JD Vance is waiting on the wings.

Anyways, it’s not Trump making these decisions. He’s just signing whatever the Heritage Foundation puts in front of him. Trump isn’t even capable of actually writing an executive order.

Like handing a presidential election over to George W Bush?

How about grilling Musk over an open fire pit?

We can put that on the Democrat’s tombstone, for all the good it will do.

Most voters are woefully ignorant. That’s nothing new. It has always been that way. The job of the politician is to reach voters. One party does this effectively and one doesn’t. The Republican message ends up being the only message ignorant voters are aware of, and they live in a different reality from political junkies.

This doesn’t excuse the voters but, if “voters suck” is all we get from it, then what do we do with that information? How does that help us win next time?Blaming voters is a loser strategy.

So edgy.

Sounds truthy, but no. Becoming a Nazi creates one Nazi. Becoming a neoliberal can create thousands of Nazis.

Trump doesn’t punch up,

Have you forgotten the Obama birth certificate fiasco?

That’s an unfair question. It’s just too easy to nitpick reasons why this candidate or that could never win. Just look at the list of very convincing reasons why Trump could never win. Most Democrats even believed most of them before Hillary flopped.

Nikki Haley would probably be their best choice, though I could see Marco Rubio or Lindsey Graham. Hell, Matt Gates could probably win. He’s no more horrific than Trump.

Against Biden or Harris? I think you’re overestimating how hard they were to beat. Another Republican might not win the popular vote but, unlike Democrats, Republicans don’t need a mandate to get things done.

The thing about Hillary’s loss against Trump was that it should have shocked the Democratic party into reform. The way they manipulated to get Biden and “anyone but Bernie” proved that they learned nothing.

If Trump were in prison it would be someone else. Trump didn’t start this fascist movement, he surfed it. Trump is a uniquely detestable person, but he’s not the worst President the Republican party could come up with.

That’s one.

The election that handed the country over to fascists was the Democratic primary in 2020. Democrats had a chance to change and doubled down on third-way neoliberal bullshit. Neoliberalism has never been an effective counter to a rising fascist movement.

Democrats made the mistake of thinking that Trump was the root of the problem and that defeating him in 2020 would somehow turn back the clock to the late 90s / early 2000s. All they did is put us right back into the cycle that spawned this fascist movement in the first place. In the process they lost the youth which is going to haunt this country and the world for many decades.

The biggest failure was the Democrats who nominated Biden in 2020. That primary was the last offramp that could have avoided a fascist takeover, either in 2024 or 2028, with Trump or a Trump clone.

The return of Trump might just have bought us another shot in 2028, but it’s not looking like the Democrats have learned much. Trump has a lot of similarities to Hoover and, as bad a President as he was, he was great for Democrats and progressivism. If the Democrats can get their heads out of their asses, the Trump Presidency might open a path to save the country - assuming we survive it.

Apparently not.

well, progressives did tell all the young democrats not to vote for Joe/Kamala

Bullshit. “Progressives” did no such thing. Progressives are the most loyal and reliable voting base in American politics, with even more consistency than “Bible and flag” conservatives. Progressives also make up the bulk of grassroots Democratic activism and do most of the volunteer work for Democratic candidates. That is despite being shit on constantly, just like you are doing now. Democrats don’t deserve progressive votes, but they have them.

congratulations to everyone who marched on every major us city, and took over campus commons across the nation in the spring and summer of an election year…

Maybe Joe and Kamala shouldn’t have been supporting a genocide in “an election year”. It’s funny how you baselessly blame progressives while putting no blame whatsoever on the candidates themselves! It’s so incredibly fucked that Biden thought he could run again and that Kamala didn’t even seek the appearance of being democratically nominated. We lost to Trump because of gross incompetence on the part of Democratic leadership.

That’s some serious cope from both sides, but you go ahead and hold on to that thread.

We could get a lot more benefit if we spent that money on building infrastructure instead of blowing shit up, but I still agree. Doing the right thing and US interests aligning doesn’t seem to happen very often. I think we have to act when they do.

OK, but my original comment was just that he was still sharp. I also think you are extrapolating a bit much from your own limited experience, but I’m not looking for Bernie to run a marathon either.

When Biden tried to just pause bomb shipments to Israel, the House passed legislation to force him to resume. If Biden pushed Israel enough, it’s likely Congress would override him and take away whatever leverage he had over the situation. I think Biden’s handling of Gaza was pathetic, but not that it rises to the level of criminality.

If Obama is a war criminal, then Carter is too. He armed and and enabled a genocide in Indonesia. A realistic take on foreign policy should recognize that it’s going to be a dirty business, no matter who is in the Whitehouse.