All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[Mister Mets]

This was certainly interesting.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/ne...229277549.html

The runner-up from last time who has higher name recognition than the rest of the field and is raising more money than any of the Democrats raised more money than any of the Democrats in a particular state?

[shooshoomanjoe]

I wish I could have seen trump's face when Twitter's CEO told him the followers he lost were bots and spam accounts.

[TheDarman]

The runner-up from last time who has higher name recognition than the rest of the field and is raising more money than any of the Democrats raised more money than any of the Democrats in a particular state?

I know! It’s shocking!!

The truth is that there are still significant parts of the base that don’t really know candidates like Harris all that well. Everyone, for better or worse, has an opinion of Sanders. The same isn’t true of most of these candidates.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Word has it Biden will finally make it official and announce his candidacy for president tomorrow.

[TheDarman]

Word has it Biden will finally make it official and announce his candidacy for president tomorrow.

And, just like that, people putting up fundraising numbers as measured if a candidate’s strength will immediately go back on it and say that we need to wait to see how it all plays out.

[PaulBullion]

here are some jems

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No here are some jems.

[PaulBullion]

He may not win the nomination, but ultimately I think the ideas are more important than the man. The third way failed in 2016, why would it succeed in 2020? To me, Bernie becoming the nominee is not as important as a general movement to move the Overton window to the left. Centrism has failed, because the center has drifted too much to the right, that being a centrist now means you give a bunch of ground to the right, the Republicans have become a far-right party, can centrism keep that in check? If you have another third-way centrist, ultimately things will get worse, even if you beat Trump, the third way can never beat Trumpism, because Trumpism arose due to its failures, third-way centerism will just give us another Trump in short order.

Considering that the Overton window has been moving left on issues that are completely alien to Sanders (like reparations and gun control) or just band wagons he jumped on late (like marijuana legalization), I don't think him being in the race has anything to do with it at all. He might even be harmful, as those ideas can be painted as "socialist" by the right because of him.

[Malvolio]

The reason for Trump's meeting with Twiiter's CEO? It all boils down to this:

Obama followers: 106 million
Trump followers: 59.9 million

That's all you need to know.

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Trump Administration Looks To Defy Tax Disclosure Law

It will be up to courts to force the administration to comply with the law and allow the president’s tax returns to be released to Congress. For the umpteenth time, what is Trump hiding?

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UN Bows To U.S. Demands, Waters Down Resolution To Help Survivors Of Sexual Violence In War

A reference referring to the need for UN bodies and donors to give timely “sexual and reproductive health” assistance to survivors of sexual violence in conflict was cut. Word has it Mike Pence drove that train because he saw “sexual and reproductive health” as code for abortion which he, as a meddlesome, pro-life conservative despises.

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Twitter Users Stand Up To Trump After He Demands Journalists Kneel, Beg Forgiveness

The president launches a wild new tirade against the media. Caramel Caligula really needs to stop with that ****.

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The Good Ol’ Boys: 2 Years In, Trump Is Making Our Courts A Lot Less Diverse

His lifetime federal judges are almost entirely white, male ideologues. Did someone clone Mike Pence or what? Well, what did anyone expect? Trump, being a racist, misogynist xenophobe was bound to fixate on white, male ideologues to stack the courts.

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United Airlines Agent Accused Of Calling Black Customer A ‘Monkey’ Faces Charge

The Houston employee is headed for trial on one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct. Now, we have "Flying While Black".

My guess is that Trump is hiding that he's deep in debt, maybe even owes more money that he has.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

My guess is that Trump is hiding that he's deep in debt, maybe even owes more money that he has.

In my opinion, it's not a matter of Trump being in debt, that much is obvious, but rather WHO he owes money to. If it turns out he's in hock to Russian oligarchs associated with Vlad Putin, or overseas banks with shady pasts/connections, then Trump's orange ass will officially be on the spit to roast like a suckling pig. I doubt if even Turtle Boy McConnell and the GOP could save him if that's the case.

[Jack Dracula]

Don't underestimate Trump's supernatural ability to survive just about anything. The guy is a walking talking advertisement for triple bypass surgery, yet there he is.

Not sure what his silver bullet is.

I think it might be his financial history.

In my opinion, it's not a matter of Trump being in debt, that much is obvious, but rather WHO he owes money to. If it turns out he's in hock to Russian oligarchs associated with Vlad Putin, or overseas banks with shady pasts/connections, then Trump's orange ass will officially be on the spit to roast like a suckling pig. I doubt if even Turtle Boy McConnell and the GOP could save him if that's the case.

This.

From a British perspective....

Dont Impeach Trump.

I get it. Trumps done alot of heinous **** and you guys want to show that your system works and the impeachment process is the way to remove corrupt presidents. The thing is though....its broken. Its a very broken system working off of a weird ideal that somehow politicians will ignore human nature and suddenly become sensible human beings and vote to remove a guy who benefits half of them....when said vote requires a majority. Nixon is quickly appearing to be a fluke or simply because he was simultaneously angering everyone AND championing a shitty war everyone hated.

Its a waste of everyones time, unless you can explicitly show something so obviously bad that Republicans HAVE to agree lest they lose their jobs (video of him murdering someone etc) and even then with how extreme the republican party is these days that might not be enough.

Better to focus efforts on undercutting him in every other way (hammer home his endless failures, wastes of money, promises unfulfilled, racism etc) so any swing voters can realise he's not worth their time.

Republicans were a different breed during Nixon's administration. Sometime during Reagan's term they became tired of dealing with Democratic majorities in Congress, abandoned their ethics, and adopted a winner take all philosophy. We're all witnessing the the effects of that now.

I agree with your thoughts regarding impeachment. Not the smart move. Too big of a bet to make without being sure of the outcome.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Considering that the Overton window has been moving left on issues that are completely alien to Sanders (like reparations and gun control) or just band wagons he jumped on late (like marijuana legalization), I don't think him being in the race has anything to do with it at all. He might even be harmful, as those ideas can be painted as "socialist" by the right because of him.

Gun control has always been an issue, Matijuana legalization has been happening prior to 2016. Reparations has been a topic for years, it was mentioned multiple times in 2008 debates, it never goes anywhere because it extremely unpopular to any group not getting it. None of those are remotely new issues in the same way Medicare for All and Free college tuition are

[PaulBullion]

Gun control has always been an issue, Matijuana legalization has been happening prior to 2016. Reparations has been a topic for years, it was mentioned multiple times in 2008 debates, it never goes anywhere because it extremely unpopular to any group not getting it. None of those are remotely new issues in the same way Medicare for All and Free college tuition are

Well, if you ignore that Hillary had tried to bring universal healthcare to the US even when she was FLOTUS.

And you're really off on the other topics being part of the platforms of previous serious candidates the way they are now. The Overton Window does not mean new topics, it means a shift in which existing topics are acceptable.

[ed2962]

Considering that the Overton window has been moving left on issues that are completely alien to Sanders (like reparations and gun control) or just band wagons he jumped on late (like marijuana legalization), I don't think him being in the race has anything to do with it at all. He might even be harmful, as those ideas can be painted as "socialist" by the right because of him.

It's not because of Sanders. When Obama was running, the republicans were calling Obama a socialist. It's their go to scare tactic.

[The Overlord]

Considering that the Overton window has been moving left on issues that are completely alien to Sanders (like reparations and gun control) or just band wagons he jumped on late (like marijuana legalization), I don't think him being in the race has anything to do with it at all. He might even be harmful, as those ideas can be painted as "socialist" by the right because of him.

He helped moved the window to left on some important issues, do you think Hiliary Clinton would supported medicare for all if she won in 2016? You can say "we should stop debating the 2016 election", but those issues from that election have not been addressed, so they are still relevant. Also its a false choice to say you have to choose between gun control and socialized medicine, you do both.

Third way economic centerism has failed, leaving ecomonic issues on the table ceeds ground to right.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Republicans were a different breed during Nixon's administration. Sometime during Reagan's term they became tired of dealing with Democratic majorities in Congress, abandoned their ethics, and adopted a winner take all philosophy. We're all witnessing the the effects of that now.

I agree with your thoughts regarding impeachment. Not the smart move. Too big of a bet to make without being sure of the outcome.

Agreed. Unlike 1974, Nixon saw the writing on the wall and resigned. Trump would rather be carried out of the Oval Office feet first rather than quit.