Basically if you're willing to kiss the right rings, the barrier is not too high.

If you intend to be a populist and serve the broad interests of most of your constituents, the barrier to entry is sky high.

Ban them from accepting straw donations, ban CPACs, ban PACs, ban revolving doors, ban stock ownership, enforce the emoluments clause, ban all the foreign money from the USA politics, and institute a campaign finance reform.

It's almost like the billionaire-owned media was busy manufacturing consent and it was going somewhat well for some time.

I mean Biden has had a series of the senility moments caught on tape, but before the presidential debate the billionaire-owned media successfully manufactured consent by telling the voters to ignore their lying eyes. Not all the senior moments were equally bad, so plenty of plausible sounding excuses were generated.

After the presidential debate the reality of Biden's condition was so blatantly exposed, the consent-making machine panicked and started furiously backtracking.

This situation isn't a joke because a lot of the billionaires will be negatively affected once Trump becomes King in November. With his King powers Trump can make CNN and MSNBC cease to exist. CNN and MSNBC don't give two hoots about journalism or about holding power to account (they'd have to hold their own billionaire owners to account then), but they do care massively about their own safety. They are scared now because they no longer believe Biden has a chance.

And all this insanity happened because none of the players in this story trust the democratic process. None of them trust the American people. None of the involved players respect the voters. They all believe they know what's best for us.

If we had a real open and democratic primary none of this would be happening.

If voting is all you do, that will kick the can down the road and buy some time (I assume a Democrat will win), but will not change the dynamics at play.

Buying time is good but insufficient to keep our democracy.

No the game is over when the rules change.

If you are playing hockey and suddenly a referee with real authority over the game starts using the rules of basketball, hockey is OVER no matter what the players do. It doesn't matter what the players do.

SCOTUS has changed the rules.

If you can't come to terms with what has happened, the one living in a fantasy land is you.

Any American who does not think we are electing a King this November is a dangerously ignorant citizen.

Anyone can sign up to Lemmy. Including image management consultants.

If you think Biden's corner doesn't have paid professional image management consultants I have a bridge to sell you.

Don't be discouraged! Stand your ground and rep your political position diligently and constantly.

There are no risks and no downsides to the behavior of the SCOTUS judges, starting but not ending with Clarence Thomas.

Ask yourself, if you did some paperwork and got massive financial rewards and zero risks, zero downsides, would you do it again? Would you do twice as much of it?

We are electing a King this November thanks to SCOTUS and the GOP.

Is Biden a good King for us? That's what we need to be asking.

*Checks to see if Trump's lips are moving...* Yeeupp.

LIAR!

"First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a 'more convenient season.'"

-- Martin Luther King Jr.

(emphasis mine)

Also, Cotham can suck it for getting voted in as a Democrat then switching parties within months in a very very blue district. She ran on protecting abortion rights then voted to ban it after joining the Republican party.

Scumbag move. This kind of behavior needs consequences.