I’ve got a post percolating about this in depth but suffice to say I am alarmed and saddened to see so many of my liberal/progressive friends falling for information warfare designed to not only to undermine support for their causes but, more importantly, to influence their vote in November.
@patrickrhone Hmm. I look forward to sampling your percolations as soon as they are fully brewed. I have concerns that seem similar.
@patrickrhone I'm seeing the crash happening in slow motion from my end but am still cautiously optimistic (we have a choice about how we feel, right?) but love to hear/read your thoughts since you are selective about them.
@fgtech @stupendousman I happen to be fortunate enough to have long time friends on the inside of certain parties and campaigns who are willing to share some general sentiments off the record with people like me who rarely discuss politics online...
I have hope but, frankly, the folks who I see falling prey to this stuff are making it waiver.
The bottom gist of it is this... Turnout is what wins elections. Period. Whoever gets people to the polls and marking the boxes win.
Certain people are working very, VERY, hard to get others to either a) stay home or b) not check a particular box because it is their only path to their candidate winning.
@pratik @stupendousman @fgtech You should send me an email because there's specifics I'll not be able to write about publicly but can there (i.e. "How do you know this stuff?").
That's the main part of the percolation, how to say what I can say without saying too much.
For now, I'll put this in simple terms...
The only way Donny Dictator wins is if those who should vote for Dark Brandon don't because reasons.
Not voting is a vote for Donny Dictator. Leaving the box for President unchecked is a vote Donny Dictator. Writing in something else is a vote for Donny Dictator.
Every politically tinged post you see between now and November should be filtered through that lens because there are people both internal and external working actively to make that happen.
@patrickrhone it’s disappointing to see people vote on a manipulated emotion instead of a clear understanding of the consequences.
@jsonbecker Yep.
And emotions are so easily manipulated.
They are also, sometimes, very real and valid. Those are the ones especially exploitable.
@patrickrhone Okay, yeah, this sounds like exactly what I thought. It is very hard to explain why we are stuck with a two party system, but we are. I am sympathetic to people who want a third party to emerge. I was there once, too. But the reality is reality and unity is hard to achieve.
@patrickrhone I dissent from "Writing in something else is a vote for Donny Dictator." POTUS is not elected by national popular vote. Indiana will again be solidly in the tank for the Orange Narcissist from Queens. Therefore, I can vote for someone I more or less agree with, which this year is not D or R.
@patrickrhone @stupendousman @fgtech
Not voting is a vote for Donny Dictator. Leaving the box for President unchecked is a vote Donny Dictator. Writing in something else is a vote for Donny Dictator.
Every politically tinged post you see between now and November should be filtered through that lens.
This is it. That should be the only thing worth repeating. Surprisingly, conservatives who are perceived as less smart than liberals seem to understand this better.
@patrickrhone The Republicans have long realized that they don't have to convince the other side. They have to merely discourage them from voting and just to be sure, make it more difficult for the potential Democratic voters to cast their vote. OTOH, liberals who don't get this (or perhaps pretend not to) play right into their hands.
@patrickrhone My name is Donny and for obvious reasons I resent this entire thread 🤓
For what it’s worth, as someone who considers it significant enough that I will almost certainly cast a reluctant vote for Biden, I also dissent from the pigeonholing. In my humble opinion, the accusations of “wasted votes” and “a vote for x is a vote for y” is exactly the herding, guilt-tripping, political border-policing that lead us to The Great Orange Clown in the first place.
@tinyroofnail Sorry for the name similarities.
I can listen to that view and can even agree with it in some cases. This case is not one of them.
I can tell you from direct personal knowledge that there are many in the Tr*mp campaign that are banking on exactly that viewpoint.
It’s part of why even his narcissism did not keep him from getting up in front of the Libertarians and get mercilessly booed. He welcomes that viewpoint. It helps him.
@patrickrhone I’m with you on that front. Also for what it’s worth, I come from deep, blue-collar reunion Republic territory. And I’ve been debating this endlessly for 10 years now. I can tell you that there are fast swaths of the population that with never vote for the democratic candidate — much less a Clinton or a Biden. The closest thing to a victory that I can (possibly) claim for those exhaustive and exhausting debates is that some of my counterparts abstained. People who had never skipped a presidential election box, never (with the exception of Ross Pero) chosen anything other than the Republican candidate, and who had spent their lives actively ridiculing Democrats and “abstainers,” chose to protest with a blank. Again, I’m with you on the importance of keeping T-dog out and plan to do my part, but I also count longtime Republican voters who abstain or veer away as at least a small victory.
On the other side of the isle, the idea that longtime Democrats would not show up for their man on this of all elections — it bottles the mind.
@tinyroofnail I can’t understand anyone that doesn’t understand there ability to choose something better in the future is on the line.
@patrickrhone No one has done more work putting to words the reasons I agree with you than Nick Catoggio, and funny enough, his newsletter tonight is exactly about all this. Funny timing
@patrickrhone What may be more important than POTUS is the Senate. No law, SCOTUS appointment, or impeachment conviction happens without 60 votes in the Senate.
