2024 Democrat Presidential Candidates

If Biden does lose and it’s widely believed it’s because of age/health/mental health concerns, who are we going to blame? As far as I am considered this is the third consecutive time the establishment Democrats put their thumb on the scales. In 2016 for Clinton, in 2020 when Biden rose to the top out of the blue while other candidates conveniently dropped out minutes later, and in 2024 when they absolutely refuse to give any primary challengers a fair shake or equal coverage.
 
Chew Toy McCoy said:
If Biden does lose and it’s widely believed it’s because of age/health/mental health concerns, who are we going to blame? As far as I am considered this is the third consecutive time the establishment Democrats put their thumb on the scales. In 2016 for Clinton, in 2020 when Biden rose to the top out of the blue while other candidates conveniently dropped out minutes later, and in 2024 when they absolutely refuse to give any primary challengers a fair shake or equal coverage.
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The question is who will he lose to, if Trump is the nominee his downfalls far outweigh any concerns about Biden's mental/health status. Trump would have to win back all those he lost in the last election and he's already trailing from where he was at this point. How does he pull that off?
 
This will certainly be an interesting election. I think the Dems have some serious liabilities with Biden and Harris. I’m really not a fan of this idea that the incumbent should not be challenged. I’m not convinced RFK or Williamson have a serious change of winning the nomination, barring some serious issue. But I believe the incumbent should be challenged by their own party- and in the end should make the winner a stronger candidate.

I’m not yet convinced Trump is as strong of a candidate as he’s made out to be- a lot can happen between now and the primary. Especially given Trump is quite old himself too, not to mention all his legal troubles.

I for one am not excited about a Biden Trump rematch.
 
Eric said:
The question is who will he lose to, if Trump is the nominee his downfalls far outweigh any concerns about Biden's mental/health status. Trump would have to win back all those he lost in the last election and he's already trailing from where he was at this point. How does he pull that off?
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‘Unfortunately there are still a large percentage of voters who don’t pay close attention to politics and maybe only tune in close to election time. And if we’re going to be honest that might have been good enough during normal times but we’re nowhere near normal times. Then there’s people in Kansas who think gun violence in Chicago somehow impacts their lives. People living on the border of Canada thinking the border with Mexico is our biggest problem. Connect many dots like that.
 
Eric said:
Trump's still living off of Big Macs and KFC and is probably in worse shape than Biden with his share of spills too, maybe it'll be a battle of who falls the least. :mrgreen:
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Biden is 80 years old. Trump is 76. The average life expectancy for a white male in the US currently is about 75. If you look at the actuarial life table, the outlook for either of these men don’t look great, not surprisingly.

I’m not aware of many fields where people are still working in positions of extremely high responsibility except politicians (and maybe judges… I had a great uncle who worked until age 101 as a judge). I think it’s a very bad situation we have set for ourselves.

If you ask me, Biden is clearly not in the greatest health- demonstrating routine cognitive problems and potentially degrading general physical health (which could also be connected to the cognitive issues). Trump is notoriously unhealthy in many respects but seems pretty sharp cognitively- but perhaps may be a little slower than he was 5 years.

The fact of the matter is putting up an octogenarian as a presidential contender is at best a risky idea. Especially without a solid VP in reserve. Either of these men could drop dead from a stroke or MI at any moment. They could be diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and be dead within months. Etc. Even diseases like Alzheimer’s, if not already present, can progress extremely rapidly- within months.

Politics aside, Trump’s apparent personality disorder is highly concerning- highlighted by his refusal to accept the results of the last election- highly, highly dangerous. I’m concerned Biden is not reliably competent and things will only get worse. The fact he has and continues to be largely been shielded by the press is deeply troubling. I really have to wonder if his withdrawal from Afghanistan (not the decision, rather the manner of withdrawal) was made with clear judgement. I think we all understand the motivation to leave, but the manner in which we left is beyond inexplicable.

I personally cannot vote for either of these candidates in good conscience even if I liked either of their platform- which as a moderate I have significant problems with both.

Idk… the polls show most Americans are not enthused about either of these candidates. Maybe this is the first year where a 3rd party candidate could actually win.
 
Should it come down to Biden vs trump... even though I would expect Biden to win (assuming there are no adverse health surprises over the next 18 months - something I would definitely not bet on), I'm going to be pretty pissed, having to believe that's the best the US could do, and we must accept the situation. Seriously? That's really f'd up.

If desantis wins the gop primary, and runs against Biden, well, that'll be awful as well - likely for the next eight years.

Still hoping there's a Plan B ready to go, where Biden can graciously decide not to run, steps aside and endorses an excellent alternative, and becomes a senior foreign policy advisor to whoever that is. That probably won't be pretty, either. But I think it would be the best outcome for the country, preserving democracy.
 
Citysnaps said:
Should it come down to Biden vs trump... even though I would expect Biden to win (assuming there are no adverse health surprises over the next 18 months - something I would definitely not bet on), I'm going to be pretty pissed, having to believe that's the best the US could do, and we must accept the situation. Seriously? That's really f'd up.

If desantis wins the gop primary, and runs against Biden, well, that'll be awful as well - likely for the next eight years.

Still hoping there's a Plan B ready to go, where Biden can graciously decide not to run, steps aside and endorses an excellent alternative, and becomes a senior foreign policy advisor to whoever that is. That probably won't be pretty, either. But I think it would be the best outcome for the country, preserving democracy.
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I have the same concerns. IMO, Biden is a decent person who cares about the country, and he's gotten a lot done. He's running again because he genuinely believes there is more for him to do and because he feels nobody else in the party, including Harris, would have nearly as much success. I don't know what it would take for him to step aside: maybe if he has more falling or other incidents and his physicians advise him strongly to bow out. His wife would likely play a major role in that decision.

If Biden is the nominee, his choice of running mate will assume even greater importance than in 2020. But it would look bad if he dropped Harris, even if he chose another woman, which would be a requirement.

Still, I would vote for Biden over Trump, DeSantis, or any of the other minor players. I don't think an independent could win, and would probably siphon more votes from the Democratic candidate.
 
Roller said:
I have the same concerns. IMO, Biden is a decent person who cares about the country, and he's gotten a lot done. He's running again because he genuinely believes there is more for him to do and because he feels nobody else in the party, including Harris, would have nearly as much success. I don't know what it would take for him to step aside: maybe if he has more falling or other incidents and his physicians advise him strongly to bow out. His wife would likely play a major role in that decision.

If Biden is the nominee, his choice of running mate will assume even greater importance than in 2020. But it would look bad if he dropped Harris, even if he chose another woman, which would be a requirement.

Still, I would vote for Biden over Trump, DeSantis, or any of the other minor players. I don't think an independent could win, and would probably siphon more votes from the Democratic candidate.
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"IMO, Biden is a decent person who cares about the country, and he's gotten a lot done. He's running again because he genuinely believes there is more for him to do and because he feels nobody else in the party, including Harris, would have nearly as much success."

I totally agree. And I'm remiss in not giving credit to Biden in my post above for being a genuinely decent and a very thoughtful and intelligent person, with decades of experience in government and foreign policy. That's worth a LOT.
 
I heard a discussion about a survey given to a small group of 2020 Biden voters, I assume independents or Republicans. Question by question they had nothing positive to say about Biden including they don’t feel he shares their values. I’d really like to know what those values are. They were then asked why they voted for Biden and the answer was Trump and they’d do it again if Trump is the Republican nominee.
 
Chew Toy McCoy said:
I heard a discussion about a survey given to a small group of 2020 Biden voters, I assume independents or Republicans. Question by question they had nothing positive to say about Biden including they don’t feel he shares their values. I’d really like to know what those values are. They were then asked why they voted for Biden and the answer was Trump and they’d do it again if Trump is the Republican nominee.
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Do you have a source for this?
 
Eric said:
Do you have a source for this?
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They were talking about it on one of the recent Bulwark podcast episodes.

I've been listening to more center right content lately. Progressives are starting to get on my nerves with believing that it has been definitively proven that Trump didn't collude with Russia and Ukraine should somehow both defend themselves and not push Russia into WW3 by defending themselves. Possibly only in the US would people believe that attacking an aggressor on their own soil is a bridge too far.
 
Chew Toy McCoy said:
They were talking about it on one of the recent Bulwark podcast episodes.

I've been listening to more center right content lately. Progressives are starting to get on my nerves with believing that it has been definitively proven that Trump didn't collude with Russia and Ukraine should somehow both defend themselves and not push Russia into WW3 by defending themselves. Possibly only in the US would people believe that attacking an aggressor on their own soil is a bridge too far.
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It's just when I hear stories like this about everyone not liking one candidate or the other with no source or data to back it up, I always find it subjective. For all we know it was a room full of buddies spitballing.
 
Eric said:
It's just when I hear stories like this about everyone not liking one candidate or the other with no source or data to back it up, I always find it subjective. For all we know it was a room full of buddies spitballing.
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They said it should be noted that it was a small group of people and therefore shouldn't really be considered representative of the entire country. But when you have a good percentage of people voting based almost entirely on making the other candidate lose it shouldn't really be surprising when they set an unrealistically high bar for the performance of the winning candidate.
 
Herdfan said:
So you haven't seen the multiple times he has fallen up the steps of AF1?
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And he fell while riding a bicycle!

Of course, Individual-ONE would not fall while riding a bicycle – he rode one once, decades ago, but has forgotten how and probably could not manage to sit on one.

Joe is confident of his personal mobility, so he moves around, and sometimes stumbles, while Individual-ONE always, always, has somebody nearby if he has to be on his feet.
 
It's all fun and games until someone breaks a hip.
 
We’re going to be in a lot better place when the boomers die off. They’re a massive generation in size who have been in power way too long. The one thing they all have in common is they were born in the right country at the right time in history - largely untouched by the destruction of war, higher education ranged from free to dirt cheap, and you could get a job of nominal skill level even without a college degree that allowed you to support a family, mortgage, and some luxury items on a single income. Out of touch is a vast understatement.
 
Citysnaps said:
Should it come down to Biden vs trump... even though I would expect Biden to win (
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But Biden will actually have to campaign this time. He can't do Zoom rallies from his basement.

Citysnaps said:
Still hoping there's a Plan B ready to go, where Biden can graciously decide not to run, steps aside and endorses an excellent alternative, and becomes a senior foreign policy advisor to whoever that is. That probably won't be pretty, either. But I think it would be the best outcome for the country, preserving democracy.
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But how do the Dems move Harris aside. There could be a huge backlash if they do.
 
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