Something is wrong with this split-screen picture. On one side, former president Donald Trump rants about mass deportations and claims to have stopped “wars with France,” after being described by his longest-serving White House chief of staff as a literal fascist. On the other side, commentators debate whether Vice President Kamala Harris performed well enough at a CNN town hall to “close the deal.”
…
Let’s review: First, Harris was criticized for not doing enough interviews — so she did multiple interviews, including with nontraditional media. She was criticized for not doing hostile interviews — so she went toe to toe with Bret Baier of Fox News. She was criticized as being comfortable only at scripted rallies — so she did unscripted events, such as the town hall on Wednesday. Along the way, she wiped the floor with Trump during their one televised debate.
Trump, meanwhile, stands before his MAGA crowds and spews nonstop lies, ominous threats, impossible promises and utter gibberish. His rhetoric is dismissed, or looked past, without first being interrogated.
Kamala isn’t really standing for anything, is trying to be too safe, and I don’t think it’s going too work to well
She stands for a lot of things, this exact kind of meaningless bullshit is the fucking problem
[What the fuck are you talking about?] (https://kamalaharris.com/issues)
This is exactly the issue that the post is about
Vice President Harris grew up in a middle class home as the daughter of a working mom. She believes that when the middle class is strong, America is strong. That’s why as President, Kamala Harris will create an Opportunity Economy where everyone has a chance to compete and a chance to succeed — whether they live in a rural area, small town, or big city.
Vice President Kamala Harris has made clear that building up the middle class will be a defining goal of her presidency. That’s why she will make it a top priority to bring down costs and increase economic security for all Americans. As President, she will fight to cut taxes for more than 100 million working and middle class Americans while lowering the costs of everyday needs like health care, housing, and groceries. She will bring together organized labor and workers, small business owners, entrepreneurs, and American companies to create good paying jobs, grow the economy, and ensure that America continues to lead the world.
There is not a single policy included in this two paragraph long statement.
It’s the most transparent Politician Speak, saying an earful while telling you absolutely nothing.
If you could have bothered to read a few lines more, there’s an entire 76-page PDF attached outlining plans and goals.
Now I’m not asking you to read the whole thing, but you’re being disingenuous.
there’s an entire 76-page PDF
How much of it is more fluff like this?
Now I’m not asking you to read the whole thing
If you’d like to single out the policies you think are meaningful, I’ll happily pick through that chapter. But if the first two paragraphs are empty pablum, I’m not wasting my time with the next fifty.
Aren’t you a big fan of “theory”?
Exceedingly verbose publications should be right up your alley 🤷
But if the first two paragraphs are empty pablum, I’m not wasting my time with the next fifty
Great idea. Have a good day.
“The introduction isn’t an in depth policy explanation.”
Fuck off.
And what doesTrump stands for? Let’s see. Revenge against anyone who he doesn’t like, threatens political opponents with military action, across the board tariffs that will result in retaliation from other countries, more tax cuts for the rich,… Oh and Lots of fear mongering.
He is dangerous.
I don’t think he is going to work too well.
Right but it’s not about him. You can’t point out how the sociopath with cult of sycophants is a problem cause that is obvious to those of us that care.
To those that don’t it’s just mud slinging that doesn’t answer the fact they don’t like her policies.
It won’t work to just not be the other, you got to be preferable. I thought this was learned in 2016 but I see a lot this repeating itself.When someone brings up they don’t like Harris’ policies it’s not enough to shout back the other guy is obviously worse. It doesn’t answer the point. And people are not that rational.
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This is a feature not a bug in a slaver’s system.
It’s the image that each candidate has crafted. Harris is running as an ultra-competent bureaucrat who will follow all the rules. Trump is running as an angry old fart who will break them.
Fascists in the media lionize Trump because they love the idea of a Rebel Billionaire breaking all the rules to MAGA.
And because so much of the media is owned and operated by fascists, you get a stark Trump bias.
But what are Dems going to do about it? Break up these mega-corp news conglomerates? Prosecute flagrant violations of election law by billionaire media magnets? Threaten these oligarchs in any conceivable way?
No. They’re just going to get strung around by the nose, then complain that The Low Information Voter didn’t see through the bullshit filling up their screens and airwaves.
The FTC is just starting to go after oligopolies. So yes, institutions supported by Democratic bureaucrats are going after powerful conglomerates. Results can be seen in the denial of the Capri tapestry merger and the language used by the judge in the case.
The FTC is just starting to go after oligopolies.
Will Harris replace Lina Khan once she gets into Biden’s seat?
Depends if she goes behind Israeli lobby.
sigh
Centrists look on Trump’s base and wonder why they can’t have a mindless cult too.
Micheal Bloomberg hates Donald Trump because he ain’t Donald Trump.
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Better just let the genocidal fascist win I guess vOv
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R is wanting to come directly for the Americans as soon as trump becomes president while D is still wondering how to distance themselves enough from the current genocide to just keep profiting from the far away war.
Are both options not good? Yes, but one is CLEARLY much much much worse than the other (it’s the R one, if it isn’t clear enough). With D you can at least talk and slow down the horrible shit which gives you time to work with third party politicians to actually improve stuff, while with R they will just add you to their hit list and you’ll get screwed a million times over. Under a D government you can actually work on improving shit and getting third party candidates in, under a R government you’ll be lucky if you can still vote for the next election
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Affirmative action for morons
I had a thought about this; fascism exists because there are evil but effective ways of swaying people. By scapegoating immigrants and providing propaganda, he’s doing exactly what other fascists have done (including Hitler) to great success.
It’s like any other good vs evil things, the good guys always have extra hurdles to deal with, like a super hero who has to save civilians and can’t just sucker punch the baddies. Too bad this is reality, and the good guys aren’t guaranteed to win…
it also shows how complicit media is in fascism and how any law that would enforce factual reporting by bringing conduct before a jury to decide whether intentional lying occurred by a celebrity or media platform would undermine fascistic lies.
Except half the jury would be comprised of people who either support those lies, even knowing they’re lies, or don’t care enough to form an opinion.
You would need a population that is both concerned with the rule of law and break from political teams enough to fairly examine arguments for bad faith.
We do not have that population. Any jury would be split or worse.
Realistic rebuttal: juries seem to have very easy times convicting trump in court cases.
Theoretical/contextual rebuttal: I would also note that juries are how we convict criminals in this country. If you’re saying the lesser task of just making a determination that somebody is knowingly lying is beyond the purview of a jury then our entire court of law where the juries determine far more than that should be called into question.
.
And yet you spineless fucking cowards didn’t endorse, so your words mean nothing
The problem isn’t having a high standards for Harris. She is running for the most powerful position in probably the world, so she has to be able to do this. The problem is there is no standard for Trump at all. His supporters are fine with his low quality for lots of reasons, none that are helpful to the nation. The GOP is fine because of the votes he brings by being himself and saying things they think but couldn’t say out loud. And the rest, like the media and the left and other country leaders are soft on calling a spade a spade because somehow pointing out the Emperor has no clothes and is shitting all over the furniture is not playing fair or isn’t respectful or something.
“You criticized her for not being good at X so she did X a bunch!”
Yeah but she’s bad at it and it went really poorly for her and hurt her numbers.
These people are fucking idiots.
Seriously? Even Fox News admitted that she handed them their own ass.
I have a hard time believing that but I don’t know anything about it. I saw clips of the CNN town hall and she was horrendous.
One side expects their candidates to hold some standards, the other side doesn’t care. It’s like watching a sporting event with a homer who only sees the world based on how it effects their team winning or losing. Fairness doesn’t come into play, the other side is always cheating and getting favored media exposure.
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Bingo bingo and bingo.
She pivoted away from the base to a non existent center. These have been the core ideological principles of the democratic base for decades. And she doesn’t support them.
I can only speak for myself, as a Leftist I dont expect perfection but I have a few quite simple things that I would want from a presidency that I dont think are unreasonable. I want an end to the funding of genocide, an end to US imperalism, an end to the military (at least offensive military), an end to fossil fuels, an improved immigration system, decreased taxes for the workers, less inflation, ranked choice voting, enforced civil rights for women and trans people, a better healthcare system, no corporate bailouts or funding. Kamala might support some or none of those things and I wouldn’t know because she doesn’t make her policy positions clear. I think that if she was just transparent and honest then more people would vote for her, as of now her campaign website contains only a few very vague positions.
We’re fucked and will probably all starve to death. At least vote for Kamala so we don’t devolve into fascism this fast.
I voted for Kamala in early voting, it was the most painful thing I have done so far
the 60% of Americans that are paycheck to paycheck will starve to death, and the 39% who have savings will get poorer. The top 1% will get richer either way and none of this matters to them. Its just a matter of how fast their wealth increases.
They probably would be fine if half of us starved, as long as we dont block the higjways with our bodies, and dont stink up the place.
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Some of them may require a tad bit of effort (which yes I get expecting a Democrat to do their job is like asking for a million dollars) but she could at least not fund genocides. I think that’s a good bare minimum
Yes, that’s the advantage of leading a cult.
I’m seeing ads on TV that are like “Harris is for they/them, Trump is for you”
I’d like to see an ad that says “Harris is for freedom, Trump is for Hitler”
because most major media supports trump.
You mean the ones whos mega-rich owners are being promised massive tax cuts by trump? Those very same ones?
I’m shocked to my core. I’m glad I was sitting down when I read your comment.
But but but there’s no direct physical evidence of these major media owners handing giant round bags of cash with big dollar signs on them to trump personally while they twirl their moustaches!!!
Don’t you see - we can’t know if they support him or not!
/s obvs christ some people on here are russian trolls or steadfastly refuse to understand a goddamned thing
A lot of them aren’t just in it for the tax cuts but because they like the ideology.
What if they disguised their sociopathic greed as ideology?
You forgot the racism.
Imo, when it comes down to it, a lot of them won’t give a care what colour their wage slaves are, in much the same way that most of them aren’t really Christian or are secretly gay etc.
Imagine having to come out as a non-rascist to your conservative parents
Fuck that
They make feinting chairs for a reason, after all 🤔
Fainting is passing out. Feinting is bluffing.
I suppose that poker chairs would be Feinting chairs.
Lol my bad 🙃
Or mimics
Those too.
Fucking propaganda machines.
Weird 34 is their headline-grabbing fat cash cow.
“Moo for us! Cha ching! Yeah!”
The truth is not better but there’s some nuance. Major media do not usually care about being for or against fascism. They care about clicks, and following “journalistic ethics” that boil down to Enlightened Centrism™ and bothsidesism.
Their billionaire owners don’t even have to interfere (most of the time). The system self-selects to make money through a shared set of beliefs in what constitutes “proper journalism”. This makes journalists, as a profession, ontologically incapable of fighting against fascists. They truly, honestly, firmly believe that “Fascist about to win US Presidency” is not a statement of fact.
It’s the same ideological pitfalls that makes Serious Media pit science against whichever anti-science fad is trendy right now. Vaccines, “climatic skepticism”, etc. anything goes and the journalists in charge truly genuinely from their heart believe that is a fair and balanced approach.
Not to say there aren’t actual conspiracies from time to time of course, but even actual independent traditional journalism has generally failed to accurately report on the rise of fascism.
No, they definitely care for Trump to be elected. Major media is owned by oligarchs. Oligarchs support fascism. Plan and simple
Like most conspiracy theories, there is a huge grain of truth there. Bush should have done 9/11 because it benefitted him in literally every way. Yet he did not.
Today’s WaPo scandal illustrates the more real situation quite well: usually the billionaires take a mostly hands-off approach to owning a paper. They don’t need to meddle. The journalists are ontologically incapable of being truly disruptive regardless of if the paper is owned by Bezos or funded by an independent government committee. That Bezos presumably felt the need to prevent the WaPo from endorsing Harris was unusual and a big enough deal for the journalists to raise a big stink. And as someone who lives in a country that has a strong tradition of independent and state-funded journalism (that doesn’t shy away from criticizing the government)… I can tell you it’s not very different from the rest. Certainly not as left-wing as it gets, and just as vulnerable to the fallacies I described.
That is not to say there is no outright corruption of big prestigious papers, or that oligarchs owning the press isn’t a massive, glaring threat to Democracy. But beware of oversimplifying such issues. For one because you might regret making such sweeping statements when the billionaires actually decide to wield their power, Murdoch style. And for two because you might be disappointed to find that prestigious independently owned papers aren’t so much better. Don’t expect them to start printing Marxist pamphlets any time soon if that’s what you are into.
No, we are not talking about Marxist. In fact I said fascists which you keep stesteering away from. Who pays you toispread propaganda?
Major immediate supports the GOP. This is hardly new or unique to Trump. It’s been like this for decades.
What’s new is how far down they’re willing to go to continue to do that.
“New” as in - in the last decade. Not like, new new.
With someone so stupid and weird and gross as donnie, it’s become nearly impossible to hide the corporate game.
And the few sources that may not be owned by Trump-backing Nazis still have to have their horse race. They want to make it seem close to get clicks and sell ads.
Trump is the best thing to happen for News Media since 9/11.
And they would do anything to have another 4 years of people obsessively watching/viewing/clicking all day every day to see what insane thing hes done to the country next.
…but the magabrained keep telling us that the corporate media is all liberal! Their proof? Supposed polls of the help at those MNCs. I’d like to know in what universe the help determine the direction of a MNC.
