I’m on a Robert Reich e-mail list. His latest missive* entitled How to prevent America and the world from falling into fascism contained eleven suggestions, the first three of which really jumped out at me:
Try not to allow issues such as whether Biden should resign, or his degree of responsibility for Gaza, to get in the way of your determination not to let Trump back into the White House. Regardless of our differences over these issues, they pale compared to the threat Trump poses.
For the same reason, please don’t decide to leave the top of the ticket blank or to vote for a third party or not to vote at all. All make it easier for Trump to win. …
Don’t become so upset with politics that you drop out, stop reading the news, or give up on activism. The stakes are just too high. …
Exactly. If you don’t like Biden much, I probably agree with you; but the most important thing to do right now is to send the orange narcissist packing.
*This link seems to work; but when I load it directly into my browser without going through e-mail, I get a popup suggesting that I follow me. 😎 I didn’t try the options in the message box, so I don’t know what they do; but when I clicked the X in the upper right corner, the popup went away and I could read the whole thing.
Works fine for me.
[I run Firefox on Windows with Noscript and uBlock and the odd bit of tweaking of my hosts file]
Those three points are some very good advice. I think in all the drama, the point is being lost that the right are running Trump, and it would be a disaster for the whole planet if he got back into the White House.
I take comfort in the thrashing that’s going on in the media to discredit Biden. They wouldn’t do it if they didn’t think he would win.
the most important thing to do right now is to send the orange narcissist packing.
Yes, and damn the democrats eventually, for unreservedly opting for the “less of two evils” strategy instead of running someone interesting, inspiring, and willing to go toe to toe with the republicans. Instead we’re going to have this whole emotional blackmail show of “if you don’t vote for Biden you’re voting for Trump!” which is true, but it’s basically the democrats gambling that they can win by being just better enough that that blackmail works. And, if it doesn’t work, rather than acknowledging the flaw in their strategy, they’ll complain about “Bernie Bros” or “misogynists who hate Hillary” or “ageism” or whatever excuse they can reach for rather than, “we ran a shite campaign with a minimally attractive candidate.”
To paraphrase Henry Rollins, “wouldn’t it be great if you had candidates you could vote for instead of candidates you have to vote against?”
@Marcus Ranum: define “exciting”. The problem is that your preferred candidate might not be everyone else’s preferred candidate. That’s why they have primaries, and the one who gets the most votes, goes forward.
I’d vote for Biden in a coma over Trump. However Biden in a coma would not be a good president and people who have yet to make up their mind (I can’t imagine what they are thinking) will not. It’s time to make a change or Biden’s legacy will be of how he let fascism happen.
I think the thing to do is open it up to maybe seven people suggested by Biden and the Democratic National Committee. Open discussion forums and town halls around the country to see who’s got good ideas and charisma then let the delegates vote at the convention. It’ll get a lot of attention. It’ll knock Trump off the front pages. It’ll get new ideas out there. Biden looks like an elder statesman. I think it’s a winner.
(It’s not my idea. I heard it on the Deep State Radio podcast.)
Biden already has more than half the DNC delegates and in a law-abiding society he is the candidate. Any mucking about will cause much chaos, that is why so many MSM are encouraging his dropout and drooling at the prospect – with lawyers only slightly behind in the dribbling lips parade – not realizing that no Biden almost guarantees a Trump dynasty (rhymes with die nasty). This is the result of a two-party political system rigged up to keep things as they are, conservatism through and through.
@SchreiberBike, #7: If Biden gets voted in and then goes into a coma, Harris will take over and, from all indications, do a perfectly good job. If the nomination goes up for re-voting at this point, we get chaos on a major scale. Very good post at https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/be-practical-not-problematic about the problems that would ensue if the nomination was contested at this point… including huge legal and practical issues with transferring the money raised for campaigning to a new candidate’s campaign and with getting a new candidate on the ballot in all 50 states at this point.
And we *want* Trump on the front pages, along with very clear information about who he is, what he’s doing, and what the people acting in his name are doing. The media keep glossing this over, and it needs to be very much out there.
I found a new message from Robert Reich in my e-mail this morning.
In it, he gives reasons why none of the Trump campaign, Democrats in Congress (only eight of 213 House members and one Senator have publicly called for Biden to drop out), nor the corporate media (who I’ve long thought are just creating product (you and me) to sell to their customers (advertisers)) are behind the current anti-Biden push. Rather, it’s the Democratic “elite”, the mega-donors, many of whom have little or no governing expertise (he gives George Clooney as an example) who are leading the charge.
Reich’s bottom line is that neither the Republican nor the Democratic Party has any interest in the actual issues. Both are nothing but fund-raising organizations; and the real political power in the U.S., at present, is nothing but money. Maybe that’s confirmation bias, but it strikes me as correct.
A couple of (well, “magazines”) I check that are left-leaning are Vox and Slate.
The vibe on both is telling and pretty obvious to me, due to the changed slant. Or so I think.
I don’t mean just one article here or there, I mean an array of them, both editorial and (ahem) journalistic.