OT: US Election

[Blair]

There's a simple way for Biden to pull all of this to bed, proving that he just had a 'bad night' (as is coming out of the campaign ad nauseam), recovering from jet lag, or a cold or whatever....just put himself out there with live interviewers from hostile media and show himself to be up to it. Easy!

I think he's going live this weekend but it's still fraught with danger. Any human slip-up, one we all make, will be magnified tenfold and will be the story.

Just now I was talkng to the wife and said, 'when Imran Khan was prime minister of India...'

Luckily I'm not an 81-year-old running for political office.

 

[Meth]

I think he's going live this weekend

With adversarial media?

nah ABC. Pretty middle of the road

 

[JJ]

I honestly don't think Trump (or anyone) can actually set themselves up as an autocratic dictator in the United States. Maybe I'm naive, but for all of his 'strong man rhetoric', I can't see it happening.

Indeed, the response to the election loss was disgraceful and inexcusable. But most of what’s said about him is either embellished or simply not true, nice symmetry there because most of what he says is embellished or untrue…

I see Sleepy Joe is cutting down on scheduling things after 8pm

 

[Meth]

 

[sup42]

I honestly don't think Trump (or anyone) can actually set themselves up as an autocratic dictator in the United States. Maybe I'm naive, but for all of his 'strong man rhetoric', I can't see it happening.

The Supreme court just showed that the slow coup is already happening.

January 6th was supposed to be impossible before Trump orchestrated it.

He will stop at nothing to stay out of prison once he is President.

There will be no protections against the new dictator and commander and Chief of the US Military once Trumpism has finished with removing all moderates from American institutions, it is in the manifesto they call a project.

 

[Meth]

Momentum building for Harris to replace Biden at the top of the ticket now

 

[Meth]

As much as she considered an icon of the left, there's a lot to be said about Ruth Bader Ginsburg holding on too long. The American left just can't ever seem to get out of their own way.

 

[Meth]

If by the progressive left you mean the idpol types, they really don’t have the same influence in government as they do in the media. They make a lot of noise but that’s really it.

I just want to revisit this. I honestly believe that the american left's association with 'the idpol types' is another example of the left constantly failing to get out of their own way, to their own hurt. The idol types may not 'have the same influence in government', but they are the public face set before voters that are up for grabs.

 

[Meth]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/07/05/joe-biden-crucial-interview-make-or-break-presidency/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CI'll%20beat%20Donald%20Trump,an%20interview%20with%20ABC%20News.

He'll beat Trump again in 2020

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I just want to revisit this. I honestly believe that the american left's association with 'the idpol types' is another example of the left constantly failing to get out of their own way, to their own hurt. The idol types may not 'have the same influence in government', but they are the public face set before voters that are up for grabs.

Unfortunately traditional left wing values seem to have been on the nose for a while. How often do you even hear about notions like class solidarity these days? It’s a hard sell, particularly in the US with its culture of rampant individualism.

 

[Matua]

I just want to revisit this. I honestly believe that the american left's association with 'the idpol types' is another example of the left constantly failing to get out of their own way, to their own hurt. The idol types may not 'have the same influence in government', but they are the public face set before voters that are up for grabs.

Who are you talking about when your say "idpol types"?

 

[Dark Corner]

Momentum building for Harris to replace Biden at the top of the ticket now

Oh dear.

 

[Dark Corner]

Unfortunately traditional left wing values seem to have been on the nose for a while. How often do you even hear about notions like class solidarity these days? It’s a hard sell, particularly in the US with its culture of rampant individualism.

More like middle class students and champagne socialist.

 

[Meth]

Who are you talking about when your say "idpol types"?

@SpaceMonkey introduced the phrase to the thread originally. But my understanding would be the progressive left, who are less interested in things like reducing economic disparities via taxation, market interventions, social justice etc. Instead, they are unreasonably anchored to subjectivity, quick to rush to outrage for an errant word, bonded to their self-defined identities and in a fierce contest for victimhood status, totally anti-establishment (until they need one, of course). Also, they can’t tell the difference between a man and a woman.

 

[Blair]

Who are you talking about when your say "idpol types"?

Short for 'identity politics'. Which most of us aren't into. For example me, give me true universal healthcare again. I don't want to be slogging away in a supermarket and not be able to afford to see a doctor.

Then a 'disabled' customer walks in and is almost telling the world about their 'gold-plated healthcare package'. Somewhere along the way their 'identity' was seen as more important than mine

 

[Matua]

Short for 'identity politics'. Which most of us aren't into. For example me, give me true universal healthcare again. I don't want to be slogging away in a supermarket and not be able to afford to see a doctor.

Then a 'disabled' customer walks in and is almost telling the world about their 'gold-plated healthcare package'. Somewhere along the way their 'identity' was seen as more important than mine

I know what it means, I just 1. don't think it is as prevalent as made out (it's more a tool of attack from the right), and 2. I don't think it's zero sum. You can be for universal healthcare and abhor the treatment of trans people at the same time, or realise that disabled people might need some extra support that able bodied people do not.

@Meth This post applies to your comment too about the "progressive left not being interested .." I just saw Blair's post first. But I was asking about who are the specific ones you're referring too in this case?

 

[Meth]

I know what it means, I just 1. don't think it is as prevalent as made out (it's more a tool of attack from the right)

It may or may not be as prevalent as made out to be, as may or may not be the case with the equal and opposite erroneous types on the right (and I see them both). What I'm saying though is that, for me, as somebody who would generally like to vote left, the noise these types of people make is off-putting and, it seems as least, redefining the left in a major way.

 

[Meth]

@Meth This post applies to your comment too about the "progressive left not being interested .." I just saw Blair's post first. But I was asking about who are the specific ones you're referring too in this case?

Are you asking about specific politicians? Or commentators? Because I wasn't going that granular. I was referring more to the perception I have of the body politic of the left. Right or wrong, overstated or not, it's there.

 

[Meth]

Did anyone watch Biden's interview today?

It wasn't live. It was pre-taped.

I was impressed by the interviewer's questions. He was definitely throwing punches. But he didn't push Biden all that hard. Much better than I thought though.


Refused to do an independent cognitive test, saying he 'has a cognitive test every day'

Denies he's down in the polls. Said it was a 'tossup'

Said his performance at the debate was a bad night, brought on by exhaustion.

Stephanopoulos asked him how he would feel in January if Donald Trump ended up winning the election Biden replied: "I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did the goodest job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about"

Yeesh

 

[Matua]

Are you asking about specific politicians? Or commentators? Because I wasn't going that granular. I was referring more to the perception I have of the body politic of the left. Right or wrong, overstated or not, it's there.

Yeah, I thought you were pinpointing specific politicians on the left.