The Politics Thread

[AdelaideCate007]

 

What press? Certainly not the international press and not from any of the US reporters I'm seeing on twitter. I'm watching CNN right now and they're just totally ripping him to shreds over this and saying how damaging this whole this is. Literally the only people still okay with him are right wing people and they were never going to abandon him.

 

 

Also, speaking as a person in one of the countries that was supposedly laughing at the US, I can confirm that we've been inspired by the protestors and are only laughing at him. Even the Trump sycophants here are laughing at him and calling this a complete failure for him.

[DRW50]

 

The problem (in my opinion) is you have performative and "woke" voices on CNN like Cooper or Lemon, who get them praise for speaking truth to power, but you have the bulk of the channel that, as Jeff Zucker said in 2016, benefits from Trump. CNN, MSNBC, and all the rest need him to keep the cash rolling in, which is why you get lots of time spent on things like "you ain't black" or Tara Reade.

 

Stunts like what he did with the Bible today tend to get more push and focus on other forms of media that seem to more actively motivate people, like social media. That's also where you had so many today spend their time ignoring Trump and instead blasting Biden for a misquote (they kept claiming he said protesters should be shot in the leg). It's another way that Trump and the GOP end up winning the overall message war. 

 

Speaking of Biden, I wish he was staying quiet to be honest, because of paragraphs like the above, but he will be speaking again tomorrow.

 

 

[DRW50]

More media pushing. Just shameful.

 

 

[Taoboi]

That is DISGUSTING.

 

 

[Khan]

"Hey hey! Ho ho! The New York Times has got to go!"

[Vee]

 

But how does that track? Biden's gaffe on The Breakfast Club didn't last outside a day. The Bible stunt has backfired monstrously everywhere, including social media. (I see a lot of twitter and I don't know anything about Biden + shooting someone in the leg) We can't claim Trump is winning the message war on social media bc of fringe stuff, then claim social media never truly benefits us. We can't discount people showing up for Biden there when he showed up on the streets this past weekend, either. I just feel it's needlessly defeatist.

 

As for Biden's speech, I thought it was very good and seems to have gone over well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DRW50]

 

If not for the narratives in 2016, I'd be more hopeful, but in 2016 so much slowly went from social media to mainstream coverage. And now with Biden we have mainstream coverage the last few days of him hiding (getting much more coverage than his speech), or not caring about younger voters, which both went from Twitter to the major media. The NYT is at it again today:

 

 

I feel like those of us who are voting for Biden are mostly just immune to all the consistent numbing material that is used by the press to help Trump. I've never seen someone who is down by 5 in a major poll have multiple 'mainstream' outlets talk about how good it is for him. There is such a vested agenda in his reelection and I think they are only just getting ramped up. I hope it doesn't work, but it's hard to believe after what happened before. 

Edited June 2, 2020 by DRW50

[Vee]

Most of the "Biden hiding" stuff was loudly pushed back on on social media. The narrative did not play for the public and did not poll out. You can't automatically assume one will succeed whenever it appears. And outside of the occasional boneheaded NYT cover headline I am not seeing any of this supposedly hugely positive coverage for Trump. Politically, it's been a disaster.

 

I don't spend all my time in an echo chamber. I do see how stuff plays. But you can't simultaneously say social media won't matter vs. corporate narratives, while constantly worrying about what people are saying on relatively obscure pockets of social media. You can't do both.

[DRW50]

 

The problem is the pockets of social media tend to have a pipeline to large press outlets. For instance, during the primaries, some big paper reporters like Dave Weigel were very close to those Chapo losers, to the point of retweeting their gross rape and murder fantasy material. It trickles up (or down). The fringe also helped push the Tara Reade story into the mainstream. 

 

Ideally this pipeline won't be as effective as it was in 2016, but it's still there and still seems to churn out results. 

[marceline]

 

One of the interesting things about Biden's campaign has been that his success spits in the face of political Twitter. That tweet from Jonathan Martin tries to make it about age but really more about the fact that Biden campaigned to appeal to offline voters not Twitter pundits.

 

If Biden wins, a lot of narratives about 2016 will die. The Chapo left knows that. That's part of why they hate Biden so much. It's not his policies or personality, it's that they know he can kill their grift.

[JaneAusten]

I think Marceline is right. There is so much political grifting on twitter including the press and media who will do anything to push the extreme narratives. I think that Martin tweet is an example of how tone deaf some of them are. Biden also talked about real legislative policies - 4 to be accurate - that should be passed now including legislation  against choke holds and other extreme measures by police and the elimination of weapons of war in the hands of police departments. I am not sure how those points don't resonate. Is it enough no nor did he indicate it was - but it was something congress could do now. He also addressed how necessary  the involvement of the younger generation is to the future and rebuilding efforts. I don't expect him to talk like Killer Mike or even President Obama. He'd sound phony and ridiculous. His addressing loss is not generational and is something that resonates with everyone.

[marceline]

 

This is part of why I think his lead will continue to grow. We're a nation in pain and by November the deaths from both COVID and police killings will be astronomic. Come November it's very likely that most Americans will know at least one person who died of the virus and a lot of those dead will have come from the protests. We will soon be looking at people who gave their lives and health to stand up for George Floyd.

 

I think a lot of people who didn't want to will gravitate to Biden because he can and will speak to their pain.

 

 

[DRW50]

Notorious white nationalist Steve King has lost his Congressional seat.

 

 

On the one hand, I'm not even sure if the guy who beat him is any better, and this makes it much harder for the Democrat to win in November, but King was such complete and total scum, a monster, that I am still glad he lost, and this week of all weeks. 

[Wendy]

 

From what I just read, the Democratic challenger has a massive $$$$ chest to work with, so that may help.

[Vee]

An entertaining thread.