If he ran as the Dem maybe, … a fkn Amoeba would have a good chance of putting this bullshitting blowhard to the sword, but Party line voting is far too strong over there for any 3rd party candidate to be a realistic chance, … maybe in another 20 yrs or so,… but not yet.
Also while either Bern or Joe would in theory be almost dead certs, Sanders will be nearing fkn 80 at the next Pres Election, and Biden just a year behind, and that will give many pause.
It’s a pity Franken got the shaft for that idiot photo, I reckon he’d end up the Candidate in a shoo in if he was still about.
In my humble and likely poor reckoning a Trump primary challenge might be an even money chance but the chance of him losing that primary is quite a bit lower. It would be bruising for the GOP however, and historically it has led to an election loss for a victorious incumbent.
There are already rumblings of changing the rules to prevent a challenge.
Why am I not surprised. All these austerity policies do is keep capital concentrated in the hands of a select group of people. It’s a huge con job. I wish people were more knowledgeable about macro economic theory to realise how stupid it is treating gov’t spending like a household.
Government has access to the cheapest debt possible. Infrastructure is far more cost effective when funded at government interest rates compared to private interest rates. But we’ve become so fearful of debt that we’ll happily pay a premium for privately funded for-profit infrastructure that sucks far more money out of the economy. Brilliant.
Tricky? It basically kneecaps any progressive policy which is why the Pay Go House rules are so terrible over in the States if it passes and if we have similar legislation here it should be binned immediately.
Running as an independent Bernie would simply split the left’s vote and give the election to Trump in a cakewalk. And he’d be killed in the general if he was the main person, as many of his policy positions are weak and he’s never suffered a sustained targeting by the GOP apparatus.
There was a reason the Russians tried to help Bernie win over Hillary.
On the Pay Go, I’d agree it would be crazy for Dems to pass that (as you describe it).
It’s great that America has finally woken up to progressive politics, but no matter who wins they arent going to have their Gough Whitlam moment and have a progressive revolution. They are still conservative and their system is designed to limit change. A slow bit by bit change over 20 years is more likely and more likely to succeed. Look at Obamacare and the fight against it, but 10 years later the roots of the health policy have taken hold.
But the next president does have to deal with very big things.
Climate change - has to progress in the next decade, no ifs or buts.
A recession - if it doesn’t hit first it will be before 2024 and it’s going to be bad.
Geopolitics - it’s not about war or no war. We have China, Russia the Middle East and Nth Korea all flaring. To manage the next 20 years is going to require a massive effort of deft touch, alliances and strength if needed.
For the worlds sake the US president needs to be able to deal with those 3 things or life could get a whole heap worse for all of us.
The US is done imo, they are now the past and are going to struggle to be listened to much by the rest of the world. It has already really started thanks to Trump but imo it was already going down the path of being ignored.