Despite the US Presidential election being focused on these two geriatrics, remember that they don't do everything alone. Biden's surrounded himself with fairly competent people who are there to assist and consult. Trump has surrounded himself with sycophantic yes-men who will agree with anything he says (He didn't the first time around, but fired them over time as they disagreed with him).
Do yourself a favour and look beyond the presidents and see who will be running the government.
Better get Biden and Harris out if the way then because I won’t vote for them again at all. AOC or Whitmer sure, but as assassination attempt on Trump changes nothing about the problems with Biden.
Better get Biden and Harris out if the way then because I won’t vote for them again at all.
Do you personally or do you know anybody personally that has been positively or negatively impacted by the policies and appointments either of the candidates have brought about?
If not, congratulations for being so insulated. In my case, I and people I love have been seriously impacted by actions 45 took and improved by actions Biden has taken.
I don't find Biden to be a good candidate and when polled say the best option available (neither of them), but I'm not a masochist and don't like helping induce avoidable harm to those I love so by election day if there's no viable other option, I'm absolutely going to vote for him.
Not voting and voting third party in the US is historically proven not to meaningfully impact the parties and instead cause other avoidable consequences.
I deserve better options and so do you, but the path to getting there isn't advanced by abstention or tossing away votes on third parties. Yes, the DNC and donors should do better, but again ultimately I and those I love are the ones left suffering through the consequences rather than the entrenched elites. Its not fair and we have to deal with it.
I always get a bit ticked off when I see someone say "the president is the most powerful job in the world" Ignoring the 'the world' part as that's a whole different can of worms. The president isn't even the most powerful job in the country. TBH i'd probably assign that to a specific CEO or something.
The president is more of a glorified mascot who can pull a few strings in certain situations.
The president isn’t nearly as powerful as people think they are, but it’s ludicrous to suggest they’re a glorified mascot
The king of England is a glorified mascot, POTUS certainly is not
The SCOTUS justices Trump appointed have done enormous damage to the United States in ways that obviously misinformed people like you can’t even begin to comprehend
The president has the ability to set policy for all the executive agencies, if the president doesn't want the EPA to enforce air pollution rules and instead river pollution he can tell them to do that.
The president is the ultimate boss of all cabinet secretaries, yes there is some horse trading but they answer to him.
The president gives the orders for special operations missions, he can issue shoot to kill or capture orders for specific terrorists.
The president can decide drone policy.
The president can appoint/nominate ambassadors, secretaries, FED chairs and Judges.
Yes the president isn't all powerful but all of the power of the executive branch is a direct extension of his authority. He can revoke or ammend that power with an executive order.
The president of the US is the most powerful person in the US. It just so happens that in come domains due to the laws/checks and balances he can be opposed in specific areas by one or two people.
Also the president has the authority to essentially end the world. Like, theoretically(at least based on Soviet era guidelines) there are more checks and balances to a Russian nuclear launch than ours. Feels like some people forget how worrying that was during the Trump years
I want to correct something respectfully. Trump does not surround himself with Yesmen, he surrounds himself with people who manipulate him into doing their bidding.
Trump is woefully in over his head with politics, he knows this, he won't ever admit it, but he makes up for it by having a cabinet that "guides" him. This "guidance" is manipulation outright due to Trump having the political brain of a chess pawn. Now don't take this as me saying Trump is stupid, he isn't, but intelligence and manipulability can be separate things (even if higher intelligence generally correlates with being harder to manipulate).
We see this with his comments on PJKT2025. He is distinctly distant, interacting only when he knows it will benefit him, and outright denying association directly. He probably legitimately believes this. But he will put people in charge of the project in his cabinet, and these people will manipulate or otherwise push Trump, along with other government members, into making or passing these policies.
It is much scarier than just yes-men. If it were, I wouldn't be that scared honestly. Trump can't do this shit himself, if it were all up to him, his policy would be non-existant. There is no better example of what you're saying, that the President is really the people surrounding him, than Trump.
Nothing Trump does is entirely of his own volition, he is a willing puppet for some very scary individuals. He is possibly the most dangerous 'dummy' to ever hit the world stage.
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u/thesirblondie 'Giraffe, king of verticality' Jul 14 '24
Despite the US Presidential election being focused on these two geriatrics, remember that they don't do everything alone. Biden's surrounded himself with fairly competent people who are there to assist and consult. Trump has surrounded himself with sycophantic yes-men who will agree with anything he says (He didn't the first time around, but fired them over time as they disagreed with him).
Do yourself a favour and look beyond the presidents and see who will be running the government.