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

its crazy that repubs can promise stuff and never deliver and people's lives get worse and as a result people get angrier and then they just end up voting for more...repubs. because they are the party for pissed-off people. what a world we live in. and quite a racket they have going.

watching libs pushing the "15 million missing votes" conspiracy theory to the point where several news outlets had to publish a factcheck for it today, while not realizing that MAGA people are the ones egging this on because it helps them sew further doubt in the 2020 results and elections in general, is fairly annoying.

one friend I know started up w/ similar shit yesterday ("something stinks about these numbers, I don't buy it!"), but thankfully that's it.

― Kurt Dandruff (Neanderthal), Thursday, November 7, 2024 6:23 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Can you provide links to these fact checks? To paraphrase Ben Bradlee, we need to be especially careful with what we want to be true.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2024/nov/07/threads-posts/no-20-million-democratic-votes-didnt-disappear-and/

the votes disappeared because no one cast them

One thing that doesn’t get discussed in employment stats is whether the jobs are any good! Like how many of these jobs are shitty and exploitative and conditions are worse than they used to be? I think the people who voted for T are delusional in thinking that his administration would improve this, but I also think there’s truth in the feelings of malaise and desperation and wtf how much were groceries this month and the power bill has doubled and even if you wanted to move, could you afford it?

plus, i think if someone has three part-time jobs they count that as one job? lots of part-time jobs out there because employers don't want to have to pay full-time benefits/overtime/etc. it can be really hard to find a "good" full-time job in the u.s.

Scott otm … and then there’s the issue of benefits that basically result in net zero for families (mostly talking about women here) where the cost of child care makes it just as “beneficial” to work part time.

on trump's nyc gains: https://gothamist.com/news/as-donald-trump-made-gains-throughout-nyc-dem-margins-plummeted

Across the city, Trump gained about 94,000 more votes than he had in 2020 — while Harris garnered around 573,000 fewer than Biden did four years ago.

a lot of liberals and dem-sympathetics sat out this election.

I wonder how many people left the top of the ballot blank or wrote in someone in places like NYC.

I wonder how many people left the top of the ballot blank or wrote in someone in places like NYC.

Though maybe i would have researched the average lifespan of pigs and put in the most likely degrees of descendence…

One thing that hit me this year was my property tax assessment going up 23%, due to the past several years of home sales going completely nuts. I'm sure a lot of people are in the same boat. I had to file an appeal (which I had never done before), and when the first appeal was denied, filed a second appeal, where thankfully they knocked some value off my property.

Just in terms of things that might make a struggling person feel like the government is fucking them. Not that this is a federal issue at all, but I bet some people would extrapolate it that way.

It contributes to the overall sentiment. I was reminded of 1980 when even my liberal parents didn’t support Carter because of the inflation/sense of decline and anxiety.

Important to note that a ton of people I know in NY didn’t vote for Harris because of Gaza, and the protests there have been the largest and most consistent of any in the US

I outlined my perspective as someone with a "good" job and relatively comfortable life in the Trump containment thread. Property tax that's gone from $3K to $10K per year since I moved into my house is a big contributing factor to the growing sense of insecurity I've felt over the past 5-10 years. I've gone from not worrying about my finances to constantly worrying about getting bills paid and being threatened continually with the prospect of losing my job for going on 5 years now. My outlook is that I can still essentially live a decent life and plenty of people have it much worse, so there isn't a reason to complain, but I can easily imagine lots of people in similar circumstances who instead say "welp, better vote Trump."

Maybe the rest of the country will pass versions of California’s Prop 13 … I forget that property taxes are calculated differently outside of CA.

I had to look up when it was passed because I first thought it was 1976 but that didn’t seem right, and it was 1978, and it was a reaction to the economy of the Carter years.

Wouldn’t NY, a safe blue state, be seen as a good to stay home in if you really felt you couldn’t/didn’t want to vote for whatever reason? xps

My mom’s house insurance has doubled in the last couple of years and will go up another 25% this year. Property taxes aren’t so bad because lol old at least.

Despite people saying everyone will just decide the economy is great because Trump I don’t see it. Partisans do a 180 on economic feeling but that’s true of Democrats as well - for the people who made a difference in this election (switchers and non-voters alike), the Trump economy is going to be as bad or worse than the Biden economy.

Important to note that a ton of people I know in NY didn’t vote for Harris because of Gaza, and the protests there have been the largest and most consistent of any in the US

In Mass, Harris got about what Clinton got in 2016. 60%. Biden got 66% in 2020. Trump got 36% this time. That's too close to 40% for me.

Trump went up 4% since last time. I guess that's not the end of the world. Taxachusetts still right with God.

I think as soon as Trump takes office, the media will go all in on how fabulous the economy is, and he will claim full credit for it, and if he's smart (he's not) he'll just sit back, do nothing, let the fed keep slashing rates, and be celebrated for it. Some people will absolutely buy this, some will not. The shine will fade eventually, and then who knows?

Wouldn’t NY, a safe blue state, be seen as a good to stay home in if you really felt you couldn’t/didn’t want to vote for whatever reason? xps

Yes. But even though it doesn't affect the electoral college, I do wonder about the cumulative effect of people who might otherwise vote for a Democrat staying home. In part because of them, Trump can now claim a win in the popular vote and improvements in his vote share in all but two states. That produces a narrative that will shape the direction of the Democratic Party over the next few years. Maybe it leads to more creative thinking about how to retain and expand the existing Democratic coalition, though I'm guessing a lot of focus will be on winning back Biden-Trump voters.

Bret Stephens has already pre-written a year's worth of columns

staying home entirely in a safe blue state is a non-starter for me, you can abstain voting for President all you want but don't ignore the downticket races

or the ballot initiatives, if any

And I have summoned a year’s worth of middle fingers in response

I hope NYT gets DDOSed every day for a year

I wonder how many people left the top of the ballot blank or wrote in someone in places like NYC.

― JoeStork, Friday, November 8, 2024 9:40 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I live in los angeles and wrote in my dog

voted for most of the progressives-endorsed candidates and measures tho, including the anti-slavery one which failed…

Yglesias is saying that being pro-Arab is the same as being antisemitic. But in fact voters who want Palestinians treated humanely are not antisemitic. Slotkin won because she was willing to address the concerns of people opposed to the mass slaughter in Gaza, which Harris… pic.twitter.com/aUVrttl5WE

— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) November 8, 2024

now we need a 'who is worse, Yglesias v Taibbi v Greenwald' thread, only I think this puts Yglesias at the top by default

Basically my parents bought their house in 1975 and their property taxes are

I wonder how many people left the top of the ballot blank or wrote in someone in places like NYC.

― JoeStork, Friday, November 8, 2024 9:40 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I live in los angeles and wrote in my dog

Are many dogs still named Fido these days?

At least two people I know wrote in "Shirley Chisholm" in NYC for top spot and the Gillibrand race. Most of my ballot was running unopposed downticket.

Not dismissing the realities of inflation and economic challenges, but these were just as bad, if not worse in 2022, and the numerous special elections that have occurred since prices started to rise in 2021. Yet, the voters were generally positive towards Democrats during those elections because our issues were more central to their vote than the Repubs were. It wasn't until this week were they actually expressed that frustration at the ballot box. I don't think its a coincidence that we've seen a major social network fall under the thrall of a Nazi billionaire, and the discovery that the massive right-wing media ecosystem was taking huge payouts from nefarious sources, since the last major election. Especially as the readership and ratings of old-time media outlets keeps cratering, the online/YouTube/social media world looms even more significant than ever - and we are getting crushed in this new environment.

However, if the voters are able to be moved by information (real and completely fabricated) from one side's new media, we need to offer them a counter ecosystem that welcomes them; is accessible, as in without a paywall; entertaining; and doesn't require critical thinking skills or deep knowledge of Marxist theory to understand. Like something that uses random normie hobbies and interests as the hook to eventually get people from demographics that don't traditionally engage with lefty media to support single-payer health care, immigration, or trans rights, so Repub attacks ring hollow in 2026 and future races.

Mid-terms attract a different type of voter than the general election, aka a lot of the people that vote in the former stay home for the latter. or do that stupid thing where they deliberately choose a party different than that of the President in congressional races "because nobody should have too much power"

And I have summoned a year’s worth of middle fingers in response

― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Friday, November 8, 2024 12:51 PM (forty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

You’re in good company

voters are able to be moved by information (real and completely fabricated) from one side's new media

Has any city erected a huge bronze statue of Roger Ailes that we can throw garbage at and then topple to the cheers of an approving throng?

xpost I hope everyone is stocking up on middle fingers now before the tariffs start

the price of raising those middle fingers will skyrocket

Here is an idea. I’m not saying it’s good, bad, or indifferent, but:

Do we need to nominate well-meaning assholes who are publicly awful now?

We nominated Bill Clinton twice.

has this been discussed? JFC

A placard reading "women are property" at Texas State University has gone viral, the day after Donald Trump won the election.

Photos of two men holding up controversial signs at the San Marcos Campus have been shared online, with counter-protests clearly taking place around them.

The signs read: "Women are property," "Homo sex is sin," "Types of property: Women, slaves, animals, cars, land, etc.," and "Romans chapter on reads your sin of sodomy is 'worthy of death'."

I mean, we're going to hear about terrible things from super-red parts of the country, often, and it's up to us whether to bear witness and traumatize ourselves with them daily. Maybe it's worth it, kind of like following Gaza in real time. But if it weakens our spirit, it diminishes our capacity to act when needed.

A big part of my final decision to ditch X was opening it Wednesday, having it once again default to "For You" and seeing a tweet that read, "Your body. My choice. Forever." from some blue checkmarked dipshit.

That would be from Berwyn, IL, resident Nick Fuentes. Though from other tweets, it's catching on with high-school boys as well.

Ugh, so repellent.

"I don't think its a coincidence that we've seen a major social network fall under the thrall of a Nazi billionaire, and the discovery that the massive right-wing media ecosystem was taking huge payouts from nefarious sources, since the last major election."

Democratic consultants just pocketed tens of millions of dollars overseeing the loss of what Dems said was the most important election in history & now Democratic media is trying to convince liberals that they ran a flawless campaign & nothing has to change.

We need a new media. pic.twitter.com/ZQrC8vsRye

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) November 8, 2024