The Politics Thread

[DRW50]

@Vee Thanks for the article. It's very much worth reading - I think we all knew how truly hateful and bigoted these people are, but seeing it in their own words (and knowing just how much they run this country) is sobering.

[DramatistDreamer]

I read that article this morning. Nothing these individuals say surprises me. They gave themselves away all during their teardown strategy for affirmative action (to which the same entities that supposedly emerged triumphant are still finding reason to complain about their insecurities).

[Vee]

It doesn't quite square the circle with the NYT quietly seeming to avoid the part of their strategy which involved courting papers including the Times to propagate their material, which they did successfully. But yes, it's overall a good piece.

[DRW50]

You're right. I have no trust in that paper. They have so much to answer for (as do the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Washington Post, etc.). I am just glad to see some part of the mask ripped off.

Edited January 22, 2024 by DRW50

[Vee]

Ron DeSantis' Weirdest Campaign Moments

[DramatistDreamer]

New York Times, as a local paper that reports on issues affecting the NY Metropolitan area and Tri-state is still effective at that type of reporting but otherwise, they are too busy trying to play both ends against the middle, with the mistaken belief that they can somehow capture subscribers from the Fox News Channel crowd. A losing strategy, as they will discover in due time. In the meantime, they alienate what used to be their core subscribers and potential subscribers with this both sides are equally bad dross. I guess with NYC being a majority immigrant city, that type of “diversity is scary” reporting would never work. Their Metro section is also probably the one section that they don’t rabidly paywall all the time.

[Juliajms2]

And she will soon enough. I was hoping one of these Republicans would be a buffer between Trump and the nomination, but they are falling faster and easier than the 2016 candidates. He didn't even deign to debate these poor bastards. 

So much depends on the health of two 80 year old men and the vagaries of the American public. It's terrifying. 

[Vee]

 

[Khan]

If Biden is in danger of losing the "youth vote," then it's because the youth in this country are too damn busy griping about the trees and not paying any attention to the rest of the forest.  They are stuck on this concept that "both sides are equally bad," which, to me, only proves just how easy life has been for many of them (and probably will continue to be, even if/when Trump is re-elected).  They are too narcissistic and too coddled to understand that societies cannot function without some compromises.

Sigh.  Once again, it's gonna be up to us black folks to save the rest of y'all from yourselves.  SMDH.

The other GOP candidates were easier to pick off this time around for one simple reason: they weren't Donald Trump.  Even Ron DeWhatshisface, who is literally just Trump in red boots, was overlooked, because what the GOP base wants is not someone who agrees with Trump, but rather, they want Trump himself; and they will continue to want him until he finally croaks.

IOW, they're a cult.

[DRW50]

That was a good read and expresses one of the reasons I don't have a good feeling about November - so many younger voters have just given up or are embracing fatalism by supporting Trump and claiming he will be better than Biden on Israel/Palestine - the one thing that matters for many of these voters. I do wish they hadn't included David Axelrod, who seems to be credited as some kind of impartial observer even though he's been critical of pretty much all aspects of Biden for years now.

I do think Biden governed differently over the last few years, although part of that is down to Democrats losing the House (the other part is probably his new chief of staff).

[Khan]

I'd love to ask those younger voters why they think Trump will be different from Biden on Israel/Palestine, lol.  If anything, I think Trump would be even more gung ho about Bibi and Israel.

[DRW50]

Their response is often "well if they are the same I just won't vote for either of them!" and then they claim, as many on the dead end left often do, that Trump can be molded and is more of a potential socialist hero than Biden will ever be.

So much of this is posturing and optics, egged on by social media. Face the Nation, arming up the pro-Trump propaganda, had a focus group of Democrats who will not vote for Biden because of this issue, and one woman made sure to let us know what a big martyr she was by saying she won't vote based on protecting her reproductive rights because women in Palestine have no rights either. 

(one of the other panelists works for CAIR, which they decided not to mention)

This type of self-loathing on reproductive or lgbt rights is also why so many of that crowd happily support Hamas, or Putin, even though they would be literally torn apart by their heroes.

Edited January 23, 2024 by DRW50

[Vee]

I don't know that that's any more than usual tbh, nor will it produce a huge new youth vote than before IMO. I am not horribly worried about November, yet at the same time I'm incredibly nauseous about facing down the rest of this brutal election year and even daring to take the risk. If that makes sense.

[Juliajms2]

The selfishness is breathtaking. They are so high on their self righteousness that they don't care about how many people they hurt. Not just their fellow Americans, but world wide.

Personally, I wouldn't bet on what Trump will do on the Israel/Palestine issue. If he started talking about nuking Gaza once he gets in office, I wouldn't be shocked. If he decided to cut all funding to Israel and call for it's dismantling, I wouldn't be surprised at that either. The least surprising would be if he called for both outcomes in a 24 hour period. What I am sure of is he does not care about the horrific suffering happening or how to end it. 

These are the same fools that threw other people under the bus over student loans in 2016. Biden has done what he could on that issue too, but nothing is enough for some of them. I used to be much more sympathetic to Socialist Democrats, but the passive support for Trump slapped me out of that last time around.

[Vee]

I'm not going to debate what Trump would do on Israel and Palestine because I do not believe he's not getting back in office.