2024 Election - Thread #1

[robkelk]

May as well start this one off with a look from the outside.

CBC: Canada mulling 'game plan' if U.S. takes far-right, authoritarian shift

Keeping in mind the old Boy Scout adage "Be Prepared", of course. Everything presented here is from public statements... which is why it's so vague.

[robkelk]

An analysis of His Orangeness' platform.

Which includes ordering indictments against political opponents simply for being political opponents, ignoring a treaty that he himself pushed to be signed, and literally bombing Mexico.

[Dartz]

Just what I needed. Yet another cause for despair.

91 Charges? There's no way he can beat all of them..... is there...... is there?

Oh well.

[Labster]

Yeah, he beats them all by getting elected President and pardoning himself. And by ordering the Secret Service to point guns at all Georgia police.

Or if that doesn’t work, start a civil war.

[Dartz]

The cloud of doom is on me. Truth be told I wouldn't put anything past reality at this point.

Inasmuch as the prosecution staff have been incredibly particular, open, and rigorously A-B-C-D proceedural to demonstrate the legitimacy of what they are doing - the sad truth is that history doesn't give a damn about being right.

And the last few years have seemed to either dither between taking the worst option, or giving a moments reprieve just so what follows hits even worse.

[robkelk]

Just what I needed. Yet another cause for despair.

91 Charges? There's no way he can beat all of them..... is there......  is there?

Oh well.

It doesn't matter. A candidate took over 3% of the popular vote while in prison for 10 years, during the 1920 US presidential election. And that was while running as a third-party candidate, not one of the big two with their political machines behind their candidates.

So being a convicted, jailed, and disenfranchised felon is not sufficient grounds to stop somebody from running for president.

[Labster]

It is if the person participated in a rebellion against the United States. Eugene Debs, bless his heart, was only a commie bastard. People are already planning lawsuits to disqualify Trump from appearing on ballots in each state because of this. Whether this amendment requires a conviction, or if it’s self-executing is an open question.

[hazard]

Also, anybody could gain a notable fraction of the vote, because IIRC, the USA finds no issue with write-in votes. Although it may find issue with the candidates that were voted for.

Which, yes, means that strictly speaking King Charles the However Manieth of England could have the plurality of votes in any given election in the USA by write-in, but not be elected on account of being, you know, a foreign national, and not born in the USA.

[Labster]

Write-in votes are not counted unless the person applied to be a write-in candidate. Or regular candidate, I assume. At least in California.

It’s a shame that Mickey Mouse is the preferred write-in in America; where Donald Duck is clearly superior.

[robkelk]

There's also the technical issue of writing in a name on a voting machine, as opposed to on a paper ballot.

(Which, come to think of it, may be why voting machines have become popular with the political parties. Or am I being too cynical here?)

[robkelk]

So, who's running?

Copying from this article that has capsule writeups of each candidate:

Democrat:

• Joe Biden (incumbent)
  
• Marianne Williamson
  

Independant:

• Robert Kennedy Jr.
  

Republican:

• Doug Burgum
  
• Chris Christie
  
• Ron DeSantis
  
• Larry Elder
  
• Nikki Haley
  
• Asa Hutchinson
  
• Mike Pence
  
• Vivek Ramaswamy
  
• Tim Scott
  
• Donald Trump
  

[Mamorien]

So, who's running?

Copying from this article that has capsule writeups of each candidate:

Democrat:

• Joe Biden (incumbent)
  
• Marianne Williamson
  

Independant:

• Robert Kennedy Jr.
  

Republican:

• Doug Burgum
  
• Chris Christie
  
• Ron DeSantis
  
• Larry Elder
  
• Nikki Haley
  
• Asa Hutchinson
  
• Mike Pence
  
• Vivek Ramaswamy
  
• Tim Scott
  
• Donald Trump
  

Green:

• Cornel West (unconfirmed reports?)
  

[Dartz]

Kennedy will be a hell of a spoiler on this for people too braindead to look past a surname

[robkelk]

Pence is out of the running. At least, for this go-round.

Officially, fundraising issues. Unofficially, he isn't getting any traction with his "I averted a Constitutional crisis by not claiming powers I didn't have to give Trump a second term" message.

[classicdrogn]

Trump could be a convict in prison and he'd probably still be named the R candidate. He's a like a fat, old, super-uncool Zaphod Beeblebrox... So, nothing like Zaphod really, except for somehow remaining a viable candidate for office despite a never ending tide of scandals and legal issues. Except that unlike the galactic government, we don't actually have a not-secret-just-boring-and-obscure layer of bureaucracy that gets shit done while the figureheads are keeping all the spotlights on themselves, despite all the noise about "the deep state" etc. Some of the clowns are wearing stilts, some have squeaky shows, some afd sad clowns who acts as the straight-men, but it's still clowns across the board.

e: fixed the typo, but I'd be interested to see what a "scandala" looked like. An endless fractal circle of intertwined scandals, perhaps?

[aku]

Ouch: https://boingboing.net/2023/11/06/trump-...itics.html

Will not read the referenced WaPo article, it is behind a semi-paywall (pay us, or make an account, i.e. give us your email).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/...cond-term/

[robkelk]

Ouch: https://boingboing.net/2023/11/06/trump-...itics.html

Will not read the referenced WaPo article, it is behind a semi-paywall (pay us, or make an account, i.e. give us your email).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/...cond-term/

If this is propaganda, it's believable propaganda -- ref. repeated chanting of "lock her up", for example.

One step closer to "If This Goes On—", with religion replaced by profit. (Then again, The Sermon on the Mount is pretty clear about serving God and mammon.)

[aku]

Ouch: https://boingboing.net/2023/11/06/trump-...itics.html

Will not read the referenced WaPo article, it is behind a semi-paywall (pay us, or make an account, i.e. give us your email).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/...cond-term/

If this is propaganda, it's believable propaganda -- ref. repeated chanting of "lock her up", for example.

One step closer to "If This Goes On—", with religion replaced by profit. (Then again, The Sermon on the Mount is pretty clear about serving God and mammon.)

Heh. I seem to have it in my head that there are strains of Christianity with the belief, paraphrased "Being rich is god showing approval of you and your behaviour". I do not remember any names for these strains. Methinks, if they exist, that they are placing worship of mammon straight beside worship of Jesus. And by now, likely way above, profit is religion is christian. To them. Kindness ? There is no profit in that.

[Inquisitive Raven]

Ouch: https://boingboing.net/2023/11/06/trump-...itics.html

Will not read the referenced WaPo article, it is behind a semi-paywall (pay us, or make an account, i.e. give us your email).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/...cond-term/

If this is propaganda, it's believable propaganda -- ref. repeated chanting of "lock her up", for example.

One step closer to "If This Goes On—", with religion replaced by profit. (Then again, The Sermon on the Mount is pretty clear about serving God and mammon.)

Heh. I seem to have it in my head that there are strains of Christianity with the belief, paraphrased "Being rich is god showing approval of you and your behaviour". I do not remember any names for these strains. Methinks, if they exist, that they are placing worship of mammon straight beside worship of Jesus. And by now, likely way above, profit is religion is christian. To them. Kindness ? There is no profit in that.

I believe the phrase you're looking for is "Prosperity Gospel" and it's pernicious.

[aku]

Ouch: https://boingboing.net/2023/11/06/trump-...itics.html

Will not read the referenced WaPo article, it is behind a semi-paywall (pay us, or make an account, i.e. give us your email).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/...cond-term/

If this is propaganda, it's believable propaganda -- ref. repeated chanting of "lock her up", for example.

One step closer to "If This Goes On—", with religion replaced by profit. (Then again, The Sermon on the Mount is pretty clear about serving God and mammon.)

Heh. I seem to have it in my head that there are strains of Christianity with the belief, paraphrased "Being rich is god showing approval of you and your behaviour". I do not remember any names for these strains. Methinks, if they exist, that they are placing worship of mammon straight beside worship of Jesus. And by now, likely way above, profit is religion is christian. To them. Kindness ? There is no profit in that.

I believe the phrase you're looking for is "Prosperity Gospel" and it's pernicious.

Thanks ... Searching ... Found https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology
And look at that, in the section on recent history is:

The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States featured prayers from two preachers known for advocating prosperity theology.[49] Paula White, one of Trump's spiritual advisers, gave the invocation.

No true surprise there.

[robkelk]

So, who's running?

• Vivek Ramaswamy
  

Wants to build a border wall to keep Canada out.

Good luck building a wall in the middle of the Great Lakes, dude.

[classicdrogn]

I'd love to see this lot reacting to someone shouting "Dollar-hu akbar!" instead.

[robkelk]

Hillary Clinton invokes Godwin's Law

During the interview, Clinton, 76, recalled her tenure as U.S. secretary of state and said she used to refer to the concept of elected leaders who were "one and done," meaning they would be democratically elected, and then do away with the electoral system and an independent press.

"And you could see it in countries where — well, Hitler was duly elected, right?" said Clinton

[classicdrogn]

"If you're thoughtful about it and show some real awareness of history, go ahead and refer to Hitler when you talk about Trump, or any other politician." - Mike Godwin, Dec 2015

[hazard]

Invoking Godwin's Law is about killing a discussion by inappropriately invoking a comparison to nazism.

Given Trump's behaviour, there are definite and distinctly appropriate comparisons to be made.