Dr. Strangelove

I want you to know that he'll win again if he decides to run. That's how these Republican voters are. They love this guy. I mean, most of them voted for the guy after he suggested injecting bleach on national TV.

The most important thing is the Senate majority. Not the decline of America.

Yeah, I guess video games don't exist in Europe or Asia. I'll send a lot of t&p to Buffalo until the next shooting later this week, where I'll then have to divert my t&p. Oh well.

He probably wins the popular vote by 4% or so - and as such Democrats lose every major Senate race and the Presidency. They'd have an outside chance at the House with those margins, however.

I welcome our feral MAGA overlords. Who knew the decline of America would be caused by a group of voters enamered by lines like "Obama was secretly born in Kenya!" and "Mexicans are rapists and murderers!"

But I've heard rumors of men playing women's sports and inflation is high. Seriously though, we're going to lose to this. This is what we get when we treat the GOP as a legitimate force instead of simply dismissing it like we should. Frankly, America is getting what it deserves.

I don't think they have a choice. Democrats won't be able to win Electoral College victories by dominating cities. Moderating on issues gives them a chance to win in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. If they don't, and current trends continue, those states are going to be lost to them just like Ohio and Iowa. Yeah, I agree they could do a better job. But their coalition makes it hard. If they get pissed off about issues that appeal to their college educated whites base, it alienates their working class white and minority wings. If they want to go offensive on issues that appeal to their minority wing, it alienates their working class wing. Finding a message to go on the offensive that appeals to their 3 main coalitions is mostly impossible. They probably need to dilute their platform down to raising taxes on the wealthy and focusing on their policies that improve the safety net. Any messaging with terms like "social justice" or "latinx" or anything similar needs to be tossed into the nearest supermassive black hole. Although I doubt the progressive wing lets them.

I get what you're saying, but it's just way more difficult for them. Their voting coalition is broad, so any issue is stretched and framed in a way that quickly sounds stupid. Student loan forgiveness - which I think is bad policy to begin with - has to be framed as "social justice" or a way to close "racial wealth gap" or "female wealth gap". The narrative has to check all the boxes for their minority and female voting base, and as a result alienates their Union Blue Collar bloc. If they don't reframe policy as some form of "social justice" their base will be upset and Congressmen/Senators will be primaried by somebody who uses that messaging. Lastly, what progressive folks need to understand is that passing what they want simply isn't going to happen. They need to immediately face that reality. The geographic nature of our electoral institutions is simply not going to allow the Warren/Sanders wing of the party to get what they want. Democrats are essentially going to have to go back to Clinton/Obama policy positions, however, their electoral position is so apocalyptic I'm not sure they can do anything that will yield tangible results.

Passing them into law is hard. For their social positions, they need 60 votes, which will never happen. For their economic positions, their policy can only be ad progressive as the most moderate Senator allows - in this case Manchin. There isn't anything they can do. Furthermore, their coalition is broad, making each branch of their coalition is difficult. That isn't to say Biden/Democrats leadership haven't flubbed their opportunities, but they're also trying to accomplish things by convincing a Senator from a state Trump won by 30% to go along. They can't do anything to enact those policy proposals because they have to win elections by impossible margins to get the majorities needed to enact them. In contrast, Republicans can lose each of the next two election cycles by 3% - and by as much as 5% in 2024 - in the popular vote and control a filibuster proof trifecta as a result.

Democrats already run on positions that are broadly popular. Raising the minimum wage, increasing taxes on the wealthy, pro-choice stances, labor rights, etc. There are probably a total of 20 policy stances they run on that get ~60% approval from the public and it doesn't help them get elected. Republicans have figured out that the average voter isn't so bright. They don't run on policy stances any more because it leaves them open to attack - since their policies are extremely unpopular - see Rick Scott.

We're pretty likely going to face a recession in the near future. Republicans are going to control 60 Senate seats and Trump/DeSantis will be President.

Some of this is mind boggling But the sad thing is that I doubt this influences electoral outcomes in a meaningful way. The structural deficit our institutions impose on Democrats simply can't be overcome at the moment.

As pointed out by @Moiraine, it wasn't hard to see where Trump would take this country. Liberal Democracy is in decay, a litmus test to prove loyalty to Trump is agreeing with the belief that the election was rigged - an extremely dangerous position that people on the right collectively shrug off. Instead of promoting policies that help solve societies many problems or upholding Democracy, the GOP is willing to tear down American democracy in order to win at all costs. Their primary motivation is to simply protect the highest income earners in America from taxes and to protect the interests of certain businesses - like Koch Industries - from even the slightest increase in regulations. That's it. The GOP is trading 250 years of Democratic principle so Charles Koch can pay less taxes for the few miserable years he has left of his life. Hope it was worth it.

A family member of mine has quit several jobs over the last 7 months or so. They started as a waitress, then other customer service jobs before eventually getting a job that starts at $16.50 per hour. Lincoln probably has one of the best job markets in the country, however, but I do think lower income people can hop around and find decent wages.

I do think it leans left, but they do a pretty good job. But you do have a point, facts and reality have a well known liberal bias.

Hahahaha. We all know that private businesses have been dramatically increasing retirement benefits for decades, so the Social Security Administration should just be axed. Private health insurance plans notoriously are stable and can totally handle adding dramatically aging Boomers to their risk pools, so we should do away with Medicare. Private industry notoriously provides excellent services for prisons, we should privatize that too. Americans love toll roads, we should ax the Department of Transportation. Corporations have historically done an excellent job with the environment, especially regarding climate change. We should cut all environmental regulations. Working conditions for American workers were excellent in the late 1800s and early 1900s. We should immediately defend OSHA and deregulated labor rules. Since 2008 was a highlight of capitalism, we should immediately deregulated the banking industry (including the pesky FDIC, why should I care about other people's money?!) So we can relive the glory days of finance in 2007.

We most certainly do not live in the same reality. I'm sure by "framing and trapping their political opponents" you're referring to Trumps phone call with Ukraine, requesting they "find dirt" on Biden, then maybe on second thought we agree on more than I thought. Seriously though, voters like you remind me that this country is in a complete and hopeless situation. In 40 years, let's hope that the liberal democracies of Western Europe are powerful enough to solve the world's problems will simultaneously propagating democracy across the world. I have my doubts, but all we can do is hope at this point.

Hard to blame the kid. It was always going to be a tough pull, but until we can prove our O-Line can protect quarterbacks, we're going to have to keep getting guys from the portal.

Yup. Here's an interview where Esper says Trump is a threat to Democracy. His own former Secretary of Defense. But, you know, Democrats are just as bad!

This guy is so far gone it shows the future of our country is completely hopeless. I guess Democrats did worse things than replacing electors they disagreed with, they hired a sham firm to recount ballots in Arizona, a litmus test to the primary candidates is promoting that elections are rigged, millions of illegal ballots were cast, etc. Instead of trying to convince you and other GOPers otherwise, I'm just going to plead with you: please, don't go to a voting booth. It isn't a place for you. There's nothing wrong with that.

Yeah, all those Democrats openly railing against Democracy sure are making the news! In all seriousness, stop trying to both sides this issue. One party has convinced huge swaths of their voters that the previous election was "stolen" and the other did not. One party replaced their electors in Michigan and the other party did not. This is just one of many stories that are similar. (https://www.npr.org/2022/05/04/1096641003/republicans-in-michigan-have-replaced-election-officials-who-certified-bidens-wi) One party believes in Climate change and offers poor-to-mediocre solutions and the other calls it a hoax by China. I understand that the best way to rationalize your tacit support for Republicans is to equate the two parties, but for the love of God get a reality check. It's not close.

At this point, with widely available vaccines, I tend to agree. Masks made sense prior to the availability of vaccines and boosters. But at this point, severe COVID is largely a choice. If anti-vaxxers want to get COVID and potentially die because of MAGA, let them.

You couldn't be more correct. The GOP is going to destroy America, but sadly, there's almost nothing that will stop their voters from showing up to the polls and voting for a Republican.

I mean here's a dude who wants to end Democracy. But yeah, the lefties are the bad guys.

This is what the GOP wants - an end of Democracy. Why are these psychopaths allowed on the ticket? Why do idiots vote for this? Hope Trump was worth it.