2024 Election Thread

[revo]

Yesterday was the Pennsylvania primary, which are closed (Dems can only vote in the Dem primary, etc) and had some interesting results:

- TFG got 83.5% of the vote, which means 16.5% voted against someone else not running. Nikki Haley received a whopping 155,829 votes,
- Joe Biden, otoh, got 93.1% of the vote, and only lost 68,046 votes to a non-competitor (Dean Phillips)
- Total turnout for Dems was 990,000 with 96% reporting, total turnout for the GOP was 940,000 with 100% reporting
- the difference in reporting also means Dems are still voting by mail in force, while the GOP still has not learned its lesson

I cannot see how this isn't a 5-alarm fire for the GOP in a key battleground state

[madducks]

The upcoming Presidential election is looking uglier by the day. Voter turnout could plummet by November. I wish we had better options.

[madducks]

.....

[Teenwolf]

That debate was such a fucking disaster.

I'd be surprised if Biden is alive by January. He's whispering to ghosts.

[revo]

That debate was such a fucking disaster.

I'd be surprised if Biden is alive by January. He's whispering to ghosts.

That was just about the worst disaster the Dems, and largely, America, could've foreseen.

Biden will have lost any and all goodwill with the American people if he continues his campaign. He should've decided a year ago that he wasn't going to run.

The fact that egos have destroyed everything that the Dems have done -- Biden, Hillary, RBG -- is astounding.

[umjewman]

My wife made me watch for about two minutes which was three minutes too many.

I'm enraged at the Democrats and Biden for going after a second term. I just assumed that the deal was a one-term president who was the most effective means to defeat Trump in 2020, since he was something moderate republicans who didn't like Trump could stomach, while the progressive left was willing to vote for him to oust Trump. I never envisioned he would be trotted back out there for another term. Total malpractice on the Dems part to not figure out who was going to be the future. That should have started on day 1 of the Biden presidency.

I think there's like a 70% chance Trump wins at this point. Barf.

[madducks]

The Democrats better make the call to the bullpen before this game gets out of hand.

[The Feral Slasher]

The Democrats better make the call to the bullpen before this game gets out of hand.

Before ?

[Teenwolf]

I'm pretty sure Biden will drop out. They're trying to rally, but they won't be able to do it. Polling shows 72% of all voters think Biden is mentally unfit to serve. It's over. Like I mentioned before, donors dropping will be the final nail in the coffin. Hopefully the donors have the sense to drop him, and reporting sounds like they will. Many of Biden's supporters and friends have called for him to step aside now.

They can't even make the argument that Biden won the primaries, since several states were won by "uncommitted". This is so obvious.

I hope for Gretchen Whitmer (shore up Michigan!) or I've heard this Shapiro guy would be okay. I fear Gavin Newsom would lose. Man, he looks and speaks so much like Bale in American Psycho, it's eerie. His track record is pretty right wing/neo lib-shit too. Also, everyone hates California except Californians. There's no advantage to Newsome, I fear. But Democrats aren't exactly known for good strategy.

Did anybody see Nancy Pelosi defending Biden on CNN? Holy shit, it was like the crypt keeper acting as the hype man for Nosferatu! Hilarious stuff.

I'm just glad I can say this now without anyone here attacking me for stating the obvious about Biden, that he's beyond lost his zip on his fastball, he's had to shift to lawn bowling, then shuffleboard, and recently candy crush. The one virtue touted here over and over (his morals) has been completely absent in his genocidal decision making as well as his egotistical clinging to power despite his only argument (Trump beater) being annihilated. We shall see if the sycophants surrounding him see the writing on the wall, or if they even care.

Within the next 2 years, we could see US, Canada, France, and more, shift to fascist leadership. All because of centrist neo-libs like Biden, Trudeau, and Macron. "Scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds."

[madducks]

So, Mark Cuban asked ChatGPT which one of Biden or Trump is the better candidate based on the debate transcript. Here are the results.

[heyelander]

This is how skynet starts its global takeover.

[madducks]

The Democratic governors are going to have an intervention, er I mean a meeting with Joe Biden.

[Sour Masher]

I've been good-naturedly arguing about this all night with my wife. I've been saying this was coming for most of Biden's term and she would get annoyed, suggesting I was parroting right-wing talking points. I am surprised by how annoyed I am at all these pundits who downplayed or outright ignored this concern are now suddenly realizing what has been obvious for a long time and now now freaking out. It is the same feeling I had when not enough people were talking about what was so obvious years before Jan 6th with Trump and his hardcore followers.

I have no idea what will happen at this point. Biden's people have irresponsibly propped him up, hyping him to the point where he seems cluelessly committed to continue despite his obviously ever-diminishing capacity. If he does, he likely loses. If he doesn't, Harris seems the most likely back up plan and I don't think she wins either, although I think her chances at this point have to be higher than Biden. My wife disagrees. She thinks there are too many racial and gender biases working against Harris (I think her deficits are more substantive) and that Biden, despite how diminished he is, and despite the polls saying otherwise, still has the best chance, because her opinion is that low of the American voter. She thinks most are somehow still oblivious to this trainwreck and will vote the letter of the party not the person, so even that utter debacle doesn't change much. I just don't see how anyone who cares enough to be a voter could be oblivious to that debacle. I'm inclined to believe the scope of how bad it was will ripple out so far that even the most distantly engaged voters will hear about it and be influenced by it. But I don't know if that is wishful thinking about the state of the American voting public.

[Teenwolf]

I've been good-naturedly arguing about this all night with my wife. I've been saying this was coming for most of Biden's term and she would get annoyed, suggesting I was parroting right-wing talking points. I am surprised by how annoyed I am at all these pundits who downplayed or outright ignored this concern are now suddenly realizing what has been obvious for a long time and now now freaking out. It is the same feeling I had when not enough people were talking about what was so obvious years before Jan 6th with Trump and his hardcore followers.

I have no idea what will happen at this point. Biden's people have irresponsibly propped him up, hyping him to the point where he seems cluelessly committed to continue despite his obviously ever-diminishing capacity. If he does, he likely loses. If he doesn't, Harris seems the most likely back up plan and I don't think she wins either, although I think her chances at this point have to be higher than Biden. My wife disagrees. She thinks there are too many racial and gender biases working against Harris (I think her deficits are more substantive) and that Biden, despite how diminished he is, and despite the polls saying otherwise, still has the best chance, because her opinion is that low of the American voter. She thinks most are somehow still oblivious to this trainwreck and will vote the letter of the party not the person, so even that utter debacle doesn't change much. I just don't see how anyone who cares enough to be a voter could be oblivious to that debacle. I'm inclined to believe the scope of how bad it was will ripple out so far that even the most distantly engaged voters will hear about it and be influenced by it. But I don't know if that is wishful thinking about the state of the American voting public.

When did having legitimate concerns become "parroting right wing talking points"? If the legitimate concerns weren't treated as illegitimate smear jobs, maybe we would have seen this fucking disaster a lot sooner! Maybe the Democrats could have had a proper primary instead of shutting them the fuck down, with Biden losing states to "uncommitted" and hardly a peep from the media about it.

Its this exact attitude, supporting your party's candidate no matter what genocides they commit or dementia they exhibit, that's lead us to this point. It's Blue-Maga, to pretend that your candidate isn't demented when he clearly is.

The 1984 quote, come to life. "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."

I think the candidate will be Kamala, and I hate her. But she's signalled that she is less hawkish on Israel, so I feel she could gain a huge wave of support if she becomes the pick. Polling already shows Kamala beating Trump (where Biden loses by 9). Not sure she can galvanize folks. She's horribly whiny and unlikable with a dogshit prosecutorial record, but nobody would care. Any hit from racists is blunted by Trumps presence on the ballot, and she's got big upside with minorities and young voters.

A woman on the ballot when reproductive rights are the central campaign issue? No brainer! I hope for Whitmer, but I really don't care.

[Sour Masher]

When did having legitimate concerns become "parroting right wing talking points"? If the legitimate concerns weren't treated as illegitimate smear jobs, maybe we would have seen this fucking disaster a lot sooner! Maybe the Democrats could have had a proper primary instead of shutting them the fuck down, with Biden losing states to "uncommitted" and hardly a peep from the media about it.

Its this exact attitude, supporting your party's candidate no matter what genocides they commit or dementia they exhibit, that's lead us to this point. It's Blue-Maga, to pretend that your candidate isn't demented when he clearly is.

The 1984 quote, come to life. "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."

I think the candidate will be Kamala, and I hate her. But she's signalled that she is less hawkish on Israel, so I feel she could gain a huge wave of support if she becomes the pick. Polling already shows Kamala beating Trump (where Biden loses by 9). Not sure she can galvanize folks. She's horribly whiny and unlikable with a dogshit prosecutorial record, but nobody would care. Any hit from racists is blunted by Trumps presence on the ballot, and she's got big upside with minorities and young voters.

A woman on the ballot when reproductive rights are the central campaign issue? No brainer! I hope for Whitmer, but I really don't care.

Her point wasn't so much about them being legitimate or not as much as that since there seemed to be no viable options given Biden's reluctance to step aside, my chicken little the sky will fall rhetoric served no purpose besides amplifying for others a sentiment that serves the agenda of Trump supporters. My frustration was such that I just needed to vent about it, and, for a long time, I really hoped what was so obvious to me would become clear to the DNC and Biden's team and he could be convinced by friends and family and trusted advisors to do what is best and step aside to allow a robust primary. But that did not happen and I don't know how it will play out now.

I really think anything is possible at this point. Despite the polls, it is possible Biden somehow still wins, if enough voters prefer a severely diminished candidate who they think will have to step down soon or the 25th amendment will be come into play, allowing for at least a capable replacement. It seems unlikely to me right now, but it is possible given just how horrible Trump is. It is also possible that despite his own massive flaws, Trump wins, because he is running against someone so diminished (I believe he is beatable by just about anyone halfway competent at this point, but even so, I think he likely beats current version Biden). And if I want to dream, I can imagine a world where both candidates are replaced by less terrible options. Though that seems unlikely in Biden's case and extremely unlikely in Trump's case, but anything is possible with guys this old.

As for my vote, my feelings about Trump are such that I have to vote against him and for his most viable opponent, even for someone I feel is egregiously unfit for office at this point in Biden. But I'm going to feel sick doing it and and I am disgusted I am in the situation to have to make such a horrible choice. I continue to be angry with the DNC and those close to Biden that decided Biden's name was good enough to run on, even if he is no longer fit for office. I guess I'm angry at voters for allowing this to happen as well, but that has to include myself since my decision to vote against a man who I think will attempt to end our democracy no matter what may be taken as condoning the decision to run a man incapable of doing the job fully and competently.