this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2024
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[–] [email protected] 135 points 3 months ago (3 children)

It's pushing us into extremely weird territory to have two candidates this unpopular.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

There’s no pushing. We were already in extremely weird territory when the news media can present the candidates so dishonestly that Biden is at all unpopular.

He forgave hundreds of billions of dollars in students loans, reduced income inequality for the first time in god knows how long, increased working class wages even when adjusted for historically massive inflation, raised corporate tax by a MASSIVE amount in order to fund all of the above, and also spent a trillion dollars on trying to address climate change, like the first time ever that a US presidency actually tried to do something about it in a big way, which is way too little way too late but that’s not his fault.

His opponent is a literal pants shitting moron who goes on weird tirades about toilets and windmills; even the truest of true believers often walk out of his speeches before they are finished, because they are unhinged and random and, at the end of the day, uninteresting. His campaign priorities are cartoonishly evil. Beyond cartoonish. They sound like a joke. He wants to kill foreigners, throw his political opponents in prison, and make friends with our nation’s worst enemies siding with them against American soldiers and American people. He wants to ban contraception and porn, and dismantle the Department of Education and the FDA. And the FBI. And NOAA.

And yet, somehow, the news manages to present such a distorted landscape that “Biden is very old and shit the bed at the debate” is like the most relevant thing everyone is trying to talk about, even now, a month later, when it is objectively undeniable that the great mass of the Democratic electorate doesn’t give a shit about it and cares more about all that earlier stuff. As well they should. They are, surprisingly enough, not as stupid as you and the news keep consistently, relentlessly, dishonestly, pretending that they are.

I won’t say that distorted media creation won’t succeed, and get Trump elected, against whoever his opponent turns out to be. But yes, it will be extremely weird (as well as absolutely infuriating for those of us who live in America and have to experience what might happen under a second Trump presidency) how we got here and what destination we’ve arrived at.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

For all your talk and posts why do you not push Chase Oliver, both sides claim third party is death, but literally every normal person I know is Fuck Biden and Fuck Trump, and no polls say either have actually support. Support is literally all tea party and blue no matter who, and these whack jobs wonder why Regular folks are angry, but its all manufactured? Inflation isnt real and the economy is the best ever, like everybody hates trump and Biden fucked that up, i have workers (poc) tell me a racist president is bad but i didnt have to budget milk for my kids, Trump was way better than Biden. But somehow people tell me this crazy? Like maybe you got alot of investments but regular folk dont care the nasdaq rose today especially when they have to tell their kids I cant

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Because the reason all third parties fail is that the first-past-the-post counting of votes makes it mathematically impossible. A third party will necessarily steal more votes from one side than the other, making said other side win

[–] [email protected] -3 points 3 months ago

And do you know anyone who wants to vote Trump Or Biden? Arguably he would only take the stay at home vote, cause idk any Biden or Trump supporters and I am screaming Chase Oliver far and wide

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You forgot the part where he literally raped children and argued after the fact about who deserved to claim one of their virginities.

Allegedly.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Dude it is IMPOSSIBLE to list bad things Trump did without missing some huge ones

Hey did you know his estranged ex-wife died by falling down the stairs, and she’s buried on his property?

I’m not saying that automatically definitively means anything. But tell me one other human being on the planet who that combination of circumstances ever happened to.

Or, alternately, one other human being who was once involved with Trump for which he gives any kind of a shit any which way about where they should be buried.

I’ll wait.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Dude it is IMPOSSIBLE to list bad things Trump did without missing some huge ones.

This right here is no fucking joke. I tried to list shit he's done off the top of my head, and after around twenty items, i still forgot January fucking 6th. That's like, the crown jewel, and it totally slipped my mind.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (2 children)

and she’s buried on his property?

Wasn't there some speculation about tax codes and cemeteries?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

Nah, he had her buried under his golf course so he could cheat on her one last time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Crimeception

As with so many Trump things, the overlapping crimes, for whatever weird reason, actually make it more difficult to prosecute any single one.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

I always thought of his administration as DDOSing the justice system.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 months ago

If it weren’t for the political realities of how voting works under first-past-the-post, the progressive wing of the Democratic party could have easily split off into a separate party whose younger leadership and willingness to push for actually-meaningful change could probably have run circles around the Dems at this point.

...Man, I really wish I could vote for a presidential candidate that I actually believed in, instead of this "vote for the status-quo neoliberal or democracy dies" bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 181 points 3 months ago (4 children)

The difference is Biden unpopularity is due to uncertainty while trumps is due to EXTREME certainty that he’s a piece of garbage

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Yeah, that's very well stated.

[–] [email protected] 126 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Biden unpopularity is due to uncertainty

Which I don't understand. I'm certain Biden won't institute project 2025 so the choice should be obvious.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

That's because undecided voters are entirely vibes based and don't give a shit about anything else

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Uncertainty my ass. Joe Biden is running on an excellent record. He is running on his policies.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 3 months ago

I am voting for him but this recession we aren't calling a recession isn't helping his chances

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

People don't care about policies.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Worst case scenario for Biden is he's mostly absent and his cabinet has to guide him through policies making the Democratic party mostly in control.

Which is pretty much exactly what Trump's first term was adding in a lot of grift and pointless spite.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

But that's almost exactly what the president is supposed to do. Like forget Bidens mental state right now, just talking about any president, one of the main reasons aside from their "vision" we vote for them is for their ability to judge individuals capabilities or to have the capability of knowing how to find those people. The administration should ideally be made up of experts in their respective areas that will guide the president. He just makes the final call as to whether to listen or not, we shouldn't expect him to know everything and to be able to work without "the administration."

It's one of the main reasons I loath Trump. I hate him as a person, but as a president I hate that he wants "yes men." He doesn't want guidance, he wants subservience to follow his will. That's one of the bigger problems with project 2025 as well, their purity tests and seeking of more "yes men" will cripple the government as they aren't lead by anything other than orders from above.

All that said, Biden does have to comprehend the guidance he's being given. All we can see from Biden is how he operates behind a camera and on the spot. I don't know if anyone has spoken about his capacity when he's "working." (Massive copium hit.)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

And while there are exceptions (looking at you Garland), most of Biden's team are pretty solid. For example, I would keep Lena Khan exactly where she is regardless of which Democrat is in charge. He's got a lot more young smart staff than he gets credit for.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

If you narrow your scope to just the presidency maybe. The real worst case scenario is he completely fails to run an effective campaign and creates a huge red wave sweeping a big group of fascists into power.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

He doesn't need a wave of them. He just needs to let this one in and it's all over.

Again, though, see how successful humphries was in 68. Don't change horses.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Don’t change horses.

When the horse is dead you will not ride anywhere with it, period.

At least since half a year serious people talk about the fact that Biden is becoming too old for office and shows dementia. The DNC had a good year and quite frankly they should have already planned Bidens succession the moment he got into office. It was clear on Jan 6 that they need a new generation that can inspire and has the strength to fight against the Reps.

Now with every week passing Biden will show more and more that he is an old man whose mental capacities are diminishing at an alarming rate. Staying on this horse is a guaranteed win for the Republicans. Heck, even if Biden was voted in, he'll die of natural causes or become a vegetable within the next year. This will be a prime moment for the Reps to tear apart whatever Dem administration would try to emerge from that.

The only solution is a change of generation in the DNC. The old cabal will hand the nation over to fascism otherwise.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I think there is a world of difference between a Trump presidency with a democratic house and senate and a Republican supermajority. While both of these are unlikely, how close we are to one or the other will make a big difference in how effective the fascist takeover will be.

I personally think Trump is likely to win no matter who the candidate but having a stronger candidate will have a meaningful effect on other races that matter greatly.

Humphrey is only a single data point. We can’t draw much of a conclusion from a single event. Maybe Humphrey lost due to the nomination process but I think it’s more likely he was just a weaker candidate. Particularly regarding his pro-Vietnam war stance which was very controversial at the time.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 3 months ago

For real. Also I doubt Biden will try to start a coup to stay in power

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago (3 children)

There's nothing uncertain about Biden at this point. It's a matter of being in denial or anger.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

It's too bad there's no plan-b if he does actually get impaired for real during his administra-- oh wait. There is.

And she'd only be more awesome if she dragged an eligible AOC in as her vice. Asses kicked, names taken.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Sir. You seem to have forgotten about inconsolable hopelessness.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think they call that acceptance.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

*golf claps* Well played.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think what they're getting at is that we're uncertain the extent age will affect his duties. Will his cabinet and other advisors be really "in control," or will Biden insist on his way forcing others to kowtow. It is certain that the dude is old as hell and if it were he alone, he would be incapable of the job. Since there's a staff and a ton of advisors, the degree of control they have is, well, uncertain.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's already clear that the extent is large and growing, whether it's dementia or Parkinson's doesn't really matter. He's effectively a puppet now, and it's not going to get better. He has minor slip ups in the completely controlled environment they try to keep him in. It's denial to pretend it won't get worse, or it's not actually that bad.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think you're wrong, but even if you're right, who cares? He's got a solid team behind him.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

If you're ok with a choice of overt fascism or a blank sheet of paper that is terrifying.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

If making that choice is at all difficult for you, that is terrifying.