THE 2020 US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

JBW, is this your personal opinion or are you playing a role? You’ve said a few times that you’re leftist but you are surrounded by working class people or ‘cop types.’ There’s no shortage of ‘law and order’ schmucks out there so it’s a bit weird that your politics lean left but you talk like the right... Especially here.

John Boy Walton wrote:Brace yourselves for the worst because the constant rioting the last two months is going to tip this into Trumps favor. As unfortunate as that is. Hope I'm wrong, we'll see after tomorrow.

seriously how old are you

I turned on Fox News tonight and some conservative radio host was on Hannity rambling about the constant attacks to American freedom and exceptionalism. He went from talking about random Civil War battles to suddenly talking about the "progressives, Marxists, and Hegelians" who attacked this country. The Hegelians wreaked havoc on this goddamn land!

The fact that hundreds of millions of Americans tune into that programming is truly disturbing but at least we can still laugh.

I voted!

President: Biden/Harris! I have no problem with these two. It's bullshit so say they are "far left". Kamala is all about law enforcement from what I read early on, and we all know about Joe. I see Joe as a centrist Democrat: my ideal candidate. If Joe kicks the bucket, I trust Kamala is a bad bitch. I hope first and foremost for a return of strong regulations for the environment and I back the new Green Deal. I also hope to see Health Care available for people who work for corporations, but do not receive benefits: something that has been a personal issue for me as I have seen families hurt badly. I hope for a return to civility in the political sphere and I hope that we can return to a non-lying discourse.

Locally: I voted red because I don't approve of the way Illinois is run and I want to shake things up. I hope to see the budget improved.

I voted against the tax hike because I believe that this will only cause even more of an exodus from our state. And, I do not trust our government with more taxes whether from the rich, poor, or me. In a utopia a progressive tax could work, but not with our slick, corrupt, nepotistic leaders. I view it as giving heroin to a bunch of addicts, and then hoping they go and clean up the park.

LGBT: full rights in all ways possible
Decrease Military Spending: across the board, I could see up to 25% slice
Social Security: strengthen it, don't touch it, it's mine

Strong borders: I believe in them, but it's not worth a vote for Trump. I think Obama was actually tough on the border, so Joe has my vote 100% there.
Anti-War: I'll give that to Trump, and his getting cash from NATO, plus I'll even say Trump has been amazing in the ME, and I hated the nuclear agreement with Iran, but still I can't stomach Trump for that. Still, Hillary would have had us in some kind of conflict and the ME would be in far worse shape. So, this was tough for me.
Death Penalty: I view this as up to the states and if a criminal killed my wife, I would probably want it.

Roe vs. Wade: I am pro-life, but I want access to health options for all women and I believe in the right to choose.
Police: I want real reform, the Police State is out of control. But, I blame the left more than the right. At the end of the day, though: Biden and Kamala have proven to be tough on crime from what I have seen.

WP64 wrote:I turned on Fox News tonight and some conservative radio host was on Hannity rambling about the constant attacks to American freedom and exceptionalism. He went from talking about random Civil War battles to suddenly talking about the "progressives, Marxists, and Hegelians" who attacked this country. The Hegelians wreaked havoc on this goddamn land!

The fact that hundreds of millions of Americans tune into that programming is truly disturbing but at least we can still laugh.

It's gotten fucking scary and that's the main reason why Trump has to go.

jesus jones wrote:

John Boy Walton wrote:Brace yourselves for the worst because the constant rioting the last two months is going to tip this into Trumps favor. As unfortunate as that is. Hope I'm wrong, we'll see after tomorrow.

seriously how old are you

You guys just have a hard time with anything out of your sphere. Nothing about this statement scream young or old, and while I voted for Biden, I think Trump will win.

I said it from the get go earlier in a thread this Summer. There's a reason why Ghandi said avoid violence. And, I think that the violence this Summer will, unfortunately, tip the scale to Trump and the "silent majority". Think: little old people sitting at home, wanting to vote for Joe, but thinking "the angry mobs are going to kill us". Yeah, it's stupid. But, people are stupid.

Strong boarders: I believe in you.

John Boy Walton wrote:I voted!

President: Biden/Harris! I have no problem with these two. It's bullshit so say they are "far left". Kamala is all about law enforcement from what I read early on, and we all know about Joe. I see Joe as a centrist Democrat: my ideal candidate. If Joe kicks the bucket, I trust Kamala is a bad bitch. I hope first and foremost for a return of strong regulations for the environment and I back the new Green Deal. I also hope to see Health Care available for people who work for corporations, but do not receive benefits: something that has been a personal issue for me as I have seen families hurt badly. I hope for a return to civility in the political sphere and I hope that we can return to a non-lying discourse.

Locally: I voted red because I don't approve of the way Illinois is run and I want to shake things up. I hope to see the budget improved.

I voted against the tax hike because I believe that this will only cause even more of an exodus from our state. And, I do not trust our government with more taxes whether from the rich, poor, or me. In a utopia a progressive tax could work, but not with our slick, corrupt, nepotistic leaders. I view it as giving heroin to a bunch of addicts, and then hoping they go and clean up the park.

LGBT: full rights in all ways possible
Decrease Military Spending: across the board, I could see up to 25% slice
Social Security: strengthen it, don't touch it, it's mine

Strong borders: I believe in them, but it's not worth a vote for Trump. I think Obama was actually tough on the border, so Joe has my vote 100% there.
Anti-War: I'll give that to Trump, and his getting cash from NATO, plus I'll even say Trump has been amazing in the ME, and I hated the nuclear agreement with Iran, but still I can't stomach Trump for that. Still, Hillary would have had us in some kind of conflict and the ME would be in far worse shape. So, this was tough for me.
Death Penalty: I view this as up to the states and if a criminal killed my wife, I would probably want it.

Roe vs. Wade: I am pro-life, but I want access to health options for all women and I believe in the right to choose.
Police: I want real reform, the Police State is out of control. But, I blame the left more than the right. At the end of the day, though: Biden and Kamala have proven to be tough on crime from what I have seen.

You dipshit.

Also, you're pro-choice.

Reading that post makes my headache absolutely pulsate.

Duff... wrote:

You dipshit.

Like this is probably harsh, I mean I'm freaking out and have no confidence in anything anymore, but jesus, you're all over the damn place.

These numbers in Miami-Dade county are pretty disquieting.

2020 throwing some Bill Mitchell “The ground game was in our hearts” type vibes at 10PM CST.

This was supposed to be close, I kicked so much cash to this dude

WP64 wrote:These numbers in Miami-Dade county are pretty disquieting.

Nick wrote:2020 throwing some Bill Mitchell “The ground game was in our hearts” type vibes at 10PM CST.

No idea what either of these mean but I foolishly glanced at them before bed and I felt shook for like 12 hours as a result.

Honestly, this is a pretty devastating result for the Democratic Party. Hopefully we have narrowly avoided Trump winning a second term but these results are going to be contested for several weeks and there are going to questions over the legitimacy of this election, which will of course be fanned by Trump and conservative media, for the next four years. In fairness, Russiagate attempted to do the exact same thing during Trump's first term. They aren't the same (there were legitimate attempts to interfere in our democratic process whereas there is absolutely no evidence of voter fraud through mail-in ballots) but nonetheless it will only contribute to the hyper-polarization of our culture war politics.

The strategy of establishment Democrats in this election has almost completely backfired. Republicans will probably continue to control the Senate (albeit with a very narrow majority this time) while the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives will actually have narrowed slightly, which is totally unacceptable. Biden seems to have over-performed Clinton's results in a lot of suburban counties, which might end up being the difference in some of these upper Midwestern Rust Belt states. At the same time though, Trump has won the highest share of non-white votes of any Republican nominee for the President in the last sixty years (basically since the passage of the Civil Rights legislation and the reconfiguration of American politics that occurred thereafter).

Over time, it does appear that we are headed toward a fundamental realignment of American politics wherein Republicans come to represent the social and cultural grievances of the downwardly mobile and uneducated working classes (regardless of race) while the suburbs become the bastion of the Democratic Party. It is kind of incredible that this realignment has happened under the demagogic leadership of Donald Trump and we have to wait to see how these elections shake out to really understand the underlying data.

The fucking virtue signaling woke brigade of the Democratic Party though was dealt a really horrible blow last night. For those of us who were hoping, despite how absolutely abysmal Biden was/is, that the American people would have resoundingly rejected Trumpism this is a really sour moment. There is a path forward though. DSA-endorsed candidates did very well last night. Marine Newman won her seat here in Illinois, which was good news. There was also the incredible Fox News poll last evening showing that 70% of voters (I am not sure if it was just their viewers who were participating in this poll) supported both government-sponsored health insurance as well as state/public investment in renewable and clean energy alternatives.

Also, we probably should not overstate the rightward shift of some minority groups. And we need to be more specific about who exactly they are (minorities are not a monolithic demographic). Regardless, it is a very real phenomenon that has to be confronted. Hopefully in the process of doing so, Democrats recognize that identitarian politics actually prevent us from articulating a political message that is capable of piercing through the endless culture wars... My two cents, anyways.

Jim Fucking Oberweis

Yeah. That shit is really depressing. I am pretty sympathetic to Lauren Underwood despite not really sharing her politics. I think she is basically as good of a candidate that you can have for a congressional district in that particular congressional district.

It is funny how anticlimactic all of this seems at the moment. It just seems like we are ambling towards a potential constitutional crisis.

sauntering, even

Lotta votes left to count in that race. Keep the faith undo

Well it seems this is happening.

every day is election day


media won’t call what we all can see cause they’re about to lose their cash cow and need to milk it for what it’s worth right now

This being a Biden administration? I saw that Alito made some ruling about separating all provisional ballots but that doesn't seem like that big of a deal, really. I would be worried if this all came down to just one State but at this point Biden has a lead in four of the remaining states and will probably end up with a really considerable victory in both the popular vote as well as a sizable advantage within the electoral college. Trump's speech was obviously fucking dumb as shit. The remnants of his cabinet are all yes men and lackeys. This administration basically insulated itself from reality within 100 days of entering the White House so it isn't that surprising they are responding in this manner.

The fact is that he stands completely alone in this moment. American institutions are proving more than durable enough to withstand the flaccid threat posed by this dipshit. Moreover, Trump has not created any allies within the intelligence gathering agencies or military establishment so the threat of force is completely off the table. I was starting to get a little worried about the threat of low-scale violence at polling places this election but it seems like no major incidents have occurred.

Actually I think this whole experience should make us ponder a different question. To quote Matt Karp on Twitter, "what if... US institutions aren't weak at all, but in fact quite robust, against both the whims of lazy TV strongmen and also the will of the democratic majority."

Watching these celebration videos, especially the ones coming out of Philly, are really cathartic. Perhaps this election result is the ideal outcome. While a repudiation of Trumpism might have been preferable, this result should at least prevent liberal complacency from being an ongoing problem in the years ahead. Eventually Democrats are going to have to come to terms with the fact that defeating the right, which should be their principle objective, is going to necessitate a big tent political movement that includes close cooperation with an activist base and an embrace of state intervention to promote the public good over narrow special interests and a political donor class. I remain skeptical but optimistic.

In the meantime, I just popped open my first beer in like six months to celebrate. Fuck Donald Trump and fuck the Grand Old Party.

undo wrote: Jim Fucking Oberweis

WP64 wrote:Yeah. That shit is really depressing. I am pretty sympathetic to Lauren Underwood despite not really sharing her politics. I think she is basically as good of a candidate that you can have for a congressional district in that particular congressional district.