American Politics

[kkck]

Of course Trump would mock biden, but for Trump, that would be the smarter move. Biden can get into the republican base to some extent because he is unthreatening (that is why republicans want to claim that he is controlled by 'the left': Because Biden himself is THAT unthreatening).

This is an instance of the campaign playing out Biden's strength while Clinton's campaign failed to play out hers. They wanted to present clinton as something which she was not: A champion for feminism. Clinton is not that person.
But Biden IS a devout catholic, a nice guy and a people person. Putting more emphasis on that by pulling attack ads (but obviously exchanging them for other ads and ramping up your door to door efforts) is a smart move.
Much like it was a smart move not to 'temper trump' when he won in 2016, even tho most people thought he should become 'more presidential' after he won the primary to be able to win.

Honestly, I disagree with the premise that biden can get into the republican base, let alone the segment within that that makes up trump's base. I mean, what group of republicans can he reliably hope to get? And if those exists, does it make more sense to pander to those than other groups?

Ultimately, what does biden have to gain from this? What segment of the republican party can he hope to sway? IMHO this is just barking at tree that conveniently appeared after doing acid. Biden has zero business pandering at any republican. He could maybe win some on account of having the right genitals, unlike hillary, but otherwise is barking at the same imaginary tree as hillary did 4 years ago. Biden should be pandering at groups of people he can win over or maybe convince to vote. Which is younger voters and most importantly undecided independents... Anything further right than that is a lost cause.

 

[xi0]

What exactly is the thought process behind this behavior

 

[M3J]

Honestly, I disagree with the premise that biden can get into the republican base, let alone the segment within that that makes up trump's base. I mean, what group of republicans can he reliably hope to get? And if those exists, does it make more sense to pander to those than other groups?

Ultimately, what does biden have to gain from this? What segment of the republican party can he hope to sway? IMHO this is just barking at tree that conveniently appeared after doing acid. Biden has zero business pandering at any republican. He could maybe win some on account of having the right genitals, unlike hillary, but otherwise is barking at the same imaginary tree as hillary did 4 years ago. Biden should be pandering at groups of people he can win over or maybe convince to vote. Which is younger voters and most importantly undecided independents... Anything further right than that is a lost cause.

I agree, it's stupid to pander to republicans because they likely won't vote for Biden or will just pretend to oppose Trump. What's the guarantee that they're not just making lip noise and actually plan on voting for Trump because they'd rather have Republicans in power? Biden needs to focus on convicing the futher left/Bernie supporters to support him.

What exactly is the thought process behind this behavior

Eh, if Trump's wearing a mask at all times, then his chances of spreading the virus is much lower. Even lower if the others in the car are wearing masks as well.

 

[xi0]

Eh, if Trump's wearing a mask at all times, then his chances of spreading the virus is much lower. Even lower if the others in the car are wearing masks as well.

That's not how that works. There's such a thing as acceptable risk. He shouldn't be leaving his suite at Walter Reed for a fucking photo op.

Do the Secret Service members get bonus hazard pay for being forced to be in a vehicle with him so he can wave to people?

 

[M3J]

Highly doubt it, but I feel like it's just going to waste our tax money somehow.

And I"m basing it on having read two covid-infected hairdressers working, but none of their customers getting infected because of masks.

 

[kkck]

Trump is basically throwing dices... If he and the secret service wear masks then the odds of him passing the disease to someone are low... but the risk isn't really acceptable. let alone if the risk is being taken so that the president can just pose for pictures.

 

[M3J]

Yeah that makes sense, but I think to him and the GOP, it is worth the risk because it boosts Trump's image to his supporters and the republicans who don't believe in covid. Plus:

 

[hokageji]

The population being higher doesn't mean much though when the cases keep going up. Even NY and NJ cooled off and I believe went down for a while despite being populated as well.

Actually, it does. Maybe not while comparing NJ,
but when you compare with Texas, Florida and other states California's population is significantly higher and yet has a lower population. Not to forget mentioning that the death toll is also significantly lower.

 

[shionoro]

Honestly, I disagree with the premise that biden can get into the republican base, let alone the segment within that that makes up trump's base. I mean, what group of republicans can he reliably hope to get? And if those exists, does it make more sense to pander to those than other groups?

Ultimately, what does biden have to gain from this? What segment of the republican party can he hope to sway? IMHO this is just barking at tree that conveniently appeared after doing acid. Biden has zero business pandering at any republican. He could maybe win some on account of having the right genitals, unlike hillary, but otherwise is barking at the same imaginary tree as hillary did 4 years ago. Biden should be pandering at groups of people he can win over or maybe convince to vote. Which is younger voters and most importantly undecided independents... Anything further right than that is a lost cause.

White women in the suburbs in case of Pennsylvania, and yes, it makes absolute sense. Not all republican leaning voters are Maga hats.

He already swayed a lot of the people who voted for Trump before in swing states like michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania. Clinton never shot for them properly. Clinton did mistakes like the 'basket of deplorables' and playing the 'i am a woman' card that alienated some of these voters. That is why Biden positions himself as an unthreatening centrist.
This same strategy is also far more likely to get independent voters to vote blue than any kind of attack ads are pandering to younger and more leftist voters would be.

Young voters are going to vote biden because they hate trump and do not hate biden quite as much as they hated clinton.

The people to shoot for are white voters in swing states, most importantly Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida. To get these, you stay as far as you can away from 'defund the police', far away from anything that might be called socialism and you play the 'biden is a honorable man' card as hard as you possibly can. It is no coincidence that Biden kept surging further after the debate. because these voter groups that he shoots for did not like how Trump conducted himself in the debate. They value something like Biden pullling attack ads (and Biden would probably have done that to some extent anyway because closing out an election with a positive message is often smarter than keeping the negativity).

 

[xi0]

Yeah that makes sense, but I think to him and the GOP, it is worth the risk because it boosts Trump's image to his supporters and the republicans who don't believe in covid. Plus:

I guess this is good ammo to use for when someone says toxic masculinity isn't real

--- Double Post Merged, Oct 5, 2020, Original Post Date: Oct 5, 2020 ---

I mean, we're in the aftermath of what seems like "super-spreader" event last weekend, Biden was in the same building as those with confirmed cases, and while he has tested negative twice, that doesn't mean he's off scot-free necessarily.... and GOP leadership is mocking him for not being a fucking moron and making public appearances.

This is all you need to know about how leadership has failed this country during this crisis.

 

[kkck]

White women in the suburbs in case of Pennsylvania, and yes, it makes absolute sense. Not all republican leaning voters are Maga hats.

He already swayed a lot of the people who voted for Trump before in swing states like michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania. Clinton never shot for them properly. Clinton did mistakes like the 'basket of deplorables' and playing the 'i am a woman' card that alienated some of these voters. That is why Biden positions himself as an unthreatening centrist.
This same strategy is also far more likely to get independent voters to vote blue than any kind of attack ads are pandering to younger and more leftist voters would be.

Young voters are going to vote biden because they hate trump and do not hate biden quite as much as they hated clinton.

The people to shoot for are white voters in swing states, most importantly Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida. To get these, you stay as far as you can away from 'defund the police', far away from anything that might be called socialism and you play the 'biden is a honorable man' card as hard as you possibly can. It is no coincidence that Biden kept surging further after the debate. because these voter groups that he shoots for did not like how Trump conducted himself in the debate. They value something like Biden pullling attack ads (and Biden would probably have done that to some extent anyway because closing out an election with a positive message is often smarter than keeping the negativity).

It's true that not all republicans are maga hats... but trump largely did stuff republicans actually wanted (or took credit for them at least). Tax cuts, conservative supreme court justices, conservative judges in lower courts, trashing obama's legacy. I do think you are vastly underestimating the amount of maga hats and qanon morons.

I would argue the issue with the basket of deplorables thing is that she didn't double down on it. She wasn't wrong about that AND it actually rallied people on the democrat's side... until she apologized for it. Add to that her simply going with her political enemies taking her words out of context. Basically she apologized for something which cost her zero votes AND she was right on and at the expense of her own actual potential voters.

Young voters voting for trump isn't a risk, the issue is to get them to show up. And the only thing biden is offering on this end is not being trump. If anything that's biden's entire campaign. Trump has as much chance of winning the young vote and biden has of getting republican votes from trump.

Hillary did make a huge mistake by assuming she had pennsylvania, wisconsin and florida... And biden is right to heavily campaign there. But it's just not republican votes that he is after. Undecided voters, independents, democrats and liberals are where biden should be aiming for and votes he can win over.

 

[M3J]

I guess this is good ammo to use for when someone says toxic masculinity isn't real

--- Double Post Merged, Oct 5, 2020, Original Post Date: Oct 5, 2020 ---

I mean, we're in the aftermath of what seems like "super-spreader" event last weekend, Biden was in the same building as those with confirmed cases, and while he has tested negative twice, that doesn't mean he's off scot-free necessarily.... and GOP leadership is mocking him for not being a fucking moron and making public appearances.

This is all you need to know about how leadership has failed this country during this crisis.

Yep, but that was as early as when it was revealed that 5 GOP senators sold their stocks soon after claiming covid was a hoax. Though to add what you're saying, GOP is also making it worse by questioning why Dems are safe while prominent republicans keep being hit with covid.

--- Double Post Merged, Oct 5, 2020 ---

 

[Newkerzy]

Dude could have used Thor’s hammer.....

 

[M3J]

Hulk can't lift the hammer, you silly

 

[shionoro]

Hillary did make a huge mistake by assuming she had pennsylvania, wisconsin and florida... And biden is right to heavily campaign there. But it's just not republican votes that he is after. Undecided voters, independents, democrats and liberals are where biden should be aiming for and votes he can win over.

I'd argue that his strategy right now is working really well. In the debate, Biden presented himself as typical centrist and rose in Florida and pennsylvania (while he stagnates on a very high level in wisconsin).
Biden is winning at the moment and not a lot of people are undecided anymore to begin with. In that set up, it is a better idea to do things that maintain the people you have (because you do not offend them) than shooting for young voters, who are the least reliable voters anyway. And the best way of doing that, at least the biden campaign seems to think that, is to be very unthreatening to everybody.

The most important thing for Biden right now is to keep on doing what he did before: Not fuck up, keep being in a basement. Maybe trump will try to go for the third debate and Biden will have to go through that ordeal again, but aside from that, he can really play this one safe. His campaign's strategy of letting Trump defeat himself worked really well. Just don't fuck it up.

I would argue the issue with the basket of deplorables thing is that she didn't double down on it. She wasn't wrong about that AND it actually rallied people on the democrat's side... until she apologized for it. Add to that her simply going with her political enemies taking her words out of context. Basically she apologized for something which cost her zero votes AND she was right on and at the expense of her own actual potential voters.

I agree with you there. If you committed on something, you need to see it through. Trump did that. Clinton did not. Yet, Biden seems to do that too. He didnt let anyone force him out of the basement or present him as anything that he is not. I think that's smart.

 

[M3J]

This dumbfuck has a chance to actually be a decent leader for once, and what does he do? Downplay the virus and ignore the fact that he has the financial means to afford the drugs while most people can't even get good hospital care, if they can even afford it. His previous tweet also said the media would have complained had he not gone out to greet people, and that makes me sad because his supporters will fall for that as they don't read any other sources but pro-Trump bullshit.

 

[xi0]

Even if you take the rest of the insanity out of it, why would you want to be seen in public like this after saying the kind of things they've said about his condition?

 

[shionoro]

Wow, Trump really doesn't look good there. He might recover from there, but looking like that now, I do not see him actually doing the second debate, no matter what he says.

But they seem to believe he can. It would look REALLY bad to make a show like that and then pull out of the second debate. Unless they play chicken with the democrats and hope they can twist it like 'we would have debated, but they and their "scientists" said it isn't safe'

 

[kkck]

I suppose that with trump being so short on breath there is a good chance it might be physically impossible for him to interrupt biden in the next debate. I can already picture his supporters going all about him being all presidential and respectful of biden while trump struggles to breath. Or alternatively an exasperated biden going "Man, will you shut up?" at trump while trump gasps for air.

More seriously though, it's a big question how much trump will be affected by post covid syndrome. He could be short on breath or have a cough for months... Then again trump's not even out of the disease so the worst might not even be over... I know people who have tested positive for weeks after their symptoms are gone.

 

[Newkerzy]

I suppose that with trump being so short on breath there is a good chance it might be physically impossible for him to interrupt biden in the next debate. I can already picture his supporters going all about him being all presidential and respectful of biden while trump struggles to breath. Or alternatively an exasperated biden going "Man, will you shut up?" at trump while trump gasps for air.

More seriously though, it's a big question how much trump will be affected by post covid syndrome. He could be short on breath or have a cough for months... Then again trump's not even out of the disease so the worst might not even be over... I know people who have tested positive for weeks after their symptoms are gone.

And Gobert still hadn’t even regained his olfactory sense when the Bubble started. That was 3 months since the sports was shut down.