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Cake day: May 7th, 2024

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  • If he would’ve done it early in his term, I suspect Trump would not have been elected president again.

    We would have had a civil war or at least an attempted one. Then the next time a MAGA-esque Republican came along, which would probably be in 2028 or 32 they’d feel free to completely take the gloves off. We would have validated and enabled that behavior by doing it ourselves.

    I do find it fascinating that you seem to be attributing this all to Biden. We have a relatively weak executive branch and separation of powers through different branches of government for a reason. Overturning that is the worst possible idea.




  • True. But the one thing we’ve got going for us is that it is demonstrably wrong and we didn’t fall into the trap of proving it was justified.

    Edit: well at least two people think it’s ok to use authoritarian political power to counter authoritarian political power. Do you really think that ever works out? Note that this is very distinct from something like civil war or overthrowing the government. It’s doing the exact thing you don’t want your opponent to do.



  • Breaking the rules isn’t fascism though. Fascism is fascism.

    It is precisely fascism. It’s ignoring the rule of law to achieve authoritarian aims. Why is it ok when you agree with the outcome and not ok when you don’t? But way more importantly, once you do it you cannot go back. If Biden did this and Trump ended up winning - make no mistake Biden has no authority to remove candidates from ballots - then Trump would feel completely justified in jailing his opponents.

    What do you think is a more ethical choice

    A. Because the premise of your choice is flawed. You do not know that breaking the law would stop him. You do not know -with certainty- that not breaking the law would result in that outcome. But we do know that being authoritarian to achieve aims we believe in is no better than people we disagree with doing the exact same. What would happen if Biden was successful in stopping Trump but then, because we wouldn’t ever keep unfettered presidential power… right? RIGHT? We’re the “good” guys… what would happen if MAGA Republicans won in 2028? I doubt we’d ever have another election again.


  • Right so… “let’s do the thing the fascist threatens to do because we’re right and it’s justified” is not the same thing as the fascist saying “we’ll do it because we’re right and it’s justified”.

    Easy to justify the means when you believe in the ends… but of course every one thinks they are right and that everyone else will come to believe they are right, thusly conveniently avoiding any bad consequences.

    Do you have any idea what would have happened if Biden just arrested Trump?



  • Believe it or not, I share your anger toward the Democratic Party. I’m not registered Dem for that reason. I just don’t care to limit my blame to one individual and say “oh well, that’s the problem”. Because the problem is way way bigger than that.

    Sanders was never going to win against the establishment candidate. No progressive candidate will, possibly not in our lifetimes and so saying things like “the democrats don’t give a fuck about fighting fascism. It’s all theatre to them” is, quite honestly, pointless and not constructive. For one, we know that’s not universally true. For another, what are you going to do about it, in practical terms?

    Let’s say that everything you state is true. What practical steps can you or I take to dislodge the DNC and put forth truly progressive candidates?

    The answer to this question is precisely why, while I understand and share the anger, I don’t feel shouting into the void and laying blame is a good use of time. Because ultimately there is no revolution. There is no wholesale transformation of the system that happens in a short period of time, no matter how much we want to shake our fists and protest.

    The only way to loosen the grip of the establishment parties is frustratingly slow, very incremental change. And that means blaming the DNC or anyone in the DNC and saying “well fuck them, I’m never voting for a Dem again” is counter-productive.


  • I’m claiming that people employ binary thinking and lay blame where the answer is just a wee bit more complex. Saying “Her selfishness is a direct cause of Biden being elected.” is flat-out ludicrous for all kinds of reasons, mainly that no one knows what would have happened if Bernie had been the candidate. Nobody’s even putting numbers on what “split the vote” even means. FFS.

    And look, I voted for Bernie. I even wrote him in in 2020 (I’m in CA).

    But the main reason I’m saying all this is that she had the right to run. It just comes across as incredibly shitty - AND exactly the same thinking that made HRC the candidate - to say “oh no, you there, you can’t run because it might split the vote”.