U.S. Politics, November 2024: GARBAGE DAY!!

Who could have predicted

Hi y'all. This is grim. Thanks for being here, collectively. That's about all I've got.

Thank YOU, DC.

Hey, all. Slipped in and out of sleep.

can't sleep, neither could my dad... ugh

I envy everyone still asleep.

I suppose the first question to ask is, how did the party get its polling wrong? What was this vibes shit?

we need to end our obsession with polls which are no longer valid. they don’t mean anything when the margins are going to be like this and no one answers their phones

the one bright side I can think of, and this is a stretch, is with trump in power some democrats who’ve held back on israel/gaza might find there’s no longer any political reason to be shy about criticizing the country’s support of israel

polling overall seems to have been relatively good this time, better than 2020

but idk what the dems were doing strategy-wise since like september, how did they possibly think 'never trump republican who loves bush-era republicans' was the key demographic to focus on for the last two months of the campaign, what could possibly have backed that up

Look at these endorsements! How could they fail with Swifties on board?

this is UNBELIEVABLE ahahahahahaaa pic.twitter.com/sZrJVVq9Si

— endthewest (@bookdellector) November 6, 2024

It pains me to say it, but maybe we just couldn’t have won.

feel so rotten about this. so sorry to all of you. so sorry to everyone who worked hard on their end.

I know the Swiftie / Beyonce factor is probably more negligible than we would like to believe, but I wonder what the polling data is on people 18-25. Judging by social media (I know, I know), it seemed like young folks were more mobilized than I've seen them in my lifetime. Did this really not make a dent? I guess like most of you I'm just baffled by this whole thing and flailing looking for answers

what I've heard is it's once again the Olds that have let us down (nb none of the Olds on ILX)

cool woke young people may well be outnumbered by the kids of Trumpers, kids of old-fashioned Republicans, and junior fash young people radicalized by right-wing YouTube etc.

Exurb-dwellers (white flighters) are mostly quiet Republicans, with a few blowhards in the mix.

This has, so far, been a century of being disappointed periodically by half the country, but also recognizing in every case that I shouldn’t be surprised in the least.

In 2016 it was very much: I do not understand these people and am not of them.

Today it is very much am I even from this planet? I feel like a person completely out of time and history, as I imagine a lot of people opening this thread this morning will.

I went from dread to resignation real fast. Not sure how to feel right now— I have to go teach two classes and then work at my second job til 10pm.

Joe Rogan gets over 11 million listeners per episode. He (and the rest of them) has been shouting that Kamala wants to censor the internet for months now. They are also turning P Diddy's parties into Epstein-meets-pizzagate this week.

I went to sleep at 11 or so with things looking not great so I am not surprised she lost.

Dems absolutely need to go back to the drawing board because anti-Racism/anti-Fascism + country club Republicanism isn't a winning strategy.

Maybe they should try some strong left wing politics? We’ll never know

running in pure opposition to the republicans seems to work ok against an unpopular incumbent republican but works much less well when the dem candidate is closely associated with the unpopular incumbent dem and does nothing to distance themselves

there were glimpses at harris having an actual vision (legalising weed! expanding the child tax credit!) but it never seemed to be a focus of the campaign & she did nothing to escape biden's baggage

Eight years ago, I had the disposable income to denote to a bunch of organizations to mitigate the damage. Today I do not.

What orgs? Are they in the pocket of the Dem establishment?

Honestly, I think that the Dems need to completely rethink their strategy, run on popular progressive policies that many people agree on, and do it loudly. This centrist corporate shit, with no conception as of how normal peoples’ lives are on the ground, must fucking go.

Table: ALCU, SNCC, Planned Parenthood, the PA food bank (that’s where I lived at the time, as of right now I don’t know if I ever even wanna drive into that state ever again).

Ugh I can’t spell today it seems

This centrist corporate shit, with no conception as of how normal peoples’ lives are on the ground, must fucking go.

watch as most of them decide they didn't pivot to the right enough, it's going to be bleak

hi folks. i think this ends my relationship with the internet

I meant NAACP, not SNCC. My brain is fried.

Let’s all hang on today, alright?

it seemed like young folks were more mobilized than I've seen them in my lifetime.

i said this a couple of days ago but my 13-yo's tiktok feed was filled with pro-trump maga stuff with thousands of supportive comments and millions of likes, and he is not a maga dude at all. however he is "young" "white" and "male" so the algo appears to think this is what he wants

Gen Z is way more conservative than we thought I think

Somehow mine is too. So many MAGA TTs with literally THOUSANDS of supportive comments from young people. So many.

Random thought, but it feels like any kind of health is now nothing to play with: physical health, financial health, mental health.

i feel like my brain has been invaded by paranoid thoughts i don’t want to be in there, like, oh, idk, what if i’m forcibly detransitioned. probably won’t happen. but there it is in my head

anyway. i love you, whoever reads this

We love you too, Ivy.

yep

BBC exit polling seemed to show it was Gen X that really voted for Trump

Fucking hell.

Sorry, ivy, please take care of yourself.

Here's the demographic table, with all the exit poll caveats.

https://i.imgur.com/36KQSUi.jpeg

Sorry, xposted without seeing ivy's post ❤️

Gen Z is way more conservative than we thought I think

Yeah I knew I had seen the gender split written up. This is relatively recent but I’d be shocked if the actual breakdown was much different because this pattern was noticeable in the UK elections too.

Young women said they’ll vote for Harris over Trump by a 33-point margin. Young men were essentially even, with Harris having a 2-point lead.

My sister and her boyfriend are in Spain or Portugal right now. I wonder if they're looking into staying.

Love to ufo and ivy and everyone at the sharp end of this shit.

It sucks.

To even speculate about how much my family doesn't see me or my nieces just chills me.

100 per cent afraid that they’re coming for gay marriage, and know that the ACA is doomed, which means I will be without insurance, which is um… not great for a cancer survivor with a genetic cancer marker. also i am not just gay, but married to a non-white person.

but in the meantime, a poem from Assata:

AFFIRMATION
I believe in living.
I believe in the spectrum of Beta days and Gamma people.
I believe in sunshine.
In windmills and waterfalls, tricycles and rocking chairs.
And i believe that seeds grow into sprouts.
And sprouts grow into trees.
I believe in the magic of the hands.
And in the wisdom of the eyes.
I believe in rain and tears.
And in the blood of infinity.
I believe in life.
And i have seen the death parade march through the torso of the earth, sculpting mud bodies in its path.
I have seen the destruction of the daylight, and seen bloodthirsty maggots prayed to and saluted.
I have seen the kind become the blind and the blind become the bind in one easy lesson.
I have walked on cut glass.
I have eaten crow and blunder bread and breathed the stench of indifference.
I have been locked by the lawless.
Handcuffed by the haters.
Gagged by the greedy.
And, if i know any thing at all, it's that a wall is just a wall and nothing more at all.
It can be broken down.
I believe in living.
I believe in birth.
I believe in the sweat of love and in the fire of truth.
And i believe that a lost ship, steered by tired, seasick sailors, can still be guided home to port.