All purpose news and politics thread part VII: News & Politics Total Landscaping

[Dalak]

I doubt he believes much of it. Remember he called his own audience in an inter-company email "cousin f*ck*rs and terrorists"...this all about getting views from the lowest common denominator for Tucker.

That seems logical to me, as there has been much profit to be made by conservatives in this country by lying to those willing to be lied to.

I'm not saying he has, I'm asking if he should. I don't think they are either, but it seems there's a lot of people online saying he's not left enough for them to bother voting.

I would lay odds that the majority of them are false for various reasons, but I believe that anyone who isn't willing to vote and allow Trump another chance isn't actually as left as they think/portray they are. The man wanted to nuke a hurricane, and he'll be surrounded by even more sycophants willing to act out his whims than before when he gassed protestors to make a photo op. Thanks Project 2025!

E: Threat Assessment is a skill people learn when playing video games and card games like Magic the Gathering, I wish more people would apply their effort to thinking about things happening in the real world like they do to their favorite fandoms.

[zinderel]

I don't know if Carlson really believes the stuff he's saying but even the Joe Rogan audience seemed pretty shocked at his nonsense.

I've only seen clips but Carlson sounds like he's off his rocker.

Back in the 80’s, when I was a kid, I was browsing the library at the church my grandmother attended. I was very into UFO’s, and I found a set of self-published ‘books’ (they were little more than thick pamphlets) that proclaimed that UFO’s were demons from Hell - which was in the earth - who were deceiving mankind, and that Man landing on the moon had opened the door to the demons because our reach had ‘exceeded our natural grasp’, and that we were playing god by attempting to ‘reach the heavens’.

Tucker, who is about my age, sounds like he read those same ‘books’ and took them to heart.

Even as a kid, it was…breathtaking in its insanity. I honestly wish I had kept them, just for the coffee table discussion value of the crap fundamentalists have pushed on their people in the name making a profit and keeping the ignorant fearful…

Edit: This same church ALSO had a book about how dinosaurs lived alongside Man, and that we began referring to them as ‘dragons’. The largest dinosaurs, you see, ate a lot of plants, right? Which as we know, causes methane buildup. Okay, so as a self-defense mechanism against predatory dinosaurs, see, a ‘Brontosaurus’ would grind it’s flat, stony back teeth together to create a spark as it belched, igniting the methane in a flash of bright flame that would scare off predators. So, see, ‘dragons breathing fire’ didn’t exist, but DINOSAURS that breathed fire while living alongside mankind? DID!

This was what passed for ‘Answers in Genesis’, then. (I’m pretty sure that Ken Hamm even spoke at that church, before anyone knew who he was, yet…Jurassic Park had come out, and the fundamentalist churches were scrambling to counteract the renewal of interest in dinosaurs and evolutionary science that followed.)

[Godzilla2099]

One has to differentiate between the MAGA cultists and independent voters. The MAGATs are a lost cause and nothing that Trump does or says will hurt their support. They will vote for him even if he is jail. But that is perhaps 35% of the voters. And frankly what they think or say is of little importance. It is the independent, fickle voters who will decide this. They were the ones who gave Trump that small victory in a few States to win in 2016, and moved to Biden in 2020. Yes, as crazy s it sounds, there were Bush-Obama-Trump_Biden voters. They are the ones who will make the difference. They are low information voters who "don't care about politics". I wish the media would spend more time talking to them and less time concentrating on Trump cultists.

I'm one of them (I guess the Independent 'don't care about politics' type).

The worst person you can trust is a politician. Most don't give a crap about every day Americans let alone making their lives better so and I can't grasp why people are so passionate backing one up (it makes no sense to me) Their only goal is to stay in power. Period. I have both liberal and conservative views depending on what the topic is. When I vote, its who I think are the lesser of the two evils and hope the next sleeze-bag in office doesn't damage things too much.

That being said, I'd vote Democrat. I'm no fan of that party but when you look at their competition? I don't get how this is a contest. The GOP can't even keep things stable in the one branch of the government they control. Yet they want to lead the entire country? At least the Democrats make an attempt at running things. All I see from the GOP are finger pointing. Finally, I look at the history books. Recent Times show our economy prospered more with Democratic Leaders

That's just me though.

[Robotman]

One has to differentiate between the MAGA cultists and independent voters. The MAGATs are a lost cause and nothing that Trump does or says will hurt their support. They will vote for him even if he is jail. But that is perhaps 35% of the voters. And frankly what they think or say is of little importance. It is the independent, fickle voters who will decide this. They were the ones who gave Trump that small victory in a few States to win in 2016, and moved to Biden in 2020. Yes, as crazy s it sounds, there were Bush-Obama-Trump_Biden voters. They are the ones who will make the difference. They are low information voters who "don't care about politics". I wish the media would spend more time talking to them and less time concentrating on Trump cultists.

And that’s the problem. We know the MAGAts who came out in 2020 will come out again in 2024. The low-info and apathetic voters may not show up for Biden in swing states the way they did in four years ago.

The economy isn’t great but it’s stable and there is job growth. But inflation has been a killer for countless families. I think the scary thing is that despite Trump sinking the economy the GOP has convinced many Americans that the economy was better under Trump because “he’s good at business”. If you say a lie enough it becomes the truth, especially to the low-info voters not paying close attention to the facts.

[Jack Dracula]

Where has Biden been appealing to the "far left"? Abortion? Marijuana? Israel? None of his position are far left.

A pessimist might think no matter what he does to appeal to the farther left voters it won’t be good enough.

[Kevinroc]

"Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"

Four years ago the President suggested ingesting bleach to fight Covid. I'd say we're better off now.

[godisawesome]

And that’s the problem. We know the MAGAts who came out in 2020 will come out again in 2024. The low-info and apathetic voters may not show up for Biden in swing states the way they did in four years ago.

The economy isn’t great but it’s stable and there is job growth. But inflation has been a killer for countless families. I think the scary thing is that despite Trump sinking the economy the GOP has convinced many Americans that the economy was better under Trump because “he’s good at business”. If you say a lie enough it becomes the truth, especially to the low-info voters not paying close attention to the facts.

Some of that economic obsession with the GOP is probably left-over Reagan-era propaganda, since Reagan defined his generation of politicians on the explosive 80’s economy and turned back most for the old left-over New Deal conviction that defined the era before that.

That’s also likely part of the problem Biden and the old guard of the Dems have with economic messaging - they’re still feeling the trauma of Reagan deregulating everything and yanking the country’s economic politics to the right, and not only feel like they have to appeal to a populace enamored with Reaganomics, but they’re clueless as to how to “speak New Deal” because they grew up who it instead of experiencing its beginning.

[Reverse Happy]

The Senate just passed Ukraine aid by a 79-18 vote, and Biden plans to sign it in the morning. FINALLY. Wish it were sooner by even a night.

[Kevinroc]

The Senate just passed Ukraine aid by a 79-18 vote, and Biden plans to sign it in the morning. FINALLY. Wish it were sooner by even a night.

Ukraine aid should have passed a long time ago.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

I think that some of the reluctance is that there's seemingly no end in sight to the conflict and some don't want to basically give Ukraine a blank check and then how we're supposed to pay for all of this aid to them. And we haven't even talked about how to pay to rebuild Ukraine after this is all over. Not saying that we shouldn't help Ukraine but...

[Tendrin]

I think that some of the reluctance is that there's seemingly no end in sight to the conflict and some don't want to basically give Ukraine a blank check and then how we're supposed to pay for all of this aid to them. And we haven't even talked about how to pay to rebuild Ukraine after this is all over. Not saying that we shouldn't help Ukraine but...

We should in fact give Ukraine a blank check. Given how well they've performed with how little we've actually done for them so far, they deserve it, and it'd remove the need to worry about the Putin Party in congress.

[scourge]

Isn't that Ukraine bill also tied up with the whole Tik Tok ban thing and a bunch of other nonsense that helped delay it?

[CaptainEurope]

One has to differentiate between the MAGA cultists and independent voters. The MAGATs are a lost cause and nothing that Trump does or says will hurt their support. They will vote for him even if he is jail. But that is perhaps 35% of the voters. And frankly what they think or say is of little importance. It is the independent, fickle voters who will decide this. They were the ones who gave Trump that small victory in a few States to win in 2016, and moved to Biden in 2020. Yes, as crazy s it sounds, there were Bush-Obama-Trump_Biden voters. They are the ones who will make the difference. They are low information voters who "don't care about politics". I wish the media would spend more time talking to them and less time concentrating on Trump cultists.

Well put.
But also: turnout, turnout, turnout. Who is more likely to "sit this one out" among people who don't vote in every election?

[CaptainEurope]

And that’s the problem. We know the MAGAts who came out in 2020 will come out again in 2024. The low-info and apathetic voters may not show up for Biden in swing states the way they did in four years ago.

The economy isn’t great but it’s stable and there is job growth. But inflation has been a killer for countless families. I think the scary thing is that despite Trump sinking the economy the GOP has convinced many Americans that the economy was better under Trump because “he’s good at business”. If you say a lie enough it becomes the truth, especially to the low-info voters not paying close attention to the facts.

This is where I point out that the polls in 2021, 2022, and 2023 all underestimated Democratic turnout. Women losing their rights are just as reliable a voting block as MAGA.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

This is where I point out that the polls in 2021, 2022, and 2023 all underestimated Democratic turnout. Women losing their rights are just as reliable a voting block as MAGA.

That was especially true in 2022 right after Roe v. Wade was struck down, and that cost Qpublicans during midterms. With the GQP doubling down on draconian anti-abortion measures, the turnout for women could well be higher come November.