Emil JensenJul 2, 2024
Marco Arment

It DOES suck. Democrats ARE ineffective and DO fail to undo most of the GOP’s damage. Even when Dems have full power, they somehow never have any power. That's all correct, and it's frustrating as hell.

That's a stand to take in the primaries.

And then in November, vote like hell for Biden.

Not voting, voting third-party, or voting Republican isn't sending a message to the Democrats. It's literally just voting for a FAR worse, FAR more evil, anti-American dictatorship.
https://mastodon.social/@dxpack/112717826273844095

Jul 2, 2024 at 5:55pmIvory for Mac
Show threadBuckJul 2, 2024
@marcoarment I'm fascinated / massively concerned about sticking with Biden (vs any replacement, even just Harris) ... the folks in my circle who have been "in play" voters since 2016 are very very hesitant after seeing that debate. That's my personal polling anyhow. I'm a D voter no matter what in this situation, but they should be very worried about folks on the fence ... the actual votes they need.
Show threadWu Evar 🇪🇺🇺🇦Jul 3, 2024

@buck @marcoarment

Even if Biden stays the election will literally be a vote about democracy versus autocracy. In no way will the USA remain a democracy under Trump 2. It’s all in plain sight (project 2025) - the decision for anybody is: you don’t want a old man with health issues as president? You get dictatorship. You really think there will be a normal election after Trump 2?

Greetings from Germany… 🫤

Show threadBuckJul 3, 2024
@maschinentraum @marcoarment I totally agree -- I am not the voter they need to worry about. I'm all in on anyone but Trump. It's all the ones in the middle or on the fence or "moderate Republicans" who held their nose and voted for Biden last time due to not wanting Trump ... as crazy as it is, those folks are very much in play votes here and putting forward a guy who can't finish a sentence and may not survive the next 4 years is one of many things putting those folks off.
Show threadWu Evar 🇪🇺🇺🇦Jul 3, 2024

@buck

Uh sorry. I did not mean to address you in person. With „you“ I was referring to each and every person allowed to vote in your country.

People should look at Russia. How a once elected president became a dictator for lifetime.

But I guess lots of people can’t imagine being on the receiving end of some coup like this: „This can not happen in our great country. We are a democracy for so many years now.“ But I still have some faith in the power of the people.

@marcoarment

Show threadBuckJul 3, 2024
@maschinentraum @marcoarment This is the classic ... "once you realize there's a problem, it's too late" for so many Americans
Show threadKevin Patrick Doyle 🍅🥫Jul 2, 2024
@marcoarment America's “multi-party system" is the primaries
Show threadDarwin WoodkaJul 2, 2024
@marcoarment Dems don't want "power", they want to govern. There's a difference. The GOP has no interest in governing, only in power and grifting.
Show threadFreediverXJul 2, 2024

@marcoarment @dxpack
I have friends, who I consider otherwise intelligent, who’ve recently said they were thinking of voting for RFK Jr. What the actual fuck.

I'm the first to criticize the corrupt, incompetent, and self-serving Democratic Party leadership. But it doesn't take a genius to understand the choice right now is between a shitty status quo and a right-wing fascist hellscape that will destroy the country.

Show threadBuckJul 2, 2024
@freediverx @marcoarment @dxpack The D party is who should be blamed here. They're putting forward a candidate that leaves room for anyone to think about alternatives. It's nuts to you and I -- but I can understand how it's going this way for some types of voters.
Show threadFreediverXJul 2, 2024
@buck @marcoarment @dxpack
Right now I’m focused less on assigning blame and more on preventing things from getting much worse with little chance of a reversal.
Show threaddxpackJul 2, 2024
@freediverx @buck @marcoarment You’re already too late. Things will get much worse, and there is no chance of reversal.
Show threadMBelcherJul 3, 2024
@freediverx @marcoarment @dxpack
Show them the picture of jfk jr eating roasted dog, that will hopefully change their minds.
Show threadseekerJul 4, 2024

@freediverx @marcoarment @dxpack

https://fosstodon.org/@seeker/112725370368529509

seeker (@[email protected])

RFK Jr and smear campaigns Summary: Post something about RFK on Meta run platforms or YouTube, your post will get down ranked and you'll receive content removal warnings. Vanity Fair (mouthpiece of establishment Dems) and NYPost (right wing) will write headlines that'll cause both the fediverse and Twitter light up about dog eating and sexual assaults without basic fact checks. This is because RFK is seen as a threat to both Biden and Trump.

Fosstodon
Show threadFreediverXJul 4, 2024
@seeker @marcoarment @dxpack
Any third party candidate is a threat to the two main candidates.
Show threadseekerJul 4, 2024

@freediverx @marcoarment @dxpack

There are no character assassination articles about Jill Stein, Cornell West or Chase Oliver.

You can still discuss them on Facebook.

Show threadFreediverXJul 4, 2024
@seeker @marcoarment @dxpack
There are no fascist billionaires giving tons of money to those candidates explicitly to draw votes away from Biden.
Show threaddxpackJul 4, 2024
@seeker @freediverx RFK Jr is an obvious moron. The notoriety he has achieved is in no small part due to that fact that even the idiots wrapped up in bro-culture are aware that the Democrats and Republicans are hell holes.
Show threadFreediverXJul 4, 2024
@dxpack @seeker
Trump is also an obvious moron, yet here we are.
Show threadAnders HovmöllerJul 2, 2024
@marcoarment A part of the problem with this line of appeal is that the many Trump supporters do in fact want a king and don't understand the problem with that. It's just sports teams to them.
Show threadArcticulateJul 2, 2024
@marcoarment It’s so weird to hear this, because it works in a similar way in Sweden: when the the left-politics parties are in power they sip coffee all four years and discuss measures they dream about seeing, while the right-wing parties’ strategy is to wreak havoc with high efficiency destruction, without blinking twice. We don’t have a two-party system and the prime minister is the leader, but there are two group formations which behave similarly to the two-party system.
Show threadBen MunsonJul 2, 2024
@Arcticulate @marcoarment yes both systems have veto points that terrible actors use to their advantage. It sucks.
Show threadArcticulateJul 4, 2024

@archaica @marcoarment However, in our case, the prime minister does not have any time limit on being in the leader position. Hypothetically speaking (definitely not in real terms), a 20 year old politician sitting in the “winning” party can be revoted as the prime minister until the person goes into retirement, 42+ years later.

It’s still a democratic process and nothing corrupt going on in such a case – it’s just easier to win the lottery than that happening.

Show threadArcticulateJul 4, 2024

@archaica @marcoarment What I mean is: if the people of the nation votes for the same party again and again every 4th year and the prime minister wants to continue leading the party and that party is renewing their support for the person (“likeable”), then sure.

Between 1996 and 2006 (3 825 days ≈ 10.5 years), we had the same prime minister, non stop.

Show threadArcticulateJul 4, 2024
@archaica @marcoarment Yes, I know, it’s not 4 years x 3 or 4 years x 2. It’s more complicated than that sometimes, depending on the political drama sometimes happening mid-term, etc.
Show threadDaphneJul 2, 2024

@marcoarment @dxpack Also, like uh... the government isn’t just ONE guy... *yet*

There are *many* levels of government (state, county, city, etc). You can vote for progressives in the primaries, and democrats in the general election.

Please tell people to go vote for all the "down-ballot” people who will make government for the people by the people

Show threadLyricismistJul 2, 2024
@marcoarment Vote Biden / Harris it’s not just one - it’s both. Oh and post this on any Troll’s page! Drives them crazy!!
Show threadTorsteinJul 2, 2024
@marcoarment @dxpack i feel so sorry for you americans. your only two options this year for the forseeable future is getting fucked or brutally fucked. I hear Canada is nice and kinda like the US, if not you're welcome to Europe ❤️ good luck this november.
Show threadScott KnowlesJul 2, 2024
@marcoarment Hew rule. Only vote for democrats with proven political spine and cojones to do what they say needs to be done. I don't want democrats getting elected then selling themselves to corporations and money donors for power to block change. Start with no politician over 65., no politician with big money donors, no politician who talks compromise before they offer proposals, no politician who says we need dialog. We need action. We need results for Americans, democracy and America. Just thinking out loud.
Show threadJoshua JonesJul 2, 2024

@marcoarment It’s wild watching liberals reckon with the reality that—with the usual comforts now in jeopardy—the institutions, or “American democracy”, were always delusional propaganda against class struggle. Turns out, the ideal world is not The West Wing.

It’s the genocide for me.

I’ve voted for 25 years. The democrats, Joe Biden, and the entire US state apparatus can go to hell.

Preserving my conscience may not liberate the world from US hegemony, but I will sleep fine.

Show threadMarco ArmentJul 3, 2024

@mindfad But if you don't vote Biden, you're letting Trump win. It's that simple.

You should look up what Trump has said he'd do about the situation.

It's pretty ugly.

You will literally be voting for that.

Show threadJoshua JonesJul 3, 2024

@marcoarment My conscience and empathy isn't to blame for your internal panic—the US state is. Joe’s not gonna save our world. A system sold every cycle as being on the brink of destruction but for one savior deserves to die.

Reality testing the atrocities before my eyes makes it easy to refuse the level denial and delusion *you’re* amenable to in casting a Biden ballot.

I’d much rather build community and face down US brownshirt firing squads than vote for your monster again.

Show threaddinsmoreJul 2, 2024

@marcoarment Totally agree. Would be a shame if something were to happen to the primaries...

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/30/florida-democrats-dean-phillips-election-00129403

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-will-be-only-democratic-candidate-in-north-carolina-s-primary-state-election-board-decides/ar-AA1mn5H0

But who needs primaries anyways, at least there was a robust debate within the democratic party and the majority of democratic voters saw that Biden was the best of all the options!

https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-do-democrats-plan-cancel-presidential-primary-debates-1796585

Thank god our elites are out there choosing what's best for us.

Florida Democrats plan to cancel presidential primary, enraging Dean Phillips’ campaign

The representative says the state party has deliberately moved to keep him off the ballot. Florida Dems say he is acting “unbecoming.”

POLITICO
Show threadsidbJul 2, 2024
@marcoarment Your analysis is correct… until the day after the election when SCOTUS throws it to the House and they ignore the vote and “elect” T anyways. We’re going to feel really dumb for thinking “vote harder” was enough. The killer is already inside the courthouse, and they have no intention of respecting the vote.
Show threadMagnus AhltorpJul 2, 2024

@sidb @marcoarment It’s much harder to actually go through with a coup like that if the election results are clear. SCOTUS or any group of people (or single people) only have the power that people give them. If the people asked to ignore the election results do that depends on the legitimacy of the people giving the order.

This is true regardless of what political leaning you have and if the order would be to your liking or not.

Show threadsidbJul 2, 2024
@ahltorp @marcoarment It had better be quite the blowout then. Otherwise, it’s “irregularities” and refusals to certify and FUD and murkiness. I would love if it could be such a blowout—but we currently aren’t on that track.
Show threadChuck O'Rourke:verified:Jul 2, 2024

@marcoarment @dxpack Republican voters are Republicans. True believers. Democrats are people who vote against Republicans to a great extent. They won't stand by politicians when the FUD starts to fly about guns or Israel. They don't really know anything about issues. They feel things like climate change but keep flying out to WWDC or whatever fun thing would be cool.

You guys tweet and maybe send money occasionally your not going to inconvenience your marching or doing anything. Your consumers.

Show threadDavid H. McCoyJul 2, 2024

@marcoarment @maxleibman @dxpack

105%

Show threaddxpackJul 2, 2024

@marcoarment Your suggestion here is based on a fairytale. You should present your request with honesty: There is no known method of stopping the Republicans - it is inevitable. But I am hoping for a true miracle to occur. And by voting for Democrats, we will ever so slightly extend the time such that true miracle could occur! Pray with me at the ballot box!

Sell the truth of your religion. Don’t act like it isn’t one.

Show threaddxpackJul 2, 2024

@marcoarment Alternatively - stop pushing these false hopes and maybe smarter people than us will have room to come up with real, practical actions.

Yes, this is a fantasy too - but it is not one hiding behind a lie.

Show threadAnondsonJul 2, 2024
@marcoarment for at least the past 20 years the only criteria I take into the voting booth is what will reliably prevent a Republican from appointing Supreme Court Justices.
Show threadShadowbottleJul 3, 2024
@marcoarment what? You don’t want to vote for mother Russia?
Show threadTanner B 🆓🇵🇸Jul 3, 2024

@marcoarment @dxpack this "Vote blue no matter who" rhetoric is one of the most effective tools for keeping the current system in place.

The reason third parties don't ever gain enough traction to pose a threat to the two party system is because of this mindset.

Show threadtoastedmilkJul 4, 2024
@marcoarment Voting isn’t self expression, the crank doesn’t detect that you voted in fear or delight, it’s just one of many tools. Getting a candidate you like is rare, once in a lifetime kinda rare. Normally, it’s just picking your opponent, who would you rather face in battle. Biden did a lot of very very good things. If people wanna call them ‘do nothing democrats that’s understandable in light of the losses, but rn that’s far preferable to ‘do terrible thing Theocrats.’