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

Have at it.

no, I think the answer is no (ty Scott)

Good afternoon!

The cowardice is there, but I think it's that the GOP is now irremediably tied to the voters who love Trump and utterly reject any head of the party who respects legality or the democratic process, the voters who believe they are the only people who have rights or should have any power. Without those voters the GOP would be reduced to a fulminating rump. They could never muster a majority in either chamber of Congress or win a presidential campaign.

The GOP leadership knows this very well and they will never forsake Trump no matter how corrupt or embarrassing he is, because Trump holds the keys to their continuing power. Things will change only if the GOP self-destructs and must rebuild from the ashes.

One byproduct of current reality is that the people with the greatest wealth and power in the USA are now heavily committed to creating as many voters as possible who embrace completely anti-democratic and authoritarian means to power, as long as it denies power to anyone they despise. As has been frequently pointed out, up until the 2000 election and Bush v Gore, the veneer of respect for democracy was carefully preserved beneath code words and euphemisms. Now the GOP voters demand the pure product with no watering it down.

the GOP is now irremediably tied to the voters who love Trump and utterly reject any head of the party who respects legality or the democratic process, the voters who believe they are the only people who have rights or should have any power. Without those voters the GOP would be reduced to a fulminating rump. They could never muster a majority in either chamber of Congress or win a presidential campaign.

I would argue that very soon because of those voters, the Republicans will be reduced to a fulminating rump. Because those people are not a majority, or anywhere close to it. They're about 25% of the electorate.

For convenient reference, I'll sneak in a link to the previous thread, during which Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts in NY state:

US Politics, May 2024: They Shoot Puppies, Don't They?

Most of you probably don’t care but Politico seems to be subtly transitioning into “paid subscriber” territory - certain articles now launch a sub-window imploring readers to enter information.

something that concerns me is that there does seem to be an ongoing GOP project to make things dumber, they're constantly trying to cut into school budgets and social programs and libraries, makes me wonder if they just straight up think an electorate of idiots will keep voting for them

Yes?

An electorate a Christian idiots to be exact

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/06/03/tax-dollars-religious-schools/

ok I guess I should say obviously they've always been this way but it does feel they're being way more explicit about it recently, just the nonstop attacks on education and getting real weepy about student loan debt forgiveness with this attitude that just shows utter contempt for anyone who actually went to college

Frogbs, yes - I think that’s definitely in play.

Social media, man. Twenty years ago they would've met in a rural McDonald's over coffee or listened to a FOX News loudmouth on a Saturday afternoon show.

I think the Internet was one of the most incredible things for humanity ever and social media one of the worst.

Blogs and forums that used to go deep into particular niche areas have been replaced by - effectively nothing.

the comments sections took over

https://hechingerreport.org/colleges-are-now-closing-at-a-pace-of-one-a-week-what-happens-to-the-students/

I lived around the block from Newbury College back in my teen years.

yeah the thing with social media/the internet is you're able to be plugged in every waking hour, so it's real easy to update the talking points and marching orders in real time. like all the chuds now complaining about Trump's trial are zeroed in on some very specific things, whereas in the past those viewpoints would be reserved for those who watched 2-3 hours of FOX News a night. I don't think you'd get a guy like Trump if there weren't an all-encompassing apparatus around to instantly teach these guys exactly how to defend every bigoted or boneheaded thing he does.

social media has basically just become a vehicle for inflammatory rhetoric to spread like wildfire when previously it spread more like a common cold. that and has turned everybody into their own little press secretaries

and this is what you wind up with

Greene: Mr. Fauci. You’re not a doctor. You’re Mr. Fauci.

Fauci:..

Greene: I don’t need your answer. He doesn’t deserve to have a license. He belongs in prison! pic.twitter.com/BaGacYZ1vT

— Acyn (@Acyn) June 3, 2024

Someone please feed her to the wolves

even for her this is wild

Greene: You know what this committee should be doing? We should writing a criminal referral because you should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. You belong in prison Dr. Fauci pic.twitter.com/Td023Cv3M7

— Acyn (@Acyn) June 3, 2024

xpost Why would you wish that upon those poor wolves

Hey Marge, just FYI, an undiagnosed personality disorder is not actually a personality.

If I were Fauci I would’ve moved to Spain or something by now

Those MTG clips are disgusting.

I don't have a system for measuring this, but I do think she's even more reprehensible than Trump. Possibly more dangerous, too, if she ever acquired real power--not sure whether she'd inspire the same irrational devotion.

she won't ever acquire real power or inspire any devotion near that level

"You belong in prison" is going to be very popular with Republicans for next 6 months at least

Oh I’m sure it will be, but I got to figure more than a few are afraid they bark too loud that some of their squirrelly “legal” deals they have done might flip into indictments.

Got to figure you start looking there is a whole lot of greasy deals out there that if given a real look probably could end in some legal jeopardy for some legislators.

You got to be pretty much a gold brick falling out of your luggage to get in any real problems.

Fauchi's so getting a few of these as presents:

https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-lRQ4xlRXeFcG7gXX-jzYWUw-t500x500.jpg

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

k3v I think the deal is any choice other than "the vice gets the job the president isn't up for" would be seen both within and without the party as a sign of disorganization, and I think that would be a fair take. the rush to fill the vacuum would be truly chaotic -- every proposed candidate would have partisans who'd frame every other choice as not just wrong but abominable, evil, etc. it would be a gigantic shitshow; and harris being placed in that position would also be a shitshow, but minus the "gigantic" modifier. any search for another nominee, even just as an idea, would evoke, for the party, portents of the sort of chaos I describe. there's no way they'd stand for it; I think "Biden is replaced by Harris" is the furthest limit they'd be willing to consider.

you might be right, and if biden were to step down she very well may be the best choice. but that’s something the party would need to decide after weighing a lot of very difficult options

I agree with jclc that harris is the best move

k3vin, I think it's useful to game out and discuss these scenarios. I think you have to think people are persuadable. If nothing else, reading people's posts here helps me talk to my brother in Arizona. Didn't think his was the door I'd be knocking on, but that's how badly the debate went in their view.

At the moment he's so angry and emotional he says he would vote for a bucket of nails over Biden. My sister-in-law is saying she can't vote for either Trump or Biden. My sister in Michigan said their reactions are like moving through the stages of grief. At the end of the day they may begrudgingly go along with Biden, but you have to let them process it.

My brother thinks the suggestion that being opposed to Harris as a replacement candidate makes one racist or sexist is condescending. According to him, Harris doesn't poll particularly well with African American voters or anyone for that matter. What he wants - and he thinks others think this way too - is someone electable. That is literally the only job of the Democratic candidate right now. In his view, this DNC process could have Whitmer, Shapiro, Newsom, Schumer - literally anyone who could answer a call at 10pm or 3pm and be cogent. But it has to come from Biden. That's why he's so angry.

The situation is bad. Biden should stepped aside early enough to have a real primary

I know a lot you think of her as a cop and as a weak/bad speaker, but I really don't think she is either, I think she has proven her worthiness

― Dan S, Sunday, June 30, 2024 7:05 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don’t really have an opinion of her as a speaker, aside from the fact that she’s better than her boss. if she is the best person for the job of campaigning for president then I’ll support her. but I’m also open to other options, for obvious reasons (not wanting to lose)

What if they just flipped the ticket? Harris Biden 2024? Joe's got some solid experience as a VP

lol

xp k3vin I agree with that as it applies to 2028, but this year is a different story

She is a cop and an awkward speaker… but less awkward than Biden at this point.

My white friends saying that "Harris doesn't poll well with African Americans" (and I've heard that) is about as privileged and clueless as the pundits saying Biden should drop out.

that’s something that can be empirically determined

our feelings about the ickiness about the situation don’t really matter

Yeah, I might have had my brother's quote wrong. He just had a big reaction to that one take.

lol y'all couldnt stomach a rich white woman as prez. What makes you think a brown ex-cop woman would fare better?

Who is "y'all" in that post, Trayce? The nation?

Me, I was 100% for HRC and for Warren.

Harris has a smooth constitutional path to the presidency already. Biden can die or resign and we'd have President Harris. That could be this week or next year. Biden doesn't need to have four more years in him - just five or six more months.

whew, ymp otm. exactly where i unfortunately end up at the end of this shitshow.

prob is he may not get reelected if everyone understands this position correctly, but same if not enuf ppl understand it correctly.

Re: Harris—Nobody cares about the “cop” thing except us.

There have been numerous articles about how one of the main reasons why around 1/4 of Black voters are unfavorable toward Harris is her background within the PIC.

Re: Harris—Nobody cares about the “cop” thing except us.

― Gigi Allen (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, June 30, 2024 8:19 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

well, she should by all rights already be president. that she isn’t is a reason for pause

but table is right — the implication that only white leftists care about her record as a cop is a sad indictment of the median dem voter

“By all rights” except those of being a good candidate and winning her home state?

If neither Biden nor Harris is the nominee, more than $200 million donated to that campaign is out of reach of whoever the nominee actually is. Changing candidates at this point would be a financial catastrophe.

Oh sorry, I forgot that she dropped out of the 2020 race before any primaries happened because she was polling like 4th in CA.

Who is "y'all" in that post, Trayce? The nation?

Yeah the nation, not aimed at anyone here of course!

“By all rights” except those of being a good candidate and winning her home state?

― A So-Called Pulitzer price winner (President Keyes), Sunday, June 30, 2024 8:54 PM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

for sure, california is certainly up for grabs. we’ll all be waiting with bated breath to see whether it turns blue… ?

the GOP wasn't really celebrating either.

I don’t know which Republicans you follow, but I follow a bunch on X for work reasons and they were beside themselves with glee and guffaws on Thursday and Friday. They’ve made their peace with Trump, they don’t give a shit how crazy he sounds. They absolutely smell blood after that debate.

xpost Sure, but she didn’t win any other states either.

she’s a horrific candidate. but the alternatives are possibly worse

Vice President Kamala Harris for the #BETAwards: "The majority of us believe in freedom and equality, but these extremists, as they say, they not like us." pic.twitter.com/wE0hDB3XId

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 1, 2024

some would say that an early career confining mostly non-white people to cages is extreme; some would say that pursuing leftist protestors instead of literal neo-Nazis on the state capitol police force is extreme; some would say that forcing sex workers into street work via coordinating with the feds to shut down Redbook and Rentboy and etc is extreme.

Harris is extreme, and is much closer to the fascists than she or many of you seem to believe.

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

people are cruel. no doubt. in big ways and small ways. you know for a fact that kamala harris does not think of herself as cruel or fascist or any of that. she just believes in the system. which can be entirely cruel and inhuman. its that greater good thing. the few sacrificed for the good of the many. people believe in that.

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