Depends on the critique. "Joe is a hypocrite for pardoning his son" is reasonable. "Joe proves that it's normal for politicians to act unethically, therefore criticisms of all unethical behavior are invalidated by the rule of whataboutism" is a transparent defense of Republican corruption.
I hate this discourse that what Joe did is okay because Trump did something similar. Trump did a lot of horrible things. That doesn't make it okay for the next schmuck to come along and do the same thing. Two wrongs don't make a right. I shouldn't have to explain this to people.
I don't think it's OK, but I think it was entirely expected. I agree that his prosecution was political, and that most other defendants would have gotten much less focus. I also agree that he broke the law and should serve his time.
Ultimately, our entire system is corrupt and we should do something to fix it. Sadly, we'll have to wait at least two years for the next election to hopefully at least take back the House and/or Senate. But even if Dems take both, nobody seems to be interested in actually addressing the injustice baked into our government.
There needs to be a constitutional amendment that says that presidents can't pardon themselves, family members, or anyone that worked for them.
The pretense that the Hunter pardon is the first time that Joe Biden has acted unethically is rich given he's instrumental in a current genocide that he's lied repeatedly about.
Also you know his entire history from being anti-bussing and eulogizing Strom Thurmond then turning around an telling people they aren't black if they don't vote for him.
He's the best at being part of a big mess, saying that everyone was doing it, then pretending to be the solution, wiping his hands clean and not even rectifying half the damage he's personally caused.
Just look at his involvement with finance, war on drugs, Iraq, etc.
He's a good retail politician which is why he's a classic beneficiary of "we didn't know any better when we were doing this horrible thing but we were the good guys" type shit that Americans love to do.
I assumed that this meme was just a reference to his latest bullshit. I'm well aware of Biden's record, and have been a consistent critic of his for my entire adult life. The earliest memory I have becoming aware of him was when he presided over the Anita Hill testimony.
I have never and will never give the slightest fuck about Hunter Biden.
I hate that everyone has just given Diamond Joe a pass for pulling an RBG to hand the country back to Trump. Whatever else Democrats might have done differently, the single biggest campaign mistake is that the Cryptkeeper stomped on our primaries and wouldn't hand over power until the last minute.
The entire goal of his presidency should have been anointing of a successor. I'm not a huge Kamala fan, but he could have set her up for success instead of waiting. Whoever won real primaries would run a much better general election campaign than Kamala could have this year.
Is this why such posts get so downvoted? Do people on lemmy really think that those posters defend the other party?
Aren't we (the users of lemmy) supposed to lean vaguely on the left by a large factor?😅
When I see posts like this one here, I just get frustrated to see that guy using his mighty power for this, when the US is about to sink further into fascism, harming many many people in the process.
I don't even really care that much that he lied in the past that he wouldnt pardon his son, I just get angry to see that of all things that he could do in this very critical time he has, he's essentially securing his family while he is peacefully letting the country and its people sink. It just kinda verifies it once again that they don't care much about the people, losing the elections for them it meant that they might have reduced profits.
I get that people would react badly on such post during the election, cuz they could allow the fascists to win, but the elections are now over, the results can't change very much.😅
Doesn't the majority of the people here see it as I do?
Disclosure: I'm Greek :)
republicans -> MAGAcrats.
Don’t forget being called a tankie for daring to rightfully criticize the democrats for being the frauds they are.
this is the reason why democrats keep losing.
Democrats keep losing because they have a fundamental misunderstanding of the game they are playing. Democracy is not a game of having the best ideas or plans or even character. You can win hearts and minds with passionate leadership and rational persuasion, but we'll never win another election if that's the only lever they want to press. It's a progressive truism that people, given the same information and the same priorities, will reach the same conclusion. So therefore if a conservative has a difference of opinion, they must either not have the same information, or they must have different priorities. That's why progressives are so frequently astounded at the hypocrisy and mental gymnastics required to support Trump while claiming any moral highground on any position.
How can they claim they want traditional family values when Trump is a thrice-divorced rapist with an obvious attraction to his own daughter? How can they oppose immigration when Trump has had two foreign national brides and Musk was an illegal immigrant? How can they oppose a woman's right to choose when Trump has paid women to abort fetuses he sired? How can they claim to be patriotic while Trump gargles Putin's sweaty raisin bag? How can they claim to want fiscal responsibility when Trump has driven his businesses into the ground, routinely declaring bankruptcy and using his political influence to line his own pockets? How can they claim to want lower costs of living when Trump plans to raise tariffs on imported goods, making literally everything more expensive?
The answer is that they don't care. They don't care about having all the information, or having true information. The conservative mind is not a rational actor. It's not built on priorities or fundamental beliefs. There is only one core idea at the nexus of every conservative ideology:
Me good.
That's it. That's all there is. Dig down far enough, under all the bullshit and psychological spaghetti of beliefs, and you'll find one nugget of truth. I am a good person, therefore whatever I want is good, and anyone that wants something else is bad. If it helps me to lie or cheat or murder, then I'll do those things and they will be good because I did them to help me.
This has always been the comforting lie of conservative thought. Conservatives claim to want stoic preservation of national values, but the reality is that those values inexorably align with their own personal gain. It is not, as most conservatives prefer to believe, a resistance to change for change's sake, but a narcissistic demand that all policies and decisions benefit themselves.
It's more transparent now because Trump has worn thin the veneer of reasonable discretion, but the closer to the surface it gets, the more effective the messaging. It's OK to be selfish, and ignorant, and cruel, and criminal, because deep down we deserve to do whatever we want. We deserve to get whatever we want. Anyone trying to keep it from us deserves to be destroyed. Anything we do to destroy those who would stop us is righteous. Cuz me good.
You're never going to convince a conservative to vote for the lesser of two evils, because the greater of the two will simply lie to them. The greater evil will tell them they can have it all, that the dangers of climate change or viral pandemics aren't real, that they don't have to change their behavior or learn something new. They don't have to get out of bed in the morning, they can stay warm under the covers and skip school or work or adulting, and everything will be just fine.
To win an election, you have to convince the conservatives that it is in their best interest to vote for the progressive candidate. That might sound like a tall order, but we already know how to do it. We already see the gameplan that works on all conservatives. We have seen how centrists and moderates and neoliberals win in conservative strongholds.
Progressives just need to start lying.
To win an election, you have to convince the conservatives that it is in their best interest to vote for the progressive candidate. That might sound like a tall order, but we already know how to do it. We already see the gameplan that works on all conservatives. We have seen how centrists and moderates and neoliberals win in conservative strongholds.
it's not that tall of an order since we did it with obama and can do something similar again with bernie if the dnc doesn't cockblock him again.
Progressives just need to start lying.
they have been; to themselves if not to us.
Democrats were lying about trying to achieve a ceasefire. But their current position in office slightly undermined their lies.
If you think your political role is to uncritically support whoever is chosen for you by the Democratic party, you are simply throwing away your political power. Worse, you are indicating that their strategy of shaming you into compliance works and they never have to provide you with any political program that aligns with your positions.
Instead of doing what the party tells you, think for yourself and work to build actual power for the people around you, not the capitalists picking your pocket.