ye olde politics thread

[FoolofaTook]

Originally Posted by FoolofaTook

FOOLOFATOOK: WINNING

[MplsTaper]

[MplsTaper]

Amid various reports that Republican and Trump-affiliated political operatives are trying to get Kanye West onto various state ballots for November’s presidential election, the billionaire rap superstar indicated, in an interview by text today, that he was in fact running to siphon votes from the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden.

Asked about that directly, West said that rather than running for president, he was “walking,” quickly adding that he was “walking . . . to win.”

When it was pointed out that he actually can’t win in 2020—that he won’t be on enough ballots to yield 270 electoral votes, and that a write-in campaign isn’t feasible—and thus was serving as a spoiler, West replied: “I’m not going to argue with you. Jesus is King.”

West rebuffed various attempts to clarify who was driving his ballot access or strategy and whether it’s being coordinated by or with Republican-affiliated officials. He does, however, appear to have a continuing relationship with the Trump White House. West says that he’s “designing a school within the next month” and that “I’m meeting with Betsy DeVos about the post-Covid curriculum.” (The Secretary of Education’s press office hadn’t responded to a request for comment by the time we published.)

“I like Kanye very much,” President Trump told reporters at the White House yesterday. “No, I have nothing to do with him getting on the ballot. We'll have to see what happens.”

West’s intentions have come under increased scrutiny this week, following reports by CNN, New York, the New York Times and others, about efforts by GOP political operatives to get him onto several ballots, including states like Wisconsin that could be pivotal in deciding the next president. West has been a vocal Trump supporter, including visiting the president in the Oval Office. Texts from West to me earlier this summer repeatedly ended with the sign-off “Trump 2020,” and a fist raised high. West’s recent actions have also drawn public focus, given his bipolar disorder—and many, including his wife, Kim Kardashian-West, have expressed concern about his mental health.

West did not respond when asked whether he feels he’s being used. When I pointed out to West that the slapdash operation to get him on the ballot, which includes one operative previously arrested for voter fraud and multiple West “electors” from the same address, didn’t feel like a Kanye West production, West replied that it was a “God production.”

In a wide-ranging interview with Forbes last month about his political aspirations, West, who has never voted before, laid out a platform for his “Birthday Party” that included a pro-life plank that alleged that Planned Parenthood was placed in cities by white supremacists, a management style patterned on the fictional country of Wakanda in Black Panther and anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. In that interview, West also claimed that he was dumping Trump. “I am taking the red hat off, with this interview.” His reason: “It looks like one big mess to me. I don’t like that I caught wind that he hid in the bunker.”

However, he was reticent to criticize Trump besides that. “Trump is the closest president we’ve had in years to allowing God to still be part of the conversation,” he said.

And West was eager to criticize Biden, and expressed comfort with the idea of doing damage to the former vice president’s White House chances. “I’m not denying it; I just told you.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/randall.../#73c1df336397

Anyone voting Birthday Party this November?

[smashingjj]

I kind of love Jon Oliver

[MyOneAndOnly]

Keep Kamala in President!

Biden picks Harris as running mate.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...2ab_story.html

[buzzard]

Thoughts on Kamala, people?

[ovary]

she's racist

[Joey Goldberg]

she's a person

[Joey Goldberg]

(as far as i know)

[smashingjj]

Originally Posted by buzzard

Thoughts on Kamala, people?

does she have policies?

[MyOneAndOnly]

She was nasty to a level that was just a horrible thing...

[ninsp]

Kamala is awesome. No nonsense. Looking forward to her taking over when Biden is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

[Squish Squash]

Originally Posted by buzzard

Thoughts on Kamala, people?

She has a pretty awful record. I might have considered voting for Biden if he picked Karen Bass, but that was obviously a pipe dream. Before anyone calls me a Trump supporter, I’m a socialist (could be called a Marxist even), so don’t go there. I also live in a red state so my vote is irrelevant. Harris was just a very foolish pick for so many reasons.

[smashingjj]

Originally Posted by MyOneAndOnly

She was nasty to a level that was just a horrible thing...

wow I'm not sure if he wanted to say stuff about her that's bad but he just sold her to me! go Kamala!

[run2pee]

Originally Posted by Squish Squash

She has a pretty awful record. I might have considered voting for Biden if he picked Karen Bass, but that was obviously a pipe dream. Before anyone calls me a Trump supporter, I’m a socialist (could be called a Marxist even), so don’t go there. I also live in a red state so my vote is irrelevant. Harris was just a very foolish pick for so many reasons.

Stop saying your vote is irrelevant. Vote for fucks sake, even if it’s not for biden

Popular vote still matters, even if it doesn’t change the outcome. If christ sweet Jesus forbid, trump wins, let’s make him spend a couple cycles trying to explain why he’s 3 or 5 million votes shy of a popular mandate. All those fraudulent votes, etc.

But seriously. Missouri was a purple state not too long ago. Stop saying your vote is irrelevant on here. It’s, frankly, irresponsible

[run2pee]

Didn’t missouri just pass Medicare expansion for example? And last Gov was a Democrat. Missouri can surprise you.

[MplsTaper]

Yeah Squish, shush with all that. You sound like a broken record.

[Squish Squash]

You guys are welcome to try and tell me why Trump is so much worse than Biden for the future of the nation. Consider that Trump winning again gives us a better chance of AOC in 2024 (let’s be honest she’s the only progressive with any chance). Legitimate policy reasons, not mean tweets. Be aware that Biden being better domestically while worse on foreign policy does nothing to sway me, especially if he’s not addressing the core issues plaguing the country and creating class disparity. I’m well aware Trump is awful, but so is Biden if he refuses to support common sense policies that the country needs like M4A, UBI, and the GND. I am going to vote, it will just be for the Green Party as they align closest with my beliefs. Please stop shaming me for not voting for a political party I don’t identify with...I don’t shame you guys for not voting for parties you don’t identify with. It should tell you something that you are all attacking me for not falling in line and voting for a party that is nowhere close to my political beliefs. I am FAR to the left of any American politician, asking me to vote for a right wing politician is absurd. I suppose I deserve this though as I did the exact same thing to my friends who refused to vote for Hillary in 2016. I wish I had known then how wrong I was.

[ovary]

Originally Posted by Squish Squash

You guys are welcome to try and tell me why Trump is so much worse than Biden for the future of the nation. Consider that Trump winning again gives us a better chance of AOC in 2024 (let’s be honest she’s the only progressive with any chance).

you're living in fairy land dog. getcho head in the game!

[Squish Squash]

AOC is palatable to liberals in a way Bernie Sanders wasn’t. She’s a young woman of color who is intelligent, a powerful orator, charismatic, outspoken about social justice issues and very good looking, all of which matter, even if some of them shouldn’t. She also has rocketed to political stardom in a way no Democrat has since Barack Obama. She WILL run for President, the only question is if the establishment will be able to stop her from getting the nomination or not. I do worry she will compromise her values in order to get the nomination, though.

[yo soy el mejor]

Originally Posted by buzzard

Thoughts on Kamala, people?

top cop establishment democration with proven record of contributing to mass incarceration, denying rights to incarcerated people, and diminishing the rights and protection of sex workers (for their own good, of course). i knew he was going to pick her, ugh. chicago elected a former cop as mayor, too, and check out how little she is addressing anything systemic that is being protested. she just wants to throw more police at a problem to which police contribute. mmm yeah. give us more of that law and order and status quo, baby.

[yo soy el mejor]

"From denying Kevin Cooper’s request from death row for advanced DNA testing to championing bills which would further criminalize sex workers; from refusing to reform and expand parole programs in order to maintain a large pool of incarcerated labor to a public hesitancy to investigate police shootings in San Francisco, the impact of her record cannot be ignored or belittled simply because of her identity. "

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices...-a9234831.html

[reprise85]

Originally Posted by Squish Squash

You guys are welcome to try and tell me why Trump is so much worse than Biden for the future of the nation. Consider that Trump winning again gives us a better chance of AOC in 2024 (let’s be honest she’s the only progressive with any chance). Legitimate policy reasons, not mean tweets. Be aware that Biden being better domestically while worse on foreign policy does nothing to sway me, especially if he’s not addressing the core issues plaguing the country and creating class disparity. I’m well aware Trump is awful, but so is Biden if he refuses to support common sense policies that the country needs like M4A, UBI, and the GND. I am going to vote, it will just be for the Green Party as they align closest with my beliefs. Please stop shaming me for not voting for a political party I don’t identify with...I don’t shame you guys for not voting for parties you don’t identify with. It should tell you something that you are all attacking me for not falling in line and voting for a party that is nowhere close to my political beliefs. I am FAR to the left of any American politician, asking me to vote for a right wing politician is absurd. I suppose I deserve this though as I did the exact same thing to my friends who refused to vote for Hillary in 2016. I wish I had known then how wrong I was.

Trump winning will kill hundreds of thousands of people most likely. Not worth it for an AOC dream. Still wouldn't be worth it if COVID never happened, but now it's definitely not

[reprise85]

I am not a fan of Harris' record but still better than Trump, and dems in general seem open to going further left. I don't think she would support some of the things she did before.

[reprise85]

also she was a DA not a cop, not that that is any better in this case, in fact it's worse

[reprise85]

can't wait for everyone to be mad as fuck once we all have relatives who have died from COVID

I mean I wish it wasn't going to happen

but since it is, people gon be mad

i'm already selfishly pissed that it has messed with my therapy so much

[Joey Goldberg]

what's amazing to me is people's willfulness to repeat the exact same tactic that got Trump elected in the first place, shunning the opposite party's candidate & pushing for a miracle third-party win

this might be the first election i actually put money on just because of how sadly obvious the results already are

[yo soy el mejor]

Originally Posted by reprise85

also she was a DA not a cop, not that that is any better in this case, in fact it's worse

i say that because she directly referred to herself as 'top cop' within her DA position. super worse! and anything is better than trump, but that doesn't mean voters (especially poor and people of color) should be uncritical of her record and actions. super easy to ignore it when your community and people who look like you are not disproportionately targeted (not you, you, unless you) and impacted---now or historically

[Squish Squash]

Originally Posted by Joey Goldberg

what's amazing to me is people's willfulness to repeat the exact same tactic that got Trump elected in the first place, shunning the opposite party's candidate & pushing for a miracle third-party win

this might be the first election i actually put money on just because of how sadly obvious the results already are

The Democrats could have easily avoided this by not rigging things for Biden. As things currently stand, I think Biden will win due to coronavirus influencing many opinions, but Harris was certainly not a wise pick for VP, so that might change.

[yo soy el mejor]

when will this roller-coaster of torment ever end?