I think most of us are above that but we need to cater to the least common denominator. Some of them still don't see it. I was in FL last week and it's crazy. So much trump stuff all over and they love him and think everything he does is great. My mind was blown. I live in Atlanta and almost no one I talk to here would consider trump again even the original trumpets I knew.
Im not sure i understand what you are saying. Either that or you didn't get my analogy.
Im saying that it's easy to be better at being president than trump when trump spent his whole term being such a bad president that he just made everything worse.
Im not saying that i think biden is good for the job. Someone else needs to do it.
But when hiring for a job, you don't only have two choices you have an entire pool of candidates which you can vett.
This is like your recruiter telling you that they narrowed down all the candidates for you, you have no say in that process and you can pick between the two worst candidates.
More like "here, you can keep your current guy who should have retired 20 years ago, or you can hire this ex employee who set fire to the lobby last time he was here".
Oh yeah? Go ask some elderly folks if they want their Medicare and Social Security to go away. I asked that to some aging folks and the look of shock on their faces left an impression I'll never forget.
I'm not and it's only gotten worse. Republicans and Democrats have both made it that way. I'll admit the Republicans are worse, but the Democrats haven't helped either.
Because of Trump but under Biden abortion rights have gotten stripped for millions. Mass American poverty and the housing crisis only continued to escalate under biden. Biden has continued many of Trump's border policies and even looks to make that situation worse. Under his presidency we have also enabled a genocide in Palestine. I could go on but do I need to?
I want to be clear. Trump is worse than Biden. Biden has not made things better overall. He has only slowed the rate at which things are getting worse. Do you think I'm wrong?
Sure not something that Biden can change without packing the court which he also can't do by himself.
Both are reduced under biden, no thanks to trump. He continued then and actually escalated them, the border is more secure today than at any time in human history which is an issue sure. What enabled Israel is moving the embassy to Jerusalem cementing American policy for the foreseeable future. You could find an actual issue that Biden caused but that's just me.
I agree, but implying things were better with Trump in office is next level crazy shit to say.
Just going to focus on the first part cuz I don't think we're going to really progress on the other parts and we seem to have an understanding.
Buden didn't even try to pack the court. The Dems had the Senate and the house and the presidency in 2021. I don't remember Biden even trying to pack the supreme Court. It'd be one thing if he tried and the Senate wouldn't give him the vote of a simple majority for his candidates. Then we could say Biden's cool but some Dems suck. But he didn't even try. Why are we pretending like he would have?
Edit: also sorry if I come off like an asshole I don't mean to. Also hell yeah 420 dude 👈😎 I'm lighting up now myself
I know this, it would have been shooting himself in the foot politically. He might do it if he loses before he leaves office where it can't effect his presidency directly. Smart? Sure, smarmy absolutely.
There are things that are possible and things that are probable, in politics the overlaps are rare and slight.
I mean, arguably, the president has little to no control over these things. It's primarily congress and they have been the least productive congress in a long long time.
It takes seconds to shatter a vase, and hours to glue it back together. That’s the difference.
As an outsider watching US Politics in abject horror - this pervasive both-sides-bad arguement is utter bullshit.
Hillary Clinton was an imperfect candidate, but she would not have appointed three bat-shit crazy judges to the Supreme Court who would the. Go onto gutting almost a century’s worth of civil and environmental rights.
Complaining that Dems aren’t doing enough is media spin, owned and paid for by Billionaires and the corporations they control. A lot of good work gets done that you don’t hear about, because if you did - you’d actually be incentivised to vote for Dems, and the 0.1%’ simply can’t have that.
This upcoming election is without hyperbole the most important since the US’s founding - this is your Fall of Rome moment. Trump needs to be defeated in order for your nation to continue to exist in any manner that you could continue to recognise. The very ideals of the Constitution- life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - are at stake.
So make sure you get out and vote, as this could very well be your last opportunity to do so while it still matters.
And if you manage to do the right thing - get involved with politics on your local level, and participate in the primaries. Help pick the candidates that should run, who share your agenda - but when it comes to the general elections, vote against those who share none of your values.
There’s a saying that Democrats need to fall in love with a candidate, while Republicans fall in line. You need to fight them on their terms, the high moral ground is built on sandy foundations and your opponent is armed with shovels and an intent on seeing you destroyed.
Just a note, from one political activist to another: saying "this election is the most important election in history EVERY SINGLE TIME" just gets people exhausted, and make them develop a disbelief in your words. People could not have lived through several "the most importan election in history" in a row.
Think of it as a “terrorists on a plane” analogy. You need to prevail each and every time in order to keep everyone safe, the terrorists only need to get lucky once.
The classic Republican-flavour of conservatism is dying out in the US amongst the younger generations, which means that the GOP is like a wounded, cornered animal: now is when they are the most dangerous and likely to lash out violently.
..and as luck would have it; the last three US presidential elections have been QUITE important. Again, Trump 45 seated THREE Supreme Court judges! Literally one third replaced by someone who NEVER held the support of the majority of the nation.
Biden 46 managed to curtail 45’s corruption, and begin to undo some of the structural damage inflicted onto the nation. The GOP choosing to re-run the same loser candidate for the third election in a row is what makes it yet another “MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION” in a series of them.
I come from a nation with mandatory voting, even for us every vote is the most important election so far - as it determines the path our nation will take over the coming years and what challenges we should prioritise. I can barely comprehend how almost half of the population of the worlds most powerful nation can’t be bothered to participate in a core principle of democracy that will directly impact the quality of their lives, and the lives of their loved ones.
Hard work is exhausting, but ensuring a better world for our children’s generation and beyond should be reward enough.
The classic Republican-flavour of conservatism is dying out in the US amongst the younger generations, which means that the GOP is like a wounded, cornered animal: now is when they are the most dangerous and likely to lash out violently.
No, unfortunately conservatism is really quite seriously NOT dying off among younger people, it is rather building momentum. Fortunately progressive leftism is building momentum even faster in the minds of younger people.
What is dying off is "both sides" centrism that builds a worldview like an excel averaging algorithm over a column of cells, bereft of values, ideology, bold visions or really even anything of substance to fight for really. Can't happen fast enough if you ask me.
Trump needs to be defeated in order for your nation to continue to exist in any manner that you could continue to recognise
He needs to be imprisoned, not just defeated. The fact that he's running again and not sitting in a prison cell is a colossal failure of our legal system. If we can't even hold someone accountable for trying to overthrow our government, then idk that we even have a government worth saving. Our country is already lost.
Pardoned people convicted for simple marijuana possession convictions
Funding important infrastructure projects
Banning abusive and junky bank fees
Going after landlords who are price fixing
Minimum 15% tax on corporations, who otherwise use every trick in the book to hide their profits in tax shelters overseas
Rejoined the Paris Accord
Antitrust actions against Amazon, Google, Apple, various airlines, book publishers, even meat packers
Blocking mergers that would reduce competition, like Krogers acquiring Albertsons
Reducing fees real estate agents collect for home sales
Requiring airlines to refund passengers for delayed or canceled flights
Automatically recognizing a union when a corporation interferes with a union vote
Massive climate wins in the Inflation Reduction act
Giving IRS funding so it can go after the rich tax cheats, instead of just the poor people who make small errors
Allowing Medicare to actually negotiate drug prices, instead of being forced to accept whatever the drug companies decide
And, this is despite a senate where Sinema and Manchin supposely give democrats a razor slim majority, but in reality they block almost everything. And, despite a congress that is currently republican controlled and block even the things their constituents want because they don't want to let Biden have a win.
In what way (other than Gaza) is he not doing a good job?
These anti Biden morons on lemmy are really getting tiresome.
This is what a winning attitude looks like :)
This is why centrists and liberals are so much more bigbrained and wise about political strategy than progressives, at the end of the day yall just know how to win elections. Scold people for not wanting to vote for your candidate, genius!
Not to mention that MOST of the problems they are bitching at Biden for not fixing were caused by them in the first place and then they blocked Biden from any efforts to fix it.
They set the fire, slash the firetruck's tires and then have the audacity to blame the firefighters for not putting it out.
I don't love Biden, but damn, he is trying to do some good things and being blocked at every turn.
We still have the world's highest prison population.
Landlords are still price fixing and rent is still out of control
Amazon, Google and apple nor any other large companies have been broken up with antitrust
Despite giving the IRS funding, the rich are still not paying taxes
Allowing Medicare to negotiate was pretty great. I'll give you that.
"In what way (other than Gaza) is he not doing a good job?"
I don't know if you've been to America or met most Americans, but most of us are really struggling. There's a housing crisis. Most people can't afford to live on their own. There's a ton of food insecurity. Education is abysmal. I mean the whole thing's just fucked. This pretending things are really good right now and gaslighting Americans and trying to shame them into voting for Biden is part of the problem by the way.
And the reason for all of that is the GOP blocking or sabotaging every single effort to improve things, and then blaming the Dems, and it convinced a LOT of people.
That's partially true. But some of the time it was just the Dems holding it up like manchin or Cinema. Also Biden'l has also not put things forward that he said he would. Like when he had the majority in the Senate in the house he did not try to pack the court. The negative things we've seen in the last 4 years are from the supreme Court that Biden never tried to pack despite claiming he would.
I hate the Republicans just as much as you do, maybe more honestly. All I'm saying is the Dems suck too. They're basically trying to hand this election the Trump like they did in 2016.
Manchin and Cinema are Dem in name only, their actions are GOP at every turn.
Don't forget, 3 of the 5 SCOTUS were appointed by Trump, so everything happening with them now is from that and Biden doesn't have power to stop that.
And either way, both Dem and GOP are Right Wing parties and their goals are more or less to maintain the status quo, benefit corporations and elites, keep power, etc.
Neither party has interests or incentives to truly progress things that benefit people, except in maybe a scrap or two to get votes.
We don't really have a government by the people and FOR the people right now. If we did we would have Ranked Choice Voting, no more Electoral College BS, no more Gerrymandering, Voting Day would be a federal holiday, mail in ballots would be universal and accepted, etc etc etc.
Friendly stranger. I do not know what we disagree on.
The only thing I can see is I think Biden should have done more to pack the court and for not doing that. He is now partially responsible for the things we were seeing come from them. I've seen people arguing that doing so when he had that slim majority in the Senate wouldn't have been effective and been political suicide but I disagree. I think a lot more people would be willing to vote for him if he had done it. I would be much more enthused about this candidate if you had done it. I believe the real reason he didn't is because he didn't want to. I don't believe there is a way for us to prove this one way or the other. I respect your opinion. I just disagree with it.
I believe we want the same things. My original comment was only to point out that a lot of people are acting like Biden is doing all the things we want and is actually good instead of just a less right-wing candidate. I just want more straightforward and honest communication around this.
My original comment is just saying I do not like this false narrative that Biden is killing it when he is really not doing much good and continuing a lot of evil. Totally agree, he's better than Trump and I think that should just be the end of our messaging. We're honestly the Democratic party needs to find a way to make someone else the nominee. I don't think if we stay coarse the Dems win.
Landlords are still price fixing and rent is still out of control
The problem is being worked on, the solution wasn't instantaneous.
Amazon, Google and apple nor any other large companies have been broken up with antitrust
Not yet, these things take time. The final antitrust case against AT&T lasted 8 years, and it was only one of many. The antitrust case against IBM lasted almost 13 years.
Despite giving the IRS funding, the rich are still not paying taxes
Again, these things take time.
I don’t know if you’ve been to America or met most Americans, but most of us are really struggling.
So... something that has been happening since at least the Reagan years wasn't turned around in 4, so Biden's doing a bad job?
Most student loans have not been canceled claiming that student loans have been canceled. It's just ingenuous and again it's the whole fake Biden is killing it narrative. Be honest.
You say the problem is being worked on in these things take time for multiple things. In other words, Biden has not done anything on these fronts. You cannot give Biden credit for something that he has not done lol.
This is what I mean. Biden is milk toast at best. He's really just slowing our rate of decline more than he is actually doing a good job. The insistence that he is killing it or doing a good job when he is not and people are suffering is a bad strategy politically.
This giant list of things that turns out to be bs is the kind of thing making people more disillusioned. Stuff like this lowers voter turnout. Democrats lose when voter turnout is low. Do you see where this gets bad?
That's something Israel is doing, not something the US is doing. As usual, the US is helping / shielding Israel, and that's a problem, but that's not the same as being directly responsible for it.
If Trump were in charge, it would only be worse. He'd be encouraging Israel to nuke Gaza.
Plus one of the former applicants was accused of both communism and antisemitism, the latter just due to not being 1000% pro-Israel and despite being Jewish himself. One another had "bad vibes", people called her a "warhawk", and called the former guy's fans misogynist bros.
The propaganda was so strong some liberal black content creators called "socialists" as "having anti-black and misogynistic biases" because we could just fix capitalism to be not bigoted. Fortunately, they got better on this front.
Lots of people in the US have anti-black and misogynistic biases. Some of them happen to be socialists.
This is, in fact, a problem I have with some socialists. They think that solving economic issues will solve everything. You can't have people being shot dead in the streets by police and then tell them "Yes, I realize this is very concerning for you, but we need to really focus on the economy".
Many of those economic issues are a source for other problems. Resolving them may not solve the other problems, but those other problems also can't be solved without dealing with one of the major causes first.
It's like having a house with a giant crack in the wall, and some people want to fix the foundation while some want to fix the crack. Fixing the foundation isn't going to fix the crack, but if you fix the crack without fixing the foundation, it's just going to break open again.
Because the democracy is a farce. The parties control their primary elections and can rig them however they want. The US legalized bribery with Citizens United and again last week with Snyder v. United States.
"Most progressive" is a very low bar to clear given the presidents we've had. Unemployment is not controlled by the president. The credit for capping insulin prices should go to Bernie Sanders, who would've been the president starting back in 2016 if the democratic party hadn't insisted on crowning Hillary. We could've had a much better president and no Trump!
Look, the guy might have been fantastic and sharp years ago, but mental decline at that age happens and happens fast sometimes.
The question I'm asking isn't what will be the fate of the world if he gets reelected, such an old man in office, my question is what might be mismanaged or handles poorly NOW, because we just saw how incapable he is of pretty basic stuff, and he's already at the helm of a huge counter making gigantic decisions that affect billions one way or another.
I don't wish him any I'll will, but I think there should be an age limit on political office, not to mention far stricter cognitive testing. We need our world leaders to be the sharpest, quickest, on-point minds the country has to offer.
I have indeed. That does not seem to change how rare of a surname it is, I don't think. Especially when speaking of U.S. politics, I'm assuming he's American or at least in the U.S. which seems to narrow it from people in Poland. It seems like it's much more likely to be related than someone with the last name Smith related to another Smith.
I'm not trying to imply they are alike in personality or anything past the surface level; I just think it's interesting as I have hardly ever heard that name in the U.S.
Edit: I just looked it up and Andy has stated there is no relation.
Biden doesn't have to run! Run any other Democrat with some publicity and bonafides. Continuing to prop up a corpse that is doing less genocide than the other option would isn't the virtue that you think it is.
Leftist started grumbling about Biden's inadequacy right after he barely won the general. They started yelling after he sold out railway workers. They started sounding alarm bells once his polling started to trail Trump's during the latter's multiple concurrent criminal cases. They started screeching once the genocide started on Oct 7.
For you to sit here now and throw your hands up saying "well its too late! we don't have an alternative!" does nothing other than show how ignorant you have been these past few years. Your head has been in the sand, and this backslide into fascism we're seeing now is the only logical conclusion. The leftists were right about Biden all along, and that is becoming increasingly clear as time goes on.
I've heard of Newsom. I don't know who this guy is, and apparently he's not interested in the job. Both Sanders and Clinton have come out in favor of Biden. But I'll make you a deal. If someone with a reasonable chance pops up, I'll vote for them, if you promise to vote for Biden. Deal?
My vote really doesn't matter in my state for president (way too partisan) and it doesn't change that Biden is likely going to lose the electoral college. So, uh, sure. Costs me nothing, maybe gets someone to support reason with a replacement. Easy deal.
Yeah, I was one of the leftists calling Biden a good for nothing fuckhead for the past 3 years. And then new year's day 2024 happened, and like every leftist I started focusing on preventing a fascist from winning the general election. At first that meant pushing for other candidates in the primary, and now it means helping Biden win.
Meanwhile, the politically aware centrists who had been cooperating with the left for the past three years, continued to try and prevent a Democrat presidency in 2024 because Both Sides Bad
Not everything is about defeating Trump. Some of us have a moral compass.
For example, I will not ignore, deny, or downplay an ongoing genocide just because it would suit my presidential preference.
Additionally, now is the best time to attack Biden, because he is a huge underdog after his horrific debate performance. Attacking Biden is pushing the DNC to change candidates before it's too late. Supporting Biden at this juncture is just helping to elect President Trump.
That's the most privileged moral compass imaginable.
Actual people in America have died because of Trump's policies. Not just due to Covid, but because they were denied abortions, or because the people with guns knew the cops wouldn't care if a transperson got killed.
What are you going to say when Trump has the right to deputize a million or so Kyle Rittenhouses?
You are acting like my joke comment on a Lemmy meme is going to sway the election lol
Look I get it, you will support Biden until he loses, then you will blame people like me for his loss. It's a comfy position to hold, you never have to examine your own positions- just blame others.
We both agree Trump is horrible. You dont have to remind me. My beloved grandmother, the best person in my life, died of covid during the Trump presidency. I will never forgive him, and I certainly will never vote for him.
But just because I fucking hate Trump doesn't mean I'm going to deny reality. Actual people die because of Trumps policies, that we agree on. But Gazans are actual people too, and you seem to be denying that.
But you will aid genocide just because it suits your presidential preference. Filthy liberal.
"I'll help Trump get elected and bomb the West Bank! That'll show Biden!"
You apathetic centrists put your political teams over actual people's lives. You treat politics like it's a fucking wrestling match and you buy into the DNC's kayfabe.
No, I'm responding to the right comment. You're the liberal who'll risk a Trump presidency in the name of your hatred of Biden, right? The one who buys into DNC lies that they care more about winning the presidency than they do about having Biden as candidate?
So accurate criticism of Biden is now "risking a Trump presidency"? You're suggesting that I should stop talking about an ongoing genocide?
And by criticizing Biden's genocidal actions, this makes me a centrist, a liberal, and even worse, a DNC believer? I am so confused.
Its fascinating how you bluemaga people can claim to be the defenders of democracy and free speech, yet your words betray the fact that you hate both concepts.
Your actions have consequences, liberal. You have the right to free speech even when you use it to subvert democracy, and I have the right to tell you to shut up. I know Daddy Elon says free speech means no consequences for what you say, but he's a dipshit and so are you. People are allowed to tell you to shut up. Criticise Israel in a manner other than telling people not to vote against fascism. It's easy, look, I'll show you:
Israel is committing a genocide and Biden is ethically obligated to stop supplying the IDF and to commit to military action against the IDF's bases of operations.
See? I criticised Israel, I acknowledged genocide, and I laid out concrete action the US can take against Israel. I even criticised Biden! How about that! What I didn't do, is tell people not to vote against fascism. Now, I know for a liberal like yourself, the idea of opposing fascism is quite repugnant, but that's because you're a shithead.
I don't see how an investigation into which of the ruling class' two political parties will do more genocide on Palestinians has anything to do with me calling out your dystopian and perverted view of democracy. No one is claiming that Biden will be worse for Palestinians.
Oh right, the war in Gaza is completely Biden's fault and not the product of decades of politics coming to a head in a way the US can't explicitly control. I think I saw Biden out there personally shooting Palestinian children in the face 🙄
You're right, it's not all Bidens fault. There are many evil actors in this conflict. But that doesn't mean Bidens hands are clean.
Hes the one supplying all the bombs, going so far as to hide humanitarian reports and circumventing US law so the munitions can keep flowing.
Hes the leader of the nation which is vetoing UN peace agreements.
He is spreading pro-genocide propaganda. Remember when he went on live television to address the nation and said that he saw pictures of 40 beheaded babies? What a horrific thing to lie about.
If the Nuremburg laws would apply to US presidents, then each one of these actions would be legal grounds to convict Joe Biden for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
All of these things, but still Biden does not directly have the power to end this conflict. Blaming him for it happening as if he's the one crushing Palestinians under the rubble of their houses is dishonest.
Reagan called up Israel one night and told them to stop their assault on Lebanon. Israel stopped in less than 24 hours.
HW Bush called up Israel and ended that conflict overnight.
What makes you think Biden does not have the same power?
And if a phone call doesn't work, he could stop sending bombs. He could stop providing political cover. Instead of handing Israel billions of taxpayer dollars, he could impose economic sanctions like we did to Russia.
Joe Biden could turn Israel into a militarily vulnerable pariah state. What makes you think that this isn't enough leverage to end the genocide?
There's no magic button that ends this conflict, except the one that lies on Netanyahu's desk. Israel isn't dependent on the US in the way that you're trying to make it sound. If the US pulls away from Israel, it creates a vacuum that US's adversaries are chomping at the bit to fill.
They won't suddenly go broke. They won't suddenly be disarmed. They won't suddenly decide the war isn't worth it. They will take money and weapons from other nations who want their influence in the middle east and the only thing that will change is the US losing that influence.
Look, I'm not saying that Biden's hands are clean either. The US as a governmental body is complicit in this heinous war.
What I am saying is that you are woefully naive if you think a phone call could end this. That phone call already happened. It was international news. Netanyahu laughed in Biden's face.
They will take money and weapons from other nations who want their influence in the middle east and the only thing that will change is the US losing that influence.
If the US stops supporting Israel, which other nation will step in and send them 1500lb bombs, highly advanced targeting systems, tens of thousands of artillery shells (theres a worldwide shortage), propelling charges for howitzers, hellfire missiles, disposable shoulder fired rockets, and a plethora of small arms? Be specific.
There are only 4 or 5 nations with the ability to supply the weaponry that Israel needs. China and Russia have been opposed to the genocide since the beginning, so unless they take a dramatic self-destructive turn, this only leaves western nations. Do you think Germany, Japan, or South Korea would defy the US in order to support Israel?
That phone call already happened. It was international news.
Can you provide a source for this?
The only story I'm aware of is how Biden's aides have been leaking how hes having confrontational phone calls with Netanyahu. This is obvious spin in order to placate the anti-genocide sentiment in this country. If you actually believe this narrative then you are the woefully naive one.
The call where Biden urged a ceasefire and Netanyahu completely ignored it? I think you think the US has more power in this situation than they actually do.
The US provides about 1% of Israel's GDP in military aid and Israel already exports weapons and ammo it doesn't need. Who would provide American-centric weaponry is irrelevant to the question of whether the war would stop.
To add to that, it literally doesn't matter who steps in to aid Israel, as the aid itself is less important than the potential ally and the strategic act of robbing the US of influence in the middle east. You think Russia or China wouldn't stoop to changing their position on a massacre to get a step up politically? Two countries currently hosting genocides of their own?
A magic stop button doesn't exist for the US. We're clearly not going to agree on that so this is where our conversation ends. Goodnight.
