It feels like Harris has to run a damn near flawless campaign just to BARELY beat this guy. Yeah you can bring up the current state of the country, but Trump mishandled COVID, there were over 200k deaths, BLM protest and was 2x impeached. And yet, Joe Biden BARELY beat him.
Trump is a convicted felon, liable sexual predator, caused an insurrection on the Capitol Hill, tried to steal the 2020 election (find me 11,000 votes), constantly kisses Russia’s ass, has more pending court cases and gets sentenced next month and overall has been the main driving factor in America’s division.
Yet, this race is STILL either 50/50 or a slight tilt (Harris leads the polling aggregate right now). Harris gets destroyed by the corporate media for almost anything, yet Trump is still lying and saying the most outlandish shit and nobody cares.
Why does it feel standards are much higher for Harris than Trump?
Because too many people treat politics like a sporting event. You root for your team no matter what, and against the other team. You have to do it this way, because if the other side wins that means your side loses.
So there are too many people who view Trump as “Their Guy”, and are “rooting” for him. Anything they hear that might portray Trump in a negative light (like a criminal trial, for instance) must be the Other Side trying to cheat to win unfairly.
I remind people that Roger Ailes was Nixon’s media consultant, and the lesson he learned from Watergate was that Nixon could have gotten away with it if the media was more sympathetic. He then went on to be the CEO of Fox News. That’s no accident. There is a direct line from Nixon to Trump, and Roger Ailes drew it.
the lesson he learned from Watergate was that Nixon could have gotten away with it if the media was more sympathetic.
Then we got Reagan, Bush, and Trump, and he proved it.
The media almost singlehandedly bringing Watergate to the average American’s attention was why Murdoch created Fox News. It was created specifically so they could force control of the narrative to their advantage.
And then we allowed every other media corporation to be bought and do the same once they saw it worked so well.
The media almost singlehandedly bringing Watergate to the average American’s attention
If you really get under the hood of Watergate, it had all the fingerprints of a soft coup. Nixon was a shit and made for an easy fall guy, but also Trumpian in his stubbornness and his refusal to go whole hog on the Cold War. Ford toed the line - installing Bush Sr to clean Kennedy’s liberals out of the CIA, promoting Greenspan and Rumsfield to the Republican inner circle, and tapping the breaks on our openness with China.
There was no real reason to break into the Watergate given that Nixon was beating McGovern in a landslide. But it did a lot of favors for the movement conservatives like Goldwater and Reagan to get Nixon’s ass out on the curb.
The WaPo (a hotbed of spooks even back then) played a big roll in that for a reason. Ffs, Woodward was an agency man going back to his time in Naval Intelligence. He broke Watergate less than a year after joining the paper.
Woodward going on to not reveal Trump’s admission that Trump knew exactly how dangerous COVID was and was purposefully downplaying it until Woodward published his book on Trump couldn’t be anymore revealing of capitulation to power while claiming to speak truth to power.
He was celebrated as a whistleblower for releasing it long after the news was worth more than court gossip.
The man is the poster child for why American major news media is absolute dog shit. We see the same pattern with Bush Iraq War fuck ups sat on through to 2005. And all the banking scandals squelched during the thick of the OWS protests. And the Theranos woman misdiagnosing hundreds of patients with her hoax machine while parading around as a business celebrity. And the Bitcoin scams hushed up until the biggest players had exited the market.
Whether it’s Bob Woodward or Micheal Lewis or Judith Miller, there’s a cast of these characters who exist to hoodwink people into thinking they have a free press.
And the Theranos woman misdiagnosing hundreds of patients with her hoax machine while parading around as a business celebrity.
Although, to be fair, this story has at least one comical bent. She was obsessed with those fucking dogs that she did absolutely nothing to care for. Combine that with the fact that she didn’t just hoax her patients, she also hoaxed investors. My favorite is knowing at some point she was buttering up Kissinger while those dogs were dropping big steaming piles of shit in the same room. Kissinger nodding along, seriously, while dogshit smell permeates everything.
It’s fucking comical how stupid some of the ostensibly smartest and most important people are.
Combine that with the fact that she didn’t just hoax her patients, she also hoaxed investors.
That was the comedy angle. The tragedy angle is that the patients never able to sue, because it was impossible for them to determine if they’d been part of the faulty test group.
Investors got their pound of flesh while folks who were actually harmed were left without recourse.
Now this a conspiracy I can get behind. Love it.
If you really get under the hood of Watergate, it had all the fingerprints of a soft coup.
Not really. The major issue was that the President got caught and there wasn’t a propaganda network out there to drum up support.
Several Republican senators visited Nixon before he resigned because it was too politically costly for them to not vote for impeachment. In contrast, there weren’t political consequences for voting against Clinton’s and Trump’s impeachments.
The major issue was that the President got caught
E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy got caught. Hunt was an old school pro and close friends with Allen Dulles. He was also directly employed by future Bush FBI director Robert Muller, before joining Nixon’s team. After committing a string of crimes for Nixon, he served a mere 33 months in a low security federal prison.
Liddy served a slightly longer 55, then got a series of sweetheart media deals from his friends in conservative media. He was the top speaker on the college circuit in 1982, three years after leaving prison.
Several Republican senators visited Nixon before he resigned because it was too politically costly for them to not vote for impeachment.
Lead by Goldwater, a major Nixon rival for leadership in the party. Ford was Goldwater’s pick for the VP slot after Agnew resigned as well.
In contrast, there weren’t political consequences for voting against Clinton’s and Trump’s impeachments.
There was a big reward for Lieberman when he voted for impeachment. Gore put him on the VP ticket.
Meanwhile, a handful of Republicans who voted to impeach Trump - most notably Liz Cheney - got primaried out of office.
How Regan didn’t get impeached over Iran Contra is baffling.
Also white supremacy is a hell of a drug.
That is why I move to bigger more ethnic cities or countries where I am wanted at and dont have to put up with that shit. Just worked with a nazi/neonazi/skinhead or whatever and I while he would talk to me about his beliefs I woulld always find an excuse to walk away
As someone who is solidly left and visibly queer, but doesn’t particularly like living in big cities, that’s the question- how do you live near trees, but not Republicans?
Thanks for that info, I never about the Ailes Nixon-Trump connection. This is so frustrating to see unravel in real time.
Trump is an outrage machine, and we have a media that deals in an economy of outrage.
Trump gets outrage. Outrage gets clicks. Clicks get money. It’s a pretty simple chain to follow.
We need to wake up and realize that a profit-driven instantaneous news system that leverages strong emotions is not good for anybody. Truth is subjective nowadays, (always has been, really, but it’s especially evident in the current media climate) and all that matters is getting information and narratives (not necessarily facts) out and people consuming it (and all the ads embedded with it) there, first, and right now.
I am shocked to see this pseudofascist apologia so highly upvoted.
It’s not the media’s coverage of the fascism that’s the problem.
You would rather deflect blame to the media than point the finger at the fascism. Shame on you.
I don’t think the fascism would exist if it wasn’t profitable to give it a platform.
It’s like My 600lb Life.
Trump is the bedridden 800lb lump of a human. And the news cycle that brings him hamburgers by the pallet is the enabler spouse.
I don’t think the fascism would exist if it wasn’t profitable to give it a platform.
fascism is enabled by those who delude themselves into believing they can control it. see: 1930s germany.
they knew hitler was a nutbag. but too many people and too many industries were ready for the profits militarism brought - see krupps, ibm etc.
Hitler wouldn’t have been shit if he wasn’t celebrated by German media during the Beer Hall Putsch trials. And he would’ve faded to obscurity pretty quick if not for Goebbels.
Fascists are bad. But they only get dangerous when they’re given a platform.
I don’t think the fascism would exist if it wasn’t profitable to give it a platform.
That’s stupid!
The problem isn’t that Harris is being held to a higher standard. The problem is that Americans think of elections the same way they think of a sporting match. It’s “my team is going to win!” not “I’m going to vote for the candidate that is best aligned with my beliefs.” A huge number of the people who are voting Republican are doing so because the Republican party is their “team,” and damn it, their team is going to win even if it kills them.
Many years ago, I was discussing politics with a coworker (always a bad idea, but whatever). It went something like this:
“So, you don’t think the less-fortunate should be able to afford medical care?” “No, of course not, everyone should be able to see a doctor.”
“You don’t think gay people should be allowed to marry?” “I’m not gay, but they can do whatever makes them happy.”
“You support the war in Iraq, then?” “I support our troops, but the war is kind of a waste.”
“We definitely should legalize weed, right?” “Um, I’d smoke it if I didn’t get drug tested.”
“So why are you voting Republican, then?” “My family is Republican; we always do.”
“So why are you voting Republican, then?” “My family is Republican; we always do.”
Republican politicians would eat this person and their family if it ever came to it
After raping them all first.
Then denying any abortion.
Sadly, they would probably volunteer to be eaten so they could “own the libs”
As an outsider looking in, I’ve seen a lot of footage of rallies and events (on both sides) that are just absolutely crazy to me. Almost dystopian. People with painted faces, all kinds of merch, hollering and shouting and cheering like it’s the X Factor or a rock concert or something. You see people being interviewed outside the events and it’s like a festival in the background. It’s really, really bizarre. We have problems with our politics here too but not like that. I can’t believe that all of those people are ACTUALLY that passionate about any policies themselves, it’s just vague culture wars nonsense with a bizarre personality contest as a proxy for it.
As I say, I’m not trying to act superior. My country has its share of problems too, just a very different sort.
You have to understand, you are seeing people of VERY low intelligence. I know that’s tough to accept, but demographics are really frightening in America. Millions of voters with intelligence not very much higher than outright mental retardation. And so, the system learned long ago, you don’t bother trying to get them to think you’re right for the job, you don’t want them thinking at all. So you just get them to ally with you as a tribe, and that way they’re yours even if you’re doing the opposite of what they want.
This is why The Founders implemented a Representative Democracy. They knew half of the populace were dumber than rocks.
We call this indoctrination. Cult. And fucking sheep. Lmao
Here in Canada I’ve seen much the same behaviour for both Liberal and Conservative voters. “I vote Liberal because I’ve always voted Liberal” is a surprisingly common statement especially among the older generations, and to a small extent even the Green party has a few loyalists in BC.
Always voting the same way no matter what happens is just giving your vote away for free.
Because MAGA is the largest cult in the world and they won’t believe their great father could do anything wrong…
Especially against a (1) colored (2) women (3) democrat
please provide more idpol reasons thanks
Using idpol for your own personal stances is absolutely stupid, but he’s not wrong the typical Trump voter is very idpol driven
Wait, is this really idpol? The MAGA crowd are mostly very racist people. They would dislike anyone who isn’t a rich white male.
The whole of USA is something 300+mln people, now do Christianity, then do Islam, then do Hinduism, then do Communism, and then do Fascism.
First election?
Seriously… A fucking toddler will be held to a higher standard than Trump and Republicans will hold that toddler to that standard while Trump could fart on the Queens grave and Republicans would just support his “strong thoughtful message”
Memba tan suit?
Trump is more than a candidate. He validates and supports a state of mind. To many, he is a champion of a lifestyle and a way of thinking. That isn’t something that is easy to overcome.
I think this is a big chunk of it and the other large portion is the fact that the DNC picks terrible candidates to back. Harris is leaps and bounds better than Biden, but Biden was the nominee up until a monthish ago despite everyone’s objections. He barely beat Trump I’m 2020 and prior to that they backed Clinton who gave Trump four years in the White House to begin with.
They need to stop catering to the right and fucking get behind the leftist people that actually support the party.
It’s the same when it comes to any other countries. The right always gets away with corruption because it’s expected. Whereas the left has a higher moral standpoint so it is being accused of hypocrisy and things get blown out proportion even if small scale corruption occurs. For example in UK the previous government were giving jobs and contracts to friends and family all the time and nobody cried about it. It became accepted. The new left of centre government comes in and gives a temporary pass to a donor and suddenly it’s a huge scandal…
It’s the same if you care for the environment and ever took a taxi somewhere, or a vegetarian or vegan and have shoes made out of leather. Sure you are doing better than everyone else to help but you are still the devil and worse than everyone else somehow…
vegetarian or vegan and have shoes made out of leather.
I’m certainly not going to throw away perfectly good shoes until they are no longer repairable. Or the leather belt my sister sent me from New Zealand in the late 70s.
Some people will give me stick for that though, all the time living their disposable lives.
P.S. My last two pairs of boots came from Wills Vegan Shoes 😉
Kamala proposed a corporate tax hike. They will be pulling out literally All. The. Stops.
Lots of promises get made in an election. But you still got to make it happen if you win.
Every politician in U.S. history has been held to a higher standards than Trump. And thank God.
I’ll take racism, sexism, propaganda and capitalism for 500 Alex.
They’ve got pretty firm control of the business sectors through tax cut agenda. They’ve got pretty firm control of the farmers for the same. Through fear and propaganda they’ve got pretty strong control of the poor and some of the educated middle class in the rural areas. A lot of the red states are doing everything they can to impede their education systems. If you keep people from becoming educated there’s less competition at the top and a lot more red voters.
All you’ve got to fight them are the poor and the middle class in the cities and suburbs and the occasional upper class that isn’t so self-serving that they’re willing to stand on everyone else.
you’re asking why fascists and leftists have different standards and morals?
You ever see one of those families where the drug addicted high school dropout gets everything handed to them by the parents but the successful honor student gets beaten because they passed the entrance exam to harvard but didn’t pass it good enough?
It’s like that.
2 of my cousins (brother and sister) are 2 very opposite people. The older brother has been a career fuck-up since grade school; always getting in trouble, failing, not caring, running with the wrong crowds, knocked up a girl when they were 16, got kicked out of 1 school and barely graduated. He’s never held a job more than 6 months, if that, each job is minimum wage with minimal skills, been kicked out of the house a few times, has a sordid legal history, dated some questionable women, and eventually got into a relationship with a single mom of 3 kids who inherited 6-figures when her dad died and dude thought he was on easy street from that point forward…until 6 months later when he blew threw half the money and she kicked him out to where he’s now crashing in a camper working a lawn job.
His sister, honor student in HS, went to college, got a degree but had difficulty finding a job in graphic design that wasn’t freelance. Seeing the 27 2nd chances her enabler-parents afforded her brother…she stopped caring and moved back in with the parents bouncing from middling job to middling job. He’s in his mid-30s and she’s in her upper 20’s
A nice illustration is Republican media operatives are trying to attack Harris with “we checked with McDonald’s corporate and they have no record of her working there!”. For one, McD’s is franchisees and I doubt corporate tracks every burger flipper. Next, of course they’re trying to claim she’s dishonest, but what about the greater question: Did fuckin Trump ever come anywhere near McDonald’s? No, he inherited about $400 million, has misconstrued it it repeatedly (‘a small loan of a million dollars’, as if that is relatable either) and has never had any sort of normal job that required discipline or labor, ever.
I think he’s famously at least eaten a lot of McDonalds.
Probably $400 million worth.
Because Democrats want someone who will run the country and Republicans just want someone who will maintain their minority control. We are concerned for the country, they are scared for their very existence and self reflection itself is dangerous for their existence. Basically self reflection is necessary for what Democrats want to do, and it fatal for what Republicans want. So we do it, and Republicans avoid it at all costs. We get a Kamala who we hold to a high standard, they get a Trump who can punch them in the face and they’ll still support him because of the party.
I keep seeing the same bozos say they’re the same
One is literally a criminal rapist who has made tens of thousands of public lies, doesn’t pay contractors, and said obvious non sensensical stuff during covid leading to mass deaths and whose own ex staff warns he is an asshole.
The other is a normal person you could probably eat lunch with. She’s absolutely normal.
And Kamala supports an illegal Genocide
Harris Will Continue to Ignore U.S. Law and Arm Israel, If Elected
That doesn’t mean she supports it. There’s evidence that even with Biden there were things potentially happening in the background to try to stop it. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-03/israel-accepts-joe-bidens-gaza-ceasefire-proposal/103926614
Trump literally asked Russia publicly to find dirt on Hillary to win and praises dictators constantly.Kamala isn’t praising dictators.
If Trump went to court for every crime he committed, he would have no time to campaign. In fact, with lawsuits they likely have to compress them and limit the contents to the worst offenders to facilitate their processing time.
You haven’t heard even a small number of crimes that Mafia don has committed. But a guy who goes and laughs on social media when one of his followers attacked pelosis husband obviously supports assault.
So just to clarify, Trump = actual criminal who uses violence to gain power Kamala = normal person
You’re also assuming that Trump will end the war. He won’t. He’ll do what he normally does and just shout at both parties. If he gets forced out of office, he’ll sabotage the next president
Walz in particular is ex military and I seriously doubt he is pro war either. There might be stuff happening in the background again we don’t know about (Trump will brag in public about every single thing he does, but sometimes negotiations require the opposite). It’s similar to criminal investigations which take a long time
She said she’s gonna keep sending israel weapons. Of course she supports the Genocide.
