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LAST UPDATE | 28 Jun 2024
IT WAS A terrible, embarrassing night for America. This was my contemporaneous reaction in the wee hours as I watched the much anticipated encounter of Joe Biden and Donald Trump. A little bit of sleep and some deeper reflection only exacerbated my disappointment and depression.
Trump was Trump, though his worst excesses were curbed by the muting of microphones and he definitely benefitted as a result. Nonetheless, he was full of his usual bombast and lied repeatedly and shamelessly; he greatly exaggerated both the magnitude of his own accomplishments while in the White House and the extent of his opponent’s failings. CNN fact-checkers found that the ex-star of The Apprentice uttered approximately 30 falsehoods in 90 minutes.
This was not unexpected. We know who Donald Trump is and we know what he does. He has an extraordinary appeal that many of us endeavour in vain to comprehend, yet it remains. He has a grip on the unwavering loyalties of a broad swathe of the electorate. They might deny it, but politicians of all ideological persuasions everywhere would give anything for the hold he has on their affection.
Some of his enemies, misguided by a palpable hatred that Trump seems to uniquely inspire, claim that Republicans have been led astray politically by him. They ignore the reality that his message and persona have found considerably more favour with Americans than the traditional right-wing dogma and dignified bearing on offer from defeated aspirants like John McCain and Mitt Romney.
Donald Trump is the number one reason why the white working class, Latinos, Asian Americans and Black men are flocking in unprecedented numbers to the GOP. What’s more, his objectively flawed moral compass and the clouds of legal trouble swirling around him have had no discernible negative impact on his standing in the polls. Trump and Trumpism have been a boon to what had been a conservative movement adrift.
In the wake of last night’s debacle in Atlanta, he is the odds on favourite to be the 47th President of the United States. Further, the Republicans are in good position to regain control of the US Senate and increase their majority in the US House of Representatives.
As for Joe Biden, it is not pleasant to kick a man when he is down – especially when he is a good person who has come through a massive amount of adversity and served his country honourably for half a century. That does not change the truth: he absolutely should not be seeking a second term.
Let’s imagine for a moment that he had not. His status in the history books would be elevated. He would have been remembered as a senior statesman who was the ideal, perhaps the only, man for the vitally important job of ending the tumult and damage flowing from the Trump presidency. Then, he admirably passed the torch to the next generation.
Instead, he announced his intention to go again when it was apparent to all that he was not up to what is an undeniably mammoth task. This time, there would be no pandemic, which facilitated a relatively low profile, low octane campaign in 2020. There would be no avoiding the glare of the spotlight. And in this crucial faceoff, President Biden was more honest than his foe. But he was faltering; he lost his train of thought on multiple occasions; and his facial expression was often vacant. It was obviously a huge struggle for him from start to finish.
That we are where we are is a damning indictment of the political system in the US and, specifically, the inner workings of the two big parties. Joe Biden has been in the arena forever and has been running for president for decades. A combination of inside baseball, the almighty dollar and the inherent power of incumbency allowed him and his allies to close off the pathways of all serious putative challengers. There is plenty of finger pointing and panic today.
Two questions arise now. Is it too late to replace him? Can he be talked into abandoning his re-election bid? On the latter, my suspicion is that only his wife, family and very dear friends could convince him. And that is no sure thing.
Technically, if the 81-year-old were persuaded, he could be supplanted. This would entail his effectively surrendering the delegates whose support is pledged to him by virtue of his winning Democratic primaries and caucuses and thereby permitting these women and men to cast ballots for another candidate at the Democratic National Convention in August.
Who might they choose? Governors Gavin Newsom of California and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan would be formidable replacements. This is all still very much in the realm of the hypothetical, however. There is no sign that the incumbent is amenable to stepping aside. This course of action would also precipitate wide-ranging uncertainty and upheaval that would bolster Trump.
Since it became apparent that a Biden-Trump rematch was nearly bound to happen, the entirely legitimate riposte – are these two actually the best that your country can come up with? — has been put to me over and over again.
It sprang to mind during their heated argument as to who the better golfer is, a tortured dispute typically had in the clubhouse by old pals who’ve been drinking pints for the day following a morning round. This one transpired in the midst of a debate between the two people who want to lead the free world in front of an audience of hundreds of millions.
For fuck’s sake.
I despair. God bless America, indeed.
Larry Donnelly is a Boston lawyer, a Law Lecturer at the University of Galway and a political columnist with TheJournal.ie.
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I prefer the study that shows a glass of wine a day is good for the heart.
@Eoin O’C: That is for all alcohol, it’s not just wine that is good for the heart. However, alcohol breaks down to Acetaldehyde, which is carcinogenic (and is implicated in hangovers). So the benefits of alcohol for the heart health have to be balanced by a slightly increase cancer risk.
There was a study of alcohol consumption and heart health by Ronksley in 2011, they looked at a total of 84 studies and statistically analysed these to summarise the overall results.
It appears that moderate drinking, 1 to 2 drinks per day (1 to 2 units – https://i.imgur.com/qVBuzmk.jpg), decreases cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease by about 25%, but it did little to reduce strokes, except below 1 drink per day. The overall effect was a 13% decreased risk of mortality (dying).
However, there’s good evidence that tree nuts (walnuts, pecans, cashew etc.) are very good for hearth health and also reduce strokes, and are perhaps even better than alcohol, and without the down side of an increase cancer risk.
Refs.:
Ronksley, et al., 2011. Association of alcohol consumption with selected cardiovascular disease outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Bmj, 342, p.d671.
Luo, et al., 2014. Nut consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 100(1), pp.256-269.
@David Jordan: so what youre saying is if i have pints And some nuts youre going to live forever!
Youve made my day, by that reckoning ive been living healthy for years!
@Leo Massey: the paddy lost school of medicine
@Leo Massey: the paddy lost school of medicine
@David Jordan: you’re taking this thing very seriously. Did you type all that in on your phone?
@David Jordan: I wonder are there any studies on the effects of Sodium Metabisulphite E223 in wine?
Sulphite allergy / intolerance appears to be a growing problem but sulphur dioxide / sulphites appear to be the only allergens that EU allow to be hidden from labelling if below 10mg/kg.
Aware of an immune illness that may be driving sulphite allergies and that may have a high prevalence.
So is cider & wine worse than beer because of added sulphites for “freshness”?
@Chemical Brothers: Madan (2007) publish a paper about this:
They found 4% of people (71 out of 1751) were probably allergic to some degree to sodium metabisulfite (SMB), of these 46.5% had clinically relevant allergy to SMB (33 cases or 1.9% overall). Now these were people who attended an allergy clinic, not the general population. It is therefore likely that allergy to SMB is rarer than this.
They also sought to find the cause:
None developed an allergy due to exposure to SMB in wine, most of the allergies were caused by skin contact e.g. Trimovate® cream (which dies not contain any SMB), the rest due to occupation exposure to the pure chemical e.g. bakers.
“Most of the positive reactions in the relevant group were attributed to the use of Trimovate® cream (63%). 5 patients (13%) with positive reactions in the unexplained relevance group were potentially exposed to SMB in local anaesthetic solutions while at work. 3 patients in the unexplained relevance group (7.8%) and 4 (12.1%) in the relevant group had potential for occupational exposure to SMB as bakers or caterers. Overall, occupational exposure was considered as a possible source of sensitization in 10 (26.3%) patients in the unexplained relevance group.”
Ref.:
Madan, V., Walker, S.L. and Beck, M.H., 2007. Sodium metabisulfite allergy is common but is it relevant?. Contact Dermatitis, 57(3), pp.173-176. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1600-0536.2007.01188.x
@Leo Massey: Pea nuts aren’t nuts they’re peas, isn’t that nuts. That’s why I said tree nuts. There’s no proven health benefits from pea nuts.
@David Jordan: Hats off you are great at finding the scientific papers.
I have a suspicion that an immune response to sulphur dioxide & sulphites may be much more prevalent but because sulphites can be legally hidden on food & drink labelling that people don’t realise they are actually consuming and possibly reacting to sulphites.
Anything made from Glucose Syrup / Fructose Syrup / High Fructose Corn Syrup / Cornflour / Maltodextrin / Dextrose / Baking Powder / Gelatine / Maize Starch* contains sulphites as part of the initial manufacturing process from corn. But any products made using above which is the vast majority of confectionary products need contain no sulphite labelling.
*Maize Starch appears to be used as a bulking agent in the majority of medical tablets and again because levels are below 10mg/kg no labelling required.
Some whiskeys and brandies too cheat on colouring using E150a/b/c/d and 2 of these b & d contain sulphites at levels that avoid labelling.
And lastly diesel exhaust contains SOx which we brought into our towns and cities en mass to reduce CO2.
So you can’t be allergic/intolerant if it is not on the label if you get my point :)
@Chemical Brothers: “Glucose Syrup / Fructose Syrup / High Fructose Corn Syrup”
You’re obviously reading American websites. Fructose is commonly added to cheap food and drink in the US because they feed cattle on corn/maize and the plentiful supply of corn starch is used to make High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS); the waste corn kernels are used in animal feed.
Here in Ireland, like most of Europe, we feed our cattle on grass and silage, there’s less corn. Furthermore, EU production of HFCS is subject to a quota, this is due to health concerns. Twelve European countries do not have any HFCS in food.
“HFCS use is highest in the US (24.78 kg/year per capita), whilst Europeans consume on average at least a third less of HFCS (kg/year per capita);
Twelve countries within the EU do not use HFCS at all; and
Of European countries that did consume HFCS, the five countries with the highest use were Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Belgium, and Turkey. This aligns to increased production in these countries since 2005/2006 (EEIG Agrosynergie, 2011).”
@David Jordan: Yep HFCS is in all the soft drinks in USA but in Ireland we appear to have switched wholesale to Glucose Syrup as an alternative to ordinary sugar.
Next time you are in supermarket look at all the cerrsls, biscuits, sweets, cakes, bars, flavoured ham, ice cream etc etc vast majority Glucose Syrup which has E223 or similar but all below labelling limits. Yep most of it is junk food but not all.
In fairness to Aldi & Lidl they will admit sulphites when queried.
@David Jordan: One other point about sulphites is that the USA don’t allow in meats like burgers or sausages where EU allow up to 450mg/kg.
Sometimes in IRL we get on our high horse about how great our food is but there is plenty of cheating going on here on colour, flavour & shelf life.
Biocides for breakfast, lunch & dinner has to having concequences. Cheap food has consequences.
Living causes cancer
@Earl Freeman: Take your chances like Peter O Toole did .
I read somewhere that people who never smoked a cigarette or drank alcohol can die, but I don’t believe that !
@Peter Mulligan: I knew lots of people who died.
@Peter Mulligan: Peter, they can also live, and live miserably
@Peter Mulligan: People living in my town who got lung cancer from smoking are not allowed to be buried in the local graveyard. Well, at least not until they’re dead.
@Peter Mulligan: sure there’s people dying now that never died before.
@Peter Mulligan: some of my best friend are dead or know someone that’s dead.
In spite of conventional wisdom not drinking, not smoking, avoiding drugs and eating healthy does not actually cause you to live any longer, it just makes life so boring that if feels a lot longer.
Everything can give you cancer, just depends on your genetics!
We all know people who smoked and drank all there lives and outlived those who didn’t!
Drink your wine, smoke your cigarettes and enjoy your life!
@Dotty Dunleary: well said. Babies that took few breaths in life dies. People desperately trying to die, painfully and miserably lives. Live life to the fullest and enjoy this borrowed time.
@Dotty Dunleary: Yes Dotty and drive fast and free
So cannabis still seems to be the healthiest of the lot. Hmmmm makes so much sense it being illegal.
Until they take 1000 people from birth, feed them the same thing have them live in the same environment and be from the same mother and father. Give half a bottle of wine a week, or whatever the latest cancerous thing is and the other 500 the opposite, I can’t see how they can come up with these
@David Daly: you’re right. The only constant was wine. Different lifestyles, diet, etc. Sample seems small.
Ah here
So cannabis seems to be the healthiest option to unwind. Makes so much sense it being illegal
@johnbunton: It makes you sound like a parrot as well!! Lol!! I know I know I’ve pressed the button twice too
@Marie Agnew: my job won’t allow me to smoke it. It’s the drink that has me repeating myself. Haha
It’s a UK study … now, I could be wrong, BUT … could it just be an attempt to wean the people in the UK off wine, when they can’t get any (or it’s a lot more expensive) after BREXIT???
@Susanne Morgan: ffs..
Is that 5-10 cigarettes a day or a week they compare to?
One word….. Shane MacGowan
Case closed.
I wonder how much this “amazing” research cost$
I wonder what the statistics for Cancer are in France, Italy, Spain?
@Liam Byrne: My grandma said “a glass a day, keep the doctor away”.
She lasted 93yrs and I’d sign to live like her.
Everyone dies but not everyone lives
whatevs
I’d prefer my glass of red wine as it contains a compound called resveratrol which activates the so called “longevity molecule”.
@Ger: Which molecule is that, then?
So another load of money wasted coming up with bull shite results,
Oh f**k off with ur studies, I work hard to pay revenue everyday so I’ll have my wine at the end of the week thanks..
Given how prominent the alcohol lobbyists are around the world I don’t think it’d be shocking if there were very serious consequences to drinking alcohol that aren’t fully understood yet.
I give up – why bother living anymore. No chocolate, no alcohol, no coffee, no red meat
Next they’ll be telling us to stay out of the sun as it causes cancer…oh wait…
It’s actually surprising the human race hasn’t killed itself off by now.
maybe the no-smoking nazi’s can get off their high horses now
What’ll it be next week? There’s always something that makes us fat or causes cancer or causes a third testicle to grow. Everything in moderation, eating, drinking, exercising, f€&%ing and we’ll all be grand. Who wants to live forever anyway??
Which isn’t high to be honest
That s a pack of cigarettes for me then
I stopped smoking in 2005 and I now have a reason to begin again .
It’s 5-10 tabs per week, which is fug all (pun intended). So about the same as having a ham sambo on white by my back of a fag box calculation.
Any alcohol and smoking are bad as advised any I agree. Nasty habit.
The noisy minority on there platform again
have your say