Don’t Think of It as a Contest Between Biden and Trump
Don’t Think of It as a Contest Between Biden and Trump
What matters even more than the candidates is the coalitions they lead.
Personality certainly matters. But it might be more useful, in terms of the actual stakes of a contest, to think about the presidential election as a race between competing coalitions of Americans. Different groups, and different communities, who want very different — sometimes mutually incompatible — things for the country.
The coalition behind Joe Biden wants what Democratic coalitions have wanted since at least the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt: government assistance for working people, federal support for the inclusion of more marginal Americans.
As for the coalition behind Trump? Beyond the insatiable desire for lower taxes on the nation’s monied interests, there appears to be an even deeper desire for a politics of domination. Trump speaks less about policy, in any sense, than he does about getting revenge on his critics. He’s only concerned with the mechanisms of government to the extent that they are tools for punishing his enemies.
If you're an American, and you like what the Democratic coalition is after, then get involved, help with money if you can, and pay attention to downballot races too, not just the top.
Think of it as Fascism vs. Democracy
And for those who spout "gEnOcIdE jOe iS jUsT As fAsCiSt !1!1!!11":
The fairytales called lemmygrad and twitter. They want their orks and trolls back
It's not "fascism vs. democracy." The US has never had democracy - but it certainly helped spread lots of fascism around which is now coming home to roost.
A few people in these comments are essentially saying there are no real differences in the parties. Don't get me wrong, there are 100% things that the parties agree on, like capitalism, supporting Israel, and continuing to fuck with countries that we really shouldn't be messing with. But here's the thing, if you think the parties are the exact same then you most likely aren't having your rights to exist threatened by this election. Republicans want to ban books, want to have lgbt people put in prison for just existing, want to keep people of color from voting, want to have women getting illegal abortions so more of them die, want to force Christianity on the entire country because they think they're the religion that's "right", want to make trans people illegal and force all of us to detransition or be put in prison, want to block all immigrants and deport the ones that currently exist in the country, want democratic lawmakers to be killed in a mob, want to go on a murderous rampage killing all they deem to be scum of the earth, want to literally bring on the rapture, want to establish death and work camps like what was done in nazi germany, want to have putin take over all of europe because he has dirt on them, want to remove all governmental assistance so that poor people die more often, want to eliminate all public education, want to take away voting power from women, want to make the internet as uniform and unsafe a place as possible, want to have disabled people be unable to afford to live so that they die, want to strip all workers rights and go back to before we had unions, want to criminalize homelessness to the point that they are literally dying because that's easier, want to increase fossil fuel consumption because they don't think that global warming is real, want to make life on earth as shitty as possible because they think they're gonna be raptured up and won't have to deal with the ramifications of their actions. I could go on but this is already a really long comment. There are important differences to the parties, even if you personally won't be significantly impacted by those differences.
They're too hung up on the G-word to care.
It's between their administrations.
Personality certainly matters
Not really, no. You know what DOES matter, though, more than anything else? Policy and actions!
NYT never want to talk about those things, though.
When the preferred candidate of the DNC in any election is charismatic and personally popular, they want to talk about personality.
When the candidate isn't popular, they want to talk up tribalism, they want to convince people to uncritically back the chosen leader for the good of the tribe.
They want people to forget that Biden is still enabling genocide. They want people to believe them when they say that Biden is seconds away from brokering a ceasefire. They don't want people to believe the actual fact that they never stopped sending weapons and money to the fascist Netanyahu apartheid regime even as it became increasingly clear that they're engaging in almost all named crimes against humanity.
They want minority groups such as Muslim Americans, black Americans, involuntarily pregnant, the LGBTQ+ community and people who lost their right to vote that Biden and his administration promised them justice but didn't deliver.
Most of all, though, they want people to lower the bar. They don't just want people to hold their noses and vote for Biden because a Trump administration would be much worse (which everyone definitely should, because it definitely would be).
They want to convince people that the lesser evil is in fact not an evil. They want people to believe that being in opposition to someone much worse makes it ok to be awful. That the very fact that there's only an atrocious alternative makes Biden a good choice that should not just be tolerated, but celebrated and NEVER criticized, lest we "give Trump ammunition".
Fuck. That. Bullshit!
lol. The only thing the coalition behind Genocide Joe wants is not-Trump. Same as the last time he ran
And yet, somehow still compelling. :(
The coalition behind Joe Biden wants what Democratic coalitions have wanted since at least the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt: government assistance for working people, federal support for the inclusion of more marginal Americans.
Uh...
The Democrats of the 1930s and 1940s were racist, but FDR started work to help people who were marginalized economically. The modern coalition wants both that and support for those whose economic marginalization is a result of racism
The Democrats of the 1930s and 1940s were racist, but FDR started work to help people who were marginalized economically. The modern coalition wants both that and support for those whose economic marginalization is a result of racism
The coalition doesn't have politicians who agree with them regarding those who are economically marginalized.
I've never thought of it as a contest between Biden and Trump - it has always been little more than a good cop, bad cop routine masquerading as "democracy". And, despite all the liberal histrionics, there is little sign that this charade will be coming to a stop any time soon.
There are very real differences between the parties, on a pretty wide variety of issues. Who is elected has consequences in terms of policy that we have to live with.
That's a very big deal.
There are very real differences between the parties
Of course - the good cop bad cop routine doesn't work if there is no difference between them.
a pretty wide variety of issues.
Let's see about that, shall we?
Both are pathologically dedicated to capitalism.
Both are pathologically dedicated to imperialism.
In everything that matters (ie, are not contrived "hot button" issues) the reps and the dems march in perfect lockstep with each other.
You were saying?
Lmao, they're getting desperate.
So are you.
Hm?