Donald Trump's threat to NATO allies has moved attention away from questions about President Biden's age

ThePowerOfGeek , 4 months ago

His campaign advisors must be so frustrated.

Advisors: “Okay Mr Trump, the media is fixated on Biden’s age. If you just hang tight and don’t make any public statements we can ride this for weeks and watch it erode his support base.”

Trump three days later: “I’m going to withdraw from NATO! And I’ve told Putin he’ll be able to take whatever from Eastern Europe he wants!”

Advisors: “For fuck’s sake!!!”

empireOfLove2 , 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago)

Trump’s so narcissistic he can’t stand the media talking about ANYONE else. So he has to spin up more crap just to make sure he’s front and center, like a three year old realizing his parents aren’t hyper focused on him.

DarkGamer , 4 months ago

Both candidates are elderly, so what? If they drop dead that's what Vice Presidents are for.

Theharpyeagle , 4 months ago

The issue with elderly politicians is that they won’t be around to suffer the consequences of their policies. Why give a shit about climate change when the shit won’t really hit the fan in your lifetime? They’re also wildly out of touch with issues plaguing young Americans.

Nudding , 4 months ago

You think a 90 year old politician has your best interest at heart lol?

Fixbeat , 4 months ago

I wish we would move past the age question. It’s already a done deal. Neither party is going to switch unless forced to. There are more important things to focus on.

RobotToaster , 4 months ago

unless forced to.

Given their age that’s a very real possibility.

FiskFisk33 , 4 months ago

president is statistically the job in the US with the highest rate of mortality.

kescusay , 4 months ago

Given other differences between them - one’s a lard-ass who eats at McDonald’s all the time and the other’s a fitness nut who bikes all the time - the smart money’s on the orange shit-gibbon kicking it first.

teamevil , 4 months ago

One can only hope but in this timeline are you willing to bet on it‽

RobotToaster , 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago)

The way trump can get attention by saying the most bland shit like “if you don’t pay your dues you shouldn’t get the membership benefits” is almost impressive tbh.

(Don’t get me wrong, I hate his politics, but I find it hard not to envy his ability at demagogy.)

Hylactor , 4 months ago

The issue is that conceptually if a nato nation is attacked, this is destabilizing and a threat to all. This is the concept of civilization. NATO isn’t an annual roadside assistance subscription, it’s an alliance.

cali_ash , 4 months ago

I don’t see how fundamentally misunderstanding how the backbone of western security works can be described as “bland”.

Soulg , 4 months ago

“You gotta pay your bills” says man famous for not paying his bills

dhtseany , 4 months ago

I mean honestly no it hasn’t, we’re watching 2 geriatrics complete for control of our country because they both refuse to let go of power to allow the younger generations take charge. Truly the last gift of the baby boomers.

Bael422 , 4 months ago

Sadly they aren’t even boomers. They are the silent generation before them.

XeroxCool , 4 months ago

1942 and 1946. So yeah, the Biden is pretty clearly in the silent generation and has classic old person traits, but the “younger” one is on the generational border while exhibiting classic boomer traits on top of elder traits. A significant divide was whether or not one would remember life before the Cold War, or even during WWII. As always the divides are mostly fuzzy, as the first millennial has more in common with the last gen x than the last millennial.

L0rdMathias , 4 months ago

Fuzzy divides suck, let’s narrow it down! I think it’s more accurate to call them both members of the Great Loser generation. The only group of Americans that failed at basically everything they had and did. They ruined the post WW2 economy, they failed to prevent nuclear proliferation and often encouraged it, they lost every single war they engaged in or started, including the dumb shit like war on drugs, they caused more market crashes than any group of Americans, education has floundered and been completed bastardized by their abhorrent policies, etc.

morphballganon , 4 months ago

In Biden’s case, I’m glad he’s staying in the running, as he probably has better chances against Turnip Dump than any other individual.

saltesc , 4 months ago

Shouldn’t they both be having their age questioned? Like last time, except now they’re older…

radix , 4 months ago

Yes, but it’s easier for the NYT to “both sides” the situation by making a false equivalency between “being slightly older” for Biden, and Trump’s “91 criminal counts and an actual rapist.”

alilbee , 4 months ago

I read NYT pretty consistently and I don’t think they’ve been “both sides”-ing this at all. I think they’re just reporting on the political conversation, which was squarely focused on Biden’s age for a few days. I don’t like it either, but a good chunk of the populace does view those as equivalent, or even lopsided in Trump’s favor, and the media has a duty to report that.

homesweethomeMrL , 4 months ago

Then you’re missing the forest for the trees.

NYT helped get trump elected, helped him maintain power, and will do it all again. All through very carefully crafted spin that never outright says that, but definitely advances the thought. Intentionally.

Example: “Trump deflects away from questions about Joe Biden‘s age” (result: think about Biden’s age)

“Don’t think of an elephant” (result: think of an elephant)

“Her emails” - more articles about that than anything disqualifying Trump ran in NYT in 2016. Which was more important? To NYT it was not electing Hillary.

Here, they could have written a straight article about trumps bizarre, NATO comments. But they didn’t.

radix , 4 months ago

One could argue they have a greater duty to report the truth, regardless of what people are talking about.

By ceding the news pages to talking about whatever is popular, they open the door to unscrupulous media outlets driving that political conversation unchecked. If Fox News repeats the same non-story every hour of every day, and more respectable media only respond by talking about how people are viewing that non-story, they’ve lost the plot.

Neato , 4 months ago

What would be the point? Sure, if there were primary challengers with a shot. But one is a demagogue who has taken control of the entire party and the other is a Presidential incumbent.

Ask all your questions but neither is not going to be nominated. And it’s taking attention away from shit they and Congress are actually doing.

niktemadur , 4 months ago

Regardless how young or old the figurehead in the Oval Office, there is still a cabinet and a large apparatus of employees appointed by the POTUS, and I’d much rather have Biden’s cabinet of government nerds than the orange parasite’s cabinet of grifters, zealots and putin cock holsters.