• xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    The majority of people who objected to Biden were Democrats that wanted a better candidate because we were afraid that Biden would lose to Trump. The majority of Republicans can’t conceive of a universe where Trump ever loses an election so there hasn’t been an equivalently loud push on the GOP side.

    Also, while I’d personally rather Trump be off the ballot entirely a fair chunk of democratic voters seem to think we’re better off with Trump on the GOP ballot than someone who is younger and may be better able to seem less openly deplorable. I disagree with that notion and also think Trump should step down because any chance that he wins the election is too high of a chance.

    Basically, this article is drawing an equivalence between two very different situations.

    • Makeitstop@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I want Trump off the ballot (and planet) but I do think that another GOP candidate would have been much more likely to win.*

      Public opinion on the current administration and the economy is negative to the point that one would expect the incumbent party to be facing an extremely uphill battle. But Trump is even more unpopular, brings a ton of baggage, energizes his opposition and alienates his allies by threatening democracy and the rule of law, says crazy nonsense that drives away independent voters instead of focusing on issues, and sabotages his own campaign through mismanagement.


      * Of course, that would only have happened if Trump hadn’t run, since he would almost certainly have caused chaos and infighting if someone beat him in the primaries.

    • finley@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      Trump on the GOP ballot than someone who is younger and may be better able to seem less openly deplorable. I disagree with that notion and also think Trump should step down because any chance that he wins the election is too high of a chance.

      I REALLY would hate to see a Harris v Haley election.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Nikki Haley couldn’t win the GOP primary for the same reason Kamala Harris couldn’t win the Dem Primary. They’ve got these very fancy resumes built up through a lifetime of insider political brown-nosing and horse trading. But they were still trapped under the glass ceiling, by organizers and mega-donors that don’t respect women.

        Hilary - for all her flaws - did “crack the glass ceiling” by hitting a critical mass of insider support that women, up until this point, hadn’t enjoyed. That won Harris a place on Biden’s ticket four years later as a kind-of concession to the PUMAs. But Haley was never going to manage it, because the racism and misogyny in her party is that much thicker. There is no large active feminist wing of the Republican Party.

        I don’t think the GOP is realistically going to be able to put up a woman candidate unless the base of the party is drastically altered. Democrat insiders tolerate women, begrudgingly. Republicans hate them at a biblical level.

      • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        Harris would have it in the bag. Haley is a true believer in pro-life policies in a way that would really turn off independents. Haley is an absolutely awful national candidate and can only really thrive in regions where Christianity has a death grip on the electorate.

        Trump’s agnosticism is actually one of his political strengths - it should be a weakness with his base but for some reason he’s viewed as the second coming of jesus fucking christ and I really don’t understand how the fuck those delusional religious folks managed to square that in their mind. Especially when it was Biden vs. Trump with Biden being a deeply religious and non-shitty Catholic.

        The GOP is seriously unhinged right now… and every GOP politician who has called that out has been instantly destroyed… that’s actually another contrast of this article - Pelosi openly and really fucking brazenly called for Biden to step down, Johnson, Scalise… fucking McCarthy? Those clowns would never dare because unless they act as a group it’s political suicide.

        • subignition@fedia.io
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          3 months ago

          for some reason he’s viewed as the second coming of jesus fucking christ and I really don’t understand how the fuck those delusional religious folks managed to square that in their mind.

          That’s the neat part, they don’t. Cognitive dissonance is one helluva drug

          • shalafi@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Cognitive dissonance causes internal suffering when trying to reconcile two irreconcilable facts or beliefs. You’re suffering dissonance trying to get your head around Trump = Jesus. They are not suffering.

            (For the record, Trump can represent God because he is an “imperfect vessel”, and that’s OK because all have fallen short of the glory of God, sinners casting stones, etc… Besides, didn’t Jesus teach forgiveness? Don’t try to understand this either, just don’t, or more dissonance for you!)

            • subignition@fedia.io
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              3 months ago

              Well, I’m not an expert, but I don’t think they don’t experience it so much as their religion has trained them to rationalize it away quickly. I feel like this meme template sort of reflects this, and I think the anger you’d get from bringing the contradiction to light is primarily it

              I suppose that means my original post was phrased incorrectly regardless

              • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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                3 months ago

                The meme is incomplete. Instead of the fourth panel with the realization, you open up a new meme with a different objection. And it repeats, over and over.

        • quicklime@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          They don’t see Trump as the second coming of Christ, they see him as more like another King Cyrus. It’s the idea that a ruler or other major figurehead can be a “vessel for God” benefiting the believers of a particular religion while not actually being a part of said religion or conforming to its morals.

          Vox article on this, for example

      • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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        3 months ago

        Would the main MAGA group shift to support her? I don’t think you can just switch out cult leaders like that. How would she do with policy vs. Harris? What would be fascinating is having a race where someone is going to be the first woman President, regardless, so that is removed from the reasons for voting for them - which it shouldn’t be…I want someone who can be a leader, period. And for what it’s worth, Trump could have been a leader (not a great one, but one still), he got a few chances during his term, even soft ball ones. And he failed them all.

        • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          The Republicans are completely fucked without Trump and they know it. There is simply no other candidate that has any traction with their base let alone is able to galvanise it. This election is all about bringing out the vote and Trump is the only one who has a shot at that on the right.

    • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      I also love the implication that it somehow wouldn’t be a massive waste of time for Democrats to go tell Trump he’s too old to run. Like how worthless is your time if you’re gonna spend it barking up the worlds dumbest tree. If I wanted to be ignored, I’d at least ask for something like no longer selling weapons to nations credibly accused of genocide.