2024 US Presidential Elections Megathread

[Valmy]

Here comes the pogrom.

[Josquius]

Hundreds of thousands of young people have not become become politicized by this event, based on the info we have to date.  Hundreds of thousands of young people have decided that they will vote for whomever Taylor Swift tells them to vote for.  Not necessarily "stupid" but certainly very far from wise.

I think one of the issues for the modern (and probably historical) youth vote, or lack there of, is a sense of disenfranchisement in terms of actual power and influence. As such, a lot of them tune out and just accept that whatever happens in elections will happen and their best bets to make a change are protests and the like. When a celebrity they care about calls for action, though, it can shake them from their indifference and jaded resignation to make the effort to vote. Maybe. Just going with what I've seen and heard personally and applying that anecdotal evidence to possibly explain the wider trend.

Yes. I think there's a lot of this. It's key to how far right -footsoldiers work really with their big focus on intimidation and spewing forth nonsense about how everyone they meet says they love trump.
The aim is to build up this sense of helplessness and suppress the vote of their opponents.
When you've someone with a big following pushing the other way then people will feel it's not just them and it's a lot more worth their while, both in terms of just laziness and perceived safety, to do something.

[Sheilbh]

In my observation, many of those who continually proclaim their commitment to reason and logic tend to be very rigorous in excluding data that doesn't fit neatly into their mental models due to ambiguity, uncertain provenance, discomfort with aspects of the data, etc. Similarly they'll often attempt to reframe questions into ones that are easily quantifiable and measurable, which not infrequently removes essential elements of the inquiry.

They often reach precise conclusions with high degrees of confidence, but because they've pruned the data inputs so severely to fit their mode of analysis and/ or reduced the question they're answering to one of easily enumerated and measurable quantities, those conclusions are not infrequently inapplicable or inaccurate to the actual question at hand.

That's not to say they aren't correct with some frequency, of course, but a vocal commitment to "logic" and "rationality" is not a predictor of higher rates of being correct from my point of view.

Yes. It's possibly just my experience of having been on the internet for 25 years but it's why I say I don't really know what people mean by "reason" as it normally seems to me to be away of proclaiming superiority of your view (and the way you reached it) v anyone else.

Admittedly being online during the New Atheism debates and on a forum with Martinus may have shaped that perception

I don't know what echoes means but everything else you listed in my mind falls squarely with the logic and reason circle.

Echoes are exactly what they sound like.

I think this may be semantic again. I hear logic I think logic tree, code or even a contract "if this then this" etc. And in some settings, like a contract, I see the value but struggle elsewhere. Very different from abstraction or analogy.

I think one of the issues for the modern (and probably historical) youth vote, or lack there of, is a sense of disenfranchisement in terms of actual power and influence. As such, a lot of them tune out and just accept that whatever happens in elections will happen and their best bets to make a change are protests and the like. When a celebrity they care about calls for action, though, it can shake them from their indifference and jaded resignation to make the effort to vote. Maybe. Just going with what I've seen and heard personally and applying that anecdotal evidence to possibly explain the wider trend.

I think there's a lot to that. It's totally European and not really focused on young people's vote (as opposed to voting in generally which has also collapsed) but Peter Mair's Ruling the Void is very good on this. Many contributing factors.

I think there's also some protests which are an effective alternative way of doing politics but I think sometimes protests can also be a replacement of politics (meaning a collective way of achieving change).

[viper37]

So on Twitter I'm seeing a bunch of speculation that Trump is probably having some kind of affair with right-wing nut-job Laura Loomer.  This of course is hardly much of a stretch to imagine given Trump's long history of affairs plus the fact Melania is basically never seen with him.

It's to the point I present to you a BBC article about the "influence" Loomer has over Trump, although a responsible news outlet like the BBC doesn't suggest a physical affair.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly8y27dwgpo

Seems an odd choice for him. She isn't blonde or young. Maybe he's changing things up out of spite now that Ivanka hasn't been as vocal in supporting him this run?

He's old and he's nearly broke.  Only the GOP funds are maintaining him alive.

[viper37]

Hundreds of thousands of young people have not become become politicized by this event, based on the info we have to date.  Hundreds of thousands of young people have decided that they will vote for whomever Taylor Swift tells them to vote for.  Not necessarily "stupid" but certainly very far from wise.

I think one of the issues for the modern (and probably historical) youth vote, or lack there of, is a sense of disenfranchisement in terms of actual power and influence. As such, a lot of them tune out and just accept that whatever happens in elections will happen and their best bets to make a change are protests and the like. When a celebrity they care about calls for action, though, it can shake them from their indifference and jaded resignation to make the effort to vote. Maybe. Just going with what I've seen and heard personally and applying that anecdotal evidence to possibly explain the wider trend.

It's not really knew.

I remember such ads for Canadian politics using celebrities, or music videos by celebrities to incite people to vote.  I'm quite certain Canada did not invent this and we mimicked the US.

Of course, using celebrities to support a specific political party has always been done.

[Sophie Scholl]

It's not really knew.

I remember such ads for Canadian politics using celebrities, or music videos by celebrities to incite people to vote.  I'm quite certain Canada did not invent this and we mimicked the US.

Of course, using celebrities to support a specific political party has always been done.

Yeah, MTV used to do a "Rock the Vote!" campaign every major election year if memory serves. The Chris Farley/David Spade movie Black Sheep has a piece where they partake in one such rally.

[Sheilbh]

On musicians and politics I looked up Red Wedge and discovered that The Smiths did the odd gig for them. Fair to say Morrissey's views have developed

[Josquius]

On musicians and politics I looked up Red Wedge and discovered that The Smiths did the odd gig for them. Fair to say Morrissey's views have developed

Johnny Marr in response to the Oasis reunion being asked if the smiths would do the same - only with Nigel Farage on guitar.

[viper37]

It's not really knew.

I remember such ads for Canadian politics using celebrities, or music videos by celebrities to incite people to vote.  I'm quite certain Canada did not invent this and we mimicked the US.

Of course, using celebrities to support a specific political party has always been done.

Yeah, MTV used to do a "Rock the Vote!" campaign every major election year if memory serves. The Chris Farley/David Spade movie Black Sheep has a piece where they partake in one such rally.

Reflecting on this, I believe the difference is with social media, stars can address their public more directly now.  

Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, it's more direct and less costly than doing a tv/radio spot.  Or publishing a column in a specialized magazine.

[Oexmelin]

It also seemed to have signaled the death of the public service announcements: can't remember the last time I saw a message about voting from out chief electoral officer, for instance.

[Admiral Yi]

I think I heard on NPR that Trump wants to end taxation on overtime.

[Valmy]

I think I heard on NPR that Trump wants to end taxation on overtime.

Yeah he promised shit like that last time and then weirdly his tax bill, one of the few big pieces of legislation he passed, did none of them.

[Admiral Yi]

Shots fired "in Trump's vicinity" at one of his golf courses.

Source looks dodgy but another random dude referenced a CNN report saying the same thing.

[Tamas]

Seems like secret service shot at the guy after spotting his AK poking out from the bushes, guy fled and was later arrested.

Very fortunate for Trump, his debate performance will not be discussed any longer.

[Valmy]

Jesus fucking Christ