President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

The Houthis are trying to disrupt the global economy by firing cruise missiles at ships in the Red Sea. This effort has mostly failed, because of the U.S. Navy. The navy is able to maintain ships on station because of our bases in the region, and the cooperation of our partners scattered between the East Coast of the U.S. and the Red Sea.

If the President starts shuttering foreign bases and telling our partners, "sorry - you've got to protect yourself," what country fills the gap shooting down Houthi cruise missiles?

 

Phone rings.
"Hello, this is such-and-such with the so-and-so organization. Did you know our police are being defunded?"
"No they aren't." Click.

Easy as that.

 

We act as though every other country is a damn invalid needing to be led around by the mighty United States every day. Jeez, give them some credit for being able to do what's in their best interests. Guess what? They don't have Trump voters or guns everywhere. They're capable of making good decisions, too.

Yeah, we do a lot of good in the world. We also cause a lot of problems with our butting in everywhere.

 

The thing I’ve noticed about what presidents do is that it takes 4-5 years for their big changes to really filter down into the country at large. Just long enough for the next guy to come in and get the credit/blame. Nobody makes their weekly Publix trip, stares at the prices and thinks “I wonder what the combination of tariff increases and reduced migration to the US contributed to this ungodly total?”

 

It took Paul Voelker's policies about 2 years. Way too long to save Carter, and Reagan got all the credit.

 

We are the only country capable of projecting power around the globe, because we built international coalitions mostly on the strength of our armed forces.

When the U.S. can no longer maintain its navy in the South China Sea, what stops China from seizing the Straits of Malacca?

 

You must have forgotten two of the yuge real-time changes during heir Trump's last year: his (mis)handling of COVID-19 and appointing Supreme Court judges who overturned Roe vs. Wade.

 

“Filter down” is the key phrase there. Covid is an exception that Trump made far worse than it had to be. But if Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or Robot George Washington was president, there was still going to be a massive loss of life and wealth.

 

Yes, you think about it with considerably more depth than I do. I suppose it's a good thing some do.

 

True. But would there have been such a divide on wearing/not wearing masks and getting vaccinated/not getting vaccinated. Trump stoked that fire for all it was worth.

 

One thing that kickoff and shotty are right about: We’re going to have to grind our teeth and make peace with some people that voted for despicable things.

WaPo had a story about a representative from far Northern California that voted to disregard the electoral votes on Jan. 6. But generally speaking he keeps his head down and runs his committee and advocates for his district. The way he gets results is hanging around after the State of the Union and buttonholing the President about an issue he cares about. And within a few days he gets someone from the White House calling him back and things get done. He’s done that with Trump and Biden both.

Now I find his Jan. 6 vote detestable. But if you applied the truth serum, I bet he’d say it was the price of admission to stay in that seat and get work done. We’ve got to find a way to work with people like that versus the true loons that think their whole job is to get on Fox News and poison minds.

 

Don't worry. This guy will get primaried out in due course for the crime of speaking civilly to a Democratic President.