our political system has been fully captured. trump is literally running for office to make his legal issues go away. if he wasnt facing major legal problems that could land him legit prison time, im pretty sure he'd have been happy to just start his own tv network to rival fox or newsmax. hes doing this to try and stay out of jail.
biden is awful, i think a large chunk of dems know it, but the party elites were terrified to pressure him not to run again, because they also dont believe in kamala harris at all, and having her as the candidate would have been really tough to overcome.
democrats are in an ideal position now as far as they are concerned. they dont have a majority in both the house and senate, so they dont actually have to try and do anything. they dont want to actually fix anything. they are corporatists who are happy to continue to take huge sums of money to keep the status quo what it is. i think they are largely unconcerned about biden losing, because they assume senate republicans wont nuke the filibuster, so they'll be able to largely avoid any major policy disasters. and with trump as president, dems can make him the target of their anger, not actually fixing the issues that are killing the non-elites here.
dems and republicans are aligned on like 80% of issues, especially as it relates to capitalism and exploitation of the poor. there is definitely divergence on repro rights, but a lot of dems are even too tepid there. biden is barely pro choice, and his record there is horrendous. and i think it shows, because abortion access is the one area that has helped dems drive people to polls, and was the reason they won a bunch of special elections over the last 18 months. but the guy at the top of the ticket only grudgingly supports the cause.
its pretty disheartening to me, a xennial, having no political home. i was skeptical of john fetterman (i voted for him) because i knew part of his appeal was a slightly manufactured image that he carefully cultivated, but seeing him completely lose his mind after his neurological event has been extra disheartening. the large majority of people living in this country are so detached from reality and have no idea just badly they are being crushed and stomped on by the wealthy ruling class. and both parties have done a fantastic job making sure they dont find out. bernie sanders started to wedge the door open, and he was promptly exiled to the shadow realm. there have been some breakthroughs when it comes to labor and organizing, but the dems are not pouring resources into it, because they cannot do anything seen as anti business for fear of losing those cushy consulting and lobbying jobs when they leave office.
i'll continue to vote, and for the most progressive candidate possible every time. it just feels really pointless and hopeless. the debate i have most frequently now with my partner is whether or not we'll be alive long enough to see the US truly balkanize and fall apart. she thinks no, and i tend to agree it will come after we are gone. but, climate change is going to destroy the earth anyway, probably a lot sooner than anyone realizes, so this is all kind of frivolous noise anyway
