https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1518710719075831808
Yeah he pretty much would be the only good or even viable independent candidate, so it is basically that.
He’s gonna go on a fundraising tour for Biden-Zelenskyy ticket
Maybe Jesse Ventura will actually do it this time.
For what it’s worth, this is the closest I can find to a Jesse Ventura emote: :posadas:
I take that as a positive omen :pog-dolphin: :posadist-nuke:
I don't think that's necessarily true. I think an outsider with enough money and real savvy could mount a serious challenge. Thankfully, he's not eligible, but I genuinely think Musk could mount a serious challenge. He has the money, appeals to idiots on both sides of the aisle, and has the "savvy" to be aware of the (significant) extent to which he can break rules without consequences. That said, I'm not quite sure he would have the political smarts, or be able to keep his shit together for the length of a campaign.
An athlete or other celebrity could similarly make a real run at it--if they have the savvy. I imagine someone like Peyton Manning (ewwww) could do it. Again, lots of money, likely high favorability on both sides of the aisle, appeals to the "heartland" voter, high name recognition.
Arnold Schwarzenegger (again, not eligible, thank goodness) could probably do it.
I could see Mitt Romney making a serious run at it. Maybe pulling it off. (ew ew ew ew ew).
I think basically any candidate who satisfies the following could be in contention:
- extremely high name recognition
- pro environment
- pro LGBT
- "pro business" / liked by the banks
- pro police
- independently wealthy or able to get massive financial backing
- pro gun
- keeps quiet about abortion / dodges the issue
- white man
- despite high name recognition, isn't thought of as a "celebrity" first (i.e, not Brad Pitt); basically, not a common tabloid name.
I think basically any candidate who satisfies the following could be in contention...
So - Bill Gates?
idk... my knee jerk reaction was "not after the divorce", but the average person just isn't in touch with that stuff. multiple divorces and pedo accusations certainly didn't hurt Trump.
the biggest problem for Gates, I think, is that he's gotten smeared too much in the right wing press. the vaxx stuff, plus his image of being a creepy nerd would probably doom him.
But I think bill gates from 15 years ago could absolutely win today.
I don't think the public gives a damn about his divorce. As for people thinking he's a creepy nerd - I have no idea. But Americans truly worship money and he's rich as fuck.
He’s gotten smeared too much in the right wing press.
Oops. This would be a 3rd party dealbreaker. How could I forget all about that?
for the last part, what I mean is that I think the 58% of respondents are not centrists or moderates or whatever. I think they are disaffected people across the political spectrum.
I think an independent wins by being the harm reduction candidate for the greatest number of people across the board. hence, pro guns, which leftists agree with and only a small percentage of libs would rank in their top five most important issues--but would be a deal breaker for many on the right. avoid abortion, which is solidly a wedge issue across the political spectrum. pro LGBT, which is must for most people to the left of center, and isn't a deal breaker for much of the right. And so on.
now, generally, favorability is a better predictor of election outcomes than unfavorability--BUT, that wasn't the case in the last presidential election, and I think the celebrity status of this theoretical candidate would lead to high favorability as well.
I don't pay attention to celebrities or famous people so the only name that comes to mind for me is Oprah. Has she ever done or said anything controversial? And I assume that although democrats like (or love) her - they do so based on a sense that she's one of them even though she's probably been very, very careful never to be too political.
Theoretically speaking - is there anybody else like her?
I think America is too sexist and racist for her to win on an independent ticket. she could maybe win as a Democrat though.
I think America is too sexist and racist for her
Some people with crazy levels of charisma can have surprising success but I have no idea at all what right-wingers think of her. And Americans now treat their politics as though they are rabid cultists. I wonder what the Cult of the GOP truly thinks of her. Not what they would say to a pollster but what they say to each other when they commiserate.
"open to" until the media machine spins up and floods everyone with "harm reduction" and how this is the most important election of our lives and that Trump would undo all the progress we've made undoing his first term, which of course is practically none.
I can't fuckin wait :marx-joker:
Yeah probably, it's still interesting to see such a high number at all.
And what will they do when Trump inevitably has a heart attack in the next year or two?
Yeah its really easy to get a majority of people to support a vague hypothetical "independent" candidate because they will just substitute their own views for this generic stand-in. If this question was more like "Would you vote for an independent Bernie Sanders ticket?" You'd easily halve this figure or worse.
I don't partake very often, but the local Kava bar here is where the PSL organizes at. They do communist open mic nights and have the newsletter on the bar
I genuinely wonder what would happen if someone from outside of the two parties stood a serious chance at winning the presidency? Would they allow it to happen, or just JFK them?
That person would have to be independently wealthy enough to run their own campaign, they'd get no institutional support. Basically what Trump was, so this hypothetical person would just run as an R.
I call bullshit on this. One poll says this in 2022, a midterm year. Wait till it's actually 2024 and both Rs and Ds and howling "it's the most important election ever." Americans don't vote for a candidate, they vote against the candidate they dislike. Conservatives think Biden is a communist traitor to America and libs think Trump is the most dangerous man on the planet. Consent machine will go burrr and both parties will fall in line and the election will be decided by "independents" in 6 states like every year.
Americans don’t vote for a candidate, they vote against the candidate they dislike.
I think you're selling the cult-like followings of folks like Bush, Obama, Hillary, and Trump (and Bernie if we're being generous) far too short. I'll spot you that there are some swing voters who will turn on a particular issue in disgust (NAFTA voters turning on Bush Sr in the 90s and then on the Clintons thereafter). But they're easy to court, as guys like Trump and Obama demonstrated. And, if you play your cards right, they'll be slavishly loyal long after your appeal has worn thin.
Conservatives think Biden is a communist traitor to America
No they don't. The QAnon weirdos think this. The mainstream conservatives just don't like him because he's batting for the wrong team. They'd be perfectly happy to put him up as Senator-for-Life in Iowa or Kentucky, alongside the mummified remains of Chuck Grassley and Mitch McConnell, if he'd had an (R) after his name.
libs think Trump is the most dangerous man on the planet
They think he's the most annoying man on the planet. And only because guys like Cruz and Crenshaw haven't been getting 24/7 airtime coverage for the last 10 years.
Consent machine will go burrr and both parties will fall in line and the election will be decided by “independents” in 6 states like every year.
With the degree to which a handful of moguls can control discourse, I think the country is increasingly ripe for another Ross Perot bid. Just a question of which Michael Bloomberg has the Michael Bloombergs to Michael Bloomberg it.
They say that the stress of the office makes presidents grow orange at over five times the rate of normal people.
Wacky post-production tricks. Biden is ashen pale unless you color him in afterwards.
Somebody is absolutely going to run as a third party candidate that eats a huge chunk of the vote
We get the joy of finding out who that person might be
I wouldn’t be interested at this point. Honestly there’s not a single hopeful person in US national politics
Don’t get your hopes up, it’s gonna be Elon Musk or Bloomberg or Yang or Oprah or something equally stupid
Yeah, but what if you tell them that the candidate is Yang?
