Jason Moyer on 5/11/2020 at 00:50
Yeah supposedly the Trump campaign spent a pile of money on spanish language "omg biden is a commie" ads in the past week or two.
june gloom on 5/11/2020 at 01:08
Quote Posted by Starker
I'm just surprised that the line of attack actually worked. I thought anyone but Lord Dampnut's followers would shrug it off as a joke, but apparently it's a big part of why he won Florida.
The Republicans have spent the last sixty years labeling anything they didn't like, such as equal rights for black people and women, as "socialism." The Soviet Union has been gone for half of that time and yet people still act like giving people health care or even better pay is tantamount to Stalinism.
Starker on 5/11/2020 at 01:08
Quote Posted by Renzatic
Keep in mind that this isn't over yet, people. It's looking good for Biden at this very moment, but it could end up swinging any number of ways, giving Trump the win. Remember, it's not over until it's over, and then it's not over until all the court challenges and recounts.
Um. Why would it be over after that? Biden winning presidency would be the easy part, given how unpopular Lord Dampnut is. The real hard part only starts after that. Democracy isn't a spectator sport and a crisis isn't something where you only show up every 4 years and then sit back and relax.
Frankly, as far as I'm concerned, it's still very much an open question whether people of the US really have the grit and patriotism to meet the challenge they are facing. So far, it doesn't look good. Especially Democrats seem to be very willing to just sit on their asses and complain all day, then maybe protest a little and call it a day. And parts of your media settled back into the comfortable bounds of access journalism and sensationalism real quick.
Lord Dampnut and his supporters didn't sit on their laurels -- they started a relentless re-election and messaging campaign at the day of his inauguration while Republicans in the Senate worked overtime to reshape the courts with ideologically suitable Heritage Foundation approved judges. And all these 4 years Lord Dampnut consolidated power, worked with the local Republican parties to prevent a challenger from the right, gathered data, sought out new voters. Because he knew they were hanging on by a thread. Well, democracy hangs on by a thread. What are Democrats doing? Biden will not be able to fix everything. He needs all the support he can get and then some. Hell, if he manages to restore even some of what Lord Dampnut broke, it's an achievement.
demagogue on 5/11/2020 at 01:10
A lot in my hometown circle are recycling the "Do you really want a Communist takeover with Biden?" line. I would ask them do they really think it's going to be any worse than Clinton or Obama, but then I expect they thought Clinton & Obama's terms were either communist takeovers or corrupt to their core too, so there's no use in it.
It reminded me of that mechanic in Paradox grand-strats where you're cooking up a war justification. I always thought a lot of times they're so ridiculous. Who is going to believe that Romania can just cook up a reason to go to war with Peru in 6 months, or whatever it is. But looking at how easily this crowd recycles what's been told to them, it's kind of sad to see how accurate it is. Of course we have to cite check Goebbels here, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."
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Edit: The other line that's getting trotted out by them is the assumption that the mail in ballots are transparently fraudulent. This is raising the spectre of an earlier post of mine. If Trump would have won, there's no question the left would take to the streets in masses and you'd get a lot of disruption. But if Biden wins in this way, I think people haven't thought about what happens when the right take to the streets because it doesn't happen often. But I have some kind of sinking feeling if something snaps in them, it could be a different kind of social disruption that's going to let loose some bad mojo that can't be bottled back up, I mean in terms of openly racist attacks, etc.
I don't know though. These were also the same people a few hours ago putting up those "let's just get along no matter who wins" banners when they thought they were going to win and didn't want to hear Dems bitch about it.
Incidentally, it's also crazy how we all, Americans at least, know these "let's get along", then the "mail in ballots are fraudulent", and "Biden is a communist" memes because they're literally recycled at every level, so you're practically guaranteed to see them by your Trump-supporting contacts, if you have any. The US really has to brush up on the "free thought" part of being an American.
Starker on 5/11/2020 at 01:21
I didn't really expect much from Biden, so he managed to do better than I thought and was very disciplined. But his campaign was so incredibly timid. And it was known the Hispanic vote would play such a huge part and that they were one of the biggest uncourted demographics in the US, largely thanks to Republicans refocusing on white grievance and choosing to forego all the gains Bush managed to make with his compassionate conservatism spiel.
catbarf on 5/11/2020 at 02:19
Quote Posted by demagogue
Edit: The other line that's getting trotted out by them is the assumption that the mail in ballots are transparently fraudulent. This is raising the spectre of an earlier post of mine. If Trump would have won, there's no question the left would take to the streets in masses and you'd get a lot of disruption. But if Biden wins in this way, I think people haven't thought about what happens when the right take to the streets because it doesn't happen often. But I have some kind of sinking feeling if something snaps in them, it could be a different kind of social disruption that's going to let loose some bad mojo that can't be bottled back up, I mean in terms of openly racist attacks, etc.
With Trump's mix of egotism and shamelessness, I fully expect him to call on his followers to defend his re-election by force. He'll only leave the White House kicking and screaming.
Starker on 5/11/2020 at 02:53
Some of his surrogates are already calling for his supporters to show up at tabulation/election centres to help "swing the vote back".
Tocky on 5/11/2020 at 03:25
They are claiming overnight spikes in Biden votes. And they have the youtube videos by sellout black people talking unsubstantiated smack to prove it!
demagogue on 5/11/2020 at 06:30
Meanwhile a ton of mail in votes seem to have been actually systematically lost in swing states, and court orders are coming out for mail centers to do sweeps for missing ballots (which of course lean heavily to Biden & other Dem candidates): (
https://twitter.com/SeniorsAction/status/1324197008651898880)
Nothing more Trumpist than accusing your enemies of your own crimes.
nemyax on 5/11/2020 at 06:44
Whose side is better at fraud then?
