this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2024
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politics

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[–] [email protected] 104 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Because Trump has set the bar so low, it's expected behavior for him.

Second, his fanbase doesn't care, they're as batshit crazy as he is.

Third, pointing it out lets him play the victim and will get him more support, not less.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/darwins-subterranean-world/202401/why-do-people-double-down

[–] [email protected] 31 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Even if Donald Trump were young, handsome, well spoken, charming, and intelligent, he'd still stand for a repugnant and destructive cause. Meanwhile, the biggest albatross on the Democrats' relatively positive agenda is its weak leader.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 months ago (1 children)

the biggest albatross on the Democrats’ relatively positive agenda is its weak leader.

If it takes a "weak leader" to pull the country out of recession, inflation, unemployment, create a fantastic infrastructure program and all the other amazing policies that Joe Biden has managed to accomplish, I will gladly take a "weak leader" over a strong criminal/rapist/felon/liar.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

pull the country out of recession, inflation, unemployment, create a fantastic infrastructure program

Biden has done exactly none of that.

all the other amazing policies that Joe Biden has managed to accomplish

Only thing close to "amazing policy" he's done is the student debt forgiveness that he's insisting on means testing to death. Not because it makes it more likely to pass Republican courts (it doesn't since they're pathologically opposed to even a single dollar being forgiven), but because that's what Dem leadership always do when something helps regular people but not their rich owner donors.

I will gladly take a "weak leader" over a strong criminal/rapist/felon/liar.

He's less awful for sure, but GLADLY?? Even if Biden miraculously becomes at least 50% more popular in the next 4 months and wins, that sets his successor candidate up for failure and Project 2025 still happens as Project 2029.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Down votes here are unwarranted. OP was being generous, I can only assume to raise support for Biden, which is a fine cause. The responder was simply recalibrating OP because its disingenuous to believe biden is the answer to all of these problems. That's not to say you shouldn't support biden for a myrid of other reasons.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Yeah, I'll vote Biden if I have to, but we really need a replacement. He's going to lose at this rate, and it's going to fuck the world up.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That's part of it, but we can't forget the Democrats' right-wing slide. Setting aside Gaza because that's obvious, things like their recent stance on immigration is making people wonder "why am I even voting for these people". Now you might say "because Trump" but that's not enough to get people to vote for a party that actively refuses to represent its constituents.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Their recent stance on immigration is much more broadly popular than you imagin.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Definitely not with Democrat voters. For some people not doing that shit is the reason they vote Democrat.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Yes among Democrats.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

As an outsider, out of a US population of 333 million people - these two are the guys battling it out to be your leader?

I mean, have you considered, perhaps, someone else in the larger pool?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

What you're seeing right now is how tough it is to get the geriatrics who already have power to leave the door open to someone else.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

It's not just Trump, it's all the conservatives. They no longer have any accountability or morals. Every valid discovery of disguising behavior is simply seen as slander by their voting base.

They can do anything they want, and they are immune from criticism or recourse. Remember when Lauren Bobert gave a guy a hand job in a Beetlejuice play with kids watching? We have a fucking VIDEO of that.

[–] [email protected] 72 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Canadian here wondering the same thing.

Biden may be old, but Trump is literally unintelligible half the time. I've had more focused conversations with 2 year old children.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Brando. It's what plants crave!

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Camacho was a good president. Cared about people. Even tried to help them.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Most importantly, respected the opinion of someone smarter than himself.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

He tried to kill that smart person when the changes made didn't result in immediate benefits.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Wait you wanna use water, like from the toilet?

[–] [email protected] 45 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Even for the non-right-wing-owned media companies, Trump represents something they desperately want: ratings, clicks, money.

Trump, narcissistic power-mad entertainer that he is, kept people glued to the news nonstop from 2016 to today. Oh sure he wants to jail journalist and execute reporters, but those are news workers. The owners of the news companies won't suffer, and Trump will make them tons of money. They can just hire interns to do the reporting.

When Biden isn't in the news its because the modern media doesn't run feel good stories about the president doing good things.

They want Trump, they want endless controversy and fear and anger driving millions to their phones to click on news stories and look at ads. And they do not care about the consequences and side effects.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago

Corporate media shouldn't have the same protections as a "free press." They aren't doing the job that such protections were meant for.

If their only goal is profit at all costs, then they aren't important enough to protect anymore.

And in my opinion, opinion shows shouldn't be allowed on the same networks as actual news with actual journalists. Fucking scum like fox news and MSNBC abuse the shit out of that and put opinion shows up that ~~lie~~ speak as fact, hiding behind the opinion designation which allows them to be as dishonest as they please.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

That's absolutely it. In my mind, regardless of stance, all of the main stream media wants trump to win. It's best for shareholders, and that's all corporations care about. (In fact it's illegal for them not to)

[–] [email protected] 37 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I think in general the u.s. journalists are not really critical. So much extreme things are being said and done and no one seems to be questioning how and why.

Where are all the real journalists at?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

They're certainly critical of one of the two geriatrics, but for some reason the lying one gets a pass... 🤔

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

"Trump spouts insane lies" is a dog bites man story.

Far Right echo chamber right about the severely deteriorated mental state of Biden" is a man bites dog story.

It's not because people aren't critical of Trump. It's a matter of expectations.

Also, the media DOES cover the bizarre lies of Trump every day. We just don't notice it as much because it's so common that it's become part of how the world has worked for the last 9 years.

Unlike the leader of the free world being visibly confused and frequently incapable of coherent communication.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Sorry, old man has senior's moment is a man bites dog story? I don't buy it.

It almost feels like the MSM are actively trying to feed trump the win, or push Biden out at the very least. After the debate they absolutely could have dedicated as much time to deconstructing Trump lies as they did to "Biden old".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Calling out Trumps lies over 45mins, a little over 1 lie per minute speaking, is hard and takes work. Calling out Biden for being old is easy, barely an inconvenience

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Sorry, old man has senior's moment is a man bites dog story?

Not generally, but it's only ever happened to one president before and they hid Reagan away and put Nancy in charge once he got too bad.

In this case it's public and obvious, which it never was with Ronnie.

It almost feels like the MSM are actively trying to feed trump the win, or push Biden out at the very least.

Oh THAT'S your angle? You're about the minimizing of the most powerful human in the world being cognitively diminished no matter which one wins?

It's not like the commander in chief would ever need to be able to communicate or anything 🙄

After the debate they absolutely could have dedicated as much time to deconstructing Trump lies

Nah, his gish gallop of ridiculous lies is old hat. It's expected. It's boring.

as they did to "Biden old".

It's not that he's old. It's that his brain isn't functioning properly anymore. Last I checked, being able to think and communicate clearly while projecting an image of competence were THE most important parts of the job.

Unlike for example Bernie, who's slightly older, but showing absolutely no signs of cognitive decline, Biden is no longer qualified for the job he's reapplying for. That Trump is obviously even worse is irrelevant to that.

As Jon Oliver said: the standard to beat CANNOT be as low as Trump. Trump is the definition of NO standards.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Did you watch the entire debate, or just the highlights? I don't think acknowledging he was completely cogent for 99.9% of it is minimizing anything, but that's not part of the narrative the media are pushing.

I don't particularly like Biden, but my main concern at this point is keeping Trump out by any means necessary. Sacking the incumbent four months prior to the election is a dangerous gamble, especially so if he isn't willing to step down himself.

In any case, it looks like it's going to have to happen now regardless, but I sincerely believe it's more because of the media's irresponsible coverage than any actual substantive issue.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Where are all the real journalists at?

They along with the actual research departments were dumped about 15 years ago during the "great buyout" of all major media outlets. Corporations/billionaires like Bezos bought up institutions like the Washington Post and pretty much immediately went into business school jackass mode of squeeze squeeze squeeze for more profit so the first things to go were investigative journalism and research departments in favor of literally copying whatever story the NYT ran (not kidding.)

Their motto is "no blood from a stone? You aren't squeezing hard enough!"

[–] [email protected] 34 points 4 months ago

Why would corporate media criticize their preferred candidate?

[–] [email protected] 27 points 4 months ago (3 children)

no one

I swear to god half the country has been talking about it non-stop for almost a decade now. What do you mean no one is talking about?! We're talking about it! Just because we've started talking about a new thing doesn't mean we stopped talking about the old thing!

"NO ONE."

I SWEAR THIS IS GOING TO TURN ME INTO THE JOKER. It makes my brain itch for the whataboutism when we've been talking about it the whole time.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 4 months ago

In an interview on Wednesday night with CNN host Kaitlan Collins, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware), who is now in his third term, said he had a revealing conversation with an unnamed "European head of state." That leader appeared worried about the double standard the media was applying to Biden, while largely ignoring former President Donald Trump despite his increasingly unhinged tone during press conferences and public appearances.

The article isn't talking about regular people, but the media.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 4 months ago

Since the revelation about Trump on the Epstein docs my news feed has been nothing but Biden's performance in the debate 2 WEEKS AGO! Not just 1 story, but story after story and it's everywhere. From Fox News to the new Republic. It should be the other way around. News media is firmly with the right even when they don't mean to be.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 4 months ago

You're right. The real question is why no-one cares?

[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 months ago

Yeah it’s really strange how the old age criticisms is thrown at Joe Biden’s way

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago

Because it's the norm. That's what everyone expects of the Mango Mussolini.

Until recently, people thought that the right wing echo chamber was lying about the mental state of Biden (because lying about Biden is of course their bread and butter), but then it was on display for 90 minutes on one of the most anticipated live broadcasts of the year. OF COURSE people are going to talk about it!

This article is just one big whataboutism from a Biden apologist pretending that everything's fine.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (4 children)

~~European leaders~~ Europeans

Actually we're wondering why Americans dont have better politicians to choose between, than the two old grumpy men

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

I've heard that they have guns so they can protect their democracy.

???

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Because the only parties in power are the ones that can maintain the good favor of the people with massive amounts of money to donate, and therefore the only candidates presented are the ones that serve wealthy Capitalists. Voting third party is intentionally designed to be extremely difficult to avoid changing this.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

We do.

The people who legally make the choices for us never seem to want to present them.

For reasons.

Totally valid reasons.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

The pursuit of mediocre candidates competing in 49-51 splits where the donor dollar tips the scale has degraded our political system beyond recognition.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I mean they do. Ever seen Saturday night live?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

It's more the news media they are referring to, I think.