As American politics continues to evolve, we are seeing a shift in behaviors that are considered disqualifying for the office of the presidency.

Apparently, now it is disqualifying to:

• Be nominated by a political party without the specific approval of the opposing party
• Be elected to the post of Vice President of the United States
• Be elected to the post of U.S. Senator
• Be elected to the post of Attorney General of the largest state in the nation
• Be elected to the post of District Attorney of a major U.S. city
• Fail to keep W-2 forms from part-time employment 40 years ago

Alternatively, some actions that might previously have been seen as disqualifying are apparently no problem for much of the electorate:

• Felony conviction
• Inability to obtain a security clearance
• Pending felony indictments in multiple jurisdictions
• Attempted to disrupt electoral vote certification to remain in office after losing re-election attempt
• Mismanaged pandemic response contributing significantly to deaths of thousands of Americans
• Betrayed U.S. allies in Afghanistan and Syria (Kurds).
• Banned from doing business in home state following investigation for widespread fraudulent practices
• Found to have committed sexual assault in civil defamation trial
• Failed to achieve signature campaign promises including building a wall and forcing Mexico to pay for it, replacing the Affordable Care Act, investing $550 billion in infrastructure, deporting all illegal immigrants, growing economy by 4 percent a year, Expelling China from Word Trade Organization (WTO), freezing hiring of federal workers, increasing the size of the U.S. Army, balancing the federal budget, and releasing his tax returns
• Been ranked as the worst president in U.S. history by a panel of historians
• Be described as “unfit to serve as president” by more than a dozen members of his administration or senior members of his party
• Twice impeached
• Only impeached president ever to have members of own party vote to convict
• Be described by members of own cabinet as “an (effing) moron,” “shouldn’t be anywhere near the oval office,” “dangerous and unfit,” “a threat to democracy.”
• Damaged nation’s credibility with allies and other nations by withdrawing from international agreements
• Drastically reduced number of refugees allowed into the United States under humanitarian programs while doing nothing to remove illegal immigrants already here
• Took the word of a foreign dictator over the advice and counsel of his own intelligence community
• Was clowned by dictator of North Korea
• Allowed Iran to resume its nuclear weapons development program
• Saw the largest one-year increase in murder since the data has been compiled in the 1960’s during his term

There’s more I guess, but this will do for now.

October 27, 2024

image: https://statathlon.com/the-correlation-analysis-of-scored-goals-and-red-cards/