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Calling Trump a ‘fascist’ won’t win Biden the election

"Rapist, racist, fascist". Credit: Getty

March 12, 2024 - 7:00pm

As the US draws closer to this year’s general election, Joe Biden risks being tempted into following Hillary Clinton’s abortive 2016 strategy against Donald Trump.

In a recent CNN panel, progressive journalist Kara Swisher proposed a reelection message for Biden: that he should point at and declare “rapist, racist, fascist over and over and over again”. Swisher’s suggestion is not an outlier within Democratic politics. Speaking to the New Yorker, Mike Donilon (perhaps one of Biden’s closest advisors and now a top strategist for his reelection effort) said that the campaign’s “focus will become overwhelming on democracy. I think the biggest images in people’s minds are going to be of January 6th.” In his feisty State of the Union speech last week, Biden leant into that message.

This strategy could be a risky gamble. Denouncing Trump as a racist threat to “Our Democracy” seems designed to appeal to the multi-degreed and wealthy voters who now constitute a core element of the Democratic base. These voters lap up anti-Trump programming and have helped tip the scales in recent elections.

However, the “deplorable” gambit ended in disappointment for Clinton in 2016. True, that election was a close-run thing, and a shift of 80,000 votes in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan would have put her in the White House. However, there is growing evidence that working-class voters of all ethnic backgrounds have increasingly moved into the Republican coalition since 2016.

Even as it has grown more educationally polarised, the American electorate may be becoming less ethnically polarised. Despite the annus horribilis that was 2020, Trump did better in many diverse, working-class areas (such as the Rio Grande Valley) than expected. Continued working-class defections could inflict further political pain on Democrats.

Early in his presidential term, Biden tried to speak to the interests of both lunch-pail workers and Instacart wine mums. His administration leant hard to the Left on questions of identity but also primed the pump with a sweeping stimulus bill and ambitious new programmes on infrastructure and semiconductors. Three years into his presidency, though, the breakdown at the border (perhaps his most obvious concession to identity-politics activists) has dented his standing in working-class communities across the country.

What’s more, the imperatives of identity politics might also undercut his signature hard-hat efforts. For instance, the “equity”-centred demands of the CHIPS semiconductor bill might interfere with the manufacturing and basic research promised by the measure’s supporters. Adding to these political pressures, inflation during the Biden years has made many working families more nostalgic for the economy of the Trump presidency.

Biden’s calculated decision to elevate January 6 did indeed help him shore up support among Trump-sceptical suburbanites and gave him a surprisingly strong performance in the 2022 midterms. But (lower-turnout) midterms favour the upper-income, high-propensity voters who Biden targeted with this message.

The presidential electorate is broader, with more working-class and lower-intensity voters. Especially in an age of mass mail-in balloting and early voting, being able to turn out highly engaged voters is a strategic advantage, yet Biden still needs to go beyond his bobo base. Doing that will require a message that speaks to blue-collar economic concerns.


Fred Bauer is a writer from New England.

fredbauerblog

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Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
1 month ago

Democrat theatrics only serve to alienate the American electorate. It’s becoming increasingly clear to ordinary Americans, that the big state is actively working against their’ interests with its promotion of racial division and gender woo. Even within traditional liberal enclaves, the Democrats are becoming less popular.
I anticipate a sea change in the West as even left-wing corporations like the Guardian do an abrupt about-turn and speak out about transgender excesses: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/09/disturbing-leaks-from-us-gender-group-wpath-ring-alarm-bells-in-nhs
I was surprised to see this on the Guardian, particularly in light of the fact that they permabanned me from posting comments on their website after I warned about the dangers of affirmative care way back in 2015. I was naive back then, having never ever been banned before and mistakenly believing that the Guardian editorial was made up of educated people who welcomed debate.

William Brand
William Brand
1 month ago
Reply to  Julian Farrows

The sea change will hit in 4 years. Trump’s personal qualities will kill him among some swing voters. This is especially true if Obama picks his wife to replace Biden at the Democratic Convention.

Catherine Conroy
Catherine Conroy
1 month ago
Reply to  William Brand

Trump truly is a terrible person, however, he seems to have been a more capable than Biden and he’s far more popular right now.
The way the present administration have been going after DT has been an own goal as he might have faded from the public sphere if they’d not brought him up every five minutes. The attacks on him have been more vindictive than just and the sums he’s having to pay on two cases are completely out of proportion with the charges. This looks like a very anti democratic way to try and ruin your opponent before the elections.

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago

Al Capone was a terrible person, but he was extremely capable.

Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
1 month ago
Reply to  Martin M

What’s striking, given the tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions of dollars that have been spent digging for dirt on Trump, is just how flimsy the charges are. Not one of them would make it as far as a court in any European country.

Cathy Carron
Cathy Carron
1 month ago
Reply to  Hugh Bryant

The New York court system isn’t exactly ‘clean’; one doesn’t want to be litigated in the state especially as a Republican. Washington D.C.’s courts aren’t exactly functional either.

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago
Reply to  Hugh Bryant

I actually heard the recordings of Trump a) telling his goons to trash Congress, and b) telling the Georgia Attorney General to “find me 11,000 votes” (translation – fabricate some votes, or throw away some votes for Biden). Are you telling me those recordings were faked?

Will Rolf
Will Rolf
1 month ago
Reply to  Martin M

And he was a hero for many poor and working class Americans in the 30s.

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago
Reply to  Will Rolf

In the same way that Trump is a hero for many poor and working class Americans in the 2020s.

Liakoura
Liakoura
1 month ago
Reply to  Martin M

Other than in completing his tax return.

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago
Reply to  Liakoura

I imagine Trump and Capone have similar views in relation to tax obligations.

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago
Reply to  William Brand

Hopefully the result will be a sensible old-school Republican in the White House.

Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
1 month ago
Reply to  Martin M

Yep, that’s what the world needs: another Wall Street warmonger in the White House.

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago
Reply to  Hugh Bryant

Yep, agree totally. Are there any more members of the Bush family? I think Jeb has run his race, but there might be someone in the next generation.

Peter B
Peter B
1 month ago
Reply to  William Brand

Let’s just consider this sentence:
“This is especially true if Obama picks his wife to replace Biden at the Democratic Convention.”
What sort of “democratic” convention would it be if that were to happen ?
Is the nomination the personal gift of one man who no longer holds any elected office ?
This may look like a smart move on paper, but is likely to trigger an even bigger blowback than the repeated failed media assaults against Trump.
Beyond that, I can imagine all sorts of lawsuits within the Democratic party kicking off if that happened. Why should Michelle Obama be nominated when she chose not to participate in the process and has never been elected to anything ?

Jae
Jae
1 month ago
Reply to  Peter B

It is utterly pathetic the way democrats drool over Michelle Obama. She hasn’t exactly endeared herself to ordinary Americans. Even many African Americans are aware of her grift on them.

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago
Reply to  Jae

She seems a nice woman, but I don’t recall her expressing an interest in holding public office.

Cathy Carron
Cathy Carron
1 month ago
Reply to  William Brand

Michelle Obama has already announced she’s not running. The Obama’s are too ‘fat and happy’ to run; both of them have even admitted in the past that they’re ‘lazy’. Do you really think they are going to give up lounging about on their estates in Martha’s Vineyard and Hawaii to do the dirty work of government? Barack wouldn’t even get off the sofa to campaign for other Democrats.

Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
1 month ago
Reply to  Cathy Carron

To be fair, if I owned property in Hawaii and Martha’s Vineyard, I would probably be too lazy too.

Jae
Jae
1 month ago
Reply to  William Brand

For heaven’s sake, do stop drooling over Michelle Obama. And by the way she just reiterated she has no interest in running.

Catherine Conroy
Catherine Conroy
1 month ago
Reply to  Julian Farrows

I think the article was featured in The Observer, rather than the Guardian. The Observer editor is not as captured as Katherine Viner.

Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
1 month ago
Reply to  Julian Farrows

What we’ve learnt since 2015 is that, by and large, ‘educated people’ don’t welcome debate at all.

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago
Reply to  Julian Farrows

You do understand that the Guardian is what might politely be described as “Left-leaning”, don’t you?

William Brand
William Brand
1 month ago

The trend of working-class voters toward the Republican party is partially canceled by Trumps personal sins. We could end up with a Republican congress and a Democratic president. Trump’s ultimate coup would be to drop out at the Republican Convention and be Kingmaker to a perfect MAGA candidate with ideology, charisma and a guaranteed pardon for Trump plus a big bribe to Trump’s company after election. Trump may also be a pre surge candidate. In 4 years, President Kamala Harris or Michelle Obama may be a 3-year president. I assume that the 25th Amendment removes Biden at first opportunity. Or Obama removes his Beard Biden at the Democratic convention. America may not have another election since God is about to execute America’s doom: Revelation 18. Biden dumps Israel, God dumps America.

Sensible Citizen
Sensible Citizen
1 month ago
Reply to  William Brand

Trump is neither a Republican nor a politician. He represents a movement in the same way Martin Luther King represented a movement.

Michael McElwee
Michael McElwee
1 month ago

Yes, nice point. More than nice.

Jules Anjim
Jules Anjim
1 month ago

Or in the same way expelling bodily waste represents a movement.

Jae
Jae
1 month ago
Reply to  Jules Anjim

There you are again, nasty, pompous and condescending. At least you’re consistent though.

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago
Reply to  William Brand

Trump’s ultimate coup would be to drop out at the Republican Convention and be Kingmaker to a perfect MAGA candidate with ideology, charisma and a guaranteed pardon for Trump plus a big bribe to Trump’s company after election“. 
Which potential candidate for President covers those “ideology and charisma” bases? Ron DeSantis has the ideology, but zero charisma. Marjorie Taylor Greene is just mad. Kari Lake? She presents passably well on TV, but she is also a bit mad.

Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
1 month ago
Reply to  Martin M

The most impressive Republican is Byron Donald (think that’s his name)

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago
Reply to  Hugh Bryant

I have never heard of the guy, but the fact that you had to say “think that’s his name” suggests he probably isn’t going to get the gig any time soon.

Sensible Citizen
Sensible Citizen
1 month ago

Blue collar workers are getting crushed by inflation. There’s no messaging his way out of that.

Jules Anjim
Jules Anjim
1 month ago

Better than being strangled by unemployment.

Steven Carr
Steven Carr
1 month ago
Reply to  Jules Anjim

‘The number of immigrants working over this period (from 2019) is up by 2.9 million, while 183,000 fewer US-born Americans are working.
Put simply, compared to 2019, all the net job growth has gone to immigrants.’

Jules Anjim
Jules Anjim
1 month ago
Reply to  Steven Carr

And yet unemployment for US born workers is still the lowest rate on record.
By all means use Trump as your vengeance against immigrants, just don’t expect that to help inflation or employment once drywall and kitchens are being installed by US born workers.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
1 month ago
Reply to  Jules Anjim

100% correct. People here won’t like it though.

Lesley van Reenen
Lesley van Reenen
1 month ago
Reply to  UnHerd Reader

Print that money and leave the borders open. I live in the third world and have been to the US many times. It is a complete mess. Will never go back.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 month ago
Reply to  Jules Anjim

The unemployment rate is a poor measure these days because it only counts those who are ‘seeking employment’ meaning they’ve tried to get unemployment insurance or welfare. Who knows how many twenty or thirty somethings are living in the basements of parents or friends and taking odd jobs under the table for what little cash they have. Who knows how many homeless people can be included here.
As for the second part, people who install drywall and kitchens should be legally hired and employers should have to pay taxes and follow relevant labor laws. Economics is supply and demand. If there’s a demand for workers, it makes sense there will be a supply. You’re correct about where the demand comes from, but there’s a caveat. As the supply level drops, the price goes up. In this case, the price means the wage for laborers. If the supply level rises, the price goes down. The question we should be asking is what is an acceptable wage level. Immigration increases supply and holds down wage levels, and haven’t we all been complaining about how wages have been stagnant for decades at this point.
You won’t here the Democrats talk about this these days because their core base is now affluent and educated suburbanites, who are smart enough to know at some level how things work. Somewhere in the dark corners of their race conscious, inclusive minds, they know that illegal immigration enables their lifestyle. They don’t want to pay their gardener or housekeeper twenty dollars an hour. They rationalize the same way industrialists rationalize outsourcing jobs, that they are ‘helping’ these people, making them better off than they were before, giving them work, etc. The ugly truth is that the affluent class and illegal immigrants are realizing an exploitative economic synergy that disadvantages American workers. What’s really going on is the slow erosion of the labor standards and rights that were established during the last populist era which culminated in the election of FDR, and the party of FDR ought to remember what they’re supposed to stand for. You’ll never hear any Democrat talk about this though, except Sanders, but he’s not even really a Democrat.
Personally, I’m of the opinion that the US does need a level of immigration, but not the current level, and there’s no excuse for just letting whoever shows up cross the border regardless of criminal history, etc. Immigration should be legal and controlled to maintain an economically beneficial level and avoid overburdening social services. I’m sure every immigrant/asylum seeker has some sob story about oppression or how awful their home country is, but that shouldn’t be America’s problem. People running the country don’t have the luxury of being bleeding hearts anymore. When the US was an undisputed hegemon with an economy that dwarfed everyone else’s, it could afford to be lax about things like trade imbalances and high levels of immigration. That time has passed. It’s high time America woke up and made the hard choices to let go of the delusion that everyone will get along in one big happy planet and step up to the business of protecting American interests and the American people in a multipolar world. That means sensible immigration policy that is centered on the needs of the nation and its citizens, not the immigrants themselves.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
1 month ago
Reply to  Steven Carr

What jobs do you think those immigrants are doing? That’s 3 million immigrants providing goods and services to americans.
If 183,000 fewer US-born ones are working they are in large part aided and facilitated by having goods and services provided by immigrants at much lower prices.
Americans (like Brits) love everything about immigration except the immigrants. It’s not Biden and the woke liberal elite trans academics etc. bringing them in – it’s Americans’ appetite for cheap fast food and consumer goods. The same appetite that sent all their manufacturing jobs to China.

Peter B
Peter B
1 month ago
Reply to  UnHerd Reader

What authority do you consider you have to pronounce on what Americans and Britains think and feel about immigration ?
And what proportion of all these immigrants are a) actually working, b) working legally, c) making a net contribution to the country ? There’s a little bit more to all this than simply “lower prices”. Also minor details like quality, safety regulations, etc. But hey, who cares ?
It’s this sort of condescending attitude of assuming what people think and feel and then telling it back to them without ever asking or listening that brought you Trump and Brexit in the first place.

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
1 month ago
Reply to  Peter B

1. the stat was about working immigrants so 100% are working.
2. if they’re recorded as working they’re working legally.
3. presumably you have the stats for that.
So what you think that people’s concerns about immigration are because they don’t think they’re working in safe environments? What part of the MAGA platform involves increasing worker safety for immigrants?
My authority for Brits and Americans’ view of immigration is that they keep on devouring all the services they provide but consistently poll showing that immigration is a concern.

Jon Barrow
Jon Barrow
1 month ago
Reply to  Peter B

There’s even more important things for many people – like feeling at home; living in a high-trust society; and having a country that can be sustained long term, including through bad times.

Mark Carpenter
Mark Carpenter
1 month ago
Reply to  UnHerd Reader

In the northern parts of the country, native born Whites still do labor jobs. In the Border states they got out competed with lines of immigrants on the corners willing to work for very little. I saw that all through the 90s and oughts. Upper half Northerners tell us it doesnt matter because natives dont want the hard low paying jobs. That’s not really true. What happened is entire construction manual labor industry became aimed at cheap labor, so those jobs arent worth it for native citizens. It’s different up north, where native working class people still do labor jobs, like framing houses and landscaping. Much more healthy than down South where it’s always Hispanic immigrants doing service and labor jobs anymore. Down there it’s always Brown people serving White people. Gets old. Nice to see up North that Whites still can do labor and service jobs, but the increased migration is changing things up here as well.
What happened to the non college class due to massive increases in immigration to the SW since the 90s is similar to what AI is going to do to middle class. It will do the jobs that require alot of tedious mental labor, so those jobs wont pay well anymore and no one will want to do them for cheap so all the entry level college grads are going to be scrambling just like what has happened to all the native working class in South and Center. It just didnt affect the college class so they all say it’s fine no one wanted those jobs anyway.

Lesley van Reenen
Lesley van Reenen
1 month ago
Reply to  UnHerd Reader

I think you must model the whole of the US on California because it is so super successful.

John Moss
John Moss
1 month ago
Reply to  Steven Carr

If we’re honest, we need more immigrants, especially documented skilled immigrants, because there are so many unfilled jobs right now.

laurence scaduto
laurence scaduto
1 month ago
Reply to  Jules Anjim

Not a good campaign slogan.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
1 month ago
Reply to  Jules Anjim

Working for nothing, I think there is a word for that.

John Moss
John Moss
1 month ago

The messaging is that economic cycles are global and the US has outperformed all its peer nations. Lower inflation, higher economic growth, and unemployment and the lowest level in half a century. We all thought we were headed into recession a few years back. It’s kind of amazing how well the Fed has done managing the economy these last few years. Inflation sucks. But it’s not all bad news, and it’s relative.

Cathy Carron
Cathy Carron
1 month ago
Reply to  John Moss

Inflation is a killer. Biden’s spending-on-steroids will eventually take him down. The Democrat elite can take an inflation hit, but the average person who lives paycheck to paycheck can’t.

Jules Anjim
Jules Anjim
1 month ago
Reply to  Cathy Carron

The Democrat elite can take the hit from inflation, the Republican elite can make a killing from it, the average person is screwed either way. Trump couldn’t care less about the average person. He just needs their votes. He’s governing for the elites.

Jae
Jae
1 month ago
Reply to  Jules Anjim

Yes, because that’s what he did in his presidency? Provide evidence please.

By the way Trump’s not governing.

Jules Anjim
Jules Anjim
1 month ago
Reply to  Jae

Jae my man, it’s just experience talking. I can’t do all the work for you, buddy. No, Trump is not governing. Never was, never will.

T Bone
T Bone
1 month ago
Reply to  Jules Anjim

Jules- Are student loan waivers inflationary or deflationary on prices?

Are $15 and $20 minimum wages inflationary or deflationary on prices?

In other words, if you’re not getting a student loan waiver and your wages are not automatically increased by minimum wage hikes, are you now richer or poorer after these policies are implemented?

Were inflation adjusted average weekly wages higher under Trump or Biden?

Lesley van Reenen
Lesley van Reenen
1 month ago
Reply to  John Moss

Print that money and see where you end up.

William Brand
William Brand
1 month ago

When choosing a Vice President, Trump has a problem. The best pick for America, The best ticket balancer or a blocker to impeachment or assignation. The last choice will be likely. Trump has been impeached before and saved by the Senate. He needs 1/3 of the senate to prevent conviction. Don’t tempt conservative Republicans to dump Trump for a glowing VP. Trumps VP must be so distasteful to the CIA and FBI that they will stop looking for a patsy to kill him. When Agnew was replaced by Ford, Nixon was now open to removal. Trump must remember this. With Johnson as VP, Kennedy was dead so don’t pick and ambitious VP.

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago
Reply to  William Brand

If Trump were wise, he would pick a VP candidate that would bring him votes he wouldn’t otherwise get (Nikki Haley). However, he will probably pick someone who won’t bring him extra votes, but who he will look good in comparison to (Marjorie Taylor Greene).

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 month ago

Trump is serial election loser. Hillary beat him by at least 3 million votes and only the dumb electoral college put him in the White House. Biden absolutely smoked him in 2020.
The 2018 mid terms were a resounding rejection of Trump and the MAGA clowns and 2022 was a serious disappointment for the Republicans as the traditional backlash against the Dems failed to materialize.
Trump was a historically unpopular president and his coalition shrinks every time he opens his mouth and says something stupid.
Another Biden landslide in 2024.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 month ago

WTF!! I actually agree with some of these comments. And the comment may even be 100 words +.

Jae
Jae
1 month ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

Why, what in the world is there to agree with 4 more years of the crappy world we have with Biden?

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago

You can dislike it all you want, but the “dumb electoral college” is the system the US has for electing Presidents. Trump won in 2016 according to the rules that prevailed at the time, and still prevail. For the record, I think that he won because of Hillary’s obvious shortcomings as a candidate. It is difficult to think of another Democrat politician he could have beaten.

John Moss
John Moss
1 month ago
Reply to  Martin M

It is an incredibly bad system. We’ve had two minority elected presidents this century already. It also introduces a dangerous level of complexity that needly imperils democratic rule with the need for electors, supreme court intervention in close races, and even contingencies for a tie that move the decision to the house where every state gets one vote. Just dramatically unrepresentative.

Mark Carpenter
Mark Carpenter
1 month ago
Reply to  John Moss

It worked quite well actually. If it werent for electoral college throwing it to Trump, the wealthy coastal cities would continue to ignore the worsening economic and social conditions in the rural South and Center, aka flyover country. Blue states are wealthier and have politically abandoned the traditional class politics of the democratic party and are going all in for identity politics and calling the south and center racist, etc. But that strategy doesnt really succeed because the electoral college gives the land a vote, and most of the land is red. Madison et al designed constitution this way because they were worried that urban elite would become blithe and ignorant about the countryside and make bad policy. They were right. The coastal Blue democrats ignored the SW immigration for decades, the negative effects of NAFTA and the opioid crisis until it was too late. It was the election of Trump that was the wakeup call, at least for some, the ones that read the likes of Ruy Teixeira. The Culture war socialist progressives are the ones that hate the electoral college because they dont really know or care about South and center and rural areas, which they have dismissed as full of regressive people.

Peter B
Peter B
1 month ago

Funny that. I’d have said that Trump’s election record is 50% (W1, L1). How do you count ?
Trump and Hillary Clinton both knew the electoral college rules in advance. Indeed, neither complained about those rules being “unfair” in advance of the election. No good whining after you lost. Just as with the Brexit referendum in 2016, the losers start complaining about the “unfair process” when they unexpectedly lost. And they were the ones who wrote the process in the first place (or in the US case could have changed it in advance).
Trump’s not the serial loser here. Hillary Clinton is. But they’re both bad losers ! And pretty awful people as far as I can make out.
Are you here to entertain us ? Or do you actually believe some of this stuff you write ?

Mike Doyle
Mike Doyle
1 month ago
Reply to  Peter B

Post Presidential vote, an Electoral College of the States was clearly unfair, it should have been raw votes. Post Brexit vote, raw votes was clearly unfair, it should have been an Electoral College of the UK’s home nations. To paraphrase that great social commentator, Taylor Swift, “Losers gonna lose, Whiners gonnna whine”

Peter B
Peter B
1 month ago
Reply to  Mike Doyle

Coulda, shoulda, woulda …
The US has always had an “unfair” election system and seems to have been quite satisfied with it. I’ve never heard any serious campaign to change it. Trump campaigned based on the rules at the time and won fair and square. I know this is obvious, but if there had been different rules, the campaigns would have been different and the votes different !
You may recall a referendum on PR in the UK in 2011. The existing “unfair” system won by a landslide.
Nonsense on stilts about the Brexit vote. The Brexit referendum legislation was passed by something approaching 90% of MPs. If they didn’t engage their brains when thinking through the consequences of the systems they passed (or, more likely, were too stupid or lazy to do so), you can always vote the rascals out. I recall no one proposing this “Electoral College of the UK’s home nation” before the Brexit referendum. And how could that possibly work ??? I think you’re just making it up … . Remain lost. Blame the Remain campaign for that. They – and they alone – were responsible for screwing it up (though many of us are glad they did).

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago
Reply to  Peter B

Blame the Remain campaign for that“.  Absolutely correct! With a halfway decent campaign, Remain would have won (although I am glad it didn’t).

John Moss
John Moss
1 month ago
Reply to  Peter B

Trump did actually complain before the election and made it pretty clear that he wouldn’t accept the results of the election if he lost. Insanely, he even promoted claims of fraud after he won. Trump is a pathetic figure. He’s claimed fraud throughout his life any time he didn’t come out on top. There’s a pattern there. He will claim fraud after the next election too. Fraud because he lost, or fraud because his victory should have been much greater. The greatest victory in history!

Peter B
Peter B
1 month ago
Reply to  John Moss

I’m not disagreeing about Trump. There’s much wrong with Trump as a person. Raving egomaniac. But this is a “bad vs worse” election and the only question that really matters is “who’s least bad ?”. Bad character, but still compos mentis and making slightly better decisions may be enough.
But did the Dems ever complain about the electoral college system when they still thought they owned the “Clinton Firewall” in 2016 ?

Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
1 month ago

The electoral college process exists to protect Main Street from the champagne socialists of Wall Street – so of course you think it’s dumb.

John Moss
John Moss
1 month ago
Reply to  Hugh Bryant

No. It’s dumb because it’s unfair and needlessly complex. Where at a stage now where minority governments may become the norm in the US, and every presidential election devolves into endless legal battles.

Graham Stull
Graham Stull
1 month ago
Reply to  John Moss

It’s designed to give more power to smaller states, which creates a necessary balance in a federal system in which the states are supposed to be sovereign.
In the EU, for example, the qualified majority voting system + unanimity on certain issues works in much the same way.

Jae
Jae
1 month ago

And the world is such a wonderful place with the likes of Biden and your ilk in charge isn’t it. Crappy economy with people being gaslit about it, wars everywhere, drugs, crime, idiot DEI, institutions destroyed, education destroyed, homelessness everywhere in cities, poo and pee everywhere, illegal immigrants pouring in mostly gang members, the list is endless of the moral morass we’re in. But numpties like you cheer it on.

Yeah, everybody’s going to be so much better off with Biden, a senile, old pervert, corrupt grifter in the White House. That’s if he makes it to the end of the year of course.

Good grief, the world’s full of stupid people.

Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
1 month ago

Yes, but Hillary called half her potential base a ‘basket of deplorables’, and Biden is going down the same road. ‘Vote for me or you are evil’ is never a good campaign strategy. It forces people to pick a side based on values and emotion rather than on the the practical and political merits of each party.
I’ll use climate change as an example. Most climate ‘skeptics’ are not wholly unaccepting of the concept of combatting climate change, it is more that arguments for it are rooted in a faux morality designed to bully people into accepting unpopular policies that benefit the few at the expense of the many.
A good practical start for me to combat adverse climate change would be to ban physical junk mail. With almost universal access to internet, paper junk mail is completely obsolete, yet I receive at least three letters a day imploring me to switch my car insurance or telling me that I’ve been pre-approved for yet another credit card. If climate alarmists started off with practical solutions like drastically reducing the billions of junk mail that is sent out each day rather than telling me I need to get rid of my gas stove or learn to like eating bugs, I might take it all a little more seriously.
Moral bullies are the worst kind, because they justify their own nastiness under the guise of doing it for the ‘greater good’.

Kent Ausburn
Kent Ausburn
1 month ago

The electoral college is not “dumb”. It is actually brilliant and the only sensible electoral procedure for a Republic, as the smaller States would have never agreed to effectively being ruled by the large population States. If the electoral college had not been conceived and implemented during the founding of the US, there might not have been a United States of America. Instead, we would have likely had a confusing gaggle of independent countries, kind of like Europe.

Right-Wing Hippie
Right-Wing Hippie
1 month ago

“I think the biggest images in people’s minds are going to be of January 6th.”
“I’m not out of touch, you’re out of touch!”

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 month ago

.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 month ago

It’s only because regime media handmaids carry water for Biden that he is allowed to get away with calling Trump a fasc!st and rac!st etc. The Dems donated $10 mill to the most extreme MAGA candidates during the Republican primaries. They have never been held to account or questioned about this contradiction. It’s all waved away.

Jules Anjim
Jules Anjim
1 month ago

You would have thought it would be sufficient to call this mook out as a complete huckster, a self-serving narcissistic fraud who despises the working class and covets dictators. If this were any other candidate in any other election in the US, he would have already been eviscerated beyond recognition or pretense to elect-ability.

Keep those downvotes coming, MAGA rubes.

Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
1 month ago
Reply to  Jules Anjim

The paradox of Trump is that everything you and others say about him is probably true, but he was still the better candidate in both 2016 and 2020. As subsequent events have clearly shown. The globalist free for all has to end before it does for all of us.

Jules Anjim
Jules Anjim
1 month ago
Reply to  Hugh Bryant

That’s why I think wokeism and Trumpism are opposite sides of the same coin. Giving primacy to irrational grievances.

Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
1 month ago
Reply to  Jules Anjim

That’s a fair way to look at it.

Peter B
Peter B
1 month ago
Reply to  Jules Anjim

You speak as though irrational human behaviour is unusual or abnormal. It is not. It’s normal. Salespeople know that buying decisions are largely made for irrational reasons. It’s not news.
You also imply that “irrational grievances” are invalid. Really ? In a democracy, you simply don’t need to listen to large groups of the population ?
You’d be a fool to believe that there’s some group of people who are wholly rational (let’s call them “the righteous”) and another (“the deplorables”) who are wholly irrational. But I’m sure you’re better than Hillary Clinton !

Jules Anjim
Jules Anjim
1 month ago
Reply to  Peter B

Peace, brother. I’m sure you’re right on all counts. Or not. Doesn’t really matter.

The sentimental fools don’t see
Tryin’ hard to recreate
What had yet to be created once in their life
They muster a smile for his nostalgic tale
Never coming near what he wanted to say
Only to realize it never really was

Jae
Jae
1 month ago
Reply to  Jules Anjim

I’d like to point out how pompous and condescending you sound. But I have a feeling you wouldn’t listen or care. Still, worth a try.

Jules Anjim
Jules Anjim
1 month ago
Reply to  Jae

God bless you.

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago
Reply to  Hugh Bryant

The difference between 2016 and 2020 was that in 2016, the concept of a Trump Administration was just an idea. In 2020, everyone know what a Trump Administration was like. That said, I agree that Hillary was awful.

Jae
Jae
1 month ago
Reply to  Jules Anjim

You shouldn’t talk about the U.S. President that way, it’s not nice.

Graham Stull
Graham Stull
1 month ago
Reply to  Jules Anjim

Almost like the Democrats are trying hard to field the few possible candidates who could lose to him. A cackling witch warmonger who calls have the electorate deplorables? Yes, let’s run with her. A senile ice cream licker who sniffs kids’ hair and can’t finish a sentence? He’s our man!

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago
Reply to  Graham Stull

The second of those two did win though.

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago

I am no fan of Trump, but I don’t think it is fair to call him a “fascist”. That would imply that he has some kind of coherent political philosophy. Trump’s political philosophy (if it can be called such) is “Me”.

Peter B
Peter B
1 month ago
Reply to  Martin M

It’s nonsense. The label’s almost meaningless anyway (like “racist”). It’s just an undefined term of abuse. Which curiously, is never “hate speech”, however obviously untrue or absurd the usage and potential for putting the designated victim’s safety at risk.
One might almost propose a sort of parallel Godwin’s Law for anyone who uses such a term in a discussion – i.e. the moment you do so, you’ve admitted you’ve got nothing real.

Martin M
Martin M
1 month ago
Reply to  Peter B

I’m not arguing that there are no actual fascists, merely that Trump can’t really be described as one.

Adrian Smith
Adrian Smith
1 month ago

The “modern” meaning of Fascist: Someone you disagree with, but can’t articulate a decent counterargument.

Graham Stull
Graham Stull
1 month ago

Fixed it for you:
“Especially in an age of mass mail-in balloting and early voting, being able to turn out highly engaged voters stuff ballot boxes with fake ballots is a strategic advantage”