World News Thread

[mugatiya]

(07-21-2024, 08:28 PM)Regista Wrote:  The problem is that this should have come much sooner. Mainstream media was trying to convince everyone that Biden was sharp enough and coherent to continue as president. They only made him step aside because it was becoming painfully obvious after the 1st debate that he's unfit for the job.

There have been calls for him to step aside well before the first debate by the dems. Biden was the one who refused and the debate was the nail in the coffin.

His downward spiral in the last 12 months has been very sad to see happen to another human being. Dems should have acted on it way earlier.

I think this election is sealed for the Reps now. So gonna be a long and boring cycle from
Here

[Regista]

https://nypost.com/2024/07/21/us-news/barack-obama-doesnt-endorse-kamala-harris-says-dems-will-pick-outstanding-nominee/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nypost

Obama doesn't endorse Kamala Harris :o
Maybe we will see Michelle Obama.

[Regista]

(07-21-2024, 08:56 PM)mugatiya Wrote:  

(07-21-2024, 08:28 PM)Regista Wrote:  The problem is that this should have come much sooner. Mainstream media was trying to convince everyone that Biden was sharp enough and coherent to continue as president. They only made him step aside because it was becoming painfully obvious after the 1st debate that he's unfit for the job.

There have been calls for him to step aside well before the first debate by the dems. Biden was the one who refused and the debate was the nail in the coffin.

His downward spiral in the last 12 months has been very sad to see happen to another human being. Dems should have acted on it way earlier.

I think this election is sealed for the Reps now. So gonna be a long and boring cycle from
Here

I agree that it was very sad to see Biden in such a state. Looking at old videos of him, he seemed to be a very sharp and intelligent guy in his youth.

[mugatiya]

(07-21-2024, 08:57 PM)Regista Wrote:  https://nypost.com/2024/07/21/us-news/barack-obama-doesnt-endorse-kamala-harris-says-dems-will-pick-outstanding-nominee/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nypost

Obama doesn't endorse Kamala Harris :o
Maybe we will see Michelle Obama.

I think Michelle will run one day but maybe not this time around. I don't think a name as big as her will be someone's sloppy seconds.

They will want to build a big campaign around her brand and build momentum into an election cycle, rather than leave her with the prospect of losing to DJT by a landslide.

But who knows.

[mugatiya]

(07-15-2024, 02:23 AM)stillwill Wrote:  

(07-14-2024, 10:25 PM)mugatiya Wrote:  It certainly won't be as dire as Kalu suggests, but if most of the policy plans outlined in Project 2025 are implemented, it could be quite alarming and detrimental for many people living in the US.

Last time, Trump adopted about 60% of the policies proposed by the Heritage Foundation. This time, the policymakers are prepped and ready. If DJT wins, he will have an arsenal of staffers poised to execute Project 2025, allowing him to hit the ground running.

The broad strokes of Project 2025 include:

Expanding Presidential Power: The initiative seeks to grant the president more executive power, enabling unilateral decision-making.

Reducing Social Spending: There are plans to cut spending on programs for the poor and climate change initiatives, while increasing military expenditure.

Imposing Conservative Social Policies: The project aims to implement far-right religious conservative ideas on abortion, essentially banning it outright and even regulating contraception. This includes cutting funding to many programs that currently support women.

Toughening Immigration Policies: The plan includes stringent measures on immigration, which could lead to widespread deportations.

None of these ideas are new, but this time around, with the Heritage Foundation's close ties to Trump and the detailed plans and staffers ready to roll from day one, it will be very interesting to see how it pans out.

The old school Republicans know that Trump is going to ensure that Trump is going to bury the Republican party for ever after his term. Trump supporters are mostly boomers and they will die out within next 10 years. The American youth are very different now a days than even 10-15 years ago. If I was a democrat, I'd let Trump have the next 4 years to ensure the democrat stays in power for 20+ years after that.

If you kept an eye on the RNC you will see the expansion of the Rep party under DJT. It's no longer old racist white dudes, the demographics have totally changed under Trump. This is why he won last time.

The Reps aren't even worried about claiming back the votes they lost from their base in 2016, instead, they are expanding to newer audiences and the math shows they are gaining new followers.

They are appealing to the youth, using tiktok OF influencers, and doing all sorts of weird stuff at the convention. In short, their message is - we are the fun party ready to go to work for the everyday American and the other side has no idea what they are doing. We want to talk about all the issues the other side brush aside (immigration, wars overseas, trade issues, losing jobs inside America)

This message is catching on with many who would not consider DJT before.

[The One]

So, pretty interesting developments for sure, and we are in unprecedented territory. I think it's a little too early to make predictions, there's a few things that will play out in the next couple of weeks. I'm not quite sure why people say its a done deal for Republicans now, if anything Dems' odds improved. Dems need to seal the nominee by mid August, so there's about 4 weeks to go. There's couple of ways the nomination can go.

• Kamala gets the nomination, and the party gets behind her. With the time crunch, this is very much possible and the least complicated path for the Dems. The downside is, both racism and misogyny still plays a pretty big part in US politics, and she has to fight both. In this scenario, her best shot is picking a VP for the tickets that's got the things she's missing; ideally a straight white guy with more moderate views, and from a rural/swing state. California already has a bad rep for being snobby liberals, she doesn't want another one from there or a similar left-leaning state. What she needs is to pull back the white middle class older voters, who were Biden's strongest base. She's definitely got the qualifications, and will do a good job, just that she needs to battle the perceptions. And it doesn't help that she was largely an invisible VP, who wasn't very popular anyway. But with the dire situation, it's possible that Dems will put aside these, and also enough people will be motivated to vote for her.
• Someone challenges her and the party picks the candidates in the convention. Likely candidates now are Whitmer and Newsom, and I think Whitmer already said she's not going to seek the nomination (could be wrong), so it'll likely be Newsom. He's actually a pretty great choice too, the only problem is this can fracture the party, because there's a lot of Biden/Kamala loyalists who'll really be put off by this. Purely on a voter standpoint though, I think if he is the candidate he'd win vs Trump; he's the guy with the least baggage, and being a straight white man who's fairly liberal without being too leftist kinda of checks all the boxes. He's pretty smart too, and can hold himself in a debate/interview, so the only downside in this scenario is the party possibly being fractured.
  

Either way it goes, Dems' chances definitely improved with this decision. They just need a relentless campaign. Hammer back the 'too old' narrative the GOP has been pushing, cuz now Trump is the oldest candidate in US history. Hammer the abortion issue; this has been a pretty big hole GOP dug for themselves, even some of the republicans are not fans of how it played out, and lots of women in particular have been turning up in the mid terms to vote singularly because of this issue. That's how the Dems won the midterms, something rarely happens with the party of the sitting president. They also gotta talk a lot more about the Project 2025, even Trump has been trying to distance himself from it because the optics aren't great and a lot of 'middle of the road' people have been worried about it. They gotta hammer that point, and not let Trump get away with it.

So all told, it'll be a pretty crazy 3-4 weeks.

[The One]

(07-21-2024, 08:57 PM)Regista Wrote:  https://nypost.com/2024/07/21/us-news/barack-obama-doesnt-endorse-kamala-harris-says-dems-will-pick-outstanding-nominee/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nypost

Obama doesn't endorse Kamala Harris :o
Maybe we will see Michelle Obama.

Eh, this is NY Post, basically a tabloid. Obama is just being Obama, not trying to rush anything, he's not the kind of guy who makes public statements without actually talking it out in private. If it seems like she's the nominee he'll endorse her.

[mugatiya]

(07-21-2024, 08:58 PM)Regista Wrote:  

(07-21-2024, 08:56 PM)mugatiya Wrote:  There have been calls for him to step aside well before the first debate by the dems. Biden was the one who refused and the debate was the nail in the coffin.

His downward spiral in the last 12 months has been very sad to see happen to another human being. Dems should have acted on it way earlier.

I think this election is sealed for the Reps now. So gonna be a long and boring cycle from
Here

I agree that it was very sad to see Biden in such a state. Looking at old videos of him, he seemed to be a very sharp and intelligent guy in his youth.

Yea, he was an ok lawyer from what I understood of his younger days, so relatively sharp. But he earned his chops in the senate where he worked tirelessly. Was a good side kick for Obama. His life is pretty tragic with all the tragedy surrounding his family but he was a decent dude. His faculties were failing him pretty poorly and its sad the dems let it get this far without letting him go off into he sunset with some dignity.

[mugatiya]

(07-21-2024, 09:41 PM)The One Wrote:  So, pretty interesting developments for sure, and we are in unprecedented territory. I think it's a little too early to make predictions, there's a few things that will play out in the next couple of weeks. I'm not quite sure why people say its a done deal for Republicans now, if anything Dems' odds improved. Dems need to seal the nominee by mid August, so there's about 4 weeks to go. There's couple of ways the nomination can go.

• Kamala gets the nomination, and the party gets behind her. With the time crunch, this is very much possible and the least complicated path for the Dems. The downside is, both racism and misogyny still plays a pretty big part in US politics, and she has to fight both. In this scenario, her best shot is picking a VP for the tickets that's got the things she's missing; ideally a straight white guy with more moderate views, and from a rural/swing state. California already has a bad rep for being snobby liberals, she doesn't want another one from there or a similar left-leaning state. What she needs is to pull back the white middle class older voters, who were Biden's strongest base. She's definitely got the qualifications, and will do a good job, just that she needs to battle the perceptions. And it doesn't help that she was largely an invisible VP, who wasn't very popular anyway. But with the dire situation, it's possible that Dems will put aside these, and also enough people will be motivated to vote for her.
• Someone challenges her and the party picks the candidates in the convention. Likely candidates now are Whitmer and Newsom, and I think Whitmer already said she's not going to seek the nomination (could be wrong), so it'll likely be Newsom. He's actually a pretty great choice too, the only problem is this can fracture the party, because there's a lot of Biden/Kamala loyalists who'll really be put off by this. Purely on a voter standpoint though, I think if he is the candidate he'd win vs Trump; he's the guy with the least baggage, and being a straight white man who's fairly liberal without being too leftist kinda of checks all the boxes. He's pretty smart too, and can hold himself in a debate/interview, so the only downside in this scenario is the party possibly being fractured.
  

Either way it goes, Dems' chances definitely improved with this decision. They just need a relentless campaign. Hammer back the 'too old' narrative the GOP has been pushing, cuz now Trump is the oldest candidate in US history. Hammer the abortion issue; this has been a pretty big hole GOP dug for themselves, even some of the republicans are not fans of how it played out, and lots of women in particular have been turning up in the mid terms to vote singularly because of this issue. That's how the Dems won the midterms, something rarely happens with the party of the sitting president. They also gotta talk a lot more about the Project 2025, even Trump has been trying to distance himself from it because the optics aren't great and a lot of 'middle of the road' people have been worried about it. They gotta hammer that point, and not let Trump get away with it.

So all told, it'll be a pretty crazy 3-4 weeks.

I guess they will test the polls and focus groups, but it's hard to imagine anyone other than Kamala at this stage. However, you're right, she's not popular at all, so it's unclear what the Democrats will do.

Project 2025 is crucial because the GOP policy paper is mostly filler. The Republicans will likely downplay Project 2025, referring instead to the GOP policy plan, which lacks substantial details. It's like a highlight reel of their agenda without the specifics. This is why when Trump speaks, he often gives broad strokes and off-the-cuff ideas, which resonate because they're easy to understand compared to detailed policy plans. That's where Project 2025 comes in—to fill in the gaps and provide specifics.

I saw Regista say Project 2025 is just MSM blustering and fear-mongering. I'll try to address that point later today. But what's important to understand is that Project 2025 isn't new; it's a blueprint for the GOP if they get elected. It’s gaining media attention because this time, some of their ideas and policies are being pushed even further.

The Heritage Foundation, which wrote and funded Project 2025, isn't new. They've been providing policy advice since the Reagan days, and the GOP has frequently used their recommendations. Trump may claim he doesn't know them, but Heritage is stacked with former Trump administration officials, so you can draw your own conclusions.

[The One]

(07-21-2024, 10:01 PM)mugatiya Wrote:  

(07-21-2024, 09:41 PM)The One Wrote:  So, pretty interesting developments for sure, and we are in unprecedented territory. I think it's a little too early to make predictions, there's a few things that will play out in the next couple of weeks. I'm not quite sure why people say its a done deal for Republicans now, if anything Dems' odds improved. Dems need to seal the nominee by mid August, so there's about 4 weeks to go. There's couple of ways the nomination can go.

• Kamala gets the nomination, and the party gets behind her. With the time crunch, this is very much possible and the least complicated path for the Dems. The downside is, both racism and misogyny still plays a pretty big part in US politics, and she has to fight both. In this scenario, her best shot is picking a VP for the tickets that's got the things she's missing; ideally a straight white guy with more moderate views, and from a rural/swing state. California already has a bad rep for being snobby liberals, she doesn't want another one from there or a similar left-leaning state. What she needs is to pull back the white middle class older voters, who were Biden's strongest base. She's definitely got the qualifications, and will do a good job, just that she needs to battle the perceptions. And it doesn't help that she was largely an invisible VP, who wasn't very popular anyway. But with the dire situation, it's possible that Dems will put aside these, and also enough people will be motivated to vote for her.
• Someone challenges her and the party picks the candidates in the convention. Likely candidates now are Whitmer and Newsom, and I think Whitmer already said she's not going to seek the nomination (could be wrong), so it'll likely be Newsom. He's actually a pretty great choice too, the only problem is this can fracture the party, because there's a lot of Biden/Kamala loyalists who'll really be put off by this. Purely on a voter standpoint though, I think if he is the candidate he'd win vs Trump; he's the guy with the least baggage, and being a straight white man who's fairly liberal without being too leftist kinda of checks all the boxes. He's pretty smart too, and can hold himself in a debate/interview, so the only downside in this scenario is the party possibly being fractured.
  

Either way it goes, Dems' chances definitely improved with this decision. They just need a relentless campaign. Hammer back the 'too old' narrative the GOP has been pushing, cuz now Trump is the oldest candidate in US history. Hammer the abortion issue; this has been a pretty big hole GOP dug for themselves, even some of the republicans are not fans of how it played out, and lots of women in particular have been turning up in the mid terms to vote singularly because of this issue. That's how the Dems won the midterms, something rarely happens with the party of the sitting president. They also gotta talk a lot more about the Project 2025, even Trump has been trying to distance himself from it because the optics aren't great and a lot of 'middle of the road' people have been worried about it. They gotta hammer that point, and not let Trump get away with it.

So all told, it'll be a pretty crazy 3-4 weeks.

I guess they will test the polls and focus groups, but it's hard to imagine anyone other than Kamala at this stage. However, you're right, she's not popular at all, so it's unclear what the Democrats will do.

Project 2025 is crucial because the GOP policy paper is mostly filler. The Republicans will likely downplay Project 2025, referring instead to the GOP policy plan, which lacks substantial details. It's like a highlight reel of their agenda without the specifics. This is why when Trump speaks, he often gives broad strokes and off-the-cuff ideas, which resonate because they're easy to understand compared to detailed policy plans. That's where Project 2025 comes in—to fill in the gaps and provide specifics.

I saw Regista say Project 2025 is just MSM blustering and fear-mongering. I'll try to address that point later today. But what's important to understand is that Project 2025 isn't new; it's a blueprint for the GOP if they get elected. It’s gaining media attention because this time, some of their ideas and policies are being pushed even further.

The Heritage Foundation, which wrote and funded Project 2025, isn't new. They've been providing policy advice since the Reagan days, and the GOP has frequently used their recommendations. Trump may claim he doesn't know them, but Heritage is stacked with former Trump administration officials, so you can draw your own conclusions.

Yup, this is the point Dems need to hammer on and on about regardless of who they pick. It's not feat mongering, it's very legit and real. The only reason why Trump couldn't do any more damage than he did during his term was largely because his win was a surprise even to his own supporters, and they didn't have a plan in place if they did in fact win. They were more or less winging it as they went, and that wasn't very efficient. But now Project 2025 basically has undertaken that job, and has a detailed step-by-step plan for their guy to execute, with things legally examined, knowing what they can do and can't etc.

But like Regista, lots of people here, especially the white people, aren't very shaken by it, because most of the things in it are not directly impacting white people yet. It's largely focused on making this a Christian white nation, and white men are largely excluded from the focus. But as we know, once this kind of movement runs out of groups of people to hate, they're going to turn inwards. Dems need to hammer this point and highlight every single thing that's scary in there and how it's directly in the interests of Trump.

And again, abortion issue. It has backfired on the GOP, a in state elections etc. even Republicans aligned with Dems to not pass legislation criminalizing abortion etc., and women are really not happy about this. We all know this is only the first step, they'll next come for birth control and all sort of opressive shit. So, this is another area Dems really gotta capitalize on.