Its a crazy world out there....

[JimmyinSD]

While I think that is certainly part of it, and at this point you probably have to be some form of sociopath or narcissist to want to be president given all the shit you’re dragging yourself and your family through, there’s so much more going on that even if an altruistic person wanted to be president, they probably wouldn’t be able to do so, but basically all the systems have been corrupted and you’re going to.
 
I’m not really well versed on the issue, and they might be wrong, but these are the roadblocks I see:

• The voters are really latched onto team red and team blue, such that any other party or independent candidates are probably out of the running before starting.  I think this is in the process of changing given how hard they are shitting the bed, but any president is probably going to be hand selected by the DNC or RNC.  If you aren’t going to play ball with the DNC or RNC, you probably aren’t going to be allowed to get close to the ballot.
  
• In order to get legitimacy, you need to get on the debates.  You can clearly see that the debates were rigged such that 3rd party candidates don’t really get to participate.  By any persons standards, RFK Jr is popular enough that at least he should have been on the stage.  Someone is going to ensure that only candidates that are going to play ball get on the debates.
  
• In order to get legitimacy, you need to have enough TV presence, so if you’re not going to play ball, the TV stations will either ignore you or say bad things about you.
  
• Lawsuits.  The DNC has been in the news multiple times in the last couple years for the lawsuits they file against 3rd party candidates to try and keep them off the ballot.  If you’re going to run against the two main parties, you’re likely going to have to both fund and fight a lawsuit at the same time against one of the more heavily funded opponents
  
• Search engines.  We all remember when Tulsi Gabbert shut down Kamala Harris in the democratic debates last time around, but then when people went to google her, oops google somehow had her campaign unlisted during the critical time that people were searching for her.  That’s weird right?
  
• Social Media Algorithms.  Similar to TV, you need to be able to have adequate exposure to have a reasonable chance at winning a primary or an election.  Just imagine how much an impact reducing your exposure to voters by 10% do to your campaign, and similarly imagine how much free exposure a social media company can give a candidate.  Trump and Biden are constantly in the algorithms.  How much do the other candidates make it into your algorithm?  I got some RFK stuff, but none of the other candidates made it to my feed, even after I explicitly searched for Marianne Williamson and watched some videos on her.
  
• Bot farms and Astroturfing.  Intelligence agencies and well funded organizations can fund massive astroturfing campaigns that increase exposure of their preferred candidates or slander their primary opponents.  If a candidate gets a little too much exposure, you can have the bot farm kick in and a ton of one line comments start to show up expressing doubt in that candidate.
  
• Money.  You need massive amounts of funding to compete, so you need to play ball with the big corporate donors and you need to have the DNC or RNC on your side or they’ll give their money to your competitors.
  
• Getting Primaried.  If you step out of line with the party, the party will fund a competitor and back them with money to knock you out of the primaries.
  

 
On a more conspiratorial side, I think the various parties above have been all captured, and I think the only candidates that will get DNC or RNC backing for president are the ones who are made.  They’re the ones who’ve gone to Epstein’s Island, did something humiliating on camera, and once they’re in the club, they can’t get out, but they’re also going to be protected by the club.

I dont know that Trump is in that club, yes he went to the island, but i dont think he is the puppet that they can control, which is why neither sides hierarchy really wants him in there.

[1VikesFan]

How did it get to the point where these two, were all the US had to offer their citizens to choose from? Crazy world indeed!

Agree with this. My continuous question has been, why the hell can't a country as populated as US come up with any viable candidates under 80? These two should both just walk away, which unfortunately will not happen.

[medaille]

I dont know that Trump is in that club,  yes he went to the island,  but i dont think he is the puppet that they can control,  which is why neither sides hierarchy really wants him in there.

I have trouble understanding how Trump fits into things.  I see two possibilities.  1)  Trump is hated by the establishment and they are doing their all to get rid of him.  2)  Trump is part of the establishment and all the shenanigans for and against him are an act to lock us into voting red or blue.  I’m leaning towards option 2.  Like for all the talk about draining the swamp, etc.  There hasn’t really been any draining of the swamp.  Nothing he has done has really inhibited any of the establishment as far as I can tell.  He didn’t free Assange.  We didn’t see anyone on the Epstein client list get prosecuted.  Obviously the Obama/Biden regimes were much more harmful to the country/world than the Trump regime, despite all the wailing and gnashing of teeth, but it feels very much illusionary, where everyone screams a lot, but in the end nothing that actually mattered was accomplished.  You watch the show, and think “Oh, they really got them this time” and then you wait a little bit and in the end nothing actually ended up happening.

[JimmyinSD]

I have trouble understanding how Trump fits into things.  I see two possibilities.  1)  Trump is hated by the establishment and they are doing their all to get rid of him.  2)  Trump is part of the establishment and all the shenanigans for and against him are an act to lock us into voting red or blue.  I’m leaning towards option 2.  Like for all the talk about draining the swamp, etc.  There hasn’t really been any draining of the swamp.  Nothing he has done has really inhibited any of the establishment as far as I can tell.  He didn’t free Assange.  We didn’t see anyone on the Epstein client list get prosecuted.  Obviously the Obama/Biden regimes were much more harmful to the country/world than the Trump regime, despite all the wailing and gnashing of teeth, but it feels very much illusionary, where everyone screams a lot, but in the end nothing that actually mattered was accomplished.  You watch the show, and think “Oh, they really got them this time” and then you wait a little bit and in the end nothing actually ended up happening.

agree on Assange, he had his chance there, but Epstein wasnt killed until Aug of 2019, and Trump was out a little over a year later and really was probably focused on campaigning that year, so we really have no idea what was in the works or not on that front. I do contend that no president has ever had less help from congress than Trump, his own party couldnt unite behind him to get shit done. Republicans had a sound majority in the house his first 2 years and a couple votes in the Senate to spare, but I agree, didnt deliver on some things that he could have during that time.... lost the house during the 2nd half of his first term so that killed anything he may have wanted to accomplish.

I am still not a big Trumper like some like to assume I am, but I dont think he is the devil that some make him out to be, I think he is genuinely working to improve things for most Americans, and I think he has definitively figured out a way that will benefit him greatly as well, but I dont see him as a threat to our American way of life which is what I see from an increasing number on the far left, certainly not the majority of the Dems, but the political spectrum seems to be drifting further that way so pretty soon most moderate left will be finding themselves more inline with conservatives than the libs IMO. Its like people say, if JFK were alive today he would have been a Republican.

[badgervike]

Keith Olbermann says it's all made up...so there's that.

https://x.com/KeithOlbermann/status/1815193554588717395

1 in 3 Democrats say the assassination was staged.

Guess the Right doesn't have the corner on conspiracy theories

[Zanary]

Keith Olbermann dresses like a '70s TV test pattern, with a wit somehow less engaging.

I'm going to watch all the investigation data pretty closely, because I've seen several conspiracy theories from all sides, now, and I certainly have my own questions; I just don't pretend to know the answers.

Meanwhile, Trumplestilskin absolutely torpedoed any "unity" BS he was trying to sell in his rambling, babbling, blather Thursday night...which was profoundly stupid, he had a country possibly ready to accept a kinder version of him. He's still the narcissistic s***stain he's been, and I can't fathom his fans.

On the other side, "Brandon" stepped (fell?) down, giving the endorsement to his rambling political gold digger, Kamala "by the hour" Harris. Given that she's gotten the endorsement of a vacuous old power monger and a "squad" full of vicious antisemites...

...seriously, why does anyone still support the duopoly??!!?