For many millions of Americans, time seemed to move differently under President Donald Trump.
There was no breathing room — no calm in the eye of the storm. From beginning to end — from the “American carnage” inaugural on Jan. 20, 2017, to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — it felt as though the country was in constant flux, each week a decade. We lurched from dysfunction to chaos and back again, eventually crashing on the shores of the nation’s worst domestic crisis since the Great Depression.
For many, if not most, of these Americans, the choice this November is no choice at all. They escaped Polyphemus once; they don’t intend to return to his den.
There are other voters who take a very different view. To them, Trump’s term was a time of peace and prosperity. They don’t register the pandemic or the subsequent economic crisis as part and parcel of the administration. They don’t hold Trump responsible.
In fact, one of the most striking findings in a number of recent polls is the extent to which a large portion of the electorate has given Trump a pass for his last year in office. For example, in an April CBS News poll of key battleground states, roughly 62 percent of registered voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin said that when they look back at 2020, their state’s economy was good. In the moment, however, a majority of voters in those states disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy.
…
Again, Trump presided over a recession worsened by his total failure to manage the coronavirus. As Covid deaths mounted, Trump spread misinformation and left states scrambling for needed supplies. It was not until after the March stock market crash that the White House issued its plan to blunt the economic impact of the pandemic. And the most generous provisions found in the CARES Act, including a vast expansion of unemployment benefits, were negotiated into the bill by Democratic lawmakers.
None of this seems to matter to voters. “The economy” under Trump is simply the one that existed from Jan. 20, 2017, to March 13, 2020, when the White House declared the coronavirus a national public health emergency. For everything else after that date, the former president gets a pass.
No other president has gotten this kind of excused absence for mismanaging a crisis that happened on his watch. We don’t bracket the secession crisis from our assessment of James Buchanan or the Great Depression from our judgment of Herbert Hoover or the hostage crisis in Iran from our assessment of Jimmy Carter. And for good reason: The presidency was designed for crisis. It was structured with the power and autonomy needed for handling the acute challenges of national life.
He’s not going to “fail” in his second term. If anything, we should be glad his first term failed - that due to the chaos and incompetence of his administration they failed to achieve any of the horrific shit he had discussed on the campaign trail. His only legislative win was a tax cut for the wealthy.
Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 will make sure that doesn’t happen during a second administration. They will purge the civil service and restaff with party loyalists who won’t be held up by due process or legality.
The terrifying thing is not another Trump failure. The terrifying thing is if he and the Christian nationalists backing him succeed.
He didn’t fail at his agenda at all. He succeeded in repealing 112 climate regulations, appointed 234 judges (three to the Supreme Court), repealing civil rights for LGBTQ+, Black, and Muslim rights, allowed for the detainment, torture, and sexual assault of immigrant children while deporting their parents, set up alliances with Russia, North Korea, and Hungary, cut taxes disproportionately for the wealthy which widened the already exploitative wealth inequality, and much more.
That was his first time holding any office, and it happened during a pandemic. How much damage do you think he will cause if he gets another chance?
His only legislative win was a tax cut? Let’s not forget the Supreme Court. The Christian nationalists already won a big prize with Roe being overturned. Some of them want to take away more civil rights with gay marriage and now even divorce, hopefully people are paying attention.
It wasn’t a win. Tax plans need to be approved by the IRS. In order to balance out the tax cuts for the wealthy that expire in 2025, he needed to have the low and middle class tax cuts expire in 2022.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/oct/09/trump-tax-cuts-helped-billionaires-pay-less
Trump has a good chance of winning. Biden isn’t doing well in polls and Kennedy is stealing votes from Biden.
Kennedy is stealing votes from Biden
Kennedy is right wing crazy person.
Polling has shown he’s taking votes from Biden mostly.
Yeah, just checked 538 and real clear politics earlier…fucking…seriously?..
If Kennedy was a decent man, he’d pull out.
This is a close race and I think he’s pulling from Biden. I’ve heard he pulls from Trump but I don’t want to believe that.
In the days leading up I predict he will, but odds are he’s not gonna rally behind Biden. Cause he screams Manchin-esque to me.
Same. Wonder how many of the “vote blue no matter who as long as they’re not progressive” crowd he’ll get.
I bet he gets quite a few Jill Stein type of voters.
Why? He’s farther to the right than Biden. I mean, I don’t doubt that centrists will blame progressives if he peels off enough votes to throw the race to Trump, but that’s just because centrists blame progressives for all losses.
The typical horseshoe stuff is definitely in play with RFK. The usual crank stuff like vaccine denialism, not to mention people with a chip on their shoulder thinking they have to “send a message” and have “let the world burn” type of attitudes…people that are so Enlightened ™ that they’d rather everyone learn some kind of lesson rather than accept that the two adult choices we actually have are: Donnie or Biden.
Those are the choices.
The election system we have doesn’t care about anyone’s theories or lessons or messages they want to send. A lot of RFK/Stein type of voters haven’t grown up enough to realize this.
I hope not, but I’m prepared to continue not voting for him for the rest of his life.
It’s really Biden’s fault in some ways for why he’s cornered himself into potentially losing. We can’t entirely say it’s the voter’s fault.
It’s the Republican’s fault for taking the time to try and make it as painful as it is to vote through mail-in ballots, so long as DeJoy remains.
Well I’m not, and my state is not. The problem is all the other states.
Check the map, here’s how the majority of states are going to break:
The seven beige states are the ones that were close enough in 2020 that Trump tried the fake elector scheme to steal the election.
Well, how’s that going for Biden now?
Nevada - Trump +12 to +14.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/nevada/Arizona - Trump +6 to +9
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/arizona/New Mexico - For some reason, the current poll only shows Trump vs. Kennedy and Biden vs. Kennedy with Kennedy winning both times. Not reliable as a) Kennedy is not even on the ballot there, and b) The race is not going to be artificially limited like that.
Leaving it taupe as the last viable poll was last August.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/new-mexico/
RFK’s ballot map.
https://elections2024.thehill.com/Wisconsin - Dead heat. Four recent polls show tie, Biden +2, Trump +1, Trump +1.
Michigan - Dead heat. Four recent polls show Biden +1, Biden +3, Trump +2, Trump +7.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/michigan/
Pennsylvania - Trump +3 to +4
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/pennsylvania/
Georgia - Trump +6 to +10
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/georgia/
So here’s what that looks like… even with the tossup states still being tossups, Biden can’t win.
Heck, give PA, MI, WI and NM to Biden… he still loses.
Why is Minnesota red in your maps? In reality, MN is about as solidly blue as Ohio is solidly red.
And MN is a significantly bluer state than Pennsylvania, Michigan, or Wisconsin
Also, why tf is West Virginia blue? It’s the second reddest state in the country behind Oklahoma
Why do your maps have Minnesota as a red state and West Virginia as a blue one?
There’s no way Trump wins Minnesota.
He’s way out in front there now.
Their governor is a Social Democrat and is popular
Trump is not winning Minnesota
Although MN does also have a sizable Muslim immigrant population, hence Ilhan Omar’s election. Which means that perhaps Biden should pivot hard on Gaza if he wants to firmly win there or Michigan
Yup, and that explains the current polling.
I’m in GA, and I’ve never answered one of these bullshit polls. And no way in hell will I vote for Sleepy Don Snoreleone. This is all just guesswork
Polling isn’t based on the participation of a single voter.
The point is, there’s a lot of people like me. Not going to sit around and fill out some stupid poll, but I’ll show up to vote
We’re months out, and polling seems to be getting more and more unreliable, I wouldn’t put any stock in these kinds of polls.
For example, I’ll be amazed if MN goes red.
Sorry, the blue genocide must continue.
From the newspaper that’s been championing the #BidenSoOld stuff!
…yes, I realize it’s an op-ed piece, but still. How much ink/screen space has NYT spent on #BidenSoOld to prop up the horse-race bullshit? I’m thinking all the very rich owners of these outlets are thinking all their wealth will shield them from the very worst outcomes of another Ronald McDonald presidency. Apparently, they have learned little from the past.
Every damn day during the Trump presidency would be about some stupid sh*t that Donald said or did. You literally couldn’t keep up with it.
Between Trump getting back in office to the nut jobs drinking raw milk to purposely catch the bird flu, I say if he winss and it mutates then we are fucked.
Biden and The Dems pretty much want Trump to win at this point. They don’t plan to change course or address any material needs or issues.
Ah, yes, a political party that spends millions and millions of dollars and countless labor hours running campaigns really wants to lose the election.
Biden et al may not do everything we want, but it’s ignorant to suggest they aren’t at least trying to change some things.
If you believe that political party has any of your interests at heart, you’re extremely gullible. People aren’t asking them for the world just a basic standard of living and to stop enabling genocide.
Ah, there’s the both sides argument.
How did you get that out of that statement? One party can be better than another, and both could still not have your interests at heart. Standing beside fascists throwing immigrants under the bus and enabling genocide and police violence isn’t a good way to say you want to save Democracy.
It’s almost like a large aggregation of people don’t agree with supporting the terrorist Hamas organization.
The Democrat Party insists on it.
Well you failed to learn anything at all and have insisted on doing the exact same things that lead to him getting elected the first time. So yes, probably
He succeeded for the rich and failed for the rest of us - and future generations (increased debt, doubting climate change, etc).
Precisely. He was highly successful. Just not for you, nor most voters.
“Tough times for the poor whites.”
They got to feel better about their prejudices, don’t think they cared about dragging everyone else they could down as long as they got that.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
In fact, one of the most striking findings in a number of recent polls is the extent to which a large portion of the electorate has given Trump a pass for his last year in office.
And the most generous provisions found in the CARES Act, including a vast expansion of unemployment benefits, were negotiated into the bill by Democratic lawmakers.
“The economy” under Trump is simply the one that existed from Jan. 20, 2017, to March 13, 2020, when the White House declared the coronavirus a national public health emergency.
“Those politicians and statesmen who have been the most celebrated for the soundness of their principles and for the justice of their views have declared in favor of a single executive and a numerous legislature,” Hamilton wrote.
We have made it a point to judge presidents on the basis of their ability to handle a crisis, whether war or internal rebellion or economic collapse.
With the notable exception of Operation Warp Speed — which he now disavows as he caters to anti-vaccine sentiment among Republican voters — Trump failed to handle his crisis, and the nation paid a steep price in lives as a result.
The original article contains 1,060 words, the summary contains 196 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
There’s an old myth. Man finds a genie. Genie tells him that he gets one wish, and whatever he wishes for will be doubled for his worst enemy. The man chooses to lose an eye so his enemy will be blind. That’s the MAGoos, willing to lose half of what they have to make sure their enemies lose everything.
Why wouldn’t that man ask to lose excess body fat? He would be ripped and his enemy would be emaciated.
It’s hard to see the point of the story with only one eye.
10/10 no notes
Standing ovation.
EXCESS body fat? They would both be ripped and the enemy would just eat some cheeseburgers.
I assume the genie’s rule is “if I help you, I help him twice as much” rather than simply “I do to him twice as much of exactly the same thing I did to you” because otherwise it’s way too easy to kill the other guy while helping yourself.
Id argue its a story of both pragmatism and intellect. Basically a dumb man will take out their own eye to blind their enemy, a pragmatic man will help himself and his enemy, and a smart man will figue out how to help himself and hurt his enemy.
Man: Genie, I wish for you to fuck me half to death!
This is what you get with democracy. Whoever gets the most votes, wi… wait… Trump has never gotten the most votes…
Listen, sometimes democracy needs a little helping hand, or in this case, a giant …
Who am I kidding, we’ve learned our lesson.
Right? Right?
Vote.
The voting system in the US is so incredibly dumb. Just because you got a few more votes in the right places you are able to win, even if you don’t have the majority of votes.
The power of location in voting is just weird.
Pretty good for maintaining the interests of the ruling class though
see we’re a republic not a democracy - - his supporters anytime that’s pointed out
National Popular Vote Interstate Compact intensifies
If he gets back into office you’ll hear that “not a democracy” line quite a lot.
