this post was submitted on 22 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 29 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

If they got somebody clever, it could help mitigate damage (e.g. pointing out Trump's own worse record, the fact that the GoP basically plans to erase democracy if they win, how some things people wanted are constantly being blocked by the GoP)

Sure as hell won't help regain lost votes, though

To do that, Biden needs to stop supporting the genocide, or if unable to, make it clear exactly why he is unable to

[–] [email protected] 20 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I mean it worked in 2020. Biden started the campaign with effectively a Republican slate of policy positions. Until the ratfucking on Sunday before super Tuesday, Bernie was running away with it.

To get Bernie's voters, Biden basically did a lift and shift of Bernie's entire policy platform. This got him the support of Bernie's massive grassroots movement, and is what won the election (and why we've seen such a progressive slate of domestic policies from Biden). At that time, Biden learned from the lesson that Hillary didn't: You can't shame voters into supporting you; you have to prioritize their issues.

Biden can do the same now. Its actually pretty easy to do so. He can come out strongly and say something like "While we still support our ally Israel, this genocide is wrong, and the extermination of a people is never an acceptable answer. Never again means never again, for any community"

And like you said, he can also just explain exactly why he is unable to do certain things. He can can just send some very strong signals.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Biden won in 2020 because Trump absolutely botched the national pandemic response. Now Biden is dealing with a recession on all but name, meteoric inflation, a war in Europe, and a genocide in Gaza. He obviously can't do much for the economy, but he has the deck stacked against him and is going to need the youth and muslim votes if he hopes to win in November. All he has really done for young voters is a few waves of student loan forgiveness. Nothing he does will win over "moderate" Republicans, so he needs to rally support from young voters.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (2 children)

He's wiped student loan debt for around 4.75 million people. Sounds like a lot but then you realize there's 45,000,000 with student loan debt and $1,750,000,000,000 total student loan debt.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

He’s wiped student loan debt for around 4.75 million people

He didn't wipe the debt out, he just stopped fighting in the courts over an existing loan forgiveness program that Betsy DeVos had decided to fuck with during Trump's first term. And the bulk of this loan forgiveness came as part of a deal that required 10 years of employment in a public sector career. Fucking with it meant undermining recruitment efforts by the Pentagon, the FBI, etc.

Biden is trying to take credit for a Clinton Era Program, not unilaterally writing off billions in debt.

Even setting aside the fact that $7B isn't even a percentage point on outstanding debt, this is purely headline gore and has little to do with Biden's domestic policies.

[–] anindefinitearticle 4 points 6 months ago (2 children)

ratfucking on Sunday before super Tuesday

Ummm, what is this referring to?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I believe this is referring to the famous Sunday meeting with all of the centrist candidates and former president Obama. This happened right after Bernie won the South Carolina primary.

As a result of that meeting, buttigieg dropped out and endorsed biden (He got Secretary of Transportation)

Klobuchar also dropped out and endorsed Biden. (She got Chairman of the Rules Committee)

Warren, also at the meeting, stayed in the race to split the left-leaning vote.

This backroom meeting was the turning point for the primaries. Previous to this meeting, Bernie had a solid lead. Afterwards, it was all Biden.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

This happened right after Bernie won the South Carolina primary.

Right after Bernie won the Nevada primary and shortly before he swept California. Biden won South Carolina in a landslide, thanks to a coalition of Atlantic Coast conservative democrats throwing their corporate lobbyist fueled and Pentagon endorsed support to the most reactionary candidate in the race.

Warren, also at the meeting, stayed in the race to split the left-leaning vote.

This gets overstated. Warren got her knife into Bernie's back when she accused him of psychically tanking the Hillary campaign. But she had next to no impact on the Midwestern primaries, where Biden trounced Bernie. That was much more about COVID depressing turnout and all the other midwestern candidates dropping out.

Previous to this meeting, Bernie had a solid lead.

He had a few break out states on the West Coast, but he wasn't yet polling above the 50% line. The Obama endorsement combined with the Klobacher/Buttigieg dropouts consolidated support behind Biden in the Rust Belt. It likely would have been a horse-race into the convention, but it wasn't a sure thing.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 6 months ago

Bernie bro conspiracy theories

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The problem with Biden saying he can't do things is that Trump will just come out the next day and say, "this problem would be solved on day one of my presidency."

Would it be true? Absolutely not. Would it matter? Absolutely not.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Doesn't matter... NO ONE is on the fence between Biden and Trump... Anyone on the fence is sitting between Biden and just not showing up... And for most of them, 'just not showing up' is the default... They need to be convinced to show up FOR someone, not against someone

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

If you want an honest answer, it's because for every 1 of the "stop the genocide" people, there's 2 people who support Israel's campaign to bomb Palestine. Mainly because Hamas is often seen as representing the Palestinian people and have done everything in their power to destroy sympathy for Palestinians, and secondarily because US-based advocates for a free Palestine have used methods that seem primarily designed to piss people off like setting up camps in public spaces and accusing random passers-by of partaking in genocide.

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-israel-gaza-poll-cbs-news/ Even after a shift away from Israel, only 37% think the US should even encourage Israel to stop the campaign. To me military aid to Israel makes exactly zero sense. But I also live in reality, and cutting off aid entirely would be political suicide until advocates for it do a better job of actually being convincing.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

Biden isn't going to win by converting Trump voters. Anybody who still thinks Trump is the best choice for America is not going to change their mind at this point. They are lost causes.

Biden is going to win by breaking apathy and making people realize that he is incredibly limited (by the Republican-led House) on what he can do in Israel. The genocide is popular with both leading parties. It sucks. Get over it.