American Politics Discussion

[Dr. Gonzo]

Just now, Tommy said:

*Aliens invade*
"Let us speak to your most powerful man" 

Us:

Aliens: never mind, we're going back home.

[Viva la FCB+]

48 minutes ago, Tommy said:

*Aliens invade*
"Let us speak to your most powerful man" 

Us:

Peak. Male. Form. 

[Spike]

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I know very few Trump voters, tbh. I'm in coastal California, so I'm in a bit of a bubble. The people I know that did vote for Trump really don't follow politics all that closely and believe a lot of shit they see on social media and distrust regular news (whether it's online, tv, newspaper, books). It's maybe 3-4 people; they all said the biggest issue for them was inflation and the cost of living. I tried explaining to them that Trump's proposed policies, namely the tariffs, are only going to increase both of those. They didn't care - they just saw things get more expensive once Biden was president and remember pre-pandemic prices and want a return to that.

I'm pretty sure everyone around the world wants a return to the cost of living pre-pandemic... but hey... it is what it is.

@Spike, @Coma, & @Cicero might be able to give you a different perspective. Although Spike's in Chicago, so he might be in even more of a bubble than I am in San Diego - although idk too much about where he's living in Chicago so no idea if that's true or not. I'm pretty sure Coma's from a swing state or a state that could potentially be a swing state if there's the right issues on a ballot - so he might have a more accurate answer on the pulse of America. And idk where Cicero is at, but he's been pretty good at giving a pulse on some things in the US. He's not been very active lately though.

I also lived in in Atlanta for three years @Gunnersaurus. Most people I’ve met Atlanta or Chicago, it’s always economic. I always heard ‘He will run the country like a business’; I guarantee that’s the most common reason, of course these aren’t the sort of people to go to rallies; those are the rabid evangelicals he has courted, frothing from the mouth about immigrants or whatever-the-fuck.

[Devil-Dick Willie]

Unfortunately nations aren't businesses, and using strong arm strategies (his Phil's bald head tariffs) will only harm the USA short and long term. Also he'll 'end the war' in Ukraine by pulling all support from Ukraine and then telling them they have to give Russia Luhansk and Donbass, which is exactly what Putin wants because the sanctions on russia will lift.

[Coma+]

Trump voters who think he'll run the country like a business have forgotten how many times his businesses have filed for bankruptcy.

@Dr. Gonzo Ohio isn't much of a swing state anymore... it's been red for the past 3 elections iirc.  I think we went blue for both of Obama's terms. 

@Gunnersaurus I live on the outskirts of a metro region but my county always votes overwhelmingly Republican so my vote gets swallowed up.  The majority of my coworkers vote Republican, although during this past election many of them were torn after seeing how bad Trump's first term went.  

I voted for Bernie in the Democratic primary when he was up against Hillary but that was a lost cause considering she and the Dems sabotaged his campaign.

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 hour ago, Coma said:

Trump voters who think he'll run the country like a business have forgotten how many times his businesses have filed for bankruptcy.

The guy bankrupt a fuckin' casino 

[Viva la FCB+]

The latest Matt Gaetz stuff is just fascinating. The house ethics commitee was to take a vote on releasing a report into Gaetz but theres been a few wrinkles. A little background its a republican run committee that doubled down to further investigate Gaetz into the sex with minor/trafficking allegations. They dove into it further even after Garland tucked his balls between his legs and declined to investigate Gaetz. Gaetz led the charge to oust previous speaker of the house Kevin McCarthy when McCarthy refused to stop the commitee from investigating him. Well now that the commitee was on the verge of the vote Gaetz resigned from the house which means the investigation would cease as hes no longer a member of the house. They can however still release the report and their findings but we'll see if that happens. This comes on the heals of Trump announcing Gaetz is set to be his AG. yes shocker donald duck loves and rewards all those loyal to him, doesnt matter how deplorable a human they are.

[Stan]

On 13/11/2024 at 23:15, Dr. Gonzo said:

Aliens: never mind, we're going back home.

Or other aliens be like:

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

18 hours ago, Viva la FCB said:

The latest Matt Gaetz stuff is just fascinating. The house ethics commitee was to take a vote on releasing a report into Gaetz but theres been a few wrinkles. A little background its a republican run committee that doubled down to further investigate Gaetz into the sex with minor/trafficking allegations. They dove into it further even after Garland tucked his balls between his legs and declined to investigate Gaetz. Gaetz led the charge to oust previous speaker of the house Kevin McCarthy when McCarthy refused to stop the commitee from investigating him. Well now that the commitee was on the verge of the vote Gaetz resigned from the house which means the investigation would cease as hes no longer a member of the house. They can however still release the report and their findings but we'll see if that happens. This comes on the heals of Trump announcing Gaetz is set to be his AG. yes shocker donald duck loves and rewards all those loyal to him, doesnt matter how deplorable a human they are.

Many senators are demanding the report. I'm pretty sure it's all democrats though, not republicans... so it's essentially meaningless lol

[6666]

On 14/11/2024 at 20:18, Coma said:

I voted for Bernie in the Democratic primary when he was up against Hillary but that was a lost cause considering she and the Dems sabotaged his campaign.

That was a crazy time that exposed how the Democrats operate and I think that's really the foundation that modern progressives have built their opinions of the Democrats on. There are those that they'd consider "one of their own" and those that they look at as unrealistic, idealistic outsiders while still using the image of those outsiders to launder their own image.

[Dr. Gonzo]

19 hours ago, 6666 said:

That was a crazy time that exposed how the Democrats operate and I think that's really the foundation that modern progressives have built their opinions of the Democrats on. There are those that they'd consider "one of their own" and those that they look at as unrealistic, idealistic outsiders while still using the image of those outsiders to launder their own image.

I think modern progressives need to look at the ultimate problem in their lack of representation in US politics - the two party system - and start working to fix that broken nonsense for them to have an actual chance at taking the reigns of the US. Progressive policies are popular, even considering how generally conservative the American electorate is.

The problem is they have just a tiny voice in one of the two very pro-corporate interest right wing parties that dominate the United States political arena.

And one of their loudest voices is Bernie Sanders - a man who is not a part of the democratic party. He's an independent senator, not a democrat - he just caucuses with them all the time because they are the more sane of the two dominant political parties in the US. One of the other loudest progressive voices in US politics is Ocasia-Cortez - and in a normal functional democracy she would not be in the same centre-right party the democrats are.

States get to pick their own voting rules, so the opportunity to actually get more progressive policies implemented at the federal level is having progressives start taking the power at the state level.

The problem there is, it's a very uphill battle for progressives in the US. Public opinion is shaped by the media - whether it's traditional media or social media. So that's US media shaped by traditional media owned by right wing billionaires and social media owned by right wing billionaires. So the messaging amongst the general voting public will always be something that is anti any truly progressive policies. So you need something very rare in a politician to make it work. Someone smart enough to successfully get their message to connect with people on social media despite the general narrative being against them. Someone eloquent who can explain complex things in a way that makes them easy to understand. And someone who plays well and is tough for an unfriendly media to attack - because any gaffe will be seized on by the media and used relentlessly as a weapon to kill the popularity of anyone against the interests of the very rich. They essentially need a team of Bernie Sanderses.

They've got an uphill battle, but that's really the best pathway to breaking the shitty political system of the US. Even "deep blue" states are lacking many progressive voices and still use the shitty first past the post voting system, when ranked choice would ultimately lead to more progressive options actually getting seats.

And until progressives have a pathway to getting in candidates they'd support at a federal level, they've got two shitty choices in the centre-right democratic party & the right wing republican party. I think a better choice than not voting is picking the least bad of 2 bad picks tbh.

[Cicero]

On 13/11/2024 at 17:10, Dr. Gonzo said:

I know very few Trump voters, tbh. I'm in coastal California, so I'm in a bit of a bubble. The people I know that did vote for Trump really don't follow politics all that closely and believe a lot of shit they see on social media and distrust regular news (whether it's online, tv, newspaper, books). It's maybe 3-4 people; they all said the biggest issue for them was inflation and the cost of living. I tried explaining to them that Trump's proposed policies, namely the tariffs, are only going to increase both of those. They didn't care - they just saw things get more expensive once Biden was president and remember pre-pandemic prices and want a return to that.

I'm pretty sure everyone around the world wants a return to the cost of living pre-pandemic... but hey... it is what it is.

@Spike, @Coma, & @Cicero might be able to give you a different perspective. Although Spike's in Chicago, so he might be in even more of a bubble than I am in San Diego - although idk too much about where he's living in Chicago so no idea if that's true or not. I'm pretty sure Coma's from a swing state or a state that could potentially be a swing state if there's the right issues on a ballot - so he might have a more accurate answer on the pulse of America. And idk where Cicero is at, but he's been pretty good at giving a pulse on some things in the US. He's not been very active lately though.

Been saying for ages swing voters were going to favor Trump this time around. People have endured real hardships these past few years, and Harris publicly saying she wouldn't change a thing after being asked if she would've done anything differently under Biden is what really ruined her. The GOP ran with that. Why elect someone to fulfil these promises when she's already in office not doing so? Harris to the general public just didn't seem authentic. It's actually amusing that the more celebrities that endorsed her, the less popular she got. She didn't really target the voters that she needed. Cardi B and Jennifer Lopez telling us who to vote for doesn't really resonate with the common Midwest blue collar worker for example. 

General consensus was that people knew what they were getting with Trump. With Harris, it was up in the air. 

 

[Viva la FCB+]

Ethics committee voted not to release the Gaetz probe naturally. Pretty breaking news as Gaetz has withdrawn from AG consideration citing it being a distraction for the transition of the Trump administration.