2024 Presidential Election Thread

[Uncle Ted]

"BlUe AnOn DoESn'T ExIST"

But, but, but... look closely at the photos:

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[Uncle Ted]

radical leftist? the kid who was the most conservative in his school?

His mother is a registered democrat... and father a libertarian. That is a recipe for a radical leftist if I have ever seen one.

[frank ryan]

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Oh brother:


From Jim Crow 2.0 to the plot to institute a Republic of Gilead to scheming to revive the Confederacy to the plot to turn off the Internet and on and on. Even the violence we saw from Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and pro-Hamas rioters was often based on ginned-up paranoia that was pushed by the media about the prevailing evils of American society.

None of this is to say Republicans are immune from conspiratorial thinking. Hardly. But unlike right-wing conspiracies, there is no real countervailing force to stop it. How many people really believe in QAnon? The right’s ham-fisted theories are crude, screwy, and largely inconsequential to policy.

But the left’s conspiracies and hoaxes have been laundered through mass media, polished off with high production values, calibrated for maximum plausibility, and draped in a patina of legitimacy. How many Democrats still believe that the Russians stole the 2016 presidential election? How many believe that there are “book bans” in red states, or that one can’t “say gay” in Florida, or that the Supreme Court is secretly run by a cabal of oligarchs?


I don't think he is opining in good nature. QAnon has had a lot of traction and will gain even more. Some of Trump's inner-circle, like Michael Flynn make a living promoting it. I think something 20 percent Americans (not just republicans) believe in QAnon stuff. Check out the HBO Q Into the Storm is you haven't.

There have been plots to abduct and kill the governor of Michigan by right wing guys. People have been caught with explosives intended for democratic targets. Pelosi's husband was attacked with a hammer by a paranoid right wing guy who wanted to kill the Pelosis and a Queer theory academic. He was an adherent of right-wing conspiracies.

We are still dealing with the aftermath of a Republican Party unwilling to shutdown Trump's lies about his election loss.

In Idaho you can't enter a public Idaho without parental consent if you are under 18. The bill is causing tiny libraries in tiny town to shut down because they can't accommodate weird rules. That's just one many of these culture war rules.

I think I'm going to genuinely have skepticism of someone writing for The Federalist downplaying The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. BTW, that's not new and has been underwritten by Trump's circle.

[Maximus]

both sides are the same is such a misnomer.

Correct me if I am wrong, I cant think of a democratic candidate ever calling states and pushing them to overturn elections or refuse to accept election results. jan 6 is forgotten by anyone saying that.

[Bo Diddley]

both sides are the same is such a misnomer.

Correct me if I am wrong, I cant think of a democratic candidate ever calling states and pushing them to overturn elections or refuse to accept election results. jan 6 is forgotten by anyone saying that.

Given time, that's exactly what they will do and worse. The point is neither side is immune from this type of behavior. To quibble over who is worse right now misses the point.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Oh brother:


From Jim Crow 2.0 to the plot to institute a Republic of Gilead to scheming to revive the Confederacy to the plot to turn off the Internet and on and on. Even the violence we saw from Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and pro-Hamas rioters was often based on ginned-up paranoia that was pushed by the media about the prevailing evils of American society.

None of this is to say Republicans are immune from conspiratorial thinking. Hardly. But unlike right-wing conspiracies, there is no real countervailing force to stop it. How many people really believe in QAnon? The right’s ham-fisted theories are crude, screwy, and largely inconsequential to policy.

But the left’s conspiracies and hoaxes have been laundered through mass media, polished off with high production values, calibrated for maximum plausibility, and draped in a patina of legitimacy. How many Democrats still believe that the Russians stole the 2016 presidential election? How many believe that there are “book bans” in red states, or that one can’t “say gay” in Florida, or that the Supreme Court is secretly run by a cabal of oligarchs?


I don't think he is opining in good nature. QAnon has had a lot of traction and will gain even more. Some of Trump's inner-circle, like Michael Flynn make a living promoting it. I think something 20 percent Americans (not just republicans) believe in QAnon stuff. Check out the HBO Q Into the Storm is you haven't.

There have been plots to abduct and kill the governor of Michigan by right wing guys. People have been caught with explosives intended for democratic targets. Pelosi's husband was attacked with a hammer by a paranoid right wing guy who wanted to kill the Pelosis and a Queer theory academic. He was an adherent of right-wing conspiracies.

We are still dealing with the aftermath of a Republican Party unwilling to shutdown Trump's lies about his election loss.

In Idaho you can't enter a public Idaho without parental consent if you are under 18. The bill is causing tiny libraries in tiny town to shut down because they can't accommodate weird rules. That's just one many of these culture war rules.

I think I'm going to genuinely have skepticism of someone writing for The Federalist downplaying The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. BTW, that's not new and has been underwritten by Trump's circle.

Frank, do you think republicans are generally inferior to democrats? Not as smart, less moral, etc.

[Northwestcoug]

I always get pushback here, but I have said all along that democrats and republicans are pretty much the same. Now we have a democratic president/candidate who ignored all logic, reason, advice, poll numbers, etc and is running for re-election purely out of ego (sound familiar?). His family is corrupt and they have way too much influence on his decision-making. And democrats know that it is vital for the future of the party to have him step down, but only a tiny minority of them have the guts to tell the truth, while the rest of them keep their mouths shut so that they can maintain access to power. And now we see rank and file democrats pushing the same kind of dumb conspiracy theories that we get from MAGA.

None of this should be surprising. You should never assume that your political rival party is a fundamentally different or inferior kind of people. We are all human.

I agree with you, to some extent. The only pushback I'll give you now is that the crazy on the right is more pervasive, and is openly sanctioned by GOP congress members. I don't see the amount freely given, publicly shared insanity from the democrat members that I do on the right. If I'm missing it (again, not the unelected fringes of the right), I'm happy to be corrected.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Looks like it’s JD Vance. He’s a twerp but it probably didn’t really matter who Trump picked. Nobody voting for his VP.

Hmm...

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[Northwestcoug]

In the eternal 'which party is currently worse' department, this WaPo article is not behind the paywall. It documents how much the GOP platform has been transformed by Trump.

Crazy, beyond 2 standard deviations? I would say yes, but YMMV.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/elect...mpaign=wp_main

[YOhio]

I agree with you, to some extent. The only pushback I'll give you now is that the crazy on the right is more pervasive, and is openly sanctioned by GOP congress members. I don't see the amount freely given, publicly shared insanity from the democrat members that I do on the right. If I'm missing it (again, not the unelected fringes of the right), I'm happy to be corrected.

I'm not so sure about that. I'm on team JL here. The right definitely has its crazies, but the crazy on the left is pretty wild and it acts under the cover of tolerance with the weaponization of <fill in the blank>phobia and racism.

[YOhio]

Hmm...

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The intrigue!

[Uncle Ted]

Hmm...

Tim Scott is scheduled to speak tonight , I believe.

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(But so is Marjorie Taylor Greene.)

[Northwestcoug]

I'm not so sure about that. I'm on team JL here. The right definitely has its crazies, but the crazy on the left is pretty wild and it acts under the cover of tolerance with the weaponization of <fill in the blank>phobia and racism.

My argument is how 'institutionalized' the crazy is on the left. I'm not aware of elected democrats publicly advocating for a similar level of crazy like I see on the right.

[Maximus]

I'm not so sure about that. I'm on team JL here. The right definitely has its crazies, but the crazy on the left is pretty wild and it acts under the cover of tolerance with the weaponization of <fill in the blank>phobia and racism.

wait, you think the left is more radical? what actions have these crazies taken that is higher than jan 6?

do you think homophobia isnt a thing on the right?

[frank ryan]

Frank, do you think republicans are generally inferior to democrats? Not as smart, less moral, etc.

No, not genetically inferior and I do not think democrats are immune from falling prey to this stuff.

I've also repeatedly said similar things. I've voted for and donated to republicans.

In this current state of reality that right now we all to live in and for the last several years have, Bothsidesism has enabled the problems. This is where we are and looking for an equivalent

Democrats didn't attempt the coup and won't be the ones to pardon the seditionists. Hillary and Biden didn't encourage rally goers to beat up protestors or sarcastically lament that cops couldn't a little rougher with them.

Biden didn't taunt, bully and socially sic his worshippers against judges and lawyers working against him.

Charlottesville, J6 - the right is calling for calmer rhetorically, unironically not mentioning themselves.

Trump came in lying and blaming the media from day 1 - literally about the size of his inauguration crowd.

We aren't in this mess because people took criticism of Trump seriously.