If he retires after the Democrats (hopefully) take the Senate, the Democrats damn well better block any appointment.

Stewart has been asked the question incessantly for his entire career, and he always gave some kind of emphatic “no”. He switched it up a year ago and isn’t saying no anymore. Watching the Weekly Show, he really is acting like he plans to run.

Carlson is more of a long shot to run, but I don’t put it past him. If he runs for real, I think he gets it. I agree that he probably won’t. The Republican base isn’t as easily dominated by money as you think. Remember that in Trump’s first run all the money and establishment clout was against him. Thiel and Elison can run things because they have Trump on a leash.

I think you underestimate Pritzker, but I don’t see anyone else right now that can speak to both progressives and the establishment. It’s a really tricky lane to enter and he has it all to himself. We’ll have to see who else runs.

I see three serious contenders for the next Presidency. Pritzker, Jon Stewart, and Tucker Carlson. That’s three very different paths, and we’ll know a lot more after that election.

The Republican nomination is Carlson’s if he wants it, and he would roll right over another Zionist Democrat. Pritzker has the best chance of any traditional Democrat of satisfying (barely) both the establishment and progressive wings, and would dominate any Republican but maybe Tucker. Stewart would steamroll anyone dumb enough to debate him. He’s still way too “enlightened centrist” for my liking, but he seems to be learning.

Vance has a chance if Carlson doesn’t run and the Democrats nominate an establishment clown. Speaking of which, I think Newsom is going to flip-flop himself into oblivion early in the race.

Pax Americana is over. I expect America to stumble on. There are still a lot of capable and well educated Americans, and a lot of resources. It will take generations to heal though, and the rot that got us here will not be easily addressed.

What the rest of the world is going to have to deal with is that when America becomes less attractive to dominate, our oligarchs are going to turn their eyes elsewhere. They still have their assets, and no real loyalty to America. It already looks like the process is well underway.

The idea that the US government would fall and that the “good guys” would end up in control of what followed is ridiculous.

Why on earth would they not want death to the west? It’s not like we haven’t deserved it. Israel is way more extreme than either Hamas or Hezbollah. That’s what happens when you create an ethnostate, arm them to the teeth, and back them unconditionally for generations.

No country lasts generations in a static form. That’s not a thing.

I’m not sure if you are being sarcastic, but democracy and capitalism are fundamentally incompatible. “Equal capitalism” is an oxymoron.

Absolutely unsurprising. Iran has had literal decades to prepare for this fight. It’s a big mountainous country, and they are arguably the most experienced tunnel builders in the world. If US intelligence says they still have half of their missile launchers, I would bet they have a lot more than that. They have also been watching and learning from the war in Ukraine, something the US has apparently failed to do.

The reference is fitting.

We are the hollow men 
We are the stuffed men 
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when 
We whisper together 
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass 
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour. 
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

The culprit is “faith”". A society cannot function when everybody lives in their own version of reality. The notion that every belief is worthy of the same respect as any other will be the death of us all. Probably literally.

Obama put his thumb on the scale in both the 2016 and 2020 primaries, and that was ultimately what made the destruction of his only three major accomplishments inevitable. We’ve lost the Iran deal, advances in Cuba, and most of the ACA because Obama couldn’t stop serving Wall Street and the establishment even after leaving office.

You aren’t wrong, but the US already has all the leverage it needs with Medicare and Medicade, and chooses not to use it.

LOL, falling back on “That’s propaganda!”. The one lame trope you had yet to pull out. Well, calling any argument or fact that favors the west “propaganda” is also propaganda so there! I sure got you good.

No, you’ve just made it clear that you can accept its existence and not the existence of Russia.

It’s getting really old pointing this but, no, I didn’t say that either. If I tell someone that their behavior is unacceptable, that does not imply that their “existence” is unacceptable. To whatever extent you think I need to say it, I will say that Russia’s continued existence is just fine with me. However, I’m done with this bullshit. You win, or whatever.

“Russian” is an ethnicity, but it’s also a nationality. Since we are talking specifically about Russian troops, its the nationality being criticized, not the ethnicity. Either way, I never called them orcs, I just pointed out that their behavior invites the comparison. You aren’t much for subtlety, are you?

You are racist, lmao. Even if you had said nothing else, the only reason to believe the US is acceptable

Back to the ad hominems, and the misquoting. I never said the US is “acceptable”. I have only spoken in favor of a single attribute of US ground troops, and I’ve been quite clear that there are many aspects of the US that are entirely unacceptable. The current war with Iran is entirely so, as have been many similar adventures.

if you really think you’re doing some great debate here, don’t bother replying.

There is only so “great” one can be at debating when the “arguments” are as bad and fabricated as yours.

Cancer is better than Russia, so that’s no great achievement. My comment was that there is not much good to say about Russia. I notice you didn’t point out something I missed, you just went straight to an ad hominem.

Yes, my point was both that I didn’t say the thing you claimed was racist, and that it wouldn’t have been racist anyways. No contortion, just you being wrong twice in one statement. And, again, you didn’t bother arguing the point, you just went for yet another ad hominem. That’s three if you count calling me racist.

I never said anything about orc people. Russian infantry have a reputation for brutality towards civilians and it’s earned. They don’t even really try to hide it. Russian isn’t a “race”. Also, what do you expect when Russia slaughters civilians wholesale and relies almost entirely on “meat wave” tactics. Whether the comparison to orcs is racist can be debated, but it’s clear where it comes from.

My claim about US troops was that they were less terrible. Unfortunately, moral ground troops are hard to find in today’s world. I also said they were better trained at certain things, and I stand by it. That’s not in spite of their many deployments, it’s because of it.

If you want to know about the PLA I suggest asking someone who faught them. Perhaps Japan. If you want more recent, then look at the tens of thousands of Tibetan civilians that were killed - most in labor camps. That’s a bit worse than “collateral damage” from an errant missile. (And yeah, if it was an Israeli missile I think an investigation into how “accidental” it was is warranted.

I was also very critical of IS decisions to go to war in the first place and how they justify it, so what the fuck are you talking about? I’m not “sneaking” anything in. I said what I said because it was precisely what I meant.

Unlike you I don’t pick a team before making my conclusions. There is shit that’s good about the US, and stuff that isn’t. Same is true of China. As for Russia and Israel, I’d love to say something good about them, but they make it pretty tough.

As I said in the original comment and haven’t really touched on since, it’s about the campism. This would be a valid criticism of modern “soldiering” in general, but the strong implication that this is a uniquely American problem is completely ridiculous.

If anything, the real world reputation of American soldiers in regards to civilians is among the least terrible. That’s not to say they are ethical in an absolute sense, because there have been lots of sickening incidents, for instance abu ghraib, but nothing like the reputation of Russian or even Chinese soldiers.

If there is a glaring failure in this regard that continues to be an issue, it’s with drone strikes and other weapons of mass destruction. You still don’t have practices like what Russia is doing to Kiev, but the US is still way too quick to brush off “collateral damage”. There is also a lot to criticize on how the US justifies it’s interventions. The current attack on Iran is entirely unjustified, and it has plenty of support from both parties.

On the ground though, US frontline troops are among the best trained in the world at avoiding civilian casualties and cooperating with local populations. I’m sure that’s getting worse under Hegseth, but US armed forces have been taught to question orders in ways that other great powers are reluctant to allow, especially Russia. If anyone is better it’s some European forces, but the people who embrace this cartoon would not like that point since it’s still “the west”.

I really hate campism because the real war is with the global elites. Elites spend lots of money to promote the notion that what really matters is the fight between good and bad governments, always with different ideas of which is which. Meanwhile the elites themselves have no national allegiances. Trump clearly identifies far more as a member of the global elites than as an American. The elites are the enemy the left should be fighting.

This ain’t rocket science. There are valid criticisms to be made. This ain’t one of them.

How could someone with “math” in their name be this bad at simple logic? Oh, “christian”. Got it.