Stranger Things CAN Happen

The fact that he was nominated is actually not a loss, but a major win. Did you know that while they are long odds, bookmakers have Trump 33-1. Where does Nancy sit? 150-1. So, Trump is higher, and by a lot, than Nancy Pelosi. It is still a long shot, but surprising still. Bookmakers have Jim Jordan at 20-1.

@porwest Why even mention Pelosi? She isn’t running. She just stepped down from leadership. It isn’t going to be Trump. It isn’t going to be Jim Jordan. If it does wind up being McCarthy, he will be completely powerless

@NJChicaa Because, as I stated in my post, anyone can be Speaker, so while she isn't really on "the list," she could be. And I think it is interesting to see that an established House Speaker has longer odds than someone not even in the Congress. It is also interesting to see how close his odds are to someone else more established like Jim Jordan. Ultimately, I think McCarthy will wind up being Speaker. But to say he will be powerless is ridiculous. I don't know what leads you to think that. Regardless of what the outcome is, I do find it all to be rather interesting to say the least. But of course I am also a political junkie.

@porwest So they could become president through the back door even if they were not elected? Presumably not if they were not born in the USA. If they don't even have to be a member of Congress, could you be the speaker?

@porwest Who would be YOUR choice for Speaker today?

@Fleura Jim has not run a successful campaign. I can't remember his last name half the time. But I'd prefer him to Trump

I read things suggesting that Trump was "senile." Then I went back to interviews 20 or more years in the past. He is not senile. He always was a dumbshit.

@porwest Trump is a dumbshit. I am not a dumbshit. I do not believe he is senile. Have you seen the interviews of him discussing Bonfire of the Vanities and the Bible?

Are we talking about McCarthy or Biden here? Because Biden can't do that either and in fact, half the time doesn't even know where he is. Do you know how many times he's nearly walked off the edge of a stage for Heaven's sake? lol What is your favorability rating for him if you are using the same basis to judge McCarthy?

@porwest I don't think Trump destroyed the Country. I think he was just a part of our evolution. I believe Democracy will prevail.

I don't think Trump destroyed the Country. I think he was just a part of our evolution. I believe Democracy will prevail. @TheHorse One of the major accomplishments he made was showing us you can actually accomplish something rather than stand before the American people having accomplished nothing while at the same time talking about how hard it is to get things done. Truth. Go back and look at his record. I am telling you. You may not like what he got done. But he got things done. No denying it. Even a blind man would be able to see it. If failure is all one is interested in finding, it is all they will be able to discover. When I evaluate Biden I am actually looking for the truth HOPING to find the success. Because I care about my country and I don't want it to fail and I don't want my leader to fail, regardless of what party he is in and regardless of what my personal feelings are toward him. I just can't find any. But I AM looking.

I don't think it is a "realization" in the sense of "finally." Because there was no reason NOT to support policies that worked, and were very successful when he was president. What got in the way of Trump and his fueled his current "toxicity" was not that he was a bad president or bad for America, it was that that's what the media portrayed him as and too many people did not pay enough attention to what was really happening, what was really being accomplished, and had no interest in knowing the truth, but rather clinging on the lies. If I were strictly voting for policy—which is what I essentially vote for anyway—Donald J. Trump would still have my vote despite it all because his policy is what is right for America. All the rest of it doesn't matter just as much as it did not matter that Bill Clinton was raping women. So long as the country is held together by good policy, the personal lives and personal dealings of the people behind them simply do not matter. Policy, policy, policy. Biden was a poor choice to replace good policy with just because we did not like the man who Trump was personally. Destroying the country is never a viable option. But here we are.

It's a shame he did not have a more polished presence and better temperament, but I would be the first to admit that was what made him appealing. To me, in many ways, this was the ODD reaction to Trump. The opposite of yours, and frankly mine as well that his demeanor was often "appealing." I don't how many times BEFORE Trump I'd hear someone say, "He talks like a politician," when it came to anyone else in Washington. They wanted someone who didn't, Trump didn't, and yet, people complained he didn't talk like a politician. He didn't toe the party line, another thing so many other politicians do. You'd think this would have caught people's attention. He did not take the "things take time," argument in Washington—which is part of the reason he got so much done. You'd think people would have been like, "Finally!" Beyond that, he was an outsider. Something that should have been welcome. Yet, it wasn't. At least not in the eyes of the never Trumpers, media and certainly the democrat party. I still believe Trump was right for the country then, one of the best things to come along in a very long time, and he is right for the country now, and we need him more than we did back in 2016. On top of that, I think the democrat party and the media as well as the establishment KNOWS he might well be able to win, which is why they are continuing to try so hard to take him out. And however controversial my thoughts may be on THIS part...I think the democrats ALSO know they can't steal an election twice and get away with it. So they HAVE to win this one fair and square and so long as Trump is in the picture, the prospect of ACTUALLY winning is a slim one.

@porwest I agree with your analysis. All of your points are well made. Trump was a Populist, which made him appealing to the forgotten middleclass. Politicians cater to the elite, poor, and minorities and pass laws to help these groups, but there was no one to speak for the everyman. I found his approach refreshing and at times funny (until he would get carried away with his ridicule). Many of the points you made about Trump, like his no-nonsense approach to getting things done scared those Washington insiders. He was threatening the status quo of Congress, and would expose them for what they are, a bunch of do-nothings who put re-election ahead of our Country. As far as the election, it was a travesty. Sadly, Covid affected more than just our health. I hope people are wiser to the Democrats trying to use Covid lockdowns again to perpetuate total mail in-balloting. What went on with the ballot counting in large city polling places in swing states was suspicious and where the election was stolen. Misplaced ballots, counting inaccurate mail-ins for Democrats, large corporation influence, media coverups about Biden's and his son's business dealings, all were influential in stealing the election from Trump. I really think the administration is seriously going to put him in jail to stop him and if they can't, then someone will try and take him out.

@dgobucks226 Trump's demeanor was often a subject of ridicule for me. Not because it was necessarily bad, right? I mean, it was just Trump being Trump and Trump in the White House was the exact same Trump he was BEFORE he was in the White House. My issue with it was that it offered the media something to focus on OTHER than what he was doing. Other than what he was accomplishing. Other than all the good stuff happening. All we got from the media were clips of Trump being Trump. I said many times that the best way to outsmart the antics of the media would have been to leave them with nothing to report on but the TRUTH. Trump failed to do that if he failed anything. Covid, to me, WAS a factor. But I also believe it was a made up crisis, forged by the democrat party and the media. And I only say that because of how much it was hyped and how little the real numbers matched the story. I still contend that Covid that killed only 0.04% of the entire world population was NO pandemic when we can compare a real pandemic like the Spanish flu which killed 10% of the world population. That's not to make light of Covid, mind you. But simply to view it from the perspective of what one may wish to achieve WITH Covid. And think of what they DID accomplish with it. They were able to spread panic, deeper the divide between the left and right, make Trump look incompetent and unconcerned, AND shut down the booming economy at the same time. Perhaps it INFLUENCED some votes. For sure it did. BUT, like you rightly pointed out, whether or not the election was actually stolen in the traditional sense, there was a LOT that happened between Covid, voting, mysterious ballots, unmonitored voting in nursing homes and so on and so forth, and the lack of checks and balances with mail-in ballots, that SOMETHING definitely happened that swung victory the other way. I have tried to emphasize, when I talk about the election, that 2020 was the first time ever in my lifetime that I have ever questioned the results. EVER. And I question the results because of all of the red flags that, at least to me, seem obvious, that I think should be obvious to a good many people. On both sides, by the way. I have largely said, "We don't KNOW if it WAS or WAS NOT stolen because no one has really taken the question seriously enough to investigate it, AND the only people in power to do so are part of the establishment who, if they DID want to steal an election, ALSO have a strong interest in keeping quiet about it." Unfortunately, whether or not the election was stolen will likely forever remain a question much like so many other "conspiracy theories" throughout history have.

It happens on both sides. This is not unprecedented. And it should be noted that to a fault, republicans stand on principle. Not on party.