They're not saying that because it's not true. Joe Biden has a very good record to run on. Not perfect, obviously, but good.

Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

@Flyingsaucesir

Optics and perceptions influence voters, not performance.

@St-Sinner How about these optics?

Trump tried to hide the seriousness of the pandemic for months, did nothing to prepare for it, undermined the messaging of medical professionals, and his incompetence cost us 200,000 unnecessary deaths.

Trump abused his office by withholding congressionally-mandated funds for Ukraine to try and extort a personal favor from the president of Ukraine.

Trump refused to accept the outcome of a free and fair election, prepared slates of fake electors to thwart the will if the people, incited a mob to attack the Capitol, and sat on his fat ass watching it play out on TV.

Trump stole classified documents, lied about it, refused to give them back, showed them off to people without clearances, stored them haphazardly, probably even sold some to our enemies abroad.

Trump's business is found to have engaged in fraud for decades. He owes $½billion in fines and interest.

Trump subverted the 2016 election by paying off a porn star he had sex with (behind his wife's back) so the voters wouldn't put that together with the Access Hollywood tape and turn his ugly picture to the wall.

Trump sexually assaulted a lady in a department store dressing room, then defamed her for years before she won two court judgements against him.

Trump lied over 30,000 times while in office

Trump is lying now when he tries to distance himself from Project 2025, the ultra-right-wing plan to transform the United States of America into an authoritarian Christian theocracy.

How about those optics?

@Flyingsaucesir

Physical optics I am talking about. We support Biden so we can argue and reason the support all we want but I am talking bout physical optics. You can deny but all Democrats also have been watching Biden fumbling at short and flat steps, he walks like an old and sick man, he shows signs of dementia, he calls Voldimir Zelensky as Putin, here refers to his own VP and VP Trump.

Trump is a convicted criminal and yet his support is increasing among independents. If Democrats don't change the ticket immediately, Biden will lose in November. It will not matter who was a good man., U.S. Presidential election has never been good vs bad, it has been about who looks good, smart, ad fit - comparatively.

Be assured, he will make more and bigger gaffes ahead and damage the ticket irreversibly.

@St-Sinner There is a lot of truth to what you say. People often focus on superficialities in stead of substance. And Biden does look old. But I still think that when people really consider what's at stake, they will choose democracy over fascism.

Biden is not going to drop out, and no prominent democrat is going to try to force him out. Once people realize that the idea of replacing Biden on the ticket is a non-starter, that it's totally off the table, that talk will fade away, and people who prefer democracy over fascism will rally around Biden.

Biden has alway been a gaffe machine. But he obviously has a strong grasp of the issues, serves the country before himself, and is effective in the job. So he sometimes mixes up people's names. So does Trump. And the only time trump is not lying is when he's speaking pure gibberish.

I'm not saying how this election will turn out. It's going to be a close one. But that is only because of the electoral college. Biden beat Trump in the popular vote by around 7 million votes last time. That wasn't close; it was a blowout.

@Flyingsaucesir

I a lifelong Democrat will be shocked if Biden wins in November. I have tried to live by brutal pragmatism. I left emotional thinking , dreaming, empty hoping a long time ago. I do that to my personal life too.

As for Biden's win in 2020, I am not supporting any conspiracy theory but I suspect PA Senator Bob Casey. His father was a PA governor, he has been a 3 term US senator, he knows PA demographics and the election machinery intimately. What surprised me was that he said on TV before the votes were cast on Nov 4th, 2020 and after exit interviews said Trump would carry PA that Biden would win PA, no doubt. I have not even seen a psephologist this confident about a toss-up state.

@St-Sinner Ok. Casey knows his state. And he was right in this case, before all the votes were even counted. Call it optimism. Call it luck. But don't call it evidence of anything nefarious.

Everybody and his brother had an opinion on that day, at that hour. And they all had a 50-50 chance of being right.

It makes no sense to read any more into it than that.

There certainly was not fraud on a scale that would tip the results.

That election was the most litigated, analyzed, audited, and recounted in history. And all that that scrutiny revealed was that it was a clean and fair election.

@Flyingsaucesir

I believe Biden won in 2020. But exit polls in PA said Republicans had a surge in early voting in PA, it is a conservative and toss-up state and then Casey coming on on TV the day of voting and saying Biden was going to win in PA. What? What did he know more than all exit polls, psephologists, media including liberal media and pundits did not know? Such surprises are not common. Yes, all accusations were scrutinized but do you know how many big crimes have not been solved in criminal history including big robberies and murders? Just because there was not enough evidence?

I am stating my doubt.

@St-Sinner In that election, wasn't a "red surge" in early voting expected? Because Trump had badmouthed voting by mail, and had urged his supporters to vote in person? And weren't there still mail-in ballots to be counted on Nov. 4? So it wasn't really long odds to bet that Trump's early lead would evaporate.

So a politician spoke optimistically and with apparent certainty about something he couldn't know for sure. There was a 50-50 chance he would be vindicated. And he indeed turned out to be right. And this is surprising to you?

Reach down in your pocket and pull out a quarter. Now start flipping it.

With Biden's doing badly in the debate and overall optics, Trump was getting a lead already. Did he have a reason to take this trouble? It wasn't like Biden was winning.

Nah bra, the simplest explanation is that a kid who was mercilessly bullied snapped, and with iron sights at 130 yards he missed putting one right in Trump's eye by an inch.

@St-Sinner @Flyingsaucesir @organist Everyone knows how high-powered rifles shred and shatter flesh anywhere in the vicinity. Five bullets and only one guy dies? Five bullets would have showered that stage with blood and tissue. Instead, after one wet-nap, Trump is good to go. Fake. FAKE FAKE FAKE. Trump specializes in these bogus theatrics having taught the world how to be an asshole for so many seasons. I can't believe everyone's buying this.

@racocn8 Believe me brother, I wish it was fake. But spectators were hit. One was killed. The shooter was also killed. It's not fake.

@Flyingsaucesir Dead men tell no tales. Maybe it's real and maybe it's fake. People are dead, just like from the Capitol sightseeing tours. I see consistent inconsistencies, coming from a camp that does nothing but peddle lies. You can trust them, but I am withholding judgement in favor of the most likely scenario.

@racocn8 I don't trust them as far as I can throw them! But this all looks like a garden variety assassination attempt. A bit ham-handed, unprofessional, but very nearly successful. Just one inch to the right, and the Republican Party would be looking around for a new candidate.

@racocn8 I'm not trusting Republicans or the Trump Campaign. I'm trusting the Secret Service, the FBI, the local sheriff's department,...all serve regardless of party affiliation.

His t-shirt with the ear bleeding photos and he was raising his first up is on sale asking for a campaign donation.

Did you see the yellow cloth in the background, it looks like they were mopping up some of the blood to save, like one of the relics in the catholic church. Blood of the martyr, of the antichrist.

@glennlab I wouldn't put it past them!

@glennlab I like this quote from Colorado Rep. Steven Woodrow [D]: "Last thing America needed was sympathy for the devil,..."

I guess he loves people that fake being christian better than ones that go to church every Sunday. His people still don't get it.