Does Trump Want To Be President?

[Sculptor1]

Normally the Vice has zero power.
The only real exception to this is when Dick Cheney was handed the reigns by a completely incompetent Dubya Bush.
The ascendance of Harris will depend wholly in the Democractic Party aristocracy letting go of the reigns too.

We could be heading into a new power shift here. The usual function of Vice President is to supply four spare tires in case the original for some can't function. Biden's are already frayed with age which, I expect, automatically will call into service the talents of what in any case would be the replacement if the President can no-longer function. From what can be gleaned from her personality, there's no way she's just going to sit quiet in the background like Pence and wait for the President to give her a job. Her function will be nearer to co rather than vice president.

That would depend on who immediately surrounds Biden - that is if the tax dodging blonde geriatric fails and AND, what it more, having failed, shall let go of power.

At the outset there is nothing for a Vice to do, no reason to be consulted, and no duties of office. You have to ask yourself - will the Democratic establishment of old "conservative" white guys going to let an "uppity" black girl tell them what to do?

[Jklint]

We could be heading into a new power shift here. The usual function of Vice President is to supply four spare tires in case the original for some can't function. Biden's are already frayed with age which, I expect, automatically will call into service the talents of what in any case would be the replacement if the President can no-longer function. From what can be gleaned from her personality, there's no way she's just going to sit quiet in the background like Pence and wait for the President to give her a job. Her function will be nearer to co rather than vice president.

That would depend on who immediately surrounds Biden - that is if the tax dodging blonde geriatric fails and AND, what it more, having failed, shall let go of power.

At the outset there is nothing for a Vice to do, no reason to be consulted, and no duties of office. You have to ask yourself - will the Democratic establishment of old "conservative" white guys going to let an "uppity" black girl tell them what to do?

Let Biden first get elected, which is no guarantee then we'll see. She's not one to sit in the background, that much is plain. The status quo ain't what it used to be.

[UniversalAlien]

Jklint wrote:

.........The status quo ain't what it used to be.

True - But the political divide is worse than ever.

Many Democrats have become 'Progressive' Socialists and can no longer be considered Liberals in the traditional sense.

Meantime the Republican Party has been morphing into 'Regressive' Conservatives who want to set
social progress back at least 50 years - Less rights for women and less rights for minorities and people of color, a party that through default favors white Caucasians.

Neither party favors the American people as a whole - And again, by default, seems to deny America the right to be a unified nation - disunity seems to rule.

Biden offers to change this and calls Trump 'the great divider and chief' which I believe is part of Trumps strategy.

Still I've learned to mistrust all politicians.

My vote for President will probably go to Biden, as he can do no worse than Trump.
BUT there is a strong possibility I may vote mostly Republican for the congressional seats.
Biden is old and can probably do little harm {and maybe some good} as President
BUT I still fear a complete 'Progressive' Socialist takeover of the United States.

[Steve3007]

Perhaps the abortion issue could be key to Trump having a possible Biden victory overturned by the courts? He's laid the groundwork by claiming that there will be massive voter fraud and by placing individuals in the supreme court who believe that all abortions, in all circumstances, are morally identical to murder. If he can dangle the prospect of being able to outlaw all abortions, in all circumstances, in front of those individuals, perhaps he can persuade them to keep him in power. If you genuinely believed that millions of innocent people were being murdered every year and that you could stop that by setting aside democracy (you might tell yourself that you're just doing that temporarily if that helps) would you do it? When Trump made the decision as to which of the two main US political parties he was going to use as his vehicle, was it a smart move to use the one who's religious convictions made it possible to have such huge leverage over?

[Sy Borg]

Given his approach to environment, I see leaders like Trump, Bolsonaro, Morrison as working with fossil fuel companies, media stakeholders and other multinationals to remove biology from the planet. Probably not consciously, but that is how they function.

At some point in the (hopefully) distant future biology will be impossible on Earth, quite possibly outlasted by intelligent technological entities. Failing complete catastrophe, this end result is inevitable at some stage in the future, so the question is when and how we get there. Hopefully later and softly, but the signs are currently not encouraging.

What we ideally need are stronger forces aligned against politicians and companies that are environmental destroyers, to slow the rate of destruction, to give us time to adapt. Trouble is, the breaking down of ecosystems and geosystems entails zero financial cost to the destroyer (aside from initial purchase of land, tax and service charges). They simply reap the bounty. While human stakeholders enjoy a win-win exchange of taxes and profits, the loser each time in these transactions is non-human nature.

As humans become more numerous and energy-hungry, nature's bounty becomes more scarce, more difficult and expensive to access. So Trump created a false sense of progress by removing environmental safeguards, giving the illusion of prosperity. All he did was open up the "low hanging fruit" to be picked. Once gone, of course, the US returns to the pre-Trump situation, except without the soil, air and water preservation and cleansing services once provided by the destroyed ecosystems.

Meanwhile, the more fanatical (or most likely, most depressed) evangelists are excited at the idea of Armageddon, that all this will be swept away, which and usher in God's dominion, a golden age of happiness and prosperity. So Trump has been a natural ally for evangelists, with his misogyny and racism a bonus. Even if Trump is not re-elected, the divisions left in his wake will remain, opening the door for ever more extremist Republican candidates. The US's Pandora's Box has been opened.

[Steve3007]

So Trump created a false sense of progress by removing environmental safeguards, giving the illusion of prosperity.

Kind of like a cancer patient deciding to come off the chemotherapy. Feels better in the short term. And, as we know, in a democracy politics is a fundamentally short term game.

What we ideally need are stronger forces aligned against politicians and companies that are environmental destroyers, to slow the rate of destruction, to give us time to adapt.

Trouble is, of course, in the case of environmental destruction those stronger forces will only become undeniable when it's too late.

But it's interesting that Trump has now been struck down by a different kind of stronger force (having tested positive for Covid-19). The talk by the pundits on the news this morning was of this being a blow for his re-election bid. But I think it could actually be just the shot in the arm (so to speak) that it needs. Despite his age and weight being statistically against him, he's still odds on to pull through it without major illness. If he does that he can work it into his narrative that the whole thing is overblown and that he personally is so strong that he overcame it. His narrative so far is that he caught it because so many people insist on hugging him because of the wonderful job he's done. We can say what we like about him, but he does weave a good yarn, even at one in the morning.

[Sy Borg]

Yes, I think that will be his angle. If this Coke-drinking, Big Mac-scoffing low-exercise septuagenarian in a high stress job can pull through COVID without much drama, I think his immune system should be compulsorily donated to science upon his passing - presuming that he is not, in fact, entirely immortal :)

[Steve3007]

Yes, I think that will be his angle. If this Coke-drinking, Big Mac-scoffing low-exercise septuagenarian in a high stress job can pull through COVID without much drama, I think his immune system should be compulsorily donated to science upon his passing - presuming that he is not, in fact, entirely immortal

If that happens, I'm off to McDonalds.

But it is a pretty good gamble from his point of view though. Even though it's killing a lot of people with his demographic and lifestyle, the odds of him dying from it are still, I think, less than 50%. That's still a lot of deaths when millions are infected. But for an individual with access to the best healthcare money can buy, who's already doing the last job he'll ever do and who probably has reasons to get re-elected or die trying, it seems to me well worth a punt. Conspiracy theory alert: Maybe he got infected deliberately?

[Sy Borg]

By Jove, I think you have it there, old bean! The alleged deep state elites who allegedly harvest children would have allegedly sent the disease to infect God's alleged emissary, Trump.

[Ecurb]

At first, I thought Trump might be lying about testing positive. Why not? He lies about everything else. But other people in the White House testing positive makes this unlikely.

[LuckyR]

At first, I thought Trump might be lying about testing positive. Why not? He lies about everything else. But other people in the White House testing positive makes this unlikely.

I actually predicted he was positive when he sent his first (brief) tweet (I suspect when a rapid but unreliable screen was positive but they were withholding an announcement until the confirmatory PCR was resulted), since the tweet was uncharacteristically sober and without bloviation. I think the dude was (is?) scared.

[Belindi]

At first, I thought Trump might be lying about testing positive. Why not? He lies about everything else. But other people in the White House testing positive makes this unlikely.

I actually predicted he was positive when he sent his first (brief) tweet (I suspect when a rapid but unreliable screen was positive but they were withholding an announcement until the confirmatory PCR was resulted), since the tweet was uncharacteristically sober and without bloviation. I think the dude was (is?) scared.

he is not so stupid as not to be scared However he won't die or need ventilation and he will invent his own peculiar narrative to boost himself.

[LuckyR]

I actually predicted he was positive when he sent his first (brief) tweet (I suspect when a rapid but unreliable screen was positive but they were withholding an announcement until the confirmatory PCR was resulted), since the tweet was uncharacteristically sober and without bloviation. I think the dude was (is?) scared.

he is not so stupid as not to be scared However he won't die or need ventilation and he will invent his own peculiar narrative to boost himself.

But there is a bit of entertainment value related schadenfreude with his being scared.

[Belindi]

he is not so stupid as not to be scared However he won't die or need ventilation and he will invent his own peculiar narrative to boost himself.

But there is a bit of entertainment value related schadenfreude with his being scared.

Being scared is Mr Trump's basic state of mind. Dictators and gang leaders are scared of losing that which keeps them safe :their power over others. Now he knows virus is no respecter of persons.

[LuckyR]

But there is a bit of entertainment value related schadenfreude with his being scared.

Being scared is Mr Trump's basic state of mind. Dictators and gang leaders are scared of losing that which keeps them safe :their power over others. Now he knows virus is no respecter of persons.

Sorry, I was being lazy in my typing. What I meant was: "outwardly appearing scared..."