The kind of change I'd like to see requires acts of Congress, and Biden can't do that when Republicans are in the majority in the House of Representatives.
But surely he's trying. Can you give an example of him trying and Republicans blocking him? Something that's literally beyond his authority (not something that he could do with executive order, such as forgiving student loan debt).
A really easy example is passing a budget. They've been stuck on doing that since the new Congress was elected in 2022.
I'll also note that his first attempt at student loan debt cancellation got shot down by Republicans in the courts, so he's been doing smaller piecemeal versions.
But at least he's stopped funding ICE and the border camps, stopped building Trump's wall, and closed Guantanamo, right?
I'd hate to think he'd be willing to be complicit in fascism and morally turpitudinous law, at any costs. Surely if someone had somehow seized power from Hitler, we wouldn't defend and support them if they continued to fund the death camps, right? How could we?
I myself have broken the law multiple times by helping people evade deportation under the law. Surely our president isn't more spineless and powerless than some loser like me, right?
Congress banned the president from moving prisoners at Guantanamo to the US, which substantially limited the ability of the President to fully close it, since for several, no other country has been willing to accept them.
Defunding ICE requires an act of Congress, and doesn't have full support of even all Democrats.
So if I looked into this, I wouldn't find that he signed off on any of this, right? His signature of approval isn't on anything involving ICE, the concentration camps, the wall, or Guantanamo. Is that what you're saying?
unless you want a dictator,
I don't buy this. See my Hitler/death camp analogy. It doesn't take a dictator to refuse to proceed with blatantly fascist, racist, and genocidal policy.
In fact, he's behaving more like a dictator by continuing to support these things. He's actively oppressing marginalized groups -- that's like a dictator's favorite thing to do.
Edit:
Like every nation, the United States has a right and a duty to secure its borders and protect its people against threats
Stuff like budgets are big compromise bills with lots of parts. You're going to find his signature on them because he couldn't get anything if he rejected.
Democratic government is messy and full of compromises like this. You can't ever satisfy everybody.
So we live in a system that bolsters genocide, and our only choice is the fascist with less fascism than the fascist fascist?
Literally no better choice? Genocidal policy is just baked in? Wow. What an absolute dogshit system. Sounds like election isn't going to fix this, huh?
Dude, please stop passive aggressively posing these disingenuous questions and just state your criticisms and points plainly. You look like you're here for (trolly) performance art, not discussion.
Failed to support universal healthcare or offer any plan whereby the most marginalized groups may gain access
Signed off on the continued funding of ICE and the construction of more concentration camps than we had before, even under Trump
Supported the genocidal state of Israel
Failed to address Guantanamo Bay, with its history of human rights abuses, which continue to this day
Sent his VP on a gaslighting mission to Latin America, blaming them for the instability which we historically caused
Detained and deported undocumented immigrants and refugees
Continued to fuel the racist sentiment that we need to "protect our borders"
If you want to argue that for now he is the lesser of two evils, then fair. If you actually defend the man and perceive him as doing some good, you're going to push voters away, because we're not that stupid, and it's an insult to our intelligence to think we are.
For the record, I voted for the fucking horror, but I never anticipated the number of people who would actually defend his bad actions in a creepy and cultlike fashion, all for the sake of a campaign.
You look like you’re here for performance art, not discussion.
So, similar to Biden and his presidency? Let's paint Pride flags on all the concentration camps and call it good, huh?
Edit: You changed your comment to add "trolly." What part of what I'm saying seems like a troll to you? Which statement I've made is so unhinged that you think I'm a troll?
Wow, I did what you asked for, and you still have no real response. I don't blame you though for not wanting to engage. In fact, I respect you more than someone who thinks they have any form of defense for Biden's indefensible words and actions.
Alright buddy where the dude thats gonna stop all that?
You tell me. I don't see one, do you?
You know damn well this isnt how things work
Right, because it's how things work that's the problem. It's a rotten system. Tear it down and try something better, because this clearly doesn't work. You're preaching to the choir!
It could improve things, but making that work means changing how elections are run; first past the post makes it well-neigh impossible to create a viable 3rd party.
What like passing the biggest climate bill in not just American but likely human history? Filling every agency possible with the most diverse Administration officials the country has ever seen?
I don't care if you don't like Biden but stop pretending he's doing nothing. It's unlikely any of his competition would have been able to get half the stuff he's done done. It's normal and healthy to want more but it's actually insane to pretend nothing has happened. It's also actually insane to pretend the president can do whatever he wants when he does not control Congress or the Senate. Which Biden doesn't and hasn't for even one minute of his administration. Yes, including the Senate because a caucus that requires the consent of Manchin and Synema is not controlled.
Oh okay then I guess that excuses the fascism. You've opened my eyes. If you do one good thing, then you can harm marginalized groups, as a treat.
You know what's insane to me? Defending this monster. He's literally signed off on these things. Don't pretend he's trying to defund ICE, don't pretend he's trying to close Guantanamo, don't pretend he's not supporting the genocidal state of Israel, don't pretend he's not continuing the mass surveillance of US citizens, don't pretend that he tried to provide universal healthcare to the millions who die from lack of access every year. It's bullshit, it's inexcusable, and you know it.
If you want to tell people, "Look, this guy is horrible, but we need to elect him because the other guy is worse," then fair, but you're not going to convince anyone by excusing his indefensible actions.
The only reason you can sit on that side of the keyboard and act like he's doing enough is that you're not in those camps, you don't have loved ones in those camps, you don't have neighbors dying because they can't afford the doctor. A little empathy goes a long way, chief.
"If you want to tell people, 'Look, this guy is horrible, but we need to elect him because the other guy is worse,' then fair, but you’re not going to convince anyone by excusing his indefensible actions." -me
This idea that we can't criticize his horrible actions is what I take issue with. It's creepy, it's cultlike, and it's regressive.
I doubt the people who are imprisoned in those camps or being deported back to places where they will certainly perish give a fuck about who put them there. It's the actions themselves that are morally and ethically indefensible.
Edit: Also, imagine explaining this to me when I do have family and friends being deported and detained. Pretty fucking tacky, don't ya think?
Anyone who does not perfectly pass your purity test and achieve every single goal you want to achieved instantly on the day they're elected is bad and evil.
Pretty much it right?
You don't know shit about me and you're an asshole. And worse, you're an enemy of progressivism.
You're the one who pretty directly said Biden is maintaining the status quo and has changed nothing.
Which is a lie. It's not even a misunderstanding, or a personal political opinion, or even bullshit. It is an actual lie. You're a liar when you make that implication.
That's what this come down to. Your personal politics are pure liberalism, not progressivism.
ONLY individual rights matter to you. A government violating someone's rights should stop all other activities until it fixes that violation. Even if trying to fix that violation both will not work and will force abandonment of ALL other progressive reforms. Because a right violation is more important than any other activity.
The irony is, you wield the word "progressive" as if you are one, but really you just don't know what these words mean.
You want Biden to take the strongest possible stance on a issues he actually couldn't fix (because the POTUS is not God and he has particularly little power thanks to not controlling Congress and having a flatly corrupt judiciary working against him). It does not matter to you if taking some of these stances would cease ALL OTHER progressive reform while also not working. You're still going to confidently call him absolutely ineffective and evil if he doesn't do it because the rest of progress does not matter in your politics, only the liberties do. No complexity or compromise allowed.
Just... shut up. Stop making the left look stupid. Or at least learn to criticize without denying all progress.
I don't know what to tell you. I've cited numerous examples of blatant human rights violations, and you seem to think they are acceptable, and your comments have devolved into unfounded accusations and personal attacks.
You don't think Biden is a leftist, do you? He literally upholds capitalism. He's objectively not leftist. I doubt even he would claim to be.
I don't respond to demands made by people who are not here to discuss in good faith, and moreover this is quite rudely stated. This is not how one talks to another person.
You may check my comment history for a bulleted list. If I'm wrong about anything I've claimed, feel free to correct me.
Reported. I've responded adequately to everything you've said. You're the one glossing over blatant human rights abuses, and now you're personally attacking me, which is against this community's rules.
If you can deny anything I've said, then fair. But you can't, so you have to resort to calling me an "asshole" (for calling out human rights abuses), making unreasonable demands, saying "fuck you," and calling me a "troll."
You're OK with innocent refugees being detained and deported, with people dying from lack of access to healthcare, with us supporting a genocidal state, with torturing prisoners, with punishing people without a fair trial, with mass surveillance of citizens.
And I'm a "purity test" and "not a real leftist" because I condemn these things.
I think one of us must be trolling, and it doesn't appear to be me.
Again, if I'm wrong about any claims I've made, please correct me, but dispense with the personal attacks.