• Rentlar@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    212
    ·
    1 year ago

    Doesn’t matter what the headlines or the opinion polls say. Vote like democracy depends on it!

        • crusa187@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          12
          ·
          1 year ago

          This is the problem, DNC is refusing to hold a primary and is hell bent on forcing one of the only dem candidates who can lose to Trump upon us.

          This is mostly about Biden’s ego - he thinks his legacy requires 2 terms. But what of his legacy if he loses the election, and democracy, all at the same time?! It’s madness.

          Call your reps. Call the whitehouse. Demand a primary be held so this Titanic can avoid that MASSIVE orange iceberg, because it’s dead ahead right now and we’re barreling towards it.

            • crusa187@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              8
              ·
              1 year ago

              Not sure if sarcasm or?…

              Biden barely beat Trump in 2020. It was by 40k votes in 5 swing states, and the latest polling shows Biden down badly in those same states this time around.

              Snap out of your delusion

                • Krauerking@lemy.lol
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  People’s opinions when voting matter, and just cause you don’t want to think about 2016 and think this tiny bubble of influence is enough doesn’t mean it cant happen again. You need to have a plan and embrace reality. Biden is, in fact, in trouble of losing.

                • crusa187@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  9
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  7 million?! This is a tragic misconception. Do you understand how the electoral college works? Trump LOST the popular vote to Hillary, and still won in 2016.

                  Biden won by a slim margin of 40k votes across 5 key swing states in 2020, all of which polling shows he is now losing to Trump. Polls also show he is down by over 10% nationally, which means he has no chance. He’s an incumbent who has dropped below 40% approval rating nationally…this means he has 0% chance of winning.

                  Open your eyes. Facts matter.

    • Why9@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      20
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I don’t live in the US so I don’t have a horse in this race

      But it just seems like half of the people here can’t qualify Biden’s successes (and why he’d be worth a second voting for again) and the other half are just scared that Trump is on his way back and therefore the Dems need to vote like crazy to keep him out, regardless of how lacklustre his current term was.

      I’ll say it here: he lost the popular vote with his unequivocal support for Israel. As a self proclaimed Zionist, he chose Israel’s genocide of Gaza over Trump’s victory and too many voters are going to remember that over whatever he’s going to promise (which so far is nothing; his campaign so far is just reminding everyone that the other guy exists).

      There’s no way Dems win this one, unless Biden cedes to a more worthwhile candidate.

      • Overzeetop@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        16
        ·
        1 year ago

        That’s quite the myopic view of US national politics. Biden can’t stop Netanyaho from performing escalatio on Gaza than he can force Macron to limit France’s trade coziness with China, affect the interaction between Pedro Sanchez and Catalan separatists, or require Erdogan to admit Sweden into NATO. He has influence, but he doesn’t hold veto power over a foreign leader.

          • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Can you please explain the “isn’t even a functioning democracy” part? From my understanding it is a democracy, and their latest election got them a minority govt that had to go into coalition against their opposition. What makes it non-functioning?

              • Krauerking@lemy.lol
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                LoL how many times has Bibi been outted but only for them to realize they had no replacement or structure on how to do anything about it and had to take him back now? What like 3 times now? Great government for the worlds largest museum for Abrahamic religions with guns.

        • Leyla@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          1 year ago

          Agree with that to some extent, But he obviously can denounce BB’s atrocities to say the least. The double standard between Ukraine and Palestine is sickening

      • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        The populations of US and Canada have a memory of a frog, the people at large won’t remember a thing unless you blast in on repeat near election time.

        Democrats will likely target abortion protection as it is a winning issue and message for them. Republicans might be hesitant to hold on to the Gaza issue for 10 months as it is so divisive and is best exploited when events happen, plus if pressed on what Republicans and some Democrats would do differently you’d get humming, hawing and platitudes.

        If I were a US voter (I’m not) I’d try to look past any single event. Trump continuously stirred shit in the US and around the world and spent his time fellating dictators like Putin and Kim Jong Un. His administration focused on separating families at the border, eroding net neutrality, give away money through tax breaks, ample amounts of loans that were forgiven, packing the Supreme court with cronies to twist the meaning of the Constitution. Biden on the other hand put people in charge to hold corporations and anti-competitive monopolies accountable for once, strengthen labour law, did everything in his power to reduce student debt, actually managed the Covid crisis and on and on. He did bung up a few things imo like how he handled the Iraq pullout and the rail strike but those were rough situations that I could at least still put a base amount of trust in him in the future not to fuck up too badly.

      • rayyy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        half of the people here can’t qualify Biden’s successes

        People are happier running around bitching because it is far easier than taking the trouble to delve into the real news. The MSM is largely responsible for it. Biden has to continue aid to Israel because it is popular. What most people don’t see is his behind the scene work of getting Israel to the table instead of the launch button. Biden has been working through Qatar to get Iran and Hamas to back off, simultaneously rounding up support for a multinational force to enforce a border between Israel and Palestine while possibly establishing a two state solution with international teeth.

  • electric_nan@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    101
    ·
    1 year ago

    Wake up call for who? Will the Democrats ever wake up and give their base something to vote for, instead of “hey, the other guys’s worse, whaddya gonna do?”.

    • Fades@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      84
      ·
      1 year ago

      What the hell are you talking about???

      The dems have absolutely given us things to vote for: infrastructure act, record low unemployment, union support with the pres visiting the picket line for the first time ever, we have the best inflation rate across all of the G7.

      Yeah it’s not enough but that’s on the contrarians more than anything else.

      The fuck you talking about

        • Daft_ish@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Sorry, they are not repeating right wing propaganda. They are going outside and having yellow, asparagus smelling, liquid fall on them. Then everywhere they go Democrats are telling them it’s not piss.

          • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            8
            ·
            1 year ago

            I mean generally speaking, if you think the infrastructure bill, inflation reduction act, and billions in student loan forgiveness aren’t “something to vote for”, one of two things are true. Either you’re utterly delusional, or you’re a Republican.

            I mean, who else but a conservative could look at these and say they aren’t accomplishments?

            • Superorgizznism@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              1 year ago

              It says so much that this is the way you talk about your perceived political rivals.

              I’m really tired of being called an idiot and a Republican for disagreeing with the Biden administration, and I’m really tired of voting for people who call me an idiot if I don’t support them.

              That really seems to be the best Democrats have to offer, though. Each time it happens, I think a little more about voting for the GOP out of spite.

              • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                5
                ·
                1 year ago

                I directly listed what Democrats have to offer, and you haven’t argued against a single one of them. Infrastructure, Inflation Reduction Act, $100B+ in student loan forgiveness. None of these strike you as better offers than getting snarky comments?

                I’m sorry, but I stopped caring about political rivals’ feelings after 2016. I’ll sugarcoat things to people I actually know, but on Lemmy I’m going to say it how it is.

                That does include admitting fault if I’m wrong. Show why you think the things I mentioned above aren’t notable, and I’ll happily recant my statements and call myself an idiot if they’re sensible.

            • Daft_ish@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              I mean sure, they are accomplishments but a pittance for Americans looking for real change. The OP is speaking directly to the democrats setting their sights on progressive policy.

              Biden wants to do the presidency like they did in the past, dodge any real conflict and keep the country running for another four years. He doesn’t care that if the country was a car its a Model T and thinks we should be happy that he changed the tires.

              It doesn’t matter how many times a Democrat comes up to me and slams their fist saying, “look we stopped the Republicans and we did it without causing any waves.” Me, I want to see real policy that helps every American even if it makes the people on the hill uncomfortable. If you think, “well fuck that guy, what can he do? Vote republican?” I’ll tell you want I can do and that is be dissatisfied even when we both know I’m voting blue all day.

              • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                4
                ·
                1 year ago

                I wouldn’t say some of them are a pittance. The Inflation Reduction Act was so much investment into green energy that European countries had to pass similar bills to stay competitive. I work for a green energy company, and I heard that there were grumblings in European leadership about how much the US was spending.

                Likewise, there’s been a ton of money forgiven in student loans, over $100 billion. And you’ve also got the price cap on insulin, or at least some formulations. That change came directly from Biden I think.

                It’s significant changes, and it’s what we’re looking for, but I agree it isn’t enough and we need more. We can still appreciate though that we’re moving in the correct direction instead of being stuck. I’ll happily vote for Biden if it gives us more things like this.

                • Daft_ish@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Maybe pittance is the wrong term but Bidens also done a lot to sit on his own nuts. I want Biden to act for the working class the same way he responds to anytime there may be an economic crisis when the banks fuck up. I want Biden to have the same level of urgency when he sees the blue collar people are flailing.

                  Now, I know anytime he bails out Wallstreet he gets zero resistance from the other side but for that exact reason we should expect an even greater response for working class people. Sure he will wheel and deal for us but will he ever stand up for us?

                • PotatoMouse@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  1 year ago

                  I think there’s a key misunderstanding with regards to what real change should be.

                  The inflation reduction act seeks to curb inflation overall, that’s the goal. How do we measure the success of this bill? Well, that seems obvious - by looking at how it impacts inflation. Yet is that really meaningful change?

                  If I leave my house once a month, kick a wall as hard as possible, and then go to the hospital, does the hospital patching up my foot amount to meaningful change in my life? The damage to my foot gets worse every month. My actions eat up actual resources that could be better used to help others. Fixing my foot up is both literally, and figuratively treating the symptom and not the root cause.

                  The hole that everyone falls down is conflating real change to an immediate reduction in events and situations they personally don’t like. There is no single cause behind the high inflation we’ve seen in recent years. It’s not covid, it’s not printing too much money, it’s not republican or democratic leadership. It’s a byproduct of a collection of systems and their interactions with one another. The sum total of countless decisions spanning decades - from actual changes to monetary policy, to changes on how we teach monetary policy, to reactions to the 2008 crisis, or Covid, or globalization, etc, etc.

                  Putting an end to recent inflationary trends would do absolutely nothing to change the underlying systems that got us here today. It would do little to change our overall social and economic trajectories. The same goes for student loan forgiveness. Even if Biden made education free for all Americans, would the average American find themselves to be in a better financial situation than, say, 30 years ago? Beyond that, would that cost just magically go away, or simply be transfered elsewhere?

                  Given recent economic trends, cheaper and potentially free education is practically inevitable. The average worker is trending towards generalization, and the workplace is changing so rapidly that a variety of secondary industries centered around providing educational services to already educated adults have ballooned in size over the past decade. There is no realistic future where education isn’t far cheaper and more available, we’re simply at the point now where this reality is being reflected within the perceived pool of actions available to our leaders - in this particular instance made more available by an immediate need to appease a population segment that’s rapidly seen their future prospects dwindle.

                  None of what Biden has done is new with regards to actual impact on the average American. He has done exactly what plenty of other American presidents have done prior. The sole reason why you assign more value to his student debt relief program or the added renewable energy subsidies is because it impacts you directly, and is something you can relate to. He has addressed an immediate problem that you strongly relate to.

                  Some years ago I was enrolled in one of the first real college degrees specifically focused on training individuals to enter the modern renewable energy sector. As part of this program I spent a decent amount of time specifically researching climate policy, and in my own time I made an active effort to study the science behind climate change. This was something like 15 years ago now. One thing that was painfully obvious to me at the time was that significant climate change was practically inevitable.

                  Positive feedback loops weren’t well understood, but certainly studied and documented enough to be raising some massive red flags, yet climate models always seemed to lean towards optimism for what I can only assume was the sake of political buy-in. And here we are, in 2023, only just admitting that we won’t hit our 1.5C target that was set not even a decade prior. Most people seem to have been very aware that nothing meaningful would be done to prevent climate change.

                  So why then would you equate the recent surge in spending on renewable energy to real change? At this point in time real change with regards to th global climate crisis can only come as part of a massive, collective effort on behalf of the whole world comparable to what we saw during the great wars of the last century. Investing additional resources in a growing industry that is financially viable is hardly enacting meaningful change - that is simply operating as usual.

      • Overzeetop@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        25
        ·
        1 year ago

        Mmmm, no. I heard that Biden and his ultra-centrist party have done nothing to stop deforestation in the Messia region of Mozambique. I’d rather have Trump and vote my conscience than allow globalists like Biden to ruin the Earth.

        (just in case… /s)

      • Cowbee@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        1 year ago

        America is becoming increasingly radicalized on both ends, the leftists must side with the center-right neoliberal while the fascists get to vote for fascists.

        It isn’t surprising to see disappointment from leftists, even if they still absolutely should vote for the lesser of two evils.

      • PoliticalAgitator@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        1 year ago

        Then they promised billions of dollars of orphan killing aid to Israel, because they just can’t resist being neoliberals.

        Yes, they’re better than a party full of fascists and fundamentalists, but so is a suit full of roadkill and excrement.

        That doesn’t mean people need to enthusiastically cheer as we hurtle towards oblivion.

        • randon31415@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          Has any new aid been passed for Israel? I thought it was tied to Ukraine funding, which I know hasn’t passed.

      • RichCaffeineFlavor@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        31
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        investing in infrastructure

        The republican approved toll road bill that we got Elizabeth Warren style “let’s split it into two bills!” except only the bad bill got passed?

        energy independence

        Are you seriously listing Obama fracking the shit out of the midwest as a positive?? And who the fuck benefited from the US becoming an energy exporter?

        college tuition assistance

        The fuck are you listing this for? Who’s the one who not only refused to jubilee student debt but turned payments back on during an inflationary spike?

        NATO dealing with Ukraine

        What?? Again, who the fuck is the constituency for this? How is that going to change my landlord taking half my paycheck? And it’s not like Ukraine even won the war.

        ending the war on drugs

        ??? ??? ???

          • RichCaffeineFlavor@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            9
            ·
            1 year ago

            So what you’re saying is the democrats only appeal to people so comfortable in life that their biggest problem is not enough dead people

              • RichCaffeineFlavor@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                7
                ·
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                You clutch your pearls but you can’t deny it’s true. All that war is to you is recreational reading. And if that’s what earns your vote then you live a charmed life. Even if you are a bloodthirsty psychopath.

                • SCB@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  7
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Ah yes, me hoping my ex’s country and rising democracy Ukraine can fight off a Russian invasion force is “recreational reading.” How silly of me

          • RichCaffeineFlavor@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            1 year ago

            Every single Republican

            Was in the minority. You can’t use them as an excuse for what the democrats did.

            Literally republicans

            Biden chose to take a route with the debt that invited a challenge. He didn’t want to discharge it. He’s the senator from MBNA. The sanctity of debt is one of his foundational beliefs.

            He is the president. The treasury works for him. He holds the debt. He can and didn’t simply write it off.

            the entire world who now don’t have to deal with escalation between Russia and the USA

            This is the sentence in which you called me a ‘fucking idiot’ and I have to say the idea that a proxy war doesn’t count as escalation is one of the smartest things I’ve heard from you.

            But republicans are the party of the free market!

            Democrats are the party of letting everyone lose their home and have them be bought up by banks, who were bailed out when prices were low, who are now charging me half my income in rent.

          • RichCaffeineFlavor@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            1.77 trillion and rising.

            And not a penny of what he discharged was without a preexisting situation where the debt would have automatically been discharged anyway if the government was actually functional.

            And he took credit for it. And people like you carry the message like a game of telephone believing he did something.

      • Doc Avid Mornington@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        38
        ·
        1 year ago

        You aren’t wrong, in a way. I’m nearing fifty and Biden is arguably the most progressive president in my lifetime. The problem is, that says more about the quality of presidents in my lifetime than it does about Biden, and with the climate crisis and encroaching global fascism, we don’t have anymore time to wait. The Democrats are doing more, now, because pressure from the left has convinced them that they have to, but the leadership is still dragging their feet in defense of corporate profits as much as they can. The fact that they are doing more doesn’t mean it’s time to lower the pressure - it means the pressure is working, and we need to dial it up.

      • electric_nan@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        1 year ago

        I don’t really agree with you, but even if I did… “advertising it” is a big part of politics! It’s called messaging, and it’s important. You have to get people excited to vote for you. They need to feel like you’re fighting for them. If you can’t manage that, then don’t blame people for not voting for you.

        • Serinus@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          16
          ·
          1 year ago

          Yeah, but there’s a couple things wrong. First, the Dems are trying to DO things, which is exceedingly difficult with a Republican Congress that can’t even agree on a speaker.

          But also, DOING things just doesn’t get that much attention.

          Fixing the threatening hyper-inflation after the PPP was pretty damn important, but they obviously can’t advertise that because there are side effects. Our economy is returning to being based on real shit rather than make believe Venture Capital bullshit. That’s a painful process, and of course the rich and corporations refuse to feel any of the pain (at least immediately). They’re attempting to pawn all the pain off onto the working class, partly in the hope that they’ll get more corporate tax cuts to “stimulate the economy”.

          They’re getting more EVs made in America. The significant tax credit for EVs require that most of the car be made here.

          They’re fixing our crumbling bridges and roads. That doesn’t get much attention, and if it does it’ll be a part they’ve failed to address.

          Amtrak is building out passenger rail lines that are actually relevant to me. It’s not building metro systems in several medium US cities that need it, but it’s a start.

          You know a way that’s much, much easier to get attention? Maybe the Dems should just pick a minority and spout fear and hate. That really plays much better with the public. Just put up a loud mouth who every other day spouts such incredibly dumb shit that the news HAS to cover it. That’s a winning messaging strategy.

          • electric_nan@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            14
            ·
            1 year ago

            I can’t afford an EV. I can’t afford a house. I can’t afford gas. I can’t afford groceries. I can’t afford health insurance-- actually, I can afford the minimum insurance I am required to purchase, but it is basically worthless. This is the kind of shit I don’t hear/see much convincing from Democrats. Yes, fuck the fascists in the Republican party. Unfortunately, fascism can look like an ‘answer’ for these kind of problems. If we don’t want people to fall for that trap, we need popular politics coming from the left.

            • Serinus@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              15
              ·
              1 year ago

              I can’t afford gas. I can’t afford groceries.

              What do you expect any president to do about that?

              • Mnemnosyne@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                8
                ·
                1 year ago

                President specifically, nothing. Government and a political party as a whole? Fix the problem.

                There’s lots of ideas as to how to fix the problem, and though I have my own and have preferences, all that ultimately matters is that every single person in the country has a good place to live, food, and healthcare, and generally speaking, the ability to participate in society as much or as little as they choose.

                • SCB@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  You want government to fix the problem of you making bad life choices?

                  …how?

                  every single person in the country has a good place to live, food, and healthcare, and generally speaking, the ability to participate in society as much or as little as they choose.

                  That you don’t understand that this is a ridiculously extreme ask is just unreal to me.

              • electric_nan@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                8
                ·
                1 year ago

                I expect someone running for president to sound like they give a fuck about that, and (once elected) to use their position as the party leader to constantly marshal their forces towards real solutions to those problems.

      • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        1 year ago

        He’s currently failing to handle the current most pressing international issue in a way that satisfies his voter base, though.

        • lobut@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          He is, don’t think that contradicts anything I’ve said though. I’m just saying they do more than they let on.

    • banneryear1868@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      1 year ago

      They give money to run ads for the most insane GOP people so they can have easier opponents, they wanted Trump to win the primary because it would have made the GOP a laughingstock. Problem is over time this emboldens and normalizes this faction, and now it’s just this death spiral where they can’t change or the other faction will win, it’s like this logical inevitability at this point. Dems said it loud and clear in 2016 they will choose a candidate friendly to donors over one that could easy win against Trump.

      • electric_nan@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        1 year ago

        I get it here on Lemmy anytime someone complains about Biden and they are piled onto by people saying he’s the lesser of two evils.

  • dangblingus@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    82
    ·
    1 year ago

    Imagine thinking that Trump is in any way, shape, or form, better for you and your family than Biden.

    Conservatives and Republicans: hate working class people, hate people that rent, hate minorities including women, want to privatize every last piece of American society so you’ll have to subscribe to your alarm clock and appliances.

    • ZMonster@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      25
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s the illusion the maga crowd clings to. They think the economy was better under Trump and they think that relates to prosperity for them. The truth is that the economy really only indicates how the market is for the wealthy. But they don’t see that. Trump, like nearly all GOP, is fully prepared to strip mine this nation of all resources possible, which would me amazing for the economy. 🙄

      • Lyricism6055@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        19
        ·
        1 year ago

        Trump prints trillions of dollars. Loses election, then blames biden for fixing his mistake.

        It’s fucked…

        • Sparlock@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          14
          ·
          1 year ago

          Welcome to every election cycle since Regan. Repubs fuck the economy and blame the Dems for trying to fix it.

          • Lyricism6055@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            1 year ago

            I generally agree except I think Bidens secretary of treasury screwed the pooch by not borrowing more longer term debt at low interest rates. So now we’re paying 1T per year in interest.

            The whole system is completely fucked right now.

            • Sparlock@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              ·
              1 year ago

              Well, Manchin wasn’t gonna let him do what they originally planned to do. We would be in a very much better position if that investment had happened.

    • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      1 year ago

      So I’m supposed to vote for the genocide supplier?

      want to privatize every last piece of American society

      And Democrats are not doing this?

      • Olgratin_Magmatoe@startrek.website
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        32
        ·
        1 year ago

        Like it or not we are stuck with a two party system. As fucking awful as Biden is, and he is, Biden is the lesser of two evils by far. And that applies to democrats/republicans as a whole.

        Both parties/candidates are to some degree cool with genocide and privatization, but only one of the two stands out as the worst, and the worst by a lot.

        Don’t like it? Vote for local candidates/congressional candidates in primaries that will fix the two party problem. But in the mean time the better presidential option will be anything with a D next to their name.

        • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          1 year ago

          I will not vote for the party of genocide supply. Aka the dems.

          Local candidates are not going fix the two party system. That’s a national issue.

          I don’t know the solution, but buying into the Dems bullshit “lesser of Two evils” AGAIN is not it.

          Have fun being the same chump you were 8 years ago.

          • ilinamorato@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            26
            ·
            1 year ago

            You want to ever vote again? Then take a long, hard look at what each party is trying to do about voting rights. If you want to stop genocide, a Republican in office is the worst-case scenario for you; and there is a non-zero chance that voting against Democrats in 2024 means that 2024 will be our last real election ever, after which the genocide would come across the ocean.

            Think about the worst case scenarios here—in case of a blue wave, the worst case is another four years of lackluster governance and pretending to keep our hands clean of the worst stuff happening in the world, while winking at corporate greed and doing nothing about climate change. Not a great outcome.

            In case of a red wave, we don’t have to guess about the worst case, because Trump is telling us what he’ll do: make anything but Christianity illegal, militarize the borders to turn away refugees, curtail the first amendment, hand Ukraine over to Russia, help Israel glass Palestine, make it harder (impossible if he can manage it) for people to vote against him, try to get an extra four years as penance for what he sees as a “stolen” election, retaliate against anyone trying to hold him accountable for his crimes, roll back environmental protections that will make climate change irreversible, nominate perhaps another SCOTUS justice who’s even more unhinged than the other three he installed, and vague threats of violence toward everyone who isn’t straight and cis. That is all stuff that he has promised to do at his rallies. And all of that isn’t even touching on the financial disaster that his tax policies actually unleashed between 2016-2020, and the regular horror of mass shootings and white supremacy that goes up under every pro-gun president, but Trump in particular. Not a survivable outcome.

            This isn’t a normal election. Giving Trump (or, at this point, any Republican) a chance is off the table. He’s shown us and told us what he’ll do if he gets the White House again. If you want to vote third party to send a message, you have to contend with the possibility that there won’t be anyone left to hear it in 2028. Yes, people’s lives are on the line. So don’t let Republicans have the chance to step across that line.

            • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              7
              ·
              1 year ago

              Replace evey year you listed with 2012.

              And replace trump with George w Bush.

              These were the same arguments being made by Dems back then. I voted. And we still have genocide supply. The genocide we have now is unacceptable. Just because there is potential for it to get worse don’t mean I should accept they situation we have now.

              Biden cut check to Israel with a smile on his face. So will the republican party and so will future democrats. None of them will be getting my vote.

              You’re a genocide apologist when you vote blue.

              • ilinamorato@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                15
                ·
                1 year ago

                That’s not what they said in 2012 (a year when Bush wasn’t even on the ballot, by the way). I’ve been alive for ten presidential cycles, and I’ve never seen it this bad before. I’ve never seen a candidate with such blatant disregard for democracy, or voters who are so blithe about tossing away their voting rights.

                But even if they said it then, it doesn’t preclude it from being true now. Things can get worse over time. A threat narrowly defeated in one year doesn’t prevent that threat from gaining power and causing more problems a decade later, and the GOP has undoubtedly gotten worse over the last thirty years.

                Ad hominem nonsense aside, your comment would’ve sounded somewhat reasonable in 1996, but in 2023 I don’t think it is. If you see the danger but run the other way, aren’t you treating the many more lives that would be lost as a result of a second Trump presidency with the same clinical disconnection that the Democrats are treating the Palestinian lives lost with each shipment of arms?

                It’s literally the trolley problem. You want to not be the one pulling the lever. That’s fine. But the point of the trolley problem is that there’s not a morally correct answer. It’s a terrible situation, and there’s no right way to respond; but lambasting others on the internet for their choice is definitely the wrong way.

              • tooclose104@lemmy.ca
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                14
                ·
                1 year ago

                Thinking that abstaining to vote washes your hands of association is not correct. Your abstention counts as a vote for the winning party, whether you like it or not.

                Choosing to continue to participate in the social fabric is supporting the choices made much the same as casting a vote. You’re paying taxes, you’re collecting incentives, you’re participating in the economy, you’re enabling the growth of GDP.

                By your own logic, assuming you’re an American citizen and not just a troll, you’re also a genocide apologist who’s enabling whatever party wins.

                • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  4
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Choosing to continue to participate in the social fabric is supporting the choices made much the same as casting a vote.

                  What a crock of shit. I can’t realistically opt out of “the social fabric” I can choose who I vote for. And it won’t be biden or trump.

                  Y’all should try it!

                  you’re also a genocide apologist who’s enabling whatever party wins.

                  You are exactly right…I voted for biden in 2020.

          • Olgratin_Magmatoe@startrek.website
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            23
            ·
            1 year ago

            I will not vote for the party of genocide supply. Aka the dems.

            They’re both supporting the ongoing genocide. This isn’t helpful for deciding who to vote for.

            Local candidates are not going fix the two party system. That’s a national issue.

            Which is why I specified local/congressional. It’s going to take all levels of government to unfuck us from a two party system.

            I don’t know the solution, but buying into the Dems bullshit “lesser of Two evils” AGAIN is not it.

            Only one of these choices is actively trying to turn our country into a theocratic hell hole.

            The “lesser of two evils” is fucking awful, but it’s true.

            Have fun being the same chump you were 8 years ago.

            If you can’t talk about politics without resorting to personal insults then you must know how weak your argument is.

            • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              6
              ·
              1 year ago

              They’re both supporting the ongoing genocide. This isn’t helpful for deciding who to vote for.

              You are the one deciding between the two only, not me. I will vote for a candidate that has a platform I can support and nothing else.

              It’s going to take all levels of government to unfuck us from a two party system.

              The dems continue to get elected because of the Two party system. They aren’t going to change it.

              Let me know when it does tho…

              Only one of these choices is actively trying to turn our country into a theocratic hell hole.

              Yes, and the other will happily participate in genocide, be unable to create real change in Any area I care about and then pretend they are the party of moral superiority.

              You vote blue you will still have red on your hands.

              • Olgratin_Magmatoe@startrek.website
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                12
                ·
                1 year ago

                I will vote for a candidate that has a platform I can support and nothing else.

                And in doing so you’ll waste your vote, allowing the worst possible option (Trump) to get voted in.

                The dems continue to get elected because of the Two party system. They aren’t going to change it.

                Establishment democrats won’t let it happen, but they can’t do shit if they don’t get elected, and actually good candidates get elected instead.

                Which means all levels of government are involved. And this issue needs to be fought in the primaries as well.

                You vote blue you will still have red on your hands.

                There will be red on everyone’s hands no matter what. No matter who we choose, our tax dollars are going to genocide.

                The least we can do, the bare fucking minimum is to reduce the amount of red.

                You’ll have just as much red on your hands as I do. But the difference is that you’re willing to let it be more red.

                • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  4
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Establishment democrats won’t let it happen, but they can’t do shit if they don’t get elected

                  So we should vote democrat? Lmao Are you hearing yourself?

                  There will be red on everyone’s hands no matter what. No matter who we choose, our tax dollars are going to genocide.

                  And people tell me I’m pessimistic.

                  Our tax dollars are going to genocide because of the tacid support our politicians get from people like you.

                  You are the problem, you are the person who refuses to do anything different.

                  This situation didn’t start in 2016, it has been made by decades of people making the same choice you insist everyone make.

                  Vote blue or else!

              • pandacoder@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                9
                ·
                1 year ago

                The GOP also continues to get elected because of the two party system. There’s a much better shot at taking over the Democratic party to force reform through than will ever happen with the GOP. I want to vote third party, but I’m not going to pretend that it’s safe to do so yet at the level of president.

                • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  I want to vote third party, but I’m not going to pretend that it’s safe to do so yet at the level of president.

                  You are the problem.

                  There’s a much better shot at taking over the Democratic party to force reform through than will ever happen with the GOP.

                  It is much more likely that a 3rd party will win, than the democratic party being reformed. Change my mind.

              • Sparlock@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                6
                ·
                1 year ago

                The presidential race is the LAST place you should be making your stand. It’s like you want to skip all the early levels of the game (local and state elections) and jump straight to the final boss without realising you won’t win this game by doing that.

          • TwoGems@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            21
            ·
            1 year ago

            Have fun having an even more genocidal Trump presidency then, idiot. Third parties can’t win mathematically.

            • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              8
              ·
              1 year ago

              What if everybody took the same stance as me?

              What if all the people telling me to vote lesser of two evils, voted independent?

              Does the math line up then?

              Maybe your the problem. Have you ever considered that?

              • pandacoder@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                12
                ·
                1 year ago

                If everyone did that we would have a solution.

                The reality is that with the current balance of power that will never happen.

                It not that I don’t wish for it to happen, but even if two people here agree there’s no way we are going to take 70 million votes away from each party equally to guarantee neither can beat the third party.

                We have one path: get more young people who aren’t batshit crazy into both the Senate and the House until we can force campaign finance reform, ban all of the should-be-illegal lobbying, force a voting system chance, and ban gerrymandering. Nothing else is going to beat the corporate government.

              • TheHiddenCatboy@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                4
                ·
                1 year ago

                My problem what? Hint: It’s spelled ‘you’re’ in the context you’re using it. ‘Your’ is the possessive. ‘You’re’ is a contraction for you are.

                And the actual point you’re making here? It’s not correct. Here’s why.

                The GOP is the Authoritarian home. It’s the place for people who think that our problem as a nation is that other people are doing what they want in defiance of what the Authoritarians want. There is no vote splitting here. The jerks are lined up and HARD behind Trump, and the outcome of this election, without hyperbole, will be world-changing. Trump has already said that he will imprison a long list of people that includes people like you, and compared them to rats, roaches, and lice in a comparison frequently made by the kinds of people who have body counts in the millions after it’s all said and done. You’re not poaching any of those votes for your third party.

                The only votes you’re poaching are Leftie Democratic Party votes. Who wins the election where 51 people vote for the Left Parties and 49 people vote for the Right Party? The Left, right? Wrong. It all depends on the breakdown of the votes. If 48 people vote for Blue and 3 vote for Green, while 49 vote for Red, it doesn’t matter than the 3 Green voters are closer aligned to Blue than Red. Red wins and all 51 people who voted against Red lose. Simple FPTP rules. Anyone that claims Green can remake the Left is either naive to the point of absurdity given everything that has happened over the past 23 years, or a plant from Team Red trying to get us to split our vote so they can steal the election.

                You need to read up on Project 2025. If Team Red wins, that’s what’s in store for us. It’s bad. It’ll be bad for Gays. It’ll be bad for Minorities. It’ll be bad for the environment. It’ll be bad for Liberals. Exercising your protest vote will hurt a long list of people and priorities the Greens say they are behind.

                It’ll be bad for Ukraine, and bad for the Russian people because Trump will crawl in bed with Putin and Kim and Xi to reshape the world away from the Western Liberal Order to an authoritarian order dominated by a Fascist USA, Russia, China, and North Korea. They have not hidden their desire to make the 21st Century a century of Authoritarianism. Team Red here in the USA is fully behind that, and their voters are looking forward to putting the boots on our faces. And there’s no argument you nor Team Green can make to sway them away from that goal. But they’ll sure back you in peeling votes away from Team blue, because they know 49 beats 48 every time and you’ll never get 50. You literally have no chance of overcoming Team Red, but you have all the chance to draw support from Team Blue to the point that both Blue AND Green lose, and Red tears down everything you ever (said you) cared about.

                That’s why we are so dismissive of you. The only thing you’ll accomplish is ensure Red wins, then the game is over. Our only question is are you so stupid and uninformed that you’re doing this on accident, or are you one of them and are doing this on purpose.

          • Kage520@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            10
            ·
            1 year ago

            You’ve been attacking the Dems for this, but why do you believe the Republicans will do differently? Or were you talking about independent?

            • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              5
              ·
              1 year ago

              I don’t believe repubs will be better. I just consider them two parts of a single flawed system.

              By voting for either of them you support both parties.

              • IdleSheep
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                8
                ·
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                Not sure if this is enlightened centrism or not but avoiding voting all together doesn’t solve anything either because one of the 2 will be elected regardless.

                In the US there are only 2 possible winners, a democrat or a republican. Not voting or voting 3rd party is the same as throwing your vote in the trash because of the way the US system works.

                So your choice if you want to change something is to vote for the one that has the highest chance of working towards your goals, and that is a democrat, even if almost everything they currently do is awful. Because if a republican wins, your concerns aren’t even going to get into ear reach of them.

                Either participate and vote to try to change something or accept that you’re discarding your already limited political power by taking this moral stance, and in the process also making the problems you’re concerned about worse.

                • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  5
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  because one of the 2 will be elected regardless

                  What if all the people chanting better than trump voted independent?

                  What if you guys did something other than the same thing we always do?

                  Either participate and vote to try to change something or accept that you’re discarding your already limited political power by taking this moral stance, and in the process also making the problems you’re concerned about worse.

                  Voting blue is not voting for change its voting for “not worse”. And even then it will still get worse under dems You’re defending this system by continuing to buy into it.

                  I voted blue every time I voted, and we still have genocide supply. Its unacceptable, and thus I will not accept it.

                  Have fun being a genocide apologist.

              • Olgratin_Magmatoe@startrek.website
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                5
                ·
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                By voting for either of them you support both parties.

                Voting for one of them is our only choice if we wish to influence the course of our country.

                • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Voting for one of them is our only choice if we wish to influence the course of our country.

                  Voting for dems is the SAME course we are already on.

                  How can you not see this. This is what we have been doing for decades.

          • pandacoder@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            8
            ·
            1 year ago

            Trump would dump multiple times the amount of money Biden is into Israel, and he’d pivot us to backing Russia in the extermination of Ukraine. Assuming he doesn’t start another genocide himself, he will absolutely make the situation worse.

            Biden may have no shame, but Trump is constantly talking about doing even worse. Pretending risking him in office would be better is a dangerous delusion.

          • ghostdoggtv@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            7
            ·
            1 year ago

            The problem with the trump administration is that people picked him thinking they were making the same exact decision you’re making, and look where it took us.

            • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              5
              ·
              1 year ago

              I have voted in every major election since I was 18.

              That includes 4 Presidential, and many local ones.

              They have been playing the same “lesser of two evils” card since George w. Bush. And probably before.

              You’re a chump for thinking things will change by playing into the same trap.

              • dezmd@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                7
                ·
                1 year ago

                This will be my 7th Presidential, and I have voted in every eligible local/state election.

                You offer harsh criticism but no actual solutions, like you’re still 20 years old and thinking the world will change if you just talk about it enough.

                Republicans will always lie cheat and steal with zero concern for ethics or scrupulous moral considerations when it comes to undermining principles of democracy if it increases their wealth and power projections. Always.

                Democrats will also do that, sometimes, but not always. Don’t vote for evil, but don’t let guaranteed evil ever get unfettered control of a flawed constitutional system built where evil cannot be stopped other than by extreme means involving violence and bloodshed. See slavery and what we had to go thru to ultimately eliminate it.

                These two groups have a stranglehold on our politics and no amount of bullshitting is going to work around it. If people weren’t smart enough to pick Sanders over Clinton in 2016, if people were’nt cognizant enough of the idea behind not supporting Clinton in the primary simply based on not allowing a few ‘royal’ styled families to maintain a grasp on the reigns of power, if We the People aren’t rioting in the streets to maintain an open, independent, liberal democracy, why would you expect people be smart enough to engage a third party candidate?

                You have to plan ahead instead of yelling about it the last goddamn minute (in terms of election timing, this is the last minute) if you ever plan to side step D vs R, you have to look ahead 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 years and laser focus on all elections on all positions including packing the court with ethical judges that aren’t beholden to ludicrous legal think tank fronts acting as formal legal society clubs. But nobody has time for that much less the will to create a set of policies that will garner support of a large enough swath of voters that it could affect the sweeping change you want so bad (and yes, that we all probably need).

                At this point, unfortunately, you’re a chump for thinking things will change by playing into the same trap of voting third party against the two parties holding all the cards.

                • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  5
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  like you’re still 20 years old and thinking the world will change if you just talk about it enough.

                  Ahh yes there it is. I’m an angry youngster.

                  You have to plan ahead instead of yelling about it the last goddamn minute (in terms of election timing, this is the last minute) if you ever plan to side step D vs R, you have to look ahead 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 years

                  What if 10 12 years ago we all started voting independent? I think that would have a big impact.

                  In fact I think if we did that work years ago, we would have a healthy 3rd party candidate now.

                  But instead we keep doing the same things we always do… Vote blue or else!!!

              • pahlimur@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                6
                ·
                1 year ago

                It’s because of people like you letting them get away with being the lesser of the evils. If Dems were an overwhelming majority they couldn’t campaign on how close they are to losing everything.

                I was a Republican and have voted the same number of times you have. Republicans fucking joke about people like you allowing them to win.

                • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  4
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Let me get this straight:

                  I’m letting the dems get away with becoming the lesser of Two evils by not supporting them…And you aren’t doing that by voting for them? That sounds like BS to mee.

                  If Dems were an overwhelming majority

                  They had both houses and the president in 2020 and didn’t do shit.

                  We still have genocide supply… We still have campaign fiance corruption and a million prblemz they didn’t do shit.

              • samus12345@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                6
                ·
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                The greater of two evils won in 2016. If you saw no difference between the Trump and Biden presidency, you’re a privileged person with the luxury to worry about genocide in another country more than what will happen to you.

                • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  4
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  I am a privelged person, I don’t live in a country being genocided rn. And apparently so are you.

                  To me It doesn’t matter if its happening in another country. I personally feel You are a coward to down play this genocide simply because its not happening in your back yard.

                  You got more immediate problems? Ok. Trump is gonna do bad shit? Almost certainly.

                  But Biden is not the solution to the problems in america. Dems will not bring about real change. They will only allow for a future republican candidate, with better PR, to take hold.

                  They are worthless. And your support of them only amounts to the same flawed choice, and the same outcomes already have.

                  Finally answer me this:What if everyone telling me too vote lesser of two evils, voted independent?

      • pahlimur@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        17
        ·
        1 year ago

        Donald would send significantly more funds for that genocide and would help Russia with their genocide in the Ukraine. So doing some basic room temperature IQ thinking I’m going to pick the less genocidal option.

        The USA is going to back a genocide regardless of your opinions. Learn how dirty your hands are and then make decisions that lessen the dirt in the future rather than digging straight into the shittiest option by trying to appear righteous.

    • hark@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      Ah yes, the obligatory “the other guy is worse” post. We know the other guy is worse. That doesn’t mean democrats shouldn’t pick better candidates.

      • Quadhammer@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        Well besides being old he’s not really doing so bad tbh. Who else would you put up for election? Jon Stewart?

        • goldenlocks@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          1 year ago

          Every time is the time to vote for what you support. If you did we wouldn’t be stuck with neoliberal ghouls like Biden.

          • dangrousperson@feddit.de
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            1 year ago

            You are absolutely correct, instead you’d have the literal fascist Trump instead. It sucks, but as lang as you guys have the first-past-the-post (2 party) voting system, voting for the lesser evil is the best one can do.

            • goldenlocks@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              1 year ago

              The only way to change that is to vote for candidates that support other voting systems like ranked choice voting.

              • Thunderbird4@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                Sorry, but you’re not going to get ranked choice voting just by pretending you already have it. FPTP and the electoral college are realities of US politics and the “lesser of two evils” approach is the only realistic way to play the game.

                The executive branch is the wrong place to try to achieve ranked choice voting anyway. Vote for legislative candidates who support ranked choice. If nobody is talking about it, call your representatives. Start petitions. Join grassroots organizations. Anything, but don’t fool yourself into thinking the path to fixing our issues involves voting for Jill Stein over Biden next year.

                • goldenlocks@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  1 year ago

                  I’m not pretending we have ranked choice voting, in fact I know we don’t, that’s why I vote for candidates that support ranked choice voting.

                  I’ll be voting for the candidate that does in each level of government. The greens would run more congressional candidates if you would support and fund them instead of voting for their opposition.

      • S_204@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        30
        ·
        1 year ago

        Those people should probably take a look at the Nazi march that went down in Wisconsin yesterday if they think it’s not or can’t happen in the US.

    • JoShmoe@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      I don’t think about this ever. I’m literally waiting for one of those two worthless parties to die.

  • themachine@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    74
    ·
    1 year ago

    Biden could have done what’s best for the country and been a one term president. I’ll still vote for him but not because he’s some amazing leader or anything.

    So they did it to themselves if they lose.

    • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      56
      ·
      1 year ago

      I don’t know, I think the situation is more nuisanced. I didn’t vote for Biden in the primaries (I did in the general), but I have to admit he’s accomplished a lot more than I anticipated he would. At the time I just wanted a president who wasn’t a complete train wreck.

      I’d be all in if he was younger, but even so, I’m not sure what the best option is. If Biden stepped aside, I’m not sure the Democrats’ ability to win in 2024 would go up. Incumbents have an advantage for sure, and there isn’t an obvious choice to replace him. The most important thing at this point is that Trump doesn’t win. Whatever situation maximizes the chance of him losing is good with me.

    • SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I see that point of view. Out of curiosity, though, do you think there’s an obvious next in line on the bench? The only person I can think of as a no brainer for electability is Michelle Obama.

      Edit: I’m confused as to why my comment has been so controversial. I think it’s because people are misreading my claim. I am saying that Michelle Obama is obviously one of the most electable alternatives to Biden. The polling corroborates this. She is well liked and has 100% name recognition. Seriously, even if you hate her, as an objective empirical fact, she is obviously one of the top contenders for electability.

      I am not claiming that she is likely to run or that she wants to run, etc.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        17
        ·
        1 year ago

        Do you think, that maybe, if Biden had chosen to support another candidate, all those “Blue No Matter Who” types would dog pile people not supporting that candidate?

        they’ve had four years to figure that out. That they can’t… is either a sign of gross incompetence or of intentionality. either way, at a certain point, you need to stop and realize the way it’s not worked for 30+ years is… not working and maybe it’s time to change things up a bit.

        • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          16
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Do you think, that maybe, if Biden had chosen to support another candidate, all those “Blue No Matter Who” types would dog pile people not supporting that candidate?

          It depends on how far to the right the candidate is. Get far enough to the left, and they start bein’ like “Party Unity My Ass” and start forming PACs to get Republicans elected

          EDIT: I see centrists don’t like being reminded of their proudest moment: trying to get McCain/Palin elected because they didn’t get their first choice in the '08 primaries.

          • Doc Avid Mornington@midwest.social
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            1 year ago

            I mean, you’re not entirely wrong for sure. I’m gonna upvote because it’s a really good point, worth thinking about. But I do disagree, somewhat. Trump isn’t McCain. The majority of D voters are looking for someone more left, and the ones who aren’t, are definitely driven by beating Trump. It’s the party leadership that is mostly a problem here. If Biden went rogue and endorsed a leftist, which he wouldn’t do, the DCCC Democrats would be desperately scrambling to undermine that candidate, any way they could, even at the expense of losing to Trump. But that’s also, I think, kind of aside from Ensign Crab’s point, as if Biden had chosen to support another candidate, it would not be a leftist.

            • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              It wouldn’t have to be a leftist. Obama wasn’t, and the same people who now scream “no matter who” were screaming “party unity my ass” and raising money to legitimize Sarah Palin at the time.

      • At the beginning of his term, I’d have said they were lining up Harris; black, woman, young, and they made her highly visible in the first few months. I thought for sure they were going to spend 4 years lining her up for 2024. Biden would gracefully bow out citing his age, ride the 1/2 term election cycle, and badaboom: first female president.

        And then she faded away. I don’t know what happened; she didn’t poll well, or do well, or polling showed D chances sank without an old white guy in front… but it makes me kinda sad, because I thought it was a good strategy, and it’d be nice to have a run of diversity in the White House.

        • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          1 year ago

          She was the least (or very close to it) popular candidate in the primary and people are surprised she didn’t get more popular? She is very much the definition of diversity hire, what she is checks all the boxes, what she’s done is massively unpopular to the majority of democrat voters.

        • Krauerking@lemy.lol
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          1 year ago

          I swear it’s like she freaked out at the idea of the attention and just faded out of existence. It’s so annoying cause she crushed people to get where she is and does nothing to make good use of it

        • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          Kamala is just not good for anybody. She has a bad record of imprisoning people with similar skin tones to hers for victimless crimes and not much of substance to offer. The Diversity Hire excuse is not good enough for the office of President, there should be some good content of character within the person at least.

        • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          They made her visible with shit no-win issues. She was put on securing voting rights, fixing the border, and recently solving gun violence. Meanwhile the big spend-money bill passes and she’s no where to be seen. I also thought the intention was for her to inherit from Biden, but then they kind of just screwed her over and over.

      • MacGuffin94@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’m really hoping Gretchen Whitmer runs in 28 but for this cycle it would probably be Newsome. Sherrod Brown would be great but he is the only person in Ohio that could keep that senate seat blue. Manchin probably runs off Biden isn’t there. Harris and buttigieg are"in line"but personally I can’t stand either.

      • themachine@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        Tats a really hard question. I guess Newsom or Whitmer if we’re talking politicians that seem to be up and coming. But I can think of many other candidates that I would like to see take the position even if they aren’t as electable. Tammy Baldwin, Mark Kelly, he’ll even Adam Schiff, even though he couldn’t win in the general.

        Biden is fine but he looks and sounds horrible quite a bit of the time. There is nothing exciting about his policies and I feel he has way too much baggage.

        Gavin would probably be the best pick. But if we’re making up scenarios, hell put Tom Hanks in there or Jon Stewart like that other commenter said.

        Really I’ll always be bummed about not having Bernie but that ship sailed as well.

        I’m not a super leftist, more of a left leaning no centrist. Still reason, passion, radical change for what a leader could and should be like really get me fired up. The policies are important but we all know that the president is a figurehead as much as it’s a powerful position. I’d rather see someone call the citizens of the country together and be a fighter for even the same type of incremental changes that Biden professes to embrace and maybe have a signature mission.

        I do feel that his administration is chock full of smart and professional people. As a leader and a figure he’s just old and gross. Haha.

        As other commenters have pointed out, anyone but a conservative would be fine. They all fuckin suck with their evangelical positioning and horrible policies. Trump being the nastiest of the pile.

        • SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Oh is that why my comment is so controversial? I specifically said for electability, not on whether she wants the job. The polling corroborates this. She is objectively one of the most well liked political figures in the US today. Note, again, I am NOT claiming she is therefore likely to run.

            • SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              Sure, due to increasing partisanship there is literally no candidate that is universally well-liked by both sides. But you don’t need to convince everyone to win an election. Michelle Obama does better on polling than (almost?) any other candidate.

    • Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      1 year ago

      I agree, Newsome would have been a good candidate. Hell there are half a dozen good candidates that are half Bidens age. If Dems loose, I agree they did it to themselves by letting Biden run again.

        • Witchhatswamp@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          1 year ago

          I don’t totally disagree, but he’s a straight white man who is really wonky/can dive into the weeds of legislation and is affable. He has a potentially broad appeal with the coasts and Midwest.

  • Chocrates@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    64
    ·
    1 year ago

    Uh… Haven’t we been screaming that Biden is a pretty bad candidate since he took office and begging him to not run for re-election?

    This is a surprise to who?

  • SpicyLizards@reddthat.com
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    54
    ·
    1 year ago

    So sad that after so many failings, they still cannot learn! Do what’s right, not what’s personally profitable, you scumbags.

    Do you want trump? This is how we get trump.

    • banneryear1868@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Exactly, the best thing Democrats or anti-Trump voters can do right now is blame the party for it’s own failings rather than shame the left voters they need who are on the correct side of every issue. I view that as more a confession than anything. Too often this turns in to “oh you care about ____, well that’s how we get Trump, get off your high horse and live in reality.” Well now that blank is genocide, so they can’t say this and save face anymore. Even though the US is always supporting this type of foreign policy, and you can rant about it all day if you’re on the left while they shame you for caring, you’re only taken seriously by Democrat voters when it’s not able to be brushed under the rug as a minor issue.

      Just think about how this is framed, “damn, this genocide is really bad for… Biden’s polling.” If that’s the main concern of someone’s here then you’ve already lost.

    • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      If you want to prepare, watch The Handmaid’s Tale. Probably less entertaining when it’s real life.

    • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 year ago

      If you support biden, you are the scum bag.

      Billions for bombs on Palestine, zero money for student loans.

      I will never forget. And I will never vote blue again.

      • PizzaMan@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Billions for bombs on Palestine

        And that’s wrong. But it’s better than a Trump presidency giving x10 the amount.

        zero money for student loans.

        It wasn’t zero. Biden was still able to get some borrowers off the hook, just not as sweeping as necessary.

        And you’re ignoring SCOTUS’s part of this.

        And I will never vote blue again.

        Which is the exact type of decision that will lead us to another round of election lies, social safety net destruction, defunding of education, and corruption.

        I’d rather haven Biden than live in Gilead.

        • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          Biden cuts a check for genocide

          Dem voter: better than trump, better than trump, better than trump, better than trump.

          You should get this tattooed on you.

          And you’re ignoring SCOTUS’s part of this.

          No I’m including the flaws in the supreme court as apart of a large flawed structure that you insist I buy into and support.

          It wasn’t zero. Biden …

          I saw exactly zero money for student loans from biden, so that’s how many votes he will get from me.

          • PizzaMan@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            8
            ·
            1 year ago

            Biden cuts a check for genocide

            Bringing this up again and again doesn’t help your argument when I’ve already addressed it.

            Dem voter: better than trump, better than trump, better than trump, better than trump.

            Have you run out of arguments, leaving you with mocking as your last resort? Or do you have an actual argument here.

            I saw exactly zero money for student loans from biden, so that’s how many votes he will get from me.

            For you it was zero but it wasn’t zero as a whole like you’re trying to pretend.

            • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              4
              ·
              1 year ago

              For you it was zero but it wasn’t zero as a whole like you’re trying to pretend.

              Biden ran on debt cancellation, not a debt forgiveness of loams already eligable for debt relief.

              This did nothing for me and thus I will give biden nothing.

              Or do you have an actual argument here.

              Do you? Your only argument is better than trump.

              You deserved to be mocked, your playing into the same lesser of Two evils logic they were using with George W bush.

              • PizzaMan@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                5
                ·
                1 year ago

                Biden ran on debt cancellation, not a debt forgiveness of loams already eligable for debt relief.

                This did nothing for me and thus I will give biden nothing.

                You said it was zero but it wasn’t.

                Do you? Your only argument is better than trump.

                On basically ever single issues Biden is better than Trump I’m at least some way. That’s about as good as it can get in our two party system.

                You deserved to be mocked, your playing into the same lesser of Two evils logic they were using with George W bush.

                You’re just using ad hominems. And it shows how dogshit your arguments are.

                • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  4
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  You said it was zero but it wasn’t It was zero for me, and everybody I have ever met.

                  On basically ever single issues Biden is better than Trump I’m at least some way.

                  And yet everything still sux.

                  You: Would you like to eat dog shit or chicken shit. ?

                  Me : I don’t want to eat any shit.

                  You: you must choose chicken shit or we will have to eat dog shit every day!!!

                  Me: What if we found something other than shit to eat?

                  You: better than dog shit! better than dog shit! better than dog shit!

          • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            So if you don’t personally benefit, it doesn’t matter? Don’t expect others to care about you if you only care about yourself. Because Biden not forgiving Discoslugs student loans isn’t a problem to me, nor anyone else here. I don’t see why that should factor into my voting decision or anybody else here’s.

            • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              1 year ago

              Don’t expect others to care about you if you only care about yourself.

              Like how you are caring about the Palestinian people being genocided rn? by voting for the guy who approved money for their ongoing genocide.

              • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                I could ask you the same question.

                Fewer Palestinians are going to die under Biden than Trump. Do I wish the number was 0? Yes, absolutely. And I’m really disappointed it isn’t. But there’s still a choice to make here that’ll save Palestinians who would be otherwise killed.

                If 10,000 more Palestinians would die under Trump than Biden, and you don’t see that as enough reason to vote for Biden, what does that say about how you feel about those 10,000 people?

                There’s a very easy way to tell the difference between someone paying lip service or using a tragedy as a weapon, and someone who actually cares about the issue. The person who cares doesn’t stop when 0 deaths isn’t achievable – they keep working to make the number as close to 0 as possible. And with this context, when the options are to vote for Trump, Biden, or neither, I think the choice is fairly clear.

  • Furbag@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    53
    ·
    1 year ago

    The “Biden sucks” narrative is a little out of control at the moment. I hope his team pivots to highlight all of his successes around the time Trump is getting tossed in prison. That should hopefully be enough juxtaposition for even the most terminally online idiots in this country to not vote for the meme candidate again.

    Part of the problem also is that centrist Dem voters are single issue queens and will refuse to turn out if they don’t get their way on certain issues, and a lot of them are drawing lines in the sand over Israel/Palestine right now. In case anybody hasn’t be paying attention, let me assure you, Trump will not end the war in the middle east. If anything, he will accelerate it. If you’re unhappy about Biden supporting Israel but calling for an end to hostilities, boy are you going to be upset if Trump takes the White House and endorses full-on genocide of Muslims in the west bank and complete Russian supremacy in Ukraine.

    • Cowbee@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      25
      ·
      1 year ago

      The centrists are much happier than the leftists with Biden, I’ve seen more voter apathy among leftists who are tired of voting for center-right candidates while right wing extremists get to vote for fascists that openly support them.

    • Leyla@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      1 year ago

      This mentality of picking between worst options isn’t very appealing. Better y’all vote for some third party (even if they don’t win as whole)

      • fiah@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        15
        ·
        1 year ago

        that’s almost the worst thing you can do in a two party system, short of not voting at all. It sucks that the system only really allows two parties but throwing away your vote on a third party is not the way to fix it

        • chaonaut@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          13
          ·
          1 year ago

          First-Past-the-Post voting makes this shit suck so hard. Not only does voting third party reduce the threshold for the rest of the field and in particular the party I definitely don’t want in power, that party is most incentivised to prop up my third party candidate. They get to count my vote as win, and with the stakes as high as they are even losing an election cycle means people I care about get seriously hurt.

        • Superorgizznism@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          So what you’re trying to tell us, is that we literally have no choice who to vote for.

          A lot of people would rather see this increasingly undemocratic system collapse entirely than to try to hold it together with bandaids with no one stopping the cause of the bleeding.

          If there’s literally zero way through voting to influence the behavior of politicians without making things worse, then why bother voting or participating in this psychopathic system at all?

          And if your response is something like “you’re an idiot, shut up you idiot!”, then you’re just sticking your fingers in your ears and going la-la-la-la-la.

          Your job isn’t to demonstrate your virtue through tribal arguments, your job is to understand why people don’t want to vote for Biden.

          You just need to stop lecturing and scolding for like, a few dang minutes.

          • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            13
            ·
            1 year ago

            Look at what it was like in Russia after the Soviets fell and tell me how great it will be when the system falls.

            A few guys with money swarmed in and snatched up all the goodies, while the people got nothing.

            People who were living on pensions, or needed constant medical care, or were too young to work took the brunt of it.

          • fiah@discuss.tchncs.de
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            7
            ·
            1 year ago

            A lot of people would rather see this increasingly undemocratic system collapse entirely

            a lot of people love to fantasize but are the first to cry for help when shit hits the fan

          • Zoboomafoo@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            Feel free to drive to the mountains, leave all your possessions behind, and enjoy the collapse you clearly want without dooming millions of us to death

      • 4lan@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 year ago

        I hope you are just young and haven’t gotten to social studies subject in school yet.

        We have a system that guarantees a stalemate between two parties.

        If we had Ranked Choice Voting, we could actually have third, fourth, fifth etc parties that actually have a chance.

        In our reality today a third party vote is like not showing up at all. It wont do a thing.

      • piecat@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Appealing? No.

        Necessary? Depends what the issues are and how they impact you.

        It comes down to game theory. Voting against the lesser evil is advantageous to you because if they win, things will be slightly less bad. If you throw your hands up and say it doesn’t matter, you’re not giving any disadvantage to the greater evil.

    • Superorgizznism@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Funny enough, there’s research demonstrates that people vote against the voters of a party, and it turns out that people don’t like being called idiots for disagreeing politically with someone, and that they’ll go so far as to vote against the party of voters calling them idiots.

      Maybe just something to think about.

      • pahlimur@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s party specific though. Republican voters get shit on constantly and never waiver at the vote. It’s people in the center and to the left that will just not show up if they’ve been slighted.

        I say this way to often, but I’m ex Republican and we used to joke about how much the lefts bickering handed us elections. The only way to fix this country is to show up and vote dem because you can be damn sure Republicans are going to show up regardless of the candidate they choose.

        • 4lan@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          the amount of republicans who acknowledge trumps treason saying “I’m not sure yet” when asked if they will vote for trump is insane. They are just picking a color at this point. It could be anyone.

          I am going to be bugging everyone I know come next November. We need apathetic centrists to vote to prevent more trump, make them know what’s at stake

      • ALostInquirer@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Isn’t one of the parties’ voters calling people baby killers, groomers/pedophiles, deranged/insane for disagreeing with them politically?

  • BeautifulMind ♾️@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    51
    ·
    1 year ago

    The article could have, but didn’t, make the point that our politics and the rhetoric surrounding it today serve the right by subverting faith in democracy, and by exhausting likely voters’ critical faculties:

    Yesterday, David Roberts of the energy and politics newsletter Volts noted that a Washington Post article illustrated how right-wing extremism is accomplishing its goal of destroying faith in democracy. Examining how “in a swing Wisconsin county, everyone is tired of politics,” the article revealed how right-wing extremism has sucked up so much media oxygen that people have tuned out, making them unaware that Biden and the Democrats are doing their best to deliver precisely what those in the article claim to want: compromise, access to abortion, affordable health care, and gun safety.

    One person interviewed said, “I can’t really speak to anything [Biden] has done because I’ve tuned it out, like a lot of people have. We’re so tired of the us-against-them politics.” Roberts points out that “both sides” are not extremists, but many Americans have no idea that the Democrats are actually trying to govern, including by reaching across the aisle. Roberts notes that the media focus on the right wing enables the right wing to define our politics. That, in turn, serves the radical right by destroying Americans’ faith in our democratic government.

    source

    There’s also the tendency for people to assign to the incumbent all of the problems that happen on his watch- at this point, even with material improvements for most people, it’s a hard sell to convince people that they’re better off when every bit of right-wing media is devoted to telling people they’re worse off and the mainstream media just both-sides it like there isn’t one party trying mightily to end American democracy.

  • lorty@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    29
    ·
    1 year ago

    Maybe their strategy for getting votes could be something better than “the other guy is worse”.

  • TwoGems@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    23
    ·
    1 year ago

    Ok so it starts with you. Volunteer with your local voting rights groups and get people registered to vote. Work their social media teams. Go to high schools and go register those turning 18. Voting rights groups are well known for this useful work.

  • Sabre363@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    1 year ago

    The government would work a lot better if all the old fucks stopped trying to make everything a petty competition with winners and losers.

      • Sabre363@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        I think they are all equally as stupid and self centered, regardless of which side they are on. The only difference is that the stupidity of Republicans happens to hurt the working class more often than not.

        • Witchhatswamp@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          10
          ·
          1 year ago

          And women and Black folks and Muslims and refugees and environmentalists and disabled people and journalists and subcontractors…

    • justhach@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      25
      ·
      1 year ago

      Democrat Base: “Hey, can we… uh… fix… you know…” gestures broadly at fucking everything

      Biden: “You got it, champ, unlimited funding for Israel’s war effort.”

    • Krauerking@lemy.lol
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Just give me fireside chats reassuring us that it’s not just Biden’s rich friends and the sister he forced to help a nanny for his kids that will be ok would be really nice right now.