President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

Allow me to don my technological tinfoil hat ...

Thanks to the social media algorithms increasing effects on our lives, a center-right nation has been pushed farther to the right. The normies who'd vote for a mix of Ds and Rs are now straight-ticket R voters. Previous straight-ticket R voters are now tiptoeing around the far right extremes.

Sprinkle in the effects of Joe Rogan and bro-fluencers on young, white males and we will be living in a right-wing nation for the foreseeable future.

 

So, the other guy will have to pay...their fair share?

 

That's exactly what it is.

 

The good news is I've been assured the election isn't over if Vice President Harris has the courage to do the right thing!

 

Between the election disaster and the election night newsroom pizza (Little Caeser's pigout ... I'm an idiot), very little sleep last night.

But I do believe there will be some sort of peaceful national strike or walkout on inauguration day. That's the least we can do, to say This is Not My President.

Other than that, we can hope that the various factions of Republicans fail to work together, as happened in 2017.

But the fact Trump won the popular vote by 5 million plus ... just can't get over or accept that yet. That's the most depressing part, that "we the people" wanted this mentally incompetent dictator in charge.

 

That's correct. Jimmy Carter was CORRECT (malaise). Jimmy Carter made the CORRECT decision (hiring Volcker). It cost him the election.

People don't want to do the right thing for the same reason they don't like taking medicine or rehabbing a surgically repaired knee or saving money into a 401(k). It can taste bad, it can hurt like hell, it's no fun, and the positive results are not immediate.

 

The conclusion to that piece sums up where I am:

“There is no panacea for this. There is only President-Elect Donald Trump, and the scores of millions of people who wanted him in office again, but also the scores of millions for whom this is a nightmare brought back to life. If you are in the latter group, there will be future opportunities to organize, to vote in local elections, to mitigate some of the harm. But for the moment there's little to do, and no illusions left, just the struggle of figuring out how to live in this country, with these people.”

That’s part of it for me.

I can’t help but look around now and wonder: Did they vote for this?

The people at Costco who seem so nice in casual chats about the state of the local sports teams while check my receipt with the contents in the cart. The security guard with whom I have friendly conversation most days. My investment advisor. These people are all in demographics from which a majority of voters supported Trump.

These people are all around and we don’t know who all of them are. I’ve long since cut MAGAts out of my personal life because no common ground could be reached as they have a different perception of reality than the one that actually exists; I couldn’t argue facts with them because they would counter with easily demonstrable lies.

Today we awaken in a nation in which these people are the majority.

 

I just hope he sticks to his promises. Mass deportations? Let's go. Blanket tariffs? Make it happen.

You want to run on populism? The people deserve to reap the benefits.

 

I can give a perfect example of that.

Back in the 1980s, my hometown's sewer treatment plant began breaking down. Tens of thousands of gallons of raw sewage was being dumped into the river annually. The EPA rolls in and says "Fix this." For three decades, the city board of directors kept kicking the can down the road. Finally, the Feds issue a consent decree and say "You're fixing this or we are taking over your sewer system." The current board members are like "Hey, we have no choice, we have to raise rates to pay for these repairs." Some folks in town are going nuts, blaming the current board and demanding they fix the problems without raising rates. They've started recall efforts. You try to say to them "Well, if we'd started paying the bills back in the 1980s it would hurt so much now" and they don't want to hear it.

 

You don’t do it on inauguration day. For one thing, that’s a shitty day to stay home, when the coverage will be all over TV.

You do the walkout/general strike on Jan. 21, the first full day of the kakistocracy.

 

Adding a little insult to injury, my wife and I realized this morning that of the four yard signs we had up (senator, state senate, U.S. rep and president), one -- the Harris-Walz sign -- was stolen sometime in the middle of the night. Someone was delivering and F you to us, it seems -- or starting a bonfire somewhere. Besides the other fears expressed earlier, I do fear the insufferable MAGA touchdown dance that will go on for the next 2 1/2 months.

 

My biggest swing and miss from the election was the popular vote. I failed big time on that. I said up front that I didn't know who would win the election, but Harris would win the popular vote by 8 million or more.