2024 U.S. presidential election

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The 2024 United States presidential election is a currently brewing shitshow, expected to occur on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. It will be between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

Key issues[edit]

Democracy[edit]

Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot.
—Joe Biden[1]

The fallout from the events of January 6 hangs like a cloud over the campaign trail. Republicans have taken an increasingly Christian nationalist tone from the vocal hard right members. And then there's Project 2025, nuff said.

Economy[edit]

The Post-COVID world saw record high inflation after months of shutting down, causing millions of Americans to grow frustrated with the state of the economy, and was a leading campaign issue that led to Republicans barely taking over the House in the 2022 midterm elections. While rates of inflation have peaked in the summer of 2022, the prices of some goods have remained stubbornly high.

Abortion[edit]

If there was anything that kept Democrats some resemblance of control in Congress and gubernatorials, it would be when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the summer of 2022.

Background Noise[edit]

Gaza[edit]

The October 7th 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas and the subsequent genocidal onslaught by Israel on Palestine[note 1], specifically the Gaza Strip, has pretty much irreversibly destroyed Joe Biden's reputation amongst young voters[2] as well as ruining the already tattered reputation of the United States especially after the previous geopolitical fuck-up, the 2003 Iraq War, pretty much cemented notion of the US being an imperial monster to the world amongst young people.[note 2]. This is because the US has not only been nearly-uncritically supportive of Israel, but has delivered upwards of billions of dollars of military aid allowing Israel to enact genocide on the people of Gaza despite numerous attempts from international organizations, activist groups, politicians and even other countries to persuade them otherwise. The US government even went as far as to threaten the ICC with sanctions due to them seeking arrest warrants for members of the Israeli government including Benjamin Netanyahu.[3][4]. Both Donald Trump and former candidate Joe Biden, have both pledged to support Israel with Trump even telling Israel to "finish the job". This has led many to describe the election as a "lesser of two evils" though some people decry both candidates as being the same solely based on this one issue despite very obvious evidence that they are different in so, so many other areas.[5]

Sanity[edit]

Trump has shown noticeable cognitive decline since he first ran for president. The mainstream media has largely chosen to ignore this. According to Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, the mainstream media rationale for this is:[6]

It works like this: Trump sounds nuts, but he can’t be nuts, because he’s the presumptive nominee for president of a major party, and no major party would nominate someone who is nuts. Therefore, it is our responsibility to sand down his rhetoric, to identify any kernel of meaning, to make light of his bizarro statements, to rationalize.

Will Bunch of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote:[7]

[The] false claim by Trump that Harris is generating fake big crowds with AI was a true Captain Queeg moment,[note 3] maybe the most bat-guano crazy thing I’ve seen in 40 years of covering presidential elections.

Ukraine[edit]

Donald Trump advocates for not only military aid to Ukraine being revoked, but to "negotiate peace between the two". What he's actually saying is for the US to leave Ukraine as a sitting duck whilst Russia installs a puppet government.[8]

Candidates[edit]

Democrats[edit]

  • Vice President Kamala Harris of California, following Biden's withdrawal on July 21, 2024. ("You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?"[9])

Withdrawn[edit]

  • President Joe Biden of Delaware
  • Convicted felon Joe Exotic of Oklahoma
  • Antivaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — later changed to run as an independent before endorsing Trump
  • Congressman Dean Phillips of Minnesota (endorsed Biden)[10]
  • Venture capitalist Jason Palmer of Maryland (endorsed Biden)
  • Political commentator Cenk Uygur of California
  • Spiritual writer and perennial candidate Marianne Williamson of California (suspended, un-suspended, re-suspended, then re-un-suspended her campaign — because perennialism)

Republicans[edit]

Withdrawn[edit]

  • Nondenominational pastor Ryan Binkley of Texas (endorsed Trump)
  • Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota (endorsed Trump)[11]
  • Former Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey
  • Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida (endorsed Trump)[12]
  • Talk radio host Larry Elder of California (endorsed Trump)[13]
  • Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley of South Carolina
  • Former Congressman Will Hurd of Texas
  • Former Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas
  • Bishop E. W. Jackson of Virginia (endorsed Trump)[14]
  • Businessman Perry Johnson of Michigan
  • Former Vice President Mike Pence of Indiana
  • Investor Vivek Ramaswamy of Ohio (endorsed Trump)[15]
  • Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina (endorsed Trump)[16]
  • Miami Mayor Francis Suarez of Florida

Independent/Third Party[edit]

Withdrawn[edit]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. More accurately, it intensified a million-fold
  2. Unfortunately, a loud minority doesn't give the same energy to Russia after what it has done to Ukraine
  3. From The Caine MutinyWikipedia

References[edit]

  1. Trump seeks 'revenge and retribution' Biden says Reuters 6 January 2024
  2. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/16/ro-khanna-biden-young-voters-israel-gaza
  3. https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts
  4. https://www.jurist.org/news/2024/05/us-senators-send-threatening-letter-to-icc-prosecutor-saying-target-israel-and-we-will-target-you/
  5. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240628-trump-let-israel-finish-the-job-in-gaza/
  6. The Unadorned Truth About Donald Trump: We must treat him like any other candidate for high office who is emotionally and mentally unstable. by Jeffrey Goldberg (June 27, 2024) The Atlantic.
  7. Yesterday's false claim by Trump that Harris is generating fake big crowds with AI was a true Captain Queeg moment, maybe the most bat-guano crazy thing I've seen in 40 years of covering presidential elections: Neither NYT nor Washington Post is promoting it on their home page by Will Bunch (3:58 AM · Aug 12, 2024) Twitter (archived from 16 Aug 2024 17:01:56 UTC).
  8. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-reviews-plan-halt-us-military-aid-ukraine-unless-it-negotiates-peace-with-2024-06-25/
  9. Conor Murray (July 21, 2024). "Kamala Harris’ ‘Coconut Tree’ Quote, Explained: What She Meant And Why It’s Going Viral As She Launches Campaign". Forbes.
  10. Biden challenger Dean Phillips drops out of US presidential race The Guardian 6 March 2024
  11. Trump is endorsed by a former rival, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, ahead of the Iowa caucuses Associated Press News 14 January 2024
  12. "Ron DeSantis suspends his presidential bid and endorses Trump" by Alec Hernández, Matt Dixon, Dasha Burns and Jonathan Allen, NBC News, 2024 January 21
  13. Radio host Larry Elder ends Republican presidential campaign and endorses Donald Trump Associated Press News 27 October 2023
  14. On my podcast today I officially endorsed Donald Trump as 47th President of the United States. I wouldn’t vote for Niki Haley for dog catcher. Don’t trust her at all! NH GO FOR TRUMP! http://EWJacksonforAmerica.com(1:36 PM · Jan 23, 2024) Twitter
  15. Iowa caucuses 2024: Vivek Ramaswamy suspends campaign and endorses Trump BBC News 16 January 2024
  16. Sen. Tim Scott endorses Trump in New Hampshire amid full-court press against Haley CNN 20 January 2024
  17. RFK Jr. suspends his presidential bid and backs Donald Trump before appearing with him at his rally Associated Press News 23 August 2023