this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2025
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[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 26 minutes ago (1 children)

Do I believe this? I do not. I believe the people who didn't like him before are turning up to these events. Why would happy Republicans come? They're washing in lib tears, enjoying seeing what they always wanted realized.

That shit is what they're posting on Facebook. That's what they're thinking.

[–] ExFed@lemm.ee 2 points 5 minutes ago* (last edited 4 minutes ago)

"Two things can be true at the same time."

Even if people can't agree on who's lying about what, we can definitely agree that there's one and only one sitting president on our lifetime who has called himself a king.

[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 2 points 40 minutes ago
[–] Punchshark@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 hours ago

I'm sure that they really care about anyone's feelings now that they've been elected

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 81 points 5 hours ago (6 children)

Bernie is getting thousands of GOP voters at his anti-Oligarchy stops. It's not a hint, it's a fucking massive revolt in their base.

[–] athairmor@lemmy.world 46 points 4 hours ago (4 children)

There’s a lot of Republican/Trump voters that just want politicians who at least sound like they want to represent them and “fix the government.” Do that and they’ll vote for you.

Democrats since Obama have failed to convincingly do that simple thing.

Meanwhile, Republicans lie that they’ll help them and get elected. They inevitably don’t help them and blame liberals/immigrants/trans etc.

If enough Democrats would follow Bernie’s lead, they would win, handily.

[–] takeda@lemm.ee 21 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

Exactly and frankly it is time to primary the corporate Democrats who do nothing, the corporations showed us they are actually for what trump does. We need more people like Bernie, like AOC, like Warren, people that actually want things to improve for average people.

Also we need more younger people who would fight https://runforsomething.net/

[–] krashmo@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

Fuck Warren. She had her chance to help Sanders on two separate occasions and she chose not to. She's just better at paying lip service than the other Democrats.

[–] Hotspur@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 hours ago

I suspect amongst other things, this is probably a major reason Bernie is doing this tour—to demonstrate how a sane and worker-forward progressive populist message brings in a strong coalition of voters, even in states that the democrats write off as deplorable. I’m skeptical that it will change their minds, but it’s once again a reminder that continuing to shill a neo-liberal status quo message is a losing game.

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 17 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

The bigger problem is the latter of your comment. Republicans have no issues with lying about everything, and promising undeliverable things. It's unconscionable, but they know these people never leave their lesson and continue voting against their own interests as long as they can concoct this fascist "US v Them" narrative.

Democrats have been there out spouting the truth of the situation, but that's not enough. They need demonstrable proof to illustrate their points, and this is that. If there isn't a massive shift in voters because of this fucking mess, nothing is going to do it. Sanders and AOC are on the right track, and we need more of that. Go to where they are and talk to them. Illustrate the points and what is going to happen if they don't switch their votes.

[–] dan@lemmy.i.secretponi.es 4 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

Exactly. In order to promise to "fix the government" you need to lie to them and claim the government is broken, first. That's where liars have a leg up.

A lot of people here are developers or tech adjacent so I'll offer this strained analogy: this "the government is broken" narrative is tantamount to an intern hot off their Learning NodeJS course coming in and telling everyone that their complex production systems are trash and need to be completely rebuilt. That intern doesn't have any of the context, experience, or knowledge to make that determination and often creates conflicts within the team instead of just looking forward to the next iteration for improvement. Meanwhile, the professionals have to keep cleaning up their mess.

Elon Musk is this intern. Boebert, MTG, Tuberville, etc, are this intern. The GOP has been promoting and encouraging these interns and has since Reagan.

Can the government be improved? Absolutely. Should the interns be doing it? No.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Exactly. In order to promise to “fix the government” you need to lie to them and claim the government is broken, first. That’s where liars have a leg up.

Well, there are some broken parts of the government thst do need fixing. The courts don't have a way to enforce rulings. Laws that limit executive overreach don't have an enforcement mechanism. Too much power is concentrated in the oval office.

It is broken, but not because of spending or any of the stuff Republicans claim to be broken. It is broken because it allows for their shenanigans.

Dems could have run on fixing the actual flaws in the system that are allowing this coup, but they chose to appeal to moderates instead. In the future they could run on fixing the flaws, but would need to follow through when they have the ability.

[–] Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Dems could have run on fixing the actual flaws in the system that are allowing this coup

It would have accomplished exactly nothing if they did. Voters aren't interested in "fixing the system". It would have come off as Democrats caring about nothing but "making power grabs" while ignoring kitchen table concerns such as the price of groceries. It would have come off as Democrats being more disconnected from the needs of everyday voters than they already are.

Harris, or whoever the dem nominiee would have been, would have been focusing on "fixing the system" while Trump just made all the same empty promises about "bringing down the price of eggs on day one", and he would have won by an even wider margin. Your average voter gives exactly zero shits about how things work in DC and what does and doesn't need to be fixed.

[–] dan@lemmy.i.secretponi.es 2 points 45 minutes ago (1 children)

It would have come off as Democrats making nothing but "making power grabs"

Even if it didn't have that outward appearance, the liars would have lied to ensure that was the message.

Here's an example of this with Democrats trying to improve access to voting:

https://barr.house.gov/2021/3/rep-barr-denounces-house-democrats-h-r-1-the-election-power-grab-act

Rep. Barr Denounces House Democrats’ H.R. 1, “The Election Power Grab Act”

Here's Democrats trying to fix the courts:

https://www.courthousenews.com/republicans-wont-budge-as-biden-details-supreme-court-reform-plan/

“Liberals are furious that [the Supreme Court] is abiding by the Constitution,” said Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin, branding court reform efforts as “a toxic power grab” chipping away at the constitutional separation of powers.

Here's the Democrats trying to give people in DC access to representation:

https://oversight.house.gov/release/hearing-wrap-up-republicans-warn-h-r-51-is-an-unconstitutional-unworkable-democrat-power-grab/

Republicans warned the Democrats’ bill is an unconstitutional power grab that will result in the District receiving greater benefits than citizens of any other state

This isn't hypothetical partisan complaining.. the past is littered with examples of Democrats attempting to do the very things that people complain they aren't doing -- with Republicans whipping up lies to feed the electorate undermining those efforts.

[–] Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world 1 points 35 minutes ago (1 children)

Right. But here's the thing.

Those issues you brought up probably don't even make the top 10 in terms of issues that are important to the average voter. Your average voter doesn't care about "fixing" a system that they believe has been long since broken anyway, regardless of who is offering to do the fixing. It's not even a matter of who's right or wrong. It's the fact that the entire issue is just not important to the average voter to begin with. To your average voter, it will just come off as Democrats being out of touch with kitchen table issues and just trying to implement "fixes" that will primarily cement their own power. Even if those fixes end up having benefits for the average voter, they'll be seen as largely irrelevant if it doesn't actually help them pay the bills.

Put that up against someone who's making promises (regardless of how empty) that he will do things that will actually impact everyday voters, and the ones making those promises are going to win every time. Kamala Harris promising to fix the government while Trump is promising to actually bring prices down (Yes, I know....) would have just led to her losing by an even bigger margin.

[–] dan@lemmy.i.secretponi.es 1 points 30 minutes ago

That's the rub. The issues that the average voter thinks they're concerned about were spoon-fed to them by the liars. Which means we can either have Democrats also lie, or they can tell the truth and fix the actual problems.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 0 points 2 hours ago

Democrats have been there out spouting the truth of the situation, but that's not enough.

What truth? Anti-oligarchy rhetoric in the Democratic party outside the narrow progressive bloc is basically a rounding error, and "everything is fiiiine" is definitely not the truth. Republicans are lying pieces of shit, sure, but the DNC habitually lies too and their lies fucking suck to boot.

[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 hours ago

I feel like AOC as president, and Bernie as VP would be so transformative... But Bernie isn't getting any younger. Ideally, he'd have won instead of Hillary years ago...

[–] eran_morad@lemmy.world 8 points 4 hours ago

Bernie may just be the hero of our timeline. He’s still full of piss and vinegar. Bruh should have been Prez.

[–] twistypencil@lemmy.world 7 points 4 hours ago

Call you democratic senator and ask them why this doesn't count as doing something and why aren't they doing this

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 hours ago

I hope so. Maybe they're waking up because it's hurting them?

[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

Is there an article or source for this? I love Bernie, but I haven't seen much good news.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 3 points 2 hours ago

Look up his anti-oligarchy tour. It's a thing. That said, this doesn't really qualify as good news, because MAGA people liking progressive policy and the Bernie-Trump pipeline aren't news in any sense of the word.

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Literally returns on every search engine.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Please. These are the Democrats in these ridiculously-gerrymandered districts with all MAGA election boards who are out for some scalps.

If there was a MAGA revolt one month into the hell they could not fucking wait for, I’m Elmo fucking Munsk.

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

You apparently don't read the news then.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

More or less true. Who’s saying its a republican revolt?

[–] dhork@lemmy.world 16 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

I'll believe this backlash matters when Republicans in Congress start doing the simple things to ensure that President Musk and First Lady Trump abide by the law. Until then, I will assume every Republican is 100% on board with screwing their constituents.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 6 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I’ll believe in the backlash if Dems sweep the 2026 elections.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 5 points 2 hours ago

We cannot wait to stop the traitors.

[–] ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world 22 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

Would be nice if the Democrat politicians could pull their proverbial fingers out and start soaking up en masse. Seems like right now only a few have really stepped up. This is their chance to redefine themselves to be useful activists.

Failing that, a new and very vocal movement/party to actively oppose the GOP needs to emerge. (Though I am fully aware of how difficult it is for new party's to emerge in the American political system.)

[–] usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml 8 points 3 hours ago

Rather than just waiting for it to happen, we can put the pressure to make it happen. Groups like Indivisible are putting pressure on Dems to step up more and Republicans to step up at all

They pressure is starting to change dem's actions. They have started using more aggressively using some procedural tools to slow down senate confirmations (can't fully block without republican votes). For instance, they denied unanimous consent and held the floor for the 30 hours against Russel Vought (and I believe RFK too)