US Politics, June 2024: "Have there ever been this many cowards in power?"

OK, so the Chinese made COVID-19 in a lab. And? So what? What does it change? If they did, then it's a bioweapon. If so, why didn't Donald Trump protect us from this weapon? Cut off trade to China? Declare war? It's so stupid.

i think we should all come together to look at what NYT thinks of the proceedings and then adopt a position that isn't theirs

speaking of, I knew Newsweek was bat shit but boy!

https://i.imgur.com/B1zZ3cZ.jpg

Dan Perry, lookit your doppleganger.

Robert J. Mcwhirter and Juan P. Villasmil are probably AIs

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/03/biden-close-mexico-border-immigration-executive-order

Joe Biden will this week sign an executive order to temporarily close the southern US border to asylum seekers in a sharp political U-turn aimed at winning support on a key voter concern in a presidential election year.

The US president is expected to sign the order as early as Tuesday to seal the border with Mexico to migrants when numbers of asylum claimants rise above a daily threshold of 2,500.

Mayors of several US border cities are expected to be present in the White House for Biden’s announcement.

Biden’s move echoes a similar approach adopted by Donald Trump in 2018 when he was president and reverses his one-time philosophical opposition to his predecessor’s hostility to migrants. When he was a presidential candidate, Biden denounced Trump’s policy, saying it upended decades of US asylum law.

Remove all age requirements and let's declare this kid president by acclamation (feel free to turn the sound off; the speech is empty-headed bullshit):

So sorry I was slow responding to your email, I was tied up watching this over and over again pic.twitter.com/1MT81CS440

— Aaron Fritschner (@Fritschner) June 3, 2024

That seems like a fucking stupid move to me

I might try to be more temperate but Newsweek was a cornerstone of my childhood and I’m absolutely livid about what it’s become, let alone the changeling in their bylines making me look like shit by association

Sorry that was xp to rob

yeah now more than ever, and even from a purely cynical electoral view, I don't see much to be gained by the Dems moving rightm especially on asylum/immigration -- they're basically just legitimating it as a crisis and then looking slow & weak in their response.

I'm a pretty staunch leftist, but I'm not a "Biden and Trump are the same" person, mostly because I was an immigrant to the US and later a naturalized citizen and I'm aware of Trump & Miller's violent & horrific goals. But Biden straight-up adopting Trump border policy is disconcerting, to put it mildly.

How about instead of announcing this policy, they spend a few weeks talking about how Trump is a felon? idgi

the answer is always: they saw some polling

xpost

They're doing that, too; this is from today:

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ilyxejcmhg2qwqomgu2umi5v/bafkreiekvi66wxf2dpgqikwxitycujwaprwftfqvbhxqfstbvue4w2tf5e@jpeg

In case the image doesn't render, it reads:

"Breaking Point": Trump Reups Promise of Violence

Vows of violence are not a bug, they are a feature of Donald Trump's extremism.

Consumed by his own rage and thirst for revenge, convicted felon Donald Trump is teeing up political violence, threatening the Constitution, and pitting Americans against one another.

Trump has excused the violence on January 6, promised to be a 'dictator' on 'day one,' bragged about and been found liable for sexual assault, called violent neo-Nazis 'very fine people,' told the Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by,' and warned of a 'bloodbath' if he loses this November.

This unhinged man cannot be our president.

IIRC, Trump tanked a bill that would have done the same thing earlier this year.

many xp

haha at that c-span video

Yeah but at least if that shit bill passed they could tout some bipartisan BS xp

I think that's exactly why Trump made noises to tank it!

I don't know what that image is unperson, so I'm unaware of what they're "doing" in terms of disseminating that message (is that an ad? an email?), though I agree with all those points. I do think they should be leaning harder on the felon thing in that list, cuz right now it's front page news that Biden is "sealing" the border in obvious mimicry of unhinged extremist Donald Trump.

Ned's point makes it clear to me that the border exists in/as political myth at this point, so playing along with the GOP narrative is confounding

I kinda doubt there are people who know about what Biden is doing at the border right now who don't also know that Trump got convicted of a bunch of crimes last week.

I know no Democrats who place The Border among their top worries, only some who fret about The Border Issue, if you know what I mean. Maybe the Bidens think they'll win enough of those sainted swing voters.

I can tell you: the GOP are rabid about it. I hear it in my Cuban American family. They can't stop talking about it -- more than inflation.

xpost I also doubt that? I wasn't suggesting people were unaware of the conviction, but that it could be politically useful to demonize Trump over it constantly for a while. Sort of how the constant repetition that the border is a crisis has caused Biden to do a total 180 on policy.

agreed Alfred, it's unclear to me who this is aimed at

Nobody? I'm making a remark.

They heard that some guy in a midwest diner might vote for Biden if he was tougher on "the border issue"

Became a US citizen and a registered democrat today, fml.

seriously? congrats! welcome to our hellhole

got one question wrong on https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/questions-and-answers/100q.pdf (blanked on the name for the first ten amendments) but yeah seriously.

Bill O'Reilly is named after the Bill of Rights, that's how you remember it

I know the Democratic Party is a hot mess as well but I've been a D. partisan mostly all my life, outside of youthful stints as a Green or SWP

I can tell you: the GOP are rabid about it. I hear it in my Cuban American family. They can't stop talking about it -- more than inflation.

The constant fear of invaders is such a perennial and effective political trope. What boggles my mind about it under current circumstances living in a red state is that every construction crew around here — including the guys who put on my new roof a few weeks ago — are Latino. Restaurants, hotels, custodial services, etc etc. And everyone is totally fine with it, I never hear anybody complaining about the actual practical impacts of a large migrant population, because they are almost all to the benefit of the permanent legal residents. But that doesn't dampen its mythological appeal as an existential threat.

In California, everyone who's taking care of your grandma in the home is an immigrant, or maybe second gen

There was a recent article in the local newspaper business section pointing out that studies have determined that if Trump were to follow through with the mass deportations of undocumented US residents that he has promised as part of his agenda it would mean a net loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs for US citizens, too, because if you remove enough pieces from an economic structure, it fails and its failure takes down everyone's job who was employed in it. The ripple effects of Trump's "plan" would be more like shock waves.

Of course, he's only blowing smoke when he talks of 8 million deportations, but even accomplishing the bare outlines of this idea would cause massive and needless misery in return for no benefit to anyone whatsoever.

Texas already wants the Supreme Court to give them the capacity to not provide public education for the children of undocumented people. The fallout from that would be staggering, and the social implications are as terrifying as what they’ve done to women

Honestly, I just hope coastal states fucking ignore the SC

Quite a few blue states not on the coast.

Another reason why I won’t be voting for Biden in the fall: the caving in to racist anti-immigration sentiment via enacting policies to the right of Trump’s. Please please, continue to tell me how this racist geriatric genocidaire is the best president of your lifetime.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/03/us/politics/biden-immigration-asylum-order.html?unlocked_article_code=1.xE0.YNXK.p-ZHfLh4Y5ZJ&smid=url-share

Well, the choices aren't exactly great.

Either way, this decision is terrible.

We were looking at a bunch of population maps at work yesterday and I feel like everyone needs to be reminded that our numbers are going up only due to immigration and that population growth is a good thing.

South Korea’s in some trouble btw. I think they have a 0.7 pop growth

And that’s why there’s a huge wave of homophobia in South Korea, among other reasons

I also want to make clear: I understand voting for him, and don’t begrudge anyone who does. But the “best president of my lifetime” schtick might be true, but is so impoverished in its evidence, that it mostly goes to show that the US isn’t worth saving afaic. Talk about a shithole country

What it not a shithole country atm?

Uruguay.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/6/60/Uruguay.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100724103022

Just curious, table, who would you say is the best president of your lifetime?

agreed Alfred, it's unclear to me who this is aimed at

― rob, Monday, June 3, 2024 4:17 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Nobody? I'm making a remark.

― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, June 3, 2024 4:17 PM (yesterday)

I was puzzled by this yesterday and only just realized the confusion: Alfred, by "this" I meant Biden's decision, not your post! Sorry for the ambiguous pronoun :)

Remind me to mix you a Negroni at 5 p.m.

xxpost As Nas said, “Ain’t no best.”

xp nice. and I just got a bottle of amaro I've never tried. unfortunately, I left it in my friend's car and can't remember the name

I wanted to buy some Amaro Nonino the other day but it's like $55 now

^^ Biden Did This ^^

I feel your pain, f. hazel

This is so adorable. Honestly, good on him bringing his grandson to work. Just some good innocent fun in govt.

*googles Rep John Rose + wife*

Oh....oh god. No. https://t.co/8uaQ1qUM1T

— Centrism Fan Acct 🔹 (@Wilson__Valdez) June 3, 2024

Harris and Obama may be people of color, but they fundamentally fail to recognize how the policies they endorsed have contributed to the enormous disparities in qualities of life for people in

I'm sure they've thought about it.

I think a crucial component of fascism is the activation and energizing of the populace to become an effective arm of the state. I think makes Kamala an unlikely fascist as its seems implausible to me that she has the capacity to do that even if she wanted to

I think in general there has been some degree of term creep in recent years though so I realize debating over definition of terms is no longer necessarily useful as they've become more fluid

All I want right now is someone to uphold basic, fundamental democracy in America. It's table stakes and everything else is background fodder until the foundational structures are more sound.

Project 2025 scares the bejeezus out of me, and while I am very well aware of Harris' background, seeing her rise in SF and California, equating her with "fascism" is almost offensive in the face of the actual fascism on the ballot. For those wanting to burn it all down (which I totally understand, part of me wants to as well), I feel that desire is not much different from dark enlightenment accelerationism, and would do more harm than good.

I think an under-discussed aspect of 21st century fascism is the potential for technology to streamline and automate the surveillance and oppression, which Silicon Valley will be quite happy to help out with and profit from, making an energized populace less necessary as an arm of the state.

Leaning into the defiance, here’s the opening of latest Biden fundraising email:

“If you're like me, you're getting lots of texts or calls from folks about the state of the race after Thursday. Maybe it was your panicked aunt, your MAGA uncle, or some self-important Podcasters”

Crazy, stupid, arrogant…or all 3?

Bernie's "I am asking you once again" is the only good political fundraising appeal in American history and that's just because it became a meme about cats wanting a snack at 4am

I think an under-discussed aspect of 21st century fascism is the potential for technology to streamline and automate the surveillance and oppression, which Silicon Valley will be quite happy to help out with and profit from, making an energized populace less necessary as an arm of the state.

Is being a believer in the carceral state and its evil fascist? Serious question. Not every evil is fascist imo.

Well, we disagree, but I'm not gonna get into a discussion about gradations of evil on this glorious Monday morning.

The month of June is showing undeniable signs of decline

"Everything was rockin' good" was my fave debate quote from Trump if anyone needs a July thread nominee. but there were so many wonderful perfect beautiful quotes in June.

i would like to thank the academy and Aimless for my one and only political thread title quote. i don't know what to say. just remember: "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

"We had H20" was a good candidate. But "We finally beat Medicare" probably more appropriate.

startin to think this biden guy is washed

but his youtube fundblurb he begins with "i hope i made you proud debating trump on thursday" or something and that IS pretty goddamn funny really, good one

US Politics, July 2024 - "Will you just drop out, man?"

change it later if u like........but just to get the convo started