Noting that this is a Sanders thread, it’s entirely possible to be both anti-Sanders and anti-Trump. If Sanders gets the Democratic Party nomination, then someone voting third party in a strong blue state, or a strong red state, is expressing their disdain for both candidates. In a purple state, substantial numbers of people choosing not to vote for a mainstream candidate is likely to be more consequential. However, it works both ways. Would you prefer a never-Sanders voter to vote for Trump in a binary decision, or write in a third candidate, even if there’s no chance that third party will be elected?
Very skeptical this writer is “to the left of Sanders”. AFAICT by their other posts on their blog, they’re an unusually anti-Bernie mainstream Democrat.
Anyone who thinks E can use a vote to express disdain is doing it wrong. Someone is going to win the election. The sole meaning a vote has is its impact on the outcome. Any other consideration is irresponsible.
I disagree. A vote is an expression of a person’s democratic principles. Ideally, a voter will pick the candidate that best matches their principles. However, if no candidate is adequate, then it becomes a decision of whether voting for the least worst is better than a protest vote. Also, although a fringe vote may be unlikely to win, it may state a position that deserves attention, leading to change. Many nations have Green Parties. I’m not aware of any nation where the local Green Party is dominant. But occasionally, they’re part of the governing coalition. Those Green Party representatives that are in government are based on earlier elections where voting for the Green Party candidate was futile, but the candidate receiving votes led to future gains. The US might not be suitable for a third party at the moment. But if the two choices are hard-left and hard-right, a centrist element rejecting both could either push one of the two main parties back to centre, or open the gateway for a new centrist party.
Didn’t Bernie already say he would raise taxes on the middle class? I mean, they had to drag it out of him, but IIRC he said that he would indeed raise taxes on the middle class to pay for national healthcare, but asserted that the overall bill for the middle class (healthcare expenses plus taxes) would go down.
As am I. But I would far prefer Sanders to Trump, and a vote for any other party’s candidate will only tend to reelect Trump.
Another day, another reason to despise Shitbag Sanders. His campaign staff posed as union workers to try to get the endorsement in Nevada.
Shitbag staffers but I doubt this was something directed by Sanders himself. I could see Weaver having had a hand in it though.
Still it may play badly there.
You doubt it and I do as well, but if Trump staffers had done it in similar parallel circumstances, there would be 43 posts in this thread about how it proves what a shitbag Trump is and fascism something.
More on point to the thread, this will just give more fodder for the GOP. Bernie’s communist infiltrators taking over labor unions! Oh, but it’s not true? You have 10 seconds to respond.
“How’s Vladimir doing, Don? Had lunch with him lately?”
[drops mic]
Trump: “No idea. I’ve met with him at international summits. I didn’t get drunk with Soviets on my honeymoon when they had nuclear weapons pointed at us. Your soundbites make you look desperate, Bernie.”
Moderator: Thank you, President Trump. Sen. Sanders…
Trump: No, excuse me, excuse me. This guy was on a national ticket for socialists who supported our countrymen being held hostage in Iran. It’s true.
Sanders: It’s a lie. It was an international relation partnership with a sister city!
Trump: It’s true. It’s true. You got drunk on your honeymoon with communists after you supported the terrorists in Iran. And you want to criticize me for talking to Putin as the President of the United States when you got drunk with communists on your honeymoon.
How are we doing with swing voters?
You’ve made Trump way too coherent in your example.
If the election boils down to a quip-response contest, then I’d urge Bernie to lean heavily on the rape angle, focusing on Trump’s multiple credible allegations of rape and sexual assault (and how he’s trying to avoid cooperating with investigations), along with his multiple admissions of violating the consent of women.
Or perhaps “Hey, remember that time you used your foundation to steal money from a veteran’s charity? Did you ever pay out that massive Trump University fraud case you had to settle? Say, has Mexico paid for the Wall yet? You know, Hillary managed to testify under oath in front of Congress for 11 hours without perjuring herself, yet your own lawyer won’t left you testify for even five minutes because they can’t guarantee you won’t lie - how does it feel to have your own people admit you’re so much worse than ‘Crooked Hillary’ at things like basic honesty?”
Really, quipwise, it’s an open goal.
Trump: Smear, lies. That’s all Bernie has to offer. The Democrats, and he’s not even a Democrat, he’s a socialist, that’s all he has is lies. He has nothing to offer but communism from his Soviet communist buddies, nothing but hate for America from Iran that he wanted to voted into office for president back in 1980…that’s it, folks. That’s what they want…
So you’re saying that Trump will simultaneously use smear and lies while accusing someone else of what he’s literally doing at the time. Now that sounds like Trump.
Trump: Well, I guess Bernie hasn’t had enough communist vodka tonight. Bernie, Bernie, listen…maybe they’ll let you take a second honeymoon? I’ll call Putin…call him later…they’ll take you back…maybe not. Anyways, folks, listen. This is how they do things…they lie, they keep lying…and Bernie has been doing it for 40 years. He loves the terrorists in Iran; he wishes Putin was a communist. He wants socialism in this country. It will never happen, I guarantee that, never happen
Hopefully the American people aren’t so tolerant and excusing of rape and sexual assault. We’ll see if gibberish like the above (which is still somehow far more coherent than Trump himself) will be enough for the American people.
I’m writing these off the cuff. You think the RNC can’t do better with months of prep?
It really is sad that even Trump supporters have been reduced to idiocy offensive even to the idea of coherent thought, much less to serious consideration of trying to make America better. We truly do live on different planets when this kind of random gibberish is actually considered a positive for Trump.