2020 US Election (Part Two)

[Ironsided]

Don't try to interfere with his "reality."

It’s not my reality crumbling before our very eyes, it’s yours. Where is Biden by the way? Should he not weigh in on the corona crisis? Bernie does. Bernie leads from the front. Biden is just nowhere to be found because his team knows it’s a net negative every time he is on TV. Here’s another one of millions of other people outside the boomer hopeful “reality” bubble you are so dead set on upholding on CFC OT:

Made two days ago – and still crickets from the Biden camp.

 

[IglooDame]

Well, I don't know what to make of a lot of Americans - with a straight face and total sincerity and belief, portraying the political rivalry between the two major political parties in the U.S. as an "epic of good vs. evil." That really gobsmacks me. How did so many people get starting thinking in such a ridiculous and off-the-rails way of viewing things?

They watch FoxNews or MSNBC.

 

[Zkribbler]

I Where is Biden by the way? Should he not weigh in on the corona crisis? .

Where's Bernie, for that matter. They can't hold rallies nor speeches.
Trump can do nothing but put his foot in his mouth, make misstatements, lie, and blame Obama.

 

[AmazonQueen]

Where's Bernie, for that matter. They can't hold rallies nor speeches.
Trump can do nothing but put his foot in his mouth, make misstatements, lie, and blame Obama.

And claim the credit for the good work of others.
Trump managed to make Dubya looked statesmanlike compared to him, now in this crisis I think hes doing the same for Pence.

 

[IglooDame]

It wouldn't shock me to learn that they're both deliberately holding back for one of two reasons: #1, in the spirit of the not-quite-exact quote from Napoleon, "Never interrupt your enemy while they're making a mistake", they want the pandemic response to be all Trump's and Congress' deal. Or #2, in the interests of national unity during this crisis, they don't want to be picking partisan fights with the sitting president.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

If the election was today, maybe, but it isn't. Humans are human, and totally predictable. Whether you are with a half dozen people in a bar when a fight breaks out or the place catches fire, or with 350 million people in a country when a building blows up or a pandemic strikes, the same thing will happen. The initial response will be "who is in charge thank god it's not me." That translates automatically into an approval spike for whoever has the guts or the lack of options to wind up in charge. It's the theory behind "wag the dog" military operations in an election year, it accounts for GWBush's extraordinary approval ratings after 9/11, and it is the reason D'ump has taken to referring to himself as a "wartime president."

But the most important thing to understand about that human response is that it never lasts. In the 20/20 vision of hindsight whoever took charge is revealed to have made bad split second decisions, always. Taking charge invariably brings along responsibility, and since the situation was bad to start with whoever took charge will end up with the blame for every bad outcome unless they miraculously prevent any bad outcomes for anyone. Even the most faithful Trumpists, if confronted by a dead family member or having to stand in a bread line, will have a hard time saying how great his performance was.

I 100% believe you but the closeness of the election may not be sufficient time for people to wake up (for lack of a better word).

Last night the GOP lost their majority in the Senate with multiple GOP senators either infected or under quarantine. This wouldn't be an issue if McConnell would allow the members to remotely vote but he's blocked that. And because of that, the Dems were able to stop the corporate bailout.

One of the most outrageous things in the GOP giveaway was a provision that would keep secret all the companies that get a bailout for 6 months.

Also, Katie Porter (D, CA-45 / ) has been murdering corporate folks who keep threatening to fire everyone if they don't get bailouts on social media. We all know what has to happen but they don't get to play hostage taker to secure unreasonably favorable terms.

 

[Gorbles]

Even the most faithful Trumpists, if confronted by a dead family member or having to stand in a bread line, will have a hard time saying how great his performance was.

Sorry for snipping this part out of your post, but I really think you've being overly-optimistic here. Not only are there parallels to Brexit, where people exist who definitely blame Labour for the negotiations going badly despite Labour not actually being involved in that process, but I have already seen language (can't remember if it's from Trump himself or his camp in general) where it's stated that the Democrats are making the problem worse / to blame. The easy way out of cognitive dissonance in this case is to simply blame the Democrats for any atrocities or tragedies that may arise, which is what I predict a portion of people will end up doing.

Don't get me wrong, I hope I'm wrong, and I don't think your optimism is unreasonable. I just don't see it myself.

 

[IglooDame]

Sorry for snipping this part out of your post, but I really think you've being overly-optimistic here. Not only are there parallels to Brexit, where people exist who definitely blame Labour for the negotiations going badly despite Labour not actually being involved in that process, but I have already seen language (can't remember if it's from Trump himself or his camp in general) where it's stated that the Democrats are making the problem worse / to blame. The easy way out of cognitive dissonance in this case is to simply blame the Democrats for any atrocities or tragedies that may arise, which is what I predict a portion of people will end up doing.

Don't get me wrong, I hope I'm wrong, and I don't think your optimism is unreasonable. I just don't see it myself.

I think some will and some won't, but I do think that enough will continue blaming anyone-but-Trump to make the 2020 election not-a-landslide. There are a bunch out there that could be shot by Trump on Fifth Avenue, face to face, and believe him when he says it's for the good of the country that they have to die. To be fair, there were Democrats that would have done the same with Obama. Or hell, would have let their wives and daughters visit the Lincoln bedroom by themselves when Bill Clinton was in office. It's just that Trump seems more likely to actually do that, I suppose.

 

[Ironsided]

Where's Bernie, for that matter. They can't hold rallies nor speeches.
Trump can do nothing but put his foot in his mouth, make misstatements, lie, and blame Obama.

Bernie had a live stream with AOC, Omar and Talib about how to tackle corona crisis yesterday. He has been constantly on the ball. He is actively promoting and fundraising for relief organisations like meals on wheels etc.

This discussion was released 30 minutes ago. It’s 5 minutes long on this exact topic. Do yourselves a service and give it 5 mins.

 

[Tristan_C]

Where is Biden by the way? Should he not weigh in on the corona crisis?

There is no doubt he wants to help. Back on Friday he expressed some interest in using technology to get in touch with the public.

I am a bit surprised he went with a video presentation, though. I keep video talks minimized, so I missed the climax of the one you posted.

 

[Ironsided]

Desperately. He can use his phone if his people needs over a week to set up a damn medium priced laptop.

 

[IglooDame]

It wouldn't shock me to learn that they're both deliberately holding back for one of two reasons: #1, in the spirit of the not-quite-exact quote from Napoleon, "Never interrupt your enemy while they're making a mistake", they want the pandemic response to be all Trump's and Congress' deal. Or #2, in the interests of national unity during this crisis, they don't want to be picking partisan fights with the sitting president.

I stand corrected. It's not that they're holding back (er, at least in Sanders' case), it's that the news media is largely ignoring them lately.

 

[innonimatu]

I stand corrected. It's not that they're holding back (er, at least in Sanders' case), it's that the news media is largely ignoring them lately.

Lately? Whenever have they not tried to ignore Sanders' proposals?

 

[Sommerswerd]

I stand corrected. It's not that they're holding back (er, at least in Sanders' case), it's that the news media is largely ignoring them lately.

Yeah the coverage has been 100% coronavirus. The campaign has been basically ignored. Plus, with Biden so far ahead on the Democratic side,Trump the incumbent on the Republican side, campaign events/political rallies effectively banned, college campuses closed and so many states postponing their primaries... there really isn't much to cover.

It does illustrate how much control the news media exerts over what we hear about and don't... driving home how essential they were in Trump's meteoric rise.

 

[IglooDame]

Lately? Whenever have they not tried to ignore Sanders' proposals?

I realize you're being hyperbolic, but as a regular consumer of traditional evening news, I can say that since about November there has been quite a lot of coverage of the Democratic primary/nomination process notably including Sanders. And over the past couple weeks (well, in the nine evenings since I got back from India) there's been effectively none, other than a couple mentions of Ohio and other states postponing and nothing at all about Sanders or Biden specifically.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Sorry for snipping this part out of your post, but I really think you've being overly-optimistic here. Not only are there parallels to Brexit, where people exist who definitely blame Labour for the negotiations going badly despite Labour not actually being involved in that process, but I have already seen language (can't remember if it's from Trump himself or his camp in general) where it's stated that the Democrats are making the problem worse / to blame. The easy way out of cognitive dissonance in this case is to simply blame the Democrats for any atrocities or tragedies that may arise, which is what I predict a portion of people will end up doing.

Don't get me wrong, I hope I'm wrong, and I don't think your optimism is unreasonable. I just don't see it myself.

Oh, there will definitely be those totally faithful who buy into the excuses. I mean, there are large numbers of Louisiana Republicans who blame the failures in the federal response to Katrina on Obama. But that won't be all of them. By the time he left office (admittedly seven years later) GWBush's approval rating on his handling of 9/11 had dropped into the twenties.

I 100% believe you but the closeness of the election may not be sufficient time for people to wake up (for lack of a better word).

This is definitely a factor. The counterpoint is that even with the well known immediate crisis spike D'ump barely broke fifty so it isn't like the approval has to fall from great heights as it did with GWBush. This situation also strikes almost everyone "close to home" much more effectively than the 9/11 and subsequent ME wars did, so people will be more inclined to look for someone to blame, and look sooner.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Bernie had a live stream with AOC, Omar and Talib about how to tackle corona crisis yesterday. He has been constantly on the ball. He is actively promoting and fundraising for relief organisations like meals on wheels etc.

So he's doing his job as a senator. That's refreshing.

 

[Takhisis]

Oh, there will definitely be those totally faithful who buy into the excuses. I mean, there are large numbers of Louisiana Republicans who blame the failures in the federal response to Katrina on Obama.

That's a level of historical reconstruction not seen since Shakespeare.

 

[Ironsided]

So he's doing his job as a senator. That's refreshing.

Certainly more than can be said about your guy. #HidinBiden

 

[IglooDame]

Certainly more than can be said about your guy. #HidinBiden

Who is doing his job as a... former VP?