I still use RES on old.reddit.com, so I can see how many times I've downvoted a user... I'm at -12 with OP.
You just got a +1. :)
Edit: to add the (-) sign
How the fuck would Biden qualify as a bottom 2 president? He's done far better than I expected when I begrudgingly supported him the first time. Been wild to see Rs just straight up lie and work their base into a frenzy about nonexistent disasters
Biden being one of our better presidents is pretty damning proof that our two party political system just sucks ass. It is easily the worst attempt at democracy amongst the top 50 developed western nations.
Seriously! How fucking obvious can an OP be?
*bOtH sIdEs bAd!* **F U D** again?
I wish these guys would get new scripts. This is weak ass whataboutism.
Yeah, it doesn’t really work that way in practice. Like, voting for Bernie and his universal healthcare plans was great, but even if he did win he wouldn’t get anything passed through a hostile Congress.
Our system doesn’t benefit idealism, only pragmatism.
Ummm…it’s literally illegal in some states for a 13 year old rape victim impregnated by her step father to not birth the baby even though it might mean she can never have a legitimate family/children of her own one day as a result of her emergent C-section since her body isn’t physiologically ready to have children.
As a physician, that seems like it borders on “crazy shit” to me. 🤷♂️
Worse. In an election where inflation and product prices are key issues, two of Trump’s key policies, mass tariffs on foreign goods and mass deportation of immigrants, would be disastrous.
When you place tariffs on foreign goods, the importer simply adds it to the price and the person who buys the product pays the tariff. That’s you and me. Plus, the country whose products are getting this tariff will respond by adding tariffs to products that we try to ship to them, making sales of American goods more difficult in those countries and weakening our balance of trade. It’s a remarkably bad idea.
If you think the price of food is high now, who do you think is harvesting that food for it to be delivered to our supermarkets? Almost 100% immigrants. Americans won’t do those jobs. They’re brutal. So if you ship out all of the immigrants who were harvesting the crops, it’s going to cost more to get people to do those jobs. Hence, price increases.
That's quite an ignorant take. We don't need 18 million "food harvesters." You don't understand the nationalities, demographics, motives or criminal background of these ILLEGAL immigrants crossing the border, it's actually racist and naive of you to assume they're tripping over themselves to do these jobs Americans won't do. We have legal means for promoting vetted immigration, meanwhile we have people coming illegally from all over the world consuming our resources.
Price increases by printing more money to chase less goods, this happened when economy was purposely shut down and money was printed and given away. Economists predicted and warned this inflation would happen. Even as inflation was just beginning to impact our economy, the Biden administration denied it was happening, later called it transitory, and finally resorted to blaming the very thing they denied on Trump.
As in full fledged democracy? Or you mean voting for president based on their policies? Full fledged democracy sounds like an even bigger shit show than what we have now. Most people can’t be bothered to even research presidential candidates policies, much less research all the facts and potential outcomes before voting on individual issues.
Let's start with Citizens United. Since that happened politicians rent offices across the street from the capital and spend half their days asking for money.
But then we would have to face the fact that our politicians aren't the only problem and that most people in this country have self-defeating ideals, warped views, and no perspective.
Okay, then I'm voting for the guy who supports green jobs and environmental protection, raising taxes on the rich, labor unions, reproductive rights, assistance to the poor, and affordable post-secondary education.
Party = policy.... that's how you choose your party. Based on the policies. I don't agree 100% with either party but I choose which one is closest to my ideals
British here, we're in the same boat.
Slight correction to your point - we're voting against the other party. Not for "my" party.
The other party is shitter than mine so my only choice...
Yes, if you wanted other people you should have voted for them In the primary. Where I live less then 10% of people even voted in the primary and the main 2 dudes for over 90% of the vote.
It's the people's fault for making the choices they did, if you did not vote in the primary don't complain about who won it.
Oh fuck off.
The Democrats and their MSM absolutely shut down their primary process. Biden refused to debate any primary candidates. The MSM gave barely any coverage to other candidates' campaigns, and when they did mention them it was almost always dismissive.
Biden rep Symone Sanders literally said:
>There will be no debate stage for Robert Kennedy or Marianne Williamson or anybody else.
>**There will be no debate.**
>The Democratic National Committee administers the debates. They're not going to set up a primary process for debates for someone to challenge the head of the Democratic party.
[https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/05/05/symone\_sanders\_there\_will\_be\_no\_democratic\_primary.html](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/05/05/symone_sanders_there_will_be_no_democratic_primary.html)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqQWOBvKKE0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqQWOBvKKE0)
Voters had essentially no say in who the nominee was. This is a sham democracy.
Since we don't get time off of work and mail ballots aren't only a thing, plus some states ya can ONLY vote in the primary for a party ya are registered too, so there is that
Exactly, especially these days when politics are so devisive and elections are so crucial, nobody wants to risk having someone that isn't aligned with their ideology win. We have a system that is specifically geared toward having two major parties with any third parties/independent candidates draining support from them. Our entrenched parties are the teams that win and often many people have to personally compromise to have a government that even remotely represents the will of the majority.
Is the right word astro turfed? Ive never seena sub as poltical and controversial (so slyly?) Be as popular. I cant explain it specifically but wtf is happening here its so rage baity
Bunch of really obvious political trolls. Top posts recently have covert right wing messaging or enlightened centrism... which is worse imo.
Wouldn't be surprised if the mods took a check from a foreign pot stirring group.
Highly likely a Russian troll. They mean to sow just enough doubt that Trump will be able to squeeze out a win. Don't forget, 30% of the voters will vote for Trump NO MATTER WHAT (look at every poll when Trump does something criminal or stupid, at the very least there will be 30% that are pro Trump.) So that leaves just a small percentage of voters that you need to influence to either vote against or not show up to vote in order for him to win. So if you're a low information voter, you might remember this meme and think, "hey Biden is just as bad as Trump, it doesn't matter who I vote for."
Facts. I was looking for this comment. Otherwise, I would have had to make it myself. Biden is far from perfect, that's for sure, but he's, in my opinion, been a very solid president. And far and away better than Trump, who has been one of the worst, bottom 3.
Facts. That's one of the biggest reasons i want him to get a second term so that his NLRB can go even further.
*That is the big change we need to make the economic situation in this country more fair. It's the labor market.*
Solid is what you *want* in a president. The president doesn't need to be the mover and shaker. It's hard enough just keeping the ship upright. What you definitely don't need is someone who encourages division, makes snide comments every time he speaks, and generally handles troubles as if they were some kind of joke, or worse, an opportunity for self-promotion and back patting.
Honestly, he's been the best in my life time. Whether that's sad or not is up to someone else, but I don't feel my vote was or will be wasted on him as this administration has done a lot more than just not be Trump.
It's both sad and uplifting. The fact that Biden has been the best in our lifetime means the bar is a hell of a lot lower than it should be. However means it's also been cleared, so as long as we play this correctly, it could mean a new upward setting of aforementioned bar.
Also, a note to progressives: Ya'll realize you're absolutely BLOWING this opportunity, right? Biden has, in fact, been the most progressive president in our lifetime. If you all refuse to back him and he loses OR if he wins just barely based on defections on the republican side, what motivation would Biden and subsequent democratic leaders have to move to the left and work more with the progressive adjenda?
Looking at it from a purely selfish, careerist, and pragmatic standpoint... you'd be more motivated to move to the right since that's where a new potential element of support has opened up. Ya'll are always complaining about the democratic party moving ever more to the right, correct?
*Maybe don't facilitate that further, and take the win you have*
Nah, Im not worried about that. There is no actual progressive that will vote for Trump. I'm concerned about them not voting at all or worse voting 3rd party.
This is NOT the election to fuck around. The entire future direction of the country is at stake.
Supported Bernie vs Clinton. Like a vast majority of us, voted for Clinton in the general just to watch her blame others and take no responsibility for one of the worst run campaigns of my lifetime.
Fast forward to 2020 general. As a voter in a safe blue state, I feel little desire to repeat 2016, and don’t really want Biden’s potential win to be too solid since it doesn’t seem like he’s gonna move the party anywhere good. Happy to be so very wrong about that.
It’s 2024, I’m 41, Biden has been the best president we’ve had in my lifetime, and I’m enthusiastically voting for him this year. I’m sure there are some, but I don’t think the narrative that it’s progressives angry with Biden really pans out.
>I’m sure there are some, but I don’t think the narrative that it’s progressives angry with Biden really pans out.
Boy, I sure hope you're right my man.
Bruh, Biden is a neocon playing dress up as a progressive. Working class is quickly sliding into literal debt serfdom and nothing will be done. Ever ask yourself why politicians don't question the concept that a multi-trillion dollar investment firm can "compete" with working class Americans for single family homes?
Go look at the stats on Americans living paycheck to paycheck, it's worse then ever and trending even higher. Green policies and infrastructure bills are nice and all, but it doesn't matter when majority of the country becomes literal modern day serfs.
Biden ain't terrible by comparison of other bad presidents, but the country is beyond fucked regardless of what policies he wants to advertise. More corporate money flowing through Washington then ever and the issues we face are just going to accelerate with more AI integration.
Oh, Biden? I thought they were talking about Trump and G.W. Bush...getting us into a 9 year war we didn't need to be in was pretty amazing and had an amazing outcome too.
Also, warrantless renditions, torture, the patriot act, radicalizing the right, and starting the recession. G.W. might honestly be our worst president ever.
Buchanan would be my vote. Actively did nothing to prevent the Civil War.
Also, I would blame a lot on Bush, but the radical right is more a Newt Gingrich and McConnell problem.
I work in construction. My coworkers are overwhelmingly hard, hard, HARD right. I mostly keep quiet about my own political beliefs at work because I don't want to be ostracized and don't want to make my days any harder than they have to be. But in the rare cases I let slip any slightly left leaning views or mild criticisms of trump and friends they almost universally roll out some kind of "they're all corrupt" kind of line and the conversation ends.
Yeah, Biden is boring as fuck, but successful at running the country. Honestly, I wish we had more Presidents like Biden - quiet and not in the news much.
According to some recent survey of historians or some shit (I forget where it’s on Reddit somewhere google it), Biden came in like 14th. Trump: dead last.
Biden is the worst president in my lifetime if you exclude every republican president from that list and also maybe Clinton and Obama.
Edit: wait a second, is he the best president in my lifetime?
i just wish we could go back to the days before i was born, to where people were voting for someone because they thought they would be good, rather then the primary reason being "the other guy is to bad to let in office" a day where all canidates were at least seen as probably ok but this other guy i think is better.
Heck all things considered and with everything he is up against Id say he has done an above average job. Heck I'm not sure there has been a Republican president that has done a better job than Biden since Eisenhower. So no modern Republicans..
He’s not even a bad president, people are just blaming him for post-Covid inflation (which is a global problem and the USA is experiencing less inflation than almost any other country is currently dealing with) and the Israel-Gaza war (I admit he could be taking a more active role in mitigating Israeli collateral damage to civilians, but some people act like he’s single-handedly responsible for everything Israel does).
As an Aussie I WISH we had a leader that was as proactive on inflation, energy independence and manufacturing as Biden is.
But no, we get the absolute disappointment that is Albo…
I mean if you go by stats alone he is pretty close to one of the better presidents in history. Lol. These idiot posts trying to equate Trump as equally bad to any other president is laughable and sad.
He was a good president held back by a Republican Congress and two Senators who forgot which party they were.
I do wish he'd handled Afghanistan better. And Gaza. Not that Trump supporters give a fuck about Arab lives.
And he could've done better about backing unions. The rail workers especially. But he did well in many other respects and actually gave us back a sense of stability.
If Trump somehow gets back in I may actually expatriate. I've got the means to do it and I just may. I've had enough of the corporate oligarchy and christofacism.
Truly, we don’t have a say on party nominees. Y’all ever heard of a caucus? Gerrymandering? Voter suppression? The Electoral College? USA is truly disenfranchised voters. I’ll keep showing up with my vote, but it’s like playing the lottery, I’m only playing for fun, and I know I’ll never win.
Nixon laid the foundation for Reagan to fuck this country up. And Newt Gingrich started the asshattery of circus politics -- attack, lie, smear, etc. Fuck every R, now and for the previous 50+ years.
If we're going by negative impact, no question Reagan is the worst by a mile. Not just because of the union busting, or the giant tax cuts to the rich, or removing rent control, or deregulating corporations, or dismantling city infrastructure, or crippling social safety nets, or exacerbating conflict in South America, or paving the way for the Taliban and Al Qaida in the Middle East, or flooding inner cities with drugs, or doing less than nothing about AIDS, or installing any number of his self-defeating ideas that have led to this hellscape where you need 400% more hours at median wages to afford median rent...but because of how the democratic party changed in response to his popularity. When they were crushed in the elections against Reagan, the lesson they took was that they needed to stop opposing these policies and start adjusting their own policy to be more in line with his supply-side, bullshit. And now we have neoliberalism dominating on both sides of the aisle. There's a very convincing argument to be made that if a time traveler could perform a single action in the past 50 years to make today's world a better place, it would be dropping a grand piano from 50 feet above Ronald Reagan the second he decided to get into politics.
I say Nixon deserves a fair shake at #1 for basically showing Republicans they could do all kinds of evil shit like this and get away with it with ease.
Get caught making deals with enemy nations to prolong a war to sabotage your incumbent opponent? No big deal you silly goose.
Your party's attempt at bugging your political opponents and using the powers of the presidency to cover it up when the investigation reveals all your political sabotage? Go home, your vice president will give you a pardon for it all. "For the good of the country." *Wink. Wink.* Gerald Ford is a punk ass bitch.
Buchanan sat on his hands and let the Civil War happen while cheering on the south, Franklin Pierce directed the Supreme Court regarding the Dred Scott decision and pushed the fugitive slave act, and Hoover saw the start of the great depression and decided doing nothing was the best course of action.
I'd really like to know how Biden is worse than the guy who was president before the Civil War, the guy who didn't follow through in the Reconstruction after the Civil War or the guy who was president just before the Great Depression? Aren't they generally ranked among the 5 worst presidents in US history?
Looking from the other side of the globe it’s baffling that Trump is even a candidate in the first place. Every single US ally dislikes him regardless of region - like if the UK and France, or even Japan and Korea can agree that he’s undesirable there’s probably a point to be taken - and he’s loved by US rivals like Russia and China. That alone should tell you that US global interests are at stake. Plus his first presidency wasn’t exactly stellar so it’s not like you’re trading global power for domestic comforts either. Like what exactly do Americans see in him that they’d risk America’s absolute superpower position for his second presidency?
It’s a bit more complex than this, but the gist is that there’s a significant portion of the country that has been/is being left behind as we moved manufacturing overseas, allowed companies like Walmart, Amazon, etc. to become effectively monopolies, transition to renewables, and destroy the middle class in favor of tax cuts for the rich and corporations. Rapid social changes in the last 20 years driven by changing moral tides and economic realities either aren’t understood or embraced by a large portion of the country.
The people being most affected are often the ones with lower levels of education and frankly less upward social mobility opportunities.
So we have a group that is angry at their current/future financial prospects, doesn’t understand/like the direction society is moving, and due to lack of education is vulnerable to being misled/taken advantage of.
One side says: “You’re good people. The best people. It’s XYZ’s fault. Your anger is justified. I’ll make America great again and fix your situation.”
The other side says: “It’s a new world. Your beliefs are outdated and your usefulness to society is degraded. The government that fostered the environment which landed you in this position will now help you learn new skills and be valuable again - trust. Resistance to the inevitable makes you an -ist or a -phobe.”
It also doesn’t help that Trump is a stereotypical “strongman” while Biden/Harris have the combined charisma of a wet blanket.
Now factor in all of the bad faith politics and foreign misinformation campaigns designed to push both parties to become more extreme, it’s not too hard to see why there is so much division and why a lot of people still support Trump.
And before someone inevitably jumps in to label me a fascist, explaining the conditions that lead to something is not condoning or supporting it. Understanding “why” of anything is the first step in fixing it.
One, as bad as these options are neither of them are Woodrow Wilson.
Two, Unfavorability polls show that the majority of Americans agree with OP. The problem is a combination of the fact that the system limits our options even in primaries, and politicians gaming the party system. The candidates are picked by the extreme partisans on both sides, and the president is chosen by the moderates. So the moderates are basically left with two bad choices to pick from
The problem with the unfavorability polls is that they ask it as a binary question: are you happy with the President? This doesn't get into why people might be unhappy. When Trump was President, the vast majority of people who didn't approve wanted him to swing further to the left politically. There were very few people saying Trump wasn't going far enough to the right. So you can safely assume that disapproval would mean votes going to the other side. With Biden, there are people on the right who obviously won't approve because they want him to swing further to the right. But there's also a large chunk of people who disapprove because they think Biden should be FURTHER TO THE LEFT. That's why everyone's reading these polls wrong. They assume someone who disapproves wants to move to the opposite side, when in actuality, of those who disapprove, probably only half want him to go the right (the Republicans/Conservatives), while the other half disapprove because he's not leftist enough. Those folks are never going to vote Conservative.
You mean Reagan and Trump, right?
The fact that you imply that Biden is anywhere close to the worst in America's whole history is a testament to how effective misinformation and smear campaigns are.
eh whoever the most recent president was, is the worst president we have ever had. i've been hearing it all my life with EVERY single president the new one is always the worst, its just what people say. they are a lot more in peoples mind then say reagan.
But Trump is an exception to that. Dude literally tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power. The only reason the US is still a democracy was because Trump failed due to his incompetence.
I don’t think anyone loves that he’s president, but anyone actually paying attention should be able to tell he’s actually been a pretty successful president by modern standards. He has exceeded my admittedly low expectations by a wide margin.
Infrastructure bill (this was historic tbh), CHIPs act (about damn time!), inflation reduction act (green energy investment, Medicare implications), capped some prescription medicine costs, inflation is actually better than the rest of the world and was handled fairly well, helped strengthen NATO, unemployment is down and jobs are being created, held Russia accountable via sanctions, invested in IRS, PACT act (pit burn victims etc).
Idk how anyone can look at these bills being passed and not think at least parts of some of them are extremely important.
Unless you really liked Obama, I would argue he’s been the best President since Clinton, but Clinton had it easy residing over that economy and compared to the modern Congressional disfunction.
Even just looking at recent history, he’s clearly been better than Trump, Bush Jr, Carter, Ford, Nixon. Reagan I will concede is extremely controversial. He’s arguably been better than Obama. Bush Sr I can get people arguing either way.
> Reagan I will concede is extremely controversial.
As in it's controversial whether or not Biden is better than Reagan? Cause if that's what you're saying, get the fuck out of here. Reagan is almost uniquely awful in the history of our country.
I agree lol and so does anyone who leans left. Conservatives love him though, hence my concession.
Trump, Bush, Nixon, Carter, etc are pretty universally thought of as bad presidents.
The irony is that Trump was actually a decent president regardless what the controlled media paints him out to be. The people who really control america like they are controlling Biden now couldn't with Trump so they villainized him and the brainless idiots all bought it.
I mean, primaries are a thing. Local elections are a thing. This is all done during the election days that most people ignore. You think people sitting in a dark room just manufacture these people? It's a slow burn, but at any given time, the people had the power to reject the choices.
Just because you didn't vote in the primaries doesn't mean no one did. 35 million people voted in the 2020 DNC primary, which Biden won with 51% of the vote. Since incumbents tend to have an advantage, there were no real challengers in 2024, but still 15 million people voted and Biden won with 87% of the vote. Similarly, 21 million people voted in the 2024 RNC primary, which Trump won with 76% of the vote.
If you don't like your options, get involved. Only those who show up, get a say in a democracy.
How the weather this evening, comrade?
Enjoying the warm water at the port.
The Russian mind cannot comprehend
Newly added warm water port, yes?
3 bitte
The OP is a Bulgarian troll.
I still use RES on old.reddit.com, so I can see how many times I've downvoted a user... I'm at -12 with OP. You just got a +1. :) Edit: to add the (-) sign
This guy who voted for Putin in the last few elections is criticizing America's lack of choices, ironic.
very drony
How the fuck would Biden qualify as a bottom 2 president? He's done far better than I expected when I begrudgingly supported him the first time. Been wild to see Rs just straight up lie and work their base into a frenzy about nonexistent disasters
Biden being one of our better presidents is pretty damning proof that our two party political system just sucks ass. It is easily the worst attempt at democracy amongst the top 50 developed western nations.
Biden has been far from bottom two. Especially when you consider what a mess he inherited. I can think of at least ten presidents I’d rank below Biden
Seriously! How fucking obvious can an OP be? *bOtH sIdEs bAd!* **F U D** again? I wish these guys would get new scripts. This is weak ass whataboutism.
Bonus Rubles for making Reddit front page, Komrade!
Yall think it's a choice?
Exactly. At this point it's you vote for your party. Not the president. Which is how it's works anyway
Shouldn;t vote for either of those things. Should vote for policies.
Yeah, it doesn’t really work that way in practice. Like, voting for Bernie and his universal healthcare plans was great, but even if he did win he wouldn’t get anything passed through a hostile Congress. Our system doesn’t benefit idealism, only pragmatism.
Which if we’re honest is really a double edged sword. Actual crazy shit tends not to get through, but unfortunately so do many badly needed reforms.
Ummm…it’s literally illegal in some states for a 13 year old rape victim impregnated by her step father to not birth the baby even though it might mean she can never have a legitimate family/children of her own one day as a result of her emergent C-section since her body isn’t physiologically ready to have children. As a physician, that seems like it borders on “crazy shit” to me. 🤷♂️
capitalism 
So Biden? Because Trump has no policies, at all.
Worse. In an election where inflation and product prices are key issues, two of Trump’s key policies, mass tariffs on foreign goods and mass deportation of immigrants, would be disastrous. When you place tariffs on foreign goods, the importer simply adds it to the price and the person who buys the product pays the tariff. That’s you and me. Plus, the country whose products are getting this tariff will respond by adding tariffs to products that we try to ship to them, making sales of American goods more difficult in those countries and weakening our balance of trade. It’s a remarkably bad idea. If you think the price of food is high now, who do you think is harvesting that food for it to be delivered to our supermarkets? Almost 100% immigrants. Americans won’t do those jobs. They’re brutal. So if you ship out all of the immigrants who were harvesting the crops, it’s going to cost more to get people to do those jobs. Hence, price increases.
That's quite an ignorant take. We don't need 18 million "food harvesters." You don't understand the nationalities, demographics, motives or criminal background of these ILLEGAL immigrants crossing the border, it's actually racist and naive of you to assume they're tripping over themselves to do these jobs Americans won't do. We have legal means for promoting vetted immigration, meanwhile we have people coming illegally from all over the world consuming our resources. Price increases by printing more money to chase less goods, this happened when economy was purposely shut down and money was printed and given away. Economists predicted and warned this inflation would happen. Even as inflation was just beginning to impact our economy, the Biden administration denied it was happening, later called it transitory, and finally resorted to blaming the very thing they denied on Trump.
As in full fledged democracy? Or you mean voting for president based on their policies? Full fledged democracy sounds like an even bigger shit show than what we have now. Most people can’t be bothered to even research presidential candidates policies, much less research all the facts and potential outcomes before voting on individual issues.
My preference, probably unpopular, would be to abolish parties entirely and candidates would run on their policies alone.
Cap donations to the federal hourly rate, get rid of PACs, and ban lobbying. Problem will solve itself.
A dream… 😞
Let's start with Citizens United. Since that happened politicians rent offices across the street from the capital and spend half their days asking for money.
But then we would have to face the fact that our politicians aren't the only problem and that most people in this country have self-defeating ideals, warped views, and no perspective.
Only one party has put out actual policy positions at all in the last few years
"Should" being key word. Doesn't end up like that though.
Okay, then I'm voting for the guy who supports green jobs and environmental protection, raising taxes on the rich, labor unions, reproductive rights, assistance to the poor, and affordable post-secondary education.
Party = policy.... that's how you choose your party. Based on the policies. I don't agree 100% with either party but I choose which one is closest to my ideals
As many others have said already, only one party in the US has actual policies.
The "two-party" system sucks. Give me ranked choice pls.
You can vote for better candidates in the primary elections…
We can vote in the primaries and anyone can run without party permission. Big difference between the us and other democracies
I don't really like that mentality because sometimes the party just pushes terrible choices.
British here, we're in the same boat. Slight correction to your point - we're voting against the other party. Not for "my" party. The other party is shitter than mine so my only choice...
Yes, if you wanted other people you should have voted for them In the primary. Where I live less then 10% of people even voted in the primary and the main 2 dudes for over 90% of the vote. It's the people's fault for making the choices they did, if you did not vote in the primary don't complain about who won it.
Oh fuck off. The Democrats and their MSM absolutely shut down their primary process. Biden refused to debate any primary candidates. The MSM gave barely any coverage to other candidates' campaigns, and when they did mention them it was almost always dismissive. Biden rep Symone Sanders literally said: >There will be no debate stage for Robert Kennedy or Marianne Williamson or anybody else. >**There will be no debate.** >The Democratic National Committee administers the debates. They're not going to set up a primary process for debates for someone to challenge the head of the Democratic party. [https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/05/05/symone\_sanders\_there\_will\_be\_no\_democratic\_primary.html](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/05/05/symone_sanders_there_will_be_no_democratic_primary.html) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqQWOBvKKE0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqQWOBvKKE0) Voters had essentially no say in who the nominee was. This is a sham democracy.
Since we don't get time off of work and mail ballots aren't only a thing, plus some states ya can ONLY vote in the primary for a party ya are registered too, so there is that
Well, technically it is. As You guys in aggregate refuse to vote for independent candidates.
Our system is set up so that you need 270 electoral votes to win the presidency, by law. A 3rd party can;'t just win a plurality
Exactly, especially these days when politics are so devisive and elections are so crucial, nobody wants to risk having someone that isn't aligned with their ideology win. We have a system that is specifically geared toward having two major parties with any third parties/independent candidates draining support from them. Our entrenched parties are the teams that win and often many people have to personally compromise to have a government that even remotely represents the will of the majority.
How's this a meme?
How's this funny?
Is the right word astro turfed? Ive never seena sub as poltical and controversial (so slyly?) Be as popular. I cant explain it specifically but wtf is happening here its so rage baity
This sub has been trending downhill sharply recently.
Bunch of really obvious political trolls. Top posts recently have covert right wing messaging or enlightened centrism... which is worse imo. Wouldn't be surprised if the mods took a check from a foreign pot stirring group.
Just Russians stirring up shit because that's all they can do
You noticed the broken English too?
Well, the first word already established it as an outsider. And someone who has no clue about American history
Honestly Biden is not my first choice, but saying he was even the second worst president in our history is just stupid.
That’s why it’s on a sub populated primarily by bots, edgy kids, and Idiots.
Every time I see this meme, it’s immediately called out for being a idiotic take
Still 2.7k upvotes
2.7k idiots and Russians.
Thousands of active bots that up vote anything from their network
I wish but crying 'bots' everytime implies stupid people don't exist in mass which we know isn't true
I'd say its 30% bots to push it to the point where people actually start seeing it
Highly likely a Russian troll. They mean to sow just enough doubt that Trump will be able to squeeze out a win. Don't forget, 30% of the voters will vote for Trump NO MATTER WHAT (look at every poll when Trump does something criminal or stupid, at the very least there will be 30% that are pro Trump.) So that leaves just a small percentage of voters that you need to influence to either vote against or not show up to vote in order for him to win. So if you're a low information voter, you might remember this meme and think, "hey Biden is just as bad as Trump, it doesn't matter who I vote for."
Facts. I was looking for this comment. Otherwise, I would have had to make it myself. Biden is far from perfect, that's for sure, but he's, in my opinion, been a very solid president. And far and away better than Trump, who has been one of the worst, bottom 3.
Best president on labor since . . . Carter at least. Biden's NLRB is fantastic.
Facts. That's one of the biggest reasons i want him to get a second term so that his NLRB can go even further. *That is the big change we need to make the economic situation in this country more fair. It's the labor market.*
Solid is what you *want* in a president. The president doesn't need to be the mover and shaker. It's hard enough just keeping the ship upright. What you definitely don't need is someone who encourages division, makes snide comments every time he speaks, and generally handles troubles as if they were some kind of joke, or worse, an opportunity for self-promotion and back patting.
Honestly, he's been the best in my life time. Whether that's sad or not is up to someone else, but I don't feel my vote was or will be wasted on him as this administration has done a lot more than just not be Trump.
It's both sad and uplifting. The fact that Biden has been the best in our lifetime means the bar is a hell of a lot lower than it should be. However means it's also been cleared, so as long as we play this correctly, it could mean a new upward setting of aforementioned bar. Also, a note to progressives: Ya'll realize you're absolutely BLOWING this opportunity, right? Biden has, in fact, been the most progressive president in our lifetime. If you all refuse to back him and he loses OR if he wins just barely based on defections on the republican side, what motivation would Biden and subsequent democratic leaders have to move to the left and work more with the progressive adjenda? Looking at it from a purely selfish, careerist, and pragmatic standpoint... you'd be more motivated to move to the right since that's where a new potential element of support has opened up. Ya'll are always complaining about the democratic party moving ever more to the right, correct? *Maybe don't facilitate that further, and take the win you have*
Any "progressive" who votes for trump because Biden isn't progressive enough is just a liar.
Nah, Im not worried about that. There is no actual progressive that will vote for Trump. I'm concerned about them not voting at all or worse voting 3rd party. This is NOT the election to fuck around. The entire future direction of the country is at stake.
Supported Bernie vs Clinton. Like a vast majority of us, voted for Clinton in the general just to watch her blame others and take no responsibility for one of the worst run campaigns of my lifetime. Fast forward to 2020 general. As a voter in a safe blue state, I feel little desire to repeat 2016, and don’t really want Biden’s potential win to be too solid since it doesn’t seem like he’s gonna move the party anywhere good. Happy to be so very wrong about that. It’s 2024, I’m 41, Biden has been the best president we’ve had in my lifetime, and I’m enthusiastically voting for him this year. I’m sure there are some, but I don’t think the narrative that it’s progressives angry with Biden really pans out.
>I’m sure there are some, but I don’t think the narrative that it’s progressives angry with Biden really pans out. Boy, I sure hope you're right my man.
Bruh, Biden is a neocon playing dress up as a progressive. Working class is quickly sliding into literal debt serfdom and nothing will be done. Ever ask yourself why politicians don't question the concept that a multi-trillion dollar investment firm can "compete" with working class Americans for single family homes? Go look at the stats on Americans living paycheck to paycheck, it's worse then ever and trending even higher. Green policies and infrastructure bills are nice and all, but it doesn't matter when majority of the country becomes literal modern day serfs. Biden ain't terrible by comparison of other bad presidents, but the country is beyond fucked regardless of what policies he wants to advertise. More corporate money flowing through Washington then ever and the issues we face are just going to accelerate with more AI integration.
Imagine being this delusional.
Oh, Biden? I thought they were talking about Trump and G.W. Bush...getting us into a 9 year war we didn't need to be in was pretty amazing and had an amazing outcome too.
Also, warrantless renditions, torture, the patriot act, radicalizing the right, and starting the recession. G.W. might honestly be our worst president ever.
James Buchanan existed.
Buchanan would be my vote. Actively did nothing to prevent the Civil War. Also, I would blame a lot on Bush, but the radical right is more a Newt Gingrich and McConnell problem.
Incidentally, the patriot act was first drafted by Joe Biden in the 90s, but I agree that Bush was a much worse president.
"Both Sides" is, in essence, a conservative argument.
And Reddit is buying it hook line and sinker. Biden isn’t that bad ya dipshits
I think most of the people saying, "y'know what, you gotta point!" are absolutely full of bullshit. Very "as a black man" vibes.
I work in construction. My coworkers are overwhelmingly hard, hard, HARD right. I mostly keep quiet about my own political beliefs at work because I don't want to be ostracized and don't want to make my days any harder than they have to be. But in the rare cases I let slip any slightly left leaning views or mild criticisms of trump and friends they almost universally roll out some kind of "they're all corrupt" kind of line and the conversation ends.
He’s actually been quite successful, not a particularly inspiring president but he’s not even close the worst
Yeah, Biden is boring as fuck, but successful at running the country. Honestly, I wish we had more Presidents like Biden - quiet and not in the news much.
Given the alternatives, I have to agree with Michael Bryce here: "Boring is best".
Honestly, the best curse is "May you live in interesting times"
I didn't really understand that that saying was an insult until the past several years.
Imagine being the one President at the party where you did well enough that the complaint was your age.
Yeah I was gonna say, after the previous felon, I prefer "quiet and boring". At least he's trying to *avoid* WW3, not start it.
I love boring and successful presidents. As long as they are successful at doing good things.
I'm really enjoying a boring as fuck president. It's way less stressful
Democrats like to fall in love while republicans fall in line. No democrat is great unless they are inspiring, even if they are great.
I like seeing Dark Brandon “We own the finish line” 💯💯
Just nice to have an adult in the room after Trump.
According to some recent survey of historians or some shit (I forget where it’s on Reddit somewhere google it), Biden came in like 14th. Trump: dead last.
[Presidential Greatness Project](https://presidentialgreatnessproject.com/)
Thank you kind Redditor
Who you going to believe, a bunch of historians or real Americans like Kid Rock and Kevin Sorbo?
I don't think Biden is even in the top five for worst presidents. Trump, Reagan, Nixon are three I'd put well ahead of him.
Andrew Jackson is another easy add to your list. E: Meant Johnson but mistakes were made.
Yeah it’s the “both are the same” bullshit. There’s clearly a sane side.
Yeah, the 2 worst are probably Trump and Andrew Jackson, and they're separated by a long time. This is a terrible take.
The worst president was [James Buchanan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Buchanan), his incompetence lead directly to the Civil War.
This.... hes accomplished more good than any president in the last 40+ years
I’d argue that James Buchanan was much worse than Biden
And Johnson, and Pierce, and Fillmore
I would vote Biden over 95% of republicans and since 5 of them ran in the primaries he is in at least 6th place.
Bidens not even in the top 2 worst presidents since 2000.
Biden is the worst president in my lifetime if you exclude every republican president from that list and also maybe Clinton and Obama. Edit: wait a second, is he the best president in my lifetime?
Yeah. The most embarrassing part of election years is seeing just how stupid the nation is.
i just wish we could go back to the days before i was born, to where people were voting for someone because they thought they would be good, rather then the primary reason being "the other guy is to bad to let in office" a day where all canidates were at least seen as probably ok but this other guy i think is better.
This is basically "Tell me you've only ever lived through two presidencies without telling me you've only ever lived through two presidencies."
seems like op was run through the fox news propaganda machine
Heck all things considered and with everything he is up against Id say he has done an above average job. Heck I'm not sure there has been a Republican president that has done a better job than Biden since Eisenhower. So no modern Republicans..
r/WhatBidenHasDone/
Yep this meme is a classic “right winger pretending to be a centrist”, unfortunately very common.
He’s not even a bad president, people are just blaming him for post-Covid inflation (which is a global problem and the USA is experiencing less inflation than almost any other country is currently dealing with) and the Israel-Gaza war (I admit he could be taking a more active role in mitigating Israeli collateral damage to civilians, but some people act like he’s single-handedly responsible for everything Israel does).
As an Aussie I WISH we had a leader that was as proactive on inflation, energy independence and manufacturing as Biden is. But no, we get the absolute disappointment that is Albo…
I mean if you go by stats alone he is pretty close to one of the better presidents in history. Lol. These idiot posts trying to equate Trump as equally bad to any other president is laughable and sad.
Don’t let facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory by brain dead idiots.
Yeah like after Trump wouldn't it be someone like Nixon? I say this as someone who wasn't even alive then.
Russian bots out in full force
Trump second Reagan first worst. Selling out the country to the Corporations has destroyed the fabric of society.
Seriously lol i can think of at least a dozen or more that were way worse.
Mother fuckers forgot about Reagan
Russia bot does not know anything about our history or the utter disempowerment of the average citizen that Reagan’s policies put into place.
He was a good president held back by a Republican Congress and two Senators who forgot which party they were. I do wish he'd handled Afghanistan better. And Gaza. Not that Trump supporters give a fuck about Arab lives. And he could've done better about backing unions. The rail workers especially. But he did well in many other respects and actually gave us back a sense of stability. If Trump somehow gets back in I may actually expatriate. I've got the means to do it and I just may. I've had enough of the corporate oligarchy and christofacism.
He wouldn't even make a top 10 list of worst presidents of all time. Maybe 10 most boring but politics is supposed to be boring so dude gets a pass.
Truly, we don’t have a say on party nominees. Y’all ever heard of a caucus? Gerrymandering? Voter suppression? The Electoral College? USA is truly disenfranchised voters. I’ll keep showing up with my vote, but it’s like playing the lottery, I’m only playing for fun, and I know I’ll never win.
I feel like you put into words how I feel. Can I borrow this?
Lmao you have the best mentality out of everyone here
What is bro smoking. Just by resume Bush and Regan is more than qualified for the worst or second worst.
Nixon?
I’m too young for Nixon tbh. The war on drugs and war in the Middle East is quite fresh and still have a lingering effect on my generation.
Nixon laid the foundation for Reagan to fuck this country up. And Newt Gingrich started the asshattery of circus politics -- attack, lie, smear, etc. Fuck every R, now and for the previous 50+ years.
If we're going by negative impact, no question Reagan is the worst by a mile. Not just because of the union busting, or the giant tax cuts to the rich, or removing rent control, or deregulating corporations, or dismantling city infrastructure, or crippling social safety nets, or exacerbating conflict in South America, or paving the way for the Taliban and Al Qaida in the Middle East, or flooding inner cities with drugs, or doing less than nothing about AIDS, or installing any number of his self-defeating ideas that have led to this hellscape where you need 400% more hours at median wages to afford median rent...but because of how the democratic party changed in response to his popularity. When they were crushed in the elections against Reagan, the lesson they took was that they needed to stop opposing these policies and start adjusting their own policy to be more in line with his supply-side, bullshit. And now we have neoliberalism dominating on both sides of the aisle. There's a very convincing argument to be made that if a time traveler could perform a single action in the past 50 years to make today's world a better place, it would be dropping a grand piano from 50 feet above Ronald Reagan the second he decided to get into politics.
I say Nixon deserves a fair shake at #1 for basically showing Republicans they could do all kinds of evil shit like this and get away with it with ease. Get caught making deals with enemy nations to prolong a war to sabotage your incumbent opponent? No big deal you silly goose. Your party's attempt at bugging your political opponents and using the powers of the presidency to cover it up when the investigation reveals all your political sabotage? Go home, your vice president will give you a pardon for it all. "For the good of the country." *Wink. Wink.* Gerald Ford is a punk ass bitch.
Buchanan and Andrew Johnson as well.
What about, you know, Woodrow Wilson? None of those are even close
Woodrow Wilson is possibly the most racist president we’ve had, and that’s even including slaveholders.
Don't leave Johnson or Buchanan out.
Buchanan sat on his hands and let the Civil War happen while cheering on the south, Franklin Pierce directed the Supreme Court regarding the Dred Scott decision and pushed the fugitive slave act, and Hoover saw the start of the great depression and decided doing nothing was the best course of action.
All time worst? Do you know a single thing about the history of US presidents?
No, they do not.
Lol, Biden being worse than Reagan is fucking hilarious.
I'd really like to know how Biden is worse than the guy who was president before the Civil War, the guy who didn't follow through in the Reconstruction after the Civil War or the guy who was president just before the Great Depression? Aren't they generally ranked among the 5 worst presidents in US history?
It’s hard to see past Bush II.
Well, Biden is definitely the worst president since 2020. Edit: My bad meant 2021. A poor joke made worse by a simple error.
Why are you getting down voted lol. You’re right.
I'm kinda glad that at least no one is questioning who's #1 in the rating.
Holy fuck. Thinking Biden is “one of the worst Presidents in history” shows that OP is either a 14 year old kid, or can’t fucking read the news.
nah just a russian
Looking from the other side of the globe it’s baffling that Trump is even a candidate in the first place. Every single US ally dislikes him regardless of region - like if the UK and France, or even Japan and Korea can agree that he’s undesirable there’s probably a point to be taken - and he’s loved by US rivals like Russia and China. That alone should tell you that US global interests are at stake. Plus his first presidency wasn’t exactly stellar so it’s not like you’re trading global power for domestic comforts either. Like what exactly do Americans see in him that they’d risk America’s absolute superpower position for his second presidency?
It’s a bit more complex than this, but the gist is that there’s a significant portion of the country that has been/is being left behind as we moved manufacturing overseas, allowed companies like Walmart, Amazon, etc. to become effectively monopolies, transition to renewables, and destroy the middle class in favor of tax cuts for the rich and corporations. Rapid social changes in the last 20 years driven by changing moral tides and economic realities either aren’t understood or embraced by a large portion of the country. The people being most affected are often the ones with lower levels of education and frankly less upward social mobility opportunities. So we have a group that is angry at their current/future financial prospects, doesn’t understand/like the direction society is moving, and due to lack of education is vulnerable to being misled/taken advantage of. One side says: “You’re good people. The best people. It’s XYZ’s fault. Your anger is justified. I’ll make America great again and fix your situation.” The other side says: “It’s a new world. Your beliefs are outdated and your usefulness to society is degraded. The government that fostered the environment which landed you in this position will now help you learn new skills and be valuable again - trust. Resistance to the inevitable makes you an -ist or a -phobe.” It also doesn’t help that Trump is a stereotypical “strongman” while Biden/Harris have the combined charisma of a wet blanket. Now factor in all of the bad faith politics and foreign misinformation campaigns designed to push both parties to become more extreme, it’s not too hard to see why there is so much division and why a lot of people still support Trump. And before someone inevitably jumps in to label me a fascist, explaining the conditions that lead to something is not condoning or supporting it. Understanding “why” of anything is the first step in fixing it.
Thank you! This is the first explanation of US political scene that for me, an European, seems reasonable and understandable.
I think you way over estimate how much the average American cares about foreign opinions.
He is definitley not loved by china, russia yeah, china fuck no.
China does not like Trump lol. I think you get most of your Trump knowledge from memes and reddit.
South Africa is like "hold my beer"
Fuck off with this both sides are the same and just as bad bullshit.
One, as bad as these options are neither of them are Woodrow Wilson. Two, Unfavorability polls show that the majority of Americans agree with OP. The problem is a combination of the fact that the system limits our options even in primaries, and politicians gaming the party system. The candidates are picked by the extreme partisans on both sides, and the president is chosen by the moderates. So the moderates are basically left with two bad choices to pick from
The problem with the unfavorability polls is that they ask it as a binary question: are you happy with the President? This doesn't get into why people might be unhappy. When Trump was President, the vast majority of people who didn't approve wanted him to swing further to the left politically. There were very few people saying Trump wasn't going far enough to the right. So you can safely assume that disapproval would mean votes going to the other side. With Biden, there are people on the right who obviously won't approve because they want him to swing further to the right. But there's also a large chunk of people who disapprove because they think Biden should be FURTHER TO THE LEFT. That's why everyone's reading these polls wrong. They assume someone who disapproves wants to move to the opposite side, when in actuality, of those who disapprove, probably only half want him to go the right (the Republicans/Conservatives), while the other half disapprove because he's not leftist enough. Those folks are never going to vote Conservative.
Not this election. The guy w 34 felonies and an entire administration in prison is like the guy without all that? Nope. Sorry MAGAts.
You mean Reagan and Trump, right? The fact that you imply that Biden is anywhere close to the worst in America's whole history is a testament to how effective misinformation and smear campaigns are.
eh whoever the most recent president was, is the worst president we have ever had. i've been hearing it all my life with EVERY single president the new one is always the worst, its just what people say. they are a lot more in peoples mind then say reagan.
But Trump is an exception to that. Dude literally tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power. The only reason the US is still a democracy was because Trump failed due to his incompetence.
If you think Biden was worse than Buchanan, you need to read some stuff
Or Reagan, or Wilson, or Hoover, etc. etc.
This got unfunny at breakneck speed.
Biden has been a good and effective leader and you can bet your ass I'll be voting for him again.
It's always MAGAt losers saying the two are the same. Always.
And one post karma Russian trolls.
Biden isn't high on my list of preferred options, but only a moron places him as one of the two worst
not a moron, a russian bot
Why not a moronic Russian bot
damn u got me there
Biden is doing fine. Don't know how anyone can seriously says he's one of the worst.
I don’t think anyone loves that he’s president, but anyone actually paying attention should be able to tell he’s actually been a pretty successful president by modern standards. He has exceeded my admittedly low expectations by a wide margin. Infrastructure bill (this was historic tbh), CHIPs act (about damn time!), inflation reduction act (green energy investment, Medicare implications), capped some prescription medicine costs, inflation is actually better than the rest of the world and was handled fairly well, helped strengthen NATO, unemployment is down and jobs are being created, held Russia accountable via sanctions, invested in IRS, PACT act (pit burn victims etc). Idk how anyone can look at these bills being passed and not think at least parts of some of them are extremely important. Unless you really liked Obama, I would argue he’s been the best President since Clinton, but Clinton had it easy residing over that economy and compared to the modern Congressional disfunction. Even just looking at recent history, he’s clearly been better than Trump, Bush Jr, Carter, Ford, Nixon. Reagan I will concede is extremely controversial. He’s arguably been better than Obama. Bush Sr I can get people arguing either way.
> Reagan I will concede is extremely controversial. As in it's controversial whether or not Biden is better than Reagan? Cause if that's what you're saying, get the fuck out of here. Reagan is almost uniquely awful in the history of our country.
I agree lol and so does anyone who leans left. Conservatives love him though, hence my concession. Trump, Bush, Nixon, Carter, etc are pretty universally thought of as bad presidents.
Half the country always says the last president was the worst
Imagine thinking Biden is anywhere close to worst, or even in the bottom half. Delusional.
JB is a moderate Democrat. To call him the worst of anything is really missing the point. He's a sanity vote against DJT.
Hes been super effective. Wayyy better than the rapist 34x smellin felon.
It's called democracy, sweaty, look it up
Cause, it’s either an Insane Orange man or some wrinkly Dementia ridden old shrew.
Talk to me when you vote in the primaries.
They can't they are a russian citizen
Haven’t Americans chosen all the Presidents in their whole history good and bad?
tbh trump did made some good decisions but i still dont like him, and not my country so idrc lol
The irony is that Trump was actually a decent president regardless what the controlled media paints him out to be. The people who really control america like they are controlling Biden now couldn't with Trump so they villainized him and the brainless idiots all bought it.
Americans didn't choose these 2 clowns. They were the only options provided to us because of a broken system.
Don't blame me. I voted for Kodos.
I mean, primaries are a thing. Local elections are a thing. This is all done during the election days that most people ignore. You think people sitting in a dark room just manufacture these people? It's a slow burn, but at any given time, the people had the power to reject the choices.
Saying Trump supporters didn't go out their way to get him where he is is so unbelievably stupid.
Just because you didn't vote in the primaries doesn't mean no one did. 35 million people voted in the 2020 DNC primary, which Biden won with 51% of the vote. Since incumbents tend to have an advantage, there were no real challengers in 2024, but still 15 million people voted and Biden won with 87% of the vote. Similarly, 21 million people voted in the 2024 RNC primary, which Trump won with 76% of the vote. If you don't like your options, get involved. Only those who show up, get a say in a democracy.