US elections

Interesting thanks

The biggest problem with the Republicans is that they are not actually Conservatives. If they were, they'd tax effectively and reduce the deficit. The last fiscal Conservative the USA had was Bill Clinton! The Republicans are actually socialists, for the uber wealthy. And it doesn't work.

Another well reasoned analysis from yesterday showing how this election is on a knife edge

edition.cnn.com/2024/09/22/politics/closest-presidential-race-harris-trump/index.html

'The 2024 presidential election continues to be the closest of the century. In fact, it is the closest race for the White House in the past 60 years.'


And Trump is playing the 'elect me or you won't have me to help you anymore' card.  But that plays both ways Donald.  www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czj9ekdvxx2o

All round depressing results. He's won both houses, holds the Supreme Court and the Presidency.

Might not keep him out of jail though and those mid terms in 2026 might limit the damage. Most depressing though is what this all says about the majority of USA voters and what they value as it seems integrity, decency and caring about others than themselves don't enter their decision processes

Can't see me ever going to the USA again now.

Steve 

And why do you think that is Steve ?  Assuming the 2020 US election produced an accurate result with people voting for kind caring and compassionate Sleepy Joe, why after experiencing the delights of selflessness for 4 years, did not an even bigger majority eagerly ensure that Kamala could put her own caring message into action. Added to which I doubt she scored below Trump for either decency or integrity in any opinion poll ?

Was there a perception that the caring was mostly going one way, being funded by taxes of too many people who themselves now felt very much less cared for than before ...... and who not only felt uncared for, but had concluded they were perceived as the enemy and silently and  even occasionally vocally, dismissed as 'garbage' ?

As for Britain, I'm certain we have a natural inclination to help others, but it gets eroded when the public get a sense that things are being pushed too fast and too far to their detriment, when for example they experience considerable difficulty getting to see a Doctor or a Dentist for themselves and their children, while seeing all the services (that they believe their collective taxes have funded) being laid on for those who they can't understand why their Government seems to value more highly.

And it's brought home to them daily. Below is a snippet from one of today's front pages. And I don't think we have to go to the opposite extreme and conclude the British public want prisoners to survive on bread and water and sleep on a cold stone floor. But for some families it is demeaning and hurtful to know they rank below prisoners with regard to the provision of dental treatment. Not too many are really bad (except Borg0 of course !  ) and will be kind decent and caring, as long as in return they sense a bit of respect, and that isn't going to be forthcoming by making them feel they've been consigned to the bottom of the pile. And then of course, as you indicate, they're the worst in the world for demonstrating their displeasure and turfing the incumbent Dems from office.

Hillary called them deplorables, Biden called them garbage ..... and walking on the same streets as them is more than you can stomach. There's bad feeling on all sides 

Biden has to take most of the blame for this.
In 2020 he declared that he would be a single term president.
To leave it so late to drop out of the race has destroyed his legacy. It left no time for the party to find a decent candidate.
Kamala has been hopeless. Doubling down on identity politics and concentrating on issues such as abortion which are well down the list of concerns for the electorate.
How bad do you have to be to lose to a convicted felon who sat on his hands while a mob attacked the Capitol? A man found guilty of sexual assault and fraud.

I'm seriously depressed about the future of the Western world. Especially the future of the environment.

From my POV, the greatest harm he did during his first term was to stack the Supreme Court with conservative judges. Had he not been able to do that, Roe v Wade would still be on the books. One of my greatest concerns is that the three liberal justices on the SC are likely to be replaced by conservatives under Trump 2.0, which will hamstring any future Democrat administration.