Radley Balko: Biden is too old. But he has surrounded himself with competent people and has had a conventional first term. Trump is authoritarian but inept. He has surrounded himself with people he hopes will make him more effective at authoritarianism. Neither is ideal. But these are not similar problems.

Biden is too old. But he has surrounded himself with competent people and has had a conventional first term. Trump is authoritarian but inept. He has surrounded himself with people he hopes will make him more effective at authoritarianism. Neither is ideal. But these are not similar problems.

As Reagan and Elizabeth Warren said, personnel is policy. Biden needs to be hyping his whole team. At the same time, democrats should be talking about Trump’s team—the collection of freaks and geeks coming up with and who would be implementing Project 2025.

That’s the thing. Biden is President right now. Before and after the debate. And he’s running an extremely competent WH.

I like living in a world where I can complain about Biden's failings rather than one where I need to be wistful about what could have been had it been Biden who won in 2024.

And that last one will only be okay as long as you're being wistful in your home, in the kitchen with the door closed and no electronic devices present, in front of only the people you trust. Otherwise there'll be consequences.

That is because you're a fool.

Trump is the choice of all of the worst people- the racists, the scammers, the criminals, the liars, the religious cultists, the selfish, the ignorant, and the assholes.

If Biden is too old, then so is Trump. That playing field is absolutely even, but ppl are harping only on Biden for it. If you’re going to hit one for age, you have to hit both or else you’re just a part of the age perception problem. Trump *is also too old*, AND an authoritarian AND inept.

And his cognitive decline is on par, yet that too is ignored.

No, Trump’s brain is absolute mush and has been for a while now. He’s *way* worse. But he paints himself orange & doesn’t stutter about the straight-up fascism he intends to enact, so the media act like he’s competent.

Yes both are too old. Yet both are the chosen candidates. USA is doing it to themselves...

I’m not saying they’re too old. I’m saying if you *do* think that, you can’t complain about one being too old but not the other & also expect to be taken seriously. 100 billion times more important than age, IMO, is that ONLY ONE OF THEM IS BRAGGING ABOUT ALL OF HIS OPENLY AUTHORITARIAN PLANS.

I am saying they are too old, lol. Both are 100% unfit to be president and I although Trump is a total nutjob, I dont even like the policies of Biden either. People should not vote for Biden or Trump. If they do, despite despising it, democracy has fallen.

Fortunately you are not the arbiter of any of this. Who cares what you like?

Trump is also too old. And a rapist. And a felon. And a fraud. And a fascist. And a pathological liar. And a danger to democracy.

Democrats are good at governing Republicans are good at propaganda

Nuking babies? Caging black ppl? Do you actually know any black ppl? I pray no one used nukes in the middle east. Yall just be saying anything

This isn’t Weimar - we just need to get Hindenburg elected, because in our system the one who loses in Nov doesn’t become chancellor. It’s a horrible situation but alternative is literally “the end.”

This is what I mean when I say that libs love Trump.

lol 🤣

Yes, Joe doesn’t actually play in games, he’s just the manager, and sometimes you don’t even need managers. (But definitely will be no good with bad manager.)

Competent at nuking infants and caging black people. Hiring cops. Bringing back Jim Crow.

Yet the media will devote far more attention to the former.

Yup. I imagine the NYT opinion writers are HUMMING.

Funny how Trump’s constant lying is “priced in” and ignored, but Biden’s age is not.

some competent people. his comms people are terrible

Well put.

This is the kind of thing I talk about when I say libs love Trump.

How do you get "libs love Trump" from that?

That "opposing" him means any amount of immorality and incompetence is acceptable, explicitly including genocide.

Personnel is policy. This isn’t close on any metric.

Dems need a new candidate ASAP. While I don’t agree on everything, Biden’s done a great job. He just doesn’t have the mental acuity to vie for another term.

As someone without mental acuity, he did pretty well to win a a very competitive primary, then win a historical general, then run the country extremely competently and successfully, then dominate yet another primary. Surely we shouldn't wait and see what he does now and should just deny him agency.

I think Biden & his admin are more than competent for another 4yrs. I just don’t think he has the mental sharpness to WIN a 2nd term. He’s proven everyone wrong before, but idk how you improve on what obviously is age related decline & come back from what everyone saw last night.

I also think Dems have given him more than enough deference so far after winning in 2020.

Really, when?

By the fact nobody significant has challenged him for the nomination despite his feeble appearance & given how much is at stake if Trump were re-elected.

Not challenging an incumbent is business as usual. Why do you think there’s a bigger meaning about it this time around?

Lots of low follower accounts are saying so.

Jesus mate, how much copium does USA need? Sure Trump is a worse choice than the fossil of a president that is doing the job now...but holy shit. Is that the bar you gonna set? Then the democratic system is a total failure to begin with.

It's not too late for Democrats to pick another candidate for the elections. I'm also not that happy with some of the people in the current administration, like Jake Sullivan. Sullivan has been running the US defense into the ground, hindering Ukraine defense and letting other conflicts fester.

Bro they could pick some rando from the streets and it would be a better choice than the other two idiots. They make UK elections look competend, imagine that.

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