The election is ongoing, because the results are still being tallied. That's not a dig at you, I'm pointing the finger at popular media pretending like an election is a one day culmination. No, it's a (regrettably) long process that requires us to prioritize the integrity of the vote tallying above apparently idiotic pollsters' naive attempts to treat this like "any other American election". We already knew that this election was going to be different. If we find out that massive numbers of mail-in ballots have been suppressed, which would explain the pollsters' "wrongness", yeah, I'm gonna be really, really, really fuckin' angry. We don't know that yet, but with a white house that revolves around "we'll lie, and hope people don't find out the truth"? Yesh, there could be problems.post-election
Thank you :). It's troubling when a buncha people feel like they have to go out and be the Words Police. raises hand Just wanna help tend to an objective reality.
I can't find it, but I read a fascinating exchange in r/Conservative on Reddit. A liberal went in and posted an honest question along the lines of, "I don't get it... why do you like this guy?" And the posters were SUPER nice in their responses. They didn't troll him; they were earnest in their responses. And the one that stuck with me I have to paraphrase (because I can't find the post anymore), but he basically said: He's 100% on foreign policy... got us out of Afghanistan, made progress with North Korea, slapped Syria in the face, brought troops back home, avoided a trade war with China and have real negotiations going on, and he got us out of the Paris Climate Accords, like he promised. I don't like the guy, and I don't want to ever have a beer with him. But he's done the job I hired him to do, and he's been ruthless reaching those goals." And, ok, there's a lot of details to niggle with and pick apart and point out issues with what this guy was calling "successes"... but the CORE IDEA - which was reinforced by dozens of other commenters supporting this comment - was that the Democrats run nice friendly people you want to get to know, and Republicans hire a motherfucker to do a goddamn job, and he'd better fucking do the job he was hired for. They don't CARE if he is "likeable" or even a model citizen... he's an employee, with a job to do, and he does that job. And I've been noodling this for a day now, and I respect and understand their vision and point. Imagine if the Democrats ran Rahm Emmanuel or some other truly abrasive motherfucker who isn't anybody's friend, but gets shit done. Holy fuck I wanna meet that Democrat! "I don't like him. And I don't have to. I don't like many of my coworkers, either, but they do their job well. We hired Trump to do a job, and he has done it very well.
"I like Trump because he did ________." is so thoroughly undermined by his attempts at thwarting our representative democracy that anyone trying to defend him can just shut the fuck up. There is nothing else to say.
That statement reeks of privileged white male that doesn’t give a damn about anybody but himself. Truthfully that’s what this election solidified for me. That nearly half of Americans are self serving assholes who are willing to support a coworker or boss that bullies coworkers as long as it isn’t them. In every other situation you can try to swing it differently, but here it is laid out for the world to see. You can’t blame low voter turnout, or ignorance anymore. Nearly half of Americans watched what he did for 4 years and still voted for him, because they couldn’t give a damn about anybody else in the country. Oh except the troops of course, the ones who get welcomed home with glitter and cheers before promptly having the door shut in their face at every turn.
This is basically revisionist history by the kind of 'enlightened' conservatives who don't want to admit they're just partisan Republicans. It's interesting that the respondents focus on foreign policy, the least objectionable of Trump's policies. Actual voters consistently care very little about foreign policy and these issues, according to exit polls. The top issues for most voters are the economy, racial inequality, crime and safety, and healthcare policy, all areas where Trump's record is much harder to defend.We hired Trump to do a job, and he has done it very well.
Like I said, we can nitpick this specific voters' choice of "wins" and how they are measured... ... but the crux of their argument is indisputable: "The President has a JOB to do, and I'm gonna hire a motherfucker that can get that job DONE." They then get to cherry pick all the wins and claim he is "doing the job" and completely ignore the moronic rallies and self-aggrandizing posturing on Twitter, etc. Because that's irrelevant. That's the show. The WORK is actually getting done. (In their estimation.) Hence why Biden is so lacking for them; he doesn't have a business plan that is easy to pitch and he doesn't have the "killer" instinct that a "business man" has, as opposed to a life-long politician who waffles and negotiates and compromises and is largely ineffectual in the end. This is an aspect of the Conservative Story that I can understand, and wrap my head around, and it makes sense why they excuse all of Trump's personal failures.
He doesn't appeal to white, and especially white male, fragility and ego. It's that simple.Hence why Biden is so lacking for them; he doesn't have a business plan that is easy to pitch and he doesn't have the "killer" instinct that a "business man" has, as opposed to a life-long politician who waffles and negotiates and compromises and is largely ineffectual in the end.
The WORK is actually getting done. (In their estimation.)
Exit Polls if you believe them, actually say exactly the opposite. The fragile white male ego was actually the biggest looser for trump. This is based off previous performance ofcourse in aggregate republicans don’t do well with minorities but he’s made progress rather unexpectedly
The last two elections have shown that “everything is made up, and the polls don’t matter”! (Cue Drew Carey)
I think you're right to be skeptical of polls that show that, e.g. Trump Is Losing Ground With White Voters. But what then is your evidence for concluding that Biden doesn't appeal to white male voters?
I’m also skeptical of Nate Silver at this point!
This is probably it. EDIT: Meant to paste this comment from that same post.I can't find it, but I read a fascinating exchange in r/Conservative on Reddit.
This has been an amazing election process thus far and it’s nowhere near the end yet. I predict Biden wins Az and NV to win 270. He may actually take PA and GA too. Trump will not go quietly. This will get ugly.
This is a safe prediction as many people would say things are already ugly. Can you be more specific? Do you consider any legal challenge to election results ugly?This will get ugly.
IMO the humbling of Dems in the House could be a positive thing. Dems are out of touch with the working class, and increasingly, the middle class. They don't need to give ground when it comes to racism, sexism, homophobia, etc., but they do need to get in tune with the economic conditions and stresses facing so many. People get ugly when their basic needs aren't being met. Duplicitous and he was, Trump was speaking to them. Too often, Dems were speak down to them. That was Hillary's biggest sin. I think Biden understands this. Not sure about Harris though.
If you haven't listened to that Pod Save America episode where it's just a rambling 45 minute long interview of Biden, you should. That alone gave me some amount of faith in him that he understands the issues, and that's where you need to start. Everyone jumped on me/that episode about execution. But you know what, I don't give a shit about that right now - the foundation must start with understanding. The house...yeah...we need more AOC types in the house.
Let's hope Biden doesn't die. I think he will be a good president, and I'm happy to have supported him. I also think that in a high all voter turnout election that Dems were destined to lose some house seats. They vastly overperformed in 18. The House is so incredibly gerrymandered toward the GOP (by default and by design) that holding onto it is means that Dems have to have a good night. So I think it's less meaningful than most of the pundits are writing, even though I might agree that the "defund the police" sloganeering was unhelpful at best.
Says it all. Size of lead map from the NYT.
Stop counting votes in one state, but keep counting in another. As if we needed any examples of ideological inconsistencies in Trump-supporting logic.
Gore had the right to request a hand recount in each of Florida’s 67 counties—the request had to be made county by county—but he asked for a recount in just four: Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Volusia. All of them were populous and heavily Democratic.
The thing about 2000 that we often forget though I'd that as messy as it was, the result was basically correct. The supreme court did is all a disservice with Bush v Gore (which I read the other day has only been cited at good case law on a single Court decision since, and only by Thomas in a separate opinion), because it's been written since that Bush actually did win now votes in FL. The recount wouldn't have changed the result. 2000 could have been remembered as messy but a good lesson is patience while votes are being counted rather than a partisan power grab by the GOP had it not been for that horrible decision.
I found the contradiction in that second tweet to be interesting. Until a co-worker pointed out that California will have the same $15 minimum wage. And Florida also ruled that Uber drivers are independent contractors. https://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/state-minimum-wage-chart.aspx http://kluwertaxblog.com/2020/04/03/uber-drivers-employees-or-independent-contractors/ So there doesn't appear to be much more to that tweet than some embarrassing cherry picking.On April 4, California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 3 into law. The new law increases the minimum wage to $15 per hour by Jan. 1, 2022, for employers with 26 or more employees. For employers with 25 or fewer employees the minimum wage will reach $15 per hour by Jan. 1, 2023. Increases may be paused by the governor if certain economic or budgetary conditions exist. Beginning the first Jan. 1 after the minimum wage reaches $15 per hour for smaller employers, the minimum wage is indexed annually for inflation.
On the other hand, in the United States, the District Court of Pennsylvania declared Uber drivers as independent contractors. So did the State of Florida.