The Politics Thread

[MissPhoenixGirl92]

If Trump wins and he succeeds in implementing Project 2025, I don't stand a chance in hell in surviving his regime. I'm not only disabled but I also have some physical and mental health issues that makes fighting a fascist regime extremely unlikely. I hope that if possible I get the opportunity to flee this country to someplace better but I don't think that's possible, especially since there aren't a whole lot of countries that will allow in people with disabilities. I also have a lot of old and sick relatives in my family that I'm worried about potentially leaving behind, and that's the last thing I want to do. I may have to prepare myself for the possibility that I may be shipped off to a concentration camp along with hundreds of thousands of other people and I may die there. 

Anyways, I wish Kamala Harris the absolute best of luck because she's going to need it especially since she's going to be facing a serious uphill battle for the next couple of months. I hope that I am actually wrong and she actually has what it takes to beat Trump because we need a miracle that will save our democracy from certain doom. 

[marceline]

I checked my ActBlue account and I've donated about $15,000 over the last six years. It's not Clooney money but it was important to me. I feel like an idiot. I should've bought a car or a few more trips to Broadway.

[Vee]

I can't fault for anyone feeling how they feel. As I said, while Bidenworld made some of their own real mistakes I think the way this whole process was handled in the public eye was shameful, disgraceful and unnecessary. The stories that have already come out are not great, what comes out later will be worse for people we previously admired. Even if someone can make an argument that Joe had to go, this didn't have to happen the way it did. But that's a whole other can of worms. I was thinking earlier about something else.

What most often gets lost is how impactful and transformative a president Joe Biden actually has been - it's come out in all the post-Sunday pre-eulogies of course, but even I, someone who kept fairly abreast of the administration's moves, found myself being reminded of some and saying 'oh yeah, what about that?'

The reality is Biden's record and achievements have been notoriously and shamefully underreported, by a press that not only disdained him personally, regularly joked among themselves about what percentage 'dead' he was at press pools, were bored by the Biden WH's lack of access and leaks, and missed the drama of the Trump years and the fun rough and tumble neo-Nazis who would call them and gossip all night. Most of them also just had no head for policy, or no interest in policy as set by Democrats vs. on Republican or right-wing think tank terms, which often bear out the conventional wisdom in Washington. If a Democrat did it they start tuning out. That's how you got all the headlines about the economy being bad despite it not being bad, followed by the endless vibes pieces - 'if the economy is good, why doesn't it FEEL like it?' The media was not interested in reporting on fiscally responsible Democrats because they've never been, because it doesn't fit their priors. And so then you end up with a segment of the public who in turn believes this falsehood. Among others. 

We can attribute a great deal of the drag on Biden's approval numbers over the last four years - and the fact that too few of the general public know what he's done, what he did and what he could do - to a press that had zero interest in reporting on it. Because it wasn't fun, it wasn't access, it wasn't gossip or balls and strikes.

If the Democratic Party wants to learn to combat this they have to finally accept that the old way of handling media is over and that they have to make their case much more forcefully, and with more outlets and consistent efforts, rather than simply doing the work and then hoping the media will play fair with them. Too many in the party still think that the media are their friends who just need to listen and understand, and then they'll do the right thing. That's not how this works anymore. We have to work the refs much better than we do. The right wing has been doing it for over 50 years.

There's no doubt that the debate was an unforced error. If not for that night I think it's fair to say very little of this happens. But if the press had been forcefully made the case for Biden's record by the party (not just the WH, but so many fairweather folks in Congress who were out for themselves), and given no space not to report on it, the fundamental injury to Joe's numbers that got us to this moribund election cycle and created the preexisting paranoia from donors might not have existed. Too few people have to be educated in 2024 on what Joe has done, and that is a key reason he was weakened in the first place. The party has got to learn that the press isn't here to be fair.

Edited July 22, 2024 by Vee

[Vee]

Kamala is live (the USA Today feed sucks):

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Joe is on speakerphone/Zoom as well with her.

That was a lovely ending: "God bless you and God bless the United States of America, and Joe Biden."

[janea4old]

Kamala campaign has raised 81 million dollars in the past 24 hours.
Yes $81,000,000.00

Edited July 22, 2024 by janea4old

[Juliajms2]

I've seen this type of comment several times on my feed. Are we really supposed to pretend that being Jewish isn't a potential problem? I don't think acknowledging reality makes us bigots. That's one area where the far right and far left come together. The demand that people deny facts and reality astounds me.

[Vee]

At this point I would rather run a good politician who can win Pennsylvania than care if he's circumcised.

[Khan]

I agree.

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Or you could've given it to me!  Just sayin'!

But seriously.  Don't feel that all the money and time you've donated over the years has been for nothing.  I believe it has made a difference, even if it's a difference you can't see right off the bat.

At the end of the day, the rich donors who control all the political parties in this country are like any Goliath.  We just haven't found the right slingshot to slay them with yet.

Edited July 22, 2024 by Khan

[Juliajms2]

Do you remember when Trump's advisors came up with a plan to tackle him if he tried to use the nuclear football? I just can't believe he's even on the ticket again after that came out.

Anyone who thinks they aren't going to be directly affected by having that man in office again is sorely mistaken. If he doesn't get us nuked, the environmental deregulation alone will speed up the climate crisis.

The second point I highlighted is so true. I get the frustration people feel right now. I have no compassion for anyone who votes for him, but many innocent people are trying to stand against him. They do not deserve to have this madman in charge again.

Of course, but you aren't a Jew hater. Antisemitism has been off the charts recently. 

[Vee]

Non-paywall link here.

You don't have to tell this Jew. I'd still run him.

Edited July 22, 2024 by Vee

[Khan]

That goes along with the argument I've been making on X (with one of the stars of TV's "Becker," of all people, lol) regarding why I don't believe we are ready for a gay VP.

Theoretically, any potential running mate's faith (or sexual preference, or ethnicity, or gender affiliation, or...I could go on) shouldn't be an issue as to whether they could help Kamala Harris win the election or preside over the country.  All that should matter are their record and overall competency for the job.

However, there simply is no denying the fact that Donald Trump has emboldened a lot of folks to disparage and attack anyone who is not white, Christian, heterosexual or genetically male.  Even if you believe that someone like Josh Shapiro or Pete Buttigieg would be an ideal VP pick for Harris - and believe me, I think either would be fantastic! - you still have to know that supporting them comes with enormous risks, as well as the possibility now of losing out in the end to our most base fears and prejudices.  And if you don't think the fact that Josh Shapiro is Jewish, or that Pete Buttigieg is gay, wouldn't, at the very least, present more obstacles to Harris' campaign, then you simply don't see the America that I see or have seen since at least the Obama administration.

The fact is, we gave Barack Obama the chance, because we still felt the need back then to keep up the pretense of being an open-minded and forward-thinking nation.  Again, though, thanks to Trump, we no longer feel that need.  Now, we are content with presenting ourselves as exactly who and what we are.

Edited July 22, 2024 by Khan

[Vee]

There's a difference, at least for me. Buttigieg is a brilliant, incisive surrogate who does very, very well on TV. In a better world he would be an ideal running mate. But we all know you cannot run a Black woman and a gay man on the general ticket today. I wish we could but we can't. Believe me, if the day comes while I'm still alive and a gay man (or lesbian, or whatever other LGBT person) ends up winning as VP or POTUS I'll be crying my eyes out. That day is not today.

With Shapiro I think a lot of the general public just see a skilled young politician. The Jewish thing is still a real issue, but I feel it is more isolated to various very vocal segments than in the past. And let's be honest: The leftists who were going to hate him for being a Jew mostly aren't going to vote anyway. YMMV.

Oh, go on, which one?

[marceline]

You would've made better work of it.

[Maxim]

Oh, darling, you did GOOD and GOOD karma will get back to you! Believe me. You supported GOOD vs EVIL. And I applaud that. 

[Vee]

That presupposes that deep down we all wanted Trump (or that they all wanted Obama). The truth about America, unfortunately, has always been a lot more messy and imperfect.