Political Discussion and Commentary

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/exit-polls-2024-presidential-election/

While the democratic party definitely embodies liberal elitism in some ways, this shows that the commonly claimed “poor people vote Trump” really isn’t true.

Rich and Poor people seem to prefer Harris by a small margin, while middle class seems to support Trump.

I was just scrolling through some of the referendums...what exactly is going on here?

Hey Gaza / Free Palestine guys,

I'm pissed about the Kamala loss but that's not important right now. I need to know what media you were using.

Where did Free Palestine/ Gaza memes and discussions start?

I'm worried that the discussion is a right wing disinformation campaign designed to make us tear each other apart. I cannot find any legitimate politician (even far left ones like Bernie Sanders, AOC, etc. etc) that would have pushed the message of 'Joe Biden / Kamala is just as bad as Trump on the issue of Gaza'.

The only ones who would push that message are right wing trolls who try to separate us. So now I want to track down and confirm my suspicions. Who meme'd this? Where did you hear it? Was it Twitter? TikTok? Reddit? Facebook? Instagram?

[This is not an Original Post, But a Repost]

I've seen this narrative going around recently saying "16 million people didn't show up and that's why she lost" and it's wrong for two reasons.

1, Half of California hasn't even been counted yet. By the time we're done counting, we're going to have much closer vote counts to 2020. I'd assume Trump around 76-77 million and Kamala around 73 million. This would mean about 6-7 million people didn't show up not 18 million.

2. Trump is outperforming Biden 2020 by a pretty significant Margin in swing states, lets look:

Wisconsin:

2020 Biden: 1,631,000 votes

2020 Trump: 1,610,000 votes

2024 Trump: 1,697,000 votes.

2024 Harris: 1,668,000 votes.

Michigan:

2020 Biden: 2,800,000 votes

2020 Trump: 2,649,000 votes

2024: Trump: 2,795,000

2024 Harris: 2,714,000

Pennsylvania:

2020 Biden: 3,460,000 votes

2020 Trump: 3,378,000 votes.

2024 Trump: 3,473,000 votes

2024: Harris: 3,339,000 votes

North Carolina:

2020 Biden: 2,684,000 votes

2020 Trump: 2,759,000 votes

2024 Trump: 2,876,000 votes

2024 Harris: 2,685,000 votes.

Georgia:

2020 Biden: 2,474,000 votes

2020 Trump: 2,461,000 votes

2024 Trump: 2,653,000 votes

2024 Harris: 2,539,000 votes.

Arizona and Nevada still too early to tell, but as you can see, if Trumps support remained completely stagnate from 2020, Harris would've carried 3/7 swing states with a shot to flip Pennsylvania too. Moreover, if she had maintained Bidens vote count in swing states she would've lost most states even harder with the exception of maybe flipping Michigan and Pennsylvania being closer than it was. These appear to be the only states with a genuine argument for apathy/protest votes.

The turn out is NOT lower where it actually matters. The news articles that said swing states had record turn out were genuinely correct, you were just wrong for thinking it was democrats and not republicans. Almost all the popular vote bleeding comes from solid blue states deciding not to vote and it would not have changed the outcome of this election if they did show up to vote.

Every self-respecting Democrat or leftist who cares about themselves or their family should own a firearm and know how to properly and safely use it.
We're entering a time where it may be critical that you need to defend yourself. It is not out of the realm of possibility that you or your family may be targeted in the not distant future for your political leanings.
We all know that the Republicans have guns because they never shut the fuck up about them, and we also know that in their wildest wet dreams Trump will let them run the streets gunning down anyone who is isn't white or anyone who voted Democrat.
They have guns, they know how to use them, how are you going to defend yourself when they come for you?

cross-posted from: [email protected] , first line

https://feddit.nl/post/23599203

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In light of the recent election, it’s clear that the Democratic Party needs a significant leftward shift to better address the needs and concerns of the American people. The party’s centrist approach is increasingly out of touch, limiting its ability to appeal to a broader base and especially to young voters, who are looking for bold and transformative policies. The fact that young men became a substantial part of the conservative voting bloc should be a wake-up call—it’s essential that the Democratic Party broadens its appeal by offering real solutions that resonate with this demographic.

Furthermore, one major missed opportunity was the decision to forgo primaries, which could have brought new energy and ideas to the ticket. Joe Biden’s choice to run for a second term, despite earlier implications of a one-term presidency, may have ultimately contributed to the loss by undermining trust in his promises. Had the party explored alternative candidates in a primary process, the outcome could have been vastly different. It is now imperative for the Working Families Party and the Progressive Caucus to push for a stronger, unapologetically progressive agenda within the Democratic Party. The time for centrist compromises has passed, as evidenced by setbacks dating back to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss, the persistently low approval ratings for Biden since 2022, and Kamala Harris’s recent campaign, which left many progressives feeling alienated. To regain momentum and genuinely connect with the electorate, a clear departure from moderate politics is essential.

What might be a catchy hit to inspire the hearts and reinforce the identity of its majority following?

After the latest failure of the Democratic party I have no confidence that they'll turn it around any time soon. We need a party with some actual policy recommendations that people can get behind. Simple solutions that the average voter can understand.. Here's my suggestions, and I'd love to know your opinions on what would be good here.

1. Tax the rich

   The top marginal tax rate during the golden age of american prosperity was 60-90%. It's currently 37%

   Fix the loopholes billionares and corporations are using to hide their money and gain those taxes back

   Given all the shenanigans the rich can do to hide their money, capital gains and alternative minimum taxes also need to increase

2. Strengthen regulations on corporations

   It's time to bring back trust busting, our anti-trust regulations have gotten too lax and corporations are doing whatever they want.

   Protect unionization attempts. We have some strong union protections that are completely being ignored and companies need to be held accountable for closing branches that attempt to unionize.

   Take stronger stances to prevent regulatory capture of vital protective agencies

   Too big to fail means too big to exist. Corporate bailouts should come with buying out a stake in the company or controlling it outright.

3. Housing and Cost of Living

   Everyday essentials are outpacing our income. Housing costs have skyrocketed to be unattainable for just about anyone. Corporate interests and investment groups should not be gobbling up our single family housing supply just to sit on them as assets and bleed people by continually raising the rent. Add an exception to this for new development especially for multitenant buildings to encourage the continued growth of the housing supply.

4. Get money out of politics

   Ban government insider trading. Members of Congress should not be able to trade individual stocks. Broad market funds are fine but no more directly profiting off of legislative actions.

   Reverse Citizens United. Corporate bribery needs to be limited

5. Simplify the Tax Code

   Other countries are way ahead of us here, they do the math and send the check. No need to keep things complicated just to keep the accountants busy and TurboTax happy.

6. Legalize Marijuana

   For a single issue party this is a little outside the scope, but it's a broadly popular position that would also increase tax revenue and decrease expense of prosecuting such a minor crime

Things not to focus on:

Ignore the culture war stuff. It's the billionaire's way of scaring moderates and dividing leftists. Trans athletes are what, like a dozen people at most. I'm sorry for the people this directly affects but it's better to not move forward than to keep moving backwards. Ideally we take a libertarian stance of keeping the government from meddling in people's personal lives.

Global policy. Look we need to maintain our alliances and trade agreements, but it's time for america to look inward and fix itself before it starts playing world police again.

Environment. This one is difficult, but it just wasn't a key factor in recent elections. As with global policy we should continue what we can (ie the Paris Climate accord) but let other countries lead the way on solutions and technology for this and come in and benefit when we can.

Forming a new party is difficult and incredibly costly. It would take the hard work of thousands of people across the country, and odds are it will just steal some democratic votes and amount to nothing. So this is all merely hypothetical, but I wanted to get people's thoughts on it

As always, disclaimer that I'm not a US citizen.

You usually see quite a few people mentioning leaving the country if Trump would get elected, but how realistic are those plans?

Not to say it's not justified with the prospect of Project 2025 (see the other thread), but seems like a huge life change that is probably not possible for most of the people.

If Dems want any chance of winning in 2026 (midterms), assuming we still have an election, there is only one path forward, and that is things that matter to Americans.

Economic issues that Sanders was successfully campaigning on in 2016 when he was thwarted in the primary. It's not important to fight over what happened that year, but his platform is 100% the way forward to progress.

Non-American here, heard about Project 2025 a few weeks ago.

For people unaware:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025#Policies

What is the likelihood of those policies to happen?

Saw the results of the American elections today. I'm not American, but was following them very closely due to the impact they have on the world. The results went in a way that would make up my worst nightmares.

I was incredibly depressed and angry. I think almost everyone here shares the same sentiment. The next four years are very likely going to incredibly dark for everyone. Entire countries will likely fall to imperialist neighbors. Climate change will worsen. Zooming in to the US, disabled and queer folk will have an incredibly hard time now. More women will die due to abortion inaccessibility. It is very likely that people with preexisting conditions lose their insurance, thus increasing overall suffering and deaths. As I said, a very dark four years lie ahead for the world and Americans, both. Therefore, being depressed right now is absolutely valid.

I think there's a lesson that I learnt here. I spent a lot of time and energy on something that simply wasn't in my control. I am neither American, nor do I own news channels to broadcast propaganda suitable for my hoped outcome. Instead, I could've spent my time on other things, that are in my control, and would make the world a better place. Maybe adopting this mindset could help us?

Listen, I'm not saying that we should just all disconnect from politics. Not at all. All that I'm saying is that we probably should focus more on things in our control now. When elections come, vote. If the government is doing something stupid, go out and protest. Work on your little side project. Work on whatever it is you want to work on. Just try not to doomscroll social media. Doing that would just make you feel depressed and not end up helping anyone.

Therefore, here is what I've planned on doing now. Maybe you guys could find it useful, or maybe not.

• Only participate in politics that is in my control.
• Focus solely on my projects.
• Block all social media posts that talk about depressing/angering topics that I have no control over. I only use YouTube and Lemmy, so doing this is easy for me. On Lemmy, I have put keywords like, "Trump", "Harris", "Elon" and so on in my post filter. I also unsubscribed from all political channels that talk about politics that I have no control over.

As for the Americans who are going to suffer due to a Trump presidency, I am sorry that there are so many stupid people in your country. I'm sure you tried your best. Millions of American showed up to vote against Trump. So many participated in canvassing and so on. So many working class folk donated money to the Harris campaign. Money, that they could've spent on other necessities. You don't deserve this outcome.

However, the election is over. Trump has won. Doomscrolling social media is not going to help anyone. It's a bad outcome, but it is very likely not the end of the world. I don't think it needs to be said, but still- there's a lot more to life than politics. Just because a person that you wanted to win didn't win, it doesn't mean that you can't make the world a better place yourself. Grieve today and wake up tomorrow to focus on a project that you have control over.

AND PLEASE DON'T DOOMSCROLL.

If you can, turn off your phone or computer and go vote!!! If you already voted, tell someone else to vote!!!

Less than 10 hours from now will decide if the US veers toward democracy or fascism.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4205494

State and federal authorities are investigating a deliberately set fire that destroyed ballots inside a drop box in southwest Washington on Monday morning.

In every swing state, Trump has either closed the gap if he was behind, or broadened the lead if he was ahead.

I'm not saying it's over, or that there can't be surprises, but it looks like the Democrats have failed to run a campaign that the American public found compelling.

Saying the public is stupid or racist or whatever doesn't cover it. The bottom line is the Democrats haven't put forth a plan or made a case that they can deal quickly with the problems in America.

They have made announcements about student loan plans and forgiveness that were blocked, making them look unorganized and ineffective. They lost abortion rights. They never make progress on healthcare or taxes on the wealthy.

I want to win. I think we should fight surer battles, and avoid battles that will lose. Blaming Republicans for stopping us just makes them seem stronger than us. Let's stop making excuses and go on the offensive. No more, "Well don't vote for HIM, he's so dumb!"

It's hasn't worked.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/44904749

I heard about this in the UK elections recently, and someone recommended it to me recently for the US elections, because I said I empathize with the people who are voting against Kamala because of the genocide, despite being a Kamala supporter myself (you've probably seen me around arguing as such lol).

Basically, it's a system where people in safe states, like me, agree to trade votes with someone in a swing state. So the safe state person would vote with the heart of the person in the swing state, so they can kind of vote their heart and mind at the same time.

Is this a thing we could set up? Would it be legal to make a community for that, or would it rub against laws about affecting votes or something? There was even a whole site for the UK, but not sure if it would work in the US.