79 points

Honestly you guys are fucked, Even if Biden scrapes a win these are going to be the stakes every 4 years until the US turns into a dictatorship. Fuck knows how that’s going to affect the rest of us around the world in the long run.

permalink
report
reply
24 points

One thing that might save us is if Trump dies without managing to get elected. A sizable chunk of the GOP’s base are people who worship him specifically, and if he were gone it might splinter them. But it’s hard to know how that would play out for sure. The situation is definitely very, very grim.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

They will just turn to DeSantis or whomever. If you can be sure of anything, be sure that Project 2025 has a list of contingency candidates.

permalink
report
parent
reply
16 points

Cults of personality don’t work that way. They don’t get replacements. They can try, but they’re not likely to reach a critical threshold of votes. They may not even reach a House or Senate majority, and Project 2025 can’t go ahead at the federal level without all three.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points
*

DeSantis flopped miserably the last time he tried. The ones that are diehard GOP supporters will indeed flock to whoever is thrown at them, but the GOP has tied themselves to Trump because he has a cult that they rely on to get enough votes to win. It’s been 20 years since they’ve managed to get someone other than Trump elected.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

Trump is just the face of the problem. The real threats are the organs; much deeper inside and far more protected than the face.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

He is indeed a symptom, but he’s also something more, a cult leader. You’re right that the rot will be there regardless, but the GOP needs every single person willing to support them to vote to stay in power. There are a lot of people who specifically worship Trump, not the GOP.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points
Removed by mod
permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

My friend… My poor confused friend.

TRUMP IS NOT THE ENEMY, simply a symptom of a greater disease: the FEDERALIST SOCIETY in addition to our FASCIST OLIGARCHY.

When Trump dies, none of this will go away. NONE OF IT.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Regardless of his importance, Trump is very much the enemy, as are the other things you mentioned. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to find out just how important he was after he’s gone.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Maybe, but Trump unifies the left just as much. If Trump died, how many on the left would continue to hold their noses and vote Biden?

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

the supreme court just confirmed that the castro, allende, etc. style assassinations are publicly legal so maybe biden should consider it. lol

but i’m sure that another will take his place if trump fell.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points
*

Trump won’t be so easy to replace - if you want proof, look at how the GOP stuck with him even after he lost an election. No political party has ever done that in modern times. There was a (sorely missed) period where we didn’t hear from him for quite some time. You’d think during that time a big, evil organization like the GOP could have found a better replacement that’s smarter more predictable, but no, they desperately want his cult for their votes. Replacing a cult leader can be difficult, especially since Trump is such a uniquely horrible person. Usually, the leader has to give their blessing to someone else to transfer leadership, and that’s something Trump would never, ever do.

permalink
report
parent
reply
14 points

It ain’t just us pal, open your eyes and notice all of EU is falling to these same goddamn fascists.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Not all of the EU. Some countries have managed to recover from a far-right party taking control even, like Poland’s “new” coalition that took power back from the far-right PiS. I know it looks rough when you’re looking at monsters like Le Pen making gains, but Europe still has a chance.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-1 points

Yes, but at least European countries have more than 2 parties, making them more resilient. It also makes it easier to kick the fascists out of power after they got in.

Fascism is very much growing in Europe as well, but the situation is not as dire.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

I disagree with this, I think the Republican Party is waning and they’re now in the sweet spot where they have a large enough base to enact a fascist takeover but not enough to win by appealing to the electorate. If they aren’t able to change the rules in their favor in the next couple cycles I think they become further marginalized and lose their chance.

That’s not to say we won’t face a similar problem again after we have a party realignment, but I do think the GOP specifically has a limited window in which to seize power.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

As long as corporate capture isn’t addressed fascism is only going to get worse. We’re angry that our politicians have sold us out. The dim ones will listen to the guy that blames their inability to have a decent life on immigrants, gays, trans, taxes, regulations, ect.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

I agree with you there, but I think the upper class is going to increasingly push their agenda through the democrats rather than the republicans, and I think the republicans though perfectly willing to sell out will regardless lose power if they can’t seriously cement their hold somehow.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Yup, as the weak-willed establishment Republicans realize the insane people can’t win anymore, they will turn tail and bail on them. Then the shitty people can go back under their rocks and moderate conservatives can come back into power. Hopefully the Democrat’s constituents can get ranked choice voting through so this doesn’t happen again. Then we can get critical thinking education spread and the lunatic fringe right-wing wond be able to live here anymore.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

Yup, sorry my dudes.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

where are you from friend? and I agree, we’re fucked 🍻

permalink
report
parent
reply
78 points

If he’s such an existential threat (and he is), why the fuck are they not forcing the geriatric incompetent running on their ticket to drop out? They’re sleepwalking into fascism and it’s terrifying.

permalink
report
reply
82 points

My semi-secret conspiracy theory adjacent theory is it’s intentional. That not all, but many, of the Democratic national party is in bed with the same big businesses paying off Republicans, and they’re prepared to pull a Hindenburg and install the very fascists they claim to resist once they can no longer hide their betrayal.

permalink
report
parent
reply
13 points

I also do think it’s primarily a money issue. Some of it might be those donors wanting the two parties to do different things, by basically leading the democrats into their graves.

permalink
report
parent
reply
14 points
*

If he’s such an existential threat (and he is), why the fuck are they not forcing the geriatric incompetent running on their ticket to drop out?

Because their rank-and-file voters who voted in the primary voted for him. This primary and last primary. And if you want people to leave your party in a big exodus, invalidating their primary vote is how you do that. They learned that in Bernie’s race. I voted for Biden, he wasn’t the only person to run in the primary, I’ll be damned if the “party elite” select some other candidate anyways, why even vote in the primaries at that point? May as well register for the R primary since they at least had more candidates and (so far) appear to respect their primary process so my vote would actually mean something.

One thing you’ll notice is that the venn diagram for people who complain about only having “two choices” and the people who don’t participate in primaries is nearly a perfect circle. You get an overwhelming amount of choices if you vote in every primary and every election.If you only vote once every 2 or 4 years and skip the primaries, yeah, you get two choices.

permalink
report
parent
reply
15 points

No one considers this primary a real vote, or that a vote from four years ago indicates current preferences. If it did, 50% of Democrats who watched the debate wouldn’t want him to step aside.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points
*

50% of people who watched the debate didn’t participate in the primaries. Most people don’t vote, and of those who do vote, most don’t participate in primaries. Nobody of consequence ran. Literally anybody could have run. They didn’t. It’s not the fault of “DNC leadership” that nobody stepped up to the plate to run.

FWIW some people did run, Biden wasn’t literally the only candidate. I had more than one candidate on my primary ballot and I voted for Biden because he had the best chance of winning the general. In fact, Biden lost the primary in American Samoa. If you swap Biden for somebody else, you’ve invalidated my primary vote. That’s just as much a threat to democracy as anything else.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points
*

I’ve voted in every primary and local election since the year 2000 and had a Kucinich for President bumper sticker and I still complain about the choices because my preferred candidate has never won. Ever.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

Because the most popular alternative is Kamala Harris, but there is no evidence she would do better against Trump.

permalink
report
parent
reply
17 points
*

I stand that Kamala’s best chance is to hold the ship steady as is, and then ask Biden to resign in December or January.

There’s a lot of racists out there. I feel like if she’s at the top of the ticket, she’s gonna get dragged down. Biden truly is serving as an effective shield for her. Either way, Kamala is the implicit vote if anything wrong happens to Biden (which I admit is increasingly likely given his age).

It makes no sense for Kamala to rush to the top of the ticket given her position.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

Wasn’t this always the angle, even when people called his age out last election? The argument was that Kamala Harris would step up, and that Biden didn’t want a second term.

Given Harris’ recent comments in the press regarding stuff she’d fix “if given power”, I wonder if she’s even on the VP card this time around? IMO, AOC might be a smarter choice for VP, since the left love her and the right loathe her. She’d bring a lot of younger disenfranchised people back around, and that might be enough.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

There’s a lot of racists out there. I feel like if she’s at the top of the ticket, she’s gonna get dragged down.

This is just preemptive cope to avoid having to reflect on whether the Democratic leadership and its preferred candidates are actually the thing that needs change, and she’s not even an actual candidate yet. Kamala’s biggest problem is not that she isn’t white. Obama was a Black man, but he had heaps of charisma. Kamala has all the charisma of a plate of lutefisk,and people flat out do not like her. She is also irrevocably tied to Biden and his legacy, likely to her detriment amongst the crowds you would most worry about not voting for her because of her not being white.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points
*

Most polls put her on par with Biden. Dataforprogress.org has her leading when “fitness” and “strength” are brought into question, but that’s the only poll I’ve seen where she has any lead at all.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Polls of 1000 people are stupid.

permalink
report
parent
reply
57 points

Given the number of existential threats we have and are facing, the reaction tracks.

What do you personally do the the face of existential threats? Get ice cream and watch a movie.

permalink
report
reply
27 points

There’s nothing that can be done about SCOTUS at the moment. Republicans have House majority, so impeachment and resizing votes will fail.

Something could be done if everyone voted blue in the fall and we had Democratic majority in Congress.

permalink
report
parent
reply
14 points

The odds of anything turning blue in November other than maybe the Whitehouse seems slim. I have no numbers or proof and I am completely stating my opinion, but it seems the dems have targeted defective Republicans and centrists and not people on the left. I’d imagine Republicans that can’t stomach Trump are still going to vote red everywhere but the Whitehouse. While the voters further to the left than both our conservative parties will just stay home.

permalink
report
parent
reply
14 points
*

Democrats only need 4 more seats to retake the House. If they win the presidency, there will likely be more than that riding on the coattails.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

While the voters further to the left than both our conservative parties will just stay home

If they stay home they are insuring an extremely authoritarian dictatorship - an extremely stupid move.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points
*

the democrats had majority control and they still fucked it up by pretending they couldn’t change the filibuster rules and they’ll find some other way to fuck it up again if we do vote for them.

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points
*

There’s plenty that can be done about the Court. Just tell them no. They made a massive precedent-defying power grab overruling Chevron. If the climate is an existential problem, a constitutional crisis is warranted.

permalink
report
parent
reply
12 points
*

Who do you believe could just tell them no and have them comply?

It would be Congress, but Republicans control the House at the moment.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-3 points

Biden could nominate three new justices to the court today if he wanted to.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

He cannot. There are no vacancies.

The Constitution does not stipulate the number of Supreme Court Justices; the number is set instead by Congress. There have been as few as six, but since 1869 there have been nine Justices, including one Chief Justice.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/our-government/the-judicial-branch/#:~:text=The Supreme Court of the United States&text=The Constitution does not stipulate,Justices%2C including one Chief Justice.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

My point was what do YOU do? Not what should one do.

Most people get ice cream and ignore the situation.

permalink
report
parent
reply
42 points

Treating an existential threat as existential requires the one thing that the Democratic coalition has increasingly struggled to do: prioritization. It means putting aside personal feelings, individual ambition, and subjective preferences in favor of a single goal: success. Otherwise, it’s just empty rhetoric.

As New York Timescolumnist Ezra Klein, who has been pushing the possibility of an open convention to replace Biden, said on his podcast after Thursday’s debate: “If the fate of American democracy is hinging on this election — as Democrats are always telling me it is and as I think there is a chance that it is — then you should do everything you can to win it.” That a strategy, any strategy, might make people or groups uncomfortable cannot be a reason not to pursue it in the face of an existential threat. Not if you believe what you’re saying.

permalink
report
reply
0 points
*

Over a dozen paragraphs and no name brought up to replace Biden if he leaves. (Kamala? Kamala is team Biden)

Glad to see that the prioritization is to attack Biden before you even have a replacement lined up. Good job media, you’re whipping the dumbasses into a frenzy and taking unnecessary risks.

Lets just say Biden is out. Start listing names. Serious contenders. If Kamala (effectively on Biden’s team anyway) is your best shot, then it doesn’t matter if she’s VP or Top of the Ticket, if the plan is for Biden to resign after November anyway.

permalink
report
parent
reply
33 points

They sure aren’t. IMO, If Biden doesn’t attempt to exercise his new presidential powers, the Dems will be partially responsible for the fascism that follows.

permalink
report
reply
-7 points

Seems you forget that an extreme court gets to decide things now. He doesn’t have the powers unless the court says he does.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

So why weren’t the courts getting stacked years ago?

Stop pretending like his hands are tied. The SCOTUS ruling yesterday shows that is bullshit.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

I was wondering how his hands would be tied this time.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Better to act first than wonder if you have permission. Take the action necessary, let the courts hash it out months later after the election is over. As long as it’s an official action, there should be no problem.

permalink
report
parent
reply

politics

!politics@lemmy.world

Create post

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
  2. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  3. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  4. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive.
  5. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  6. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That’s all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

Community stats

  • 15K

    Monthly active users

  • 5.1K

    Posts

  • 85K

    Comments