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+--- Thread: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch (/showthread.php?tid=7308)
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 11th November 2023
The best answer is to give the homeless homes. Literally give them housing. Landlords were a mistake in the first place, and there are SO MANY completely empty homes right now.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 19th November 2023
Anyway, there's a lot of left leaning outlets I view that are giving Biden a lot of hell over how this Israel thing is being handled, and to be clear, I have my concerns as well, but near as I can tell, behind the scenes, Biden IS pushing for a ceasefire... by another name but that's what it is.
It seems clear that unilateral support for Israel in the US is becoming far less popular than it used to be. My biggest complaint right now is that Biden needs to make his public message match what his diplomats are trying to accomplish.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 6th December 2023
I've got to give Biden and his administration a lot of credit for putting a lot more pressure on Israel as of late and not just giving them a free pass. Of course, I'd like much further steps as a leftist and all, but I understand that international politics is a very complex situation and it isn't so easy to just make the moral call. I appreciate how this may very well become the new status quo, and hope this leads to better treatment of Palestinians and ending rhetoric making them identical to Hamas, as well as not just giving Israel's government free reign to do whatever they feel like in retaliation.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - A Black Falcon - 11th December 2023
I support Israel as I always have (but not Netanyahu, he's horrible, anti-democratic, and very badly needs to lose power immediately...) , but I don't understand the "there must be a ceasefire" people because Hamas are terrorists who oppose the concept of a ceasefire. Who would Israel be having a ceasefire with? It's pretty obvious that Hamas are never to be trusted. This war started because of their surprise attack on Israeli civilians, after all. "Let's have a cease fire so we can let Hamas rebuild and do something like this again"? That makes no sense.
Obviously war is horrible, but unfortunately Hamas decided that Israel was too close to normalizing relations with Arabic nations (progress on this front was moving forward), so it decided to blow up that situation and try to start a major war between the Arabs and Israel because their goal is the destruction of Israel and the genocide of the Jews... and how can that happen if there's peace between Israel and the Arab nations? It can't.
And so, Hamas started a war with their murder-focused attack. Hamas hide among civilians, and Israel attacks them there. Hamas doesn't care that Palestinian civilians are suffering, they want this because it makes Israel look bad. Fortunately so far Biden has managed to keep the war from spreading. Biden has done an amazing job of managing this crisis, I don't think he could have done any better.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 12th December 2023
You DO realize that Hamas are NOT the citizens, and that most of these attacks have indiscriminately targeted Palestinian civilians? They also are incapable of dislodging and kicking out Hamas themselves. Israel are the one with the power, Netanyahu is directly FUNDING Hamas for reasons of having an eternal enemy to fight so he can look strong, and thus.. there are better ways. Ways that don't involve indiscriminate bombing.
...Like sending in elite special forces to directly target specific heads of Hamas, "disappearing" them, and thus reallingning the organization by only leaving survivors more in line with peaceful talks... just saying... You want frightening death? I can be terrifying... but only to select targets.
Their current methods are absolutely GUARANTEED to fail. It's a recipe for STRENGTHENING Hamas, by ensuring a steady supply of volunteers out for revenge. That's how this works ABF. The US wrote the book on it, a literal book describing exactly the worst steps to take to handle this.
Remember Bush Jr? Remember how we handled 9/11, and how it took over 20 years to finally recognize our method of handling it was an abject failure? That reinforces the book, which was written based on previous US failures. You are literally advocating the solution the US tried and failed with after 9/11.
In any case, here's what you do once Hamas are, to put it lightly, "realigned" via secret operations.... you then... erase the border. Let the citizens have free entry and exit from all of Israel, make them equals. Join the nations together. The average Palestinian person will be happy to just get treated as an equal citizen at that point. But, here's the critical thing. The argument near as I can tell is that if someone kills my baby, I earn the right to kill one of their babies, or maybe ten. The exact conversion rate isn't yet established.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 14th December 2023
Unfortunately, it looks like Israel's, and the US's plan, aren't going to work...
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - A Black Falcon - 14th December 2023
The US's plan is what it has been for decades, the two state solution. The two state solution is still the only path to peace, despite the fact thatf progress towards it has been going backwards for the better part of two decades now. The problem is that neither Israel nor the Palestinians support the two state solution currently; instead, both seem to think that they can control the whole thing themselves, or something. Considering their strong military I can see why some in Israel think this, though it's wrong in part because there's nowhere else for the Palestinians to go since the other neighboring states do not want them, but I honestly have no idea why the Palestinians think the same... but they do.
In order for peace to move forward, new, less far right wing leadership in Israel is certainly necessary. Netanyahu has very bad approval numbers so his time in power is fortunately numbered, but he and his far-right allies are still in power right now. I don't know if they actually have a plan, they are opposed to the two state solution but certainly don't have a usable alternative. With less horrible leadership in Israel perhaps we could slowly move towards better things in that region...
However, you need two parties to make peace, and Hamas is significantly less interested in peace than Israel is. After all, Hamas started this war because they were scared of how close Israel was to peace with Saudi Arabia and such, and they are opposed to peace. Hamas also doesn't care one bit about reducing Palestinian civilian casualties. If there was a ceasefire, Hamas would break it the moment that they rearmed. And what's happening right now in polling? As that video shows, Hamas's approval numbers in the West Bank have increased because of this war. If Israel's government was less extreme perhaps the Palestinians could be pushed to support peace too, but that requires keeping Hamas out of influence. The PLO is not a great partner either, but Hamas cannot be one.
On a related note, Netanyahu's government supported payments to Hamas in Gaza with the theory that building up Gaza's infrastructure and opening jobs in Israel to people who live in Gaza would help normalize them. That effort failed when Hamas started this war, because they are dedicated to their genocidal terrorist aims, not to good governance of the people of Gaza. This is a big part of why Netanyahu has such horrible approval ratings, a lot of the current situation is because of his decisions. And can he fix the situation? No, I don't think so. His governing coalition is far too extreme and opposed to peace for that to happen. So we return to needing new leadership in Israel and getting rid of Hamas, if it is possible, or at least minimizing their influence, with the goal being as it long has been, a two state solution.
Quote: In any case, here's what you do once Hamas are, to put it lightly, "realigned" via secret operations.... you then... erase the border. Let the citizens have free entry and exit from all of Israel, make them equals. Join the nations together. The average Palestinian person will be happy to just get treated as an equal citizen at that point. But, here's the critical thing. The argument near as I can tell is that if someone kills my baby, I earn the right to kill one of their babies, or maybe ten. The exact conversion rate isn't yet established.I cannot possibly imagine a one-state solution ever working. They hate eachother far too much for that to ever function.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 4th January 2024
What Israel is doing is "speed running" every mistake the US made after 9/11. Every single one. This ZZ top costumer has been dead on accurate in his predictions thus far. The latest? That all the people they killed resulted in MORE than that number wanting to join Hamas. Short of total genocide, which I HOPE you don't support, that's what this current strategy has done. Hamas now has more people wanting to join. We have to think about this logically, in terms of what actions will net the results we're looking for. If the action doesn't get us that result, we shouldn't do it.
I get it, Hamas did something horrible. The result has been pure revenge, and that means sloppy mistakes. Just because someone does something horrible to you doesn't mean you should do something horrible right back. The US military learned this over the course of TWENTY YEARS of a massive mistake of a war that never should have happened. Nation building is simply a more effective tactic. There are times when you have no choice but to engage in war and bloodshed, but it's important to know the difference, and yes, that's hard right after a tragedy, but it's still important.
In any event, this red neck posted something else of interest. Another prediction MAY be coming to pass, a switch in strategy to what they SHOULD have done from the start, "realigning" the values of Hamas.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - A Black Falcon - 25th January 2024
Well, now that it is getting clearer to the American people that yes we ARE going to see Trump vs. Biden again, Biden's odds of winning are increasing. Trump is so erratic now, so angry, so fascistic, and the more people hear him the less anyone not in the Trump cult is going to want to vote for the guy. it's absolutely terrible that such a huge percentage of Americans have fallen into an anti-democratic cult, but at this rate thankfully the results will be similar to last time, Trump's defeat.
As for the Israel-Hamas war, Israel sure was way too overconfident before this war started, they've lost an embarrassingly large number of soldiers for facing a foe like Hamas... but it's not like Netanyahu is going to listen to anything we say, he hates Democrats. It's a real shame that he's still in power there. Israel deserves better...
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Weltall - 31st January 2024
When I told my Dad that his favorite president ever, Donald J. Trump, said, with his own words, that he intended to be a dictator (for a day), and that he had plans to root out leftists and undesirables, my dad did not think there was a single thing wrong with any of that, and that he would only go after people who deserve it. Just in case anyone ever wondered why I was right wing to begin with, the answer was I was raised to be by a 200% true believer who waited his entire long life for a Trump to come along and tell him everyone else is the reason he's unhappy with the entire world. My journey towards the other end of the political axis deeply offended him, and he will never forgive me for it.
But, I feel it necessary to reiterate, Trump didn't change anything about my dad. The cult was always out there, waiting for a shepherd to come along.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 3rd February 2024
Very true. Trump is a symptom, not the disease, and Trump came along DIRECTLY after Obama. The problem is right there at the top levels, lying to the masses and telling them that all the problems in their life are caused by people worse off than they are, so that they don't look up, where the problems actually are coming from.
Meanwhile, in the Gaza strip, Israel just hit a world record speedrun of "failed Middle-eastern invasion".
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - A Black Falcon - 10th February 2024
Even so, that so many Americans turned out to be easy marks for a fascist is really sad and disappointing. At this point we just need to hope that Trump keeps losing, as he did last time.
In other news, the press have yet again decided to go all-in against Biden because... he said one wrong word in a long detailed policy discussion about Israel/Palestine? And the partisan Republican, Hur, investigating his 'keeping classified documents' case claimed without evidence that Biden is mentally declining? ... well, that Merrick Garland decided to appoint a partisan Republican Trump administration judicial guy to investigate Biden is a pretty serious black mark against Garland, that is not balance, but otherwise the main takeaway should be that even the Hur report with all of its probably-lies about Biden's mental state couldn't manage to justify charges against him.
But the press? They once again are proving how much they hate Biden for his mostly stable, 'boring' governance. It's been absolutely terrible for their ratings, book sales, and the rest! And so, not caring about the damage they do to our democracy, they pile on against Biden based on mostly false statements while not talking anywhere near as much about Trump's constant stream of ludicrously horrendous statements. It's pretty disgusting.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Sacred Jellybean - 11th February 2024
The evidence for Biden's mental health declining is that he couldn't remember when he began/ended his tenure as VP and couldn't remember when his son died (within a few years, no less). Do you think Hur lied about this, or that there's missing context that would help explain why this occurred? He also recently mixed up the names of current European leaders with other leaders that are dead.
I'm voting for Biden again, but let's face it, he's way too old to be the leader of the free world. He needs to be at home, falling asleep to nature documentaries in a comfortable arm chair. I firmly believe he wants to be president, but I just can't help but feel sorry for him when watching him speak.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 14th February 2024
I'd say it's not the objective number of his age that's necessarily the issue, it's how well his mind has caught up. It'll catch up to all of us, but all of us shouldn't be the most powerful person in the entire world. If someone's old but has managed to say "sharp as a tack" as old people say, that's one thing. Heck, I won't even begrudge someone being at risk of dying in office, so long as I'm confident in their VP pick.
All that said, I'm over going after Biden's flubs. The legal report wasn't done by a doctor, but by an investigator. It's also entirely possible that Biden simply knew exactly what to say to make the case that he didn't mean to take the documents. That's after all the main point of the report. They couldn't find any evidence that ruled out Biden's excuse. Fair enough. Biden didn't retain the documents, he returned them the moment they were requested, while Trump had to be raided by the FBI to get them back. Secondly, Biden is currently president, while Trump was not at the time they asked for them back. Heck, Trump keeps trying to get them to give them back, because like a 4 year old, he doesn't really know WHY he wants them, he's just mad someone took something he thought was his.
Anyway, either of you see that new Dilly Dally Show with the return of the Green Lantern John Stewart?
A lot of people are taking his criticisms of Biden as him "both sidesing" the election, but that's not my read on it. Clearly his examples of Trump being a bad candidate were FAR worse than his examples of Biden being a bad candidate, and I don't think he considers them "equally bad", of course Trump is far worse, (and heck I've warmed up to the fact Biden is doing some good things, more than my low expectations for sure). But, that doesn't mean we shouldn't criticize the current president, and ask the important question of whether or not maybe someone else may be more fit for the job than candidates who "broke records they set themselves" as far as age goes. Some people are trying to label this as Biden having "eighty years of experience", but I don't think his political experience goes back to his gradeschool days back when he was carting in scrap metal and making sure to turn off all the house lights at night to avoid being a target in an air raid. That seems a little disingenuous. It's not that they're the same, it's that we should perhaps have higher standards and recognize that the country doesn't just need to be put back the way it was before Trump, it needs an overhaul. Remember, the country the way it was before Trump, LED TO TRUMP. That's all we're saying.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Sacred Jellybean - 16th February 2024
Quote:The legal report wasn't done by a doctor, but by an investigator.
This is true. It's not as rigorous as being examined and evaluated by a professional. OTOH, it seems like a mistake to dismiss the report entirely. What if we feel inclined to do so because the information is inconvenient? Some of this just seems like common sense and not speculation.
No doubt that Bur, a Federalist Society goon, was politically motivated to bring this forward. But along the same lines, it feels self-serving to use this as a basis to dismiss the claim. I can't think of a good way to hand-wave away a person having trouble recalling when they were VP and when their son died. That the Oct 7th just happened and Biden was probably really stressed out feels weak. In the press conference he called to dispute the report, he seemed just as exhausted and meandering as ever. I didn't walk away from it feeling reassured about his abilities.
For the people criticizing John Stewart, it's the same dance that left-leaning people do in every election.
"We have to demand more from our candidates!"
"But we can't let the Republicans win, they're much worse!"
Both are true, and it's a balancing act. I think Stewart walked the line perfectly.
From my limited experience, there seems to be less in-fighting in this cycle. I've seen fewer people than expected who insist that Biden is a war criminal for letting Netenyahu steamroll Palestinians in Gaza. These are the ideologically pure types who refuse to acknowledge that Trump will be far worse. It's more important for their ego to adhere to the rigid ideals they set out for themselves. That has primacy over the actual outcome for the very people they profess to care about.
"Well at least *I* didn't vote for a war criminal! Call me crazy, but *I* don't like war criminals being president and refuse to take part! You can't blame me for what happens, and in fact, it's YOU to blame for voting for a war criminal!" This kind of talk will never not be infuriating to hear.
The most left-wing circles I've lurked in have written off Republicans entirely and dedicate all their talk to bitching about "shitlibs". It's no longer that "they aren't left enough". These days, everything they used to say about Republicans -- that they hate poor people, that they don't care about climate change, that they fight tooth-and-nail to pay lower taxes, that they're bigots -- they now say this about "liberals".
Quote:Some people are trying to label this as Biden having "eighty years of experience"
lol
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 16th February 2024
Well, you're not wrong. I think a lot of people are waking up to the simple truth that neoliberalism, a political philosophy otherwise called "Thatcherism", does tend to care more about keeping money flowing than the little guy. Neoliberalism, at it's core, says the current system is perfectly fine as it is, so long as we purge all the "bad actors" within that system. I don't agree with that personally, which is why I engage in pointing out the failings of various neolibs to meet those basic needs.
But all that said, I'll never vote red. For all the hypocrisy going on among the leadership in the democratic party, the republicans are nakedly embracing the absolute worst, wanting a fascist ruler in place of democracy. Sure I'll push for a replacement for Biden during the primaries... but if it's Biden, heck even if he literally went full on senile on the campaign trail was reduced to a drooling old man who can't even focus his eyes much less govern, I'd still vote for him over Trump... and then immediately after hope they actually remove him for being unfit for the office (25th amendment). But, actually keeping our democracy intact takes a higher priority, obviously and sadly enough.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - A Black Falcon - 16th February 2024
Seriously, the people claiming that Biden has dementia or what have you have absolutely no case. There is no evidence, only lies and pro-Trump bias. I'm not dismissing it because of Biden's party, but because it so obviously isn't true. I watched that press conference as well. I saw someone angry about the Republican hitjob lies that fill the Hur report and also angry about the fact that the press are extremely eager to repeat those attacks because they so badly want Trump to be President again because it'd be better for their ratings, and someone obviously quite knowledgeable about policy as you saw in the long, detailed answer at the end about Israel/Palestine. It is unfortunate that he messed up one word in that answer, but saying Sisi is President of Mexico instead of Egypt, or the news that he recently said Mitterand instead of Macron for President of France, are really minor. Biden is older, and he's made a few minor 'saying the wrong name' mistakes, but I see no reason to think that that's anything other than the kind of accidental saying the wrong thing error that anyone could make.
(Oh, and on the Sisi issue, apparently calling Sisi "the Mexican" is a common slang term used for him in Egypt to talk about their leader without using his name. It's entirely possible that Biden had heard about this before accidentally calling him President of Mexico. Egyptians on the internet were apparently quite amused by what he said.)
As for Jon Stewart, while he can be an amusing comic, he helped elect Bush in 2000 with his lies about Bush and Gore being the boring same thing, and no I haven't forgiven him for it... but why should I when he's obviously still peddling the same "both parties are the same" lies? Because they are not in any way the same, as we all know... at least "they're both old" is less obnoxious than those trashing Biden while ignoring Trump's worse signs of mental aging, but still, it's wrong (and ageist).
Quote:I can't think of a good way to hand-wave away a person having trouble recalling when they were VP and when their son died. That the Oct 7th just happened and Biden was probably really stressed out feels weak.This claim was probably the thing that Biden was angriest about in the press conference. He said that that absolutely never happened and that he'd never have confused that. Why should I believe a Trump supporter trying to attack Biden over Biden and other Democrats' word? I see zero reason to do that.
Of course, yes, he's older than he was four years ago, but he is someone who has always been prone to speaking errors. If he had dementia or some other serious age-related mental problem I'm sure that we would know. The signs would be obvious for anyone looking, as they were for Reagan. I just don't think that is the case here. And quite the opposite, I think that Biden's experience has greatly benefited the US; nobody else would have done more than maybe half as good a job at managing the current Middle East crisis as he has, and his experience is surely the primary reason for that.
Also, Biden's not going to run for anything else after this. So long as we get through this election with Trump defeated yet again, even if the worst happens as I do not think it will, things will be okay... though we don't have anyone else nearly as good at managing foreign policy as Biden is. He's not perfect and has made mistakes, everybody does, but he's better at it than anyone else we have.
So yeah, I am worried about Biden's age. I am worried because the press has proven that they will relentlessly go after him for this issue in order to tear down Biden and give Trump a better chance of winning because of how boring the Biden administration is to cover. But am I worried because of his age? Thanks to modern medicine, not really. He's showing no signs of significant mental decline and seems generally healthy. The Presidency significantly ages most people who hold that office due to how stressful it is, but for now at least he seems able to handle it.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 26th February 2024
Oh please, he's only comparing where the comparisons are apt. The man has never once claimed Biden and Trump are "the same". What he IS saying is that they are both, by any objective measure, very old, and it is up to them to prove they are capable. As he said, and as I've said before even he said it, it is NOT up to us to defend presidential candidates from criticism, it is up to the candidates to show that criticism isn't valid. We can and absolutely, unequivocally SHOULD question ANYONE who wants to be President of the most powerful military on Earth. That should not be "team sports". And yes, this is ALSO a question we should put to Bernie, though notably he's not running in the primary this time around. I have also noticed no one has ever used the same arguments to defend other candidates in the primary. No one is saying "hey, x might end up going against Trump, so go easy on them because any criticism from our side might hurt them in the election", no, only Hillary and Joe got those considerations. It's hypocrisy.
In any case, we're getting self immolation protests. These are protests of last resort, historically, and they generally are very effective because of the attention the act grabs.
A brave man, braver than I.
So anyway, there's legitimate criticisms of Jon Stewart to be had, but him criticising both democrats and republicans is not "both sidsing" at all. Democrats can and absolutely morally MUST be criticised.
And speaking of...
This is genocide, and those supporting it are supporting genocide. Again, I have to ask, just how many lives did Hamas' attack "buy" for Israel? How many before any further deaths become morally wrong? Is there a line? Is complete eradication of all of the Gaza strip justified as a response for a few lives? I have news for you, that is literally what Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to do here.
But, if you just don't want to bother with some weird old comedian (who isn't running for President anyway), then may I suggest this humble desk skull? You've probably seen his video essays around, they're very well researched and you'd likely agree with most of them.
But you'll likely disagree with this, and you really need to ask yourself why. I suspect that deep down, it's because the "blue side" said you should be against it, but please, open yourself up to the possibility that the democratic party can be wrong on some issues. Here's a hint. Right now, the democratic party's official position is the same position as the far right republicans. Why is that? Is it possible what is now a pro-fascist party are taking the correct moral position by sheer chance, or maybe there's something else going on?
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 29th February 2024
Alright this is going to be a long one, but...
Yeah, all of that.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Sacred Jellybean - 2nd March 2024
Thank you for introducing me to that guy. He's like Jon Stewart, but funny. Stewart is great for having paved the way for these kinds of shows, but I always found his jokes tedious (same with John Oliver).
Not that it's the point of those videos! Cody also seems to deliver more sources and a higher velocity of talking points.
Not much else to say about the video. I usually agree with his takes, and this is no exception.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 4th March 2024
You're very welcome! Now here's some potentially bad news:
Yeah this was a long shot, but my takeaway is that the supreme court opted not to rule on whether or not it was insurrection or whether or not it applied to Trump goading them, and side stepped that entirely in favor of simply ruling states don't have that particular authority. Since it falls entirely on congress... well it's not going to happen. It's congress after all.
Well, all that's left is to vote against the fascist.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 9th May 2024
There's been a lot of campus protests, a long standing American tradition of course. While the specific form of their solution or the specific complaints or even ignorance of attempts may be worth comment, the general objection to what Israel is doing right now is a worthy consideration, and it does look like a solution is coming about.
And based on the comments of foreign policy commentators, the loud angry protests, whatever their specific inaccuracies, seem to have borne some real fruit. The only thing we have to keep in mind is a willingness to accept something good happened if Biden's apparent plan comes to pass. Apparently, it's a huge deal that Biden cut off military aid to Israel, and that is something. The genocide MAY just come to an end, if we're lucky, in the form of a two state solution. You'll note I didn't personally predict that one as a possibility, but presuming it takes the form I've heard before, with a coalition of outside parties keeping the peace between Israel and Palestine, then it could actually be a lasting peace.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Weltall - 13th May 2024
It's hard for me to see this latest round of Israel/Palestine bloodshed as anything but just the most recent episode of a long-running series. Their fathers were killing each other. Their grandfathers were killing each other. Their great-grandfathers were killing each other. Neither side seems interested in tolerating the existence of the other.
The only side I'm taking in this is, I'm on the side of all the people caught up in this bullshit against their wills, who are too old, too young, too sick or too poor to escape, and who never wanted any violence done to their neighbors. Picking sides between Hamas and the IDF seems like choosing my favorite kidney stone.
In domestic political terms, this conflict was the best thing that ever happened to the Republicans. Joe Biden is in a position where a lot of people will be angry with him, no matter which move he makes, and anyone who decides not to vote for Joe is, essentially, a net positive vote for Donald Trump, who will gleefully make the entire situation much worse, right away.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 13th May 2024
(13th May 2024, 7:35 AM)Weltall Wrote: It's hard for me to see this latest round of Israel/Palestine bloodshed as anything but just the most recent episode of a long-running series. Their fathers were killing each other. Their grandfathers were killing each other. Their great-grandfathers were killing each other. Neither side seems interested in tolerating the existence of the other.
The only side I'm taking in this is, I'm on the side of all the people caught up in this bullshit against their wills, who are too old, too young, too sick or too poor to escape, and who never wanted any violence done to their neighbors. Picking sides between Hamas and the IDF seems like choosing my favorite kidney stone.
In domestic political terms, this conflict was the best thing that ever happened to the Republicans. Joe Biden is in a position where a lot of people will be angry with him, no matter which move he makes, and anyone who decides not to vote for Joe is, essentially, a net positive vote for Donald Trump, who will gleefully make the entire situation much worse, right away.
That "kidney stone" comment really describes my position. It's so annoying trying to explain my position on Israel's military efforts and have to say, repeatedly "yes, yes I condemn Hamas already". I'm fully in favor, should this be what Israel chooses to do, of a campaign of "realigning" Hamas via targeted clandestine assassination of their leadership. The public at large in Israel? I have nothing against them, nor do I have anything against Palastinians at large. So, my side is "end the killing". Some would claim they want to end the killing as in reaching the end of a book, by "getting all the killing over with". That... isn't my position.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 22nd May 2024
Any objections brought up by US politicians to the ICC suit against Israel's leader is a lie. It's about power. The US doesn't want to support the ICC in this purely because it would make the US vulnerable to the ICC the next time we commit a war crime.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 27th June 2024
Well... This was humiliating for everyone involved. THESE are our candidates?
In all seriousness, Biden (and the team he's picked, who I am starting to think are doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the day to day) is still the better pick by a country lightyear. It's just... wow has the bar been lowered.
Someone apparently changed the station midway through Biden's response to Trump bragging about his supreme court picks that destroyed planned parenthood. He just... suddenly power drifted from saying how bad a thing Trump's dismantling of abortion rights (as well as everything else stemming from that) into something about immigration. ANY attempt to retroactively "clarify" what Biden "actually" meant is going to sound no different to me than anyone trying to clarify one of Trump's nonsensical ramblings into sense. The only saving grace is that in both cases, Biden's at least on the right side.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - A Black Falcon - 28th June 2024
The press' decision to go all-in for Trump, as they have for a long time now, is something so far beyond unacceptable I don't even know what to say. I wonder, how often do journalists/pundits wake up in a cold sweat, worried about the idea that Biden, the most boringly average person in America in a lot of ways, might (gasp!) win again? It's got to be frequent. He was so bad for their ratings! They want the good old days of Trump constantly making front page news back so badly, and it shows.
Do they care about the people trump will hurt? No. Do they care that Trump hates the concept of a free press? they sure should, but for some reason, no. Are they interested in the policy issues discussed at the debate? No, not really. They only seem to care about optics.
And on that note, yeah, Biden showed his age at times, particularly early in the debate, and clearly had a cold. his performance was uneven. However, claiming that that was somehow worse than Trump's constant stream of threats and lies, as most of the press is right now, is utter insanity! Claiming that Biden should withdraw from the race because of this while saying how much Trump won the debate by is ludicrous. It's also, honestly, probably somewhat prejudiced -- I mean, it was clear that, maybe because of the stress or the cold, Biden's stutter was a larger problem than usual early in the debate. The media don't seem to have any sympathy for that and instead are ripping Biden to shreds for the cold the stutter, and that he is old. This is wrong.
Yes, Biden is old, and it showed in this debate; he's not as young as he used to be, clearly. But on the issues he clearly still understands them and is on the right side of every issue. On the note of issue and debating, though, as Biden said after the debate, debating against someone who lies every time they open their mouth would be incredibly difficult. If the media people at CNN running the debate called Trump on his lies during the debate, as they should have, it would have gone differently. They chose to not fact-check until after it was over, which is far too late. Why? There is not reason to do that other than to help Trump.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Sacred Jellybean - 28th June 2024
lol we’re fucked. Buckle up for another four years of Trump and cross your fingers our institutions will hold strong against him again when he tries to overturn the next election or run a third term.
ABF, that debate was painful to watch. Biden didn’t “just have a cold”, it wasn’t a stutter, he was mentally emfeebled. He used the wrong words (“we beat Medicare”) froze up mid-sentence several times, couldn’t stay focused, and when he could have slipped the knife into Trump about Roe v Wade, HE INSTEAD BROUGHT UP AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MURDERING A WOMAN.
This is a disheartening humiliation for Biden and the DNC. The media exaggerates for ratings, sure, but they aren’t just pulling this “Biden should be replaced” talk out of their asses.
For the record, I think Biden’s done a fine job and will vote for him again, and not solely to keep Trump out. I’ve seen him in other recent long-form interviews, and he was lucid. But this debate was a disaster. He was already teetering poll wise, and this will probably tank him. Whether he can claw himself back up depends on how optimistic you want to be but this will take a lot of heavy lifting to recover. He handed clips for attack ads to his opponents on a silver platter.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 28th June 2024
Fortunately I'm not claiming that Biden's performance (which can't be dismissed as "oh he just had a cold" I'm sorry to say, this was clearly a very sundowning night for him) was anywhere nearly as bad for the country than Trump's deluge of lies. That's already starting to bite HIM now that the fact checking's started. But, yeah, Biden needed to swing people who wouldn't otherwise have voted to come in and vote for him regardless of reservations, and this did not do that. I don't think Trump convinced any on-the-fence oldschool republicans that can't stand the man to come in and vote anyway either mind you, but there it is.
No need to get mad at the messengers, they're telling the honest truth here. Biden bombed this thing. Trump lied from start to finish. And, that "someone changed the station in Biden's brain" moment was the worst part of the bunch. Do I think this tanked Biden's chances? No, but look ABF, MSNBC has been GLOWING about just about everything Biden's done from the very beginning. If THEY are criticizing him, it's because it was inescapably bad. But, keep this in mind, I'm still going to hold my nose and vote for the guy. This did NOTHING to change my opinion of him. Oddly enough, some early interviews with the sort of mid-line republicans that detest Trump (the only ones that COULD be won over) indicate that none of them had their minds changed either. He performed "as expected" to them. (Not to me, I'd thought he'd be out there with all the energy in the world like in his state of the union, so I really was let down.) In short, before the next debate, DRUG the man. Also, let them use notes for god's sake, and give more time for answers, and challenge Trump's lies.
But, here's the one thing I'd have done differently as Biden, in Biden's mental state even. The moment I had time to process that Trump had just said "they're taking black jobs", ask Trump to explain what he means by "black jobs" and yield ALL my remaining time to allow him to answer that in as much detail as he wants.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - A Black Falcon - 28th June 2024
(28th June 2024, 5:58 PM)Sacred Jellybean Wrote: lol we’re fucked. Buckle up for another four years of Trump and cross your fingers our institutions will hold strong against him again when he tries to overturn the next election or run a third term.
ABF, that debate was painful to watch. Biden didn’t “just have a cold”, it wasn’t a stutter, he was mentally emfeebled. He used the wrong words (“we beat Medicare”) froze up mid-sentence several times, couldn’t stay focused, and when he could have slipped the knife into Trump about Roe v Wade, HE INSTEAD BROUGHT UP AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MURDERING A WOMAN.
This is a disheartening humiliation for Biden and the DNC. The media exaggerates for ratings, sure, but they aren’t just pulling this “Biden should be replaced” talk out of their asses.
For the record, I think Biden’s done a fine job and will vote for him again, and not solely to keep Trump out. I’ve seen him in other recent long-form interviews, and he was lucid. But this debate was a disaster. He was already teetering poll wise, and this will probably tank him. Whether he can claw himself back up depends on how optimistic you want to be but this will take a lot of heavy lifting to recover. He handed clips for attack ads to his opponents on a silver platter.
No, he did have a cold. They said he tested for COVID but was negative. That's why his voice sounded so off. And I could hear the stutters. He'd start saying something, stutter, then drop the point or say something else. I agree the one or two times where he lost his train of thought was bad, though, yes. Fortunately he got it together later on in the debate, the worst moments were all early.
As for how much damage this will do, the press hopes it'll be a lot but I doubt it will be much. The few polls we've gotten since the debate haven't shown much if any change from before, first. Some people were paying attention to policy and not only optics and Trump's policy positions are insanely awful. Also, this is a significantly earlier debate than usual, and at this point a lot of people aren't really paying attention to the upcoming election yet. Apparently 48 million people watched the debate, which is a lot but tens of millions fewer than the first debate in '20. It is also perhaps worth mentioning that more Republicans than Democrats said they were interested in watching. But regardless of who was watching, there are quite a few months left and there will be a lot of news coming. For instance, Trump's sentencing is coming up soonish.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 30th June 2024
This guy brings up a good point here. The very fact the democratic party is willing to HAVE this discussion makes them far more reasonable than a party that refuses to reconsider no matter WHAT Trump does.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 1st July 2024
We now MUST, without fail, vote for the less authoritarian candidate in EVERY election until this most recent court decision is overturned. The president now has total immunity, effectively.
That includes Biden, trump loyalists. Biden could, if he so wanted, simply change the result of the election and stay in power until the day he dies. He can have Trump executed. He can go into your house and drink your actual baby's blood, and he wouldn't be arrested for it. Today changes everything. In law, as well as in practicality, the President is now a King, against everything I was taught to believe in elementary school in the 80's. This is now reality.
Until this is fixed... Trump cannot become president. Bloomberg cannont become president. Bannon cannot become president. By any means necessary, these things must not come to pass.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - A Black Falcon - 3rd July 2024
This decision is the result that most people were expecting, in that it's pro-Trump but doesn't go all out to just declare the US the Trump Empire today, but that doesn't make it any less horrendously awful and strongly anti-American.
Yeah, the Supreme Court just overturned 235 years of precedent and one of the key reasons why this nation was founded, the principle written in stone on the front of their building: Equal Justice Under Law. Maybe they should engrave the addendum next to it: "Unless You're Donald Trump, Then You Get To Be Emperor!" And they get to be the self-appointed power behind the throne, for they said that they decide what is an official act and thus has immunity and what isn't and thus is criminally prosecutable. Why, some Democratic President did a thing? That's not allowed, only Republicans may do things like that! Blocked. I do not think that it is exaggeration to say that it's one of the most un-American things ever done in our nation's history. At least all the racism and such goes back to the beginning, you know? But the principle of everyone being equal before the law is a core principle from the nation's founding, and really gets to some of the key hearts of why America was founded, to make a world not ruled by tyrannical dictators...
But no, the left is wildly exaggerating, John Roberts said in the decision. It's fine, I didn't give Trump any powers yet, we just sent the case back down to determine what is immune and what isn't! And yes, that is true... if presidential immunity was actually a thing, which it isn't, not like the immunity he just invented. There's a huge difference between traditional presidential immunity for official acts, like 'no charging a president for war crimes because of the wars they were involved in fighting', and the kind of immunity here, because no previous president has committed these kinds of clear, direct crimes while in office and been caught for it while they were still alive. Nixon is the closest, but he was pardoned so we never got to see how far that case would have gone. And he at least still believed in democracy to at least some extent, unlike Trump.
Under this decision, a president telling people to commit crimes cannot be charged. This is very clearly wrong and anti-Constitutional, but that's the decision. Can the people he told to commit the crimes be charged? Maybe they can, but it will probably be hard to prove in court. How could you when the President is fully immune? It's just insane.
As for replacing Biden, Biden has lost a bit in the polls since the debate, but it isn't a cataclysmic collapse, it's just a few points. When you started out at best tied losing a point or three is bad news, but it's recoverable. The press's reaction, as if BIDEN MUST GO NOW is the one and only issue that matters in any way and all others must wait until he is gone, is insane. Sadly some Democratic lawmakers have joined in the 'Biden should go' train. I will not. Why not? Well, first, while the debate certainly showed that Biden is aging, he can still do the job well, and he's been fantastic so far as President. I want to see him continue to be there. Second, looking at what polling I've seen of testing other names, it's not like everyone else polls better and Biden's uniquely weak; that is not the case. None of the other names poll much better, it's all 'within the margin of error of Biden' stuff, either just above or just below his numbers.
Well, all but one. Michelle Obama polls very well and would go in with a huge lead. Sadly, though, she won't run. But of everyone else, Biden's got as good a shot as anyone, I think. He just needs to not repeat that debate performance on the optics. Keep your mouth closed, try not to lose your chain of thought, push back harder against Trump, and such.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 9th July 2024
Thank you for recognizing just how dangerous this situation is, and how whatever their language, the practical reality is a nightmare that places all future presidents until the day this is overturned squarely above the law.
It's just like how there's all this language the republicans are using to say they're "softening" their stance on abortion access by simply attempting to define the legal rights of personhood... which well... I do have a memory. This was literally what they were doing in the 90's. It's the same thing, and redefining personhood for a fetus is, in practical fact, a total abortion ban.
One additional note, much as I want to be smug and say "I told you so" when I see the likes of Bernie still speaking cogent without these slipups and Biden well.... this...
I can't, because that's not the selection we have. Realistically, the only replacement the democrats could even manage legally and in time would be Kamala Harris, and while I would fully support that while acknowledging her policies are very close to Biden's and not my own (and heck maybe sneak an ancient Bernie in there as VP, or just anyone but Bloomberg really), let's face facts. That's not happening unless Biden decides to do it. So, IF Biden's mental faculties actually did slip to a certain degree, we're looking at his cabinet, subject matter experts, being who we're voting for in the WORST case. That's fine, I can't say Biden hasn't picked a good cabinet. It's a pretty damned good one actually. Trump will just pick fascist enablers that lick his heel spurs. Oh, not "just", if Project 25 comes to pass, they're going to replace as many people as possible in every branch. That's the real danger. If THAT happens, it wouldn't matter if the supreme court had ruled he's under MORE scrutiny of the law than the average citizen. He'd have everything he needs to start a methodical takeover. That IS the plan. They even intend to round people up in internment camps. This is a cold reality we need to address.
But as Stewart says above, what we have is a candidate that thinks "doing his best" is what matter. No, that's not what matters at all. I don't care if he "does his best", we need to absolutely make sure Project 25 doesn't get enabled. Biden, if you're going to do this, do it. There is no try.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 11th July 2024
Chevron Deference is dead now. If you don't know what that is, neither did I, but it's apparently VERY important. It's what allows subject matter experts working in the various federal institutes to decide on policy instead of uninformed politicians. Now, EVERY policy, from education to medicine to food regulation, will need to be specifically written out by politicians themselves into law. I get the impression that republicans are going to end up regretting this, because they loved hiding repressive policies behind a friendly veneer, and now they're going to have to very specifically spell out exactly what they're trying to do to the public each time.
They are steadily dismantling the nature of how government laws even work. What's next to fall? My prediction is federal sovereignty, a ruling that makes federal laws subservient to state laws and undoes yet another important precedent that goes so far back, it's the only reason that something like the abolition of slavery could occur legally. Alright, maybe you doubt that they'd go for that doctrine, except you can't fail to remember how often republicans in the past few decades have gone on and on about "state's rights". Overturning that doctrine would make state's rights supreme. Okay, maybe you doubt after it's overturned that any state would try to legalize slavery again. Sure, maybe not now, but you know what WOULD get legalized instantly? The states that currently allow child marriage would be able to go even further. There are elected officials in states like Arkansas and Mississippi, right now, pushing to expand the legalization of child marriage, and they would easily push for outright legalizing sex in those marriages the moment they could.
We are in some major trouble right now...
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 13th July 2024
Trump just won the election. Some idiot tried to kill him and didn't even manage to aim properly, and now he's got a photo of the assassination attempt and that photo of him getting clipped in the ear is sending him straight into the white house. Biden can't compete with that unless someone tries and fails to shoot him.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - A Black Falcon - 13th July 2024
The shooter was a 20 year old registered Republican. I don't think this decided the election, not even close. There's more than enough time for people to learn about what Trump's actual policies are.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 14th July 2024
ABF, there's BEEN plenty of time for people to learn what his policies are. That's easily available. What this did was sway people who vote based on "heart" to thinking Trump really is the one being oppressed.
This is going to be very- VERY difficult to fight against.
In any case, according to CNN, he was apparently registered as a republican, BUT:
Quote:Federal Election Commission records show that a donor listed as Thomas Crooks with the same address gave $15 to a Democratic-aligned political action committee called the Progressive Turnout Project in January 2021.In any case, it really doesn't matter what it turned out to be, because the damage was done. Trump was shot by someone protesting him. It doesn't matter if it was a democrat or a republican or an independent, all that matters is the image that "people who are against Trump are VIOLENT ANIMALS".
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - A Black Falcon - 14th July 2024
Very difficult to fight against? How so? A 20 year old registered Republican white guy with so far no clear political trail online shot at Trump for an unknown reason. It's not something they can easily politicize, probably more of a lone nut kind of thing.
It may cause a small polling bump for Trump, though it may be hard to detect given that the Republican National Convention starts in two days and conventions always cause a polling bump, but I see little reason to think that this will have any significant role on peoples votes in November. No, most people like Trump or hate him and aren't going to swing their votes based on this. It's an extremely polarized election, the only question is who turns up to vote.
But yeah, Trump, our number one purveyor of conspiracies and anti-democratic sentiments, got shot at... by what seems like one of his own, not by a liberal. This kind of makes sense though in so much as it's the right that loves guns so much, much more so than the middle or most of the left. I highly doubt this will cause Trump to rethink any of his support for guns, though. The right-wing gun cult is horrible but even getting shot at doesn't seem to convince these people otherwise, see Steve Scalise for an example of this.
(As for that $15 donation to a Democratic group, it happened right at Biden's inauguration in 2020, when the guy was 17. Maybe he lost a bet about the election. That's as good a theory that I've seen as any.)
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 14th July 2024
They've already started politicizing it, even though we have no clue what his motive is or his politics at all. I only listed the CNN quote to remind you we have NO clue and can't suspect anything.
The problem is we can't deny the event happened, and they now get to dominate conversations about it, and our side has to tip-toe carefully in it because now Trump gets to play the victim... because he WAS a victim. Already you have so many of the politicians "wishing him a speedy recovery". Frankly I wish he'd die of an ear infection, but I'm not going to act on that.
All of THAT said, I did overreact. In a NORMAL election, all of what I said would be true... but the elections haven't been normal in several years. As said before, we've got our side which sees this election as an existential crisis, and people motivated to vote aren't voting "for Biden", they're voting AGAINST Trump and fascism. Trump's supporters worshipped him anyway, so nothing that happened short of Trump actually dying is going to stop that. It'll strengthen their resolve, but yeah, we don't know for certain. All I know is that Fox and the like are already trying to use this to bolster Trump.
And the religious Trump worshippers see his survival as a literal actual miracle...
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 15th July 2024
According to Axios, a senior democrat has stated this:
https://www.axios.com/2024/07/14/house-democrats-biden-trump-rally-shooting
Quote:Did they just.... give up?! Damn it all...
- "We've all resigned ourselves to a second Trump presidency."
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 21st July 2024
Biden is not seeking reelection.
It remains to be seen how the democratic party will proceed from here. My guess is Harris will be the candidate going forward.
There are potential legal challenges, and the Heritage Foundation appear poised to raise a LOT of chaos over this party decision. If it makes it up to the Supreme Court... Look, let's all be prepared to vote for Cornel West if the supreme court anti-democratically disenfranchises the democratic party alright? We can't rule out previously unthinkable possibilities.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - A Black Falcon - 24th July 2024
Man, what a tragedy. I mean, as I've said before Biden has been an amazing president, easily the best not only of my life but since at least Truman or FDR. In terms of policy he's blown away my expectations. I was expecting a solidly liberal president in the center of the Democratic party, but he has been much more progressive than that. It's been pretty incredible. (On that note, it was very interesting to note how just before Biden withdrew from the race, while most of the Democratic Party were shoving him out the door, Bernie Sanders and AOC were supporting Biden's continued candidacy because they know he's been an amazing progressive President and know that we can't be sure if Harris will continue that or not.)
There really are only two things he did wrong, but unfortunately they ended up crippling the administration's ability to continue: the way he withdrew from Afghanistan and inflation. On the former, Biden decided to finally end the war. It's saved lots of lives and ended a forever war. The problem is, Afghanistan fell to the Taliban almost immediately afterwards, and the scenes of that collapse were bad. It's also awful for a lot of the people in Afghanistan, the urban populations who wanted a modern life but now are stuck in Islamic fundamentalist medieval Taliban-ville. It also made it clear that the war was a failure and we lost, and nobody likes losing.
This is still an important issue because the Afghan withdrawal is when Biden's poll numbers collapsed. Biden had long wanted to end that war, and when he became President he did... and it destroyed his poll numbers irrevocably. They have never recovered, not even close, they have been bad ever since. The lesson for the future seems to be that it's better to continue a forever war than to end it because the American people are much more upset about giving up than on the constant drip of death and violence that happens in those wars. That's kind of messed up but seems to be true.
The other problem, inflation, is international. Biden did not cause the inflation, Covid did. Some of the Covid response bills may have slightly increased inflation, but for the most part there's not much we could have done to reduce inflation more because it was an international problem caused by events no one had control over. This inflation has toppled governments around the world; it was key behind the British Conservative party's crushing defeat earlier this month, for example. The US has actually managed this better than almost anywhere -- the amount of inflation here is bad, but it's a lot worse in many other places. Biden did a very good job of fighting the inflation, and fortunately there was almost as much wage inflation as price inflation so for many people things aren't actually much, if any, worse off. But when you go to the supermarket and pay so much more than you did five years ago it's hard to keep this in mind, so this always was going to be a very major problem making a Democratic victory this year much, MUCH more difficult.
But what I'd hope people would be able to do is look at Biden's amazing list of accomplishments, how he masterfully managed foreign policy (other than the Afghan withdrawal), as you'd expect from someone with 50 years of top-tier foreign policy experience; how he governed surprisingly progressively; how the US managed the economic problems of the past few years better than almost any other country on Earth because of his management; and more. But no, because of the above two issues Biden had awful poll numbers. Then add his increasing age on top of that and he was forced out of the race. It's such a shame. Yeah, he looked old in that debate, but he'd still be a better President than anyone else, I have no doubt about that.
Now, with Kamala Harris as our nominee (and she has the delegates for the nomination), there has been an explosion of financial donations to the Democrats and immediately improving poll numbers... but like, the reasons why we didn't have that support already are so frustratingly weak that we should have had that support all along! Harris will be a fine President, but Biden's been great.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 24th July 2024
Thing is, there was no way to withdraw at that point, because Trump ruined any other path towards it. Namely, the ability to do so by building a self defense force first, then leaving. Trump never bothered, but we were on a time table. Hey, look I'm defending Biden.
Covid didn't cause the inflation. Biden didn't either as you say, but neither did Covid. Greed caused it. So many corporate leaders were upset at what they felt was "owed" them that they jacked up prices. The recent soft landing from the inflation that Biden helped to stabilize (wow that's two for two defenses here) proves it was the oligarchs responsible.
Biden hasn't been "great" by my reckoning, but he's exceeded my expectations. They were low to start with, but still, I hope you accept the compliment.
Still, Biden's been slipping and frankly I think him deciding of his own accord to step down is the final admission of that. We now have someone who shares his centrist policies (she may be a little further left I think, but then again she is responsible for some rather bad "tough on crime" policies like Biden was so that can't be ignored), but has more youthful energy and that's apparent in every speech she's given.
The republicans aren't targeting her on policy, they're inventing things to pretend to be mad about right now. Harris not being "voted for" seems to be their big argument, that she somehow "stole" this. As much as I wish we had had a more robust primary, especially now, we didn't get one, and more importantly, anyone that voted for him in this primary ALSO voted for Harris, and when you vote for a VP it's with the full understanding that VP is going to replace the P if something happens. Resignation is one of those things. This is entirely natural a progression.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - A Black Falcon - 24th July 2024
On the subject of Harris and policy, while you are right that the Trump campaign was caught quite off-guard by Biden withdrawing, the attacks will come. Here's a new policy-focused ad from the Republican Senate candidate in Pennsylvania attacking her, showing clips of her support for many liberal policies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvyJf4K1kFE 'Look at the scary liberal pushing lefty policies!'
Of course, she won't run on all of that stuff now -- running for US President is very different from races in California -- buet she'll be attacked for it for sure. Of course, though, today issues don't matter as much as they used to, not when Trump would love to end our democracy and most people know it. So it remains to be seen how much damage ads like that will do. Obviously there also will be innumberable anti-Trump attack ads, but most people already know what he stands for. Even though she is VP Harris has more to introduce people to. The start of her campaign has been strong, without the Republicans immediately finding a good attack line against her and with great fundraising numbers and increasing polls, and I very much hope that continues, but ads along the lines of that one are something that probably will hurt. Of course, she's not as liberal as that ad makes her look -- there is also a clip of her criticizing the BLM movement, saying that we shouldn't 'only build schools and not prisons' has issues, but since when are attack ads entirely accurate? Since never.
Quote:Covid didn't cause the inflation. Biden didn't either as you say, but neither did Covid. Greed caused it. So many corporate leaders were upset at what they felt was "owed" them that they jacked up prices. The recent soft landing from the inflation that Biden helped to stabilize (wow that's two for two defenses here) proves it was the oligarchs responsible.
There were many causes for the inflation and corporate greed was certainly one of them, but it wasn't the only cause, no. That's too reductive, there were many real shortages that drove up prices for example.
Quote:Harris not being "voted for" seems to be their big argument, that she somehow "stole" this. As much as I wish we had had a more robust primary, especially now, we didn't get one, and more importantly, anyone that voted for him in this primary ALSO voted for Harris, and when you vote for a VP it's with the full understanding that VP is going to replace the P if something happens. Resignation is one of those things. This is entirely natural a progression.Yeah, this one is a pretty funny attack of theirs. Whether Dems are happy or sad that Biden is out, this 'they're overturning the primaries!' attack is so critically flawed that it's ridiculous. As you said, everyone votes knowing that the VP will replace the President if something happens. It's not like she was dropped for someone not on the ticket at all, there would be more of a point that way, but with the VP replacing the President, things are pretty much working as the system intended.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 25th July 2024
Keep in mind that this is happening before the actual election so it's not quite "the system" just yet, but it's definitely keeping to the spirit of that system. Of course, the delegates COULD vote another way, but that seems highly unlikely at this juncture.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Weltall - 26th July 2024
Quote:Now, with Kamala Harris as our nominee (and she has the delegates for the nomination), there has been an explosion of financial donations to the Democrats and immediately improving poll numbers... but like, the reasons why we didn't have that support already are so frustratingly weak that we should have had that support all along! Harris will be a fine President, but Biden's been great.Biden would have to keep being great for another four years. This was the can that got kicked down the road five years ago, when Biden was not quite old enough for it to be a serious problem. If Biden looks and sounds as old and frail as he does now, what would that be like in another year, or two, or three, with all those accumulated pressures of office? He might feel compelled to resign in the midst of a second administration, which would be a lot more disruptive, generally speaking.
Unlike the GOP, the Democratic Party is not a cult of personality, and Joe Biden does not fit the same role within it that Trump does within his party. I think, in most ways, a Harris presidency will exhibit strong continuity with Biden's, in terms of policy positions and administrative goals. Biden's administration has been solid and effective, overall, and the change at the top is unlikely to result in any kind of dramatic repositioning.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 28th July 2024
I won't argue with that. While I may disagree on a lot of policies, he's been pursuing his policies effectively and his administration, his cabinet, are very effective at their jobs.
It's just very nice to not JUST be voting for a cabinet, but to vote for a candidate that's actually got people excited. Biden was never exciting, and the last election was anti-Trump more than anything. Biden clearly stepped down for the obvious reason, his um... "head cold", but let's not forget that he still has the rest of the year left, and into January. He's still President, so with that said it's good that his cabinet's more than capable to step in to help clear up any off days he has between now and then.
Harris may not be my candidate of choice, but she's got the excitement, and she will be the first woman as president if elected. There's still hurdles to overcome in this transition, but if it goes well and the Republican party doesn't manage to get their narrative, or upcoming lawsuit, off the ground regarding this, then I'd say there's a good chance Trump loses this.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Weltall - 31st July 2024
It might be a little cynicism brought by age and experience, but I feel, in some ways, more comfortable voting for a competent and engaged administration than I do voting for a single person because he or she is personally exciting. To help illustrate my thinking, while Donald Trump is, personally, a repulsive idiot with no redeeming characteristics whatsoever, what scares me the most about a possible second Trump administration is not the Pumpkin Blumpkin himself being in the White House again, it is the people he will select to run the country in his name, who will certainly be every bit as evil and cruel by nature, and almost certainly a lot smarter.
RE: A Right Wing Cannot Flap Alone, or, Donald Trump Screwed the Putsch - Dark Jaguar - 2nd August 2024
That's project 2025 in a nutshell, and EXACTLY why you should be afraid of voting in Trump, and anyone who seems like they would go with project 2025. To make it clear, I would actually vote for a republican if Bloomberg was the democrat's chosen one. That is the ONE condition that would make that happen.
But yes, it's the team behind that really makes a president, because literally no one is actually capable of leading a nation, at all.