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American Politics Thread

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Aulos said:
I'm glad that some Republicans are still standing up. Years ago, many Republicans acted like they had standards and opposed Trump, but then once he was elected, they turned around and became super loyal.
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Looking at you, Lindsey Graham.
 
Shiny Celebi said:
Why are they bringing Republicans to speak at their convention?
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Presumably to reinforce the narrative that Trump is just that bad and maybe convince some moderate Republicans to come over and vote for Biden.

swiftfox said:
It really drives home the message of just how awful Trump is.
Powell speaking really isn’t a surprise, this is the 4th election in a row he’s endorsed the Democratic candidate.
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Still, giving a stage to an anti-abortionist and a war criminal probably isn’t going to help convince any progressives who are on the fence about whether Biden deserves their support. Maybe the DNC have done the calculus and determined that the gains will outweigh the losses, but I sure have seen a lot of leftists who feel like this just illustrates how the Democrats would rather court Republicans and move right than actually commit to any progressive policy. And I can’t say I entirely disagree.
 
Esserise said:
but I sure have seen a lot of leftists who feel like this just illustrates how the Democrats would rather court Republicans and move right than actually commit to any progressive policy.
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And this underscores one of my major issues with the American far left. The Democrats aren’t moving right in the slightest. In fact, I’d argue today’s party is the most progressive it’s ever been.

As for courting moderate Republicans over leftists, it’s a strategy backed up by reality. We saw moderate Republicans and Republican-leaning independents cross over in the 2018 midterms, allowing the Democrats to flip the House of Representatives. Leftists on the other hand made it clear they’re unreachable, and Democrats acted accordingly. Sorry, but you don’t get to spend the entire primary threatening to sit out if Bernie wasn’t the nominee, and then cry when Democratic leadership believes you.
 
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swiftfox said:
And this underscores one of my major issues with the American far left. The Democrats aren’t moving right in the slightest. In fact, I’d argue today’s party is the most progressive it’s ever been.

As for courting moderate Republicans over leftists, it’s a strategy backed up by reality. We saw moderate Republicans and Republican-leaning independents cross over in the 2018 midterms, allowing the Democrats to flip the House of Representatives. Leftists on the other hand made it clear they’re unreachable, and Democrats acted accordingly. Sorry, but you don’t get to spend the entire primary threatening to sit out if Bernie wasn’t the nominee, and then cry when Democratic leadership believes you.
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That’s fair. I don’t think they’re really moving rightward either, but I do sympathize with how hard it is to have patience with incrementalism when so many facets of society are in immediate and dire need of repair. Personally, I myself fall under the far-left umbrella and wouldn’t give Kasich, Powell, Cindy McCain, etc. the time of day, but I do understand the play, and frankly, a lot of the baggage that those people bring to the table isn’t stuff that wasn’t already present on the Democratic side before. So if I was willing to hold my nose and settle before now, tapping Kasich to do a quick political striptease for moderate votes doesn’t really do much to change that.
 
The problem is when one side (leftists) has standards and the other side (far right) has absolutely none. This is a big problem, because it inevitably makes things fall toward the (far right) side, and that's where we are now. Surely it should be of utmost important to leftists to not allow the far right to gain power, stack the courts, and hurt people more/hurt more people, yet somehow here we are.

I am further left than the Democrat party, and way far left of Biden. However, that doesn't mean that I don't recognize that electing Biden is crucial for our nation. I can't believe there are leftists who can't see this. Why snub the candidate closest to you because they're not good enough while letting the extremist fascists take over everything? How does that achieve anything at all?

I don't know how we can get the Democrat party to lean more left, but I sure as heck know that allowing the other side (which has gone completely off the rails) to win is not it. All it does is allow for more damage to be done, for many more people to be hurt. Aren't we supposed to care about the people getting hurt? Plus, even if this amazing leftist candidate rises in four years, a court stacked by Trump will keep on hurting us and holding us back. It is crucial to vote for Biden, no matter what.
 
Across the river, there was a mall that went under. Menards bought it to build a new bigger store there. The Democrat running for senate was the realtor in the deal. Maybe 4 small stores were forced to leave on short notice. The Republicans are running ads saying the Democrat is anti small business.
 
Biden actually nailed it. Spoken like a true leader.

Also, I wanna point out how they had this kid named Brayden speak about how Joe Biden has inspired him and helped him with his own stutter, given how Biden has dealt with a stutter his own. They didn't need to, but it was kinda heartwarming. The Democrats go for heartwarming stories, while the Republicans grab Kid Rock, the My Pillow guy, that teenager who had that confrontation with a native protester, and two assholes waving their guns around at protesters probably to scream "MUH SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS!!!"

Also, we already know what the whole RNC is gonna be. Its gonna amount to...
-Painting the Democrats as far-left extremists.
-Blaming Obama.
-"Sleepy Joe" this, "Sleepy Joe" that.
-"Kamala Harris is a nasty, disrespectful woman."
-MUH SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS!
-"MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
-Baseless claims that mail in ballots are fradulent.
-Trump acting like COVID-19 will miraculously disappear and like he knows better than the experts.
-Acting like its 100% safe to send kids back to school in conditions like this.
-Painting all Black Lives Matter protests as violent.
-Acting like Democrats want to abolish the police and free dangerous criminals.
-Rambling on about protecting confederate monuments and the confederate flag.
 
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Aulos said:
I am further left than the Democrat party, and way far left of Biden. However, that doesn't mean that I don't recognize that electing Biden is crucial for our nation. I can't believe there are leftists who can't see this. Why snub the candidate closest to you because they're not good enough while letting the extremist fascists take over everything? How does that achieve anything at all?
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This is exactly my position. I want immediate change as much as the next guy, with dismantling capitalism and climate change among my top concerns. And while I too agree that Biden will likely not enact drastic changes that the US (and world) needs, allowing Trump another 4 years will just make things even worse than they are now. I don't even think America can SURVIVE another 4 years of him. If we want to enact positive change that will help our futures, then it should be a no brainer that we should prevent worse outcomes. Unfortunately this mentality of "I refuse to vote if I don't have my ideal candidate" has become so ingrained now that it's just hurting the good cause.

I don't think it's wrong to have standards, I have my own share of them, but there comes a time when people have to swallow their pride and step back a bit for the greater good. I live in one of the most conservative provinces in Canada where my vote literally doesn't matter, but I still go out and vote during the elections because I know it is my federal duty and it's important to practice it. Of course I'd be thrilled if my vote actually did matter, but I still vote regardless to set a good example of myself.

Anytime I argue with people about my grievances with the "Bernie or Bust" crowd, the same argument I get is always "Hilary won the popular vote, and that didn't matter cause Trump still won." Yes that is true enough, but a flawed electoral college still shouldn't be cited as an excuse not to vote just because the ideal candidate wasn't chosen. And I am still convinced that maybe things could've been a little different had more Bernie and third-party supporters voted for Hilary. Maybe it still wouldn't be enough, but at least then she'd have gotten more numbers.

It's this mentality that's made me really bitter about the US election and why I'm very quickly losing hope (which I know is hypocritical of me to say after the above). But I've also recently read that social media has a tiny population and is not indictive of popular opinions. So I'm hoping that not all Americans share this "My ideal candidate or bust" mentality.
 
Aulos said:
I can't believe there are leftists who can't see this. Why snub the candidate closest to you because they're not good enough while letting the extremist fascists take over everything? How does that achieve anything at all?
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Gotta hold on to those Patreon subscribers and podcast audiences.
 
This week begins the absolute dumpster fire that is the Republican National Convention, likely full of hate, lies, and racism. I'm not gonna watch for sure, and I hope enough people won't watch so it gets lower ratings than the Democrat's convention. That will really make Trump angry.

I think I saw the last day's theme will be about greatness...Yeah right. If Trump wants to talk about great, let's talk about 10%+ unemployment, racial tensions at their highest, children locked in cages, the worst economic recession, and a president who uses his power to spread lies, conspiracies, hate, racism, and abuses his power to the highest degree.
 
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Not surprised really.

Also a big difference between Trump and Biden. Trump is an egomaniac who can't handle any form of criticism. He has forced people out after they've criticized him. Kamala Harris had that one moment about bussing in the debates, but Joe Biden moved on from her criticism and asked her to be his running mate.

Watching Joe and Kamala together on ABC just kinda shows me they will work well together if they win. Also shows me they are a compassionate team who cares about ALL of America and not just their base like Trump...Which is giving him too much credit cause he really only cares about himself.
 
I'm not even gonna bother watching the RNC. I still have nightmares from the one back in 2016, where Trump ranted about "American carnage"; one of the few promises he did, eventually, fulfill.
 
A Wild Luxray said:
who cares about ALL of America
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Given Biden's past racial controversies and Kamala Harris's past as a prosecutor, to name just a very few, I admit that I do find it a little hard to believe that. That's why a lot of leftists are strongly against Biden / Harris, because their administration wouldn't lead to real change or that they would just be hypocritical at best. I've recently been reading the book, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, and learned that the Obama administration actually increased incarceration rates for minor drug offenses.

However, all that said, I would still much rather have a Biden / Harris administration any day over four more years of Trump (or more, the guy just implied in the RNC that he wants to stick around for longer...).
 
What I think of when I think of RNC

1598307516350.png
 
I enjoyed Biden and Harris's Interview on ABC. I think they make a great team and are serious about getting to work if elected. I feel very comfortable voting for them and I really hope they win. I just am really worried about interfearance with voting and how COVID is going to affect things as well as whether or not people will vote. I do not see much enthusiasm for Biden and Harris from young people of voting age and I fear they will simply refuse to vote.
 
Shiny Celebi said:
I do not see much enthusiasm for Biden and Harris from young people of voting age and I fear they will simply refuse to vote.
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This is my exact concern. I don't know just how widespread it is exactly, but I see this everywhere on social media. I really hope they realize that the decision not to vote won't make Biden or Trump go away or won't elect Bernie in.
 
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