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Ansem

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I always find conventions boring, but I watched some of the key DNC speeches.  The message of unity, trying to reach across the aisle, having some Republicans speak is very good.  Biden's speech was impressive and blew a hole in the criticisms tossed at him by Trump.  

Watching some of the Republican convention...what a stark contrast.  It is almost all fear mongering, America won't exist if Democrats win, along with some praise of Trump.  I think fear mongering is a highly effective strategy and has me worried.  

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What bothers me right now is that Trump has explicitly stated at this point that, if he loses, it's because the election is rigged, guaranteeing that he won't accept a loss or go quietly.

Also, I want to ask...does anyone actually feel like Biden is some sort of doddering old fool who doesn't know the day of the week, or where he stands at any given moment? I feel like he's fine, even if his apparently stutter makes him prone to gaffes, but it's wild to me to see so many people claim that Biden belongs in a home and that the DNC is committing elder abuse.

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4 hours ago, Dai said:

What bothers me right now is that Trump has explicitly stated at this point that, if he loses, it's because the election is rigged, guaranteeing that he won't accept a loss or go quietly.

Also, I want to ask...does anyone actually feel like Biden is some sort of doddering old fool who doesn't know the day of the week, or where he stands at any given moment? I feel like he's fine, even if his apparently stutter makes him prone to gaffes, but it's wild to me to see so many people claim that Biden belongs in a home and that the DNC is committing elder abuse.

Last time Trump also insisted the election could only be legit if he won and that he wouldn't accept his defeat. So its not surprising. 

The narrative against Biden is actually pretty amusing. They don't seem to be sure about what sticks or not because they are spreading incompatible tales about him all at once. One time he's so senile he's unfit for office, on other days he's a dangerous socialist and on another day this senile man is actually so extremely dangerous that he would ''hurt god''. I think part of it is the usual projection within Trump's base. There's a lot of speculation that Trump has declining mentally for years now and his father had Alzheimer at a relatively young age. So far Trump's base has been projecting all Trump's flaws in his opponent so insisting Biden has dementia fits with that pattern. 

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11 hours ago, Dai said:

Also, I want to ask...does anyone actually feel like Biden is some sort of doddering old fool who doesn't know the day of the week, or where he stands at any given moment? I feel like he's fine, even if his apparently stutter makes him prone to gaffes, but it's wild to me to see so many people claim that Biden belongs in a home and that the DNC is committing elder abuse.

No. Anything that implies that Biden's mentals are on the decline for any reason other than a little bit due to old age either a) knows nothing about who Joe Biden is; b) never had a family member who at BEST so ill that said family member's mental decline is burned into their psyche; and c) are looking to still get Bernie the nomination, probably.

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22 hours ago, Dai said:

What bothers me right now is that Trump has explicitly stated at this point that, if he loses, it's because the election is rigged, guaranteeing that he won't accept a loss or go quietly.

Also, I want to ask...does anyone actually feel like Biden is some sort of doddering old fool who doesn't know the day of the week, or where he stands at any given moment? I feel like he's fine, even if his apparently stutter makes him prone to gaffes, but it's wild to me to see so many people claim that Biden belongs in a home and that the DNC is committing elder abuse.

Hillary said something I very much agree with.  Biden should NOT CONCEDE.  I think under any circumstances, though he shouldn't say this.  However that is what he should do.  Challenge everything, and investigate everything.  Trump is making it easy to take this stance, everyone knows he isn't going to play fair.  

On his mental health, Biden is fine.  Certainly much more competent than barely literal Trump who has the vocabulary of someone in the 4th grade, and is completely delusional.  That is the problem with Trump's criticisms of Biden just about every one can be thrown back at him.  

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8 hours ago, Lewyn said:

Hillary said something I very much agree with.  Biden should NOT CONCEDE.  I think under any circumstances, though he shouldn't say this.  However that is what he should do.  Challenge everything, and investigate everything.  Trump is making it easy to take this stance, everyone knows he isn't going to play fair.  

On his mental health, Biden is fine.  Certainly much more competent than barely literal Trump who has the vocabulary of someone in the 4th grade, and is completely delusional.  That is the problem with Trump's criticisms of Biden just about every one can be thrown back at him.  

I do not think Biden should be the one to initiate any mud slinging, but I agree that if Trump starts throwing shit and attacking Biden's mental capacity on the debate stage, I think that warrants a harsh rebuttal from Biden, and Trump should have his own mental capacity and maturity be questioned and made fun of. Trump needs to be absolutely humiliated and have any remains of his "tough" persona reputation destroyed. We already know Trump is a complete and total wuss hiding under a bunker AND behind a wall at the same time AND lack the manhood to own up to any of it. Trump needs to be bullied and shamed on national television.

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2 hours ago, XRay said:

I do not think Biden should be the one to initiate any mud slinging, but I agree that if Trump starts throwing shit and attacking Biden's mental capacity on the debate stage, I think that warrants a harsh rebuttal from Biden, and Trump should have his own mental capacity and maturity be questioned and made fun of. Trump needs to be absolutely humiliated and have any remains of his "tough" persona reputation destroyed. We already know Trump is a complete and total wuss hiding under a bunker AND behind a wall at the same time AND lack the manhood to own up to any of it. Trump needs to be bullied and shamed on national television.

I agree, Biden should be the classy empathetic good guy.  However once Trump starts, he should humiliate and embarrass him.  He doesn't seem to be the best person at trash talking though, just too nice a guy.  Nothing would destroy his support more than his tough persona being absolutely shattered.  

Good read, and I don't think nearly enough people are taking the threat Trump poses seriously.  

https://www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/can-it-happen-here-donald-trump-and-fracturing-americas-constitutional-order-0

So many people take their democracies for granted.  Oh that will never happen, there are too many protections.  It is actually a very fragile thing and can be eroded and destroyed relatively quickly.  

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Make sure you all go out to vote when the time comes.

Trump is gaining on Biden and we need to be aware that Trump may have more support than the polls say. We also ideally need an overwhelming victory to kick Republicans out of the Senate too and do major gerrymandering reforms. The Supreme Court is a lost cause in the near future, but we still need to replace our liberal judges with younger ones to take the Court back eventually.

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Whether or not the supreme court is a lost cause depends on who is president and who has the majority in congress when Bader Ginsburg dies. If she dies and Trump gets to pick a new justice, and has a republican senate to approve them, it's over. 

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Yeah SCOTUS still looking less-then-deal but fine as long as Trump doesn't get to pick RBG's replacement. 

Present composition of the Court is 3 hard ideological liberals (Ginsburg, Sotomayer, and Kagan). 4 hard ideological conservatives (Thomas, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, and Alito). And 2 centrists (Roberts and Breyer).

And when the ideological conservatives want to do something particularly nutty (like--say--uphold an abortion ban that clearly goes against 50 years of extensively litigated and well-settled caselaw), the centrists usually wind up joining the liberals to issue a 5-4 ruling against the conservatives.

So the hard cons outnumbering the hard libs 4-3 usually isn't TOO devastating.
____

Everything goes off the rails and the balance of the court overwhelming favors the cons if Trump gets to replace RBG.

Not as in-your-face as the virus or the race riots: but that is lowkey the biggest thing going on in the upcoming election, and what everyone should be thinking about when they go to cast their vote.  

Edited by Shoblongoo
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3 minutes ago, Shoblongoo said:

Not as in-your-face as the virus or the race riots: but that is lowkey the biggest thing going on in the upcoming election, and what everyone should be thinking about when they go to cast their vote.  

Yeah, it is not going to hit headlines like COVID nor protests, but COVID and the protests will come to pass. Supreme Court Justices though, they last a freaking life time.

I hope liberal judges are more open to retiring while Democratic presidents are still fresh from the election and hopefully the Senate is Democratic too. If they serve for life like they currently do, it will not bode well for the country when a person like Trump gets elected.

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10 hours ago, Shoblongoo said:

Everything goes off the rails and the balance of the court overwhelming favors the cons if Trump gets to replace RBG.

Not as in-your-face as the virus or the race riots: but that is lowkey the biggest thing going on in the upcoming election, and what everyone should be thinking about when they go to cast their vote.  

In a pre-trump era, this WAS the biggest reason I could name to vote in the general. All the larger, ideological arguments and split hairs about who is the better candidate between two milquetoast centrists fell quickly to two words: Supreme. Court. As morbid as it sounds, RBG has been viewed as a "time bomb" since before I started voting. Back then she was a two time cancer survivor. And by now I think it's five times? That having been said, I wouldn't name the supreme court the biggest stake in this year's election. It being a census year is certainly within the same ball park. And it's genuinely terrifying to imagine a second term. Win or lose, your won't see Trump's name on a ballot again. He will turn the presidency into a life term, and our country into a russian satellite to ensure the "right" candidates assume office.

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I envy the blissful ignorance of those who pay no attention to politics.

*Sigh* Even when it makes me feel depressed, I feel compelled out of a sense of "escapism is wrong" and "duty" to watch and read the news, though I never go further than spectating. Then, I think "What does it matter, what happens on a little sphere in a vast dark universe, over an amount of time that amounts to nothing?" and instead get cosmic meaninglessness depression. -Oh, and throw in some "Due to the tens/hundreds of thousands/millions of people who share their country, modern democratic republicanism still like many less good forms of government to precede it, endows the individual with little real control over their lives", a form of human historical depression.

Edited by Interdimensional Observer
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18 hours ago, Glennstavos said:

In a pre-trump era, this WAS the biggest reason I could name to vote in the general. All the larger, ideological arguments and split hairs about who is the better candidate between two milquetoast centrists fell quickly to two words: Supreme. Court. As morbid as it sounds, RBG has been viewed as a "time bomb" since before I started voting. Back then she was a two time cancer survivor. And by now I think it's five times? That having been said, I wouldn't name the supreme court the biggest stake in this year's election. It being a census year is certainly within the same ball park. And it's genuinely terrifying to imagine a second term. Win or lose, your won't see Trump's name on a ballot again. He will turn the presidency into a life term, and our country into a russian satellite to ensure the "right" candidates assume office.

Yes the courts is guaranteed to be screwed if Trump gets re elected.  He is nominated underqualified highly partisan young judges so the judicial branch just becomes a political weapon for Republicans for generations to come.  The danger of this can not be understated.

However also if Trump wins, democracy is over...if it didn't end already (anyone actually trust this election? and if we don't have fair elections how can we be considered a free people?).  The spineless GOP will mostly back everything he does so unless the Dems flip the Senate then Trump will be able to do almost whatever he wants.  They will get super majority in the Supreme Court.  Everyone vote, and screw mail in voting.  Regardless of health condition, age or whatever go out to polling station and vote in person.  Vote for Biden.  Help people who are far away from polling stations or don't have transportation get there.  Encourage early voting.  I hope all the people who have power and money who recognize what a danger Trump is, do all they can to make sure he loses and Biden wins in a landslide.  That the election is fair.  

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Just thinking, even if Biden wins and Trump eventually concedes, it's going to buy us at most four years of total peace of mind. Because is it possible to repair the Republican's anti-democratic decline? Assume Trump finally gets so angry he has a heart attack and dies in the next four years (or that he dies of some other means), even without him at the rudder, will the party he leads return to normal?

Assuming it doesn't, once a figure who isn't Trump himself takes over, they'll be able to say "I'm not that guy" and they won't have quite the same terrible look to less-informed voters. Yet Fascist President B could potentially be as bad, or worse because they're competent and would go through the bureaucracy to affect a ruthless efficient rational and radical overhaul of America. Given it's realistically impossible for the Democrats to always effectively campaign, and America's preference for swapping political parties every so many years, I'd be afraid a President Biden would be democracy coming up for that one gasp of air before its hopeless struggle to stay afloat leads it to sink back beneath the water and drown.

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30 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Just thinking, even if Biden wins and Trump eventually concedes, it's going to buy us at most four years of total peace of mind. Because is it possible to repair the Republican's anti-democratic decline? Assume Trump finally gets so angry he has a heart attack and dies in the next four years (or that he dies of some other means), even without him at the rudder, will the party he leads return to normal?

Among the current politicians? probably not. That party needs to see extinction coming for the politicians to start actually reworking their strategy and campaigning for policy their constituents want instead of the Southern Strategy or just start a new party altogether and turn away from that strategy.

Among the voters? Some might remember to turn away from the rhetoric of Trump and George Wallace. Some will pretty much just want full on fascism since the Democratic method has failed to get rid of non-whites like they want or create anything to preserve the white majority they fear losing.

Edited by Dr. Tarrasque
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6 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Just thinking, even if Biden wins and Trump eventually concedes, it's going to buy us at most four years of total peace of mind. Because is it possible to repair the Republican's anti-democratic decline? Assume Trump finally gets so angry he has a heart attack and dies in the next four years (or that he dies of some other means), even without him at the rudder, will the party he leads return to normal?

Right now what we're relying on in 2 years -- not 4, every two years are important -- is voter turnout.

Voter turnout drives elections. Good campaigns drive voter turnout.

I wouldn't be surprised if in a few months Trump does something stupidly heinous and tries to pin a scandal on Biden that will only energize voter turnout further. Everyone's sick of Trump's shit, and Republicans aren't giving us aid when it's clear everyone liked the free 1200 buks.

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On 8/28/2020 at 3:47 PM, Shoblongoo said:

Yeah SCOTUS still looking less-then-deal but fine as long as Trump doesn't get to pick RBG's replacement. 

Present composition of the Court is 3 hard ideological liberals (Ginsburg, Sotomayer, and Kagan). 4 hard ideological conservatives (Thomas, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, and Alito). And 2 centrists (Roberts and Breyer).

You know just as well as me that Roberts is only a centrist in the sense of the makeup of the court. He is conservative through and through. Don't cast him in any other light.

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15 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Just thinking, even if Biden wins and Trump eventually concedes, it's going to buy us at most four years of total peace of mind. Because is it possible to repair the Republican's anti-democratic decline? Assume Trump finally gets so angry he has a heart attack and dies in the next four years (or that he dies of some other means), even without him at the rudder, will the party he leads return to normal?

I actually doubt the Republican party will return to normalcy anything soon. Even if Trump goes away then his base still remains and they'll be looking for new champions. In other countries politics very rarely returns to normal once the original populist leaves, because when he does all sort of imitators emerge. Considering how the Trump presidency has always been a family business I think Trump's kids would be logical heirs. The presidency is benefiting the Trump clan so I don't think they have any intention of letting that go to waste. If Trump goes then they'll try to replace him. The Republican politicians must also keep Trump's base satisfied to keep their seats so even if Trump leaves they will still be forced to adopt many Trumpian policies for years to come. And then of course you have other barely sane demagogues who feel emboldened that one of their own managed to so successfully con his way into the white house and wreak havoc. 

Populism isn't going anywhere in America. 

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Biden's speech in Pittsburgh today was incredibly powerful.  Compassion, strength, and truth.  

People are blaming Biden for the riots, and I'm wondering what hoops they jump through to get to that conclusion.  Riots are happening in cities everywhere, including ones by Republican run mayors.  However Biden has no authority, he isn't in elected office, he has zero power, he can denounce and offer his opinions and that is all.  Meanwhile Trump is the president, the most powerful person in the country and all he is doing is making things worse with his dogwhistling and calling all protesters anarchists and thugs.  It is some of the most disgusting and offensive stuff I've seen by any president.  

I ask people criticizing Biden what he is supposed to do, and they have nothing to say.  However it is somehow his fault.  Right wing media and Trump have brainwashed the American people so thoroughly I don't know if there is even a way back.

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26 minutes ago, Lewyn said:

People are blaming Biden for the riots, and I'm wondering what hoops they jump through to get to that conclusion.

You mean the trump admin and his human cock holsters right? The attack isn't working for moderates or leftists, and in fact to leftists it's basically saying "don't compliment him!"

I think even Fox News is having a hard time making it stick over time, for what its worth. I was gonna say "There's still time" but two months left :X

Either way, that's how victim complexes go.

 

(Although this whole "biden is a progressive trojan horse" thing... that's actually what I'm hoping for lmao)

On 8/30/2020 at 9:20 AM, Etrurian emperor said:

Populism isn't going anywhere in America. 

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/george-wallace-donald-trump/607336/ <- might be a good read if you want some vindication

Edited by Lord Raven
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