We’re Michael Bender and Maya King, reporters for The New York Times covering the 2024 presidential election. Ask us Anything.
old.reddit.com
external-link
Hello, ElPlywood. Thanks for participating, and I appreciate your passion! I'll try to answer the first few here as best as I can. 1 Why do you...

“I think what you’re reacting to is that, at the moment, Biden is an unpopular president seeking a second term while Trump is a popular figure inside his party who is winning primary races. I wouldn’t necessarily compare the two.”

Credit to @JoshuaHolland

It seems like everybody needs to remind democrat voters that it was Hilary that made Trump a Republican candidate so she would have a better chance at winning. Republicans work towards Trump, Democrats did. Voting for Democrats is a vote for worse Republican candidates and I assume vice versa.

Melkath
link
fedilink
88M

And then she still lost. Why? Because she was a conservative running as a Democrat because her husband gave her an in with the party.

We do not currently have a liberal party in America. We have a bunch of dunce christian conservatives on the red side and we have a bunch of brainwashed not-christian conservatives on the blue side.

We have VERY few that are anti-war, anti-genocide, anti-cash-in-politics, pro-working-class politicians because Hilary and her circle murdered the moral compass of the Democrat party.

P03 Locke
link
fedilink
English
198M

Look, you have two choices:

  • You stay home and wake up in a nightmare where Trump uses his power to usurp the presidency and end democracy, because that’s exactly what he and his followers want.
  • You get your ass to the polls and vote for Biden.
raccoona_nongrata
link
fedilink
2
edit-2
8M

deleted by creator

P03 Locke
link
fedilink
English
18M

removed by mod

removed by mod

So you will support it with inaction? There is no magic third door here. Both sides are pro-genocide, one can be worked on, one cannot. Vote blue to stop the worst, keep protesting to change the discussion. Sword and shield.

My Republican family members are 100% behind the murder of all Palestinians. No aid. No ceasefire talks. Inaction will allow those people to call the shots. What use are morals if they don’t save anyone?

mozz
creator
link
fedilink
78M

raccoona_nongrata
link
fedilink
1
edit-2
8M

deleted by creator

raccoona_nongrata
link
fedilink
2
edit-2
8M

deleted by creator

I need you to understand this first—the slate is never clean. No one makes better decisions under increased chaos and uncertainty. Ever. They don’t learn. They don’t find their better selves. They use the hardship to justify atrocity. Why do you think rural communities are the way they are? People won’t suddenly open their eyes and say golly gee those leftists were right, we are all in this together and let us all put our best foot forward. Tomorrow is always yoked to yesterday. No matter how unfair, no matter how unjust, you can never raze enough of what came before to start again fresh. There is nothing that works but gradual change.

Do not take my word for this. Start reading. You are ready for pain and death and to drink the hot blood of our enemies for the glorious revolution. But what the revolution really needs from you, is for you to suffer through some boring ass books. No shortcuts. No meme politics. No youtube activism. If this is not a thing you are willing to do, if this feels like throwing damp sand on the fire, I need you to think critically about that.

Do you want equitable change or is it more important to keep that rage burning? If so how does that make you any different from a drunk on outrage MAGA fuckwit?

Use all the tools at hand to save as many as you can. This means not letting the orange fucker back into power. You can vote blue and put a brick through the AIPAC’s office window if you so choose. All good lefties learn to walk and chew gum at the same time.

P03 Locke
link
fedilink
English
18M

You are ready for pain and death and to drink the hot blood of our enemies for the glorious revolution.

He might as well play Disco Elysium to show how ridiculous he sounds.

I think I missed out not getting this game.

raccoona_nongrata
link
fedilink
1
edit-2
8M

deleted by creator

So in summary because 70,000 Palestinians died… you think the lives of the million people sheltering in Rafah are forfeit? …Because once they started the genocide they might as all be dead anyways? What the fuck mate. Do you need someone to tell you that’s fucked up? That is fucked up.

And when did I say appeal to conservatives? Read mine again. You suggested plunging the worst off of America into suffering would magically cure them of their centrist tendencies. Reality is, where there is instability and inequality people grasp on to shitty xenophobic rhetoric to justify holding on to anything. I’m begging you. Read some history. Show me an example where dismantling the existing power structure in a time of instability worked. Not in the past 40 years. In the past 1,000.

Melkath
link
fedilink
28M

deleted by creator

mozz
creator
link
fedilink
10
edit-2
8M

Agree

I actually don’t even agree that Biden is a “lesser evil” in the first place, I’ve talked about it

But even accepting for a second the premise that there’s nothing to support about Biden, I like how to these guys the lesson of 2016 and Hilary Clinton is “let’s refuse to support the establishment candidate against someone who’s clearly worse, what harm could come of it?”

P03 Locke
link
fedilink
English
68M

I blame South Park.

mozz
creator
link
fedilink
78M

I very much believe – I’m being completely serious about this – that 4chan making good memes about Trump becoming president, because it really is just inherently a funny idea, had a lot to do with elevating him from 0 support to a little kernel of popularity that could start to grow into something.

I honestly agree and America is the dumbass that microwaved their iPhone to charge it.

P03 Locke
link
fedilink
English
38M

Boomers don’t pay attention to 4Chan. It’s such a small segment of the population.

Gen X and Millennials pay attention to South Park, though. They see that “douche vs. turd sandwich” bit and think “Hey, that applies to our situation now!” Then they stay home in protest, because they don’t like certain aspects of Hillary’s campaign and ideals, as opposed to hating every aspect that Trump does or represents.

It’s not about picking the “lesser evil”. It’s about having realistic expectations and analyzing the situation as a whole. During the primaries, you pick the candidate you want. During the general election, you pick the party you want, even if your primary pick didn’t win. That’s it.

raccoona_nongrata
link
fedilink
3
edit-2
8M

deleted by creator

Create a post

In-depth political discussion from around the world; if it’s a political happening, you can post it here.


Guidelines for submissions:
  • Where possible, post the original source of information.
    • If there is a paywall, you can use alternative sources or provide an archive.today, 12ft.io, etc. link in the body.
  • Do not editorialize titles. Preserve the original title when possible; edits for clarity are fine.
  • Do not post ragebait or shock stories. These will be removed.
  • Do not post tabloid or blogspam stories. These will be removed.
  • Social media should be a source of last resort.

These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.


Subcommunities on Beehaw:


This community’s icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

  • 1 user online
  • 60 users / day
  • 123 users / week
  • 222 users / month
  • 790 users / 6 months
  • 1 subscriber
  • 1.74K Posts
  • 13.5K Comments
  • Modlog