President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

And we're already seen this movie, from 2017-21.

 

They aren't holding those Senate elections today. The one bet I will make is that the conditions and events that shape political outcomes will be different in two years then they are now. Could be better for Republicans of course, but could also be far worse.

 

As much as I respected Joe, liked Joe, a lot of this, I hang on him. And, from what I've read, Jill Biden.

 

They don't know how to message it at all. Biden's "see you at the ribbon cutting" line was great, but did he show up at the ribbon cutting? Did he make it a priority to really message those projects and have workers there who understood who wrote and passed those bills and who signed them? It doesn't seem like it. So while I think there are tons of factors into why Tuesday broke the way it did, I do think this lack of a long messaging game really hurt Biden and, in turn, Harris.

I listened to the latest Pod Save America episode and they actually changed my opinion on what I thought was a dumb theory, that Harris, with just 100 or so days as the presumptive and then actual nominee, didn't have long enough time to convince voters of what she could do. They said that she actually took moved the her approval ratings from the horrible Biden numbers to something much, much better in just those four months. Maybe the clock did run out on that. However, (my 2 cents now), I do believe Biden and his comms people were awful at communicating their successes and plans for 3 1/2 years and they did little to show Harris as particularly vital to the administration the way Obama did with him. Those were big blunders.

So, related to that, I think Harris had a fine campaign overall, but she needed to do every interview, friendly media or not, from an early date. She should have sat down immediately with the Times, the Post, the WSJ, all the networks, etc. I mean, Trump would just show up or call in. That's what she and the Dems were competing with, messaging-wise. She should have gone on Rogan and other pods. When Trump told Rogan how awful she'd be on his podcast (she'll be on the floor calling for the paramedics, he said), Rogan disagreed and said he thought they'd have a good conversation. After he said that, I thought, Dammit, she should go on!

So if it's true that, at the end of the day, she really didn't have enough time to make the full case and build more momentum, then maybe she should have done all of those things and more!

 

Obama should have pushed through codifying abortion in his first term but didn't for whatever reason. Now, the democrats are saying, "we're going to give you your reproductive freedom back. Yes back. No, they took 'em but we're gonna' get 'em back. Trust us this time!" They hoped reproductive freedom would be a big enough issue to get people out. It wasn't and I think its because the voters don't trust them to.

They can on abortion rights (which they bungled for 50 years when they had a majority and could do something about it) and "Trump=bad" and it wasn't convincing enough. Project 2025 is mere speculation to these people at this point, and we've always been a reactive rather than proactive society, We'll deal with it when its already arrived and fucked everything up.

 

We have to face the reality - the USA is a right-wing nation with a strong populist streak. We used to be a center-right nation, but thanks to FoxNews, talk radio, social media and podcasting bros we have been pushed further to the right.

Gen Z is probably the most conservative 18-29 demographic since the 1950s - especially the men, who shifted 30 points to the right since 2020. The old adage is you get more conservative as you get older, what does the future hold for those guys?

How does the Democratic Party reach people when the algorithms are going to play to their confirmation biases and their brains will constantly be seeking harder dopamine hits of people pwning the libs?

 

I'm making 58% of my peak 2011 salary. Which is really no big deal because I have no mortgage. My property tax bill is the only check I really hate writing.

But that house now costs nine times THAT salary, which I was so comfortable with at the time that I was putting 19% into my 401(k).

 

Jimmy Kimmel brought the heat.

“It was a terrible night for women, for children, for the hundreds of thousands of hard-working immigrants who make this country go, for health care, for our climate, for science, for journalism, for justice, for free speech. It was a terrible night for poor people, for the middle class, for seniors who rely on Social Security, for our allies in Ukraine, for NATO, for the truth and democracy and decency.”
“It was a terrible night for everyone who voted against him,” he said, then delivered a warning to the president-elect’s supporters: “And guess what? It was a bad night for everyone who voted for him, too. You just don’t realize it yet.”

 

And you made my point again.

Your answer is about legislation actions. That’s too complicated for the average person.

But if Dems broke it down to, “we are trying to pass bills that create better paying jobs in your area” it might make a dent and eventually they could get people to come around if they hammer it.

But the Dems didn’t do that. They took a route that alienated voters so much that they didn’t vote or went Trump.

 

We went from a 51-47 D election to a 50-48 R election. That does not suggest permanent shifts in the electorate. Also, how come 5 of 6 D Senators up for re-election in the 7 swing states manage to win?

 

The Republicans will treat this like a mandate that people love their policies, as they did in 1994/2010/2014 and Democrats did in 1998/2008/2020.

People don’t universally love either party, it’s just when they’re pissed off at whomever has the power.

 

I think the Gen Z men are going to be a problem for Democrats for the next 50 years - especially thanks to technology that cranks the confirmation biases up to 11 and nothing from the other side breaks through.