American politics

Makeshift Python wrote:

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

Most media outlets would lead one to believe that there's very little support for Trump. These election results suggest otherwise. The videos of Democrat supporters taunting and laughing in the Republicans faces is really juvenile though. Imagine if it was the other way around.

Personally, I don't think either candidate is a good option really. Curious to see how the next few years pan out.

Isn't that just Democrat supporters responding in kind to 4 years of 'Suck it up, snowflake', 'Your tears are delicious', 'You lost, get over it' etc?

Don't forget "fuck your feelings"

Seems the 'feeling-fuckers' are having a lot of their own feelings about the result, lol.

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

The videos of Democrat supporters taunting and laughing in the Republicans faces is really juvenile though. Imagine if it was the other way around.

Yeah?

Small businesses in minority neighbourhoods, department stores, and statues of Abe Lincoln alike can rest easy knowing the, err, less petulant and more adult side won.

Exactly.

I mean that considering the left purports diversity, empathy and understanding, to taunt those who have different opinions, after being the winning side, is hypocritical.

You could argue that, but at least they pay their taxes.

From this side of the pond what is faintly amusing, is that everything has propelled itself since last week. Biden is making plans, enquiries whatever for the transition into power, every world leader bar the obvious have lined up to congratulate him, Harris is being celebrated for being the first female vice-president (and all other firsts), the inaugration is likely planned and meanwhile, meanwhile, Trump has not conceded, his base and support are in Fuhrerbunker mode almost in a corner of a room.

Wouldn't be surprised if after January 20 Biden finds Trump in the West Wing somewhere. Cupboard under the stairs.

Hasn't Trump already said he's no intention of turning up to Biden's inauguration?

Hilly wrote:

From this side of the pond what is faintly amusing, is that everything has propelled itself since last week. Biden is making plans, enquiries whatever for the transition into power, every world leader bar the obvious have lined up to congratulate him, Harris is being celebrated for being the first female vice-president (and all other firsts), the inaugration is likely planned and meanwhile, meanwhile, Trump has not conceded, his base and support are in Fuhrerbunker mode almost in a corner of a room.

Wouldn't be surprised if after January 20 Biden finds Trump in the West Wing somewhere. Cupboard under the stairs.

That's the thing about Trump. Because he wants to maintain a larger than life image of himself that's almost mythic, he never wants to be seen as losing at something, never apologizes, and never acknowledges mistakes he made, etc. In his mind, he can't do wrong and to ever acknowledge that is a sign of weakness. This is why he insults POW veterans like John McCain, called fallen soldiers "suckers and losers". Just go back to everything that he failed at like Trump University and he always puts the blame on others. When he loses a court case, he blames it on judges and claims they rigged the system against him. Now he's doing the same thing with the election process (which he has in 2016 when things didn't look good for him), and his most faithful followers are blindly accepting his word with zero evidence to show.

But really, the fact that Trump got 70 million votes shows how damaged and divided we are as country. Biden will likely only do a single term, but the word is that his main priority during his term is to not only mend damaged relations with other countries but try to unite the American people as a country again, show that he's working for everyone. It's a noble gesture, but I think he's going to have a rude wakening when trying to work with corrupt officials like senators Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell, who are as big as partisan hacks as you can find in politics.

Yes, Biden is going to be shocked by that Washington politicking after... *checks notes*... 47 years as a career politician. And of course only the Republican establishment is corrupt as, somehow, corporate America plumb forgot to splash cash on the other party in a two-party system. And I thought these lobbyists were meant to be smart!

Anyway, point I've always tried to make about DJ Trump is his place in the re-alignment of right-of-centre politics and associated tropes away from what's sometimes called Zombie Reaganism. Anti-Trumpists generally focus on the man himself and catalogue everything abrasive he's ever said, while missing the broader phenomenon and not attempting to ask why.

Of course, the grassroots move to a more populist or national conservatism is being mirrored on the Left, with younger folk in particular moving to more 'radical' politics and away from BAU neoliberalism the mainstream centre-left are offering. It's interesting to observe, but you've got to look beyond the day-to-day theatre to try and make sense of it.

CJB wrote:

And of course only the Republican establishment is corrupt

I never suggested that the DNC doesn't have their own level of corruption. But there's a reason I specifically name dropped McConnell and Graham, as they've just demonstrated their hypocrisy in the grossest fashion regarding the appointment of a justice in a Supreme Court. The problem with politicians like them is that they've proven to be nothing but partisan hack obstructionists. I whole-heartily there's corruption on both sides (money in politics, for one), but consider this: Senator Bernie Sanders after Trump's election in 2016 put out that he was ready and willing to work with Trump on the issues that matter, whereas McConnell after Obama's election drew the line by saying his top priority was to be working to make sure Obama is only a one-term president. And the reason is simple: They didn't want Obama's presidency to be a success, even if it greatly benefited the American people, because that would validate what the Dems are trying to do and the GOP wanted to retain power.

I'm not going deny the DNC has their own internal issues. The problem with Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, Fienstien, etc is that they behave as if it's still the 1980s when Republicans actually used to work things out together with Democrats, to "get things done" as they said back in the days of Tip O'Neil. But we're no longer in that era. As much as they try to appease the GOP it's always "no". Irony is that the Affordable Care Act was originally proposed by the Republicans, Obama took that whole thing in the hopes the GOP would go with it but even then they said "NO!". So worst case scenario is Biden can't actually get anything done in this power dynamic, which allows the GOP to point and yell "see! Biden hasn't done anything! You should vote red 2022/2024!"

USA is a very dysfunctional place now.

I largely agree. The corporate money is the main problem with establishment politics and few can disagree that the US should've moved to a single-payer healthcare system long ago.

for those who thought 2020 wasn't too crazy or nutty generally.

On Capitol Hill.

Rather like Silva and his goons bursting into the council chamber during M's dressing down.

Except that Silva was there to accomplish something.

And he had an ounce of brain cell.

Appalling but unsurprising scenes. Tiny crumb of comfort in Republicans and Democrats alike denouncing the violence and Trump's incitement of it.

Absolute madness....Bedlam as M would say.

Didn't know the proper cut of QAnon's jib until the Capitol-storming ... they think Trump and the CIA are engaged in a secret war with devil-worshipping paedophiles amongst the Democrats?

Nuttier than squirrel shit, FFS ... then again, we live in a world where people actually think the Covid vaccine is a way of getting Govt tracking tech inside them and where the 'Flat Earth' theory has bizarrely resurfaced.

Well lads, there we have it. A president outgoing at a rate of knots prior to an inauguration of his successor and a new president minted. Legally president from 1201 but sworn in at 1148 -why it matters, well the BBC got into a little flap.

Anyway.

Part of me almost expected the satsuma-hued sanity-stranger to hang around and heckle the inaugaration. And by 'heckle', I mean 'hire and use a trebuchet to fling medical waste in the ceremony's general direction'.

Good luck to Biden. He'll damn well need it.

Well, he has hit the ground running as it were. All these executive orders. Read in the Times today how he's signed so many in say 5mins and sent the press out, whereas Trump would take 20mins because he kept interrupting himself to answer questions.

People I know Stateside are immeasurably relieved. Of course social media is another thing entirely.

Must admit I've found that pic of Bernie Sanders at the ceremony wrapped up against the weather and with his Covid-compliant mask on becoming a meme slightly odd.

I mean, it's January and at 79 the man's smack-bang in the vulnerable category ... what SHOULD he be wearing, exactly? Oh well, such is the world we live in now.

Such is the age we live in. If that's a meme then I'm meme worthy in half the things I do.

As you say he's of a certain age and it's not surprising he's kitted like that. DC winters can be savage.

Still, saying most of Boris' detractors only ever focus on his hair, I'm not surprised at the net.

I like how all the 'Brrrnie' memes I've seen so far are respectful and affectionate, and that he seems to enjoy them too (eg Jimmy Kimmel Live).

stop poking the bear, man