I'm talking about some of the more middle-of-the-ballot voters whom might have pulled the lever for Trump simply because they didn't like Hillary or whose support for Trump is/was softer

after 9/11. They started coming down in 2004. But Kerry never opened up a huge lead that Bush had to crawl his way back from.

After the election Bush's poll numbers began to rapidly decline, starting with the Terry Shiavo situation.

I guess, what I meant is, that there were a lot of things that (should have) imperiled Bush's (re-)(s)election. 9/11 and the "War on Terror" always gave Bush an edge that would have been hard for any candidate to overcome (and Kerry obviously wasn't able to).

Also, if the economy started doing extremely well, Trump would take credit for it, and many people would believe him.

That said, I still think he's toast in 2020.

especially depending on whether or not it appeared that Trump failed to prevent it? Or would it depend on what Trump did afterwards? Would everybody just simply rally around Trump just because he is *choke* POTUS?

Since he's such a xenophobe, he'd have no trouble rallying people to his side. Democrats would not attack a sitting president during times of trouble, so he'd be able to use his bully pulpit to maximum advantage. It's the one scenario that would almost certainly give him another four years.

When Democrats hate other liberals and focus on that anger rather than the agenda for peace and progress that is uniquely liberal and Democratic, Democrats lose.

No matter what other parties or individuals who are liberal are doing, the Democratic Party candidates and members have to focus on bringing everyone who is liberal together and every voter who is liberal to the polls to vote for good, Democratic Party candidates.

All the sniping has to end. The differences between liberals and progressives are slight compared to the vast and very troubling differences between Trump followers and Democrats.

Unite or fail.

In that regard, the WORST thing that could happen is for Bernie to run for POTUS again in 2020. That would just rend the party apart again. We need a unifying candidate and, hopefully, rank and file Democrats and Greens recognize that one term of Trump has been awful so far and another 4 years after the next 2 years would simply be unconscionable and that it's imperative to unite behind a good (note that I did not say perfect0 Democratic candidate.

as well as other more liberal members of the liberal community.

That is the only way to win. Bring in everyone who is liberal and forget about the trivial divisions in the Party and who did what in the past.

If we cannot forget the divisions of the past, we will not build a solid base for winning or and this is more important, for governing after winning so that we win repeatedly in the future.

The divisions in the liberal community are not that important and can be resolved through negotiation and working together. The alternative to negotiating and working together within our Party and movement is Trump.

That is the choice: either work together or let Trump win in 2020.

The Democratic Party is far more divided than many of us want to recognize much less admit.

Let whoever wants to run in the primaries in 2020 run. It's the only way or time that we can have a discussion and a vote on policy direction in the Democratic Party. I doubt that Bernie will run in 2020, but anyone who is liberal should be able to run in the Democratic Party primary.

As Rove and Connell rigged the Ohio elections for president with the movement of the vote count from Ohio to Chattanooga RepubliCON servers and back again. Then low and behold they had W winning instead of Kerry. A red shift no one ever predicted. It's a magical mystery.

Funny how Connell died in an airplane accident after leaving a warning to his wife that if he dies, blame Rove.

Putin has nothing on Rove.

I imagine it's impossible to predict human nature on this.

fox/trump tv, sinclair and of course, vote switching.

Bush was. Would the public do the same with Trump? Especially since Trump would probably make George W. Bush look stable confident and in command immediately following a terrorist attack by comparison.

Russia? has exactly what they want, they'll do what they can to keep it this way. propaganda channels still wide open.
News media? Trump's base thinks it's Fox or fake, plus the rise of Sinclair, so Republican "moderates" have more than enough cover to openly support Orange Anusface.
Democrats? we'll see, lots of young energy and vibrant candidates winning special elections, but 2020 is a ways off, unclear if it can be sustained at a high level until then.
Voter suppression? as far as i can tell, nothing significant has been done to improve ballot access and voting system integrity since 2016.


Trump is doing exactly what he needs to do to get re-elected. Apparently policy doesn't matter to American voters, only the perception of policy matters, and Trump handles perception well by driving the conversation wherever he wants it to go, whether he's right or wrong. example: the recent bullshit about the border wall -- he points to some scheduled border fence repair that was planned before he was a candidate and takes credit for it and calls it part of his beautiful wall. this is high-purity BS of course, and what's left of the news media does point it out as such, but the damage is done because the conversation is now focused on Trump's idiot wall actually getting built.

we make the same mistake over and over, thinking Trump's blatant lies, lack of decency, willful ignorance and obvious incompetence will sink him, when they simply make him the perfect foil for the established order -- such as it is. after a few years of normalization through sitcoms and Sen. Sanders being cast as agreeing with him on economic policies (generally false, but areas of agreement are what gets covered), Trump will roll -- probably win popular vote this time too.

he has 2 huge weaknesses right now: the Mueller investigation and the looming trade war with China. both of these could hurt his re-election chances badly.

at this point, i see Pence as a non-issue. should he ascend to the presidency before 2020, his stifling flatness will make him an easy target. Pence's primary harm will be his ability to effectively staff the judiciary with right wing activist nutcases during his brief time in office.

I'm kidding, sort of. If we let the republicans get away with the blatant sexism they engaged in last cycle, that could be enough. Rethugs tapping into bigotry coupled with a robust economy could spell trouble for us.

If Pence is the candidate, they'll lose. Pence has zero charisma & is just creepy looking. This all assumes an electoral process that is fair & not hacked.

If any worthy opponent appears, jail him. Or worse.

After all, “It’s not who votes, but who counts the votes”.
I fear this.