# This is how you blow a very winnable election **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 26, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094 "2020-08-26T21:25:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/1 "2020-08-26T21:25:00Z")
We are SO close. I am going to be extremely irate if BLM and the hard left snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. [This is what a moral panic looks like.](https://twitter.com/KunkleFredrick/status/1298344285079838720) A really bad look, especially when it is synchronous with violent rioting in BLM protests over the Blake shooting (which is much more grey ethically than what happened to George Floyd). Biden and Harris, and all Democrats running for Senate in purple states, need to forcefully denounce this kind of mob bullying. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/2 "2020-08-26T21:36:34Z")
It’s impossible to police every single young person in the whole country. With thousands of protests, a few of them are going to look dumb. There’s an easy response for Biden and Harris if they are challenged on these protests - “These are happening under Trump’s watch, and Trump’s rhetoric, and Trump’s actions, are making them worse. In Trump’s America, anonymous federal troops and agents brutalize peaceful protesters and inflame local tensions. If we win the election, we will work with peaceful protesters, rational law enforcement voices, and Americans of goodwill to make a more just and peaceful justice system.” ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/3 "2020-08-26T21:39:16Z")
@urbanredneck2 beat you to it. [What would you do if an angry mob demands you raise your fist in support?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-an-angry-mob-demands-you-raise-your-fist-in-support/919071) ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/4 "2020-08-26T22:07:02Z")
It says a lot about about Biden that neither he nor any other Democrat will denounce this violence. And that is why Biden is going to lose. America is fed up with this alt-left terrorism. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/5 "2020-08-26T22:11:31Z")
They have denounced violence, again and again. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/6 "2020-08-26T22:14:20Z")
But, have they denounced violence they might not have even heard about? Hypocrisy at it’s worst! ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/7 "2020-08-26T22:15:50Z")
> **[Joe Biden refuses to denounce violent rioting in Kenosha, instead attacks law...](https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/joe-biden-refuses-to-denounce-violent-rioting-in-kenosha/)** > > "Equal justice has not been real for Black Americans and so many others. We are at an inflection point. We must dismantle systemic racism." ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/8 "2020-08-26T22:17:49Z")
This is fact free propaganda, not journalism. You might as well cite Trump himself. In the real world, Biden has denounced violence many, many times. But that doesn’t jive with Trump’s propaganda, so you’re not interested in those facts. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/9 "2020-08-26T22:21:02Z")
I didn’t realize that simply not doing something was exactly the same as refusing to do it . . . IGNORANCE FOUGHT!!! ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/10 "2020-08-26T22:30:00Z")
> [@agzem](#): > > It says a lot about about Biden that neither he nor any other Democrat will denounce this violence. And that is why Biden is going to lose. America is fed up with this alt-left terrorism. You are incorrect. > [@](#): > > Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said he has spoken with the family of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot in the back by police in Wisconsin over the weekend. > > In a video posted Wednesday on social media, Biden said he empathized with the family of Blake, [who is reportedly paralyzed from the waist down](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jacob-blake-paralyzed-waist-down-after-police-shooting-father-says-n1238009). Biden also unequivocally condemned the “needless violence” stemming from the demonstrations in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in response to the shooting and called for healing and unity. > [@](#): > > “You know, as I said after George Floyd’s murder, protesting brutality is a right and absolutely necessary. But burning down communities is not protest, it’s needless violence,” Biden said in the video. > > “Violence that endangers lives. Violence that guts businesses and shutters businesses that serve the community. That’s wrong.” > **[Joe Biden says he talked to Jacob Blake's family, condemns 'needless...](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/26/biden-says-he-talked-to-jacob-blake-family-condemns-violence-in-kenosha.html)** > > "What I saw on that video makes me sick," Biden said in a video. "Once again a Black man, Jacob Blake, has been shot by the police in broad daylight, with the whole world watching." ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/11 "2020-08-26T22:33:16Z")
Thanks for the factual cite proving @azgem and his propaganda incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/12 "2020-08-26T22:34:10Z")
[https://www.newsbreak.com/news/0PRR3YCy/house-democrats-block-gop-measure-to-condemn-riots-defund-police-movement](https://www.newsbreak.com/news/0PRR3YCy/house-democrats-block-gop-measure-to-condemn-riots-defund-police-movement) ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/13 "2020-08-26T22:40:48Z")
Good to see the Republicans focusing on the really important problems facing America . . . don’t mention the ~~war~~ virus. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/14 "2020-08-26T22:49:49Z")
From the left, it looks like the center is trying to very delicately pick their words, given its tenuous inroads to the left and center-right. That forced fist-raising seems pretty silly, but also doesn’t quite rise to the level of Nazis killing Americans and then being labeled “very fine people”. I have to say that messy protests, escalating violence, and opportunistic looting is just the natural, expected outcome after decades of neglect and months of lockdown and unemployment. You don’t take care of people, eventually they’re gonna get angry enough to randomly smash shit up. 🤷‍♂️ People don’t exist to just be Biden’s electoral pawns. If he fails to inspire in them that nonviolent, orderly civil action still has value, that’s on him, not them. Attacking desperate people from some imagined moral high ground just comes across as grandstanding, like “why don’t you get a job and behave like the rest of us”. To his credit, though, I think Biden is trying really hard to not go down that path, even as people are calling on him to. And then I see posts like agzem’s, and all I can think is… why the fuck do we even try anymore. Just let it burn. If 40% the country is thinking like that, it doesn’t really matter what the other 60% are arguing among themselves. Divide and conquer, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/15 "2020-08-26T22:55:11Z")
I agree that it’s not a good look for Biden or the D’s, but the lead is so big that they can afford to screw around a bit. When you’re leading your opponent by 5 touchdowns, you don’t sweat a missed tackle or blown coverage here and there. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/16 "2020-08-26T22:56:36Z")
_What_ is not a good look for Biden or the D’s? ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/17 "2020-08-26T23:00:07Z")
His lead isn’t all that big, y’know. Hillary lost in 2016 with better odds. > **[2020 Election Forecast](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-election-forecast/)** > > Latest forecast of the 2020 presidential election between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden by Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight > **[2016 Election Forecast | FiveThirtyEight](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/)** > > Nate Silver's predictions and polling data for the 2016 presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump You have a blue man who nobody really loves, 40% barely likes, and like 20% can just barely stomach, vs a red man loved very deeply by another 30% and tolerated by the rest. The reds are far more willing to play dirty as well, in an election that would already otherwise be tight. Nothing is certain except the promise of chaos to come… ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/18 "2020-08-26T23:03:47Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > _What_ is not a good look for Biden or the D’s? The harassing of the diners and demands that they raise their fist for BLM. There’s no way such harassment could have any effect other than to boost the Trump vote. But Biden has no reason to lose sleep; it might reduce his popular vote victory a tad but shouldn’t have any effect on the EC. ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/19 "2020-08-26T23:06:19Z")
This is why Democrats are getting nervous. Zogby has been around a while: > **[Trump pops to 52%: ‘Best job approval rating on record,’ up with blacks, even...](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/trump-pops-to-52-best-job-approval-rating-on-record-up-with-blacks-even-democrats)** > > Buoyed by blacks and independent voters, as well as urban dwellers shocked by the Black Lives Matter protest violence raging in some cities, President Trump’s approval rating has hit a new high, according to a survey heavy with minority voters. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094/20 "2020-08-26T23:06:29Z")
Funny that actual right wing violence isn’t a ‘look’ of any type for Trump or the Republicans. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-how-you-blow-a-very-winnable-election/919094.md?page=2)