The 2024 US presidential election.

[GRALISTAIR]

Ohio is also no longer a swing state. At one time, whoever won Ohio won the presidency. No more. Now pretty strong red state. I lived there for 4 years btw.

 

[jfollows]

Ohio is also no longer a swing state. At one time, whoever won Ohio won the presidency. No more. Now pretty strong red state. I lived there for 4 years btw.

Red meaning Republican.
It took me years to work out that “GOP“ also means Republican, because it’s rarely explained!
It’s probably like referring to the “Tory” party in the UK which probably confuses a US audience something rotten.

 

[birchesgreen]

Liz Truss turned up at the convention in a striking red dress, looked quite odd all considering. Quite what wisdom she can provide the GOP is unknown.

 

[nw1]

Liz Truss turned up at the convention in a striking red dress, looked quite odd all considering. Quite what wisdom she can provide the GOP is unknown.

A convention of losers.

Maybe the presence of Truss will cause Trump to lose the election marginally. We can only hope.

 

[birchesgreen]

According to JD Vance, now Labour are in power Britain is the first truly Islamic country to get nuclear weapons.

Rayner dismisses US VP candidate's 'Islamist UK' claim

JD Vance claims the UK under Labour might be the first "truly Islamist" country with nuclear weapons.

www.bbc.co.uk

The deputy prime minister has dismissed comments by Donald Trump's running mate for US vice president that UK under Labour might be the first "truly Islamist" country with nuclear weapons.

JD Vance, the Ohio senator chosen as Trump's vice presidential candidate on Monday night, made the comments while at the National Conservatism conference in Washington DC last week.

The 39-year-old said he was "beating up" on the UK, and had discussed with a friend “what is the first truly Islamist country to get a nuclear weapon", then joked "maybe it's Iran, maybe Pakistan kind of counts, and then we sort of decided maybe it's actually the UK since Labour just took over".

 

[1D54]

According to JD Vance, now Labour are in power Britain is the first truly Islamic country to get nuclear weapons.

A remark like that cannot go unanswered by Starmer and I'll be very interested to see how he reacts to it, but there again he is not really one for giving straight answers to straight questions so we'll probably never find out anyway.

 

[JamesT]

A remark like that cannot go unanswered by Starmer and I'll be very interested to see how he reacts to it, but there again he is not really one for giving straight answers to straight questions so we'll probably never find out anyway.

Having watched the clip at https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/jd-vance-uk-islamist-nuclear-weapons-labour/ it seems fairly clear he’s joking. I don’t think Starmer really needs to respond.

 

[birchesgreen]

Maybe but i thought it was an amusing take, and will annoy Pakistan a lot.

 

[dangie]

Liz Truss turned up at the convention in a striking red dress, looked quite odd all considering. Quite what wisdom she can provide the GOP is unknown.

If ever we needed a reason to believe that Liz Truss was/would have been, one of the worst or even the worst Prime Minister the UK ever had, this probably enforced it. The only thing Liz Truss thinks of is Liz Truss.

 

[AlterEgo]

A remark like that cannot go unanswered by Starmer and I'll be very interested to see how he reacts to it, but there again he is not really one for giving straight answers to straight questions so we'll probably never find out anyway.

It was a joke. Not a very good one, and poorly delivered. Best ignored to be honest.

 

[nw1]

JD Vance is his running mate, which is no surprise given he was the favourite in recent days/weeks. He's also an example of someone who was once critic now super-loyal follower of Trump:

Live updates: Bandaged Trump gets rapturous welcome at Republican convention

The former president makes his first public appearance since the attempted assassination, arriving with a bandaged ear to cheers and applause.

www.bbc.co.uk

JD Vance. The name suggests to me a leather-jacket-clad, dark-glasses-wearing trucker or possibly some kind of country or rock star from the Midwest or Deep South.

Perhaps he's a friend of CW McCall. "I'm JD Vance and we're going to launch a [expletive] convoy".

According to JD Vance, now Labour are in power Britain is the first truly Islamic country to get nuclear weapons.

I wonder if Trump's running mate is even more unhinged than Trump himself...

 

[birchesgreen]

I wonder if Trump's running mate is even more unhinged than Trump himself...

At least it wasn't Marjorie Taylor Greene.

 

[nw1]

It was a joke. Not a very good one, and poorly delivered. Best ignored to be honest.

Not really the sort of tone a potential Vice-President should be using with the US's so-called allies, of course.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Jul 2024 ==

At least it wasn't MTG.

Had to look up that. I presume you mean this individual?

Marjorie Taylor Greene - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Good grief. Never mind far-right: in my opinion this person belongs firmly in the ultra-right category. Remind me to never, ever visit Georgia's 14th district.

 

[birchesgreen]

Had to look up that. I presume you mean this ultra-right-wing extremist?

Marjorie Taylor Greene - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Thats right, the woman who told then Foreign Secretary Cameron to kiss her backside.

 

[nw1]

Thats right, the woman who told then Foreign Secretary Cameron to kiss her backside.

I thought I'd heard of some really unpleasant right-wing characters in American politics, but this person truly takes the biscuit.

 

[uglymonkey]

Bit West Ham (One stop short of Barking)

 

[birchesgreen]

Oh thats right, she also told Emily Maitilis to Foxtrot Oscar live on camera, classy.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Good grief. Never mind far-right: in my opinion this person belongs firmly in the ultra-right category. Remind me to never, ever visit Georgia's 14th district.

My boss lives there and recently wrote to her to request help with a visa for a friend of his family. Full disclosure- you won’t be visiting me either! I live in the 14th District! She is our representative.

 

[nw1]

My boss lives there and recently wrote to her to request help with a visa for a friend of his family.

I can't imagine much success forthcoming to be honest. From what else I see about her, I can't imagine helping people get visas would be particularly high on her priority list.

Full disclosure- you won’t be visiting me either! I live in the 14th District! She is our representative.

Poor you!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Jul 2024 ==

Ohio is also no longer a swing state. At one time, whoever won Ohio won the presidency. No more. Now pretty strong red state. I lived there for 4 years btw.

I guess the Braintree of the USA.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Poor you!

On the contrary, I take the opposite view in life - the one the late great Anthony Bourdain tried to take. When there are people ( right or left) who you disagree vehemently with, sit down and have a beer with them. Get to know them better and find out why they think the way they do. I would love to have a drink with Jeremy Corbin for example. Jaw Jaw rather than war war.

 

[nw1]

On the contrary, I take the opposite view in life - the one the late great Anthony Bourdain tried to take. When there are people ( right or left) who you disagree vehemently with, sit down and have a beer with them. Get to know them better and find out why they think the way they do. I woul love to have a drink with Jeremy Corbin for example. Jaw Jaw rather than war war.

True up to a point. I would be quite happy being friends with moderate Conservatives in the UK, for example, or erstwhile supporters of say Reagan or Bush in the USA - or non-extreme Republicans nowadays.

However Greene is far, far to the right of that. What she seems to believe is just plain sick and I can't imagine myself ever relating personally with anyone who supported her.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Associate justices of SCOTUS the late greats Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg being the gold standard in that regard. Diametrically opposed but really great friends.

 

[DarloRich]

Following the failed assassination attempt is the election now Trumps to lose? Will ditching Biden save the chance of a democrat win?

It was a joke. Not a very good one, and poorly delivered. Best ignored to be honest.

Having now seen the clip it is clearly a poor joke. Reading the comments in print it comes across as anything but.

 

[nw1]

Associate justices of SCOTUS the late greats Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg being the gold standard in that regard. Diametrically opposed but really great friends.

From what I read of Scalia though he just seemed like an old-fashioned conservative rather than an unhinged conspiracy theorist. Completely different category.

Similarly, Reagan was infinitely less bad than Trump.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Having now seen the clip it is clearly a poor joke. Reading the comments in print it comes across as anything but.

Worse, it's a joke that is likely to spread misinformation. Making jokes as a politician is fine - but the idea is the joke would normally be (a) funny, and (b) so obviously a joke that no-one listening to it is likely to take it seriously. The problem here is that some US Trump-supporters are actually inclined to seriously believe that the UK is an Islamist country. Trump has after all quite seriously made roughly that claim, at least about London. So for Vance to make that claim in a context that's only borderline funny (doesn't have any self-deprecation or any pun or play on words or any of the other qualities that would normally make a joke funny) starts to look like misinformation as much as a joke.

 

[birchesgreen]

I believe certain media outlets over here have latched onto Vance's comments, you can probably guess which.

 

[nw1]

I believe certain media outlets over here have latched onto Vance's comments, you can probably guess which.

Doubtless if it's the ones I'm thinking of, they probably think Trump and Vance should "rescue" the UK from its "Islamist" rule through force...

 

[wilbers]

A convention of losers.

Maybe the presence of Truss will cause Trump to lose the election marginally. We can only hope.

Until it was written like that I never clocked that the first 3 letters of their names were the same - never thought about it before.

Also Truman and Trudeau (both of them).

 

[nw1]

Until it was written like that I never clocked that the first 3 letters of their names were the same - never thought about it before.

Also Truman and Trudeau (both of them).

I did almost write Trump instead of Truss. Freudian slip, I guess.

 

[DarloRich]

Worse, it's a joke that is likely to spread misinformation. Making jokes as a politician is fine - but the idea is the joke would normally be (a) funny, and (b) so obviously a joke that no-one listening to it is likely to take it seriously. The problem here is that some US Trump-supporters are actually inclined to seriously believe that the UK is an Islamist country. Trump has after all quite seriously made roughly that claim, at least about London. So for Vance to make that claim in a context that's only borderline funny (doesn't have any self-deprecation or any pun or play on words or any of the other qualities that would normally make a joke funny) starts to look like misinformation as much as a joke.

that is a fair point.

I am extremely concerned about the direction in which America is moving and what that means for the western democratic/security alliance on which we have all relied for the last 70 + years.