All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Lord Falcon]

If the worst for fans of Bernie should pass, as it seems likely, then the man will 'just' return to being an important voice and vote in the Senate.

If you care about his agenda you will, as he does, want a majority of Democrats in the Senate to be able to pass even a little of his agenda.

For that to happen, you will also be required to, as he does, work with House Democrats, to be able to draft legislation to be sent to the Senate for a Democratic majority to vote on. If the Senate isn't Democratic, then it will never matter because Mitch McConnel will simply continue to ignore the bills sent his way like the awful gravedigger of functional American government he is.

And then, if all that goes well, guess what? You need a Democratic president to be able to sign it into law. If even a single lever of congressional power and executive power remains in Republican hands, nothing gets done. Taking your ball and going home helps to ensure that /nothing/ you want to happen is going to happen.

And that's before we even start talking about the courts.

If your local politician refuses to support that agenda, primary the $#43 out of him.

If turnout is high enough, Dems could even get rid of Mitch. Amy McGrath is within strangling distance of him.

Sanders has no control over the fanatical section of his base, and I doubt the DNC and Biden will be willing to give him a second chance to use them as leverage for endorsement. They learnt from Hillary's mistakes. There's no point in giving him what he wants when he can't guarantee their votes or make a truce he'll hold to.

Edit: Thankfully we won't be getting Nina Turner and co. in an administration.

While Hillary Clinton made plenty of mistakes in the general election, I've never heard "she gave Bernie too much" as one of them. Unlike this primary, the DNC really did put their thumb on the scale in 2016.

[Tami]

The more ominous sign for Democrats, though, and that they'll need to grapple with is that the youth vote that DID turn out was overwhelmingly for Sanders. If the Democrats want to not just win transitorily for the moment, they're going to *need* to start delivering on the priorities Sanders highlighted right away if they want any chance to hold *on*.

And despite what some people think, they do want to be in power and not just 'the controlled opposition'.

What you said reminds me of this

Moore: Getting rid of Trump and the system at the same time was probably too much to ask

Bernie Sanders supporter Michael Moore tells Brian Williams that he believes that “asking people to do two things, get rid of Trump and get rid of the system, the political & economic system that gave us Trump, I think was too much ask probably. People were like can we just get rid of Trump, please?”

[Steel Inquisitor]

While Hillary Clinton made plenty of mistakes in the general election, I've never heard "she gave Bernie too much" as one of them. Unlike this primary, the DNC really did put their thumb on the scale in 2016.

In '16 in exchange for Sanders' endorsement he got unprecedented power over who goes into the DNC and their platform, as though he was the one who won the nomination rather than Clinton. This didn't buy them loyalty from Sanders, or his associates. That he did this to the first woman nominee is another bad context. I expect some negotiation but what they gave him was far too much for too little.

https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...on-to-platform

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...m-negotiations

Edit: Clinton got SOS and unlimited access to Obama, for example.

[TheDarman]

In '16 in exchange for Sanders' endorsement he got unprecedented power over who goes into the DNC and their platform, as though he was the one who won the nomination rather than Clinton. This didn't buy them loyalty from Sanders, or his associates. That he did this to the first woman nominee is another bad context. I expect some negotiation but what they gave him was far too much for too little.

https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...on-to-platform

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...m-negotiations

Edit: Clinton got SOS and unlimited access to Obama, for example.

I always said Clinton treated Sanders with kid gloves because she understood she would need his supporters to win in 2016. For what it is worth, a greater number of them did turn out for her than her supporters did for Obama. The issue is that she couldn’t build up support to make up for their defections in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, which cost her those states.

[Lord Falcon]

In '16 in exchange for Sanders' endorsement he got unprecedented power over who goes into the DNC and their platform, as though he was the one who won the nomination rather than Clinton. This didn't buy them loyalty from Sanders, or his associates. That he did this to the first woman nominee is another bad context. I expect some negotiation but what they gave him was far too much for too little.

https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...on-to-platform

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...m-negotiations

Edit: Clinton got SOS and unlimited access to Obama, for example.

Not sure how that hurt Clinton. Bernie evidently used his power effectively, given the Dem's more liberal platform that allows his ideological near-equivalents to exist within the Democratic party he refuses to be a part of.

[shooshoomanjoe]

The coronavirus has hit the tourism industry hard, which means trump is losing money on his hotels. His fix? Bailout for hotels.

[Tendrin]

The coronavirus has hit the tourism industry hard, which means trump is losing money on his hotels. His fix? Bailout for hotels.

Realizing the grift might come to an end, Trump prepares a massive cash windfall for his own businesses. Totally shocking. :P

[Tendrin]

Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 23 years in prison.

/GOOD/.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The coronavirus has hit the tourism industry hard, which means trump is losing money on his hotels. His fix? Bailout for hotels.

I've heard Trump is still planning to hold rallies (the next one scheduled for the 19th), despite the prospect of his lemmings contracting coronavirus, but he cares more about saving his hotels. Good to know where his priorities lie.

Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 23 years in prison.

/GOOD/.

Barring a pardon from Trump, I'm putting the over/under on how long Weinstein lasts in the big house before kicking the bucket (with or without, ahem, "help") at three years, and that's a generous estimate.

[Tami]

I've heard Trump is still planning to hold rallies (the next one scheduled for the 19th), despite the prospect of his lemmings contracting coronavirus, but he cares more about saving his hotels. Good to know where his priorities lie.



Barring a pardon from Trump, I'm putting the over/under on how long Weinstein lasts in the big house before kicking the bucket (with or without, ahem, "help") at three years, and that's a generous estimate.

I wonder if this is making Trump think about how many years he might get for all of the sexual assaults he could be charged with once he leaves office?

[BeastieRunner]

I wonder if this is making Trump think about how many years he might get for all of the sexual assaults he could be charged with once he leaves office?

Nothing will happen to him. It would've happened already. He'll probably live well into his 90s, too.

[BeastieRunner]

We're now 0.4% away from a bear.

The Goldman and Buffet groups think this will be a short bear, buoyed by a post-election boost by year's end, no matter the winner.

[PwrdOn]

What you said reminds me of this

Moore: Getting rid of Trump and the system at the same time was probably too much to ask

But that's exactly the problem though isn't it? Getting rid of Trump without doing anything to address the system that allowed him to come to power just means that this sort of thing will keep happening, and Democrats will as always be on the back foot instead of taking initiative.

[Darkspellmaster]

Nothing will happen to him. It would've happened already. He'll probably live well into his 90s, too.

Worst case is that he runs to France like Polanski did back in the day. 1,000 cases here ain't good. Wonder if Disney and Universal will shut down the parks for a while? Or their cruise ships.

Wish the news wouldn't be panicking my parents.

Also, the orange menace can't use this to stop the elections, can he? Like say because of outbreak people cant go vote?

[Crabble]

Personally couldn't care less about the Democrats who're at the local/state/federal level if they're not obvs corrupt. All that matters if they get something done. As a millennial, I say that they should set any idea of restructure aside for now.

Ugh. During a friggin' covid-19 outbreak.
Social media's being annoying right now. Yeah, it sucks to see your candidate not doing well. Is it necessary to be petty though?