2024 Republican Primary

[SGR]

The mugshot of the century is finally here:

[jimmy jazz]

He's back on Twitter as well

[SGR]

I wonder which rapper will use Trump's mugshot as an album cover first?

[Lexi Darling]

He's back on Twitter as well

Makes sense. Now that Elon has turned Twitter into a right wing hellscape, Trump really has no reason to keep sticking with his own right wing hellscape.

I wonder which rapper will use Trump's mugshot as an album cover first?

Whoever ends up doing that should call that album "The Best Words". It's the perfect Trump quote for a lyrical rap album. 

[DJChameleon]

The mugshot of the century is finally here:

I'm getting this printed on a shirt that says Keep Him Locked Up. My friend wants to just have Lock Him Up on her shirt.

I put the keep part because obviously he posted bail. He needs to be kept in there.

[DJChameleon]

I don't think your analysis is much different from mine save for you liking Christie and thinking Vivek would be a good VP choice for Trump. Per your point, by virtue of Vivek being VP, I don't think that would see a substantial increase in young people voting for Trump (that's assuming they vote at all, which they usually dont). There's definitely benefits to Vivek as VP for Trump, but I see downsides well:

Pros:

• He's much, much younger than Trump
• He'd add diversity to the ticket, not only in terms of being Indian, but also as a Hindu
• As a VP, I think he'd be capable of handling all the usual VP duties, plus he'd probably excel as a pointman - e.g. we've got Kamala Harris as our 'AI Czar' right now, I don't think there's anyone who'd disagree that Vivek would do a better job at that.
  

Cons:

• He's almost too much like Trump in terms of beliefs and approach - this would make him a poor counterbalance and I doubt Vivek would help Trump capture Evangelical votes like Pence did - Trump is a well-known risk taker, independents might be less willing to vote for Trump, given his age, when his VP also comes off as both a risk taker and inexperienced
• He'd be at constant risk of 'showing Trump up', which is not desirable for a VP, especially in the case of Trump's VP - his energy level would be higher than Trump's, the way he articulates things would be better than Trump, and he might be less prone to walking in lockstep with Trump's decisions
• Similar to first con - if he was VP, Trump's backup plan (if he died in office), would be someone who's never held political office
• I don't see Vivek appealing to suburban women who may have voted from Trump in 2016, but soured on him by 2020

I agree with this for the most part but because he has little experience I think if Trumps team got a hold of him they would teach him to tone it down a bit so he doesn't eclipse Trump as much but Trump does a good job of being like center of attention. I think have two loud characters together would be dope. You don't necessarily need to have one that's more subdued to counter balance. Trump's staff will school the young buck on how to conduct himself and they would tag team the shit out of Biden/Harris. Also if Trump passes, it's no big problem that he's inexperienced in the political game. He has run a successful company and much like Trump he knows you hire/appoint people that are experts in their field that know what they are doing to make you look good. I'm sure he would do fine.

[SGR]

I'm getting this printed on a shirt that says Keep Him Locked Up. My friend wants to just have Lock Him Up on her shirt.

I put the keep part because obviously he posted bail. He needs to be kept in there.

The weird thing with this mugshot is that it's going to be used, perhaps in equal measure, by both his supporters and his detractors. I don't know many mugshots that have effectively served as a Rorschach test before this one.

[SGR]

I agree with this for the most part but because he has little experience I think if Trumps team got a hold of him they would teach him to tone it down a bit so he doesn't eclipse Trump as much but Trump does a good job of being like center of attention. I think have two loud characters together would be dope. You don't necessarily need to have one that's more subdued to counter balance. Trump's staff will school the young buck on how to conduct himself and they would tag team the shit out of Biden/Harris. Also if Trump passes, it's no big problem that he's inexperienced in the political game. He has run a successful company and much like Trump he knows you hire/appoint people that are experts in their field that know what they are doing to make you look good. I'm sure he would do fine.

That's fair. I think, as you point out, Vivek could be sold as a net positive for Trump's electoral chances. I suppose I'm just not convinced that politically, he'd be the most effective choice. I could certainly be wrong. All that being said, if Vivek was VP, there'd be no way I'd miss the Vivek/Kamala debate. That debate would be hilarious.

Just looking back on previous recent VPs though, and what my perception of their political advantages were, Vivek as a VP for Trump, I think, would be an outlier that doesn't fit into any of the same paradigms.

I've read some fluff pieces about Trump possibly getting RFK Jr. as VP, which is completely ridiculous and a complete fantasy. When's the last time POTUS/VPOTUS on a ticket crossed party lines? Lincoln/Andrew Johnson?

[Dirty]

In the late spring I started seeing Vivek pop up on social media and the algorithms were feeding him to me so I'm not surprised he is where he is now.  The only pseudo threats to Trump are Ron and Vivek but I've never believed anyone had a real shot without Trump becoming ineligible... just as a general thought, I never really understood why debate stages are packed with people with 0 shot at winning a nominee. But I digress.

I question whether Vivek is really even running for President, or if he's really just 1) Vying for VP or cabinet 2) There to swat away the anti-trump candidates or 3) Gain name recognition and fans to position himself to eventually make a real run in a post-Trump world. I'm guessing it's a mix of all, but mostly number 3 given his young age. Maybe he's the right wing Mayor Pete. Either way, I think all along Ron and Vivek are just kinda positioning themselves to be the nominee in the event Trump can't run.

I hate Ron, and pretty much all republicans at different degrees, but there is a small part of me that does feel bad for him lol. I do feel like every little weird moment he has explodes on the internet and there's an overwhelming chorus of "he has no charisma" and beat downs that follow. I find his governing and political views insulting and idiotic, but sometimes it feels a little Howard-Dean-Weird-Yell-ish. But again, he's a piece of shit so I can't bring myself to care too much.

I actually like hearing Christie at the debates. I know he has zero shot, and the bar is incredibly low, but it's nice to hear a Republican not sucking Trumps nuts once in awhile. The ChatGPT line was definitely pre-meditated tho and imo it didn't hit as hard as everyone pretended.

[jadis]

Yet to see a really good Trump mugshot meme tbh

[DJChameleon]

That's fair. I think, as you pok³33All that being said, if Vivek was VP, there'd be no way I'd miss the Vivek/Kamala debate. That debate would be hilarious.

Yes! Vivek will roll all over Kamala well it might be equal footing. I forgot she's a lawyer or was a judge whatever. I don't remember how great her debate skills are but it would be an awesome debate to watch though.

[Nimbly9]

I think a Vivek / Tim Scott ticket might be kinda interesting in regards to the general election.  Two different kinds of energy, but I think it would play well.  Plus they'd be one of the most "diverse" tickets in the history of the country, and the first without an old white person in the VP or POTUS seat, so the liberal media would have to go through some pretty hilarious mental gymnastics if they try some of their usual tactics.

[SGR]

I think a Vivek / Tim Scott ticket might be kinda interesting in regards to the general election.  Two different kinds of energy, but I think it would play well.  Plus they'd be one of the most "diverse" tickets in the history of the country, and the first without an old white person in the VP or POTUS seat, so the liberal media would have to go through some pretty hilarious mental gymnastics if they try some of their usual tactics.

I mean, there's plenty of smear tactics - don't think they'd have a lot of trouble. e.g.

Vivek is a Trump wannabe (mini-Trump), he has a Napoleon complex, he's a homophobe/transphobe, plus they could still label him as racist against Blacks or Hispanics - and I'm sure that if Tim Scott was on the ticket, certain members of the media, directly or subtly, would imply he's an Uncle Tom.

A Vivek/Scott ticket is certainly an interesting prospect though.

[Jwb]

I watched like the first hour and 20 minutes of the debate.  I hate that you have to watch it on fox news.  I like to play shit like that in the background on youtube while i do shit and just listen to the audio. Shit is annoying and almost makes me inclined to tune out out of pure spite for the inconvenience.

But yeah, Vivek had the best night since he did a lot to draw attention to himself in the first 30 minutes or so.  And this is purely conjecture on my part but I'm guessing more people are going to see the beginning of the debate than the entire thing anyway.  I wonder what the ratio is of people who tap out early.

I think he held his own and showed the kind of firebrand energy that does work on republican voters. Some of the same energy that Trump taps into.  But that being said; SGR is right that he's a bit too much like Trump. But Trump also has (or at least had) a sort of authentic swagger that Vivek doesn't have.  Like he doesn't come across as authentic to me.  He looks like a sales guy from Dell who put on a good suit and tried to do his best Trump impression. And his smile looks almost sinister lol.

The chatgpt line by Christie was true even though it fell flat.  It was a shit delivery on his part and he clearly had no confidence in it, but the basic fact that Vivek opened his performance with biting an Obama line in a very canned way that was also cringe as fuck. But you can't expect people to have that kind of memory.  Vivek got it and fired back with "give me a hug then." Which was a reference to Christie hugging Obama.  Which was actually a quick comeback on his part, although it also got drowned out in the noise of the crowd and the back and forth, so the timing of that fell flat as well. 

I thought Haley made him look pretty bad during the foreign policy exchange and Pence got him with the on the job training line, but at the same time why the fuck are we watching a debate where the front runner isn't there, nobody is seriously willing to attack him other than Christie trying a half assed line of attacks that failed miserably.  Haley was able to navigate pushing back against Trump better than Christie did, but they all would still support him even if he is convicted of any the indictments, so yeah.  Very feeble pushback at that.

And nobody even bothered to go after DeSantis. It was all about the 3rd place guy vivek. To me, the debate really made the republican party look weak and empty absent Trump.

[Jwb]

I don't think your analysis is much different from mine save for you liking Christie and thinking Vivek would be a good VP choice for Trump. Per your point, by virtue of Vivek being VP, I don't think that would see a substantial increase in young people voting for Trump (that's assuming they vote at all, which they usually dont). There's definitely benefits to Vivek as VP for Trump, but I see downsides well:

Pros:

• He's much, much younger than Trump
• He'd add diversity to the ticket, not only in terms of being Indian, but also as a Hindu
• As a VP, I think he'd be capable of handling all the usual VP duties, plus he'd probably excel as a pointman - e.g. we've got Kamala Harris as our 'AI Czar' right now, I don't think there's anyone who'd disagree that Vivek would do a better job at that.
  

Cons:

• He's almost too much like Trump in terms of beliefs and approach - this would make him a poor counterbalance and I doubt Vivek would help Trump capture Evangelical votes like Pence did - Trump is a well-known risk taker, independents might be less willing to vote for Trump, given his age, when his VP also comes off as both a risk taker and inexperienced
• He'd be at constant risk of 'showing Trump up', which is not desirable for a VP, especially in the case of Trump's VP - his energy level would be higher than Trump's, the way he articulates things would be better than Trump, and he might be less prone to walking in lockstep with Trump's decisions
• Similar to first con - if he was VP, Trump's backup plan (if he died in office), would be someone who's never held political office
• I don't see Vivek appealing to suburban women who may have voted from Trump in 2016, but soured on him by 2020

those are all the cons you see for being Trump's vp? Maybe we should add having his followers turn on you and chanting for your death once the bridge goes up in flames.