The US Presidency 2020

[brihard]

Let's be serious - the sides in the US are entrenched now.  Even if they don't say it, most of the US population has picked one or the other in their minds. 

This single issue will not make a fence-sitter vote for Trump.

Indeed. Anyone whose mind actually isn't made up isn't going to be swayed by this. Anyone whose mind isn't made up probably isn't paying enough attention to even know about this. Any informed person probably has a pretty strongly held opinion on how they'll vote by now.

 

[mariomike]

I suspect far-sighted Republicans are already looking ahead to 2024.

Will they nominate Ivanka, Junior or Eric? Or, go with a more "traditional" Republican like they did in 2008 ( McCain ) or 2012 ( Romney )?

 

[shawn5o]

Let's be serious - the sides in the US are entrenched now.  Even if they don't say it, most of the US population has picked one or the other in their minds. 

This single issue will not make a fence-sitter vote for Trump.

Hi Dimsum

You nailed it.

As the old adage says, "May you live in interesting times" is going to be very interesting during/after the US election

 

[Donald H]

Hi Dimsum

You nailed it.

As the old adage says, "May you live in interesting times" is going to be very interesting during/after the US election

It's a very popular opinion that minds are made up, but then some elections completely destroy the polls. I would say that's an indication of minds being changed without voters admitting as much.

edit: There is a significant faction turning to Trump for a reason that's not being discussed here so far. That is the faction that is represented by the views of sites such as antiwar.com. They are solid for Trump!

It's known by Americans as 'bring all the troops home'.

Could it possibly be Trump's biggest support bloc?

 

[Weinie]

Indeed. Anyone whose mind actually isn't made up isn't going to be swayed by this. Anyone whose mind isn't made up probably isn't paying enough attention to even know about this. Any informed person probably has a pretty strongly held opinion on how they'll vote by now.

Mmmmmmmmmm.....maybe.

Basket of deplorables speech Hillary made at the DNC mtg in September 2016 certainly made headlines and likely swayed some.

Her private server issues and investigations, and an investigation into Anthony Weiner in Oct 2016, suggested that Huma Albedin, her COS, had also been sending e-mails on the private server that were potentially in conflict. FBI report on the matter may have influenced voters.

These are single issues that add up. I don't believe the current polling that shows Biden with a substantial lead is real. Anyone remember the 2016 NY Times prediction in the lead up to the election(Hillary 85%), and on the day of. (92%). I think that this is literally neck and neck amongst a highly polarized population, and that there is a small swing vote, that does not love either candidate, but does want to be enfranchised.

We are not even close to the end of the selected leaks, from both sides, that seeks to smear each other. There are 7 weeks left, and the dirt trial balloons are just beginning.

 

[Blackadder1916]

Imagine how many people are going to die choking on their own bile if Trump wins the Nobel Peace Prize.  ;D

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-bahrain-israel-mideast-deal-peace?fbclid=IwAR2ZuFmfjhHKEcNF_-hSMRiBMhD7Gky-GG_Ab_Jr6snEEiBryWDxkpkYbvg

I can’t think of anything that better characterizes the present situation then the Atlantic and this article.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/end-nobel-peace-prize/616300/

As if the Atlantic needed any more examples to illustrate their irrelevance. This stupidity probably got Trump another 100k votes.  Keep it up!

As both posts refer to articles that discuss/suggest the nomination of President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, it may be appropriate to remind us about the rules/criteria for the prize.

https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/peace/#:~:text=A%20nomination%20for%20the%20Nobel,revealed%20until%2050%20years%20later.

A nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize may be submitted by any person who meets the nomination criteria. A letter of invitation to submit is not required. The names of the nominees and other information about the nominations cannot be revealed until 50 years later.
. . .
February – Deadline for submission. In order to be considered for the award of the year, nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize shall be sent in to the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo before the 1st day of February the same year. Nominations postmarked and received after this date are included in the following year’s discussions. In recent years, the Committee has received close to 200 different nominations for different nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize. The number of nominating letters is much higher, as many are for the same candidates.
. . .
50 year secrecy rule
The Committee does not itself announce the names of nominees, neither to the media nor to the candidates themselves. In so far as certain names crop up in the advance speculations as to who will be awarded any given year’s Prize, this is either sheer guesswork or information put out by the person or persons behind the nomination. Information in the Nobel Committee’s nomination database is not made public until after fifty years.

While the bookies are laying odds and one Norwegian legislator has announced he has nominated Trump, if this activity is in response to the relatively recent progress of normalizing relations between Israel and Arab countries, then it would likely (in conjunction with simultaneous climate change in Hades) not be considered until next year considering the 1 February nomination deadline.

According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, a nomination is considered valid if it is submitted by a person who falls within one of the following categories:
. . .
Persons who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
. . .

Does this mean that, as a member of the group that won the 1988 prize, I'm able to submit a nomination? :

 

[Brad Sallows]

Add it to the list of institutions and norms of democracy that Trump has broken.

 

[mariomike]

From heroes to zeros,

Trump administration secretly withheld millions from FDNY 9/11 health program
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-fdny-911-health-program-treasury-20200910-s7yam67j6vhmhbdzg6ordanfdm-story.html

The Trump administration has secretly siphoned nearly $4 million away from a program that tracks and treats FDNY firefighters and paramedics suffering from 9/11 related illnesses, the Daily News has learned.

The Treasury Department mysteriously started withholding parts of payments — nearly four years ago — meant to cover medical services for firefighters and paramedics treated by the FDNY World Trade Center Health Program, documents obtained by The News reveal.

 

[kkwd]

From heroes to zeros,

The Treasury Department mysteriously started withholding parts of payments — nearly four years ago — meant to cover medical services for firefighters and paramedics treated by the FDNY World Trade Center Health Program, documents obtained by The News reveal.

The Trump administration didn't exist 4 years ago. Seems like there is a problem with the city system.
An upadte to this story is here. https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-trump-admin-apologizes-fdny-911-program-20200911-d63ohrqqljbpre434qpygp7rti-story.html

According to the department and a letter that it recently sent to Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) attempting to explain the missing money, it matches outgoing payments to a specific tax ID, and by law, takes some money if there is a debt tied to the ID.
Part of the problem could stem from NYC’s system, in which many departments are all under the same ID number.
Somehow, the firefighter treatment program landed in that ignominious basket.

The Treasury Department told King in a letter last month that it had taken about $1.9 million from the 9/11 fund between August 2016 and May 2020 to cover “delinquent Medicare Secondary Payer debt” owed by “various entities within New York City."
The Aug. 20 letter, which King shared with The News, did not specify which entities held the debt, but said the City Department of Finance was “actively looking into the situation.”

 

[Good2Golf]

Short of a recording of 45 calling them ‘suckers and losers’, this is pretty shoddy treatment of true heroes who put service and duty before self.  Hopefully the funding is restored and retroactively compensated.

 

[kkwd]

Short of a recording of 45 calling them ‘suckers and losers’, this is pretty shoddy treatment of true heroes who put service and duty before self.  Hopefully the fining is restored and retroactively compensated.

It started under the Obama administration in August 2016.

 

[mariomike]

Short of a recording of 45 calling them ‘suckers and losers’, this is pretty shoddy treatment of true heroes who put service and duty before self.  Hopefully the fining is restored and retroactively compensated.

That would be nice.
Hope so too. But, wouldn't count on it.

Neither the Treasury Department nor the White House answered requests for comment.

 

[kkwd]

That would be nice.
Hope so too. But, wouldn't count on it.

Read the update I posted above. Again, it started under Obama.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-trump-admin-apologizes-fdny-911-program-20200911-d63ohrqqljbpre434qpygp7rti-story.html

 

[Good2Golf]

It started under the Obama administration in August 2016.

And got progressively worse and worse under Trump.

 

[kkwd]

And got progressively worse and worse under Trump.

Without figures of amounts withheld being known for each year that is just a wild guess.

 

[Good2Golf]

Without figures of amounts withheld being known for each year that is just a wild guess.

So it could be zero then.

Or are you saying that by any measure, all of the $1.9M cuts could have entirely been from
Aug 2016 to Jan 2017, and all be Obama’s fault?

 

[kkwd]

So it could be zero then.

Or are you saying that by any measure, all of the $1.9M cuts could have entirely been from
Aug 2016 to Jan 2017, and all be Obama’s fault?

Not at all, the amounts by year is not known, I make no assumptions. I don't blame Obama.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Having trouble separating an ordinary administrative action from "Obama/Trump did it" ?

 

[mariomike]

I understand he has cheerleaders on here. So this may come as a disappointment for some,

Global News

September 15, 2020

The Pew Research Center report released Tuesday finds a favourable view of the U.S. among only 35 per cent of Canadians surveyed, the lowest level recorded since Pew began polling north of the Canada-U.S. border in 2002.

“Like all countries surveyed this year, Canada’s favourable rating of the U.S. dropped sharply in 2017 as confidence in the U.S. president plummeted,” the centre said in a release.

“In the more than three years since Trump first took office, views have slowly shifted, but 2020 sees the lowest ratings for the U.S. in Canada since Pew Research Center began polling there almost two decades ago.”

The finding tracks an identical trend among all 13 countries involved in the poll — record lows were also recorded in the U.K., France, Germany, Japan and Australia.

Only 20 per cent of the poll’s 1,037 Canadian respondents expressed confidence in Trump himself, the lowest presidential rating Pew has ever recorded in Canada and a precipitous drop from the 83 per cent support for Barack Obama they found in 2016.

https://globalnews.ca/news/7335966/canada-view-u-s-drop-lowest-two-decades-poll/

 

[Jarnhamar]

I understand he has cheerleaders on here. So this may come as a disappointment for some,

Disappointed? I'm down right devastated. I'm calling in sick tomorrow  ;D