• Klear@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I mean, I follow the presidental race somewhat because it has global impact, but watching the debates is not worth my time, and I’m fairly certain it’s not worth anyone’s time, especially non-americans.

      • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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        4 months ago

        Plus it’s unlikely to change anyone’s mind. At this point you’re either pro or anti Trump and you’ve had at least eight years to pick your side.

            • PopShark@lemmy.world
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              A side as opposed to either side is how it should be. But don’t take my word for it, George Washington allegedly warned us of the potential perils of a two-party system on his deathbed but I’m unsure if that is common myth or actually true

              • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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                4 months ago

                George Washington eschewed political parties because he didn’t want to establish a precedent where his choice as first president set the standard everyone else had to conform to, and there’s a little irony in people holding him up as an example in that light more than 200 years later.

                He, and the other founders largely, disliked political parties in their entirety, not just having some specific number of them.
                They also built the system that enshrined the two party dichotomy as the only option, actively sought to ensure that the “right” people could override the will of the people if needed, and founded the parties they had previously argued against.
                They are far from infallible bastions of correctness in this matter.

            • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              It’s what modern elections are, and maybe even all historical elections, though I’m not old enough to determine that. What elections should be is throwing your support behind someone that you think is going to be beneficial for everyone. I know that is idealistic, and unfortunately the current system makes that basically impossible, but Washington said that partisan politics would be the downfall of this country, and his words are playing out in front of us. I really wish we would throw the parties, and lobbyists, out and force candidates to run on policy and merit.

              • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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                See, you’re talking partisan politics, I’m talking “you literally have to pick someone”. We’ve had these candidates before. You already know which one you’re going to vote for. You picked your side four years ago when you were asked the same question.

                Beyond that though, there’s “parties” and then theirs “sides”. One side is xenophobic, homophobic and actively wishes harm on a lot of people. The other side doesn’t, for all their flaws.
                There are more parties than there are sides in the past few elections.

                By saying you think you should vote for someone who will be good for everyone, you’ve picked a side. The side that doesn’t want to do good for only the “right” people, or make sure only the “right” people get hurt.
                The only question is if you’ll vote for that side to win, or if you’ll let idealism or anger drive you to vote otherwise.

                • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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                  4 months ago

                  I shall, once again, for the 6th time in my life, hold my nose and vote for the milquetoast candidate the DNC has foisted on us. I wish we had RCV so I could vote for someone good, like Bernie, or heck I’d almost take Vermin Supreme at this point.

              • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                They’re both right wing, but moderate right wing bought by corporate interests isn’t the same as fascist. It’s trending towards fascism, sure, but it’s less likely to go on a killing spree.

                • LordSinguloth@lemmy.ca
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                  4 months ago

                  It’s obviously a common vernacular simplification from authoritarian with a broad definition. This is a commonplace and accepted vernacular in most modern western media based social media outlets.

                  Fascist can be liberal, they can also be conservative. Or communist. Or almost anything. More often fascists will lie and say they are more socialist than many of their policies would lead you to reasonably expect.

                  Grown ups are talking. Go play outside. You obviously need to touch grass, child.

      • trolololol@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I came here to skip the debate and catch up with the jokes. But seems like the joke is the debate itself

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    I will keep repeating this, Biden will be the reason Trump gets reelected. If he loves his country he needs to leave right fucking now. Democrats like him and Clinton are addicted to power. Bernie Sanders could have beaten Trump in both election but the democrats circles of power made sure to get the candidate they wanted. Old fool.

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      Sanders wouldn’t stand a chance. Too many moderate Democrats would be terrified of the scary socialist madman.

      • SuddenDownpour@sh.itjust.works
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        “The scary socialist madman” accompanied by the Democratic Party apparatus? A presidential candidate Sanders along with a moderate liberal VP would have gotten both the traditional Democratic vote (as long as the party collaborated with him, rather than giving him the Corbyn treatment, which I don’t trust liberals not to do) and a considerable chunk of the electorate who doesn’t feel represented by either party. The day you guys understand that you don’t have to fight the Republicans in traditional terms, but rather, to change the coordinates of the fight, you’ll force Republicans to choose between evolving or getting buried. But the real problem by this point is whether it is too late.

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      Maybe you’re right but too many of us think the opposite. I would much rather a younger more progressive candidate but Joe Biden has a track record of beating Trump. Biden has done a lot of good things in his first term that I’d want to continue. Even where he hasn’t gone nearly far enough or balanced bad with good, it may be necessary to appeal to the undecideds in the middle. Biden is the only one who can overcome the Trump personality cult

      If a big complaint is age, how is that a plus for Sanders? I’m sorry but he missed his chance and now is solidly in “too old for this shit” territory

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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      It’s the usual catch - the leader of the losing side doesn’t get the post, but keeps power of his faction.

      While if that leader is no longer a leader, their personal power would be less even if the faction wins.

      Western Roman Empire had a similar story with Stilicho’s conviction and execution. The empire loses, but those who ate him get some power.

    • rsuri@lemmy.world
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      How about we pick someone who vaguely approaches the average age of an American adult. There’s a ton - Buttigieg, AOC, I dunno even Kamala would be a million times better. Literally anybody under the age of 70. Why is that so hard to do?

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      Most of this country is centrist, so no unfortunately sanders would have lost to trump.

      • searchthis@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Can you guys just put obama back in? I would unironically say thanks. It would be poetic.

        • Wugmeister@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          No, there’s an amendment in our consimtituion that says a president can only be in office for two terms total. The only president who evaded this was FDR and he’s still villainized to this day.

          Actually. I’m pretty sure hes the reason that amendment got passed.

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            Before FDR it was just a tradition, started by George Washington. Personally I think FDR deserves a pass, he got us out of the great depression and through WW2, it would have been hard to have a leadership change in the midst of that turmoil.

            • Wugmeister@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              Totally agree. But imagine a 4-term Obamna presidency, with the orange avatar of conservative rage building in strength and gathering malice for 16 years instead of 8.

        • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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          Like what? Did she get votes for him thrown out?

          People have been saying for years that she had an advantage and so it wasn’t fair, but those advantages seem to ignore that more people voted for her.

          He was an independent running as a Democrat, and then claiming it’s unfair when the Democratic party was more aligned with the person who had always been a Democrat.

  • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
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    Its … horrible how you treat your elderly in closed wards.

    I shall avert my gaze.
    Didn’t mean to pry, it was just too loud to not notice it.

    I’d rather look at our … increasingly hard-right EU politics … wait, that can’t be right, wtf.

    • quatschkopf43@feddit.org
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      We used to say that conservative politics in the EU would still be considered left in the USA. Well, I‘m not so sure about that anymore.

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        I mean, in previous years we did pass some environmental laws (like banning internal combustion cars), not as much or as strict as I hoped, but change was there. Sure hope that doesn’t all get undone ‘to boost the economy’ (in the USA sense - so help the existing big corps to boost their profits & do nothing for the majority).

        Hell, I rally like the vast majority of EU regulations (various directives and delegated acts) that were passed & are being constantly updated (to keep up with the times/trends & tech) over the last 20 years, I think its a rally good balance between protecting the people whilst at the same time working with the market to actually achieve a meaningful & painless change over several years. That’s why we have representatives. The added “bureaucracy” as companies call it is just extra reporting & testing (to confirm compliance with standards). This benefits us all & is of unbelievably marginal cost when you look at the economy, regardless of what lobbyists say.

  • loaExMachina@sh.itjust.works
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    As a French tho, do watch the debate between Gabriel Attal, Merdella and Manuel Bombard. See how Bompard (the left wing candidate) politely wipes the floor with both shitbags.

    • Chloë (she/her)@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 months ago

      WE 👏STAN👏BOM-👏PARD👏

      The thing that’s pissing me off though is that the centrist party decided it would rather demonize the left than the alt right, I suppose they know they already lost and are trying to get as many votes off of those they know might vote for them (some socialists).

      • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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        Centerists will always attack the left rather than the right. They are actually right wingers that don’t want the social stigma that goes with admitting that you’re right wing. Once the progressives have been killed off by the right wing, the liberals will take the mask off.

        The lot of them are cowards and the left is a whole lot less scary than the right, since we don’t go on random killing sprees frequently.

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        Yeah, I think going toe to toe with the far right once again was always Macron’s plan. This is the foe he’s familiar with, against whom he won before. The short deadline for the anticipated election was probably to keep the left from organizing, as to not disturb their duel. But it backfired when the left immediately formed the Front Populaire. Now he’s nervous. The polls give his party third place, so he’s playing for second. He thinks if it’s the centrist against the far right, the “barrage vote” will save him once more.

        What’s shocking is the extent to which they go to demean the left, and the amount of media that help spread his baseless accusation. Everyone knows at this point that the center will lose, so they’re choosing who they’ll lose too. They maybe think it’ll erase the left and let Macron’s clan be seen as the alternative to fascism during the next presidential elections…

    • SuddenDownpour@sh.itjust.works
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      The vibes I get from the French left in social media remind me of the days when Podemos (in Spain) was soaring. It gives me a bit of hope. Good luck.

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    Well I suppose the answer I’d give is that because of how right-wing the US is compared to much of the Western world, it becomes a patient zero for whatever the far-right is cooking up - which inevitably influences far-right groups in other Western countries

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      Word.

      Putin planted his seed with Trump in his greatest enemy (democracy/America). It quickly caught on & has spread globally.

      Hundreds of Billions of dollars in US defense hasn’t done a thing to halt the attacks on democracy Putin has wraught with a few million spent on his troll army.

      The man can’t carry out a physical attack for shit, but his cyber attacks have no equal, only willing collaborators (Murdoch et al, the maga army).

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          It’s no fanfic. It’s assessing the enemy. Kind of important to do if you want to beat em.

          Don’t be a snowflake. The right is claiming that territory madly.

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            You’d rather believe Trump is result of foreign interference, that our own institutions would never result in this without being sullied from outside. It’s fan fic, it’s Cold War nonsense.

            Trump is the consequence of our political systems, of our spiteful culture, of our economics that promises success and leaves people sick, broken, and in debt. So what if the Russians had a few hundred Facebook posts? That “seed” would not have taken if the soil weren’t already fertile. Frankly, I don’t think it made a difference. We were barrelling toward Trump with or without the oh so spooky slavs typing on a keyboard.

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      I follow closely what is happening in the US from France because even though we have a very different culture I still think US politics is a preview of what’s to come here.

      Right now I consider we are at the step where our media are crumbling and becoming unable to properly inform us. A step that has been reached a couple of years ago in the US in my opinion.

      The next step will probably be our own coup attempt in a few years and a steady increase in the division of the country and far right movements.

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    In german media there is so much content about america even I sometimes get confused whoch country I actually live in.

    • VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works
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      At least you can tell where something happens by place names, I get headlines ‘12 shot in Manchester gun fight’ or ‘Birmingham man kills 8 in roadrage incident’ and there’s just no way of telling it’s America… OK, well those examples are obvious but the point stands.

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    Unfortunately, when America farts we’re all forced to smell it. America wants Europeans to stay out of American business, buts that’s rather difficult to do when that country demands to be the center of attention.

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    I would love not knowing about any debate but lemmy is like: Nope you’ll read American “news” if you want to or not.

    So next time keep your national humiliation fetish private please

    • lemmyknow@lemmy.today
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      Indeed. I created a Lemmy account the moment I saw an opportunity to block US-specific communities. But alas, US content makes it onto other, more general communities as well (like politics on the memes community)

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        Some cunt could post a meme about a samurai in Cote/ d’Ivoire eating a durian fruit and some yank would still say “Ya that’s such a democrat thing to do brah”

    • Soulg@sh.itjust.works
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      Don’t look at American centric communities then. You’re the curator of your experience, not everyone else.

      • weker01@feddit.de
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        I mean I wasn’t really serious as we are in a shit post community right now.

        But do you realize how fucking hard it is to keep US politics out of your experience here? So many seemingly unrelated communities post election bullshit it’s not even funny :/

        I do think that the next presidential US election is important not only for Americans but the world. Although it really is tiring to watch from over here and I can only imagine how tired most Americans must be…

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    We’re so fucked it’s absolutely insane.

    I thought Trump had a chance before, but now… My god Biden embarrassed the shit out of himself… Fuck the goddamn DNC for condemning us by REFUSING to have primaries… Yeah it’s the tradition because usually the incumbent has a chance, but 90472828 year old Biden? Ffs…

    Yes Trump is old too but it was plain as day how much more lucid trump is than biden…

    • pancakes@sh.itjust.works
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      This might be a hot take but any leadership selection where candidates are ranked in terms of how lucid they are is a bad time for all involved.

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      Does it really count as “lucid” if you enunciate your lies, fabrications, misrecollections about… everything?

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        For his voters, his lies and fabrications are the truth. They don’t listen to fact checking because they are conditioned to see it as fake and a goverment ploy to fool them.

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          True. But they were going to have the same criticism of Biden regardless.

          It’s part of the reason I didn’t even watch. Looking over the polling, the debate didn’t really change anyone’s opinions on anything to any significant degree.

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            I don’t think it has been long enough to have gathered enough data on that. Just watching it myself I could clearly see a low information voter seeing Trump as a more fit choice as Biden struggled to even form sentences :(

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              They did a lot of the pre-selection of people beforehand. The headline most places are running with is “flash poll says trump won”, but if you actually read the conclusions, it’s that “flash poll says trump won, more Republicans watched the debate by about a ten percent margin, and no one changed their opinions about fitness for office or who they’re voting for”.

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        It was a goddamn travesty that there was no fact checking by the button pushers moderators.

        Everything was allowed to stand as fact. It was disgusting :(

    • Soulg@sh.itjust.works
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      I see so many people screaming that primaries should have been held, especially today.

      Biden would have easily won the primaries.

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            The problem with Biden is they gave it to him because “he deserved it”. Life long politician. Vice president. That’s the only real reason the DNC handed the keys to him. It’s a fucking job promotion.

            The next election cycle is going to be interesting.

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        The only reason I agree with this is that I was still living in the Midwest during the 2016 primary. I moved to California during August of that year. Time after time, I got told by Midwestern democrats that Bernie just wasn’t electable / was too progressive. The coasts would have primaried Biden, but flyover country would have messed it up.

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              NY isn’t that keen on progressive politics outside NYC. Long Island is an extremely populated part of NY and it’s basically Trumpland and “moderates” out here, more Trump the more east you go. “Greater” NY is also pretty red aside from the larger cities. It doesn’t really surprise me that much unfortunately :(

    • Mzpip🇨🇦@lemm.ee
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      Yes Trump is old too but it was plain as day how much more lucid trump is than biden…

      And also an unrepentant crook and liar. Who also dreams of being a dictator and getting revenge on his “enemies”.

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        Preaching to the choir, but I’m worried about the ignorant people that simply don’t know that about him. All they see is an old bumbling feeble man vs a “strong man.” :(

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          And unfortunately, the media is not informing people. I can’t believe there was no question last night about Project 2025. Just unbelievable.

          Plus no fact checkers. Again, unbelievable.

  • MrMobius @sh.itjust.works
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    It’s not that us outsiders like to watch your elections closely. But we need to since they’re gonna have a big impact on the world we live in, whether we like to admit it or not.

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    Too late, I watched it all. It would have been funny if it hadn’t been so sad.