The White House press room has been gutted of dissenting voices for years. Obama was as bad as anyone for limiting access.
2024 US Election
Qwiss Thanks … appreciate the correction. Thing is, in Trump's case half the Republican establishment hates him too, so it's not like the WSJ or WaPo (which I'm sure someone will pop up to tell me is a liberal outlet nowadays) are necessarily going to be throwing Trump Dorothy Dixers.
Burnwinter Trumps a petty little man who holds a grudge at the most minor slight, he's also completely incapable of playing in cool in those situations and lashes out like the spoilt man child he is. Most presidents are most calculated in how they manage the press.
Sheer amount of misleading videos is crazy, Elon has fucked a few things up Twitter but Community Notes has to be one of the best things to happen to that platform. Not perfect but very quickly misleading posts get called out.
the stop the steal bullshit is what led to the situation at the Capitol, and it was built on a complete fiction.
this 'guard the vote' and 'we don't need votes' language is them revving up the engines for stop the steal part 2. people keep writing off alot of what he says as just more buffoonery, but they need to take him at his word on this. they want to tear out the system because they believe it no longer serves them, and replace it with something that does. and the most dangerous thing, they've self-radicalized to the point that they believe it's now or never
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Trump read the Wikipedia page on "stochastic terrorism" (which has rated a few mentions on here over the years) and thought "Cool idea, I'm gonna do that".
However there are solid reasons it's not possible for Trump to emerge as an interwar-style fascist leader.
First, social unrest is far less than in, say, Germany or Italy in the 30s, when irregulars of communist and fascist polarities were attacking each other in the streets in the major cities and economies were in utter crisis.
Second, Trump is not in dialogue with a bloc of the owners of national industries who could be persuaded to form a dirigist, collaborationist regime with its social base in the fantasies of exclusion he chooses to feed. Nation states (with a few exceptions probably) no longer have that capacity to broker enclosed labour and entrenched position to capital across the sectors. Too much of the production on which national economies depend is going on outside national administrative control.
Trump seems to have the attention of a minority of capitalists based on his last term, Biden is similar I think. Only those that imagine an unruly upheaval of laws and institutions that offers them improved profit will throw in decisively with Trump, but that's a different kind of gamble than Hitler and Mussolini were putting forward, as it relies on instability rather than a determinate reorganisation of power in their favour. Most will prefer business as usual.
That said, I think it's pretty likely that Trump's run will accelerate US imperial decline and looting. The well-laid plans of Trump's new cadre about gutting the federal bureaucracy are a case in point. Some of his backers have made a list of Trump-friendly officials and candidate officials they are intent on installing, which would probably be partly successful but also met with the agency pushback that handicapped Trump's first Cabinet in 2016. And I don't know this part, but I assume there's a long wishlist of regulatory functions to be ruined, which is pretty standard for "neoliberalism".
You're right though, whether Trump wins or not, concern about an eruption similar to January 6 but involving greater violence isn't silly. He's not discouraging it any less and the conditions to produce it don't seem much reduced.
My guess is Biden will receive a powerful boost from elite supporters through the second half of the year.
12 days later
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It's depressing how bad Biden has been in this debate. He's making Trump look semi coherent.
The Dems need a new candidate for 2024, otherwise I fear the MAGA cunt will sadly find his way back into office.
this debate is amazing
i wish the world would unite and euthanize the united states. we deserve it
Painful stuff. I can't watch.
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I had to turn it off after 5 minutes. based on that, Biden might not make it to November let alone through a second term. wonder if there's any noticeable polling impact after this.
At least we're seeing some honest reflection from the Dems post debate. They know Biden was awful. Let's see what they do now.
Embarrassing rustbucket empire stuff. He shouldn't be there, the bloke should be in a rocking chair.
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Is Kamala Harris that much worse? Surely it’s better if she stands instead of Biden
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she is objectively terrible. her interviews are about as cringeworthy as bidens, and she has negative charisma. she would get beaten worse than Joe would. not worth the hassle of drafting her this late in the game
not sure if dems really do have their heads this far up their ass that they didn't know this would be the outcome. seen it suggested they wanted to let Joe faceplant on purpose so that the calls for him to step aside would be too loud for him to ignore. he's a stubborn old guy by all accounts and won't step aside by choice
I mean the worst thing is this is what most people feared, right? Like you could see it coming a mile off. What on earth are the Dems thinking?
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These are actually the two guys vying for the most powerful position in the world. I watched the first half hour or so and neither of them managed to utter a single coherent sentence. And that's not even an exaggeration. It's just crazy beyond belief.
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goon reality appeared to start creeping in when the Biden team refused that softball superbowl interview. seems innocuous, but it's something most presidents have done, and it's a chance to get alot of eyeballs. they ducked it, and for the first time I started to detect rising unease among the corporate commentariat about bidens fitness, as well as an uptick in propaganda from the dems about how he was still sharp as a tack
No difference between Genocide Joe and Trump. Both wings of the same bird.
Mirth Is Kamala Harris that much worse?
Why do you think the Democrats are panicking?
TambourineMan At least we're seeing some honest reflection from the Dems post debate. They know Biden was awful. Let's see what they do now.
They've known for a long time but people around him have just strung this out longer than they should. I saw Biden's wife talking about him and she comes across as someone who isn't going to leave her position without a fight. She should be the one dragging him away and saying enough is enough.