US Election 2024

When it comes to politics, I’m reliably informed that the majority of US voters aren’t.

I think maybe it's hard sometimes to get your head round the US media. There are some who pick their side and drink up whatever their side's chosen outlets tell them, but there are plenty who dismiss all content as ideological and untrustworthy, and not without some justification. So it's not so much what he's been convicted of, and more the fact that he has been convicted of a felony - that isn't media spin telling you what a wonderful / awful man he is, it's a decision made by an actual court.

And you can't really point to the four years he was in charge as a "how did you ignore that?", because while most of our knowledge of life in the US comes from the media, most Americans get it from living in the US. Again, if you ignore the media then there will be plenty of people who will say "well, he didn't impact me much. Covid happened but he didn't cause it, didn't fix it, and I came through all right." So plenty of Americans can probably satisfy themselves with the idea that while they may not like him much, the world didn't burn down as a result of his previous regime.

An actual jury too. This whole process has smashed the untouchable image, as well as being funny. Even if futile, today was good.

Nope. He won't be able to vote as a convicted felon, but he can be elected.

He will be able to vote. That’s a state law thing and Florida lets felons vote of they’re not in prison (IIRC their law also depends on whether the state you’re convicted in allows felons to vote, but NY does, so Trump is fine on that front).

I realise this doesn't matter to republicans but wasn't Michael Cohen jailed for basically the same offence (not just similar - literally paying off Stormy Daniels), while Trump was president? Does that mean Cohen was politically targetted by a corrupt DOJ acting under Trump's instruction?

I’m surprised he can call the trial rigged and judge corrupt without any repercussions.

He should certainly never look to buy a Premier League club.

I'd be up for him buying Leicester.

There was a rather funny part where he started ranting about none of his witnesses had been called like it wasn't the job of the lawyer stood next to him to do that

That lawyer was later on TV claiming it was apparently the prosecution’s responsibility to call those witnesses.

These are strange people.

Entertainingly, a number of countries automatically refuse entry visas to convicted felons. These countries include, but are not limited, Canada, the UK, Australia, Japan, Israel, India, and China.

I suppose he'll have an excuse for not even attempting anything resembling international diplomacy this time.

Now Trump +1.1, so no sign of those swathes of independents being put off yet. But most of the field dates overlap the verdict, at best, so probably will be a better indication after the coming weekend.

After Biden's performance in the Presidential debates last night, it's fair to say that unless he steps down the Orange Orangutan is going to win.

Joe may still have his mind but his body is wrecked and it's really sad to see.

The world is in for a hell of a shit storm if the worst is to happen and for the first time I can see it happening.

Chicago: Depressed.

I think there are two things to hold onto here: one, most people's voting intentions were locked in before last night, and two, there's still a long way to go before election day. The Democrats' ground game is going to be critical here - just look at what Stacy Abrams did in Georgia four years ago. Trump's railroading of the RNC means that a lot of money that normally flows down to local candidates isn't doing and if the Dems can use their financial advantage to motivate young voters out based on abortion, student loan forgiveness, climate policy and all the other things that they're clearly on the right side of the argument for, I think the Dems can still win this. There's also another debate in September and if Biden can get his shit together and perform at that more like he did at the SOTN, last night will be largely forgotten.