LogFAQs > #963804240

Lobomoon posted...

In the last two elections all the presidential candidates were eliminated long before the election, except for Trump - a joke candidate to give people an illusion of choice.

I'm sorry, but you don't know what you're talking about. It sounds very much like you have been learning about the US through the propaganda of another country (perhaps Russia): nobody who lives in the US would view our system that way, and there's NOTHING we love to do more than complain about our system.

A few points:
1) The non-finalist candidates in US Presidential elections are eliminated before the elections...using ordinary citizen VOTING. Ordinary people voted for their favorite finalists, and those that won were the final candidates. Anyone can run, so long as they have enough backing or (unfortunately) money. It's not a perfect system and, yes, money and power still have influence, but outsiders can absolutely win. For example...
2) The leaders in Trump's (Republican) party HATED (and many still hate) him. He's an outsider (and a selfish crackpot), and they didn't want him. If the Republican leaders were offering an "illusion of choice" we NEVER would have had Trump. Trump was elected because he got the (uneducated) voters behind him and won with the backing of low level people.
3) That would never, ever happen in Russia no matter how much your leaders try to tell you that they are no different than the US. It simply isn't true.
4) Jan 6th was an attempt by a minority of the US population to overthrow democracy and keep Trump in power illegally. It was nasty and ugly, but it failed. We in the US need to continue to fight to keep democracy, but we still have it...for now. Russia has never had true democracy, though: only the appearance of democracy.
5) I still can't figure out your Trump quote. Are you making fun of him by attributing that quote to him? Are you trying to convince Americans that we should make peace because you think we like Trump? I can't count the numbers of ways that sounds ridiculous coming out of Trump...and he didn't originate that quote.

Aaand...I could point out how hard Russia/Putin tried to interfere by hurting Clinton and/or helping Trump in 2016 (not even counting the issue that got Trump impeached, which may or may not have been a big problem) but that's enough for now.
The US has problems, but the level of democracy in Russia vs the US is still night and day.