GET OUT: US politics November 2020

President Trump’s political operation has raised more than $150 million since Election Day, using a blizzard of misleading appeals about the election to shatter fundraising records set during the campaign, according to people with knowledge of the contributions.

The influx of political donations is one reason Trump and some allies are inclined to continue a legal onslaught and public affairs blitz focused on baseless claims of election fraud, even as their attempts have repeatedly failed in court and as key states continue to certify wins for President-elect Joe Biden.

nbd, just 150 million in the name of something so fucking stupid i want to puke again and again

i'm sure you'll all cheerlead for the donation of so much to so little, but god DAMN $150M?!?!?!?!?!!?

good on those donors, it's not as if there's some stupid pandemic or something going on

lately i feel that table is more and more otm, in re: just giving money directly to the people who need it FUCK all these organizations that don't amount to SHIT. i have seen that firsthand. what a failure. what an embarrassment. fuck all of it. just give it to the people who need it AND stay with them afterward instead of peac3ing off after the transfer of money.

so if I Venmo'd Vanilla Ice, I should see if he'll let me sleep over?

I did not Venom Vanilla Ice

*Venmo

You venomed Vanilla Ice? He was all I had!

Karl are you currently attempting a 420 unlock on Havin' A Roni

cut that zero, venmo the hero

There was never a feeling that Biden had this election in the bag. It never felt like a sure thing. The things he said on the campaign trail were all part of a winning strategy. There were things he could have said that could have been twisted by the opposition to torpedo his campaign. That always felt like a real danger- he had to be extremely careful what he said. But he didn’t say anything that they were able to turn into an effective weapon against him. No “basket of deplorables” moments. And he built the coalition that he needed to win. It’s hard to argue with success- he won what at times felt like an unwinnable election, despite the other side trying all their dirty tricks, and despite Democrats losing all the close down-ballot races. I’m not ready now, 7 weeks before inauguration day, to pre-judge Biden’s presidency based on what he said on the campaign trail. He said a lot of good things, and certainly some bad things. I hope he follows through on the good things, and not on the bad things. But there is no way of knowing either way until he is in office and actually starts governing. Primarily right now, I’m just looking forward to Trump leaving office, Trump’s cabinet and cronies getting kicked out, and Biden canceling all of Trump’s executive orders and getting rid of all the bullshit that has been infuriating me on a daily basis for 4 years. That’s what I’m trying to focus on now. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on fracking and policing until I see his actual policies in practice. These were controversial topics that could have easily been weaponized against him and he had to be very careful about what he said. The wrong statement could have turned the tide against him. Again- look at the ground lost by down-ballot Democrats. This whole election was balanced on a knife’s edge, and Biden stayed on the right side of it the whole time. As far as I’m concerned, he has earned the right to at least actually take office before getting buried in criticism.

I mean, the bullshit Trump pulled with the USPS. Kanye’s candidacy. Voter intimidation. You name it, they tried it. They were throwing everything at the wall to try to cheat their way to a win. It’s not like Biden could have just coasted to victory on a wave of pure progressive ideology.

otm tbrr

thirded

agreed but I don't think Kanye's candidacy was an intentional part of that scheme lol

Actually no, he doesn't.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/08/13/is-jared-kushner-illegally-coordinating-with-kanye-west/

xpost

Like perhaps you've not been paying attention, but Joe Biden is a racist sack of shit whose major policy initiative of the 90s almost single-handedly led to the state-sponsored slavery we see in today's carceral systems.

If you're okay with that, that's on you, but a guy who has helped to ruin hundreds of thousands of peoples' lives doesn't get the benefit of the doubt from any thinking or feeling individual.

It's true; nobody on ILX thinks or feels except table and milo.

Christ, this is so fucking boring.

Biden is already making moves that I think are very much worth criticizing, but I understand the inclination to hold off.

as someone who had a hell of a time personally criticizing and even countenancing criticism of Obama (mostly from the ‘the very Concerned and extremely Serious’ corporate media, but absolutely from the Left as well) well into his second term, I do wonder how long a proper honeymoon period should last

IMO: feel free to criticize the things Biden has done, feel free to criticize the things Biden is doing, but if you feel compelled to criticize the things Biden has only done in your florid imaginings of the next 4-8 years then gtfo.

Presidents and soon-to-be Presidents should be criticized mercilessly, their positions and actions interrogated from top to bottom. Part of the cross to bear for deciding that you want to be the most powerful person on the planet.

saying people itt are “okay with” the us criminal justice system because they’re not currently joining in your biden dogpile is outrageous tbh

“guess you’re a big fan of donald trump since you wanted a nominee who could have never beaten him. huh - well, that’s on you” fuck outta here

wait a minute-- Biden is pro-slavery? Why didn't this come out before the election? #RIGGED

well into his second term

actually that’s not true. I think I do remember being mildly annoyed by the time of the 2012 election, but among my subset of friends who pay an inordinate and prob unhealthy amount of attn to this stuff I feel like I was regarded Captain Save-an-O

Is it churlish to point out that the Crime Bill being referenced had the enthusiastic support of more than two-thirds of the Black Congressional Congress and that its legacy/result is a good bit more complicated than “White man wanted to lock up Black people because racism”? Or am I just deluded and compromised because I was alive at the time and I remember who was promoting the bill and how it was initially received?

Is it churlish to point out that the Crime Bill being referenced had the enthusiastic support of more than two-thirds of the Black Congressional Congress and that its legacy/result is a good bit more complicated than “White man wanted to lock up Black people because racism”? Or am I just deluded and compromised because I was alive at the time and I remember who was promoting the bill and how it was initially received?

White internet radicals always know best, DJP. Haven't you figured that out yet?

^^ it frustrates me that these points aren't made more often.

isn't this back to racist "intention" vs. results?

this legislation doesn't have a racist bone in its body!

I also think that instead of mentally preparing ourselves to hate on future President Biden, we should be reserving a good chunk of our righteous anger for the Republicans in Congress and on the Supreme Court who will be doing everything in their power during his presidency to prevent, water down, and/or nullify any positive accomplishments.

lord grant me the strength not to waste undue energy on people who are actually evil

Biden palled around with racists before and after the Crime Bill. Maybe he’s not one but he never found them too objectionable.

That’s a separate issue from Biden’s history of pursuing multiple policies that have resulted in mass incarceration. The support of large parts of the CBC for one of those policies just means those members were wrong too.

we should be reserving a good chunk of our righteous anger for the Republicans in Congress and on the Supreme Court

If the past two presidential cycles have taught me anything, it's that the American left in general has a hard time getting as outraged by even the abuses of Donald Trump as they do by things they can call neoliberal. Your garden-variety theocratic/Koch Bros agenda just doesn't arouse the level of visceral righteousness that the Democratic establishment does.

Always criticizing AMERICA why don't you ever criticize NORTH KOREA huh?!

Jesus christ.

lol

If you live in a country where the greatest political challenge to your priorities is corporate Democrats, by all means devote most of your time to attacking them. It sounds like a nice country. Just not the one I live in.

tipsy what is your plan for pushing the supreme court left

Electing more Democrats of just about any kind to presidency and the Senate over and over for a decade or two.

people get mad at the people/institutions that hypthetically share (at least some of) their priorities and should be less shitty. you don't argue with mutants.

tipsy otm

xpost fuck that, I got in Leonardo's face last week

You have to get past the Better Things Aren’t Possible corporate Democrats before you can even take on the mutants.

I guess we need a December thread if anyone wants to step up

people get mad at the people/institutions that hypthetically share (at least some of) their priorities and should be less shitty. you don't argue with mutants.

I agree with you up to a point, I think it's good to hold people on or closer to "your side" accountable, and yes you should have higher expectations of them than you do of people who are nakedly hostile to your views or values. But also it's important to always understand and keep in mind your total political context, which very much includes all of those people who are nakedly hostile to you.

Mostly the leftist vilification of Biden this year and Hillary in '16 has seemed performative to me in a fairly tired way that just seems removed from the political world I live in. Joe Biden being a corporate centrist is far from my greatest political concern. I agree with most of the criticisms (though some are reductive and overly simplistic), but I also understand that a comfortable, familiar moderate was what a lot of voters gravitated to this year. And I understand why. I don't hate people who voted for Joe Biden in the primary. They were doing what they thought was the best thing to beat Donald Trump. I can't argue with the results of that.

Harping on Joe Biden being a bad person or "racist sack of shit" or whatever doesn't advance any particular cause that I can see, though I'm sure it feels good.

Keep the mutants out of power first and foremost.

We’re on Ilx to feel good(?) not advance causes tho xp