politics

and cheaters on tinder

Harris is running on a message of looking forward to the future and on a message of hope. All research shows that actually motivates people better than fear, which is all the republicans have.

Harris is a likable person without the baggage that Hillary carried in 2016, and she’s not an entitled white woman. All the major news outlets are owned by billionaires whose sociopathic pursuit of hoarding wealth is best served by the republicans, so of course all of them are going to spin everything to discourage democrats from voting.

We have an awful, awful lot of damage to address in the USA, but we can’t even begin to fix a broken system with republicans in power. I have plenty of my own criticisms for the democrats, but unfortunately this is the situation. They must win this election. We will have to reform the party in the coming years if we want to see any actual change. That starts with making sure republicans lose by voting. I’ll be going after work to vote early tomorrow.

I'm sorry, I'm just prone to worst case thinking.

I'm not worried about that. They'll have an even harder time rigging things in 2024 than in 2020. First, their prior strategy was completely cut off thanks to new federal legislation. Second, don't underestimate the effect of Biden currently sitting in the White House. Most of the stuff Trump tried to pull in 2020 was only possible because he was sitting in the Oval Office. For example, the capital building was largely unguarded precisely because Trump refused requests for troops and additional security. This time, the capital building will be a fortress surrounded by thousands of soldiers armed to the teeth. If any MAGA asshats try to storm the capital again this time, they won't have to worry about prosecution. They will simply not be leaving there alive.

People like to doom post about the Supreme Court, but in all practical reality, there is only so much they can do. Yes, if there is actually a legitimate question in an extremely close election, they can put their thumb on the scale and put their guy in power. That's what happened in 2000. In 2000, things were razor-close, and there were some legitimate open questions about how to count ballots, questions of such triviality that no one had bothered litigating them before. And because Florida was within a few hundred votes, and because the Electoral College was basically tied, that distinction mattered.

But that really is the limit of how far the Supreme Court can go in putting their thumb on the scale. People like to Doompost and handwring about how, "omg, SCOTUS is just going to rule that Trump wins, even if he loses in a landslide." I call bullshit on that. There is a word for that kind of comically farcical ruling - a coup by another name. If the court issues a ruling that just says, "lol, fuck democracy, our guy wins"...well we've abandoned all pretense at that point. And at that point, Biden can simply get up there and say, "the justices have completely abandoned democracy and have attempted to stage a coup from the bench. They are engaged in treason against the United States, and I have had them arrested, and they will be tried by military tribunal for their crimes against the Republic."

I'm sorry, but people do not fuck around when it comes to presidential elections. A coup from the bench is as treasonous an act as storming the capital. Again, they do have some wiggle room. If the election is essentially a tossup, down to a few hundred votes in a single state? Sure, then they can choose a winner. But if it would require a comically biased, utterly farcical ruling? Well at that point what matters is who is currently holding the guns. And that will be the military led by Joe Biden. If they attempt a coup from the bench, they can be charged with treason, hauled in front of a military tribunal, and be dealt with quite quickly.

They realize that this is actually a possibility if they were to attempt a judicial coup. And they would much prefer their current cushy jobs to playing with that kind of fire. Again, if it's close, they can put their thumb on the scale. But as a practical reality, SCOTUS can't just completely overturn the results on an unambiguous election without gambling with their very lives. Nations do not fuck around when it comes to this kind of question of transfer of power.

Absolutely, but for now the best thing we can do is show up and vote and call out these misleading polls for what they are. The larger the margins are, the harder it gets to try to cheat through the courts. Of course if there is a big blue wave, we'll hear that it itself is evidence that voter fraud happened, in which they will justify with these slanted polls.

I think the other silver lining is that when it comes down too it, Trump doesn't have a large enough base that is willing to stick thier own necks out in a misguided attempt to "save" democracy. Trump.didn't get the numbers he wanted on January 6th and he won't get them this time either.

A loss, coupled with his recent exhaustion, will for sure lead to narcissistic collapse. It's going to be wild.

Another thing is that people like to be on a winning team. People will avoid voting for someone they expect to lose. It's not going to affect the bulk of people, but anything that reduces low turnout voters actually voting is a win for the other side.

Yeah, there's fundamental brain differences that allow someone with literally a few minutes of training to predict political leaning like >70% (maybe it was even >80%) of the time from nothing but a brain scan...

Which might not sound that high, but it's fucking huge.

It's why the things that motivate conservatives (fear of the unknown) isn't what motivates progressives (empathy and solid plans for the future).

Republicans know their voters, they give them what they want: a Boogeyman to label as the enemy.

Dems however keep ignoring their base because "who else will they vote for?" and trying to court Republican voters using strategies that either piss of the base (being pro border wall) or just not be effective on conservative voters (talking about how trump will hurt others).

If you understand basic sociology/psychology, it's clearly the wrong path for the Dem party. Unfortunately the DNC only prioritizes how much donations someone can bring in when picking people for DNC leadership positions. And the people who prioritize money, rarely go into either sociology or psychology.

It legitimately shouldn't be this hard to beat fucking trump

The unelected people in charge of the only other option just don't know what the fuck they're doing. They just keep appealing to the wealthy to increase their donation amount because it's literally the only metric people are judged on at the DNC.

We desperately need to fix things before 2028, but if Kamala wins she appoints the head of the DNC, and if she loses Biden's pick stays.