Don't blame me, I voted for the other guy. (Politics General)
Background Pony #01F2
Interest in Europe seems to be dwindling:
Seems we are sort screwed regardless who wins. And with the current EU leaders, whose only goal is to go green, we are getting nowhere.
Kazapsky 
Five scoops of ice cream
My only prediction is that Trump and his followers WILL find an excuse for violence no matter what the votes say.
Zincy 
In Vino Veritas
I am fairly confident that Harris will win, but the margins will be what to watch.
She could squeak by with 270, or she could smash Trump’s face into the dirt and hit near 400. There’s enough data out there to support either.
There’s also enough data to support a narrow Trump win, but I don’t really see any data where he wins massively.
While both have a shot to win, Harris has more of a chance of a blowout than Trump.
Ciaran 
Senior Moderator
君場森生きる
Yet ironically as he is attacking marginalized groups he also makes his supporters feel like one and worthy of the same sympathy that they see blacks getting.
Yes. That’s not ‘ironic’ - it’s the point.
Like with a lot of fascism they kinda want to have it both ways.
No. They don’t want it ‘both ways’. They see themselves as the victims. They see those who they want to victimize as the enemy responsible for their victimhood. That’s just one way.
Though from what I’ve seen Trump himself isn’t actually all that relevant
Let’s test that. Remove Trump.
If Trump gone, the bipartisan border bill would have passed. Kevin McCarthy would still be speaker of the House. Matt Gaetz most likely would have not been able to avoid being investigated and censored by the House for underage sexual abuse and trafficking. The people responsible for the January 6th Capitol attack would not be celebrated heroes at the national level. Rudy Giuliani wouldn’t be a surrogate speaker at a Madison Square Garden event. Marjorie Taylor Greene would no longer be trending. And we wouldn’t have a candidate for POTUS literally quoting their opponent’s statements - word for word - as the entirety of their advertisement for themselves.
Others have tried to replace Trump, or to ‘out Trump’ him and become the head of the GOP. But even though incredibly powerful party members like Mitch McConnell have been COMPLETELY honest about what kind of complete and utter asshole Trump is, and how unsuitable they are for any kind of political leadership, Trump still has won the GOP and owns it completely. If Trump doesn’t like someone, they’re gone. He can’t MAKE someone successful in the party, but he can completely ruin them if he doesn’t like them. Even McConnell has only been able to cling to his position because he’s such a tick and has been buried into the system for so long. But just imagine the kind of shit McConnell would have gotten up to if Trump didn’t hate him and had actually supported him.
No one else has been able to be the lightning rod for the GOP, the core of this hate-motivated third party that rose up and ate all the other allied sub-parties that used to make up Republicans in the USA. Just look at Vance - even when someone toes the line as hard as they can, but they aren’t Trump. The second Trump is gone, Vance will be moldy and extremely weird used up bacon. He has already thrown away every thing his entire career was built on, and Vance still can’t do what Trump is doing.
So. I think Trump is relevant.
Cause people can pick out the parts they like and just project onto him the rest.
Yes. That was the lesson he learned from Sarah Louise Palin. Just watch HIM watch HER talking - you can see him practicing how to do what she did. That Sarah Palin ‘so close to sane but then not quite’ and never actually say anything that anyone can blame you for or stick on you as an actual fact.
Before Palin, Trump tried to make sense. Afterwards, he realized how to do what she was doing, but better. Meaner. More inciting. But never actually saying anything that anyone could point to as an actual statement or opinion.
Trump isn’t stupid. He may be addled and demented, but he didn’t get where he is by being stupid. he’s very smart, and you can literally watch him stealing what others are doing - kind of like Rogue - all he has to do is see someone use their mutant powers, and he is able to do it himself.
I have hard several MAGA folk urging for what is in all reality a communist revolution.
I think you mean ‘Authoritarianism’.
It’s why Evangelicals think he’s more religious than anyone else.
I don’t believe Evangelicals think he’s religious at all. I think they believe he is just a tool to achieve their goals. He’s an “instrument of God’s will” who faces persecution by his foes. He is “the anointing” to mark where “God’s presence will come down to Earth”. He’s the enormous overpriced boat you have to buy to prove your love to Christ so that you can finally permit Christ into your bank account and save you from foreclosure because Christ loves you and you have let him into your life by finally proving your faith through correct purchases and overextending yourself.
He’s a part of the Divine Plan. But more like a “modern-day Cyrus” who was used by God to fulfill divine purpose without actually being a believer. Trump, in this twisted Evangelical construct, is an ‘instrument of God’s will’.
But that doesn’t make Trump “good”. “God uses flawed individuals to accomplish His plans”. Trump is just a catalyst. And the Evil that Evangelicals trust Trump to ‘fix’ are all about social and cultural things that Evangelicals think Christians should be in control of.
That’s about social and cultural control and authoritarianism, not communism.
Background Pony #BC62
@Background Pony #01F2
Well, that’s sad. But, maybe with time, eventually they’ll balance both Indo-Pacific & Europe.
I’m optimistic.
Well, that’s sad. But, maybe with time, eventually they’ll balance both Indo-Pacific & Europe.
I’m optimistic.
marinus18
@Ciaran
Most of what you say is correct.
Though I still do stick by that Trump himself isn’t important. The thing is though other people can’t be Trump cause Trump is still around. If Trump stopped being in the spotlight he can be replaced very easily. Trump is very much a blank slate that people can project onto whatever they want to see.
Vance doesn’t have the casual attitude that allow many people to project onto Trump. With DeSantis he actually tried to do specific things which doomed him. Any time Trump tried to do something specific like with abortion he actually got a lot of backlash too.
Most of what you say is correct.
Though I still do stick by that Trump himself isn’t important. The thing is though other people can’t be Trump cause Trump is still around. If Trump stopped being in the spotlight he can be replaced very easily. Trump is very much a blank slate that people can project onto whatever they want to see.
Vance doesn’t have the casual attitude that allow many people to project onto Trump. With DeSantis he actually tried to do specific things which doomed him. Any time Trump tried to do something specific like with abortion he actually got a lot of backlash too.
“Trump” as an individual doesn’t matter. What matters is the character other people see. Since he is many people’s avatar if he says he hates someone they hate them too.
SleepySteve 
Apples and Pears
In the final days before the election MAGA is obsessed with…a squirrel.
Background Pony #A725
@SleepySteve
I heard about this too. They think that’s going to be their last ditch effort to have Trump win the election. Saying that the Democrats kill squirrels. The insanity is very real. Since when did they ever care about animals?
I heard about this too. They think that’s going to be their last ditch effort to have Trump win the election. Saying that the Democrats kill squirrels. The insanity is very real. Since when did they ever care about animals?
Ciaran
Senior Moderator
君場森生きる
@SleepySteve
@Background Pony #A725
Ok, I’ll bite. How are the “Democrats” responsible for Peanut The Squirrel?
@Background Pony #A725
Ok, I’ll bite. How are the “Democrats” responsible for Peanut The Squirrel?
Also … did I miss my timeline on my last wormhole or something? How did I end up in the reality where Republicans hate hunters and somehow are the tree huggers?
neutralgrey 
Any other candidate would have their political career ruined if they did half of what Trump did.Many other candidates have had their political career ruined for doing only ONE of the things that Trump has done.But Trump’s political campaign is about what Trump does. The people voting for him like that he marginalizes social groups. They like that he refers to other countries as “shit holes”, and accuses America’s allies of being “rapists” and “child smugglers”. They want their president to perform oral sex on microphones, and flock to watch him and support him in massive crowds.Stop pretending that what Trump is doing is are things that his supporters don’t like or don’t want. They want to be able to do the same kind of ‘social sorting’ that Trump does, and having a candidate saying that anyone who isn’t a white male or someone who is obedient to a white male should suffer, or even be harmed - by the state - that anyone who disagrees and thinks that every legal resident of America should have equal access to the law and that their rights should be defended and enforced by the state - is exactly the message they are looking for and want to hear.To them, a violent insurrection where police officers are murdered or die in the line of duty trying to defend our government and fair elections is a “love fest” and they wave signs celebrating how much they support police officers and “the blue line”.To them, setting ballot boxes on fire or literally stealing them is “defending the election”.And collecting the names of suspected Democratic voters to deny them access to police protection after the election is “constitutional” and “defending America’s core values”.They want - WANT - the state to monitor women to make sure they don’t have abortions. They want gays and lesbians to no longer be allowed to marry.They want Loving v. Virginia overturned, and have stacked the SCOTUS to get it done.They want to ‘seriously amend’ or repeal the 14th amendment. They’ve been trying to do it for a decade and they are getting closer and closer every year.So … I think you have it wrong.Trump’s political career would only be HALF of what it is, if he didn’t do the things he does that would ruin anyone else.If he STOPPED insulting people or DIDN’T have shock comedians shitting on entire swaths of the US population, then he wouldn’t exist or matter any more.He only matters because he’s an asshole. And some people want an asshole to be the president. And I doubt it’s because they don’t know what Trump will do if re-elected. I really believe it’s because they WANT it.
I’m glad someone is saying it because holy fuck the American right has lost its shit
Ciaran
Senior Moderator
君場森生きる
Per Vance, “You know, is it really the case that the Democrats murdered the Elon Musk of squirrels?”
Per Musk, “The government should not be allowed to barge into your house and kill your pet! That’s messed up. Even if it is illegal to have a pet squirrel (which it shouldn’t be), why kill PNut instead of simply releasing him into the forest!?”
Per Mike Collins, “Trump’s running against a socialistic, big government, control everything about you, woke regime.”
Per Greene, “Think of this, the Democrats in New York City, Democrats in New York City, went in and raided a home to kill a squirrel, they did, to kill a squirrel, yet it was the same state of New York that let the criminal illegal alien go that came to Georgia that murdered our very own Laken Riley.”
Fine. Let’s see how the Democrats pulled this off.
Peanut the Squirrel lived in Pine City, which is approximately 235 miles from New York City. Peanut was killed by the New York Chemung County Department of Health.
• County Executive, Christopher J. Moss, Republican.
• County Clerk, Linda Forrest, Republican.
• District Attorney, Weeden A. Wetmore Esq, Republican.
• County Judge, Otto Campanella, Republican.
• County Sheriff, William A. Schrom, Republican.
• County Treasurer, Katlyn E. Colombani - Ruiz, Republican.
• County Clerk, Linda Forrest, Republican.
• District Attorney, Weeden A. Wetmore Esq, Republican.
• County Judge, Otto Campanella, Republican.
• County Sheriff, William A. Schrom, Republican.
• County Treasurer, Katlyn E. Colombani - Ruiz, Republican.
Out of 23 elected officials responsible for the Peanut The Squirrel thing, 20 are Republican.
So a REPUBLICAN controlled town government killed the squirrel.
And the DEMOCRATS are completely responsible for it.
Yeah. Ok. That makes perfect sense, I’m sure from a Republican point of view. Thing bad? Democrats did it! Even though every single person in the chain of command is a Republican.
You know, if I was ANY of the people actually in the ‘Democrat controlled government’ responsible for Peanut’s demise, I would be so freaking insulted to be accused of being a Democrat leading a woke socialistic big government whose only output is murdering squirrels. When in fact it’s a proudly Republican controlled little county government trying to protect people from rabies.
Which is an actual fucking problem Chemung County has that their current government is literally holding public Vaccination Clinics to try to bring under control.
Holy shit this is actually something the elected REPUBLICAN officials in Peanut’s county RAN on. And the GOP propaganda is painting it as some sort of Democratic ‘woke’ ‘big government’ plot.
I’m not even angry. I’m just disappointed. If I was actually one of those elected officials, I’d be so fucking mad about the national party fucking up everything they’re doing to try to bring the Rabies crisis in their county under control you’d have to strap me down.
I’m glad someone is saying it because holy fuck the American right has lost its shit
Well, I’m no one, so technically saying a no one is saying it.
Maybe we just need more no one’s saying it.
Zincy
In Vino Veritas
Reading interviews with Stein voters is hilarious but depressing.
It’s peak slack-tavism where mostly upper middle class young white kids are “taking a stand” for Gaza…by voting for a Russian stooge that only pops up every 4 years to siphon off votes and sell books and who has 0 realistic chance of winning.
I hope you enjoy your “clean conscience” when the reps have you against the wall for being different.
neutralgrey
All I’m gonna say is this. The 2024 election isn’t so much a presidential election, it’s a referendum on democracy. If Trump wins, it proves that Americans never really cared about Democracy or freedom.
marinus18
@Background Pony #D717
Unless Harris actually does some genuinely socialist things and try to regulate the trusts and get rid of the tax cap on social security I don’t think so.
Unless Harris actually does some genuinely socialist things and try to regulate the trusts and get rid of the tax cap on social security I don’t think so.
Zincy
In Vino Veritas
Call me heartless, but at the end of the day I’m naturally going to give more fucks about what happens to my country than another one.
It breaks my heart what’s happening in Gaza, and the Israeli government can eat shit and die for all I care.
But, I don’t live in Gaza. I won’t be raising my children in the West Bank. I won’t be getting a job in Lebanon.
I’m going to vote for the person that will do the best for my country, because that’s where it matters most to me.
Zaknel 
Mods-Ezekiel 33:11
One way or another, I hope the drama surrounding the election is over this time next week.
Zincy
In Vino Veritas
Also, as a fun reminder, that if every pro-abortion related amendment passes, abortion will technically be “more” projected now than it was when Roe was in place, due the nature of how the protections will be worded in law.
marinus18
Also another obsession of MAGA is schools and how they somehow apparently turn kids gay or something.
igotnopicks
Monado User
@Zincy
It’s a reminder that Trump’s Judges forgot about the States fucking over the Republican way.
It’s a reminder that Trump’s Judges forgot about the States fucking over the Republican way.
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