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  • We beat Trump in 20 and went “well, good thing that’s over lmao” and didn’t do a goddamn thing to fix the underlying problem.

    Do you remember the difficulty experienced in passing any legislation during the Biden years?

    Man, Dems are insufficient, and insufficient in pushing back against the fascists. But that's not the same as "There was no appetite for reform amongst the Dems as long as they were in power."

    • Exactly. It's absolutely a tragedy that the Democrats are the best option we have due to the systems in place. It's also a fact.

      That is unless someone has a true class revolution in their pockets. Something that isn't one of those we promise to be a slightly more benevolent dictator Vanguard revolutions.

      • All I want is for the democrats to do better, for people to expect better of them.

        • Everyone does. But constantly punishing them doesn't teach them any actual lesson. If you are trying to train a puppy. If you constantly swat or admonish it for not doing exactly what you want to the letter. It's going to get rightfully indignant and shit in your shoes. As voters, as a population. We've been far too detached and scatterbrained. Not focused enough to actually train them to what we are looking for. So they latch on to those who give them positive feedback and resources.

          It's kind of like the situation with young men and the so called manosphere. So many of them aren't getting any positive engagement. So when a misogynist bigot like Andrew Tate comes along and tells them that they aren't wrong everyone else is wrong etc etc etc. They attach and identify to him. Similarly in the wake of the destruction of the unions. Democrats have struggled for actual funding. Their only true consistent funding has come from many fascistic wealthy donors. And do you know how we got in that position? The unions felt Carter hadn't done enough for them. So they withheld endorsement for his second term and denied a lot of funding for his presidential campaign. They showed him. He didn't get re_elected and they became irrelevant. Instead the fake folksy fascist got in office and did damage we still haven't even begun to address. Let alone address the damage being done now.

          We need to support Democrats like Sanders Cortez Etc. We need to encourage more Sanders and Cortez to run, and primary democrats. And we need to give them the numbers and ability to pass their agenda. We also need to focus more on state parties Less on the national parties. But that's another thing. Right now no matter what good things Warren Cortez or Sanders might want to get accomplished. They won't because they can't. And people will blame democrats for not getting things done. And the cycle will continue

    • I do. As such, I find it mystifying that with such a narrow lead in Congress, the republicans are shredding the constitution with no meaningful resistance. There is no supermajority in the legislature today, and yet the TAKE IT DOWN act sailed through with zero issues, and, in fact, unanimous democratic support. Don't tell me that Biden was too worried about convention, because he issued pre-emptive pardons for his staff and family; he was worried enough about fascism to bend the rules for him and his, just not worried enough about it to do the same for the rest of us.

      • As such, I find it mystifying that with such a narrow lead in Congress, the republicans are shredding the constitution with no meaningful resistance.

        Because laws are toothless when not enforced, and guess who controls all the levers of enforcement currently?

        There is no supermajority in the legislature today, and yet the TAKE IT DOWN act sailed through with zero issues, and, in fact, unanimous democratic support.

        ... why is that particular bill a problem?

        Don’t tell me that Biden was too worried about convention, because he issued pre-emptive pardons for his staff and family; he was worried enough about fascism to bend the rules for him and his, just not worried enough about it to do the same for the rest of us.

        Wait, what are you saying Biden should have done?

        • Because laws are toothless when not enforced, and guess who controls all the levers of enforcement currently?

          Dude, I'm just dead fucking tired of the republicans having like a three seat lead which means that they've got an unstoppable majority to vote for pouring orphans into the shredder just for shits and giggles, but then democrats are one seat shy of a supermajority and it's just excuse after excuse after excuse why we couldn't get the most boring dollar store version of a left wing policy passed. "Oh, well, Kristen Sinema kicked my ice cream out of my hand :(", "fox news is gonna be real upset, guys", "okay, but what if we met the republicans halfway with their counter proposal of 'go fucking kill yourself'?"

          … why is that particular bill a problem?

          It's like if DMCA fell into that same chemical vat that made the Joker. What the bill says it's for seems harmless enough, but basically it opens the door for anyone to threaten any platform over almost any content they don't like.

          According to congress.gov, it specifically covers:

          • an adult subject where publication is intended to cause or does cause harm to the subject, and where the depiction was published without the subject’s consent or, in the case of an authentic depiction, was created or obtained under circumstances where the adult had a reasonable expectation of privacy; *

          https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/146

          So, here's the problem, the text of the bill defines the publication loosely enough that a political cartoon about Trump could plausibly get hit by the TAKE IT DOWN act, because he's an adult subject, the publication is arguably causing him harm, and it was published without his consent.

          Wait, what are you saying Biden should have done?

          The moment he knew Trump, the guy he campaigned against as being a dangerous fascist, won the election, he should have started executive ordering the tools of fascism dismantled immediately. Order ICE dismantled or severely dismantled or furloughed, order the NSA mass surveillance program put on pause or dismantled or furloughed, and if the SCOTUS deems the EOs junk, then the SCOTUS does that, fine, but he could have at least tried to take these tools off the table instead of just trying to shield him and his.

          • Dude, I’m just dead fucking tired of the republicans having like a three seat lead which means that they’ve got an unstoppable majority to vote for pouring orphans into the shredder just for shits and giggles, but then democrats are one seat shy of a supermajority and it’s just excuse after excuse after excuse why we couldn’t get the most boring dollar store version of a left wing policy passed. “Oh, well, Kristen Sinema kicked my ice cream out of my hand :(”, “fox news is gonna be real upset, guys”, “okay, but what if we met the republicans halfway with their counter proposal of ‘go fucking kill yourself’?”

            It's considerably harder to play by the rules than it is to ignore them. Regardless of whether you think that's the tactically correct choice at this junction, such asymmetric power will always be the case whenever there is a party that is openly hostile to the basic functioning of the state and too popular to repress or ignore.

            So, here’s the problem, the text of the bill defines the publication loosely enough that a political cartoon about Trump could plausibly get hit by the TAKE IT DOWN act, because he’s an adult subject, the publication is arguably causing him harm, and it was published without his consent.

            I feel like that's a really questionable reading of the text, especially considering that even progressive Dems supported it.

            The moment he knew Trump, the guy he campaigned against as being a dangerous fascist, won the election, he should have started executive ordering the tools of fascism dismantled immediately. Order ICE dismantled or severely dismantled or furloughed, order the NSA mass surveillance program put on pause or dismantled or furloughed, and if the SCOTUS deems the EOs junk, then the SCOTUS does that, fine, but he could have at least tried to take these tools off the table instead of just trying to shield him and his.

            I mean, I don't disagree that that would've been preferable as at least symbolic resistance to fascism, but it also wouldn't have changed anything.

            Biden is the man who lost the republic, and is very core to this whole fucking disaster. I just don't think that, in broad strokes, he had the power to meaningfully restrict the tools the fascist regime incoming has to play with.

            I mean, other than not appointing fucking moderates in the Justice Department and attempting to run again, thus cratering the Dem campaign before it began. But if either of those happened, we might not have lost the election to fascists to begin with.

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