mercfan3

The hilarious thing is the result is not good for either of them. Haley didn’t win. Clearly not good for her. but Trump didn’t destroy her either. She doesn’t have a reason to drop out yet. Biden winning with write - in ballots is hilarious, too.

Guys, that was our President. it’s embarrassing.

I’m an American before I’m a Democrat. we’ve got way too much going on Internationally, which Trump wouldn’t be limited on..and he could do some damage domestically too. there’s also the whole “I’m not sure we’d get to vote again” thing.

I’m pretty sure Biden would at least have Trump if he fell asleep. That would just mean Donald spoke more. actually, it would mean Nikki got asked more questions too, so… Biden was fine in the last debates. He’s really not any different now. It’s just kinda mean to have an 80 year old be President…

Bill Clinton is younger than both of them. He was President 30 years ago. Normally I’d be concerned about uncle Joe in a debate, but he’ll slap Donald or Nikki around. He’s forgotten more policy knowledge than either of those two will ever know. I’m not actually surprised that Ron endorsed Donald. From the outside looking in, there seems to be a divide amongst the GOP..the fear mongering policy candidates vs corporate interest policy candidates. (Anti-wokeness/anti immigration vs let’s make the retirement age 70)..and for the most part Ron and Donald align there.

You can judge someone as an individual, and recognize that people of different races have different experiences, as the coach of the Patriots said - who you dismissed.

Nah, the Patriots coach is 100% correct. The “I don’t see race” is colorblind bullcrap, and actively harms people - because you then refuse to see lived experiences of those of a different race. we aren’t all treated the same by society, in many different ways. We can’t just ignore that. on another note, Haley is now questioning if Trump is mentally fit to be in office. (given he just confused her and Nancy…) Non Maga republicans should stop playing around and start this narrative because..well..he’s not. edit: Jesus Christ on those tweets. How does anyone look at those and go “yes. Definitely should have the nuclear codes”

I saw Christie in an interview- and he’s 100% right - Meadows got immunity, and he’s going to snitch. Completely. I think the expectation is this happens in March. there is a lot of talk of DeSantis dropping out if he implodes in New Hampshire. He should hold on because he might get those Trump voters..

PSLF is Public Service Loan forgiveness. It’s on the promissory note of any student loan borrowers that if you work for 10 years in a public interest job, your loans will be forgiven. This program wasn’t created by Joe Biden (Bush actually), but it was fixed by him. SAVE is the student loan program Biden put together, that is excellent. If you make payments, you don’t owe interest, and it cuts payments significantly (not gonna do the math, but many low income earners won’t owe anything) after 20 years, loans are forgiven. (If you don’t qualify for PSLF) you may not need money in your pocket, but many Americans do because of the deregulation of corporations since Reagan and the student loan mess. Personally, I want my tax dollars to go towards helping people… these programs are also very easily payed for if everyone is paying their fair share..in fact generally, Dems may spend more on social programs but they improve the deficit (Clinton even got it to a surplus), while Republicans make it significantly worse. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/jul/29/tweets/republican-presidents-democrats-contribute-deficit/

Biden is the first president that has directly helped me. generally I want policies that help people, and I’m understanding when I’m not in the group that is helped, as long as it’s helping someone. (The child credit for instance, or the free school lunches) but for the first time with a President, there are multiple policies that have/will benefit me..significantly so..(Fixing PSLF, the used electric car credit, SAVE) when it’s all said and done, his policies are probably going to put about 10,000 in my bank account throughout his presidency. so obviously I like Biden. I think my frustration with Dems (and it’s mostly DSA) is that he has achieved significant policy changes that Dems say they want, and yet it’s always not good enough. and, imo it’s because he’s boring and he’s not selling unicorns. is Joe my favorite? No. I like Bill and Obama more, personally. Is he the best president I’ve had in my lifetime? Policy wise, absolutely, but he has the ability to put in place policies that Bill didn’t because of the political makeup of the country. Obama, I feel, did an overall good job..but he compounded the mistakes Bush made in education, and I work in education..so I’m a little mad about it.

I assume you’re young and actually pay attention to policy? it doesn’t matter. People don’t pay attention to it - and when they do, they get it wrong. on the other side, the amount of shit that Joe Biden has gotten done policy wise that a majority of Dems say they want is astronomical - and incredible considering the makeup of Congress. and yes, Palestine is making him unpopular (not that the DSA understands that issue), but if it wasn’t Palestine..it would be something else. people don’t want good policies, they want charisma and theater.

Trump DeSantis Haley Caucuses really aren’t Democratic because it’s about having a passionate base. Though I think Haley likely has more voters than DeSantis, she’s just getting the never trumpers, I think the stat is that about half of her supporters would vote for Biden over Trump. so she doesn’t have the engagement of the other bases.

Look at all those Iowa fans that Nikki didn’t endear herself too. Caitlin is amazing for women’s sports. There are a ton of super marketable wcbb players soon to be professional - the NIL and their play is going to make them so much more money than their predecessors.

Of course if a great basketball player transitions it would be an issue, but I guess my point is I just think it’s super unlikely to happen…and that it is much more likely to have a trans man at an elite athletic sport. (Though I agree, it would happen at a high school level, which is unfair) and as much as I agree that it’s not a problem if women want to and can compete with men - I just think it’s unfair to force someone with the biology of a woman to compete against all biological men. The WNBA player I mentioned is 5’9. If we were to force him to compete against professional men, he’s out of a job. and my point is, for whatever reason, the trans movement only focuses on the feelings/wants of trans women (because like you said, women who can compete against men, usually do. So why would a trans women be different?), as opposed to the actual harm/lost opportunities for trans men.

The sports convo is interesting in itself. I think the trans movement has some problematic elements to it, and one of those is who it centers - which tends to be trans women. imo, unless the trans woman is highly skilled, her participating in a team sport - where yes, physicality matters, but really skills and intelligence can matter more, imo it’s unlikely to impact the best women’s players. Because the best women’s players are bigger than the average man anyway. (The aforementioned Bueckers played one on one vs Suggs her whole life) Furthermore, it’s just unlikely to happen at the highest level - it’s rare for a trans woman to be an athlete. Where it is a problem for cis girls is in high school. however this is where the problem lies - the most likely trans athlete is a trans man. Who will most certainly be harmed, at some level of whatever sport he played, if forced to play with the gender they transitioned to. So to me, forcing the athlete to play with their transitioned gender actually will end up hurting trans athletes more too. (And in fact, the WNBA recognized this, as a trans man is still employed on a team). which is why I say sometimes the trans movement focuses too heavily on one of its demographics..

she’s phenomenal, though I’ve got my Paige Bueckers colored glasses on. btw, if Haley messes up Paige’s name in CT, she’ll be escorted out of the state and not allowed back.

this is gonna hurt her more in Iowa than the slavery answer. like, if Clark was on the ballot it would be a landslide victory. She’s Iowa’s sweetheart.

he defended Florida curriculum that states there were positives to being enslaved. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/07/ron-desantis-florida-slavery-curriculum https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/28/disgusting-black-republicans-livid-over-desantis-slavery-attack-00108776 Im sure you’ll defend and twist it, but it’s just as bad (arguably worse) than Nikki’s gaffe.

Well, you know..he hates Americans and Jews, so they agree politically like I said. Somehow a Biden presidency has managed to calm MAGA down, but the DSA has gone full crazy.

southern Republicans. the south literally calls the civil war “the war of Northen Aggression” and still tries to fly that confederate flag. She’s getting hammered by her opponents. But there is a reason she stumbled on this. Like, you know DeSantis would have said the same thing, right? we’ve got Trump quoting Hitler and now Nikki’s slavery denial. Awesome.

I mean Biden’s gaffes have been happening for 50 years now, they‘re old news. they’re also not “exclude slavery from the Civil War” gaffes. Though that says more about her base than her…

I have to admit, I thought it was kinda funny the first time when I didn’t think he had a prayer in actually winning. now I wish all of the nut jobs would just stay out of politics. the poll doesn’t surprise me. She has a ton of financial backers - it’s gonna show up. Btw, the demo to watch with Nikki is white women - and that’s why she’d easily win a general. (IMO, she’d have a shot at 60% of white women; which would be a landslide for her because Republicans do fall in line) luckily I don’t see her beating Trump.

Something interesting is that I haven’t seen too many powerful GOP members speak out against the ruling…

Sympathize is an interesting word. I think Palestinians have significantly worse lives than Israelis, (though I blame Hamas) does that mean I’m more sympathetic to them? Democrats are split on this. For the most part, it’s split between the DSA (Dem version of Maga) and Democrats. I suspect that the “refused to answer” is so big on the Dem group because of the vitriol from some loud members on the left for anyone who sticks up for Israel has silenced a lot of us. personally, I’ve agreed with Joe every step of the way. Yes, Israel has a right to safety, existence - and to end Hamas. But there needs to be Humanitarian considerations, and Bibi’s anti “two-state” stance is problematic.

I mean, I don’t like Jones, but Vivek essentially said that Democrats were trying to replace white people in America with minorities - and that absolutely is fear baiting white supremacy. Which is a little odd coming from him.. btw - Obama actually faked being more left than he was. He’s actually considerably to the right of Hillary Clinton, but went after college kids so had to appear more liberal. I think we don’t realize the extent of antisemitism because it really isn’t systemic in America. But I also think we’d all be more aware in a more highly populated areas. For instance I just learned that many synagogues in NyC have security because of bomb threats, and have since around 2006. imo, we do a poor job in education teaching about the history of Jewish people, and instead younger people learn that they are wealthy, running Hollywood, oppressing refugees, and every conspiracy theory leads to antisemitism..