I just felt like she was all that was left for Republicans that want to rid themselves of Trump. I do think the Republican party is lost as long as Trump is around. He has created mayhem for them and been nothing but a wrecking ball. I felt like the best course for the party was to split, and become two separate parties. One that was conservative and one that is MAGA. Now, the MAGA movement has been the absolute worst thing we've had in American politics in my lifetime, as I am now pushing 60, it has divided the country, created an atmosphere where it feels like revenge is more important than addressing our problems, and forced on elected Republicans a me or them choice. Choose Trump or choose the United States and having a democracy.
I don't think Haley would make a great president, I certainly don't like her in terms of policy, but...she appears not to be insane. I can't say that about guys like Trump or DeSantis, who seems like a bizarre creep, or Vivek rhymes with cake. These three guys just seem like they intentionally scrapped sludge off the bottom of the barrel. Sure, you are in a bad place when Nikki Haley is by far your best candidate, but this is where Republicans are.
I mean things have come down to a single choice, Biden. I don't really think people like hearing that and Biden, while over 80 million people voted for him, seems not very popular now. I think part of why 80 million people voted for him was most people in the country knew we can't turn it over to Trump.
I feel that the way the system is set up, it greatly favors a Democrat or Republican. An independent candidate is nothing more than a long shot or spoiler. It will be interesting, if somewhat terrifying, to watch how Kennedy's campaign plays out. If he is getting a large chunk of the vote, and it looks like he will, he would qualify to appear on a debate stage with Biden and Trump. Which I think would mean that Biden and Trump would not show up. Trump has already skipped every debate in this primary and Biden already made clear he would not debate Kennedy. Trump does not want to debate Kennedy either, Bobby would annihilate him in a debate.
The whole process this time looks like it will be mayhem. This has me very nervous, honestly. I think Biden has done an incredible job as president, oddly in normal times all the indicators that point to a president getting reelected are all in his favor. The economy is good, the stock market up, job creation is booming, consumer spending is up, unemployment is low, these all point to a sitting president getting reelected.
He has backed unions, the middle class, fought to bring down prescription drug costs, passed infrastructure, overseen a growing economy, rising wages, people went out and spent money during the holiday season...he has done better with inflation than any other world leader...and yet, the guy is pretty well hated by a good majority of people. Everything points to he should not be, but he is.
The job he has done, he has done while Republicans have been doing a ridiculous revenge impeachment charade, his son has been slaughtered in the media, the former president attacks him with lies daily (no other president in my life has ever had to put up with that), the Republican House has created gridlock fighting with each other and we have to keep averting government shutdowns, corrupt Supreme Court judges have been exposed, two wars have broken out, and in general we seem as a country not to be able to agree on what reality is.
In this utter madness, Biden and his team have continued to get the job done. It is hard for me to imagine how but he seems not to be pleasing about 65% of people getting polled. This seems to be centered on just two things, inflation and his age.
On inflation and the cost of things, yes, that spiraled out of control, partly due to the Covid crisis. I think if costs come back down, which is difficult for a variety of reasons, maybe by the time the general election rolls around, Biden will be in good shape.
