The General 'Murican Politics Thread

[RedFox99]

1 hour ago, Phos said:

As for SJW, why are you giving your opposition the title of "Warrior"?

Ironic I guess

[Tani Coyote]

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/nevada-governor-vetoes-national-popular-vote-bill.html

Nevada Dem. Governor Sisolak has vetoed the state's bill that would have added Nevada to the National Popular Vote Compact. He cited the argument that Nevada would simply be ignored in national elections because it is small, whereas right now it benefits from being a swing state.

It's also an argument that falls apart under increased scrutiny: people scream about Texas and California and New York, but those large states are hardly hive minds, and their political minorities will come out in full force if the national popular vote becomes a thing. Candidates will have to cast a wide net to win a truly national election.

[Tani Coyote]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/29/politics/roy-moore-alabama-donald-trump-jr/index.html

Roy Moore and Trump Jr. got into it over Twitter. While Moore's since deleted his Tweets, I can't help but think Jr. just made the Alabama Senate race personal. And Moore is the favorite for the GOP nomination based on polling.

And Roy Moore being the GOP nominee is the best chance Democrats have of taking that seat for 6 years. Jones has defected to the GOP on a lot of things, but he's also stuck with the Democrats on a lot of things too. He is the best option Democrats will get from Alabama.

Where Moore is likely to get swat on the ass is the fact Republican voters are actually very good at rejecting candidates with serious ethical failings. It's why we all too often get Democrats who suddenly win a red seat, but then immediately lose it next race. Republican voters tend punish (non-Presidential) candidates for sexual immorality in particular.

[Kevin]

Jon Stewart continues to do the good man's work by standing up for 9/11 first responders! His testimony today was incredible!

[Tani Coyote]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/18/politics/democratic-debates-2020-placement/index.html

We know the center candidates in the two debates. One night will have Warren and O'Rourke as the candidates in the center, the other will have Biden and Sanders. The center position is assumed to get the most time.

Biden's in for a fun ride. Not only will he have to worry about Sanders, but Yang is also part of the debate that night. He is going to look SO BORING compared to two candidates who radically want to alter America's economy.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Doesn’t really help that this makes it sound like he has no intention of dealing with the rich assholes who profit from this mess if this is any indicator:

 

[Tani Coyote]

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/20/roy-moore-will-run-for-senate-in-alabama-after-trump-objects.html

As we count down the days to Democratic debates on Wednesday and Thursday, Alabama has given the Dems a gift: Roy Moore is officially running for the Senate seat again, and he still has wide grassroots support.

If he takes that nomination, Doug Jones' chances of keeping Alabama for Democrats next year are hugely improved.

[SSF1991]

On 6/2/2019 at 5:47 PM, Legosi (Tani Coyote) said:

He cited the argument that Nevada would simply be ignored in national elections because it is small, whereas right now it benefits from being a swing state.

Except it wouldn't because the entire point of the popular vote electing presidents is that every vote would actually have a say in a damn election and every state would actually fucking matter.

It's not about a state being fucking big or small, it's about giving the person that got more votes from Americans the presidency and not having 3-4 states decide everything. I'm fucking tired of this outdated system of electoral votes. Land mass doesn't vote. People do.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Well round one of the debates was interesting. Warren was allowed to have both the opening and closing statement. She started off pretty strong, and while she seems a little weak on policies like how to handle Mitch McConnell and gun reform, she was a solid candidate at the start.

Some basic takeaways:

-Booker, Beto, and Castro are desperately trying to get the Hispanic vote, because they kept randomly switching into Spanish during the debate. Clearly, they did not learn anything from how Tim Kaine pissed a lot of Hispanic voters off because "I can speak Spanish!" does not actually impress rank and file Hispanic voters and instead speaks to a very narrow understanding of issues facing those voters.

-Booker and Castro both seem in favor of nuking the 60-seat filibuster to pass gun reform, and probably anything else. Booker specifically mentions races in South Carolina and Iowa.

-On healthcare, only two candidates said they would replace all private insurance with Medicare for All: Warren and De Blasio. In Warren's case, she demonized private insurance as an industry that gambles with people's lives, since its goal is to maximize fees and minimize how much it pays out.

-Beto was basically getting destroyed all night. When he said he supports keeping private healthcare and public to create "choice," De Blasio interjected that millions of people do not have healthcare in our current "choice" based system. When he said he supports keeping immigration law the way it is to prevent human trafficking, Castro called him out, saying there are sections of the code that already cover that. Overall, while everyone expected Beto to come out as Warren's main rival, he looked pretty bad.

-Tim Ryan kept going on about the need to funnel money into the Rust Belt to bring back manufacturing jobs. Elizabeth Warren called him out on traditional attempts to revive American industry, saying it's almost always "let companies do what they want," and emphasized that American manufacturing should be based on leadership in renewable energy (several other Dems share this view).

-When asked about the greatest geopolitical threat to the United States, most Democrats mentioned climate change, Iran, or China. Jay Inslee went "Donald Trump."

-Castro spoke for the need to have social justice as well as economic justice (rebutting Amy Klobuchar), and how he wants to decriminalize illegal entry and make it a civil issue. He wants a Marshall Plan for Latin America so people won't feel the need to migrate to the US.

-Klobuchar is painting herself as the more realistic left candidate, outright saying she isn't promising as much, e.g. she only wants community college to be free.

-Class solidarity: De Blasio called for the Democratic Party to remember its working class roots, while Booker, Castro and Warren basically all favored a 50 state strategy to keep the Senate.

-Taxation: De Blasio said all Democrats should support a 70% marginal tax rate on the highest income bracket. OH DAMN.

There's a lot of content in 2 hours, but the winners I'm seeing are:

Warren's powerful opening and closing statements (regarding American inequality and how she's only on that stage because she got a government-funded education, and wants it an option for everybody) make her a clear winner.

Booker and Castro both seem very strong.

De Blasio looks like he will have very strong left wing credentials that could help him last.

Moving forward: Warren, Castro, Booker, De Blasio

Not moving forward: Ryan, Gabbard, Beto, Inslee, Delaney, Klobuchar

[8ther]

When does primary voting begin in South Carolina?

[Tani Coyote]

47 minutes ago, 8ther said:

When does primary voting begin in South Carolina?

Scheduled for February.

It's gonna be a long 8 months.

The good news is, after this round of debates, it sounds like the next round requires 2% polling rather than the 1% this round had. Which means we should start seeing candidates dropping as they're forced out of the spotlight.

God help us if they all wait until the first primary before dropping. If they don't do good in this debate they really need to go away so we can start narrowing down the field and getting an idea who will take on Trump.

[Candescence]

Seriously, the number of candidates is ridiculous. At least half of them should know better than to even try. It's a repeat of the 2016 GOP primaries, but at least here the frontrunners aren't complete garbage.

Except Biden. I know voters are into him because Obama, but Hillary was working for Obama, too, and guess how that turned out.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

So can we stop pretending the right wing is anything other than a fascist group who’s making a grab for permanent power yet?

[RedFox99]

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jun/29/andy-ngo-beaten-up-by-antifa-activists-at-portland/

Yikes.

[RedFox99]

Check out these search results: https://twitter.com/hashtag/AntifaTerrorists?s=09

Wow, this is spreading.

[Tani Coyote]

Representative Swalwell has dropped out of the race, citing that candidates should be realistic about their chances and focus on serving their constituents. He will be running for the House again.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/08/politics/tom-steyer-2020-presidential-bid-staffers/index.html

Meanwhile, Tom Steyer, a billionaire most known for bankrolling efforts to impeach Trump, is planning on announcing a Presidential bid of his own.

I'd like if everyone polling 1% or less after the first debate would just drop, honestly. This field needs to consolidate to increase the odds of beating Trump.

[8ther]

https://www.npr.org/2019/07/11/739858115/trump-expected-to-renew-push-for-census-citizenship-question-with-executive-acti?utm_term=nprnews&utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social

Trump says he will sign an executive order to obtain data about the citizenship status of everyone living in the U.S, directing every federal government agency to turn over citizenship data to the Department of Commerce.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I figured this topic would be more active given the firestorm that’s been going on the past few days.

Or was it so blatant to others that there wasn’t any point posting?

[SenEDDtor Missile]

1 hour ago, Conquering Storm’s Servant said:

I figured this topic would be more active given the firestorm that’s been going on the past few days.

Or was it so blatant to others that there wasn’t any point posting?

He Epstein stuff? Trump being a blatant racist on Twitter? There’s so much shit happening that many of them are just blending together. He’s an endless fount of hate and prejudice.

[Tornado]

 

 

Savage.

[KHCast]

16 hours ago, Conquering Storm’s Servant said:

I figured this topic would be more active given the firestorm that’s been going on the past few days.

Or was it so blatant to others that there wasn’t any point posting?

In general looking online, I see little discussion about it, least on my feeds and twitter page. Everyone’s talking about Ariel and Area 51 and the Face App. Why is there always a trending meme next to when Trump just drops a bomb? 

[Tornado]

Well, it's not really news at this point that Trump is racist. And while this is the first time he attacked a congressman on that basis, it's not the first time he's gone after a congressman in such a way either. And if the GOP wasn't going to stand up for McCain after Trump spent months smearing him on Twitter after he died, they certainly aren't going to stand up for Democrat congressmen with an occasional chilly reception even in their own party.

 

 

Beyond "Oh, what's he done this week," I think we're well beyond the point of people at large being used to it.

[KHCast]

I wonder then if that general apathy and numbness people feel regarding whatever he does now is gonna help him with re-election. If Democrats are gonna fixate their podium on trump and the republicans like last time and what bad people they are, or on “identity politics” as people put them, I could see that annoying many fencers or people that have grown indifferent to him pushing them towards a re-elect. I’ve definitely seen people that otherwise didn’t approve of trump whatsoever end up taking the defensive or devils advocate route regarding him because they couldn’t stand the attitude portrayed by many democrats and liberals. So I definitely feel it’s a very real possibility that on a wider scale come elections, Democrats could find a way to fuck this up for them and push people into the GOP’s direction. All Trump would need to do is focus on a topic or issue Democrats are ignoring that resonates with a good majority and make empty promises, and that indifference/numbness can very easily be replaced with optimism or benefit of the doubt. Kinda like when a game or film company fucks up so much, and people are so used to that as the norm that something basic or slightly interesting can be raised up or touted as something bigger than it is that gets people interested or at the very least, slightly optimistic. That psychological tendency society tends to have, could very well I feel play to Trump’s advantage if he plays his cards right and that’s concerning. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

This is gonna be a first, but I’m legitimately worried about Trump as a person.

No one who calls themselves “the chosen one” is in good health, and I really don’t mean that as an insult—my grandfather had dementia and was found dead of hypothermia in the cold. Starting to see some similar hallmarks in Trump that are even more worrisome given he’s the fucking president with these problems.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Of course the GOP fucking take advantage of a national tragedy for their own gain, because why the fuck not:

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/a-new-low-nc-republicans-override-governors-veto-while-dems-attended-9-11-ceremony/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf