I have no desire to really get into a political debate as I'm not an American so I don't really care as long as whoever gets chosen doesn't affect my life badly.

I heard people say they voted republican because they disliked Hilary and the other way around. But this seems again to become a battle of Ok let's vote for the lesser evil. is there somewhere written that you have to vote either democrat or republican? I guess it's just history but why is the majority so convinced a third party can't be good? Because it would be a lost vote, a protest vote? Would they make even a bigger mess, well that's hard to say when you are never given a chance. I find this voting system is too black and white. Would such a situation happen in my country both democrats and republican would get a serious beating in the next election.


"Political discussions can, of course, become heated. If you disagree with someone or don't like the content of their posts, simply add the user to your ignore list."

@Box does that apply to your moronic brother-in-law too?

Which makes me think it's pretty much a vicious circle. I find it a sad mentality but of course I'm not an American.

First of all not to piss of the Trump supporters, it's just the image I get from the news sources I have gotten as an non-American.


To be honest if I were an American I wouldn't really trust Trump at all. I mean can you say with a straight face he took the covid virus seriously right away? And now that he got it himself and got 'better' pretty quickly one does wonder if it was that serious.

I mean it's the constant first denying and changing his opinion with the wind that it's hard to take him seriously. Those who go against him are automatically liars. I mean this feels like kill the messenger tactic like they did in the Middle Ages when bad news came not to panic the people. But that just comes back like a boomerang. Facts are no country has more deaths because of the virus than the USA. Of course that's mainly due to people not following the advise of experts (wearing mask, keeping distance etc) but had Trump taken it serious earlier it could have been (a lot) less. I also don't believe he unites the Americans (but I guess neither would the democrats) with the black people against the police riots where it seemed he was just throwing some more oil on the fire. But any news that puts Trump into a negative light he calls fake.


All of this put together it reeks of dictatorship that's the image a lot of people outside the USA get. For Trump it's just a big (TV) show with himself as director and ultimate hero. Is there an independent channel which can put him into a better light, I don't think so. The current ones are again black and white.


Again that is just the image I have formed over 4 years by hopefully independent sources. No president seems to have gotten so much criticism in and outside the USA and most of it is negative.


Just my 2 cents. I have no desire to discuss any further.

Personally, I think covid is overhyped. Not to say that I know a lot of people, but I've never met anyone who's had it in all these months of it being a dire crisis, and nearly everyone I see in public doesn't understand how to wear their mask properly or at all.

Well until you got someone in your family or friends who actually got it or worse dies from it. The husband of a cousin of mine was really hit hard by it and though officially cured he is still feeling bad consequences. Now you are just using the tactic I described earlier. I don't know anyone who has the virus or got really sick or died, so it's far away from me so it doesn't exist or is overhyped. And 'ignoring' the facts that the USA is the worst pupil of the world there. I mean you sound pretty indoctrinated if I hear you speak now.
But let's keep it at this, again politics are a killer of joy. Time for another horror movie...

Well maybe not indoctrinated but you saying covid is overhyped that's exactly what your president already said. That's honestly rather scary if you start to sound like him or use arguments that sound more like oh well we hate the opposition so Trump wins by default and we defend him no matter what happens. I just wonder what would you have said if Hilary had been president and she would have done well but than the pandemic came and the same result like now. Would you have said her fault and that would never have happened had Trump been president?


For the rest I'm with markus. All the good things he does for the Americans that's nice but why would a non-American be interested in US national politics if it doesn't affect people outside the USA? You won't care about European politics either unless it would affect you. Can you name any international decision that puts him into positive light for the non-Americans? Sure there are non-Americans who like Trump or shall I say how he does politics. Some just love it because he doesn't seem to have a filter (big mouths are popular with some) but I have yet to come across a someone who says because he is a competent or intelligent person.

Well that is nothing new. We knew that already in March my friend. What you do forget however is that the recovery from the virus takes much much longer than the flu. Even the ones who are officially cured will still feel rather weak for months. Some might never be the same as they were before. If Trump mentioned that too fair enough but if not he's again underestimating and minimizing it.

So either your place must have all strong people or some kind of immunity or just being the luckiest of all. I buy what I need or what I want. I'll do my job if they ask me too. But I keep my distance and do what I can not to catch or pass the virus. I'm not eager to try catching the virus. I might be unlucky to be an exception where the virus works fast such as an infected healthy nurse when the virus got caught in her heart and she died in a couple of hours. No not prepared to take the risk.

And for the flu there is a vaccine, for covid we are still waiting on that.

I can say just as well you are being pretty dramatic too pal.

Yeah global economic disaster, humanity will go extinct and the planet would be doomed without us. If you are willing to do the sacrifice for global economy I'm not stopping you.

And why you only measure the people over 60?

You mean the real Darth Maul of the fake one in Insidious? I won't ever want to be a SW character though.

You surely have a wrong idea of the definition of pandemic. And than you ask others to do research while you come up with hotchpotch like "If it was a real pandemic people would be stacked and falling in the streets like they predicted" Come on man you can't say you believe that kind of crap?

A pandemic is the worldwide spread of a contagious disease, simple as that.


People literally dying on the street well that happens when the health care is poor or during the middle ages during the plague I guess.

And you are getting good at giving non-answers and ignoring questions now. If you really believe the definition of a pandemic is what you described, how can I take you serious any more in this discussion?

Well it was an unknown virus back in February. Now that people know it better and took appropriate measures it's normal you won't see this kind of thing happening. I'm just wondering why you insist on saying it's not a pandemic as the definition is clear. That people die on the street is not a condition of a pandemic. That is made up by people who have a rather dramatic idea about it.

Well in that case it is mislabeled. When the pandemic broke out in Belgium there wasn't much testing so many deaths were labeled as probably due to covid. But is it a virus that is highly contagious, that has been proven. Even if you show only light symptoms or even none at all you can still pass it to others. I don't agree it is overhyped or maybe a better word is do not minimize and cerrtainly don't underestimate it. If you do such a thing people and certainly younger people did over here at the start (because they weren't into the risk category) that's when you give the virus a free pass. Infections will increase and the death rate becomes higher than during normal periods. So if you have the chance to minimize this then do so and don't think I'm young or I'm healthy or I'm rich enough to get the best treatment. It's a lot about protecting the others from yourself. I would be angry at myself if someone would get infected or worse even die because I passed the virus to this person.

Well I have heard most Democrats voted by mail and they would be counted last. Honestly I don't really see the reason why not everyone would vote by mail; In the current climate with Covid still around I would also vote by mail. Actually I would always vote by mail if that was an option here but that's because I dread going to queue in some office to cast a vote. Oh yeah in Belgium it's compulsory to vote otherwise I might not vote at all.

" It's obvious to all with eyes to see that what's goin on is wrong."
I see what is obvious with wrong conclusions like this.

Actually seems you weren't well informed about the votes by mail. In states like Penssylvania people were allowed to vote by mail until the day of election and all mail that comes 3 days after election count as long as there is a postmark of the Day of election or earlier (an agreement from a Republican governor btw). So what are you going to say now, blame the post offices for slowing this process? So the comparison you make considering Gore and Bush is pretty void. Inform yourself better before you start making conspiracy theories like this. Or do some (republican) sources keep this info secret to the population? Keeping behind info and screaming fraud if it doesn't go the way you want with elections? Again that's the way a dictatorial regime works. Is that what people want? I bet Trump would have been happy if he managed to make the counting stop even if that's a totally undemocratic and tyrranical way as long as it gave him victory. It's actually Trump who is ok with winning no matter how even asking for money to support him in a witch hunt with no proof, seriously? That's how they do it in some African republics.


And also this from the daily mail (UK):

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8918559/Why-crucial-votes-taking-long-count.html

Why the deciding votes are taking SO long to count: Sluggish tallying of mail-ins, fixing ballots one-by-one, ink shortages and printer errors have drawn out the process for days as America and the world waitTwo days after the election, hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots remain uncounted across Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North CarolinaThe tallying process has been sluggish due to an array of factors, including malfunctioning machines, printing errors and a record number of mail-insAlso adding to the delays is unprecedented pressure to make sure the results are right when they do come President Donald Trump on Thursday promised to mount legal battles in all battleground states won by his rival Joe BidenTrump has repeatedly demanded to stop counting because of voter fraud Meanwhile Biden and the Democrats have urged Americans to be patient and insisted that every vote be countedElection officials in the states still up for grabs are doing just that, making sure results are bulletproof in preparation for legal action by the Trump campaign

See my message, actually a lot of postal votes came in later because in certain states votes by mail were allowed 3 days after election day as long there was proof that the vote was done on or before election day. That obviously is the reason in takes longer than expected.

Don't ask me, I didn't make the rules. You gotta ask them. But think about this had they been counted first and Biden would have had an advance that Trump couldn't overcome, I bet Trump would be screaming fraud as well.

At this moment I'm glad I'm not an US citizen or living there, this is just a scary situation. The way how some (most?) republicans blindly follow and repeat Trump's ideas is scary. We have Belgian reporters in the US and even though they do think Biden is a rather weak figure, their critique on Trump is hard. He didn't manage the covid crisis well kept minimizing it, instead of trying to reconcile the parties with the Black Live Matters events he threw oil on the fire,instead of uniting the country he just further divides them (speaking of the Divided States of America) Have a different opinion than the president you are a liar and the enemy. And the situation like is happening now with stop voting crying fraud on voting by mail before it even was executed or counted further deepens the enormous gap between blue and red sympathisants. Situations like this you only expect in a a dictatorial regime. Again not my words but from non-American journalists working there not driven by a republican or democrat agenda. Sure they have positive things to say unemployment was low and econmy did rather well under his reign (mostly pre-covid) but that rather pales at the situation that happened when Covid broke out.

Well it's something you expect to hear from a kid who got its candy stolen or a troll on the internet. Not from a person who rules one of the mightiest nations in the world.

Ballz, see my message above. You didn't know some states agreed on accepting postal votes until 3 days after election day? I find it strange don't you people get this info?

Well the thing is that it's a weird electoral system where you can become president even if you don't have the majority of all votes. Not sure if that is the case in other republics? I personally find it a rather wretched system.