My friend said to me the other day “why did democrats nominate such a weak candidate?” To which I asked since given the fact that weak and strong are relative terms, can you point out 1 specific aspect where Biden is weaker than his opponent? She had no answer other than “he is just weak”
Don’t let these fuckers gaslight you in thinking the convicted felon with 90+ indictments and a wannabe dictator is somehow stronger than the alternative.
He's a weak candidate because he's a tepid aged rich guy who only loosely reflects what his base wants and is incapable of delivering the level of change the historic moment requires.
He's uninspiring. The US desperately needs large scale institutional change. With how broken those institutions are, that's going to require a groundswell of public support, something that can only be done by an inspiring reform candidate, not an establishment figure.
I'm still voting for him, but I'm (eternally) disappointed in the short sighted cowardice of the democratic party.
a tepid aged rich guy who only loosely reflects what his base wants and is incapable of delivering the level of change the historic moment requires.
I mean, green energy, student loans, proper actual judges, high-speed rail, decriminalized weed, support for Ukraine, prosecuting trump for at least one of his many many crimes, increased school funding, etc etc and that was with half his term under a batshit republiQan House that can barely not hold up revenge porn in public hearings.
Goddamn, whatever.
He’s uninspiring
Such a weird statement to me. Why would anyone expect to be 'inspired' by a politician? They're tools to represent your interests in government. If there's someone running that does that better- vote for them. Really wish people could be more boring and practical about politics. All this emotional sentiment does no one any good.
Because he’s the leader of the nation. An essential component of good leadership is the ability to inspire others.
The fact remains that there is no other option which is shameful.
A US president is the elected executive and commander-in-chief of a democracy. I get that simple people need to follow 'leaders' but I thank goodness the US was built on the idea that we devote ourselves to institutions and offices, not the people we choose to temporarily occupy them. Inspire yourself to participate in democracy, don't depend on 'leaders' for anything.
Hitler was inspiring. So that makes him a good leader right? Truth is I'd heard that he was largely lucky and highly incompetent overall.
Quite frankly plenty of people Inspire others to commit atrocities. I don't view that as a good leadership skill. Good leadership skills are the ones who get things done for people who need it done. Even if it's not perfect or 100% adequate.
The ability to inspire others isn't necessarily A negative. But I wouldn't hold that it is a vital or necessary quality of leadership either. More a weakness of people needing someone to lie to them and lead them along more often than not.
Do you think the Maga crowd is not inspired by Trump? Getting people excited is basically the entire purpose of candidates. Obama was amazing at it, Trump is pretty good, and Biden isn't.
Biden definitely isn't as good of a cult leader as Trump.
If you're looking to join a democratic cult of personality you're probably out of luck. That's not really their shtick. Try being an active participant in democracy if\whenever you get tired of looking for someone to lead you.
EDIT: You inspired me to meme! https://lemmy.world/post/15807707
One of the biggest things that the president, and really anyone in a high or noteworthy level of office can wield, is the bully pulpit. Their ability to speak to people and basically be guaranteed that people will listen to what they're saying, even if they get clip-chimped by fox news or the nyt or cnn or whatever. "Inspiration" is something that can drive people to the polls, too. Having a candidate that the majority of the population trusts and can believe in, i.e. is inspiring, is better than having a candidate that isn't those things, broadly. Well, if you agree with their goals, anyways.
What you're describing is 'charisma' and I agree- hard to get any group of humans to listen to you if you literally have none at all. But 'some' should be plenty for anyone that cares about being an active participant in a democracy.
Well, if you agree with their goals, anyways.
There's the rub. Sociopaths have as much if not more charisma than decent, sincere people and the people that need to be 'inspired' by charismatic leaders are as easily led to do good or evil, and work for or against their own interests.
The US was founded on 'checks and balances' specifically designed to prevent people that get too 'inspired' by a charismatic leader from recreating the autocracy we fought a revolution to free ourselves from. The whole point of the US constitution is that even unchecked democracy can quickly devolve into mob rule which quickly leads right back to autocracy.
People that need to be led are sheep. They'll follow a shepherd, or a wolf that looks vaguely like a shepherd, and never know the difference until it's too late. The US constitution relies on the voting citizen to explicitly resist being 'led', and themselves lead by selection of representatives.
The fact that so many people's beef with the only bulwark to impending fascism is essentially "The president should be better at leading sheep" to me indicates this democratic experiment is ultimately going to fail. We probably should have put some kind of educational or personal stake requirement into voting but the 'white land owner' requirement and racist poll taxes set a backwards precedent for that that I can't see a way out of it for the US. Hopefully someone will figure out how to create sustainable democratic institutions at some point in the future but I won't live to see it.
EDIT: You inspired me to meme! https://lemmy.world/post/15807707
The US desperately needs large scale institutional change. With how broken those institutions are, that’s going to require a groundswell of public support, something that can only be done by an inspiring reform candidate, not an establishment figure.
Isn't that how Trump happened? People seem to get inspired by some pretty fucked up shit.
A creaking disfunctional democracy slides into fascism because the moderate liberals fail to build a coalition with left. This is literally how democracys fall apart. Are you really trying to say that is the fault of people calling for reform?
Well, a lot of trump supporters are anti establishment, and he has had a groundswell of public support by people who see all the old institutions as broken and are looking for real change. So yes, I'm blaming the slide into fascism on those people.
And these people: https://lemmy.world/post/15781650
Somebody figured out that a lot of human judgement comes down to groupthink. If you see a bunch of people who are clearly operating guided by some assumptions, then you'll take those assumptions on and start being guided by them, whether the people you saw were real or fake.
Then, a few years ago, it became cheap and easy to flood both social media and news media with restatements of whatever assumptions you want people to pretend that are guided by.
And so, behold: The economy is crashing, which is all Biden's fault, and he's a weak candidate who loves genocide. Everyone's disappointed in him. Everyone knows all these things and sees them all the time. The simple repetition is actually a very solid system for producing the public opinion you want to produce.
At the present moment, they are trying to do it tactically with the "anyone who is disagreeing with me is trying to silence me, in fact they are literally hitting me in the face (also! Note that I'm allowed to disagree with whoever I want)" narrative -- simply repeating it, over and over, in the hopes (probably pretty well founded) that people will start to absorb it and behave the way they want them to behave.
At the present moment, they are trying to do it tactically with the “anyone who is disagreeing with me is trying to silence me, in fact they are literally hitting me in the face (also! Note that I’m allowed to disagree with whoever I want)” narrative – simply repeating it, over and over, in the hopes (probably pretty well founded) that people will start to absorb it and behave the way they want them to behave.
Social media is both a blessing and a curse. Depending on context you might think a little of both at any given time.
I hope you do keep engaging with it. The easy thing to do would be to ignore the alarms, but it's not the smartest.
Your selfless and forward-thinking actions in support of the Democrats, and left wing goals, are plain to see. That's totally the result. It's instantly obvious.
I hope it's obvious I could say the same thing about you, by not pushing harder for better.
Don't worry - even if they were pushing harder for better, the moment they had a chance of their chosen candidate winning, you'd swap to "NOT GOOD ENOUGH" and return to simping for the fascist. :)
Public perception and narrative is where Biden is weak. Seeming physically feeble. There's a number of ways. I'm going to vote for him, but don't just yourself. You're sleepwalking towards the grave.
Biden is ancient and incomprehensible in half of his public appearances. Not saying Trump isn't, but his people love his crazy rambling.
It is not unreasonable for people to be disappointed. They are being forced to choose between two dementia riddled candidates. The only people who truly think Trump would be the better alternative are dumbass "centrists" and conservatives.
Yes, lesser evil voting is good, but you can't shame people for not smiling while smelling shit.
I'm not smiling. Nor was I ever happy with what's going on. Don't assume anyone is.
A third of the electorate votes. Half of those are repubs. A fraction of dems campaign/protest. A fraction of them are actually in government. Dissatisfied people are not the minority.
Ok. I don't disagree with anything you said.
The Democrats in power still put forth a candidate that is very unpopular.
Only because there was no movement to primary him. If some of these checked out people showed up we could have easily ousted joe.
Not just that. They've never primaried any incumbent president ever. You can blame Biden for not stepping down possibly for age and health reasons on his own. But seeing as they're likely wasn't an actual better candidate I can't necessarily blame him for staying in either. If there really were a better candidate for everyone to get behind they'd be doing it. But there's been no serious candidates. Not even talk of serious candidates.
It's perfectly reflects how f***** up our society is right now. So many people having to work into their 70s or eighties whether or not they want to.
Have you listened to any of his speeches? Yes, he says insane shit, but his audiences (conservatives) love it.
OH! Trump. Yes. Sorry, I thought you were saying Biden’s crazy rambling.
No, yes, totally agree. It’s a cult. He’s speaking in very stupid tongues.
This is ableism. Biden doesn’t mumble because of his age, but because he’s had issues with stuttering since he was young. To a few kids he’s even been an inspiring image for the fact he rehearses his speeches so well he rises above the impromptu stutters.
No.
I already know of this.
It is what he says through the mumbling that is concerning.
I do not condone ablism.
Biden is ancient and incomprehensible in half of his public appearances.
That’s the opposite of what you said. Are you concerned about what you can understand, or what you can’t?
The question isn't whether or not he is weaker than the other candidate. The question was, would a better Democratic candidate have stood a better chance? I think you're misrepresenting what your friend had said.
It's actually kind of rude how you're depicting them right now, as some sort of buffoon.
This does need to be the go-to response to anyone saying shit like that: "How is Trump stronger?" Force them to admit they have no frame of reference.
Don't let anyone gaslight you into thinking that your vote is the only thing that matters.
I'll do the dishes when I'm eating the food. I'm not going to just clean up after the neoliberals while they let me starve at the kids table.
You can sit with the adults anytime you’re able to stop stuffing peas up your nose and making farting noises with your armpit.
I guess that's how you see universal healthcare yeah?
Its not like the progressives are asking for anything crazy.
I guess that's how you see universal healthcare yeah?
It's how centrists see anything to the left of enthusiastic support for genocide.
Trump is vastly better at campaigns, Biden is far too insulated from public appearances. Trump is also really good at inspiring his base, half of Biden's party doesn't even want him. Trump gets to point to a generally good economy for his term until states shut down for covid, Biden gets to downplay a cumulative 20% inflation during his term.
Biden is in trouble in the states he needs to win, and these weaknesses are a big part of it.
Hey, remember what I said about groupthink and just repeating the assumptions and then hoping people will absorb them? This is textbook what I meant.
Trump is vastly better at campaigns
Half-empty campaign rallies and people leaving before the end are a hallmark of Trump's campaign rallies. I would assert that it's because he just stands up saying literally any unhinged, weird, angry garbage for literally hours and it gets tiresome after a while.
I have seen one story of people leaving before the end of Biden's speech, and that was because of a delberate protest for his genocide-enabling foreign policy, and then it turned out not to be true anyway.
Trump's also gutted the RNC because he needed all the money to pay his legal bills. It remains to be seen exactly how bad the impacts will be on his and everyone else's ability to run a campaign, but it seems unlikely that it'll leave in place a powerhouse. Eight years ago, some of Trump's natural skill at understanding TV audiences made his skill as a campaigner a lot more real than today; at this point I would say that most of Trump's broad support from conservatives is because a complicit conservative media lies for him like a North Korean news anchor, and not because of anything he's doing.
Trump is also really good at inspiring his base, half of Biden's party doesn't even want him
Trump has 75% of the popular vote in the primary; Biden has 85% (in the midst of historic reasons not to vote for him in the primary and an organized effort specifically not to vote for him, even from staunch Democrats). Also -- 30% of Republican primary voters in a few different state polls said that they wouldn't commit to voting for Trump if he won the nomination. That's a huge deal, and very unusual, with only one real explanation (unlike the differences in primary numbers, which obviously aren't a really apples to apples comparison).
Trump gets to point to a generally good economy for his term until states shut down for covid
Can we please summon to this comment some of those people who jump on every story which covers good things about Biden's economy, to start talking about how good economic numbers don't always translate to a better economy for actual humans?
Biden's strengthened unions, bounced back smoothly from Covid better than literally every other first world country, and boosted pay for low-wage earners even in the face of historic inflation. Trump started mini-trade wars with Canada and China, directly went to factories and coal mines and promised he would bring the jobs back and then weeks later the literal exact same places were closed, and gave away half a trillion dollars via direct Covid-aid fraud (that is literally the number -- not like forgiven PPP loans, which were also massive, but simple rampant theft).
Biden gets to downplay a cumulative 20% inflation during his term.
Quick question, what was cumulative wage growth during Biden's term? Average or median or 10th percentile; you pick.
Trump is vastly better at campaigns
JFC. I don’t even want you to explain that. Hopefully you are not American and/or high as shit.
In the past two elections Trump has been amazing in intensity for campaigning. He hits multiple stops in multiple states. The physical presence is really powerful. Biden has been poor at this, covid isn't a cover this time to avoid appearances. I wouldn't be surprised to see Trump making 10x as many appearances in battleground states.
The physical presence is really powerful.
It’s eye-watering. People say, holy shit I can’t even go near the guy. I thought it was a joke but no, it’s really real; if you go in his vicinity after you-know-what happens, you’re just assaulted by the physical presence of it, and you want to get away from him as quickly as you can, trying not to gag.
Which angle am I supposed to read this from? That Biden's critics are being duplicitous, or that Biden's supporters are being repressive?
Based on OP's post history, it's meant to be against Batman (and Biden) here. Post has the opposite effect though lol
I for real saw it and thought, yes, that is 100% the correct response at this point 😃. I mean I don't think extensive criticism is the same as hitting them in the face, but metaphorically speaking, yes, it sounds good.
When there have been 2-3 extensive discussions on your viewpoint, then okay sure, that's your free speech and we are here for political discussion whether or not I agree with it.
Once it reaches 20 or 30 times and you're still doing it multiple times per day every single day from multiple accounts and totally unresponsive to people pointing out every time objective flaws in it, I think we can start hitting you in the face as soon as you start.
I gotta be honest, I seriously had a lot of support for Batman when I first saw it 🙂.
I mean the whole premise is hilarious. Disagreeing with them is not the same as hitting them in the face, obviously, and of course they're not planning on stopping disagreeing with anyone around them or yelling their viewpoint at people who don't want to hear it. It's the standard conservative tactic of "how DARE you do back to me a lesser version of what I did to you, actually specifically in response to me doing it to you, that's literally oppression so unreasonable and I'm a total victim now and how dare you."
No, no, I've been assured archomrade is just SO far left that they can't help but proudly repeat fascist talking points all day, every day!
Everyone knows the best way for the left to make progress is:
This stuff is literally the first thing they teach you in Left School.
Clearly, I’m So Communist Bro that I talk endless shit about the more socialist candidates - ones who support LGBT causes, Unions, environmental regulations, clean energy, consumer friendly financial regulations - HATE THEM and will always say Id NEVER VOTE FOR THEM because they’re not good enough. Meanwhile, not say a single bad word about the fascist party in the US, just keep trying to discourage people from voting for the other party. Specifically, the Democrat candidate is not good a an issue where the Republican would be even worse, so I can’t vote for them despite that they’re way better on everything else. That makes sense, right?
It’s all about the absolutism. Until Communist Jesus descends to earth and magically, instantaneously creates a utopian state of equitable harmony, every single person is a heartless greedy warmongering ratfucker bastard who will never get support.
This makes sense because of books. Look it up!
This makes sense because of books. Look it up!
I Read Some Theory(tm) and now I am ready to oppose to the death every movement to the left of the status quo EXCEPT those which match my policy preferences EXACTLY (or promise to give me really tasty leather boots to lick).
I know it's good in this instance that Biden is likely to win because he can out spend the orange one, but I still find it crazy that your politics is just about who has the deepest pockets. Spending limits are a thing for a reason.
It's not. In 2016 Bloomberg outspent the other candidates by orders of ten and still lost horribly. Bernie raised funds from his electoral base and came to be a close contender to Clinton. You just can't fix shit personality with money.
I sort of don’t have problems with Biden.
Biden is the most liberal President that the Democratic Party has allowed to become president since Jimmy Carter. And that’s cool.
But after 40+ years of both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party getting on their knees to give the sloppiest, messiest blowjobs for corporate America, the Republican Party lacks the ability to govern, and the Democratic Party lacks the ability to lead, and neither have any intention of doing anything to benefit U.S. citizens unless it either benefits the wealthy most or is needed to improve their chances of reelection.
I feel like this messaging is reductive and stupid. The problem is not people being anti-Biden. The problem is a broken-ass system and political parties that hope we don’t realize it.
The exceptionally stupid thing is that Republicans want to tear the system down and take it over, and the Democratic Party seems to think that is a cute point to campaign on, rather than an existential fucking crisis that they aren’t taking seriously because they’re afraid if they pull that corporate dick out their mouth and start actually embracing the will of the people that they won’t have the funds to campaign.
But anyway, Grampa Joe is fine.
Honestly, best case scenario is that the Dems get a big enough win that the GoP tears themselves apart trying to pin the blame, and ends up collapsing. Then the Democrat party splits due to some seeing a void, and the US gets a hard shift left with the new right wing party being only marginally more right wing than the Democrat party is now
My dream scenario was first enough states passing the interstate voting compact by ballot initiative to bring it into effect, immediately followed by adoption of preference voting systems, campaign finance reform, universal mail in voting and electoral holidays.
But like, I think tribalism and the entrenched systems that benefit from this system would topple the U.S. into autocracy before people could unify enough to make even a fraction of the above happen.
Notwithstanding, there is currently both massive internal and external pressure to push the U.S. to that point regardless of what is happening, so we’re pretty much fucked six ways from Sunday.
I'd have the same response to "If the Cowboys want to win this year..." if I gave two shits about football.
At best it's just mindless armchair politics. Nobody cares what you think Biden 'should do'. If it's not obvious to you that he's the best option you can stfu and vote Trump.
They need their fans in order to exist. But to no one's surprise you missed the point entirely.
Yup, so maybe they shouldn't be slapping them across the face.
I'm not surprised you've missed the point, either
Oh, please stfu. No one is oppressing you or the idiots with this same rhetoric. You motherfuckers and trumpers have a lot of things in common but the one that stands out the most is the victimization.
So in this analogy the Cowboys are slapping rando armchair quarterbacks in the face by not caring what rando armchair quarterbacks think?
Democracy is quite literally random armchair quarterbacks deciding what to do as a team.
Their opinion is literally the entire game.
Except the US is a representative democracy so you vote for quarterbacks, not plays. Armchair quarterbacks are just regular citizens with delusions of grandeur.
You can call your quarterback and tell them what plays you think they should make. But babbling to strangers about what the quarterback should do is just that.
"It's not important what you think, but if you don't decide biden is better we'll all lose"
Maybe things would be better if only the reasonable adults voted? Maybe only white land owners, even, because clearly all these delusional normies are gonna ruin our election.
Democracy means (i guess in theory, though i think it's at least the ideal) everyone's opinion matters the same amount. You're right though, we're not voting for individual policies (that'd be a lot better here), so instead your candidate needs delusional citizens like myself to think well enough about him to pick him, or anyone at all
What about signing things and going on-site and reading reports and calling people and agreeing to things and showing up at the deal in a suit so everyone can ask questions and buying the ad space and renting a place in DC and eating takeout while discussing amendments and questioning the sheriffs and consoling people in the district and speaking in favor of courageous people?
Or is - it’s just opinions? Dang that’s pretty magical.
If it’s not obvious to you that he’s the best option you can stfu and vote Trump.
You would rather have Trump than criticism?
Neo liberals famously would rather have Donald Trump in charge than actual progressive policy. I'd argue it's that exact mindset why they scorned Bernie and let Trump get come to power to begin with.
I'm not keen on the philosophy of accelerationism but america is so chewed up with essentially two party's both fucking terrible and with a limited chance of any other party ever getting in that I can only imagine the path to change in america would be a destructive one. Its lovely to think that maybe the masses would mobiles and democratically bring in a alternative party, truly lovely.
From Europe its sadly easy to think this but I do feel for my american comrades, solidarity.
The quickest way to quell accelerationist thoughts is for the party in question to actually do better.
But how is that possible without all the donations and super pacs? it's not possible it can't be done!
the problem is, some people aren't liberal and would like for leftist parties to have a fighting chance. and the political system in america built on money and generation has made for a two party system, a two party system that can not be democratically removed.
If it's the case that people want a moderate, then there should be no concern when the leftists don't turn out, right?
That's what is always so confusing to me is that Democrats both act like they need progressive support and then crap on them the entire time. They can't have it both ways.
like Labour in the UK, which has had a rush of Tory migrating over to Labour. they're all the same really, don't care to make good with fridge leftist voters yet expect a form of loyalty just because their more left than the other one.
Nah, I actually understand what goes into building a revolution. That automatically disqualifies me from any revolution under the timescale being proposed here.
Oh, yes, typically it involves literal decades of building the infrastructure to execute such a thing.
The spark doesn't matter if you haven't even prepared the kindling.
And you know america is implicit in the suffering in many third world countries? Decrying "communism" installing "democracy" by force.
I recommend you as tribute to the front line then. You want to burn it down? Fine, get in the front line and take it in. The rest of us have families and responsibilities and would prefer to put in the work to fix things instead of virtue signaling online about the "glorious revolution".
Biden said nothing would fundamentally change if he was elected in 2020 and look where it's gotten us. Him and Trump round two. Nothing is going to change unless we make a change and people like you are making it so that doesn't happen.
And before you fucks say j"ust vote for Trump you tanky" I voted for Biden in 2020 and I will probably vote for him in 2024, but since I'm in California, my vote for presidency doesn't matter.
You either are clueless or you're lying. We've spelled out countless times on this site the policies that have been implemented since his administration took office.
This is regarding the gradual but steady decrease in dignity for the working class, and the limited democracy and thus method to vote in policies that could benefit the working class.
I'm European and will be in my own fight (hopefully a democratic one)
I'm not the biggest fan of genocide Joe myself, but when it's the only thing you post about 24/7, people are going to start to get suspicious of your motives.
I kinda get it, but I would argue that Trump/the republicans have gone so far beyond parody, that it's actually become way too hard to make memes about them.
Hmmmm? So your argument is that since Trump's ridiculousness has become a parody of itself, it's impossible to tell the difference between right wingers and leftists making fun of Trump?
I kinda get it, but aren't there always clues in the subtext?
Like why does the account only have marginally (arguably) leftist memes but no other pro-left content? Why don't they comment on any pro-labour issues? Why are they on the midwest.social instance?
I think there are a lot of clues to give them away, but ofc I could be mistaken.
No, my argument is that it's harder to do funny content on Trump that's not been done already.
I didn't investigate them that thoroughly, since in the end: it's only a lemmy user.
As an observer and commentator, you're necessarily a part of the spectacle. It'd probably be better if you took your role a bit more seriously than "Haha silly man said things".
If you don't want to spend time with critical analysis, then maybe you should leave the speaking (or typing) to those that do.
WTF are you talking about? Sorry, if I don't write my dissertation in the form of comments on a meme community. /s
