US Presidential election

Confirmed: Biden beats Trump to take the Whitehouse…

| Readers 2740

Joe Biden becomes the 46th President of the United States. He is the oldest President and also only the 2nd Catholic to hold the post. After winning Pennsylvania he has 274 electoral college votes with some states still to be called Kamala Harris also makes history by becoming the first female Vice President and woman of colour “Trump & Biden” by ekaden is licensed under CC BY-SA Brian O'NeillI help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as …

Read more…

To become president, Biden needs to win two out of Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada and Georgia or win Pennsylvania…

| Readers 2298

The glacial pace of the US Election count continues, but the end might be in sight today. Biden has taken the lead in Georgia and is drawing closer to overtaking Trump in Pennsylvania. Hopefully today we should see a winner but who knows, this election has had so many twists and turns. JUST IN: Joe Biden takes +1097 lead in #Georgia over Donald Trump. If he wins Southern state, would block Trump’s path to 270. https://t.co/p7sxQ8Y0A0 — Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) …

Read more…

Trump demands ‘Stop the count!'(whatever that means)…

| Readers 3469

We have not had many posts about the US Election as frankly, we are as stunned by it all as the rest of you probably are. Game of Thrones could not come up with storylines as bonkers as we are seeing unfold in the states. The tension is phenomenal, I am obsessively checking the New York Times homepage. The latest twist is Trump demanding they stop the count: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1324353932022480896?s=20 Like most things about Trump, this statement does not make any …

Read more…

Final US Presidential Debate 2020: Trump v Biden…

| Readers 1720

The final presidential debate was a lot more moderate in tone and controlled than the previous one. Both candidates were mostly respectful towards each other and largely adhered to the debating rules. We actually got to hear them speaking without the other continually interrupting. However, will their views on the issues make any difference to voting intention at this late stage in the 2020 presidential election? Below, I have covered the issues discussed that would be of interest to an …

Read more…

Vice Presidential Debate 2020: Pence v Harris…

| Readers 1484

The Vice Presidential Debate 2020 was a welcome return to debating normality from the insults and shouting of the Presidential debate between Trump and Biden in the previous week. Both Mike Pence and Kamala Harris were respectful towards each other and kept the debate focused on policy, where many key differences between them were explored. I thought both candidates were actually better than their respective presidential running mates, making them worthy successors to Trump or Biden should either have to …

Read more…

Would you vote for a politician who does not like dogs?

| Readers 1115

This is one of the best election ads you will see: This US Election Campaign will go down in history as one of the most bad-tempered ones ever, so how do you break through the noise? Dogs of course. How does not like dogs? Well, it seems the Donald does not like dogs (I know, not exactly a surprise). This ad is genius as it cuts through all the negativity to make a simple point ‘Choose your humans wisely’. Photo …

Read more…

US Presidential Debate 2020: Policy Differences…

| Readers 1160

If you watched the US Presidential Debate 2020 between Donald Trump and Joe Biden hoping for a detailed policy discussion, you would be very disappointed. The debate largely descended into trash-talking, insults and wild accusations. There was some policy discussion to be had, of which I have salvaged from an hour-and-a-half of headache-inducing yelling – and interestingly, the debate segment on climate change was probably the most productive and civil: Supreme Court Trump defended his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett …

Read more…

Speech Wars: Trump v Biden…

| Readers 3333

Both speeches of the two US presidential candidates at their respective party’s national convention accepting their party’s nomination are very different, only sharing a few similarities. Both Trump and Biden believe the upcoming US presidential election will be the most important of all – though don’t all candidates say that? They say this for different reasons, though: For Trump, “this election will decide if we save the American dream or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished …

Read more…

In a state of shock, an early verdict. Trump has no baggage. He starts with a clean sheet

| Readers 1865

I went to bed confident of victory. I came to in shock.  That was on 24 June. Last night it happened all over again. Trump was right about something. The  establishment keep getting it wrong.  With the election of a defiant anarchic outsider, it  surely marks the end of  dynastic politics in America. And yet there’s life in the establishment yet. So it was Brexit plus, plus, plus after all.  While the world is not going through a repeat of …

Read more…

Vote Nobody 2016!

| Readers 320

Ahead of the third, and final [thankfully! – Ed], televised debate between the Republican and Democratic parties candidates for US President, BBC Trending reports on the campaigns for the best person for the job – none of the above! Survey show that dissatisfaction with the two major party candidates is particularly acute amongst young people. According to one survey released Tuesday, nearly a quarter of voters under 35 would prefer to see a giant meteor hit Earth rather than have either …

Read more…

#Trump v #Redacted: The Donald attacks The Denis

| Readers 568

As if the never-ending US Presidential election campaign was not surreal enough, yesterday Donald Trump issued a statement attacking Hillary Clinton, entitled: Follow The Money: Denis O’Brien – Another Corrupt Clinton Friend. And it’s only ‘semi-exact‘ to call it a statement. It’s actually a set of news clippings all studiously referenced and hyperlinked back to their original source, each prefaced with a heading. The first half details a series of articles establishing the (not exactly secret) links between the Clintons and O’Brien. …

Read more…

What’s the matter with Hillary?

| Readers 1167

At last two pieces which go to the heart of why Donald Trump is rampant and Hillary Clinton is faltering. The plain fact is that people like their politicians to inspire or at least identify with their problem and fears.  Mrs Clinton is a poor speaker and comes across as an over-calculating policy wonk who does neither. Remember  those visits to Belfast showing support for the peace process  which continued even after we were thrown off the international news agenda? …

Read more…

Watch Hillary Clinton’s very funny Trump attack ad…

| Readers 1977

As the Donald becomes the last Republican presidential candidate standing, the Clinton camp put out this very effective attack video. The video features clips of every major Republican figure slatting Trump. "Donald Trump says he's a ""unifier."" He's not wrong.https://t.co/lEN8VDfa6r — The Briefing (@TheBriefing2016) May 5, 2016 Trump was once a joke but now he just got very serious. Do you think he has a chance of winning the Whitehouse? Or will Hillary be the first female US President? Brian O'NeillI help …

Read more…

#DemDebate Live Blog – (Kicking off at 2am BST)

| Readers 384

My good friend Ollie has been kind enough to offer to live-blog this evening’s US Democratic debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernard Sanders, from New York City where he will be attending it for us. The debate starts at 9 pm, 2 am for many of our British and Irish readers. He’ll introduce himself here in a little bit, but I’d just wanted to say a warm word of welcome, and to tip off all of you who might happen to …

Read more…

A wry view of the US presidential candidates….

| Readers 1205

It seems to have been going on for ever but the truth is, it hasn’t even started yet. I am of course, referring to the greatest political show on earth, the US presidential election. This year’s crop of hopefuls contains demonstrates once again the diversity of America’s millionaire class. In addition to middle-aged white guys, there is an African-American, a Jew, a Latino and a Canadian, who is also a Latino. Why there is even a woman. Let’s take a …

Read more…

Will Hillary Clinton be the first female US President?

| Readers 631

After years of teasing and speculation, Hillary Clinton yesterday announced her bid for the White House. Barack Obama was the first black president, will Hillary be the first female? On the face of it the omens look good. Demographic changes of an increasing Hispanic vote mean many Republicans fear they may never reclaim the White House. Hillary has an impressive CV – from First Lady to New York Senator, to Secretary of State. On the negative side it really does …

Read more…

Obama’s coalition: what’s the NI alternative?

| Readers 56
Democrat donkey

What can NI parties learn from Obama’s continued success at the polls? Last night was a night to sleep. November 2008 was a night to stay up and watch the US Presidential election results. Wakening up this morning at 6am was early enough to catch Governor Romney’s short and sweet concession speech (did he even bother to mention the military?) followed a good while later by Obama’s more upbeat acceptance speech. Unlike four years ago, Obama wasn’t in an outdoor …

Read more…

Visual Comment of the Week

| Readers 48

Borrowing an idea from the FT’s resident cartoonist, Ingram Pinn, I will be submitting a cartoon every Sunday to Slugger giving a visual comment on the week past. So hopefully this will be the first of many to come. I’ve also teamed up with Aaron Callan who’ll be working alongside me on this weekend project providing analysis on the week’s main event. And so over to Aaron: I would like to welcome you all to my first blog for Slugger …

Read more…