winner is the man who emerged least covered in slop.

On Tuesday night, that man was Joe Biden - if only because his main goal was to prove to Americans that he could hold up under pressure, that he had not lost a step due to his advancing age. He had to show he could take a pie to the face, metaphorically speaking, and keep his cool.

He mostly met that standard, although it was at least in part because Donald Trump, by his constant hectoring and interruptions, seldom gave the former vice-president a chance to say something truly damaging to his own cause.

Twitter Trump - the unconventional, bombastic, insulting and rumour-mongering aspect of this president - was on full display throughout the hour and a half event. Unfortunately for the president, many Americans, even his own supporters, find his social media persona one of his more unattractive attributes.

Trump needed this debate to shake up a race that is tilting against him - and has been remarkably stable, through economic, health and social adversity.

Nothing about this hour-and-a-half free-for-all seems likely to alter the dynamics of this contest or change the minds of the one in 10 American voters who say they are still undecided (although perhaps they'll resolve never to watch another one of these).

Anything resembling a substantive exchange was buried in a cavalcade of bloviation and bickering - and because of this, it was a missed opportunity for the president.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2020-54350538

[Donnywolf]

Wait for it - as alluded to already as Trump is getting armed :

Fake Election folks fake Election - I will accept the result as long as I know its been fair

How ironic that they and us and others send representatives around the globe to oversee a Countries election to assure the poulation it is both "free" and "fair". NEVER did I expect those same people to be needed in the US or UK BUT I reckon they ought to get round there FAST

[MachoMadness]

Jesus. How are those two the best the USA has to offer? Absolute horror show. I have no idea what any voter was supposed to learn from a spectacle like that.

[scawsby steve]

Horrendous to watch.

One of them constantly bullying and interrupting; the other one constantly stuttering and mumbling.

Embarrassing.

[ravenrover]

SS Biden actually did/does suffer from a stutter

[scawsby steve]

SS Biden actually did/does suffer from a stutter

He did have a stutter as a child, but overcame it, which is a credit to him.

However, the main concern now is his age, and how that affects his cognitive abilities.

[wilts rover]

Steve - last night Trump cae out with this whilst describing Europe! Who is it exactly that is concerned about Bidens' cognative abilities?

In Europe, they live, they have forest cities, they're called forest cities. They maintain their forest, they manage their forest. I was w/ the head of a major country, it's a forest city. He said, 'Sir, we have trees that are far more - they ignite much easier than California.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1311129668972675072

[BillyStubbsTears]

Wilts.

Yeah but...

Man, Woman, Person, Camera, TV

[scawsby steve]

Steve - last night Trump cae out with this whilst describing Europe! Who is it exactly that is concerned about Bidens' cognative abilities?

In Europe, they live, they have forest cities, they're called forest cities. They maintain their forest, they manage their forest. I was w/ the head of a major country, it's a forest city. He said, 'Sir, we have trees that are far more - they ignite much easier than California.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1311129668972675072

Wilts, when have I ever said that Trump is an intellectual genius?

[wilts rover]

Steve - last night Trump cae out with this whilst describing Europe! Who is it exactly that is concerned about Bidens' cognative abilities?

In Europe, they live, they have forest cities, they're called forest cities. They maintain their forest, they manage their forest. I was w/ the head of a major country, it's a forest city. He said, 'Sir, we have trees that are far more - they ignite much easier than California.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1311129668972675072

Wilts, when have I ever said that Trump is an intellectual genius?

As I said SS, who is it exactly that is concerned about Biden's cognative abilities?

[BillyStubbsTears]

I'm totally resigned to Deep Fake videos destroying the concept of Objective Truth.

Still. Might be a few laughs on the way.

https://mobile.twitter.com/socflyny/status/1287965336030019584

[Campsall rover]

SS Biden actually did/does suffer from a stutter

He did have a stutter as a child, but overcame it, which is a credit to him.

However, the main concern now is his age, and how that affects his cognitive abilities.

They are both too old. If they are the best a country with a population of 250 million can produce then they have a problem.
Absolute joke. Trouble is it isn’t funny. It’s a tragedy.

[Donnywolf]

... aided and abtetted by a crap Electoral system imo

Why do they not just count the Votes for each Candidate then each vote would be equal instead of the way they do it where 50.1% v 49.9% of the votes counted in say Wyoming gets 3 "delegates" for the winning person

the same 50.1 in Florida would get the winner 29 delegates
the same 50.1 in California would get the winner 55 delegates

Sure its based on population I get that but 1 delegate for Rhode Island 1 for Hawaii - just seems crap to me
So first to 270 wins so go big and throw lots of stuff at California 55 Texas 36 Florida 29 Illinois 20 and Pennsylania 20 and you have 160 right there in just 5 States and you can afford to give no timemoney or promises the way of Rhode Island Hawaii and Alaska with 3 - which to me means votes there matter LESS

[Donnywolf]

French (since 65) and Russia are both done by popular vote although maybe there are other factors at work in Russia 

[Bentley Bullet]

I suppose you could argue that the UK's position in the EU might have been more dominant had the MEP's been selected more proportionately. There was one MEP for every 880,000 British voters, compared to one for every 70,900 Maltese. The EU average is one MEP for 486,000 voters."

[Glyn_Wigley]

I suppose you could argue that the UK's position in the EU might have been more dominant had the MEP's been selected more proportionately. There was one MEP for every 880,000 British voters, compared to one for every 70,900 Maltese. The EU average is one MEP for 486,000 voters."

If MEPs were allocated strictly by proportion, the Brexiteers would moan we'd lost out because Germany would get three times as many extra seats that the UK would.

[BillyStubbsTears]

SS Biden actually did/does suffer from a stutter

He did have a stutter as a child, but overcame it, which is a credit to him.

However, the main concern now is his age, and how that affects his cognitive abilities.

They are both too old. If they are the best a country with a population of 250 million can produce then they have a problem.
Absolute joke. Trouble is it isn’t funny. It’s a tragedy.

They are far from the best the country can produce. Elizabeth Warren was the stand-out candidate on the Democrat side. She would have made a magnificent President. But the party was obsessed with it being a fight between two old men in Biden and Sanders.

I have to admit, I'm wracking my brains and trying to thing who there is at the top of the Republican party who combines intelligence and integrity like Warren does, and I'm drawing a blank.

[Glyn_Wigley]

SS Biden actually did/does suffer from a stutter

He did have a stutter as a child, but overcame it, which is a credit to him.

However, the main concern now is his age, and how that affects his cognitive abilities.

They are both too old. If they are the best a country with a population of 250 million can produce then they have a problem.
Absolute joke. Trouble is it isn’t funny. It’s a tragedy.

They are far from the best the country can produce. Elizabeth Warren was the stand-out candidate on the Democrat side. She would have made a magnificent President. But the party was obsessed with it being a fight between two old men in Biden and Sanders.

I have to admit, I'm wracking my brains and trying to thing who there is at the top of the Republican party who combines intelligence and integrity like Warren does, and I'm drawing a blank.

Intelligence and integrity? At the moment, Mitt Romney. His policy ideas are a different matter though.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Yeah he's probably about the best they have. Thin gruel though.

[Bentley Bullet]

I suppose you could argue that the UK's position in the EU might have been more dominant had the MEP's been selected more proportionately. There was one MEP for every 880,000 British voters, compared to one for every 70,900 Maltese. The EU average is one MEP for 486,000 voters."

If MEPs were allocated strictly by proportion, the Brexiteers would moan we'd lost out because Germany would get three times as many extra seats that the UK would.

Do you mean instead of losing out on seats in general?

[Glyn_Wigley]

I suppose you could argue that the UK's position in the EU might have been more dominant had the MEP's been selected more proportionately. There was one MEP for every 880,000 British voters, compared to one for every 70,900 Maltese. The EU average is one MEP for 486,000 voters."

If MEPs were allocated strictly by proportion, the Brexiteers would moan we'd lost out because Germany would get three times as many extra seats that the UK would.

Do you mean instead of losing out on seats in general?

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/en/media/euromyths/degressiveproportionality.html

[Bentley Bullet]

That's the article I got my info from!

[SydneyRover]

And this is what he says

''What about the EU? Well, I think it's important here too that smaller countries (a number of them smaller, incidentally, than my constituency of Yorkshire & Humber) have a voice at the table without being shouted down by their much bigger neighbours. This is the main motivation behind degressive proportionality. But it's also a simple mathematical fact that a strictly proportional system wouldn't work''