probably, its cool and anti-power. but more importantly it will wildly galvanize his entire base and people who are even vaguely adjecent to his base, people who’ve never really bothered to vote. people who don’t typically vote are a massively under-utilized demographic, if you can get them moving you pretty much win
His ceiling is significantly less than 40% of the popular vote. He’s unelectable without cheating or an attractive spoiler candidate. He lost the last election as an incumbent by 7 million votes and since then almost a million Republicans have died from Covid.
I agree with you that Trump isn’t the favorite, but polling has Biden and Trump tied right now even after the various rounds of legal trouble. The fundamentals aren’t good for Biden, and could get a lot worse if high interest rates percipate an expanded banking crisis or if the situation in Ukraine degrades further. Trump’s floor is higher than 40%, and he’s only one or two crisises away from having a real shot.
I wish I shared your optimism, but a) the Republicans will never allow mail-in voting on that scale ever again and the Democrats will say “My good sir, have you no civility!?” and then proceed to do nothing to oppose it like they’ve done every day for the last century, b) Trump improved remarkably in 2020 compared to 2016 in a number of surprising demographics, and c) the economy might look great but in reality these benefits are only reaching the top strata of society and most people are having an increasingly miserable time with higher gas prices, inflation, working multiple shitty jobs, a lack of real wage growth above inflation, and this is reflected in the number of people who are saying that they think the economy is in bad straits.
not saying Trump is definitely going to win, truthfully I have absolutely no idea - maybe the US is in a recession this time next year and Biden gets stomped, or maybe the economic growth finally reaches the lower 90% of people and Biden wins, or maybe there’s been some other major geopolitical incident that is a complete wildcard and makes all our prior predictions irrelevant. I just caution bold predictions for American elections, especially over a year out. honestly even a month out I’d be hesitant to call anything.
and finally,
He lost the last election as an incumbent by 7 million votes
popular votes, sure, but that isn’t what wins elections. Trump lost the last election by a lot less than 7 million votes if you’re just looking at how many votes he needed in the closest states to flip enough of them to win. I did the math a while ago and have since forgotten it but I think it was under a million. might even have been less than 500,000, idk, somebody would have to go figure that out again. I do remember it being concerningly close, at least compared to, say, 2008 and 2012.
Honestly, I think you and I think the same on this topic. I can’t disagree with any of your points and yours is a great comment/post. I hope for our democracy, good sir!
Trump’s a piece of shit but Biden is not what anyone would call a strong contender. a lot is riding on unknowable economic trends over the next year… I wouldn’t be too sure that Donald Trump will not be president
Wait, you think independents will swing to Trump if he goes to prison?
Not really, I think the people who usually don’t vote will show up and tip the scales.
Voting for the criminal will be a meme. They’ll show up just to make tiktok videos about it.
I’m still voting for Cornell West, but I gotta say Trump winning would be extremely funny.
probably, its cool and anti-power. but more importantly it will wildly galvanize his entire base and people who are even vaguely adjecent to his base, people who’ve never really bothered to vote. people who don’t typically vote are a massively under-utilized demographic, if you can get them moving you pretty much win
lol. You thinking being incarcerated will bring net votes. It’s a bold move Cotton, let’s see if it pays off!
I say as Trump continues to keep going up in the polls the more legal peril he’s in.
hall_of_the_mountain_king.mp3
His ceiling is significantly less than 40% of the popular vote. He’s unelectable without cheating or an attractive spoiler candidate. He lost the last election as an incumbent by 7 million votes and since then almost a million Republicans have died from Covid.
I agree with you that Trump isn’t the favorite, but polling has Biden and Trump tied right now even after the various rounds of legal trouble. The fundamentals aren’t good for Biden, and could get a lot worse if high interest rates percipate an expanded banking crisis or if the situation in Ukraine degrades further. Trump’s floor is higher than 40%, and he’s only one or two crisises away from having a real shot.
Abortion rights is turning out to be a strong voting platform and Biden beat Trump before Roe v Wade was overturned.
I wish I shared your optimism, but a) the Republicans will never allow mail-in voting on that scale ever again and the Democrats will say “My good sir, have you no civility!?” and then proceed to do nothing to oppose it like they’ve done every day for the last century, b) Trump improved remarkably in 2020 compared to 2016 in a number of surprising demographics, and c) the economy might look great but in reality these benefits are only reaching the top strata of society and most people are having an increasingly miserable time with higher gas prices, inflation, working multiple shitty jobs, a lack of real wage growth above inflation, and this is reflected in the number of people who are saying that they think the economy is in bad straits.
not saying Trump is definitely going to win, truthfully I have absolutely no idea - maybe the US is in a recession this time next year and Biden gets stomped, or maybe the economic growth finally reaches the lower 90% of people and Biden wins, or maybe there’s been some other major geopolitical incident that is a complete wildcard and makes all our prior predictions irrelevant. I just caution bold predictions for American elections, especially over a year out. honestly even a month out I’d be hesitant to call anything.
and finally,
popular votes, sure, but that isn’t what wins elections. Trump lost the last election by a lot less than 7 million votes if you’re just looking at how many votes he needed in the closest states to flip enough of them to win. I did the math a while ago and have since forgotten it but I think it was under a million. might even have been less than 500,000, idk, somebody would have to go figure that out again. I do remember it being concerningly close, at least compared to, say, 2008 and 2012.
Honestly, I think you and I think the same on this topic. I can’t disagree with any of your points and yours is a great comment/post. I hope for our democracy, good sir!
Trump’s a piece of shit but Biden is not what anyone would call a strong contender. a lot is riding on unknowable economic trends over the next year… I wouldn’t be too sure that Donald Trump will not be president
spoiler candidates are a myth