I think the Republicans imagine they're playing chicken, and the people who want it the most will win. Against a bunch of feckless Democrats who never know what they want, this is a viable strategy.

I think the Democrats imagine they're in the bull ring and if they can get the bull to charge around until it's exhausted they can stab it in the side to the roaring applause of an adoring crowd. Against a bunch of charging Republicans who are 100% driven by opposition and rage, this is a viable strategy.

Thing about a game of chicken? you need two players. Thing about the bullfighter? He can have a totally different conception of the situation than the bull and still come out on top. He can still get gored? He still needs to put in a fuckton of work? The strategy for bullfighting is substantially more nuanced than the strategy for chicken? But it presupposes a pretty brutal asymmetry of forces while also virtually guaranteeing victory.

The minute the Republicans realize they're in a knife fight, though, Democrats better adapt to the new reality or they're screwed.

I think Biden is a better bullfighter (and knife fighter) than anyone other than the old-school Democratic establishment understands. His career was ended - ENDED - in '88. Front-page plagiarism scandal, withdrew from the race, all of it. Didn't even come up in 2008. Didn't even come up in 2020. That, I believe, is because Biden was taken down by Lee Atwater, the Dracula to Karl Rove's Renfield, who died remorseful in 1991. I don't think there's a single political animal alive other than Biden who faced has faced true, limitless, intelligent evil. And I mean, once you've been bested by the Shogun some petty fucker with a switchblade isn't gonna get near you in a knife fight - you've learned a thing or two. Comparing Lee Atwater and Steve Bannon is like comparing Thanos and Eric Cartman.

I think the Online Left are so salty because they want a fucking game of chicken.