Dang, what were the old rules?
I’m not a hater, I don’t even hate him now. He just terrifies and sickens me, But he first showed up on my radar in the 80s as a frequent target of mockery by the much missed New York humor magazine Spy, which forever imprinted on my brain in relation to him, the phrase “short fingered vulgarian”.
Then I watched the apprentice and I was appalled at how his mind worked… I would never in 1 million years have believed we would ever be here and I still can’t believe it. I never get used to it.
Covid wasn’t his fault and the degree to which we were or were not prepared probably wasn’t his fault, but the degree to which it became politicized was entirely his fault. That not wearing a mask and not getting vaccinated became a way of virtue signalling, resulting in tens or maybe hundreds of thousands unnecessary additional deaths in Republican states, is entirely his fault.
Unfortunately its hard to message that because the people hurt the worst by it are by definition those who aren’t going to believe it.
THANK YOU!
It’s a delightful 70º and sunny in Wisconsin today, so c’mon up!
When in Milwaukee, you can skip my younger kid’s place. Everyone in their household already voted for Harris by absentee ballot.
Thanks for doing that. Mrs. Mercotan is likewise active in similar stuff in our county.
Phoenix Oct 17-20, Milwaukee Oct 24-28. I’m not sure what hours I’ll be “working” (I’m doing this through local groups that will tell me what to do when i get there) but i might have time to meet up with someone.
(Arriving the evening before and leaving the day after those dates.)
I don’t know where your getting that. Trump is going to win all the states he won in 2020 and just needs to flip 2. He’s currently ahead in the polls in the 6 states in play. It changes every day. There are at least 3 scenarios where the Electoral College could be tied. Folks might be staying up late waiting for Nevada to be called.
Regardless of who wins it won’t be a “thumping”. I’d say more of a nail biter.
Nate Silver favors Harris 55:45, which is the same as 50:50. His model runs something like 10,000 outcomes and there are more Democratic blowout scenarios than Republican blowout scenarios. But your claim is not backed by evidence. It’s a 50-50 race, even though Harris leads in the polls.
As for strategies, I say do everything, though arguing with Russian trolls on twitter is probably the least effective. In October all you can do is work the margins anyway. There are options for door knocking, postcard writing, phone banking and text banking. Politics is about power, not pontificating.
I am afraid you are deluded. If he is roundly defeated, he will say that it only proves how totally fixed it was. And people in red areas will absolutely believe him, because they personally don’t know anyone who will admit to voting against him (because they are afraid to). Then they will make the point that the people in the hurricane zones should be given the chance to vote again. Which I would actually approve of but the same people would freak if it happened in a blue area. Anyway, they would have had to make advance provision for this, which they refused.
But this really is on Trump. He loves tariffs. Trump’s dumb; he thinks a tariff on Chinese goods is somehow being paid for by China. And if Trump believes that so do millions of his followers.
Americans are paying higher prices now because of tariffs Trump imposed in his first term. And he has said he will increase tariffs if he gets a second term.
Respectfully disagree with Hari. Sure, Trump will declare victory no matter what. But methinks he has a substantially higher chance of prevailing if the margin is 1 electoral vote (a plausible scenario by the way) than if it involves a multiple state margin like we had in 2020.
While there’s no way even America could survive as an autarky, at least not without at minimum a massive decline in the standard of living, protectionism is popular. Slapping higher tariffs on cheaply made Chinese crap (or stuff they’re dumping, like EVs) has been done by both parties. At least some voters on both sides would have no problem hurting companies that produce heavily or solely in China and also hurting China itself if possible.
That’s my brother 100%. The maddening thing is we are in Colorado. Mail in voting.I doubt he’s registered though. And I fear that he would fall for trumps BS anyway.
In the very few times it’s come up, he won’t talk about politics. “He doesn’t do politics” Well my friend, politics does YOU.
I cannot help but wonder how many fewer deaths there would have been had he appeared wearing a mask. “I look dumb wearing this thing, and you will look dumb too, but it will prevent many people from being sick.”
That would require empathy, sincerity, and humility, qualities that Trump exhibits only in complete abeyance.
Stranger
Good point.
Do we really need another thread where we debate how and how much Trump sucks, and talking about the state of the election? It’s already tough to keep up with the conversations being had to this effect across a dozen threads in P&E.
The debate seems to be what are the most effective techniques of defeating Trump circa October before the general election. At this stage, door knocking, phone banking and text banking are things to consider, though politically disinterested acquaintances might have some vague feelings about retaining our 260 year democratic experiment.
What if you are an introvert? Presented for amusement and perhaps within-rules action: I’ve got a workshop for you. Center for Common Ground (a non profit 501c(3) which I know little or nothing about) is sponsoring an online class Tuesday next week on Oct 15th, phone banking for introverts.
Have you been writing postcards but not fully comfortable with the idea of talking to live voters? Or maybe you are new to any of this outreach - this event is for you! The training will be led by special guest, Elizabeth Chur, author of The Joy of Talking Politics with Strangers: How to Save Democracy, One Conversation at a Time . Come learn about how to overcome your hesitation to make calls. You will leave the training feeling confident about taking on phone banking!
After Elizabeth speaks, we will start a training on how to use our phone bank platform. You can also train yourself beforehand by watching this video.
I’m not an introvert, but I can attest that phone banking is a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I’ve had lots of cool conversations and encountered only one or two assholes.
Oh man, this so me. I am 100% what would be described as an introvert. I volunteered for a campaign back in the mid 2000s for a candidate I supported at the time and tried to do phone banking.
Could. Not. Do. It.
My anxiety levels went through the roof just sitting there looking at the phone. The thought of knocking on random doors in random neighborhood fills me with existential dread.
I’m fine with talking to people I know, family, friends, co workers, etc… I use arguments I read here and get generally good results even if no minds are changed. I’ll donate money, put up yard signs and whatnot, but talking to strangers about controversial topics is not my forte. I feel bad sometimes because I know canvassing and phone banking is probably the most effective tactic right now, but I just can’t.
On a related note, I worked as a phone CSR for three years and it was miserable. Never again.
(Apologies if this is a hijack.)