2024 Election Thread

not an American, so not going to comment on the election specifically. All I'll say is that from an outsider looking in, presidentialism is looking more and more like a terrible system.

 

I will preface this with any outright incitement of violence, personal attacks, or hate speech will not be tolerated and will be punished.

Having said that- let's give it a shot.

I believe that people deserve the opportunity to be treated like people. Seeing as I believe in HUMAN rights and equality, I know you and I already greatly differ in opinion. An 'America First' approach is totally fine and something I think most Americans agree with; so long as it includes ALL Americans. I am not a fan of Biden, but he has identified many America First policies for his next term. Tell me more about your view of what you mean when you claim you want 'American policies to reflect the priorities of Americans.'

In my opinion, America should strive to be the best. That means we should be mindful of the politics of other regions of the world and learn from their strengths and opportunities. We should also work to identify our own and work toward continuous improvement. Not the improvement of the top 1%, but improvement of the country entirely. The land of opportunity. Instead, we see this innovation in other countries. I read about amazing things all the time, like The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders or DAWN, and it's inspiring. That's a focus on utilizing strengths and manufacturing a better world.

To strive for that we should also learn from the cultures of other countries. America has many different cultures within it and a blend of many cultures and yet, at the same time, are very unaware or ignorant to how other cultures survive. We thrive on the pride and independence and as a result we tend to put ourselves first and not our families, friends, or communities. This circles back to the view of policies that reflect American priorities, because the deterioration of the middle and lower class of Americans and overall survivability of the independent person (aka The American Dream) is on the verge of extinction.

If we ignore the attacks on the people - eg comments like "walking corpse" or "convicted felon" - and focus on the policies - which candidate currently seeks to improve the state of the country?

For me, it's Biden.

 

The assination attempt is obviously and categorically evil. I don't feel like I should have to say that but I will at the start just in case it wasn't clear.

Ben this post is frankly disappointing. I'd hope someone as smart as you would apply a bit more nuance and thought into their beliefs.

Both sides pander. This idea that only the democrats are somehow the only party engaged in identity polotics is absurd. Evangelicals broke for Trump by 80% in 2020, despite his conduct flying in the face of nearly every core Christan value.

Idk what "bullshit programs" are, but the foregin wars one is pretty ironic, unless you supported Biden's withdrawl from Afghanistan?

Total Aid for Ukraine was 175 billion dollars. That's a lot of money, but when you consider the US is spending aproximently 6 trillion dollars every year, for a total for aproximentley 16 trillon dollars between now and when the war started. That total aid for Ukraine makes up roughly 1.1% of all US spending in that time. For that 1.1% US spending the US was able to both expose and weaken one of its top adversaries in Russia. All without putting a single boot on the groud. Finland and Sweeden also joined Nato further strengthening the US and its allies against Russia.

The fact of the matter is that the US ending funding to Ukraine most benefits Russia. Given Russia's adept ability of spreading misinformation I'd encourage you to stop and think of just how "America first" this poilcy is or isn't.

What does this even mean? What constitutes DEI? What constitutes a "DEI hire"?

Again, who in his cabinent is uniquely unqualified?

Have certain DEI programs gone too far? Sure, but that dosen't mean diversity, equity and inclusion are inheriently bad.

Again, what does this even mean to "import the thrid world" and what does it even mean that America is becoming the same? America was, is, and will be a country of immigrants. We are better for it.

Like ya Biden is old and probably shouldn't be running for office. Neither should Trump. Some of stuff he's said is objectively non-sensical.

When it comes to leadership one I thing I value is a leader who can admit fault. Trump is incapbable of admitting defeat. And it started well before the 2020 election.

When it comes to leadership, especially someone who
"puts America first", I want someone who does what is best for the country, if even it means giving your opponent the slightest win. Trump dosen't do this. When there was bipartisan support in the senate for the border Trump encouraged house republicans to block it.


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I'm not attached to Biden. I think he's been medicore to average at best. I'd strongly consider a moderate republican over him. That said, against Trump Biden would have to do something profoundly stupid to lose my support. Besides my continuous concern with Trump's conduct, the biggest reason for voting for Biden is becuase of Project 2025.

 

whichever candidate condemns israel’s genocide i will vote for

free palestine

 

I don't really understand what's wrong with those. Weird in some ways? sure. I spent the past ten years of my life posting on a Minecraft forum. I can't really be the one to say shits weird or not.

This list is wild. Some of it is bad sure, some of it is wild claims. Some of it happend over ten years ago.

https://www.defense.gov/News/News-S...ope-says-russia-is-a-chronic-threat-to-world/ and https://www.cbsnews.com/news/putin-...hreat-claim-russia-nuclear-arsenal-better-us/ pretty clear that Russia is a danger. Again, for 1% of the budget we bought the exposure and significant weakinng of one of our biggest adversaries. Ten years ago the GOP would be calling that a massive success.

If someone is unqualified is being hired for a job that's bad. But so long as the person is well qualified for the job I frankly don't care who gets the job.

Not saying you're doing this, but anti-DEI has been used repeatedly as a racist or sexist dog whistle. For example https://x.com/chrislhayes/status/1772694080239063284 and https://fortune.com/2024/07/15/trump-assassination-attempt-dei-secret-service-conservatives/. Really should be careful with how you use that term

Trump's border policy was to mix results as 2019 was the worst year in nearly a decade. https://www.statista.com/statistics/329256/alien-apprehensions-registered-by-the-us-border-patrol/ and https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/a...rder-crossings-aren-t-really-breaking-records. That said it's true Biden can be stronger on the border (and to be clear should be as stopping or disrupting the cartel should really be one of our top priorities).

I don't watch Fox news (or CNN fwiw) so I had to look this up. https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-nyc-migrants-credit-debit-cards-prepaid-240335300869 is actually good policy becuase it a.) is an efficient way to offer humanitarian aid. b.) decreases chances of people stealing shit.

Sorry but I'm not letting this one slide. Trump lost in 2020. A conservative supreme court overwhelmingly denied his appeals. I simply pose this question of what is more likely: The election was somehow rigged for Biden but then that same rigging set up so Democrats performed poorly down ballot, OR the person who always cries fraud was inable to accept defeat?

The fact of the matter is that Trump can't accept defeat because that would require him to admit failure to his base, something that, to my recollection he has never done. Trump bills himself as a winner, so when he loses (and he does that a lot) he has to claim its fraud or somehow not his fault.

This is true and is why I ultimately think Biden is going to lose. A lot of what Trump says is non sense but he says it with confidence. That's why he's popular. It dosen't matter if what he says is true or not. His base dosen't evaluate what he says for being true, becuase if they did they wouldn't be voting for him. Trump has always been excellent at selling shit. It's why he's done well as a politician.

Actions speak louder than words. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/do...rump-heritage-foundation-what-know-rcna161338

 

Do you mean they wouldn't be prosecuted for having an illegal weapon? Sure they would. Maybe in a stand your ground state they might be granted immunity, but then again we'd also be looking at much more severe consequences for that illegal carry than a $75 fine.

Have you read Project 2025? Lets ignore the Racist, Sexist, and otherwise atrocious bits of material within it - have you seen what it would do to the economy?

It isn't real love until we share some edibles and play games or talk movies! :D

Okay, lets talk economy. The stock market did better under Trump, I'll give him that one flat out. Unemployment is pretty comparable. What about everything else? New Business Start ups? Wage Growth? These are in Bidens favor. Trade Deficit? whoof, Trump promised improvement and dramatically worsened that (pre-pandemic, btw). Inflation? This is where we are feeling things the most right now. They went from 1% under Obama to over 2% under Trump to now 3% under Biden (and trending down). Biden wants to work on reducing inflation and continue the wage growth to bring this back into balance. What does Trump want to do? Much like before, he actually wants to increase inflation even more and implement more tax cuts for the rich. From where I sit, that would actively hurt the economy even more.

Crime surrounding illegal immigration is fear mongering.

Abortion is a hot button topic, you're right there. Given your indication of support of project 2025, I'm not inclined to ask your opinion on women's rights, but I am pro-choice and pro-women's rights, pro-LGBTQ+ and pro-equality. Health and safety matters and the simple fact is that Abortions also save lives.

Having survived a school shooting, I've got a whole mind to speak about guns. I come from a family of Republicans who were heavily involved in the Military and we love our guns, but gun control, gun safety, and accountability are just no where near what they should be.

We don't need to model ourselves after others or stray from being unique to learn, adapt, or grow as a country.

 

it's a pretty important issue to me, so finding a candidate that condemns the genocide would be a great way to pick for me, so long as their other views aren't completely stupid (hence why I'm going with third party)

additionally I don't think it's far fetched to say that I think sending billions to a military/ foreign country that we a) have nothing to do with the war in and b) is using our money to strengthen their military is ridiculous. there are several things here that demand our more immediate attention than supporting a genocidal hate war, and I don't want someone who thinks it's okay to send that much money overseas being our president, while there are more pressing issues within our country that could benefit from funding like that.

both biden and trump won't do anything about it, and that's why I'm voting third party. i understand most consider a third party vote a waste but considering America was never supposed to be limited to two parties I think if more people voted third party it'd put an end to the dumbass red vs blue we've had forever.

 

Okay, so we disagree on what the impact of this might actually be and on some of its policies.

Oh, I hear this. I'm traveling or working so much that I am a zombie the rest of the time, lol.

You're talking about a one in a million bad apple spoiling a bunch.

Let me answer this with a rhetorical question. In what way does Civil Rights impact Roe v Wade?

How many mass shootings from this year were in your state that you were not aware of? Not that this matters, more of just a curiosity thing. I'm in a blue state and we have had 0 this year. I posted this link to also not dox you, btw, since obviously I know where you live lol.

 

Flipping this back - is the removal of all guns the solution?

 

Oh? Punishing all illegals for the crimes of a few is different than punishing all gun owners (or heck, all citizens) for the crimes of a few? I mean, I feel we can go in circles on this all day, but that's not moving toward resolution. You mentioned being fine with immigration policies changing in favor of making legal immigration more reasonable. Why is it so unfavorable to want to consider the same logic in other measures of safety?

 

I agree, not all safety measures work. The difference here seems to be the willingness to discuss them.