Reagan was loved by the country at the time and was extremely effective at implementing his agenda.
All of it is monstrous to me as well, but to compare him to Trump, who didn’t even try to implement much of an agenda and literally had ZERO party platform for his second term… it makes a little more sense in that context.
“Trump’s overall rating was 10.92, easily the worst showing, while Biden’s 62.66 had him tied with John Adams. Some of Biden’s appeal could be due to the person he followed in the Oval Office.”
Biden’s biggest achievements have been fixing the cluster-fuck Trump left him (cough - Covid - cough). If Trump hadn’t come before him, Biden would be seen largely as a placeholder President. Someone keeping the seat warm until the next Democrat can come in.
Also worth crediting him on the infrastructure deal. This piece of legislation had a lot of needed stuff in it.
For instance
Money to replace lead service pipes
Money for bridges, etc
A HUGE sorely needed investment in public transportation including passenger rail
Various green initiatives (ev charger network, solar and power efficiency incentives)
Etc.
It has been a really long time since the federal government has delivered anything (besides tax cuts that lean towards the wealthy) so it's a big deal that this was pushed through.
The infrastructure deal is largely invisible. The value behind it won’t be seen for decades and there will be years of fraud and abuse it will have to overcome.
Fair enough, it was watered down in the name of compromise. The last piece of major legislation that I was enthusiastic about was the ACA, and look what that ended being after negotiation/compromise - better than nothing I guess, but, in my opinion, a lost opportunity due to poor leadership. Biden has been fairly effective in that context.
City efforts to manage growing tent encampments usually take the form of punishing people for sleeping outside.
Will the right-wing court side with the cities because right-wingers love punishing people (especially the poor), or will they side with the homeless to stick it to liberal cities?
Possibly her contribution was important, but tbh it's also generally easy to cherry pick records to invent narratives like this.
Ocasio-Cortez again asked Cohen if the former president had ever inflated his assets. "Yes," Cohen answered.
This fraud was already documented at the time by journalists. Do you call this the "beginning", then? Also, Cohen was collaborating with authorities. Would the investigation not happen without that testimony?
Although AOC contributed there, this article is rather shallow as it misses the bigger picture where AOC was not in the center in my opinion.
I watched this live and you couldn’t be more obtuse. NO ONE else in the room was following this line of questioning. Sure reporters could have uncovered all of this eventually but she had the presence of mind to know this was under oath so it could move the prosecution along much faster.
Journalist Craig Unger at least mentioned this in 2018 in his book House of Trump, House of Putin. Likely that book is not the original source on this, so there should be some earlier one.
Lots of ‘burn it all to the ground’ users on lemmy I’ve found. They hate democrats so much that they end up being republican in the end. I try and ignore them, but there’s a handful each time a democrat is mentioned.
I’m 47 years old. I have a Master’s degree in software engineering and I have been homeless as of last year when I was priced out of existing anywhere but my 23 year old hatchback. I must be one of those outliers, huh? I must be an inconventient victim of neolberalism that could never happen to you.
I am much further along in my realization that electorialism is dead. There is not one person in the entire US government that can turn this around. It is too far gone. I’m sure that, if you were in my place, you already have come to realise how bleak things are. Stop being so smug and marginalizing those of us that are paying attention just because you fear being awakened from your privledged lifestyle. Electoralism isn’t going to magically fix this shithole. Things need far more of a reset than voting will EVER accomplish.
Let me guess, you want me to get out and vote for Biden?
I am an astronaut, I have been priced out of the electric guitar market for over a year, I no longer think this city was built on rock and roll. For this reason I will blah blah blah.....
I invite you to embrace that Democracy is not binary, and "people who hate democrats so they (sound/are) republican, so I ignore them" is a stupid way to look at it, and causes an immense amount of harm to the society as a whole.
There’s no winning on this site. I’d love a multi-party system, but our current set-up isn’t like that. Right now I’d like to keep what very little bodily autonomy I have as a woman. I’ve voted and protested for years. I don’t care if you think I’m ’harming society as a whole’ because of my singular comment. I’m honestly done. I really can’t take this anymore. Yes, I will be voting democrat because the other option is too dire to consider, and that’s if I make it that long. I’m glad you were able to sum up my entire being due to one response to a user asking ‘what’. I’m glad you’ve laid this blame at my feet and called me stupid to boot. Every user is (hopefully) a human being and I just can’t stand how hostile everyone is.
(Maybe the Presidency would be better off as a quorum. Right after the guillotines get packed away and everyone’s learned once again what treason gets you.)
MH: You, in the campaign, made one tweet, or made one statement, that referred to a killing by Israeli soldiers of civilians in Gaza and called it a “massacre,” which became a little bit controversial. But I haven’t seen anywhere — what is your position on Israel?
AOC: Well, I believe absolutely in Israel’s right to exist. I am a proponent of a two-state solution. And for me, it’s not — this is not a referendum, I think, on the state of Israel. For me, the lens through which I saw this incident, as an activist, as an organizer, if sixty people were killed in Ferguson, Missouri, if sixty people were killed in the South Bronx — unarmed — if sixty people were killed in Puerto Rico — I just looked at that incident more through . . . through just, as an incident, and to me, it would just be completely unacceptable if that happened on our shores. But I am —
MH: Of course the dynamic there in terms of geopolitics —
AOC: Of course.
MH: And the war in the Middle East is very different than people expressing their First Amendment right to protest.
AOC: Well, yes. But I also think that what people are starting to see at least in the occupation of Palestine is just an increasing crisis of humanitarian condition, and that to me is just where I tend to come from on this issue.
MH: You use the term “the occupation of Palestine”? What did you mean by that?
AOC: Oh, um [pause] I think it, what I meant is the settlements that are increasing in some of these areas and places where Palestinians are experiencing difficulty in access to their housing and homes.
MH: Do you think you can expand on that?
AOC: Yeah, I mean, I think I’d also just [waves hands and laughs] I am not the expert on geopolitics on this issue. You know, for me, I’m a firm believer in finding a two-state solution on this issue, and I’m happy to sit down with leaders on both of these. For me, I just look at things through a human rights lens, and I may not use the right words [laughs] I know this is a very intense issue.
MH: That’s very honest, that’s very honest. It’s very honest, and when, you, you know, get to Washington and you’re an elected member of Congress you’ll have the opportunity to talk to people on all sides and visit Israel and visit the West Bank and —
AOC: Absolutely, absolutely. And I think that that’s one of those things that’s important too is that, you know, especially with the district that I represent — I come from the South Bronx, I come from a Puerto Rican background, and Middle Eastern politics was not exactly at my kitchen table every night. But, I also recognize that this is an intensely important issue for people in my district, for Americans across the country, and I think what’s at least important to communicate is that I’m willing to listen and that I’m willing to learn and evolve on this issue like I think many Americans are.
And unlike Schumer, she is delicate about walking the line between being against Israel's actions in Gaza and saying something stupid (IE: Israel direly needs aid to help the people suffering in Gaza!).
It’s the internet. A truly gobsmacking number of people can’t.
We’re riding around in a machine that runs on outrage, and we’re as susceptible to conditioning as any creature. It’s unsurprising to me, particularly as I empathise with the urge to keep being wary and upset.
That’s because for a gobsmacking number of people, judicial decisions are the absolute final word. My attitude wouldn’t be nearly so cynical if we were talking about an average person, like you or me.
For this putrid waste of oxygen, though, judicial decisions are just another inconvenience for his lawyers to appeal, delay, or simply ignore. It doesn’t even matter if those lawyers are incompetent. Some magical circumstances always seem to protect him from consequences.
What does the win achieve other than energising his supporters against the Demonrats, deep state, sinister Jewish cabal, trans kids, or whatever enemy they’ve confected this month? Everyone else knows he’s a crook - this is a net loss in the absence of actual consequences.
I don’t want to get overexcited and pop my champagne at the latest possibility of getting a glimpse of boob meaningful consequences - I’ve spent enough time being wet, sticky, disappointed and full of shame, thanks.
He's still probably going to be president again in 18 months. None of this stuff is hurting his polling, and more and more people are evangelizing being never-Bideners, especially in places like this.
It's not a win yet. And there never will be a win. The enemies of democracy only need to succeed once.
People have died because of this shitstain. It’s good that there’s progress but you can’t blame people for wanting solid evidence that this fucknugget has taken a hit.
I'm convinced by the opinion that Putin will funnel money for this through Trump's golden sneaker sell scheme. According to this theory, Trump's not gonna pay with his money.
I wonder if this dark money would give him some consequence on its own. Maybe more kompromats in the US, I don't know...
Reeks of didn’t read the article because everything mentioned, such as a 1974 discrimination case, Central Park five(1989), and his dad’s casino chip purchase (1991) predated Bill de Blasio’s term (2014-2021)
He stood idly by and did nothing except for when he himself was running for president against Trump and started an attack campaign against him that fizzled once he couldn’t get into the primaries. The same campaign where he spent $300,000 of the city’s money on his campaign and didn’t repay, racking up a $150,000 fine. The same campaign that he took inappropriate donations on, and was fined another $50k by the FEC. Is that what you are talking about? The upstanding citizen Bill de Blasio, the towering pillar of virtue that dedicated his career to fighting corporate and political greed. You’re right, I didn’t read the article. I didn’t fucking need to.
I have my criticisms of Biden but voting for Trump or a 3rd party candidate this election is not tenable if you want a semblance of a Democratic Republic to exist in the US.
That’s a very sweet request but it’s time for you to wake up. The DNC and GOP work together to make sure that you will NEVER escape austerity. They don’t represent you. They represent the oligarchs that strengthened their grip of electoral politics over the past 40 years to the point of completely and totally co-opting all of us. Ever wonder why the Dems never were able to codify Roe v Wade despite having supermajorities for 6 (non consecutive) years? They don’t want to but they want you to think they do.
Hell, the DNC has been hoping for a low turnout this time because it would favor them. As George Carlin famously said before things were even close to this bad, “it’s a big club and you ain’t in it.”
The only semblance of hope is to wrestle control of local governments and hope it somehow trickles up to the federal level. But, IMO, things are hopeless when young fresh faces can get into Congress saying all the right things then they suddenly start being all buddy-buddy with Nancy Pelosi and voting in favor of genocide.
Bernie Sanders was an avowed socialist who came within about 10 feet of the Democratic presidential nomination. He'd have won the general, too (assuming he didn't get assassinated which is not guaranteed). We'd have had a socialist as president who spent and still spends all his time railing against wall street and the US's imperialism.
Yes there are a lot of crooked people in the DNC who tried to kill his chances, and ultimately succeeded. That one time.
But the point is he came pretty fuckin' close and your reaction is to yell MOPE MOPE MOPE YOU NEED TO MOPE MORE in my face.
People who fought for real change, civil rights movement Indian independence American labor movement fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, would FUCKIN KILL to have it as easy as progressives in the US do. No, it's not automatic. What do you want, a "make politics better" lever that's right in your living room so you don't have to get off the couch?
Ask Navalny's parents if they'd rather be up against the DNC
You’re adorably naive. Bernie is a democratic socialist. He would be considered a centrist in any Scandinavian country.
He was cheated badly twice. If you can’t even start from that basic accounting of events, I don’t know why I should even engage in a conversation with you.
Vote harder, guys! 🥴
Edit: You even admitted that they’d have assassinated him had he gotten elected!
EXACTLY.
Then you bring Putin into it! 🤣🤣🤣. Can we stay on the subject of the US? Do you think I’m a Putin supporter? 🤣🤣🤣
Ghost of Martin Luther King: So let me get this straight. You say the WRONG people? Are in CHARGE?
You: Yeah man. It's a bitch.
Ghost of Martin Luther King: Fuck, man. Just give up. It's the only way. Throw in the towel, and make sure you whine to people on the internet about how it's hopeless. Like, at every opportunity. "You'll never escape" "things are hopeless" and so on. And, make sure you cloak yourself in a self-serving mantle of wisdom, and talk down to people, and act like what you're doing is helping. And just like that... all of a sudden, things will get better.
You: Wow I'll do exactly that
This will be my last message to you. I hope you got what you were looking for from this interaction.
(Edit: I would have thought this was obvious, but my point about Navalny was to add one more to the list of people who have struggled to make things better against odds that were about 5-10 times more insurmountable than anything faced by progressives in the US. That's a situation you could a lot better describe as "hopeless," although in the long run it's not. But it should throw into a lot sharper relief how much less difficult and dangerous it is trying to work for change in the US. Nothing about Putin; the focus was on Navalny.)
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