news 2024 US Election Megathread 🇺🇸🏛️

[shelven]

1 hour ago, Relampago. said:

Can two things not be true at once? Frustrations can manifest in many ways. Sure, there are poor, uneducated and racist Trump supporters who wouldn't vote blue even if Biden gave them all $100,000 each to do so.

It would make sense that someone feeling economic distress would love to point fingers at a minority group to blame for it. If they were not experiencing said stress, I could see them putting aside their racism and prejudice for economic gains. 

 

This video on Elliott County is mostly anecdotal, but it does speak to this point:

 

 

But if we're being totally honest, I think many of Trump's voters are voting as simple as this: "I had more fun and more money 5 years ago. I want Trump back!" It's exactly why gas prices going down and the interest rate cut are going to hurt him, and already are hurting him. People actually do care about the money in their pockets, in most cases more than police killing Black people or Latino families being torn apart. Seeing how Trump Republicans flopped hard fighting a culture war on LGBTQ+ people in 2022, I would think that would likely extend to race as well. And it probably does, seeing as how the Springfield situation is hurting Trump's campaign. 

 

Yeah, his core base is racist, but Trump needs more than his core base to win, and I believe that portion of voters was what Bernie was speaking to in 2020. If you call Trump voters racist, they won't think "oh he's not talking about me, he's talking about them!" They'll just think "fine! If I'm racist then he can't have my vote and I'll stick with Trump!" It's just not a stance that really gains any support. 

I'm certainly not denying that there's overlap between people who are struggling economically and people who are more susceptible to Trump's racism and xenophobia. What I find increasingly harder to believe over the last 9 years is that Trump voters' economic distress is the sole (or overwhelmingly dominant) factor in their voting decision and that their appreciation or tolerance for his racism and xenophobia is just some byproduct of that which would evaporate if the economic distress didn't exist.

 

Most of my skepticism comes from the fact that Trump just... does not actually offer them any solutions to their economic problems. He barely even pretends to. The only thing he consistently preaches as a solution to white rural Americans' struggles is to curb immigration, "stop DEI", and vague notions of stopping crime that are pretty clear racist dogwhistles. So the inevitable question is: why are these economically distressed Americans specifically voting for Trump, as opposed to sitting out of electoral politics entirely? What is he offering them that the other side isn't and that they wouldn't achieve by simply not voting? The only real answer is that he offers an outlet for their harboured beliefs that their problems in life stem from the existence of people who don't look like them.

 

So I mean sure, maybe there are some Trump supporters who wouldn't vote for him if they didn't have economic struggles because you can't blame someone else for your problems if you don't have problems to begin with. But I don't think that changes the idea that ultimately those voters are still primarily motivated by their racial resentment because they view racist rhetoric as more of a solution to their problems than actual policy that would actively address their problems.

[Communion]

53 minutes ago, Ashley Banks said:

 

 

He acknowledges that the Haitians in Springfield are legal immigrants but is going to call them illegals anyways  

 

We knew it was never about legal status anyways.

Biden teas, tbh 

 

(ddd I deserve to get that one in after the dogwalking I got in here for saying Biden using the term illegals was bad at the SOTU knkjjnk)

[Armani?]

 

Here they go with the over sensationalized narrative for clicks

 

[Communion]

 

[Relampago.]

28 minutes ago, shelven said:

I'm certainly not denying that there's overlap between people who are struggling economically and people who are more susceptible to Trump's racism and xenophobia. What I find increasingly harder to believe over the last 9 years is that Trump voters' economic distress is the sole (or overwhelmingly dominant) factor in their voting decision and that their appreciation or tolerance for his racism and xenophobia is just some byproduct of that which would evaporate if the economic distress didn't exist.

 

Most of my skepticism comes from the fact that Trump just... does not actually offer them any solutions to their economic problems. He barely even pretends to. The only thing he consistently preaches as a solution to white rural Americans' struggles is to curb immigration, "stop DEI", and vague notions of stopping crime that are pretty clear racist dogwhistles. So the inevitable question is: why are these economically distressed Americans specifically voting for Trump, as opposed to sitting out of electoral politics entirely? What is he offering them that the other side isn't and that they wouldn't achieve by simply not voting? The only real answer is that he offers an outlet for their harboured beliefs that their problems in life stem from the existence of people who don't look like them.

 

So I mean sure, maybe there are some Trump supporters who wouldn't vote for him if they didn't have economic struggles because you can't blame someone else for your problems if you don't have problems to begin with. But I don't think that changes the idea that ultimately those voters are still primarily motivated by their racial resentment because they view racist rhetoric as more of a solution to their problems than actual policy that would actively address their problems.

Ahh, I see. I agree.

 

The one thing is that while I agree that Trump doesn't really offer many solutions, which is why I find the one-sided criticism for Kamala not laying out her policies cleanly hypocritical, the fact remains that people do feel he is better on the economy (despite that belief eroding in recent polls). 

 

The fact remains that Democrats are very poor at messaging and people really do default to the idea that Republicans = Good on Economy, Democrats = Bad on Economy. It's why I was a bit frustrated with Kamala during the debate for not hitting Trump harder on the economy, and immigration for that matter. When she mentioned that Trump had a trade deficit during his term, Trump makes a face like "damn, got me there, alright", but then she made no case to explain how the economy under Biden actually hasn't been doing that bad. She could then pivot to explaining how her policies will aim to target the economy distress people are feeling in spite of a healthy economy. 

 

But ultimately Democrats just let Republicans take the wheel when it comes to the economy and act afraid to tell the truth: Donald Trump will not help the economy and he has no plan. It's why I didn't really take issue with Bernie's soft approach to Trump's base— exposing their racism won't bring people to his side, and much like this election's polling has showed us on effective advertising, it would be better for Dems to hone in on policy and being pro-Dem candidate than anti-Trump. 

[Relampago.]

17 minutes ago, Communion said:

 

The irony of Dasha being this way and Kamala's campaign using Brat for their campaign will never be lost on me

[Lightbringer007]

all these polls leaning near kamala atm ... oh period!

[ultraviolence.xx]

1 hour ago, Blade said:

 

@Relampago. get the essays ready

why is this man teasing polls like a pop girl VMA performance

[cloudbusting]

1 hour ago, FameFatale said:

More chaos in Congress, as usual 

 

 

they better get it together FAST because I refuse to let this mess with my fellowship hours and check

Johnson's doing all this over a useless and racist provision too, what a ******* LOSER

 

[Sannie]

4 hours ago, Blade said:

You're brave to post this when you know the queen of receipts Communion is going to quote one of your posts 7 months from now with this saying something along the lines of "Of course the neolib who prefers punitive justice over rehabilitation has this take"

Hey, my chart also says I'm a communist and progressive. I have a defense.  

 

4 hours ago, Lil Mistee said:

Yes those quizzes are weirdly worded I don't trust them. But omg you have exp in criminal justice!? Are you excited for a former prosecutor to be our president seeing as how she says it in every speech that she was a former prosecutor! 

As a neolib, I would much prefer someone who has a stricter record of throwing more people in jail. The more, the merrier. /s

[GhostBox]

kamala going to GA Friday as well as Wisconsin 👏🏼

[Sannie]

1 minute ago, GhostBox said:

kamala going to GA Friday as well as Wisconsin 👏🏼

But we need her in AZ and NV to meet with @Relampago.

 

-----

 

Listened to a podcast today and the hosts were talking about how the Kamala campaign should focus some ads on the idea that Trump being 300 years old could easily mean JD Vance takes over during his administration. JD is already so unpopular so making it clear how close he'd be to the presidency, I think, would be effective.

[Lightbringer007]

 

 

ew

[Lightbringer007]

 

 

[Blade]

1 minute ago, Lightbringer007 said:

 

 

Unless polls are really really off that would explain WI not being disastrous for Dems this cycle despite being the closest midwest swing state 2 cycles in a row

[Sannie]

Trump and MAGA really think he could win NY and NJ.  

[tiejc]

 

Dems keep overperforming

[Sannie]

Sean O'Brien really **** the bed with this "both sides" nonsense.

 

[Armani?]

10 minutes ago, Sannie said:

Sean O'Brien really **** the bed with this "both sides" nonsense.

 

 

[Communion]

21 minutes ago, tiejc said:

 

Dems keep overperforming

 

22 minutes ago, Blade said:

Unless polls are really really off that would explain WI not being disastrous for Dems this cycle despite being the closest midwest swing state 2 cycles in a row

...girlies... this is NEWARK. This is Donald Payne Jr's (RIP ) district.  Am I missing something? McIver's performance is largely in-line with (even a bit under the heyday of Payne's electoral days) how urban NJ Dems do. Do people think the trends in Newark speak to something nationally?

 

2012: D+77
2014: D+73

2016: D+74

2018: D+77

2020: D+70

2022: D+57 [rare low turnout midterm performance for Payne]

Edited 18 hours ago by Communion

[Bears01]

29 minutes ago, Sannie said:

But we need her in AZ and NV to meet with @Relampago.

 

-----

 

Listened to a podcast today and the hosts were talking about how the Kamala campaign should focus some ads on the idea that Trump being 300 years old could easily mean JD Vance takes over during his administration. JD is already so unpopular so making it clear how close he'd be to the presidency, I think, would be effective.

I'll go to AZ meet @Relampago.

 

7 minutes ago, Communion said:

 

...girlies... this is NEWARK. This is Donald Payne Jr's (RIP ) district.  Am I missing something? McIver's performance is largely in-line with (even a bit under the heyday of Payne's electoral days). Do people think the trends in Newark speak to something nationally?

 

2012: D+77
2014: D+73

2016: D+74

2018: D+77

2020: D+70

2022: D+57 [rare low turnout midterm performance for Payne]

Specials are usually a good barometer of just exactly where the national environment currently is, no matter how red or blue the district is. I'm still of the notion that we're in a D+3-4 environment though. 
 

 

If Trump loses this election (IF) I truly think "They're eating the pets!!" Will be the defining moment of why he did. Not the Vance pick or anything else really 

[Save-Me-Oprah]

Kamala immediately using Billie songs in advertisements after her endorsement, they work quick

 

 

[shelven]

23 minutes ago, Bears01 said:

If Trump loses this election (IF) I truly think "They're eating the pets!!" Will be the defining moment of why he did. Not the Vance pick or anything else really 

Vance boosted the pet-eating conspiracy right before Trump brought it up in the debate. Trump probably doesn't even learn about it if not for Vance. The conspiracy will be talked about on its own in a Trump loss post-mortem, but it will also be cited as one of many reasons why Vance was such a terrible pick.

[GhostBox]

Audience 💀

[dabunique]