Current Affairs The 2020 United States Presidential Election

[mezzrow]

When half of the country sees the way McConnell manipulated the supreme court as a victory and something to emulate, we are in trouble.

We're in trouble. It's not half the country that sees it as a victory. It's the whole country.

If Democrats had the votes to kill the filibuster and pack the court, they'd do it. In a heartbeat. The precedent has been set.

At this point it's not a question of if, it's a question of when and how. Hence, the divisions get ramped up. People (with the means) move residence from California to Georgia to vote in a January election and then go home (maybe). That's crazy stuff.

Point at Harry Reid or Cocaine Mitch as your villain, and keep doubling down to victory. It's where we're at. It's not good. This will not end well. We're too busy fixing the blame to fix the problems.

 

[Ruairi77]

We're in trouble. It's not half the country that sees it as a victory. It's the whole country.

If Democrats had the votes to kill the filibuster and pack the court, they'd do it. In a heartbeat. The precedent has been set.

At this point it's not a question of if, it's a question of when and how. Hence, the divisions get ramped up. People (with the means) move residence from California to Georgia to vote in a January election and then go home (maybe). That's crazy stuff.

Point at Harry Reid or Cocaine Mitch as your villain, and keep doubling down to victory. It's where we're at. It's not good. This will not end well. We're too busy fixing the blame to fix the problems.

yea, sure Mez, this is everyones fault...

 

[BlueTX]

yea, that's my point.
Harris is not a socialist but got painted as one by the GOP and no one on the right questioned it.
So Dems could run the most suitable, moderate, appealing candidate and they'd be pilloried for being a socialist or AOC's puppet or whatever and the red hats would eat it up.
There's tons of room for compromise but the republicans have realized that sensational extremism is the easiest way to get and keep power. Compromise is weakness. When half of the country sees the way McConnell manipulated the supreme court as a victory and something to emulate, we are in trouble.

See thread:

 

[RAFUH]

 

[Ruairi77]

See thread:

Yup, he's not wrong.
It's funny, I noticed that the rhetoric about the democratic process was ratcheted up this time around.
A few times in conversation, I was told that I didn't understand America because I questioned the constant referral to the vote as 'sacred', people talked about it almost as if democracy was a process unique to America. Unfortunately the parts that are unique are the parts that aren't democratic. Then to cap it all off, the GOP have made no secret that the only way they can keep power is to subvert the democratic process. And they don't even notice the irony.

 

[TN Toffee]

We're in trouble. It's not half the country that sees it as a victory. It's the whole country.

If Democrats had the votes to kill the filibuster and pack the court, they'd do it. In a heartbeat. The precedent has been set.

At this point it's not a question of if, it's a question of when and how. Hence, the divisions get ramped up. People (with the means) move residence from California to Georgia to vote in a January election and then go home (maybe). That's crazy stuff.

Point at Harry Reid or Cocaine Mitch as your villain, and keep doubling down to victory. It's where we're at. It's not good. This will not end well. We're too busy fixing the blame to fix the problems.

I read a book recently called How Democracies Die, and the authors have an entire chapter that chronicles the tit for tat escalation of things to the state we currently find ourselves in. They pretty much traced things back to Newt Gingrich’s arrival in the national stage as being the genesis of this win at all costs mentality.

 

[mezzrow]

I read a book recently called How Democracies Die, and the authors have an entire chapter that chronicles the tit for tat escalation of things to the state we currently find ourselves in. They pretty much traced things back to Newt Gingrich’s arrival in the national stage as being the genesis of this win at all costs mentality.

That's a plausible place to point. I see a lot of "he hit me first" over on the conservative side too. When it becomes less important, we might find a solution.

 

[TN Toffee]

I saw a tweet not too long ago to this same effect that said, “What do you do when half your country has joined a cult? Asking for a friend...”

He’s absolutely right. The only problem is, it’s much easier to deprogram people after they see the regime they’ve blindly followed completely collapse in on itself. Personally, I’d rather not have to get to a 1945 Germany/Japan place before people start to wake up.

 

[Ruairi77]

That's a plausible place to point. I see a lot of "he hit me first" over on the conservative side too. When it becomes less important, we might find a solution.

that's something the side who hit first would say

 

[TN Toffee]

That's a plausible place to point. I see a lot of "he hit me first" over on the conservative side too. When it becomes less important, we might find a solution.

But how can we realistically go about lowering the temperature? Right now one side (correctly, IMO) sees winning this election as a necessary step back from the ledge after a brief flirtation with fascism, and the other side sees losing it as some sort of Communist revolution. As a general rule, I don’t think most of us are truly that far apart, but the fringes of both sides are being allowed to drive the narrative.

 

[mezzrow]

But how can we realistically go about lowering the temperature? Right now one side (correctly, IMO) sees winning this election as a necessary step back from the ledge after a brief flirtation with fascism, and the other side sees losing it as some sort of Communist revolution. As a general rule, I don’t think most of us are truly that far apart, but the fringes of both sides are being allowed to drive the narrative.

I wish I knew. The centrifugal forces are overwhelming the centripetal. We're in a place we've not been in my lifetime.

 

[Pittsburgh Footy]

We're in trouble. It's not half the country that sees it as a victory. It's the whole country.

If Democrats had the votes to kill the filibuster and pack the court, they'd do it. In a heartbeat. The precedent has been set.

At this point it's not a question of if, it's a question of when and how. Hence, the divisions get ramped up. People (with the means) move residence from California to Georgia to vote in a January election and then go home (maybe). That's crazy stuff.

Point at Harry Reid or Cocaine Mitch as your villain, and keep doubling down to victory. It's where we're at. It's not good. This will not end well. We're too busy fixing the blame to fix the problems.

Always about whataboutism

bUt bOtH sIdEs ArE eQuAlLy tO bLaMe

 

[Pittsburgh Footy]

But how can we realistically go about lowering the temperature? Right now one side (correctly, IMO) sees winning this election as a necessary step back from the ledge after a brief flirtation with fascism, and the other side sees losing it as some sort of Communist revolution. As a general rule, I don’t think most of us are truly that far apart, but the fringes of both sides are being allowed to drive the narrative.

You cannot lower the temperature when there is a massive minority of people in this country that aren't absolutely shocked into sobriety by what Trump and his enablers have done to this country just since the election, let alone over everything that's happened the last 4 years.

 

[Pittsburgh Footy]

We're in trouble. It's not half the country that sees it as a victory. It's the whole country.

If Democrats had the votes to kill the filibuster and pack the court, they'd do it. In a heartbeat. The precedent has been set.

At this point it's not a question of if, it's a question of when and how. Hence, the divisions get ramped up. People (with the means) move residence from California to Georgia to vote in a January election and then go home (maybe). That's crazy stuff.

Point at Harry Reid or Cocaine Mitch as your villain, and keep doubling down to victory. It's where we're at. It's not good. This will not end well. We're too busy fixing the blame to fix the problems.

You got that right.

I don't see a realistic path to fixing what's broken. And I'm an optimist in my personal life

 

[Ruairi77]

You got that right.

I don't see a realistic path to fixing what's broken. And I'm an optimist in my personal life

The way forward is for responsible republicans to stand up and be counted. Sure, some republican governors in blue states have, but republicans need to stand up to Trumpism and say 'it's not alright, it's pulling America apart'. But there's too many Linsay Grahams out there and too many Dianne Feinstein's empowering them.