this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2024
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Reagan was one of the worst things to happen to the US. Maybe we should just stop electing shitty actors to do a difficult job.
Reagan (or more specifically Michael Deaver) taught us that propaganda works incredibly well, almost every time.
Most of us didn’t learn it though. And here we are.
Hitler (and many mfers before him) already taught that lesson, people fall for it every, single, time.
That’d require learning a lesson. And we’re collectively far too stupid to do that.
100% agree
I'd argue the opposite on that tho.
We kept hearing with Biden that a president can't do much, it's all Congress.
So why are we running career politicians when the majority of America hates politicians? Why did we just one an ex-prosecuter when most Dem voters hate our justice system?
Like, we can at least halfway it with someone like Al Franken, someone that started out somewhere else then switched to politics. But why not just say fuck it and run Taylor Swift for president? Count on her carrying the entire down ballot and getting dual majorities and she just has to not veto what lands on her desk.
Either the president doesn't really do anything and is just a figurehead or it has to be someone with decades of government experience.
It can't be both.
But there's certainly no reason to keep picking people with zero charisma for what's basically a convoluted popularity contest. Even foreign relations, I guarantee foreign leaders would give Brad Pitt a better deal than Joe Biden. They're not getting down into the nitty gritty, the drones work out the details anyways.
Obama and Bill won off their charisma above all. Biden as well was incredibly charismatic back in the day, it's just as came out recently, his health had been an issue basically the entire term. I'm not saying this as a dig, but he is a shell of his former self. 40 years ago he was considered the best public speaker of his generation.
As much as I want a progressive and think they'd win on policy, what matters before the platform is charisma and we need to admit that.
It's insane we didn't learn it after Al Gore, but clearly the DNC didnt.
It doesn't matter how good you are at a job if you can't get hired.
The most important quality of any presidential candidate is being able to win a convoluted popularity contest.
So we need to look at people that fit that criteria, then find a good candidate. Not find someone who would be a good president, that's the easy part, there's a shit ton of people who could be a good president like Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho, he didn't have to be smart, just be popular and listen to a smart guy who told him what to do.
Exactly.
They do not have the experience or necessarily even the qualities required to win a popularity contest on that scale.
So I'm saying we find an empty suit that is good at winning popularity contests then listen to the party leaders in the House and Senate, since they're the ones with decades of political experience, and I was about to write "and they write the laws" then remembered it's mostly lobbyists and think-tank employees these days writing legislation.
But that's a whole nother issue.
I’m not sure I agree with the strategy because that’s kind of what Trump is and it has not led to the Republican Congresses somehow being more effective
But it has led to Republican voters getting what they wanted. Roe v Wade is no more. We're getting tariffs that career politicians know are harmful.
So a leftist equivalent would support Medicare For All, which is very popular with the public but unpopular with career politicians.
We can worry about that once we can consistently keep Republicans out of the White house
For the past 3 elections we've been told that's all that matters and we're 1/3
If you expand your view enough you can make any claim.
For the past 5 elections we’re 3/5. For the past 7 we’re 3/7. For the past 9 we’re 5/9.
Except I was referring specifically to the claims that the only thing that mattered was anyone besides trump. But since you want to go back further:
Go back one more candidate and you have Obama...
We won that because Obama had charisma and people like him.
Before that Gore and Kerry, both uncharismatic but were definitely qualified in every other way, both lost.
Before that was Bill, also insanely charismatic...
So going back to 92, about 30 years:
Charismatic Dem candidates:
4/4
Uncharismatic Dem candidates:
1/5
Does this help?
Do you understand why the most important metric when picking a presidential candidate is charisma?
Quick edit:
For bonus points both Bill and Obama were criticized in their primary by political establishment and mainstream media that they were too young and didn't have the experience...
It didn't appear to hurt them in the elections.
Just a small note that Al Gore did win the election. He got ratfucked by Roger Stone et al in Florida. The governor of Florida happened to be his opponent's brother. And Gore folded like a card table with his high road Democrat bullshit.
Gore was told by the party they didn't have his back, so it was down to him and his campaign that had just spent all it's money.
There 100% should have been a fight for it, although from what I recall it wasn't 100% Gore did actually win it. There was 100% shady shit, but at least what was found out was legal shady shit.
But Gore wasnt what the DNC wanted in a candidate anyways, and they were unwilling to spend the political capital on the fight. I think the literal capital too, they may have refused to pay for the recount?
This has been looked into though:
https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/31/politics/bush-gore-2000-election-results-studies/index.html
So Gore could have won, but he didn't challenge the right thing and still would have lost the recount that wasn't completed
But if the DNC had backed him like the RNC backs their candidate (regardless of who it is) they could have challenged both and Gore would have been the candidate.
Good points. I don't think the Republicans would have stopped the counts if they thought they were going to win. I'm firmly certain that he won, and they were tossing Gore votes during the hand count due to absolute bullshit. Remember hanging chads?
Did you read the link?
What makes you more confident in your opinion then what they found?
Because this is who they had working on it:
And if you on your own are better than Al that, well, if you're not already in auditing professionally then you need to be.
Well I'm better than everybody so of course I'm better than all those hacks. Seriously though, thanks. I concede.
Note: Not Musk.
Yes, an apartheid white overlord is what we need. This blows my mind. I just argued with a relative over Christmas who thinks he’s super cool. MAGA of course.
"Most career politicians are ~~fine and will do a competent job given the chance~~" only concerned with keeping their position.
This may be ego, greed, self preservation, or most likely a combination. On the Dem side I'll pick Pelosi and Schumer as examples. Each thinks they are the best for the position, each has become rich, each continues to make deals to keep their position.
Keep in mind that while the president can't do a lot of things unilaterally, there are a lot of things he can do to block, delay, and disrupt. Biden's plans were mostly creating new things, which takes Congress. Trump just wants to destroy. It's always easier to destroy than build.
Very true and right alongside "a lie makes it halfway around the world before the truth gets its shoes on".
It's so fucking depressing. Makes me want to give up on cold, dark, rainy days when I'm alone like today.
Isolation makes it much harder to be compassionate. Don't forget, you're not alone
Thanks friend. I know. I just hate the winter. If I could develop the ability to hibernate 3 months of the year and still pay my bills I would take it.
The lack of understanding is simply astounding, all for mental gymnastics.
The president has to do a ton to navigate the political mess, negotiate with others, and press the issues they want with both their party and with the other party. That takes skill, knowledge, and experience.
But they are NOT a king that gives orders. That's where you are twisting the presidents limited power to "doesn't really do anything". Ultimately the bill has to be written and passed by Congress, to be signed by the president. The President has to use their words (not their power, because that's not how it works) to convince others to do it. Again, because they are not a king.
I don't always agree with you but I appreciate the effort you put into your posts. Thank you for contributing
You're an interesting person. Sometimes I outright despise the things you say and other times I think you're on the right track.
This guy's cooking.
Reagan was a shitty actor with a good persona and voice. He was simply hired to act as POTUS, reading the script written by American billionaires.
And that's been the president's role ever since
It was attempted many times before that. Rockefeller and Carnegie and many others attempted it at the turn of the century and lost.
Worst thing so far.
To the world even, because everyone copies the US.
Thatcher has her part of the blame as well. Mulroney in Canada and so on...
The whole Luigi Mangione thing has made me wanna rewatch V for Vendetta. Really hope the case turns out like that movie.
I genuinely wish we were in the timeline where the worst thing he ever did was Bedtime for Bonzo. The fact that people worship this ass clown... it tears the heart...
OTOH, some actors have done pretty good jobs as politicians. Schwarzenegger--a GOP governor that actually listened to people!--Jesse Ventura (not a great governor, TBH, but decent), and Al Franken are examples of actors that ended up being pretty solid politicians. Ideally, a good politician is someone that has connections to people that understand good public policy, and can then communicate that effectively to the public in order to lead well.
The problem with Reagan isn't the acting per se, but that he was an awful person, and so good at connecting with people that a lot of people couldn't see his rotten core.
I should've emphasized "shitty". Have we had a terrible actor that's a good politician yet (genuinely don't know)? I want to believe that being a good actor requires some measure of empathy, so it's not surprising that reagan and the current pissy creamsicle were hacks.
We've had terrible politicians who were even worse actors if that counts. I'm thinking of "B-1" Bob Dornan to be specific.
When he was younger maybe but as he got older reagen needed teleprompter for virtually everything. He had lost his ability to speak off the cuff as his alzheimers progressed