Post inauguration Trump:

[pietillidie]

Vile piece of dog faeces and his campaign to deter millions of black people from voting in 2016:

https://www.channel4.com/news/revealed- ... ng-in-2016

[Sicks Bux]

^Well if it's any consolation the Democrats are working hard to get the Green Party kicked off ballots in a bid to stop them from syphoning off "their" votes.

[David]

[pietillidie]

^It's part and parcel of the campaign of active voter suppression. Its importance is that Trump hides behind the GOP, and the GOP hides behind Trump; but no, they coordinated to perfection on voter suppression alright.

Do you have any evidence of active efforts to deter voting by generating targeted systemic disbelief and cynicism in the political system in a marginalised group on the other side? Is it anything close to the whole end-to-end Trump/GOP suppression campaign?

And is this what you're referring to in regard to the Dems/Greens?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.foxnew ... ate-ballot
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/0 ... n-s18.html

I'm not naïve enough to say a party wouldn't do it, or individuals wouldn't do it, especially now it's known to be so effective, but you do need to evidence it. Otherwise, it looks as if you're begging the evidence to maintain equivalence which is the very strategy used in the deterrence campaign itself, ironically.

Even Chomsky refuses to cross that line because he knows that once the parameters of the game have been set there are still meaningful differences, and generating universal cynicism is a well-known and effective form of propaganda used to undermine democracy. On the basis of tactics, Chomsky would oppose idiotic Greens installing wreckers like Trump; he's made this clear. Instead, he would look for a fair fix outside the parameters of the game to change the two-party system, not blindly hand government to a deranged psychopath in fundamentalist leftist protest.

[Sicks Bux]

The onus is on the Democrats to earn the support of progressive voters with policies that appeal to them.

[pietillidie]

^So, in spite you would rather a deranged narcissist who is accelerating environmental destruction be handed the nuclear codes should Dems find those views politically untenable?

If so, that's where you and Chomsky part ways, and I'm well with him on needing to distinguish between strategy and tactics. Yes, the two-party system is a horror, but it's a cause for post-election.

You might want to consider my approach. I believe I own the centre by virtue of human inheritance. It's the centre of where we're at; I didn't create it, I didn't ask for it, but there it is anyway and I've even helped create it by virtue of my existence.

Disgruntled outsiders and angry fist-wavers - some more justified and sane than others - don't get to force me either side of that human inheritance. Neither do elites and wannabe elites, who imagine they're the centre of all humanity. Working from the centre I can then take independent views left or right as I believe are better for the whole, without buying into the fundamentalist nonsense that purity exists only on the margins. Nope, sorry; the centre is mine, and I'm not handing it over to the most destructive political option on the grounds of false equivalency in some bruised emotional reaction that can't see the forest for the trees.

The centre is an epiphenomenon; it's not something anyone creates but is merely 'there'. Fighting it is tilting at windmills and does no good for either the self or society.

[watt price tully]

If they don’t want Trump in people need to vote despite the gerrymandering, and the hurdles / blocks against blacks and other minorities in some states.

If I were running the campaign for the Democrats I’d just focus on the Coronavirus and his tax avoidance; the latter by saying ordinary workers paid more tax than he did. Keep it simple, repeat the message and stay on message. Make him the focus and how badly he has done. No more, no less.

[Sicks Bux]

Again. The onus is on the Democrats to earn the votes. If the Democrats fail to entice the progressive part of the base out in sufficient numbers to win, because their policies are too shitty, then they're the ones who have "handed the nuclear codes to the deranged narcissist".

[David]

[pietillidie]

^Fine, but you didn't create that game, so there's no need to take it on board and think you ought to be doing more. It's not your responsibility to do more than you can from the centre you have inherited to your own detriment. This is both unfair to the self and falling into the trap of martyrdom. You didn't create the rules of the game in which you're embedded; you only have so much leverage.

This is exactly why I don't demand people spend one cent more than others to prove their green credentials. It's not their job to pay for everyone else to parasite from their good sense. There is only one moral requirement: keep pushing for good policy and vote for the best outcomes the system throws out.

The challenge is to find a way to work the angles from the centre you inherited. Otherwise, you're unfairly penalising yourself, risking martyrdom and fundamentalism, and willing chaos in order to initiate radical change, in the same way 'disaster capitalists' and apocalyptic fanatics work.

[stui magpie]

If they don’t want Trump in people need to vote despite the gerrymandering, and the hurdles / blocks against blacks and other minorities in some states.

If I were running the campaign for the Democrats I’d just focus on the Coronavirus and his tax avoidance; the latter by saying ordinary workers paid more tax than he did. Keep it simple, repeat the message and stay on message. Make him the focus and how badly he has done. No more, no less.

Lucky for the Democrats you aren't running their campaign then.

That tactic will reinforce existing sentiment with those already decided against Trump but won't sway many of the undecided.

By all means bag Trump, but there needs to be a positive message. What are the Democrats going to do for you? WIIFM has decided many an election and simply wheeling out an animated corpse to repeat 'Orange Man Bad" won't win.

[Jezza]

If I were running the campaign for the Democrats I’d just focus on the Coronavirus and his tax avoidance.

I don't think these are winning issues on their own for Biden. Every poll I've read consistently has the economy being the number one issue that concerns American voters.

COVID is a bigger concern for Democratic voters than Republican voters. It will depend on whether independent voters are as worried about it as Democratic voters, or whether the economy is a bigger worry for them.

Purely anecdotal on my behalf, but I was surprised to hear from my cousin recently who lives in the US saying how a lot of people have moved on from worrying about COVID and they're now learning to deal with it as best as they can. The biggest concern is the economy and jobs based on what he was telling me.

Polling from the Pew Research Center done in late July to early August suggested the biggest issues for registered voters included the following:
- Economy (79%)
- Health care (68%)
- Supreme Court appointments (64%)
- COVID outbreak (62%)
- Violent crime (59%)
- Foreign policy (57%)
- Gun policy (55%)
- Race and ethnic inequality (52%)
- Immigration (52%)
- Economic inequality (49%)
- Climate change (42%)
- Abortion (40%)

Biden voters top issues:
- Health Care (84%)
- COVID outbreak (82%)
- Race and ethnic inequality (76%)
- Economy (72%)
- Climate change (68%)
- Supreme Court appointments (66%)
- Economic inequality (65%)
- Foreign policy (57%)
- Gun policy (50%)

Trump voters top issues:
- Economy (88%)
- Violent crime (74%)
- Supreme Court appointments (61%)
- Immigration (61%)
- Gun policy (60%)
- Foreign policy (57%)

Further, the poll said registered voters believed Democrats were better equipped to deal with COVID, climate change, health care, racial issues and immigration.

In contrast, Republicans scored better on the economy, terrorism, gun policy, law enforcement and justice, and foreign policy.

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/20 ... udes_4-03/

Another poll published a few days ago surveying voters in battleground states seemed to back up the trends that we saw in the Pew Research poll on what the top issues were for Biden and Trump voters.

https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt ... 38fb6.html

[watt price tully]

If they don’t want Trump in people need to vote despite the gerrymandering, and the hurdles / blocks against blacks and other minorities in some states.

If I were running the campaign for the Democrats I’d just focus on the Coronavirus and his tax avoidance; the latter by saying ordinary workers paid more tax than he did. Keep it simple, repeat the message and stay on message. Make him the focus and how badly he has done. No more, no less.

Lucky for the Democrats you aren't running their campaign then.

That tactic will reinforce existing sentiment with those already decided against Trump but won't sway many of the undecided.

By all means bag Trump, but there needs to be a positive message. What are the Democrats going to do for you? WIIFM has decided many an election and simply wheeling out an animated corpse to repeat 'Orange Man Bad" won't win.

No no, you missed the point and added your own.

Don't bag him, don't call him racist and he only appeals to rednecks: just stay on message about the cornonavirus and that ordinary people pay taxes and he doesn't. Make him the issue. He's trying like hell to avoid the coronavirus. He's trying like hell to make the other the mesage.

Stay on message as the polls (for what they are worth) are indicating his desperation to avoid talking about the coronavirus and 1/4 million deaths under his watch. Make him accountable.

However while doing so don't call him names, don't call him bad. Just hammer the message.

[watt price tully]

If I were running the campaign for the Democrats I’d just focus on the Coronavirus and his tax avoidance.

I don't think these are winning issues on their own for Biden. Every poll I've read consistently has the economy being the number one issue that concerns American voters.

........


https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/20 ... udes_4-03/

Another poll published a few days ago surveying voters in battleground states seemed to back up the trends that we saw in the Pew Research poll on what the top issues were for Biden and Trump voters.

https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt ... 38fb6.html

That's fine: the message is consistent: make him the the issue: It's under his presidency that violent crime he rails against has become worse: the tactic is make him the target through his record as POTUS: Societal division, violent, crime in street protests, Covid deaths all under this watch and chuck in his tax avoidance.

[pietillidie]

The top issue for Cult Trump is...the economy. Is that a comedy routine?

Best double down on the crisis mismanagement debacle, risk management failure, economic collapse, trade war crisis and wealth gap horror by electing the Lord of Business Failure twice, as they did with the last monumental economic failure, George W.

I think we all know 'economy' to the Trump cult member is really code for, 'I agree to be made worse off to make you wealthier if it means you penalise them more than me'.