• givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Two out of four is still pretty bad…

      We shouldn’t be satisfied with “better than trump” because that’s roughly 99% of the population.

      Unfortunately we don’t get a choice, and the people not letting us have a choice are too stupid to realize why voter turnout is constantly shit.

      • BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        We shouldn’t be satisfied with “better than trump” because that’s roughly 99% of the population.

        Spend some more time with his voter base and you’ll bump that figure down a bit

        • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          No shit, that’s what we’re complaining about…

          Our only choice is in the primaries, and that’s not much of a choice after the Dem party used “fuck the voters we’re a private group and can do what we want” as a legal defense a couple years ago when they were accused of bias in the primary.

          It’s an illusion of choice. No matter who gets elected, the rich win and everyone else loses.

          Like if someone gives you the choice of watching your house burn down from across the street or from inside while it burns.

          One choice is obviously better, but that doesn’t mean either is a good result.

      • The Snark Urge@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You’re basically right; They’re actually smart, but not in a nice way and not that smart. First past the post voting essentially guarantees this dynamic; duopoly a la Good Cop Bad Cop.

        They know they can skate by on that, but they’re not afraid enough of the fact that the insurrection has not ended, and will only escalate. Their Bad Cop isn’t a method actor, but an actual bad cop who already has a drop piece with their name on it.

        Fascism has never yet been defeated without an actual fight. This time isn’t different.

      • spider@lemmy.nz
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        1 year ago

        Unfortunately we don’t get a choice, and the people not letting us have a choice are too stupid to realize why voter turnout is constantly shit.

        Oh, they’re not stupid; it’s easier for them to cover their bets if they limit our choices.

        Once again, George Carlin - The big club (NSFW)

      • demlet@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I almost feel like a broken record pointing out that we really do need more than two political parties in the US, and that until then we gotta go with the lesser of two evils. For me, that’s Biden.

      • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s more like an overpriced sandwich prepared by a chef with questionable hygiene, and that poisonous banana split from Hoodlum that Bumpy makes the kid eat. Given the choice, there’s really no choice. You might not like the price of the sandwich or the lack of ingredients, but the other option is actual death.

    • NotAFuckingBot@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This old fuck will never vote for that Putin-sucking, diaper-filling-while-denying-it, corrupt asshole of a traitor, but I agree with your message.

    • Seraph@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      The only reason why I have a hard time believing that’s true is that he barely won last time and he’s burnt a lot of bridges since then, not to mention killed a lot of his constituency with COVID.

      Not saying you’re wrong I just can’t wrap my brain around it.

        • norbert@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          I’ll repeat it in case anyone has missed it.

          JUST VOTE IN EVERY ELECTION.

          We have to go vote in every, single, election. The right spent the last 70 years cultivating a base full of ignorant bigots so they’d turn out to vote against black people and hippies. They even got hateful fuckers to run for boring things like school boards and city councils. That shit paid dividends for them as we’re all witnessing today with a gerrymandered congress and school boards deciding they’re not going to teach things because the truth hurts their feelings.

          The only way we win long term is to go vote in every single election and drag the country back to the left (the real left, not the current crop of milquetoast corporate-democrats) so we can have a real conversation about things that really impact peoples lives, like ranked choice, wage theft, national healthcare, and UBI.

      • Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        What you’re missing is that many people will have that same attitude, and use it as an excuse not to vote. We aren’t as motivated because he’s not in office, so we need to remember what will happen if he gets back in.

      • Billiam@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        And yet, Trump got even more votes the second time around, even after spending a literal year of his presidency golfing and tanking the economy by making COVID a partisan issue.

        Trump represents the strong undercurrent of white grievance mixed with class warfare and religious faux-persecution that forms the basis of American fascism, and it’s gaining traction.

    • TigrisMorte@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      While there is an advantage among older Voters to Vote for whomever has an R next to their name, it is no where as pronounced as you are led to believe.

      Age and generation
      The aging U.S. electorate: A majority of Republican voters - and half of Democrats - are 50 and older

      The U.S. electorate is aging: 52% of registered voters are ages 50 and older, up from 41% in 1996. This shift has occurred in both partisan coalitions. More than half of Republican and GOP-leaning voters (56%) are ages 50 and older, up from 39% in 1996. And among Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, half are 50 and older, up from 41% in 1996.

      Another way to consider the aging of the electorate is to look at median age. The median age among all registered voters increased from 44 in 1996 to 50 in 2019. It rose from 43 to 52 among Republican registered voters and from 45 to 49 among Democratic registered voters.

      https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/06/PP_2020.06.02_party-id_2-01-1.png

      https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/10/26/what-the-2020-electorate-looks-like-by-party-race-and-ethnicity-age-education-and-religion/

    • EnderWi99in@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Aren’t Gen Z boys largely voting R? I don’t think it works quite like you are suggesting. That presumes the party will just die out, but that’s been predicted since like the 1980s and that just hasn’t happened.

      • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The best and most accomplished Transportation secretary in U.S. History and you call him incompetent? Interesting take, can you name any former Transportation secretary that was even half as good as Pete?

              • wahming@monyet.cc
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                1 year ago

                In what world is the Minister taking care of low level things like that? That’s like blaming the commander in chief because a squad got deployed to the wrong camp.

          • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            So your issue with him is ground traffic at airports?

            Good news, they are working to solve that issue where the previous Transportation Secratary ignored the issue.

            “We’re trying to take a bigger look and do some deeper analysis to see what’s going on,” Buttigieg told USA TODAY. “It’s enough that I’m concerned.”

            Buttigieg noted that there have been a variety of causes, such as pilot error and controller training.

            “That suggests that there’s something happening more broadly, perhaps something related to the increase in activity and demand that took place very quickly after the sudden slowdown around COVID.”

            Acting FAA administrator Billy Nolen, however, told reporters following a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday that it was not clear if runway incursion incidents were on the rise.

            “It’s a good question,” he said, reports CNN. “We’ll take a look at these near misses and see if there are lessons to be learned.”

      • flossdaily@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That’s way too harsh. Pete is an opportunist, and opts for politics over principle to a degree that made me dislike him in the last primary… but he’s not incompetent.

        • jimmydoreisalefty@lemmus.org
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          1 year ago

          Have you seen what he has done with the airlines and train disasters?

          Did you miss all the news going on with airlines/trains?

          He is incompetent and just like any other politician with no real values, just like all the democrats and republicans.

          They give in to the fame and the wealthy class.

          • flossdaily@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Sorry, what do you think a transportation secretary does? Do you think he’s an air traffic controller?

  • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I wonder if Biden’s age helps him to some extent, since if that’s the only bad thing you can think of while the other guy is “corrupt” that doesn’t seem so bad to me. If he wasn’t old maybe you’d see the “typical politician” criticisms like “phony” or something.

    • flossdaily@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Not even a little bit.

      Biden’s age isn’t just a number. The guy really acts very, very old.

      Even when he gave the speech in response to the court striking down student loans, when he was all fired up, and announcing some pretty powerful policies… even then he just seemed so sleepy and low energy.

      Trump, for all his many, many, many, many disqualifying flaws, still seems feisty and energetic in comparison.

      That said, Bernie Sanders is even older, but I’d vote for him even if he were on his deathbed. Bernie Sanders’ corpse would do a better job representing the people than would any Republican, and 90 percent of Democrats.

      • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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        I’m not saying it’s not a bad thing, but it crowds out some other bad thing that people would feel about him instead.

        Sure Trump seems more energetic, he would win in a how-old-do-they-seem competition, but in a who-should-be-president competition I’d rather have someone slow in his competence vs energetic in his corruption.

        Probably the next-worst thing wouldn’t be that Biden’s corrupt but conceivably it could be worse than just being old.

      • btaf45@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        What I mainly see is that Biden really acts very, very wise. Nobody else could do nearly as good of a job as Biden on a whole range of issues: Covid, Ukraine, jobs, ending inflation without a recession, student debt relief, etc etc etc. I can remember 4 different Democratic presidents and Biden has done the best job of all of them.

      • chronically_crazy@lemmy.worldOP
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        I’d love a younger Bernie style guy to run, but he’s one of a kind.

        Many of the younger progressives don’t seem to have the conviction and/or authenticity it seems, though it could also be due to everyone being afraid too to run against an incumbent.

        It’s really depressing to think there’s no good options, and we’re just voting for least awful.

            • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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              His message for decades has been one person can’t save the country, so his goal is motivating the next generation to be active in politics.

              Even when running for president he was very open about how his goal wasn’t getting elected, it’s pulling the entire party left and encouraging progressives to not only run for smaller offices, but to become involved in the system and change it from within.

    • TigrisMorte@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Worst thing about Biden is nothing significant will change. Which pales in comparison to the best thing about every single Republican in the Election. Regardless of the Election always being between a douche and a shit show, at least the douche is trying to clean something.

  • Jordan Lund@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    Neither, really, is a good choice. But what are the alternatives?

    Kamala Harris was a nightmare in California:

    https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article233375207.html

    She hasn’t been effective at all in the VP role:

    https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4103153-kamala-harris-is-far-from-the-worst-vice-president-why-do-polls-say-otherwise/

    Which means the inevitable “Her Turn!” 2028 cycle against Gavin Newsom is going to be super awkward.

    God forbid something happens to Biden, I hope Newsom gets the nomination over Harris.

  • bluGill@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I’m hoping for a third party I can vote for. As a ‘right wing’, ‘liberal’, and whatever other labels you want to put on me… the R’s stated values most closely match what I want in general, but i’ve votes mostly thrid party for decades now as few I can trust to vote my values are running. The third party I vote for is of course wackos I wouldn’t want to win, but they won’t and maybe my vote sends a message.

    • Silverseren@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      “the R’s stated values most closely match what I want in general”

      I mean, that’s all I really know, knowing what the R’s stated values are, to tell that you are not a person I ever want to associate with. Because their stated values are monstrous.

      • bluGill@kbin.social
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        You have no idea which values I stand for, and which I have a problem with, but you have already judged me? We learned a lot about you.

        • Silverseren@kbin.social
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          You said you stand for Republican values. Nothing on the Republican party platform is defensible. Have you read it?

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        Why would you bother voting for either? No one will know unless you tell them and it will change absolutely nothing.

        Libertarians have a proven track record of never winning anything and Greens don’t even run in down ballot races but expect to win nationally. Not even in terms of their ideology, they’re useless.

  • blazera@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Im not voting for the guy that banned collective bargaining. Mr longest stretch of no minimum wage increase in US history. But also that im not allowed to have health insurance because my wages are too low.

    My life has only worsened under him as all the prices around me skyrocket while my paycheck stays the same.

    • xerazal@lemmy.zip
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      1 year ago

      Listen, not a Biden fan, but that’s not exactly his fault. Biden can’t tell companies to not price gouge.

      • blazera@kbin.social
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        didnt mention price gouging. If my wages were higher, I’d qualify for subsidies. But if you’re wages are too low, like mine, you get nothin. You gotta pay full price for private insurance for being too poor. It’s a bug with the ACA Biden promised to fix but…I dont think he’s even mentioned it since. Or you know, raise the minimum wage like all the other dem presidents.

        • xerazal@lemmy.zip
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          He hasn’t. It’s one of my criticisms of Biden, that he dropped any notion of fixing healthcare the second he won. That and his refusal to push back against the parliamentarian.

          Again, not a fan of Biden, but he can’t unilaterally raise the minimum wage for non-federal workers or tell companies not to price gouge. He should have taken steps to put those two things on blast, but hasn’t.

          Edit: to people downvoting the above comment, please stop. You don’t have to agree with them, but you should try to understand where they’re coming from and understand that their criticism is coming from a good place. Biden isn’t perfect by any means. Better than the last guy, sure. But he shouldn’t be defended when he fucks up.

    • Silverseren@kbin.social
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      Are you referring to the train workers? Whom he got the exact bargain they wanted a month or two later?

      The federal minimum wage requires an amendment from Congress. Not sure what that has to do with him?

      Biden is the one who got a bunch of health care and medicaid expansions done over the past 3 years. Are you complaining about the multiple states revoking those expansions a couple months ago? Because, yes, that’s bullshit, but it is the exact opposite of what Biden has been doing.

      • blazera@kbin.social
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        He did not get their exact bargain because they werent allowed to bargain. They got less than what they couldve, later than if they were allowed to strike, and all future negotiations are poisoned by the precedent of not being allowed to strike. What fucking leverage do they have then?

        The president can introduce and promote legislation, and its been involved in previous wage increases. Hes been silent of course.

        Not months ago, many years ago, a hole of millions of uninsured Americans Biden promised to address. And its been nothing.