this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2024
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[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Last coup attempt we had was during the hours before Biden took office.

Going to take help from us to make sure he wins the election, so that there's even a chance to prevent a coup.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Hopefully he's really working on making the type of change we need so that he doesn't alienate progressives.

I hope he's not just maintaining the status quo. That would not bode well...

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The kind of change I'd like to see requires acts of Congress, and Biden can't do that when Republicans are in the majority in the House of Representatives.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

But surely he's trying. Can you give an example of him trying and Republicans blocking him? Something that's literally beyond his authority (not something that he could do with executive order, such as forgiving student loan debt).

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

A really easy example is passing a budget. They've been stuck on doing that since the new Congress was elected in 2022.

I'll also note that his first attempt at student loan debt cancellation got shot down by Republicans in the courts, so he's been doing smaller piecemeal versions.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

But at least he's stopped funding ICE and the border camps, stopped building Trump's wall, and closed Guantanamo, right?

I'd hate to think he'd be willing to be complicit in fascism and morally turpitudinous law, at any costs. Surely if someone had somehow seized power from Hitler, we wouldn't defend and support them if they continued to fund the death camps, right? How could we?

I myself have broken the law multiple times by helping people evade deportation under the law. Surely our president isn't more spineless and powerless than some loser like me, right?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Congress banned the president from moving prisoners at Guantanamo to the US, which substantially limited the ability of the President to fully close it, since for several, no other country has been willing to accept them.

Defunding ICE requires an act of Congress, and doesn't have full support of even all Democrats.

Stopping the wall building did happen.

The President is there to faithfully execute the laws; unless you want a dictator, he doesn't get to run around breaking them.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

So if I looked into this, I wouldn't find that he signed off on any of this, right? His signature of approval isn't on anything involving ICE, the concentration camps, the wall, or Guantanamo. Is that what you're saying?

unless you want a dictator,

I don't buy this. See my Hitler/death camp analogy. It doesn't take a dictator to refuse to proceed with blatantly fascist, racist, and genocidal policy.

In fact, he's behaving more like a dictator by continuing to support these things. He's actively oppressing marginalized groups -- that's like a dictator's favorite thing to do.

Edit:

Like every nation, the United States has a right and a duty to secure its borders and protect its people against threats

Bullshit. Doesn't sound very penitant to me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Stuff like budgets are big compromise bills with lots of parts. You're going to find his signature on them because he couldn't get anything if he rejected.

Democratic government is messy and full of compromises like this. You can't ever satisfy everybody.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

So we live in a system that bolsters genocide, and our only choice is the fascist with less fascism than the fascist fascist?

Literally no better choice? Genocidal policy is just baked in? Wow. What an absolute dogshit system. Sounds like election isn't going to fix this, huh?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Dude, please stop passive aggressively posing these disingenuous questions and just state your criticisms and points plainly. You look like you're here for (trolly) performance art, not discussion.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

>You look like you're here for performance art, not discussion.

no one needs to conform to your standards for discussion, and if they don't you don't need to discuss with them.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 9 months ago

I said my peace, as any of us here can do, and as you are doing now. Good day.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Biden has:

  • Continued the mass surveillance of US citizens

  • Failed to support universal healthcare or offer any plan whereby the most marginalized groups may gain access

  • Signed off on the continued funding of ICE and the construction of more concentration camps than we had before, even under Trump

  • Supported the genocidal state of Israel

  • Failed to address Guantanamo Bay, with its history of human rights abuses, which continue to this day

  • Sent his VP on a gaslighting mission to Latin America, blaming them for the instability which we historically caused

  • Detained and deported undocumented immigrants and refugees

  • Continued to fuel the racist sentiment that we need to "protect our borders"

If you want to argue that for now he is the lesser of two evils, then fair. If you actually defend the man and perceive him as doing some good, you're going to push voters away, because we're not that stupid, and it's an insult to our intelligence to think we are.

For the record, I voted for the fucking horror, but I never anticipated the number of people who would actually defend his bad actions in a creepy and cultlike fashion, all for the sake of a campaign.

You look like you’re here for performance art, not discussion.

So, similar to Biden and his presidency? Let's paint Pride flags on all the concentration camps and call it good, huh?

Edit: You changed your comment to add "trolly." What part of what I'm saying seems like a troll to you? Which statement I've made is so unhinged that you think I'm a troll?

troll: n., A person who cites facts I want to deny

[–] [email protected] -2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You look like you’re here for performance art, not discussion.

So, similar to Biden and his presidency? Let’s paint Pride flags on all the concentration camps and call it good, huh?

Oh you were so close. I'm sure someone else will still be willing to talk to you though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Wow, I did what you asked for, and you still have no real response. I don't blame you though for not wanting to engage. In fact, I respect you more than someone who thinks they have any form of defense for Biden's indefensible words and actions.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Unless I run for office, I'll never see a politician who agrees with me 100% of the time.

This isn't something you can fix with a different system.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Having more than two parties have any actual shot would be a start.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

It could improve things, but making that work means changing how elections are run; first past the post makes it well-neigh impossible to create a viable 3rd party.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

That's a regressive opinion you've got there.

I bet people said that about monarchy as well. In fact, I'm pretty sure the Loyalists were still saying that in 1776.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

What like passing the biggest climate bill in not just American but likely human history? Filling every agency possible with the most diverse Administration officials the country has ever seen?

I don't care if you don't like Biden but stop pretending he's doing nothing. It's unlikely any of his competition would have been able to get half the stuff he's done done. It's normal and healthy to want more but it's actually insane to pretend nothing has happened. It's also actually insane to pretend the president can do whatever he wants when he does not control Congress or the Senate. Which Biden doesn't and hasn't for even one minute of his administration. Yes, including the Senate because a caucus that requires the consent of Manchin and Synema is not controlled.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Oh okay then I guess that excuses the fascism. You've opened my eyes. If you do one good thing, then you can harm marginalized groups, as a treat.

You know what's insane to me? Defending this monster. He's literally signed off on these things. Don't pretend he's trying to defund ICE, don't pretend he's trying to close Guantanamo, don't pretend he's not supporting the genocidal state of Israel, don't pretend he's not continuing the mass surveillance of US citizens, don't pretend that he tried to provide universal healthcare to the millions who die from lack of access every year. It's bullshit, it's inexcusable, and you know it.

If you want to tell people, "Look, this guy is horrible, but we need to elect him because the other guy is worse," then fair, but you're not going to convince anyone by excusing his indefensible actions.

The only reason you can sit on that side of the keyboard and act like he's doing enough is that you're not in those camps, you don't have loved ones in those camps, you don't have neighbors dying because they can't afford the doctor. A little empathy goes a long way, chief.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Allow me to translate:

Anyone who does not perfectly pass your purity test and achieve every single goal you want to achieved instantly on the day they're elected is bad and evil.

Pretty much it right?

You don't know shit about me and you're an asshole. And worse, you're an enemy of progressivism.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago

*and Washington D.C.