The former president has always considered himself to be the ultimate disrupter. But this time, the disruption is on the other side.
The former president has always considered himself to be the ultimate disrupter. But this time, the disruption is on the other side.
Through the weekend, there were an awful lot of questions that were going back and forth from people in the president’s tightest circle, and one of the questions that kept being asked was whether Joe Biden was going to endorse Kamala Harris or not. And the question didn’t revolve around whether he wanted to or not, but whether people in her camp thought it would be better for her to fight for it, win it on her own, and not be seen as somebody who was tapped by President Biden and so, in her own way, have a fresh start going into the campaign.
So the timing seems to be about as good as it could have been to end what has just been one of the craziest two or three weeks in American politics in quite some time.
Hallmark of a shitty politician unable to seize the moment more than sticking his fist in the air. The second he opened his mouth, any advantage he had went away.
Can you blame him? Kamala was a District Attorney and an Attorney General. Even a competent opponent who based their arguments on facts would be intimidated.
I vaguely remember her debate against Mike pence, her performance was not to impressive. The fly helped. I wonder if they will let her a bit looser on the pedo
We haven't heard Kamala debate. She was not very popular in 2020. Sometimes she comes across as cringey and foolish. I wish people would stop acting like she should be coronated. She needs to prove herself before being the nominee. Just handing everything to her on a silver plater isn't going to get the response Democrats are hoping for.
It will never happen. Trump is such a fucking coward. But his supporters are perfectly fine with this being the first election year without a debate between the candidates...
What’s weird is she is relaxing. After all the chaos and bullshit and jagged geriatrics from those two guys, it’s just relaxing to see her.
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Surprised the hell out of me when I realized every time I saw her photo some tension left my shoulders. More so the moment I realized she was running. Weird outside of the context of the jagged geriatrics dance of chaos and decline of the last 8 years, within that context, not so much. I cannot be alone in that sensation.
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Don’t underestimate that impact. It’s a show stopper.
she's also like young, comparatively, experienced, and knows what she's doing. Which is a nice bump from the previous trump, though biden does also have experience, i'm not sure how much that matters or is even still true anymore.
Free speech pretty much means you can't stop someone from advertising for themselves or a cause just because it isn't close to election season. I don't disagree with you at all, but this is going to be a constitutional no go, I think.
Free speech can be limited if you have a good reason. For example, if you don't want people to see how their food is raised, you can just ignore key constitutional freedoms..
They could regulate campaign donations, like when they are allowed to be made. Or maybe when those funds are allowed to be accessed. Maybe that would help.
It's sorta like how "Christmas season" feels earlier and earlier every year... I'm a Grinch until Thanksgiving, and a patriotic non-partisan until Independence Day, thank you very much.
There is absolutely no reason why we need to run primaries so far in advance. They should all be in May or June. As far as I can tell, the only reason the schedule is like this is because some states want the influence that comes with being earlier in the process. But why should Iowa or New Hampshire always get that?
Presidential Primaries should be held over 4 or 5 consecutive weeks, with a rotating roster of which states vote in which order.
I live in Indiana and every year our national primaries are useless. All the nominees are determined by May and it leaves me with zero enthusiasm by that point.
i think we should force campaigning to be entirely done on paper. Forces thing to the rich only, but aide from entirely banning campaigning, and somehow dealing with that mess, i'm not sure how well that would go.
And I hope she chooses to not lead on a charisma card and instead leans on what she knows best: How to present facts in a concise way. Let her writers make the words, and her coaches help her stand out. I want someone to challenge Trump directly and feel it is the best strategy. Every single stupid little thing he says that includes a kernal of any information should be immediately disputed, disrupted, and dissolved.
It won't make any MAGA come to our side - well a few might though I'm not holding my breath, it will increase not so much the trust in Harris, but our willingness to stand behind her word. Trust will then increase with time and the accuracy of her statements. There is a certain level of leadership in that.
There were going to be a lot of low-info brain stems that sat out, voted third party, or just out and out voted for donnie for age and/or the media narrative about mental acuity. You can count on that.
They need this energy to make people want to vote; not just to vote apathetically or to perhaps not bother because they don't feel like it makes a difference, but to get out and do it with purpose, energised to tell others to do it. The VP pick is going to be a crucial part of this, with some actual policies/promises to back it up. The Republicans have shown fuck all, so here's hoping for a progressive campaign which speaks to people.
here's hoping for a progressive campaign which speaks to people.
there is a very real possibility that it may actually look progressive-ish. a victory and subsequent appointments will tell us alot, but I have a minutiae minutia of hope for something tangibly better than the mean average the past 40 years has given us.
Other than Palin, who was an epically bad choice, I really don't feel like the VP moves the needle all that much or injects a lot of energy. That being said, another woman on the ticket would be an interesting flex, and there are some good choices.
I laughed a lot when the international news on TV around here claimed that "in a move that took politicians and campaign mangers by surprise, Biden left the race"... But the more I look around, the more it looks like people were surprised by it.
Because it hasn't happened a lot. If you are the incumbent, you are running for a second term unless you are beat or dead. Leaving for whatever reasons is very rare.
People saying that Biden should have dropped out two weeks ago have never, in their entire life, had to make a life-changing decision. Whatever the result, I personally applaud his ability to put aside his pride and his ego for the sake of a cause larger than himself.
I don't think too many realists were surprised. I think a lot of people that buy into a lot of bothsiderist bullshit might have been surprised, I dunno. Or the types that some call "blue maga", but honestly, unless someone's paycheck relies on believing in this, I don't know who qualifies as "blue maga".
There isn't much Trump can attack her on that he doesn't support himself when it comes to Kamala's negatives. So she is actually a great choice. She also has gotten voters out of the loop of despair, even if there isn't much info about her plans besides continuing Biden's agenda.
What's funny is that this whole thing really started once Biden badly underperformed at the debate.
If Trump had just done his usual cowardly thing and bailed on the debate, we wouldn't have seen that humiliating performance by Biden, and he'd probably still be on the ticket.
Once again, Trump's pride has taken him to a place he didn't want to go.
There's no way Trump will debate her. He'll back out saying she's an illegitimate candidate or something since she didn't get selected in the primaries.
I still think it was a bad idea that Joe dropped out this late into the cycle, but at least Kamilla will be a competant incumbant. I didn't think they were going to put kamilla in his place and I thought we were fucked. Glad I was wrong but I hope that she will be enough. She's polling slightly better than Joe was against Trump.
Hopefully it leaves the Republicans without enough time to develop and implement a new strategy. It wouldn't surprise me if they have some contingency plan already, but it might be too late for them to actually use it.
They're going to say you are crazy, they will say you are a bully, they'll tell you to stop, even your partner will say that you need to stop. Because nobody wants you to break the system itself. But that is true disruption.