So, the second debate was last night. I actually thought it was tonight, only to find out half way through it was going on. And I was kinda tired and sick last night (dealing with another cold...yuck), so I ended up watching it today.
And...it was a crapshow. As other commentators I've watched have already said, no one really won. It was just a bunch of bickering and arguing, and platitudes, and lies, and no real solutions to anything. And at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter as Trump has more support than everyone on that stage combined.
If I were to give it a shot to discuss who "won" in the sense of who sounded the best...eh....I think Tim Scott came off as a lot better this time, and Nikki Haley was a close second for me. Pence and Christie sounded pretty mid this time around. DeSantis was okay too. Ramaswamy had that same "love him or hate him" vibe from the first one, he was very charismatic, but he also had no idea what he was talking about at times, so he's going to be divisive just for that. I get wanting to appeal to the next generation, but if this is the next generation of conservatives...just....abandon ship. The old guys at least know what they're talking about policy wise, this guy is just trying to position himself as a successor to trump, and the inheritor of trump's legacy and "america first" movement. And Burgum...he was okay, but like always, kinda invisible.
All in all, none of them really stood out, minus ramaswamy if you're into conservative populism. And there was a lot of yelling and bickering over nothing.
Given the economy is kind of my thing, I would like to say a few things on that though. A lot of candidates were doing things that I've outlined in previous articles. They were attacking Biden simply because he was in power, without having many ideas themselves. They'd act like we're living in a dystopia simply because Biden was president and liberalism is bad, despite offering few solutions themselves. What did they offer? THe same false promises of more jobs and growth. Ya know, the things we've tried for decades but things dont get any better? Heck, we're already at full employment and a lot of rich people want the federal reserve to raise rates to actually drive people back into desperation. THey think workers are getting too uppity and asking for too much. And if you notice none of these guys seem to support the unions. They actually criticized them going on about how they wanted higher pay and to work less hours. How dare they /s.
I keep saying it, guys, the republicans dont have solutions. They're just attacking Biden because hes currently in charge and an easy target. Biden is actually doing a decent job by conventional metrics. Full employment, bringing jobs back to America, he's doing all the things trump promised and he's still being crapped on.
Also, a lot of conservatives have a weird obsession with mexico and the border. Screaming about fentanyl and I think at one point they were talking about war with Mexico? Like wtf?! On the fentanyl thing, I always hear conservatives screaming about it, and quite frankly, it seems silly. You ask a conservative its like they think fentanyl is just randomly laced in everything. Im not worried about it. It seems to be hyped up like finding razor blades in halloween candy. Not saying it cant happen, but unless youre looking for drugs, i cant see how anyone would end up getting poisoned by that. And if you do look into illicit drugs and end up consuming something laced with something else...well...that's kind of the risk you take when dealing with an unregulated black market. I personally aint super sympathetic to that since it doesnt seem like something that is gonna happen to people unless you are into shady stuff, but let's say i were gonna be more compassionate. Okay, what are good solutions to this? Uh...end the war on drugs? Decriminalize that stuff? Legalize and regulate the less hard ones? Have those drug and detox centers liberals want where people can shoot up without fear of ODing? It's not like solutions aren't there. Conservatives are talking a big game about how they care about people ODing on fentanyl but they once again arent willing to embrace solutions that actually fix the problem. They just weaponize it to instill fear in people and make them obsessed with the southern border.
Honestly, I could go on and on. But I'd prefer not to. Go down the line and I just dont have much in common with the right any more. My ideas actually came from opposing them. And my ideas actually make the most sense when you consider the kinds of policies conservatives like those on stage here like to support.
Honestly, the whole thing was a crapshow, and the worst part is none of these guys are gonna win anyway. Again, trump has more support than all of them combined. As some mentioned, this is more an audition for VP, and quite frankly, on that front, Ramaswamy is probably gonna win that one as he's the biggest bootlicker on that stage. The others represent the older pre 2016 conservatism no one seems interested in any more. Ya know, the ideals I abandoned. Well, now most of the country has moved on, with most of those guys either becoming democrats or trumpers. How far Reagan's movement has fallen. I mean it was never great but it's gotten progressively worse over the past 43 years. As some commentators have said, Reagan couldnt even win a primary in the modern republican party any more. 2016 was a realignment for better or worse and the republicans are all in on trumpism whether the establishment likes it or not.
No comments:
Post a Comment