Let's not forget about Obama completely humiliating Trump during the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner. In the alternative universe where Obama went easier on Trump, I'm not convinced that Trump would have done more than flirt with running for office. After that dinner, I'm convinced that politics became personal for Trump, and not just another grift to run.
What do you mean may win? We literally just left them to their own devises. Gave a terrorist organization a whole country back in which to rule as they see fit. Americans now hate each other to the point that they would literally rather die than do something the other side says.
"The combination of two wars and a looming economic meltdown led to the election of Barack Obama. I have serious doubts that Obama would have been elected without the financial crisis, but in the midst of the panic, he couldn’t lose. The junior senator from Illinois, who had not even served a full term in the Senate and had been a state senator only four years earlier, was charismatic and projected calm assurance to a nation that was ready for “change.” Obama and the Democrats were swept into office in a wave."
I think that without the financial meltdown in 2008, the race would've been close, but that McCain would've had a decent chance to win. McCain went into this race with two headwinds, Bush 43's unpopularity, and Obama's charisma and personality. Even with those two strikes, the late Arizona Senator had some advantages, such as his superior command of knowledge on policy, and his crossover appeal to independents and moderates. The financial collapse turned out to be the 3rd strike that sealed McCain's defeat. A lot of people on the right blame McCain for losing to Obama. But with these 3 strikes, no GOP candidate was going to beat Obama. None of any other hypothetical Republican presidential candidate was going to overcome the perfect storm that led to the GOP getting blown out in 2008.
"Personally, I don’t believe that Donald Trump could ever have been elected without September 11, Barack Obama, and Ted Cruz. Even with all these factors working for him, he still lost the popular vote and only won through an Electoral College fluke."
Agreed. Also the Democrats nominating one of the most incompetent presidential candidates ever in Hillary Clinton did help put Trump into the White House.
"The next step in the chain is more tenuous, but without Donald Trump as president, I don’t believe that Joe Biden, a two-time loser in presidential primaries, would have been elected at age 78. It took a competitor as bad as Donald Trump in the midst of a global pandemic to put Biden in the White House. Similarly, it took Barack Obama to give us Donald Trump and it took two wars and the Great Recession to give us Obama."
I think so too. Given that only a little more than 40000 votes meant the difference between a Biden win and Trump win, I believe that any other non-Trump, run of the mill GOP candidate would've likely defeated Biden.
"Obama wasn’t a great president. As a very inexperienced politician, he sounded good but lacked the core competencies necessary to lead the federal government. Since he didn’t need Republican votes due to the Democratic supermajority, Obama alienated the GOP and locked them out, pushing through his agenda on a partisan basis. This worked at first, but after Republicans won back the House in 2010, the well was poisoned for cooperation.
Still, Obama was able to eke out a re-election victory in 2012. It wasn’t long after that when Republicans went insane."
IMHO, I believe that had Mitt won that year, Donald Trump would've never been nominated by the GOP as a presidential candidate, and would've never been elected President. How I wish that Mitt Romney would've won in 2012.....(sigh). He would've made a good President, and hindsight being 20/20, we wouldn't have had the dumpster fire of a Presidency that we had to endure from 2017-2021.
Let's not forget about Obama completely humiliating Trump during the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner. In the alternative universe where Obama went easier on Trump, I'm not convinced that Trump would have done more than flirt with running for office. After that dinner, I'm convinced that politics became personal for Trump, and not just another grift to run.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHckZCxdRkA
What do you mean may win? We literally just left them to their own devises. Gave a terrorist organization a whole country back in which to rule as they see fit. Americans now hate each other to the point that they would literally rather die than do something the other side says.
The terrorists have already won.
"The combination of two wars and a looming economic meltdown led to the election of Barack Obama. I have serious doubts that Obama would have been elected without the financial crisis, but in the midst of the panic, he couldn’t lose. The junior senator from Illinois, who had not even served a full term in the Senate and had been a state senator only four years earlier, was charismatic and projected calm assurance to a nation that was ready for “change.” Obama and the Democrats were swept into office in a wave."
I think that without the financial meltdown in 2008, the race would've been close, but that McCain would've had a decent chance to win. McCain went into this race with two headwinds, Bush 43's unpopularity, and Obama's charisma and personality. Even with those two strikes, the late Arizona Senator had some advantages, such as his superior command of knowledge on policy, and his crossover appeal to independents and moderates. The financial collapse turned out to be the 3rd strike that sealed McCain's defeat. A lot of people on the right blame McCain for losing to Obama. But with these 3 strikes, no GOP candidate was going to beat Obama. None of any other hypothetical Republican presidential candidate was going to overcome the perfect storm that led to the GOP getting blown out in 2008.
"Personally, I don’t believe that Donald Trump could ever have been elected without September 11, Barack Obama, and Ted Cruz. Even with all these factors working for him, he still lost the popular vote and only won through an Electoral College fluke."
Agreed. Also the Democrats nominating one of the most incompetent presidential candidates ever in Hillary Clinton did help put Trump into the White House.
"The next step in the chain is more tenuous, but without Donald Trump as president, I don’t believe that Joe Biden, a two-time loser in presidential primaries, would have been elected at age 78. It took a competitor as bad as Donald Trump in the midst of a global pandemic to put Biden in the White House. Similarly, it took Barack Obama to give us Donald Trump and it took two wars and the Great Recession to give us Obama."
I think so too. Given that only a little more than 40000 votes meant the difference between a Biden win and Trump win, I believe that any other non-Trump, run of the mill GOP candidate would've likely defeated Biden.
"Obama wasn’t a great president. As a very inexperienced politician, he sounded good but lacked the core competencies necessary to lead the federal government. Since he didn’t need Republican votes due to the Democratic supermajority, Obama alienated the GOP and locked them out, pushing through his agenda on a partisan basis. This worked at first, but after Republicans won back the House in 2010, the well was poisoned for cooperation.
Still, Obama was able to eke out a re-election victory in 2012. It wasn’t long after that when Republicans went insane."
IMHO, I believe that had Mitt won that year, Donald Trump would've never been nominated by the GOP as a presidential candidate, and would've never been elected President. How I wish that Mitt Romney would've won in 2012.....(sigh). He would've made a good President, and hindsight being 20/20, we wouldn't have had the dumpster fire of a Presidency that we had to endure from 2017-2021.