On American Elections

QLD recently had an election, but count have not finished yet so I will not comment on that for now.

Instead, I will talk about American election. Recently I watched debate between Trump and Harris as well as between their VPs. I have to say this is the worst debate and choice of candidates in probably the entire history of the US. Surely worst in the most recent history.

Debate between Harris and Trump are nothing more than a series of empty threats and accusations. It can be summed up in "He is literal devil. No, she it." Neither Trump nor Harris said much of their policies or program, but instead kept telling how much horrible things the other will do if they get elected. To a Trump credit, he would at least bother to refute in detail Kamala's accusations and tell his own version of the story. Kamala would just dismiss all he says as lies and will parrot her own narrative as much as she could.

Trump clearly devolved from how he was back in 2016 and even 2020. Back then he was sharp and smart, told things how they were, exposed many of the inconvenient truth and so on. The only issue with him was the conflict of interest: he promised to do things that would disadvantage him as a rich property developer, like banning illegal migrants that often work such jobs. Because of that you might question if he would really implement the promises that people want but would damage Trump Organization's business.

Still in 2016 Trump was a much better choice compared to Killary Clinton, who had no ideas of policies of her own, yet snubbed Bernie Sanders who actually had policies that would have made America better and so many people supported. The least she and Dems could do is to make Bern a VP candidate to unite the party. Instead, they kicked him to the side and cut a lot out of the student loan forgiveness program that they reluctantly took from Bern to placate his supporters. That was an insult too far that turned me from a Bern supporter into a Trump one.

In 2020 Trump was vain and complacent. He all forgotten about the independents that brought him to power and now pandered to core Republican base with low tax and conservatism. He correctly exposed many social issues in 2016 yet did nothing to address any of them while in office. You might at least expect him to make up some excuses on why it was not done, like Dems controlled the Congress and prevented him from acting, but he did not do either. 

Overall, however it was appropriate to give incumbent administration a boot for not doing anything for 4 years and simply vote for another guy. Fortunately, Biden was perfect for a such job. He is so plain, boring and inoffensive there is absolutely no reason to not vote for him. There is no reason to vote for Biden in particular either and against a better candidate he would not stand a chance, but here we had bad options.

Finally in 2024 we have 2 candidates that are so bad a body pillow or a potted plant would make a better president. Even a deliberate satire from 2008 looks more presidential than either Trump or Harris. See for yourself. After seeing Trump vs Harris, you do not even notice straightaway that it is an impersonation and a satire. Students who play Sarah Palin and Joe Biden certainly sound more presidential than current nominees. Trump and Harris not only make Sarah Palin a sensible choice, but they also even make a deliberate satirisation of her a sensible choice. Congratulations.

Afterwards I watched a debate between VPs. In contrast to presidential smear campaign, both JD Vance and Tim Walz sounded very respectable and civil. It was refreshing and pleasant for the first 30 minutes or so.

Eventually however issues emerged. Most importantly lack of policies. The only real policy issue they discussed and disagreed on was abortion. Here you could clearly see and choose between two diverging views on the issue.

Moderators asked VP candidates on housing issue that affect and concert many Americans, but candidates felt like they do not care. Tim Walz said something about his expertise of building housing in Minnesota. JD Vance about seizing federal land for housing projects. None of them of them gave any concrete numbers of how many new homes their administration will build during their tenue. It was pretty clear that neither of them cared for this very important for every Millennial issue.

So, what do I take from this 2024 election. Both candidates are so bad and useless, it makes voting 3rd party reasonable. Unfortunately, 3rd party candidates from Libertarians and Greens are useless too. Alas Andrew Yang is not running this time. I do not think he is recognized as Write In candidate either, but I think we should write in his name anyway. He is the only guy is this madhouse who cares for things that matter and has a plan. Vote Andrew Yang.

The election seems more of a culture war. In that case Trump who gives middle finger to this bullshit makes a lot more sense than Harris who peddles it. Still, write in Andrew Yang, he is the only one who makes sence.