2024 US Presidential Elections Megathread

[garbon]

I am kind of with the Rest is Politics US' take on this - look at how we are talking about Trump every waking moment again. If he went away and talked policy nobody would give a damn. Now it's Trump Trump Trump, Trump Trump Trump, because his aides had an altercation in a cemetery.

He is absolutely right to be an outrageous troll because that's what the media and the public want.

I didn't post it yet but was thinking same thing with Musk.

[Sophie Scholl]

It certainly benefits both when, no matter how awful and/or trollish they act, there are zero legitimate repercussions for them. It really highlights how broken the system is and how there seems to be no actual effort to fix it. 

[Norgy]

It certainly benefits both when, no matter how awful and/or trollish they act, there are zero legitimate repercussions for them. It really highlights how broken the system is and how there seems to be no actual effort to fix it. 

I do think the media actually should try and chase the Trump outrage stories a bit less and rather focus on having him explain how greatly great his great policies are.

We've known since 2015 that scandals do not weaken Trump. Not even an attempted coup d'etat. He has a free pass.

[HisMajestyBOB]

It certainly benefits both when, no matter how awful and/or trollish they act, there are zero legitimate repercussions for them. It really highlights how broken the system is and how there seems to be no actual effort to fix it. 

I do think the media actually should try and chase the Trump outrage stories a bit less and rather focus on having him explain how greatly great his great policies are.

We've known since 2015 that scandals do not weaken Trump. Not even an attempted coup d'etat. He has a free pass.

The media does discuss his policies. See the NY Times article comparing their housing policies:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/30/business/economy/housing-plan-harris-trump.html

Harris: Expand Supply Using Tax Credits.
Ms. Harris is promising to increase housing supply by expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, providing incentives for state and local investment in housing and creating a $40 billion tax credit to make affordable projects economically feasible for builders.

Supply fixes are not all that Ms. Harris has suggested: She is also promising to give $25,000 in assistance to first-time home buyers. The plan is not a detailed one, and it is not clear yet who would be eligible. Nor is it clear how the help would be structured. It could go to buyers upfront, rather than as a delayed tax credit — but exactly how that would work has yet to be explained.[/b]

Trump: Deport Immigrants.

Mr. Trump is promising to lower housing costs by stopping "the unsustainable invasion of illegal aliens which is driving up housing costs," said Karoline Leavitt, his campaign's national press secretary.

Clearly, both candidates have very reasonable policy positions that should be taken seriously and given equal weight.

[Valmy]

The best way to keep prices down is to deport millions of low cost laborers.

Which, by the way, is why he is lying. He won't do it.

[Josquius]

Just waiting for trump to copy the old BNP manifesto and for his environmental policy say deporting immigrants.

[crazy canuck]

It certainly benefits both when, no matter how awful and/or trollish they act, there are zero legitimate repercussions for them. It really highlights how broken the system is and how there seems to be no actual effort to fix it. 

True for Trump, not true for Musk.  He has gotten himself to a number of legal entanglements.  Brazil just being the lastest.

[Valmy]

I think Trump is almost unique in his ability to profit from his terrible behavior. He has done this for over 40 years now.

The worse he acts, the more people love him. For everybody else behaving badly turns people off.

I don't get it but I never did and frankly I am just tired of it.

[Sheilbh]

I do think the media actually should try and chase the Trump outrage stories a bit less and rather focus on having him explain how greatly great his great policies are.

We've known since 2015 that scandals do not weaken Trump. Not even an attempted coup d'etat. He has a free pass.

Yeah - I've said before but I think the bigger part of 2016 than the right-wing media and fake news was the way the mainstream media covered Trump. And I still don't think they've really learned any lessons from that- I think part of it is frankly learning to distinguish something that's news from something that's newsworthy.

They have moved from hours of wall-to-wall free coverage about Trump with people looking shocked, to hours of wall-to-wall free coverage about Trump with people looking shocked AND occasionally pointing out that what he's saying is "not true". I think we've got more comment but nowhere closer to judgement. And I find it shocking that 8 years in I feel like, say, CNN or the NYT have kind of learned nothing.

[Valmy]

Um dude they have been doing this for longer than many people who work in the mainstream media have been alive. Our media has been unable to not talk about Donald Trump since like 1978 or something.

If they were capable of just ignoring Donald Trump he would have faded into obscurity sometime in the Reagan administration. The guy has spent his life committing fraud and theft and rape and the media has been celebrating him the whole time. He represents a very sick thing about our country and we are just unable to self-correct.

[Norgy]

Um dude they have been doing this for longer than many people who work in the mainstream media have been alive. Our media has been unable to not talk about Donald Trump since like 1978 or something.

If they were capable of just ignoring Donald Trump he would have faded into obscurity sometime in the Reagan administration. The guy has spent his life committing fraud and theft and rape and the media has been celebrating him the whole time. He represents a very sick thing about our country and we are just unable to self-correct.

You're being too harsh on the US. He won't win a popular vote.

But the rest rings true. I think I discovered the name in some magazine in the late 1980s. When he married Ivana or something like that.
Personally, I find it ironic that someone who so obviously is a part of a very small world elite and has been since forever, is running on an anti-elite platform, reaching out to the "common people".

One of our female golf players played with Trump. This is purely anecdotal, but I remember her saying "He was a nice enough guy, but he kept cheating".

For personal reasons, I would like you to stop exporting these culture wars and the art of lying here.
It really is working all too well for the wrong people.

[Josquius]

So, an unexpected sensible policy from trump, supporting ivf

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyg1rlnywyo.amp

[Tamas]

Um dude they have been doing this for longer than many people who work in the mainstream media have been alive. Our media has been unable to not talk about Donald Trump since like 1978 or something.

If they were capable of just ignoring Donald Trump he would have faded into obscurity sometime in the Reagan administration. The guy has spent his life committing fraud and theft and rape and the media has been celebrating him the whole time. He represents a very sick thing about our country and we are just unable to self-correct.

Yeah him, Boris Johnson and to a lesser extent Farage and Orban manage to somehow embody national characteristics / attributes of culture or psyche, in a way that makes them irresistible.

[HVC]

I do think the media actually should try and chase the Trump outrage stories a bit less and rather focus on having him explain how greatly great his great policies are.

We've known since 2015 that scandals do not weaken Trump. Not even an attempted coup d'etat. He has a free pass.

Yeah - I've said before but I think the bigger part of 2016 than the right-wing media and fake news was the way the mainstream media covered Trump. And I still don't think they've really learned any lessons from that- I think part of it is frankly learning to distinguish something that's news from something that's newsworthy.

They have moved from hours of wall-to-wall free coverage about Trump with people looking shocked, to hours of wall-to-wall free coverage about Trump with people looking shocked AND occasionally pointing out that what he's saying is "not true". I think we've got more comment but nowhere closer to judgement. And I find it shocking that 8 years in I feel like, say, CNN or the NYT have kind of learned nothing.

They've learned that people watch it. They don't care if it hurts or helps as long as rating stay up.

[Sheilbh]

They've learned that people watch it. They don't care if it hurts or helps as long as rating stay up.

Fine - but don't pontificate about the role of the media in the age of Trump or how "democracy dies in darkness".