The big question...

[Tired]

Does anyone have any insight into this? Why with the 333 million people in the US, have Biden and Trump ended up as the best picks? They are so obviously physically and mentally unsuitable for such a position regardless of their political views.

I didn't read the rest of this thread yet but how could you say that Trump is 'physically and mentally unsuitable for such a position', even worse use the adverb 'obviously' when that is 100% untrue of Trump (though unquestionable true of Biden as has been observed in his televised and other actions over the last 3 years)? What physical or mental 'unsuitableness' do you imagine?

[Stella]

Trump is unsuitable not just in advanced age but competence and character to be a leader of government. That became universally clear throughout his presidency and up to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6th.

[zeno]

Goodness, you do like to trot out stale points, don't you? Just a thought...perhaps "the big question" is really how someone who understands so little of American politics (asking questions such as the one on how we select party leaders, for example) thinks she has any right to comment on the state of things here.

[zeno]

Democrats question Biden's candidacy after 'disaster' debate performance

Finally. How could he ever lead a country for another 4 and a half years?

A wag on another site stated "With Biden its not dementia or just plain old age. He has been stupid for 40+

This is really true. There is an episode of the series Community called Intro to Political. Science which pokes fun Biden for being a dottering fool. It was made/originally aired when he was Vice President in February, 2011. Nothing about his incompetence is all that new.

[Kage_ar]

No, I was wondering about how the leader is elected within the party. Here, if a leader is polling poorly or has disgraced him/herself in some way, another party member can put their hand up to challenge the leader and that is then put to the party vote. From what I gather that can't happen in the US system. Only the leader himself can step down. If he did decide to step down, who steps up? Kamala Harris? We don't hear much of other Democrats who would qualify for the leadership job.

We don't have party leaders in the USA at all.

I am pretty sure Jamie Harrison, Michael Whatley, Angela McArdle, the 7 Co-Chairs of the Green Party, etc. would beg to differ.

Having met/interacted with Mr Harrison on several occasions, I'd say he would be a great Presidential candidate for the DNC and would likely give Mr Trump some sleepless nights.

Also have to comment on the tone of the thread in general. Mr Biden, who has a well known speech impediment, is cast as a demented sock puppet because he is a Democrat, yet Mr Trump also exhibits signs of deterioration including forgetting words, dates, etc. and signs https://womensbrainhealth.org/think-tan ... f-dementia

Both of these men are elderly, they ought both to be fully retired, enjoying their grandchildren, great grandchildren, dogs, hobbies, etc.

[peregrinator]

This is really true. There is an episode of the series Community called Intro to Political. Science which pokes fun Biden for being a dottering fool. It was made/originally aired when he was Vice President in February, 2011. Nothing about his incompetence is all that new.

He's always said things that weren't true or that seemed extremely unlikely to be true, and that's continued; but he seems also to have lost a good deal of mental acuity. There's a sharpness that's gone. And to be clear, he had already lost a great deal of that by 2020, but he's gotten worse since then.

[peregrinator]

We don't have party leaders in the USA at all.

I am pretty sure Jamie Harrison, Michael Whatley, Angela McArdle, the 7 Co-Chairs of the Green Party, etc. would beg to differ.

I don't know who any of those people are, but they're not party leaders like one would see in a parliamentary system.

[BobCatholic]

The United States of America's federal government is not a Constitutional Republic as originally written.
It is not a democracy either.
It is a cronyocracy.

As a result, the cronies want a puppet like Biden to do their bidding. Trump scares them but only because they have far less control over him. If Trump gets elected, the cronyocracy still has control over the Congress and federal agencies.