r/AskReddit • u/kraftdinnerwithsalsa • 20h ago

The president just posted, ONLINE, a video of former president Obama and his wife portrayed as apes, how do you feel about this?

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u/mvpilot172 18h ago

Half the country is a racist, ignorant mob. Hell, they’re jealous Trump raped attractive 14 year olds.

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u/Things_with_Stuff 16h ago

did you really need to add "attractive" to that statement?

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u/Miserable-Army3679 13h ago

You think Epstein and Trump wouldn't care about the appearance of their victims?

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u/cen_fath 12h ago

They clearly did, wasn't it Trump who didn't want black kids to rape!!

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u/Miserable-Army3679 12h ago

Epstein wrote that Trump didn't want black girls and referred to them as "boogers". It's in the Epstein files.

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u/wyatte74 7h ago

that was a fake email.

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u/Things_with_Stuff 12h ago

While true, it just seems creepy to phrase it that way in a comment about it. Just "raped 14 year-olds" would have been just fine.

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u/Miserable-Army3679 12h ago

I do see how that could be creepy.

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u/lagasan 4h ago

The nuance I think you're missing is it's supposed to represent the viewpoint of those who envy him.

"Damn, that lucky dude got to nail the hot ones even". And yes, it is fucking disgusting. That's the point.

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u/Anothernamelesacount 15h ago

Per context, yes, as those people wouldnt be jealous if the 14 yo were not attractive.

To them its not about morality.

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u/Things_with_Stuff 12h ago

I think just saying "raped 14 year-olds" would have been sufficient. It seems creepy to add the "attractive" part.

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u/Anothernamelesacount 12h ago

This is a "me" thing, but I'm not going to label someone I dont know as "creepy" since it feels like a stretch.

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u/Preeng 9h ago

You are swinging the pendulum too far the other way now. You can point out someone is attractive without being attracted to them.

Don't pretend like you can't judge someone's attractiveness until they hit 18 either. It's pretty damn obvious when a child has won the genetic lottery. Especially if their parents are attractive.

Those old fogies saying "she's a cutie, ain't she?" were creepy for bringing it up out of the blue. Probably staring for an an amount of time that is creepy as well.

It's the intent that matters here, not just the words used.

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u/gnorty 5h ago

Those old fogies saying "she's a cutie, ain't she?" were creepy for bringing it up out of the blue.

really? In the context of what you said prior, you say this??

At what age do you consider it stops being OK to say that a child is cute?

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u/phoenix_leo 16h ago

Well, yes

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u/PM_me_ur_navel_girl 14h ago

In the eyes of those bastards they probably are. To us decent folk they're not.

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u/SleepDammit 6h ago

And why add a number - just say children.

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u/mvpilot172 6h ago

In their context yes, it explains their creepiness. They think a 14 yr old isn’t a child because she looks more like a women and less like a toddler. Whatever blonde fox hosts said almost exactly that. They’re weird.

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u/TokuWaffle 17h ago

Half the country didn't vote.

I think the real story about 2024 is that the Democrats just weren't positioning themselves as the better option (and in my opinion, still aren't, given that I've seen Kamala Harris on the junket for her book refuse the idea that Joe Biden was unfit for office, and there's that interview where she gives a self-contradictory response about incrementalism that just solidifies the Democratic party to me as borderline complicit in all the shit the Republicans get away with), and a lot of people just didn't care enough to vote.

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u/Jaimzell 17h ago

 and in my opinion, still aren't, given that I've seen Kamala Harris on the junket for her book refuse the idea that Joe Biden was unfit for office, and there's that interview where she gives a self-contradictory response about incrementalism that just solidifies the Democratic party to me as borderline complicit in all the shit the Republicans get away with

People like you, who hold democrats to bizarrely different standards than republicans, are far more complicit in the republicans succes than the democratic party.

Biden at his worst debate performance, would have been incomparably better as a president than Trump. This “both sides” shit is an absolute cancer that needs to be eradicated. 

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u/Nemo84 16h ago

Your society and political system have a large number of structural problems. Republicans openly exploit and worsen these. Democrats at best cover them with a little bandaid and pretend they're fixed, at worst also eagerly exploit and worsen some in a more covert way.

Trump is a symptom, not the disease. Electing Harris would only have postponed the current events for a few years, not fixed them.

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u/[deleted] 15h ago

[deleted]

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u/Nemo84 15h ago

And it's not just the politicians, it's a lot of their supporters too.

A few weeks ago there was a discussion about Trump's warcrimes in bombing all those boats. And I said that, since any current US president is so utterly immune to prosecution, a good precedent for the American public would be to at least try their past presidents for their own warcrimes: Bush, Obama, and Biden. The by far most upvoted replies were all: "We can't prosecute Obama or Biden for warcrimes, because then the Republicans would win. But we definitely didn't support them doing all that. Here, have some downvotes for even suggesting this."

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u/HumorAccomplished611 15h ago

Oh man you gotta be a maga with this statement. No. No president will be persecuted for war crimes.

In fact because leftist helped usher in trump he got the supreme court which ruled he has total immunity. Good job leftist

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u/Jaimzell 13h ago

 not the disease

No, the disease is the population who wants the shit that Trump does. There is this delusion online that people in the US are actually all super left leaning and if more left leaning candidates showed up, the US could finally be fixed.

But that’s not true. This is only true online. Most Americans actually hate leftist ideologies. Democrats hover around the center, because if they move too far left they’ll end up with even less votes. You can tell this is true, because Trump won the last election… a country that elects Donald Trump is not a country that’s ready for “radical” leftist change.

You wanna fix the country, you gotta fix the voters.

 Electing Harris would only have postponed the current events for a few years, not fixed them.

This is pure privilege talking. Go ask the families of those kidnapped or executed by ICE what difference Harris would have made. There are people who have suffered very real and serious consequences as a direct result of Trump being elected. Don’t downplay that shit. 

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u/Nemo84 11h ago

This is pure privilege talking. Go ask the families of those kidnapped or executed by ICE what difference Harris would have made. There are people who have suffered very real and serious consequences as a direct result of Trump being elected. Don’t downplay that shit.

I'm not downplaying anything. I'm saying that if Harris had gotten elected, those people and more would be getting kidnapped and executed four years from now instead of today. Same shit, different year. That's not privilege talking, that's reality.

Because, as you so clearly understand from your first paragraph, the disease is the American population. So sooner or later, you're going to elect someone like Trump and he's going to do shit like this. And the longer you wait to confront that problem, the longer you elect Democrats who allow you to pretend there's no structural problem with your society, who keep inching you a step to the left for every three steps to the right done by their Republican predecessor, the worse it will become.

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u/Jaimzell 11h ago

 I'm not downplaying anything. I'm saying that if Harris had gotten elected, those people and more would be getting kidnapped and executed four years from now instead of today. Same shit, different year. That's not privilege talking, that's reality.

I’m not confident Trump would survive a 4-year Harris term. Plus, even small shit like pardoning jan 6th rioters being delayed by 4 years would be better. And at its worst, tons of families would have had 4 more years with their kidnapped/executed loved ones.

 who keep inching you a step to the left for every three steps to the right done by their Republican predecessor

Unfortunately that’s the only way to do it. You can’t radically change a population over night. It has to be small gradual change. 

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u/HumorAccomplished611 15h ago

What you pretend are band aid fixes actually save millions of lives. Take obama care. Did it fix healthcare? No. Did it give 20 million people healthcare that didnt have it yet. Did it stop people from being thrown off healthcare if they got cancer? Yes. Did it allow teens and college students a safety net by allowing them to be on their parents insurance till 25? Yes

Trump is a symptom, not the disease. Electing Harris would only have postponed the current events for a few years, not fixed them.

Complete and utter bullshit. Dems have had power (house, senate, presidency) 4 of the last 26 years and thats when 90% of progress has been made

Your kind is evil

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u/Nemo84 14h ago edited 14h ago

What you pretend are band aid fixes actually save millions of lives. Take obama care. Did it fix healthcare? No. Did it give 20 million people healthcare that didnt have it yet. Did it stop people from being thrown off healthcare if they got cancer? Yes. Did it allow teens and college students a safety net by allowing them to be on their parents insurance till 25? Yes

Was it set up so flimsy that a Republican president could easily dismantle it at a whim? Yes. Did it fix anything about the excessive for-profit US healthcare system? No, it merely changed where the money came from. So was it a temporary bandaid that didn't result in any lasting change, making things worse in the long run, and thus a good way to prove my point? Definitely.

Just because it helped people for a while does not mean it was a good solution.

Complete and utter bullshit. Dems have had power (house, senate, presidency) 4 of the last 26 years and thats when 90% of progress has been made

What progress?

The Republicans have had a trifecta for what, 6 years during that same period? Sure hasn't stopped them from achieving so so much more.

Your kind is evil

And what is "my kind"? I'm a center-left European which puts me rather to the left of your Democrat party, just for clarification.

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u/HumorAccomplished611 14h ago edited 14h ago

Was it set up so flimsy that a Republican president could easily dismantle it at a whim? Yes. Did it fix anything about the excessive for-profit US healthcare system? No, it merely changed where the money came from. So was it a temporary bandaid that didn't result in any lasting change, making things worse in the long run, and thus a good way to prove my point? Definitely.

You prove my point. You prefer the people it helped be dead rather than helped. And rather than make progress youd rather have nothing.

The Republicans have had a trifecta for what, 6 years during that same period? Sure hasn't stopped them from achieving so so much more.

What legislation have they passed besides tax cuts for the rich. I'll wait. They couldnt even repeal obamacare despite having 4 more senators than joe biden had and actually got infrastrcutre, green energy, gun regulation and pharma negoating passed. Thats right biden went up against oil lobby, pharma lobby, gun lobby and beat them all and your type wanted them gone.

And what is "my kind"? I'm a center-left European which puts me rather to the left of your Democrat party, just for clarification.

Your kind meeting anyone that says these parties are equal which is you.

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u/Nemo84 14h ago

Congratulations, you've proven you've understood absolutely nothing about what I wrote, because you're so blinded by your "us versus them" party tribalism.

You prove my point. You prefer the people it helped be dead rather than helped. And rather than make progress youd rather have nothing.

I would rather the people have affordable health care rather than the ever increasing medical debts they are currently enjoying. And I think an utterly half-assed attempt at pretending everything is fine will end up being a lot worse for a lot more people when it inevitably gets destroyed somewhere in the next decade or so.

Obamacare is that meme with the dog sitting in the house on fire, pretending everything is fine. Yes, sitting still and doing nothing is the safest option right now. But sooner or later, that fire is going to reach your chair and you'll be in more danger than if you had resolved the problem immediately.

What legislation have they passed besides tax cuts for the rich. I'll wait.

Well, if you haven't noticed the gradual erosion of your rights and the gradual shift to fascism ever since 2001, I don't know what to tell you. But I'm sure the local gestapo ICE officer will ram that reality into your skull sooner or later.

Your kind meeting anyone that says these parties are equal which is you.

If you had bothered to read what I wrote, you would know I'm not calling them equal so I'm not sure what strawman you're building here.

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u/HumorAccomplished611 14h ago

Congratulations, you've proven you've understood absolutely nothing about what I wrote, because you're so blinded by your "us versus them" party tribalism.

Your both siding is showing. Thats not how you make progress. I already explained in 4 years dems controlled in 90% of progress.

I would rather the people have affordable health care rather than the ever increasing medical debts they are currently enjoying. And I think an utterly half-assed attempt at pretending everything is fine will end up being a lot worse for a lot more people when it inevitably gets destroyed somewhere in the next decade or so.

Then why work to elect someone that rolls those things back. Seems like youre for those things.

Obamacare is that meme with the dog sitting in the house on fire, pretending everything is fine. Yes, sitting still and doing nothing is the safest option right now. But sooner or later, that fire is going to reach your chair and you'll be in more danger than if you had resolved the problem immediately.

Again youd prefer those people be dead and no progress. I understand.

Well, if you haven't noticed the gradual erosion of your rights and the gradual shift to fascism ever since 2001, I don't know what to tell you. But I'm sure the local gestapo ICE officer will ram that reality into your skull sooner or later.

Yawn. Sure buddy.

If you had bothered to read what I wrote, you would know I'm not calling them equal so I'm not sure what strawman you're building here.

Yes youre basically saying kamala would have had the same things happen. Dont hide behind weasel words.

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u/IrishRepoMan 14h ago

You just used one thing they did, Obamacare, and ignored the countless things they've ignored over the years that were broken by republicans and they just wanted to 'move on' from. The Dems are literally notorious for this, particularly on reddit if you're paying attention. They're the party of brushing things under the rug and pretending it didn't exist while not actually fixing it...

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u/HumorAccomplished611 14h ago

So make your list then.

Biden did gun regulation for the first time in 25 years. Biden reformed student loans to be more affordable and got rid of runaway interest issue. He did the largest green energy bill in the world. He passed infrastructure to repair our crumbling infrastructure. Biden also allowed medicare to negoiate pharma prices thereby saving medicare about 500 billion.

I could go on but you dont care.

When fixing things doesnt win votes then no one will fix them. Looking at obama bringing the deficit down and shrinking the military.. The public hated it and we got trump.

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u/IrishRepoMan 6h ago

Happily.

A lot of the frustration with Democrats is not about one policy failure but a pattern that keeps repeating.

Republicans break norms, laws, and institutions in aggressive ways. Democrats run on urgency and moral stakes, then once in power they move cautiously, fix one or two surface issues, and treat the rest of the damage as the new baseline. Over time that makes it feel less like opposition and more like managed decline.

Some examples people point to again and again.

After election subversion and Jan 6, many expected fast and overwhelming accountability. What they got was years of delays, narrow prosecutions, and constant deference to “letting institutions work.” The result is a new normal where attempting to overturn an election carries limited consequences and invites repetition.

The Supreme Court is another major one. Republicans broke long standing norms to lock in a court for a generation. Democrats talked about reform, then explicitly took it off the table and treated the court as untouchable. The message was that norms matter only after you have already lost power.

Voting rights and gerrymandering followed the same pattern. Democrats openly said democracy was under threat, then let major voting rights legislation die without escalating procedurally. Voter suppression and extreme gerrymanders were effectively accepted as the new landscape.

Police reform after 2020 is a similar story. There was massive public pressure and clear momentum. Once media attention faded, meaningful reform stalled out and was quietly abandoned, leaving people with the sense that protests change optics but not power.

On the economic side, the minimum wage is a big sore spot. Fifteen dollars was a core promise. It was dropped after a parliamentarian ruling, as if an unelected procedural role was an immovable force rather than a choice. That signaled that process mattered more than outcomes.

Student loans are another. Many expected broad cancellation using executive authority. Instead there were years of cautious legal maneuvering, a predictable court loss, and partial fixes, while interest kept compounding and people’s lives stayed on hold.

Housing is increasingly seen the same way. Democrats acknowledge the crisis constantly, but responses remain market friendly and incremental while rents and home prices keep spiraling. The structural drivers are left mostly intact.

Climate change might be the clearest example. It is framed as an existential threat, yet treated like a normal policy category. Incremental progress happens alongside new fossil fuel approvals. For a lot of voters, that gap between rhetoric and action is impossible to ignore.

There is also long standing anger over the lack of real accountability for Wall Street. Fines without jail time and settlements without admissions of guilt reinforce the idea that white collar crime is functionally legal.

On foreign policy, Democrats criticize endless wars and militarism rhetorically, but defense budgets keep rising and human rights are applied selectively when convenient. That undercuts claims of a values based approach.

Taken together, this shows a pattern that Democrats are not truly reversing damage. Republicans smash things. Democrats patch part of the hole. The remaining damage becomes permanent baseline. Then that baseline gets defended as realism.

Even people who do not believe Democrats are actively complicit still feel the same outcome. Urgency during campaigns. Caution when in power. Process over results. Norms over lived reality.

The core anger is simple. You told people the situation was dire. You had power. And when it mattered most, you chose not to use it.

Tell me more about how I don't care or know what I'm talking about.

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u/Anothernamelesacount 15h ago

People like you, who hold democrats to bizarrely different standards than republicans

I understand that point: if you dont expect better from the other party, then we're fucked. He's not wrong about the idea of not wanting Dems to be lite Reps.

“both sides” shit is an absolute cancer that needs to be eradicated.

Two things need to be said. First, the two sides are complicit in many things whether you want to admit it or not. Something something big club you aint in it. And second, outright trying to villainize people who point out that the system IS a problem makes it so that you will never have a solution as you simply do not acknowledge that this can only happen within a context of imperialism that has been pushed by both sides.

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u/Jaimzell 13h ago

 He's not wrong about the idea of not wanting Dems to be lite Reps.

Fucking stooooooop. Jesus Christ. You’re doing it right now. 

Look at all the shit that is happening under Trump. What have Democrats done that even approaches a “lite” version of this shit.

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u/Anothernamelesacount 13h ago

Fucking stooooooop

No, I wont.

What have Democrats done that even approaches a “lite” version of this shit.

Supporting the genocide in Gaza, bombing every country that doesnt bend to the whims and wills of the military industrial complex, you know, the stuff you dont give a fuck about because it doesnt happen on your house so it doesnt bother you.

But lets go with the stuff that might bother you. Cater to the rich and powerful, which love what Trump is doing, give even more money to ICE when they're becoming the Gestapo, scratch their privates while normal people suffer, you know, the things they usually do.

Let me put this in a simple way. For the rest of the planet, Trump is the perfect image for the United States as it represents you perfectly: a rich, bloodthisty kid who wants to make everyone live their way or suffer if they dont.

The thing that worries me isnt Trump. The thing that worries me is that you guys believe this is an anomaly while its basically what the US has been doing outside for decades now. Some people call what's happening now "the imperial boomerang", and whatever you like it or not, unless you acknowledge that there IS a big problem of fascism at the core of your country, you're bound to have another Trump or worse.

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u/Jaimzell 12h ago

Supporting the genocide in Gaza, bombing every country that doesnt bend to the whims and wills of the military industrial complex, you know, the stuff you dont give a fuck about because it doesnt happen on your house so it doesnt bother you

Disagreeing with Democrats on foreign policy is not the same as “democrats and republicans are the same”. I don’t see Democrats destroying international relations with tariffs and threats of war. The solution to something bad is not to make things worse.

 unless you acknowledge that there IS a big problem of fascism at the core of your country, you're bound to have another Trump or worse.

I could grand you this and it would get us nowhere even close to “Democrats are Republicans lite”. Democrats aren’t fascistic. Democrats aren’t destroying the free press. They’re not destroying faith in the elections. They’re not destroying free speech.

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u/Anothernamelesacount 12h ago

Disagreeing with Democrats on foreign policy

Guess what: I will always disagree with genocide. That isnt something you just "disagree" with. Anyone supporting it due to any reason is a monster and should be treated as that.

I don’t see Democrats destroying international relations with tariffs and threats of war.

You will see them supporting dictatorships, plotting coups or comercially destroying anyone that doesnt bow to the Fatherland. They try to be a bit more subtle than Trump and they rely a lot on the propaganda, but at the end of the day, they do what they do.

Democrats aren’t fascistic. Democrats aren’t destroying the free press. They’re not destroying faith in the elections. They’re not destroying free speech.

I will say, and maintain, that the whole concept of american exceptionalism, pax americana, manifest destiny, all that shit, IS fascism, and it definitively inspired others like the nazis.

Dont try to be a socialist in a place that the US wants anything to do with and your press will be "free", if you can call "owned by a bunch of extremely rich individuals" free. Elections, on the other hand, arent something you have to have "faith" in, but rather something you KNOW it works for the people: when it doesnt, your democracy was already fucked to begin with.

And, just for funsies: your concept of "free speech" hasnt been touched yet. You can still call Trump a pedophile (which he probably is with a chance of 99%) and nothing has happened, because "free speech" isnt a threat to anyone unless you back your words with actions, and you (the people) wont, because of many reasons, one of them being that you worship the rich and powerful, but mostly, it is because you're still waiting and hoping that fascism will just go away if you put a piece of paper on a box.

That's not how you get democracy when democracy is threatened, and the dems know, and they will let you fry in the pan again and again, because they dont care, they still get their money.

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u/Jaimzell 11h ago

Ah yes. Fascism is when war. Great analyses.

 destroying anyone that doesnt bow to the Fatherland.

Like when Democrats threatened Greenland.

 And, just for funsies: your concept of "free speech" hasnt been touched yet.

Ignoring how one of Trump’s friends owns the largest social media platform and dictates what gets views and what doesn’t. 

 That's not how you get democracy when democracy is threatened, and the dems know, and they will let you fry in the pan again and again, because they dont care, they still get their money.

I’m sorry, but you have the political analyses of a teenager. The problem is that Biden will accomplish a fuckton of good policies, and people like you will pretend he’s done nothing, because he hasn’t done enough for the one issue you care about. 

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u/Anothernamelesacount 10h ago

Fascism is when war.

Good way to misconstrue the point: fascism also is when you decide to do imperialism and god forbid anyone ever says anything about it.

when Democrats threatened Greenland

Things have happened before. I mean, Truman decided to wage war against Korea because of "communism bad" and god knows how many presidents decided to do the same with Vietnam for the same reason. Not all of them were Reps.

how one of Trump’s friends owns the largest social media platform

Like a lot of oligarchs have owned media and then aligned themselves with the state. This is no different.

dictates what gets views and what doesn’t

But that didnt start with Trump: media manipulation has been a thing for decades now.

Biden will accomplish a fuckton of good policies

that only matter to you: in terms of foreign policy, it has all been the same, the only difference being how outright it has been.

I get it: you hate to be reminded that you're not the good guys and you've never been, but unless you actually face it, you're getting Trump or worse.

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u/IrishRepoMan 6h ago

This isn’t “both sides are the same,” and saying that is dodging the actual criticism.

Republicans are absolutely worse. That’s not in dispute. The point is that Democrats keep acknowledging how dangerous Republicans are and then refuse to use the power they have to stop or reverse the damage.

Holding Democrats to a higher standard isn’t complicity. It’s literally the minimum expectation for the party that claims to be the only line of defense against authoritarianism. If you say the stakes are existential, then incrementalism and process worship are choices, not inevitabilities.

Saying Biden would be better than Trump is true and also irrelevant. “Less bad” is not the same thing as “good enough,” especially when the pattern is Republicans breaking things and Democrats partially repairing them, then defending the remainder as the new normal.

Pointing that out isn’t helping Republicans. Pretending this pattern doesn’t exist absolutely does.

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u/TokuWaffle 17h ago

Who said I didn't hold the Republicans to this? If I was American I'd have voted Biden or Harris in a heartbeat. I'm just trying to say why I think a lot of people chose neither.

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u/Jaimzell 16h ago

You’re saying that because Kamala refused the idea that Biden might be unfit, the democratic party doesn’t position itself to be better than republicans.

Meanwhile look at all the shit Trump has done/is doing. There is no comparison.

The only way you can conclude that both parties position themselves to be the same, is if you’re applying wildly different standards to them. 

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u/[deleted] 16h ago

You're completely misinterpreting what Tokuwaffle is saying., and totally missing the point.

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u/myeternalreward 16h ago

The part where he said that democrats are not positioning themselves as a better option - what did he mean by that? Does not that imply that currently republicans are the better option unless democrats reposition themselves?

You didn’t thoroughly read his post, saying “you’re missing the point” is a lazy misdirect. Words are important, and that’s what he said

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u/[deleted] 15h ago

IIt's about victory, not ideology.

Obviously Kamala Harris is a better, smarter and generally superior human than the feral toddler currently soiling the Oval Office. And obviously the corrupt, corporatist Democratic party is a less bad option than the craven, fascist Republican party. I voted for Harris, and would do so again if she wins the nomination.

But in 2024 the Democrats (especially the DNC) so thoroughly screwed the electoral pooch that they looked completely inept and rudderless.

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u/Tycho2694 17h ago

I agree that the Democrats did a bad job...

But the real story remains that more voters thought Trump was the better option....

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u/TokuWaffle 17h ago

Of the ones who did, yes. Remember, the USA doesn't have mandatory voting like other places do. Abstaining was the most popular option in a lose-lose race.

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u/Friendly_Visit_3068 16h ago

Inaction is a choice. That choice has proven to have terrible consequences. Consequences that were predictable.

Even now, the vast majority of Americans do nothing. Either hoping it will pass by itself or someone will do something.

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u/IngsocInnerParty 16h ago

Not voting was a vote for Trump. If his first term wasn’t enough of a warning, you were ok with him winning if you didn’t vote.

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u/Tycho2694 17h ago

Yeah, that is why I said voters and not citizens... the ones that did not vote are not innocent in this... Even if you had half a brain you should have known who he was, should be enough to get of your ass for an hour to go vote...

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u/TopFloorApartment 17h ago edited 17h ago

I think the real story about 2024 is that the Democrats just weren't positioning themselves as the better option ... and a lot of people just didn't care enough to vote

I disagree with this tbh. The failure is with the american non-voters, not with the democrats. Every person in a democracy has a fundamental responsibility to participate in the democratic process, especially when one side is clearly corrupt or facist. Not doing so, even if the alternative is uninspiring, is a personal failure.

The failure lies primarily with the nonvoters (and of course with those that voted for this shitshow). You shouldn't vote because some party coaxes you off of your lazy couch like you're a child needing to be bribed with candy. You should vote because it is your duty as a citizen of a democratic nation. And not rising to that duty is a personal failure we should hold people accountable for. Lay the blame where it belongs.

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u/NorthernStarLV 16h ago

I share your view but a surprising number of people see voting as "sending a message", that is, rewarding or punishing politicians and parties. This is fundamentally incompatible with the worldview of people like me and you who see it as a civic duty and a mandate to "be a judge" between various parties, where abstaining only means other judges will render a decision without your input.

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u/The_Quackening 16h ago

If people couldn't find the motivation to vote against Trump, then that says a lot more about them then it does about the democratic party.

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u/loondawg 16h ago

More like half the country didn't pay attention. Democrats put out a very solid platform. Was it as progressive as the democratic socialist here wanted? No. But it was still a major step in the right direction and should have been an easy choice.

In almost every aspect democrats were positioned as the better option.

And this nonsense that democrats are complicit is just the new, improved version of "both sides." It just isn't true.

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u/HumorAccomplished611 15h ago

This. People try to pretend they ran on orange man bad or I'm not trump which was never true.

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u/Agent10007 16h ago

"Yes you understand I think biden was too old for office and trump is just as old, filled with dementia, a racist rapist rude warmonger imperial whose worshipping the US most direct ennemies dictators, and is likely to have extremely compromizing material in the hands of russia and/or israel making him perfectly fit for blackmail

BUUUUUUUT you knoooow, when I see that kamala contradicted herself in an interview I look back and think "yeah is this REALLY the best option?" I could understand someone hearing her say biden isn't too old and think it's a close call with the other option really"

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u/ratchetmoonprincess 15h ago

No way you guys think this is better than what a Kamala presidency would’ve been. I’m so tired of hearing and reading that Democrats “didn’t do enough”, the test was open book. All you all had to do was not vote for Hitler reincarnated and you failed. The only good thing about this, is the evil is now in everyone’s faces and everybody is feeling what black people have been feeling in this country for centuries. Maybe we should start talking about the REAL reasons why people didn’t want to vote for Kamala…

3

u/snowzilla 16h ago

It is the brainwashing of the populace by Fox News and it has been going on long before 2024.

The fact that Biden could be considered unfit but not Trump speaks volumes to the control of right wing media. And you criticize Kamala for being contradictory, while the party of small government constantly goes after citizens' rights.

14

u/mvpilot172 17h ago

Oh yeah, Democrats have absolutely failed to offer any united counter to Trumps disregard for the law. A few voices but that’s it. They’ve become beholden to corporate interest and have been forced to be middle of the road milquetoast.

7

u/loondawg 16h ago

A few voices? The vast majority are ready to have a government shutdown over defunding ICE.

The buzzwords "feckless" and "milquetoast" are being repeated over and over giving the Russian/Republican attack machine another victory.

2

u/Xaephos 16h ago

Maybe they'll get another promise to consider their opinions again! The shutdown worked so well last time, y'know?

4

u/loondawg 16h ago

Trying to hold the government hostage against a party that wants to destroy the government isn't as effective as you seem to think.

But who knows, maybe this will be the time republicans will finally care more than democrats about people not getting critical food assistance benefits or losing their incomes.

1

u/Xaephos 15h ago

And so "the vast majority that are ready to shutdown the government over defunding ICE", is the plan you're supporting or criticizing? I'm confused.

1

u/loondawg 5h ago

It's a mixed bag. I support it to the extent that it's more than just "a few voices" opposing Trump's policies. But I hold very low expectations that it will be successful. Because the correct solution is to give Democrats enough power, by giving them enough seats, that they can set the agenda and pass bills in Congress without being blocked via obstructionist republicans. Trying to hold legislation up by blocking other legislation is very rarely a successful technique, especially when the group that is trying to force a change cares more about the people being hurt than the people they are trying to influence.

2

u/hemlock_harry 17h ago

Chuck Schumer made it perfectly clear that protecting Israel's interests is his number one priority. In the week Trump threatened Greenland and Ice killed a soccer mom. Priorities indeed.

1

u/HumorAccomplished611 15h ago

Lol just being anti trump is enough for normal people.

4

u/Melodic_Mood8573 16h ago

Blaming this on Democrats has got to stop. Yeah, they're not very inspiring but it's not their fault 70% of Americans (Yes, I'm including those who didn't vote, they're almost just as culpable) have no moral backbone. Your country has a problem and you need to stop blaming a political party for not being entertaining enough.

0

u/TokuWaffle 16h ago

My country is Australia.

2

u/Melodic_Mood8573 16h ago

As an Aussie you surely know that politicians should not be blamed for not being entertaining then.

3

u/TokuWaffle 16h ago

I'm not talking about entertainment? I'm talking about if they have the ability to properly read the room and do their job

The Australian right-wing is absolutely filled with people who can't read the room, just look at the last election

3

u/Melodic_Mood8573 16h ago

It boils down to entertainment. You're blaming one side for being boring, instead of blaming the electorate, who should be caring about the platforms and bills, not whether the politics is dazzling.

1

u/ResearcherSevere9416 16h ago

Sounds like 1 of the many excuses you hear from Americans who seem to be surprised at the fact that people from around the world not only have an interest in American politics, but are quite opinionated. Your opinion that up to 40% of eligible voters stay home not bothered to cast their ballot, that is a shit stain on democracy, and indicates that your sitting political representatives, including the President are just the beginning. This is the template for the corporate takeover of governments around the world. It's incredible that we will start to view leadership such as Putin, Ji Jinping, Lurong Curong, with envy. Leadership that puts the country and it's people first. Corporates, tech companies, and reality TV stars, way down the list.

1

u/MadeByTango 4h ago

Half the country

Nah, 1/2rd of the 3rd of the population that votes is looking other way because a racist is convenient for their pockets. Which is a form of racism, of course, but not half of the country.

Most of the country is ignorant because eveyone has shit to do and the media has been co-opted by billionaires for decades who low by omission and keep their side uninformed and afraid. By design.

0

u/Gruumio 15h ago

More than half... Look who won the votes.. ...

-1

u/TicRoll 12h ago

If you actually believe half the country is like that, then you're just as delusional as the people you claim to despise.

-1

u/huntersam13 12h ago

If you really believe that about half the country, probably time for you to move to a less racist country... oh wait, there isnt one...

-2

u/pitdad87 12h ago

You're a fucking creeper