2024 US Presidential Elections Megathread

[Valmy]

Some good news for your weekend

Yeah I am starting to OD on Hopium. I need to chill on that a bit. We still have a harrowing battle to fight.

[CountDeMoney]

You people still act like any of this matters.  Sorry, kids, you have a shitload of ignorant ass crackers in the New Confederacy and the West that will shove your popular vote up your asses with the electoral college. AGAIN.

[Valmy]

You people still act like any of this matters.  Sorry, kids, you have a shitload of ignorant ass crackers in the New Confederacy and the West that will shove your popular vote up your asses with the electoral college. AGAIN.

See this is why you are still needed here 

[Syt]

I've seen them try Scamala, Shamala, Kamabla (this one I don't even get the pun).

But wait, it gets better.

https://x.com/patriottakes/status/1822408109794709986

I mean, I'm surprised that one of the WWF's more racist gimmicks hasn't been pulled into this yet:





(He was portrayed by James Arthur Harris who died in 2020, aged 70)

[Josquius]

There's something in that.

[Jacob]

I'm not sure leaning into tiki-kitsch-racism is going to drive voter behaviour the way the GOP would like.

[HVC]

I don't know, it'd probably only offend those that wouldn't vote GOP anyway.

[Jacob]

I don't know, it'd probably only offend those that wouldn't vote GOP anyway.

... thus driving Democratic turnout.

[HVC]

I don't know, it'd probably only offend those that wouldn't vote GOP anyway.

... thus driving Democratic turnout.

If they're not at peak turnout already there is some serious rot in the US's democracy as it currently stands.

[Jacob]

If they're not at peak turnout already there is some serious rot in the US's democracy as it currently stands.

Serious rot? In the US's democracy?

I suppose we should at least consider the possibility

[HVC]

If they're not at peak turnout already there is some serious rot in the US's democracy as it currently stands.

Serious rot? In the US's democracy?

I suppose we should at least consider the possibility

I mean beyond the general rot in just the GOP

[crazy canuck]

I don't know, it'd probably only offend those that wouldn't vote GOP anyway.

... thus driving Democratic turnout.

If they're not at peak turnout already there is some serious rot in the US's democracy as it currently stands.

An alternative explanation to rot is that the American political system does not create the best of choices.  If Biden had stayed in the Democrats would definitely not have been at peak turnout.  Part of the turn around in the polling is the Dems now have a more viable candidate.

[Valmy]

An alternative explanation to rot is that the American political system does not create the best of choices.  If Biden had stayed in the Democrats would definitely not have been at peak turnout.  Part of the turn around in the polling is the Dems now have a more viable candidate.

I guess I would agree that certainly once the last guy who could even remotely be considered a member of the Revolutionary generation, Andrew Jackson, left office our choices have generally been between mediocre machine politicians...with a few noticeable exceptions. And I guess a few nuts like Trump who actually make the mediocre machine politicians look like giants. Americans have been complaining about that ever since. But...isn't that basically true of every country? I look around our fellow western democracies and generally I am not exactly filled with envy. Well maybe envious about a few elements of their systems that I think are better but certainly not of the caliber of their politicians.

[Jacob]

More to the point - motivation ebbs and flows over time and we're still a few months away from election day. The name of the game is stacking as many vote motivators for your side and as many demotivators for the other side, such that they culminate optimally on election day.

Blatant caricature racism could potentially drive additional GOP turnout while not affecting Dem turnout... but IMO there's also a risk (from the Trumpist perspective) that it'd depress GOP turnout (it could be the final straw for someone) while reinvigorating some Dem folks who are losing energy in early November.

[crazy canuck]

An alternative explanation to rot is that the American political system does not create the best of choices.  If Biden had stayed in the Democrats would definitely not have been at peak turnout.  Part of the turn around in the polling is the Dems now have a more viable candidate.

I guess I would agree that certainly once the last guy who could even remotely be considered a member of the Revolutionary generation, Andrew Jackson, left office our choices have generally been between mediocre machine politicians...with a few noticeable exceptions. And I guess a few nuts like Trump who actually make the mediocre machine politicians look like giants. Americans have been complaining about that ever since. But...isn't that basically true of every country? I look around our fellow western democracies and generally I am not exactly filled with envy. Well maybe envious about a few elements of their systems that I think are better but certainly not of the caliber of their politicians.

Yes, there is a dearth of good choices out there.  But I think the problem is heightened by your two party system.  At least in other countries there are a wider range of parties to choose from, even in a FPTP system.