2020 US Election

[usagi]

it's not us you have to convince. no amount of fanposting on watmm dot com is going to move the election results by an inch. it's truly hilarious that you think this place is some kind of battleground for the hearts and minds of the American people. those poll results demonstrate the failure to convince them of Biden's viability, plain as day. what have establishment Dems been able to actually do about it other than blindly repeat "bIDeN iS gReAt"? nothing.

as per 2016, Dems risk failing the election because they still haven't learned how to speak to anyone outside their choir or evolve as a party. the fact that you can't acknowledge that is why you're in trouble, it has less to do with how fucked people's brains are or aren't.

[ignatius]

Trump’s White House Was ‘Awash in Speed’ — and Xanax

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-white-house-drugs-speed-xanax-1234979503/

In January, the Defense Department’s inspector general released a report detailing how the White House Medical Unit during the Trump administration distributed controlled substances with scant oversight and even sloppier record keeping. Investigators repeatedly noted that the unit had ordered thousands and thousands of doses of the stimulant modafinil, which has been used by military pilots for decades to stay alert during long missions. 

 

[may be rude]

4 hours ago, usagi said:

as per 2016, Dems risk failing the election because they still haven't learned how to speak to anyone outside their choir or evolve as a party. the fact that you can't acknowledge that is why you're in trouble, it has less to do with how fucked people's brains are or aren't.

"the problem with dem messaging is..." - people who don't realize that they are the messagers and they are fucking up dem messaging

the easiest take to have is to ride in and be above it all. wow, thanks for the insight

4 hours ago, usagi said:

it's not us you have to convince. no amount of fanposting on watmm dot com is going to move the election results by an inch. it's truly hilarious that you think this place is some kind of battleground for the hearts and minds of the American people.

i'm doing the work. you're making it harder. but hey wow you seem so above it all wow i am impressed

[may be rude]

4 hours ago, usagi said:

Dems been able to actually do about it other than blindly repeat "bIDeN iS gReAt"? nothing.

weak strawman, buddy. i plainly posted a bullet point list of 20 items but you want to condescend from your horse so you pretend that didn't happen

Edited March 4 by trying to be less rude

[iococoi]

black lives matter - GOP style..

Quote

Trump supporters target black voters with faked AI images

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68440150

[EdamAnchorman]

17 hours ago, may be rude said:

it's a lame narrative that's not well-grounded in reality. biden is out there being very effective as president. he's fine and great. fox news and other reality subversion operations have been seeding the narrative since 2019. here's a list of accomplishments. 

• Lowering Costs of Families’ Everyday Expenses
• More People Are Working Than At Any Point in American History
• Making More in America
• Rescued the Economy and Changed the Course of the Pandemic
• Rebuilding our Infrastructure
• Historic Expansion of Benefits and Services for Toxic Exposed Veterans
• The First Meaningful Gun Violence Reduction Legislation in 30 Years
• Protected Marriage for LGBTQI+ and Interracial Couples
• Historic Confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and Federal Judges of Diverse Backgrounds
• Rallied the World to Support Ukraine in Response to Putin’s Aggression
• Strengthened Alliances and Partnerships to Deliver for the American People
• Successful Counterterrorism Missions Against the Leaders of Al Qaeda and ISIS
• Executive Orders Protecting Reproductive Rights
• Historic Student Debt Relief for Middle- and Working-Class Families
• Ending our Failed Approach to Marijuana
• Advancing Equity and Racial Justice, Including Historic Criminal Justice Reform
• Delivering on the Most Aggressive Climate and Environmental Justice Agenda in American History
• More People with Health Insurance Than Ever Before

 

of course you're right that we're in a very dangerous situation and we're maybe fucked. but it's not because of biden, it's because people's minds are fucked. there are reasons why someone very seasoned and experienced is exactly what we need right now, and there are trade-offs to younger people. 

some say obama was a better politician than biden but honestly i'm not sure. biden has achieved a number of bipartisan agreements. biden has achieved a number of deft political wins. biden has navigated very difficult territory very successfully.

the misconception is a trick that can be illuminated and defused. is he old? sure, he's 81. is he "too old?" no. he's still sharp. biden is fucking great.

I'm not trying to take the piss or anything but sincerely asking how much of this was due to Biden and how much was due to a competent administration / cabinet / advisors / etc.

I get what we're up against with orange T, that backing his challenger is important and the situation is different because we have a 1-term incumbent and so forth...  Even if the answer is that a lot of it was due to the administration, that's still not a reason to vote against Biden, just want to be clear and honest about all this.

[custom knob]

Trumps cabinet will have Stephen miller in it

[Rubin Farr]

3 hours ago, iococoi said:

black lives matter - GOP style..

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68440150

He’s down with O.P.P.

[iococoi]

35 minutes ago, Rubin Farr said:

He’s down with O.P.P.

actually..same energy

Edited March 4 by iococoi

[usagi]

5 hours ago, may be rude said:

"the problem with dem messaging is..." - people who don't realize that they are the messagers and they are fucking up dem messaging

the easiest take to have is to ride in and be above it all. wow, thanks for the insight

i'm doing the work. you're making it harder. but hey wow you seem so above it all wow i am impressed

lol, "the work". you are lost if you think having your own private editorial column on here is achieving anything. nothing high-handed or condescending about it, it's reality. you're not writing for WaPo or NYT, you don't have a segment on PBS, you probably don't even have the bare minimum political blog or twitter account otherwise you'd have posted it 100x by now. you are not reaching anyone in any consequential way. it'd be just as stupid if I thought posting semi-randomly on here about dying Palestinians was going to stop a single bomb or bullet.

how many irl conversations have you had along these lines, with people who weren't already going to vote for Biden? if more of that was happening, if you lot were any good at getting your message across, you wouldn't be seeing those poll results. instead you rattle off the usual drivel to a group of maybe 20 people most of whom either don't care or are already inclined to just hold their noses and vote for the dopey old cunt anyway because it's the lesser of two evils.

this isn't about you or even Biden, it's about the inability to bridge the divide in a meaningful way. nothing posted on here either improves or worsens that divide at all. in fact, when the history of this time is written after the collapse, there will be no mention of WATMM's supposed contributions to humanity, except perhaps a footnote to say that a bunch of lonely aging idm-men pestered the 'chre bros enough that they finally started releasing livesets.

[ignatius]

9 hours ago, iococoi said:

black lives matter - GOP style..

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68440150

"..oh and his hands should be slightly larger than they are in real life"

[ARPA]

[Nebraska]

9 hours ago, Rubin Farr said:

He’s down with O.P.P.

that was taken back in the day before big T jumped off the porch and was stilling hanging around goofies

[may be rude]

14 hours ago, usagi said:

how many irl conversations have you had along these lines, with people who weren't already going to vote for Biden? if more of that was happening, if you lot were any good at getting your message across, you wouldn't be seeing those poll results.

right here you acknowledge that the solution consists of individuals engaging with others. why does it not count if it's here? where does it count? you suggest in person counts but not online? 

people do get influenced by what they read online. it can make a difference in how motivated someone is to get out and vote. 

Edited March 5 by may be rude

[ignatius]

3 minutes ago, may be rude said:

why does it not count if it's here?

i think maybe you're preaching to the choir and people here mostly "get it" 

also...

Spoiler

everyone here is already gay. 

 

[may be rude]

2 hours ago, ignatius said:

i think maybe you're preaching to the choir and people here mostly "get it" 

also...

  Hide contents

everyone here is already gay. 

 

there are swing voters lurking, and swing state voters. mobilization is a huge factor and will be important in this election.

it's also about hitting the right note/laying out the best formulation.

you don't know who's reading, could be some big people who take their own actions. there are chains of influence, the universe is weird. especially in this time, it's important that there is signal among the noise. 

Edited March 5 by may be rude

[Hi Guys]

What the 2024 election cycle is doing to my brain:

[ignatius]

seems like some tv news person reporter whoever needs to seize the moment and ask trump "have you stopped raping women?"  would be nice to hear someone ask him that when he's on a debate stage or something.. not that there will be debates.. neither of these dudes want to get anywhere near a debate stage. but that question would be a nice reality check just for a split second. 

[usagi]

On 3/5/2024 at 11:58 AM, may be rude said:

there are swing voters lurking, and swing state voters. mobilization is a huge factor and will be important in this election.

it's also about hitting the right note/laying out the best formulation.

you don't know who's reading, could be some big people who take their own actions. there are chains of influence, the universe is weird. especially in this time, it's important that there is signal among the noise. 

nobody reads WATMM ffs. get real, my guy. in a world where public discourse is dominated by either dopamine-hooking ADD social media or the traditional media intelligentsia, who do you think is reading internet forums? let alone a niche one dedicated to a bygone era of music?

even supposing significant numbers of people on the fence about Biden were exposed to your posts, they wouldn't be swung by the constant jerking him off. instead of, idk, explaining about how their lives might be bettered by a Dem election win. cheerleading turns people off massively, I can see exactly how Trump got the spite-Hillary votes in 2016 and may well get the spite-Biden votes this year.

if you want to actually make a difference then you should be out there campaigning and co-ordinating with others, and with a nuanced strategy aimed at winning people over. you obviously have the energy for it, I can't understand why you're channeling it here instead.

[Nebraska]

someone should ask Nikki why she changed her mind. she was singing a different tune last week

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

[ignatius]

1 hour ago, Nebraska said:

 

 

someone should ask Nikki why she changed her mind. she was singing a different tune last week

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
 

 

i think the GOP has a rule about how many delegates you have to have to continue.. there's a threshold or something that has to be met at a certain point .. i think "super tuesday". but i'm not really paying attention. 

[Alcofribas]

8 hours ago, usagi said:

nobody reads WATMM ffs. get real, my guy. in a world where public discourse is dominated by either dopamine-hooking ADD social media or the traditional media intelligentsia, who do you think is reading internet forums? let alone a niche one dedicated to a bygone era of music?

even supposing significant numbers of people on the fence about Biden were exposed to your posts, they wouldn't be swung by the constant jerking him off. instead of, idk, explaining about how their lives might be bettered by a Dem election win. cheerleading turns people off massively, I can see exactly how Trump got the spite-Hillary votes in 2016 and may well get the spite-Biden votes this year.

if you want to actually make a difference then you should be out there campaigning and co-ordinating with others, and with a nuanced strategy aimed at winning people over. you obviously have the energy for it, I can't understand why you're channeling it here instead.

i do think that liberals thinking that posting online is "doing the work" is a definite contributing factor to their loss in 2016 and their persistent inability to hold power or thwart the wild west bullshit of the rightwing. liberals are concerned with expression and appearances, having the correct takes, and other things that have such little impact on people. republicans do not care about this. they are not afraid to be wildly wrong and hypocritical bc it does not matter.

when obama was prez the right wing just hunkered down and made absolutely everything about thwarting obama at every turn. and this is precisely why, e.g., we now have the supreme court we have - bc obama and rbg would not do exactly what republicans would do in their place and bc the republicans simply refused to let obama put merrick garland in a seat and he just ate it. so, liberals get to be "right" by pointing out the hypocrisy of republicans or whatever but the republicans don't give a shit and when it's their turn they just stuff whoever they want in the courts and just go wild with partisan rulings. but liberals are content to post their superior opinions in the media and online, inshallah. 

Edited March 6 by Alcofribas

[decibal cooper]

27 minutes ago, Alcofribas said:

i do think that liberals thinking that posting online is "doing the work" is a definite contributing factor to their loss in 2016 and their persistent inability to hold power or thwart the wild west bullshit of the rightwing.

A few weeks ago I rewatched the Errol Morris documentary American Dharma, which is a long form interview with Steve Bannon (but with all of the excellent archival deep dives and incredible editing that is common stock for Morris). He got hit hard by liberals for giving Bannon the time of day (or at least this is what I remember from reviews when it came out, even though Morris is often outright adversarial in his interview and constantly challenges and calls out Bannon). Anyway, of all the things I have read and watched about the 2016 election, this doc imo does the best job in telling the story of why and how Trump as able to win that year.

The funny thing is that online posting in right wing spheres was a non-negligible factor in mobilizing people to support Trump. Also, even though so many people find Bannon to be an odious racist, I believe that in discounting what he was able to accomplish that they ultimately shoot themselves in the foot. In watching that doc, he basically played legacy media like a fiddle, and he set traps that prominent democrats walked right into to their peril. It seems like democrats are doing the same thing now, but in different ways. I honestly do not understand why the did not just pick different candidates to run against Trump. They decided for god knows why to just try and jam Biden down everyone's throat.

I really do agree with your point, though, about posting online, and I think about that a lot. Both liberals and conservatives do it, mistake posting online for being politically active (when for the most part posting online is a completely ineffectual way to organize people or to try and bring about a change in policy. Either this or the posting becomes just another tool for people in power to manipulate to their advantage, as was ultimately the result in Egypt and other middle eastern countries during the Arab Spring). I often get swept up in it to, making political posts, but it is a mug's game that I hope one day to no longer play.

[Nebraska]

2 hours ago, ignatius said:

i think the GOP has a rule about how many delegates you have to have to continue.. there's a threshold or something that has to be met at a certain point .. i think "super tuesday". but i'm not really paying attention. 

“It is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for President of the United States. It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support.
During his presidency, we worked together to accomplish great things for the American people including tax reform that supercharged our economy and a generational change of our federal judiciary – most importantly, the supreme court” - moist moscow mitch

 

[Alcofribas]

3 hours ago, decibal cooper said:

online posting in right wing spheres was a non-negligible factor in mobilizing people to support Trump

"pokemon go to the polls" lost the race for clinton