One Candidate Passed a Neurological Evaluation a Few Months Ago. The Other is Trump

[Manetho]

I am surprised to read that you think Biden is too liberal for donors and party leaders. I have always seen Biden as pretty centrist, and the narrative pushed before the last election stressed his relative conservatism compared to the younger, more liberal candidates people wanted to take over the reins.

That is certainly true, but Biden has governed to the left of where he campaigned. I'm not sure why that is (I certainly wouldn't have expected it during the 2020 primaries), but the most plausible explanation I've seen is that Biden generally moves to the middle of the Democratic Party. The party has moved significantly to the left since the Obama era, so Biden followed suit.

In any case, I see the current freakout as primarily media-driven, though of course it plays on preexisting dissatisfaction with Biden among young people and people to his left.

[Kishkumen]

That is certainly true, but Biden has governed to the left of where he campaigned. I'm not sure why that is (I certainly wouldn't have expected it during the 2020 primaries), but the most plausible explanation I've seen is that Biden generally moves to the middle of the Democratic Party. The party has moved significantly to the left since the Obama era, so Biden followed suit.

In any case, I see the current freakout as primarily media-driven, though of course it plays on preexisting dissatisfaction with Biden among young people and people to his left.

Huh! Maybe it says a lot about me that I have a difficult time thinking of anything he did that was particularly leftist. Could you remind me or tell me what you think is really liberal, or more liberal than expected, in Biden’s first term?

[Manetho]

Huh! Maybe it says a lot about me that I have a difficult time thinking of anything he did that was particularly leftist. Could you remind me or tell me what you think is really liberal, or more liberal than expected, in Biden’s first term?

Not necessarily leftist, but left of where he seemed to be in the primaries. If I remember correctly, back then he was dismissive of the idea of student-loan forgiveness, but his administration tried to do it (and when the Supreme Court sabotaged the attempt, they found workarounds to forgive as much as they could). He's the most vocally pro-labor president in history, and although hampered long-standing laws give the NLRB minimal enforcement power, unionization efforts are benefiting from it. The CFPB is trying to limit overdraft fees and the FTC is attacking monopolies. And of course there's the Build Back Better Plan and its watered-down descendant, the Inflation Reduction Act, on climate and infrastructure. There's also other legislation that the administration supported, on labor and voting rights, that could have had major impacts but hasn't gotten close to passage, thanks to the obstinacy of centrist Democrats in Congress during the first half of the term (and, naturally, Republican opposition after the midterms).

[honorentheos]

Student loan forgiveness, Justice40, the inflation reduction act in its minutia is driven by progressive aims built into it. It's hard to imagine a realistic scenario with an effective and more progressive President in place, really.

Consider this article from the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... nald-Trump

[Some Schmo]

Trump couldn't pass a sobriety test, and I heard he doesn't drink. He couldn't pass an eye test, a drug test, or a reflexes test. And of course, he'd have to have a functioning brain beyond a goldfish's to pass a neurological test.

That's what happens when you are the personification of incompetence. That's why his base loves him; they're as useless as he is, so they feel represented.

[Binger]

Trump couldn't pass a sobriety test, and I heard he doesn't drink. He couldn't pass an eye test, a drug test, or a reflexes test. And of course, he'd have to have a functioning brain beyond a goldfish's to pass a neurological test.

That's what happens when you are the personification of incompetence. That's why his base loves him; they're as useless as he is, so they feel represented.

Hypotheticals that can be disproven are really awesome. Good job. I have one too.

Trump couldn't bust out of a Canadian igloo if you gave him a bucket of Troudeau's piss and a Maple Leaf.

[Kishkumen]

Student loan forgiveness, Justice40, the inflation reduction act in its minutia is driven by progressive aims built into it. It's hard to imagine a realistic scenario with an effective and more progressive President in place, really.

Consider this article from the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... nald-Trump

Thanks to you and Manetho for sharing this information. I never thought of these things as being super liberal so much as sensible. At least for the most part.