The fact that I know more about US politics than my own country’s politics shows what’s wrong with US politics and social media.
It’s not just Lemmy doom-scrolling though.
Here’s an article about the upcoming US election in my native country’s national publication. There are others, I literally just searched for Trump on the front page.
This is not a publication trying to sell you doom and gloom either, they’re the least biased, most factual publication around these parts. Required by law to not hold a bias and also nationalized so there’s no profit motive for ragebait.
The US election is just considered important in many parts of the world. And to be fair, with the US being extremely important to NATO and Trump wanting to be done with NATO, aaaand many eastern-european countries being very much dependent on NATO to continue existing… You can see how Trump being elected could potentially affect tens if not hundreds of millions of people outside the US too.
Honestly I feel like the U.S. being a bit more isolationist is something most Americans (and a lot of other countries) would be ok with.
America doesn’t need to be the world police anymore, it needs to handle its own obvious internal issues and let NATO/UN have bigger teeth for a few decades. Maybe divert some of the the military budget to schools and healthcare or something.
edit: for clarity
Right? And sure the debate wasn’t good but it was also better after the first 10 minutes. And now the media is all over Biden and again amplifying trump. The Dems are infighting while Putin and xi put their feet up and laugh.
If you watch through the debate, you can -hear- him shit himself when Biden’s mic is muted, and like…
Look, I’m not going to body shame, and old people deal with problems of that nature sometimes. That’s cool. It happens.
But like… given the options, I’d rather have a president who is -usually- together and with it… than someone so accustomed to shitting themselves they can do so mid-sentence, televised, and think nothing of it. That is not a good look internationally. Literally all the other shit he spews aside.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qqG96G8YdcE&pp
This video, start it at 1:16:00. It happens around 1:16:25, right about when he says “tremendous”, but the context is fun.
In music class, my teacher had an analogy he’d bring up occasionally: the trashy, beat-up truck on the block could be rolled down a hill sans-driver and you’d hardly noticed a difference. On the pristine rolls royce, though, the smallest imperfection would be glaring.
He was using it as an illustration that, even as we got better, it would just be more important to put the effort in, but I feel it applies well here, too. Trump is covered in so much shit, it’s difficult to focus on any particular issue of his. And while Biden’s far from spotless, his errors stand out so much more that he basically needs to be perfect or he gets picked apart by his own side.
Posting about pedophilia on social media gets you deboosted, shadowbanned, etc. Don’t know if it’s by design, however tech giants love governments that want to remove regulations.
We already know Trump is abominable. But tons of people still fall for him… so we want someone who has the strength to defeat him… It’s not complicated. Biden needs to stand aside and give Dems the best chance we can get.
According to the Ipsos poll, Michelle Obama, who beats Trump by 11 points.
Even Harris polls 2 points higher than Biden, believe it or not. Biden has had the lowest approval ratings in the history of modern polling, so finding a replacement that polls better than him wouldn’t actually be that difficult.
I don’t think the incumbent advantage is as meaningful when you’re literally the least popular president of the 20th and 21st centuries. And, yes, that includes Trump. Think about that.
Plus, why do people act like the “incumbent advantage” is some magical advantage? It’s a cargo cult mentality, especially in this day and age where all the old “rules” about elections have gone out the window.
I mean, I remember the day where being twice-impeached and a convicted felon would be unrecoverable political death, yet here we are staring down the barrel of a possible second Trump term.
Biden is a historically unpopular president, who is behind in basically all polling in basically every key swing state, and who just had the mother of all “the emperor has no clothes” moments on national television, losing the confidence of his own base. Even Democratic congresspeople are calling on him to step down now.
There is simply no path forwards for Biden to win in November. He’s cooked.
As for replacements, personally, I think Gretchen Whitmer is the best choice. Relatively young, good compromise candidate between the progressive and moderate wings of the party, current beloved governor of Michigan (key swing state!), competent technocrat, no significant political baggage, and made a name for herself protecting abortion rights in Michigan after SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade.
“Let’s come up with reasons to support Trump without sounding like support for Trump for 200 Alex”
“Trump is a monster and I want someone who has a solid shot at fighting him so we all don’t lose.”
“I’m hearing you want Trump to win.”
