The Delusion of False (U.S. Presidential) Choices
One delusion that I see permeated among single-issue voters in the USA, is that Donald Trump, and especially Joe Biden, will be the top candidates in the 2024 presidential election.
This delusion is fueled by a concerted global corporate mainstream media, which is actively counteracting constructive analyses and independent thinking.
Trump
As for Donald Trump, his existence in the political arena is an indictment of both the mental health situation in the USA, the National Security failures to protect America’s citizens from psychological warfare, and the cardinal final proof of how much “white privilege” and oligarchy runs the country. Over half a million Americans are rotting away in prison, detained on pre-trial charges concerning alleged misdemeanors and felonies that are far less severe than those concerning Donald Trump, yet he’s a free-ranging menace to society who can make a mockery of both the judicial and political system as well as the IC (the Intelligence Community).
In the United States, misdemeanors are considered lesser crimes compared to felonies and are typically punishable by incarceration for not more than one year, or a lesser penalty. Misdemeanors can include offenses such as petty theft, public intoxication, simple assault, disorderly conduct, trespass, shoplifting, vandalism, reckless driving, indecent exposure, and possession of cannabis for personal use. The classification of misdemeanors can vary by state, with different classes or categories such as Class A, Class B, and Class C misdemeanors, each carrying different maximum penalties. Some states also use different terminology for misdemeanors, such as “disorderly persons offenses” in New Jersey.
A felony is a crime traditionally considered of higher seriousness, compared to less serious misdemeanor offenses. In the United States, felonies are generally crimes that have a potential punishment of over a year of incarceration. Common types of felonies include Class 1: burglary, sexual assault, and second-degree murder; Class 2: aggravated battery and theft; Class 3: crimes of under $300 through identity theft or selling stolen property, Class 4 felonies (maximum term of imprisonment of less than ten years but five or more years), and Class 5 felonies (maximum term of imprisonment of less than five years but more than one year).
Having grown up in countries that don’t have the apartheid history and tradition that permeates the USA and South Africa, I questioned the phrase “white privilege” for the longest time. What finally proved me wrong was how the elements who instigated coup attempts and an attack of the U.S. Capitol were treated by politicians, law enforcement, the mainstream media and a significant part of the American public, compared to how history would have unfolded if these elements would have been from other demographics — let’s say, the Arab-American or Palestinian-American demographics.
This damning discrepancy is the main reason why Donald Trump is even talked about as a potential candidate for the office of POTUS (President of the United States).
Nevertheless, while Donald Trump’s voter “base” remains substantial, it has shrunk considerably since the 2020 election. According to for example a Washington Post analysis, the percentage of Republicans who view Trump favorably has declined significantly since 2020.
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Moreover, in 2016 and 2020, Trump needed the backing of (a now weakened) Vladimir Putin, a press sector that chose sensationalist coverage and profits over country, Rupert Murdoch, the Mercers, Thiel, and other billionaires, a flawed electoral system, and corrupt and massive voter suppression efforts, to remain a contender for the U.S. Presidency.
It’s not popularity, nor his worshippers, that keeps Donald Trump in the Presidential race.
Biden
I monitored the 2020 U.S. Presidential election closely, hoped for Biden to win, and wasn’t the least surprised when he started delivering, and winning over, one skeptic after the other.
Accordingly, I was shocked when Biden seemingly “did a 180” in October (2023) and rotated the world so sharply that “far-right “ became the USA-dominated official global policy, and in the process made human rights the new global fringe position.
I don’t see the world in binary terms such as “leftist” or “right-wing”, and I don’t have much use for labels such as liberal or conservative. Regardless of my own opinions on these spectra, I can with high confidence say that Joe Biden made himself a one-term president. Kamala Harris will never come closer to the Presidency (through a free election) than she did in 2020. It’s politically over for both of them.
Kamala only became the VP because Joe Biden put her on the ticket. And Biden has polled consistently bad pre- and post-election.
The patterns that I saw during “Election 2020” was that Joe Biden only managed to grasp the Presidency thanks to a coalition of voters of who most, normally, wouldn’t want to be caught dead voting for him. The motley alliance was drawn together because the alternative, a second Trump presidency, seemed like a fate worse than death. Among those who actually had Biden as their first choice, many, if not most, were elderly voters. But the segment who self-identifies as “progressives”, only grudgingly accepted the bitter (lack of) option. Another segment included voters who had voted Republican their entire lives.
The selling points were that Biden at least was the fairly morally sound choice who would at least restore America’s standing on the world stage, restore decency to the White House, and avoid throwing the Presidency deep(er) into the international war crimes swamp that Trump every day tried to entangle the USA in. These were the hopes of the “entire” world.
Jokes on us.
The harm to the Biden coalition, global support, and U.S. hegemony is irreparable.
Trump was surrounded by an inner circle of nannies who, however morally bankrupt, worked around the clock alongside decent people to keep him “out of trouble”. Biden is surrounded by the opposite.
