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Kamala Harris Election Campaign

Actually I kind of like Vance. Apparently his is being Hilleried for having an opinion. I meant pilloried.

Why? Is it his 180 degree about face on Trump? First saying "I'm a Never Trump guy" and "I never liked him"? His tweet about Trump “My god what an idiot"? His comment that Trump could be "America's Hitler", that he's "loathesome" and "disgusts" him and that “Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office,”?

Is it his position that women without children are "a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too"?

Is it his comment “Let’s give votes to all children in this country, but let’s give control over those votes to the parents of those children"? Or that people without children should pay higher taxes than those with children?

Is it his extreme views on abortion? “There is something sociopathic about a political movement that tells young women (and men) that it is liberating to murder their own children.”

Tell me, what is it about Vance that you "kinda like"?
 
Back on topic...

8 in 10 Democrats are happy with Harris, compared to 4 in 10 with Biden.

Vice President Kamala Harris appears to have energized Democrats in the early days of her candidacy, with the surge in warm feelings extending across multiple groups, including some key Democratic constituencies that had been especially tepid about President Joe Biden, a new poll shows.

About 8 in 10 Democrats say they would be somewhat or very satisfied if Harris became the Democratic nominee for president, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which was conducted after Biden withdrew from the race.

https://apnews.com/article/1feb5ed3c2e29623ce3cec3565b487cd
 
I suspect the GOP already know that the Trump Train is on an irreversible downward trajectory, win or lose this time. If he does win, his presidency will become a shambles of graft and corruption. Meanwhile, his Schutzstaffel will attempt by all means possible to ensure this will become a permanent state of affairs in the USA for their ongoing benefit. Trump himself has only one purpose for them: to ensure they keep they paws in the money-pits unhindered. Even if it means they have to kipper Donny's rotting corpse and prop it up on the White House balcony Lenin style as a meaningless MAGA object of unquestioned devotion like he is now.

And if Donny doesn't win, as is seemingly more likely each day, they will abandon him to his inevitable fate without a second thought. They already don't like him at all, personally. They know Trump for what he is, and use him only for what he can do for them. For example, I've read some of Stone's comments about Trump...they're scathing of him recently, even after Stone had his jail sentence commuted.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-...g-glimpse-into-trumps-time-in-the-white-house

I don't think imposing a dictatorship on the US is going to be as easy as you and other people think. In the end, the very thing that drives a lot of people crazy about Americans..we are a pretty rowdy lot...will be our salvation.
And I disagree about your "all MAGAs are in it for the money" theory. I got a sick feeling that some of the relgious right are genuuine fanatics,,,and they are always more dangerous then the grifters. The grifters you might be able to buy off, the fanatics ,never.
 
You're free to pay the $20 fine if you like. Your choice.

I just think government coercion needs to be kept to a minimun.
And I don't get why forcing somebody who has no interest in politics, does not follow the news, and is totally ignroant about what he is voting about to vote is such a great idea. I note few countries have followed Australia when it comes to manadatory voting.
It is another attempt to use the power of the state to force people to be more virtuous in a positive way, and that always fails. The govenrment can only really threaten to punish you if you do certain things..which is complety different from making a better person of you in a postivie sense.
 
Duty unfulfilled is dereliction.

Americans don't much like being told what to do by the government. It's just part of our national mentality. Even simply wearing a mask to help save lives got millions of Americans' ire up and they refused to do it. Making it compulsory to vote would have the same effect. It may work elsewhere, but it's not going to work here. I always vote, but I don't want to be told I HAVE to. Turning in a blank ballot or writing in 'Mickey Mouse' isn't going to change that resentment.
 
MAGA without Trump is just going back to pre-Q: voters desperate not for a Candidate but a Savior. People with a deeply undemocratic mindset looking for someone who tells them that they don't need to change, he will change the world to suit them.
It will never go away

True, but it a constant through history.
And I need to point out that it has happened on the left as well as the right.
I give you Stalin and Mao as examples.
 
Duty unfulfilled is dereliction.

Stupid idea, for several reasons:

1. This time around the know-nothing party is definitely the GOP. I don't know if that will remain true, but it's most reasonable assumption. The Republicans will benefit if we force more people to vote. This is contrary to the status quo ante 2016.

2. Somewhat related to #1. If you force the uninformed to vote, they are going to vote based on what information they do have. Names that sound familiar, for example, or celebrities. We get enough of those idiots already.
 
Americans don't much like being told what to do by the government. It's just part of our national mentality. Even simply wearing a mask to help save lives got millions of Americans' ire up and they refused to do it. Making it compulsory to vote would have the same effect. It may work elsewhere, but it's not going to work here. I always vote, but I don't want to be told I HAVE to. Turning in a blank ballot or writing in 'Mickey Mouse' isn't going to change that resentment.

I also don't get why making somebody who takes no interest in politics, does not follow the news, and has no idea of the issues they are voting on vote is such a great idea anyway. We have too many ignorant people showing up to vote as it is.
 
It may take another cycle or two before the GOP realizes they have not built a winning coalition, particularly because Trump (unfortunately) is still more likely to win this election than not. But the reckoning will come eventually.

In AZ, the Republicans have dramatically underperformed since 2018. This is still a pretty conservative state, but the GOP has lost both Senate seats, the Governor, Secretary of State and Attorney General races. At some point the party has to recognize that there is a problem, and we have seen some pushback this year. The chorus should get louder if (as current polling suggests) Trump wins the Grand Canyon State while Lake loses again.

What would really screw the GOP is if they actually do try to impose some kind of authoratarian government on the US. They would fail, and it would wreck the party for good.
I have no doubt Trump and some of his MAGA followers would love to impose a dictatorship, I just they they would not be able to pull it off. Evne some in the GOP who voted for Trump would rebel at that.
 
Stupid idea, for several reasons:

1. This time around the know-nothing party is definitely the GOP. I don't know if that will remain true, but it's most reasonable assumption. The Republicans will benefit if we force more people to vote. This is contrary to the status quo ante 2016.

2. Somewhat related to #1. If you force the uninformed to vote, they are going to vote based on what information they do have. Names that sound familiar, for example, or celebrities. We get enough of those idiots already.

I agree. If someone can't be bothered to vote, then they aren't interested in being informed on the candidates. What country needs more ignorant votes?
 
MAGA without Trump is just going back to pre-Q: voters desperate not for a Candidate but a Savior. People with a deeply undemocratic mindset looking for someone who tells them that they don't need to change, he will change the world to suit them.
It will never go away

That is extraordinarily well-put. You may not agree, but I see that as tying in with the bizarre "You won't have to vote again," comment from Trump. Many see that as a threat, but I think it really is intended as a (crazy) promise. He's going to fix things so they don't have to vote again means everything will become a perfectly functioning perpetual motion machine. And not in some evil genius way; kind of in a Donald solves everything, and we all live happily ever after. Weird AF, as though new problems never arise that need to be solved, or that current problems prove intractable.
 
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What would really screw the GOP is if they actually do try to impose some kind of authoratarian government on the US. They would fail, and it would wreck the party for good.

Agreed.

I have no doubt Trump and some of his MAGA followers would love to impose a dictatorship, I just they they would not be able to pull it off. Evne some in the GOP who voted for Trump would rebel at that.

Actually I suspect huge numbers would be against. Remember, in 2020, Trump got over 74 million to vote for him. How many were at the rally on January 6, and how many were at the riot at the Capitol? Tiny numbers in comparison. And for all their fury, what did they actually accomplish? After overrunning the Capitol, how close did they come to overthrowing the government?
 
* arthwollipot;14374696 looks around at his very much not-failing country



I see.

I think you don;t.
What I meant was that government cannot make you a more compassionate person, cannot make you cease to be a racist. All it can do is tell you if you do X, you will go to jail.
Martin Luther King put it beautifully when he said that "the Law cannot make you if you are bigot, love me; but it can punish you if you kill me".
 

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