Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Mike]

Harris, amazingly, was a better choice than The Chairman. BUT, she's still a bad candidate and the worst "major" politician I've ever seen.

Pretty shocking for the party who talks down to the vast majority of the country and passes themselves off as the smartest people in the room. They have a sitting president that wasn't fit to stand for re-election and a VP that should have never been in the same area code as the levers of power in the federal government. It's crystal fucking clear that neither of those 2 are capable of being POTUS and the American people finally saw through their bullshit. This election was a rebuke of their deceptive puppeteering. After Biden won in 2020 the Ds got high on their own supply.

I saw an estimate that the Biden-Harris team raised $2.15 BILLION between the two of them. They had the entire mainstream media in lockstep with their campaign. So much so that it makes Russian state TV look neutral by comparison. All the celebrity endorsements, the Obamas and Clintons out campaigning... And she STILL got her ass whooped. The Ds deserve everything that it is coming and then some.

[iam416]

I mean -- that's all true.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I nominate Mike for Secretary of State. Talent for Secretary to Mars.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Yeah I mean ok. She lost by just around 200,000 decisive votes in the three Rust Belt states and less than 2% of the popular vote. It wasn't a monumental landslide despite the MAGA folks acting like they have the largest mandate in history. She actually got more votes than 2020 Biden did in 4 of the 7 swing states (North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Nevada). That's despite succeeding an incredibly unpopular President, being an obviously terrible politician, and having the inflation albatross around her neck. Again, it's says something about how unlikeable Trump is that this was even a contest. Should've been a 1988 style Dukakis blowout under these circumstances and it wasn't remotely close to that.

[Mike]

I agree she should have lost by much much more. 2026 is just around the corner and I expect the Rs, having overplayed their hand, to lose 30-40 seats and the cycle repeats. In the meantime, they have 2 years to go crazy. Have fun, kids!

[Dr. Strangelove]

Meanwhile-

Senate Republicans deliver a message to Trump: Gaetz isn't confirmable - POLITICO

[Hannibal]

It's a testament to the unpopularity of Trump that the election was as close as it was. A "normie" Republican could've won Virginia, New Mexico, New Hampshire, probably some other places too.

It would take a pretty big political Earthquake for the Rs to advance beyond that. Then you are talking about them either winning states that they haven't won in >30 years, or a monumental reversal in a place like Colorado that has gone way left the past 20 years.

The Messiah R candidate would be the guy who can merge the interests of the MAGA crowd and those of the billionaire Koch Brothers types into one platform. I see that capability in DeSantis and Ramaswamy. The latter, in particular, has a lot of positive traits working in his favor.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Trump lost Minnesota by less than 5% twice. People write the state off as another Massachusetts but it's usually in spitting distance for the Republicans. At least since 2000.

[froot loops]

Nobody knows. Trying to figure out different scenarios is a fools' errand. We know in Michigan 2 years ago when Trump wasn't on the ballot, the Republican candidates got routed. Slotkin enjoyed a big lead that tightened up by the end but it was still a decent lead. We know that Trump turns out the low propensity voters in a way no Republican has that I can remember. The exits show a big lead for him in low info/low propensity and Harris won the highly engaged voters by a big margin.

There are reports of decent number of people voting just for Trump and nothing else. It's all anecdotal stuff and you won't know anything more definitive until a couple months down the line. By then the hot take genre has move on to something else. Eventually we will see a test of Trumpism without Trump.

Allegedly by the time Biden dropped out, his internal polls had Trump winning 400 electoral votes. If that is true, any candidate switch was going to be an extremely uphill battle. The lesson is if you are running for re-elect you actually have to campaign. If your age prevents this you have to get out asap.

[Mike]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/19/us/politics/matt-gaetz-hack-testimony.html

[THE_WIZARD_]

Harris was a historically horrible nominee...like in the Mondale area...but yes the fact it was reasonably close tells us about Trump as well. He had a solid but set ceiling...but drove away many independents...that a sane nominee would have got. What would have been the trade off? Who knows but Harris was absolutely fucking awful.

[AlabamAlum]

Wizard was a historically horrible poster...like in the crashcourse area...but yes the fact it was reasonably close tells us about DSL as well. He had a solid but set ceiling...but drove away many others...that a sane poster would have got. What would have been the trade off? Who knows but Wizard was absolutely fucking awful.

[iam416]

She is a way worse politician than Mondale. Probably just a modestly worse candidate. But, her political skills were on par with crashcourse's mastery of any language.

BTW, Wiz -- can you help me understand what LGBQTIA stands for? I've been asking everyone and no one can give me a straight answer.

[Dr. Strangelove]

There are (online) rumors that a Chinese ship could be responsible for this.

Baltic Sea internet cables cut: European officials cry sabotage | CNN

They have a track record for "accidents"

A Chinese ship remains the focus of the investigation into Baltic Sea gas pipeline damaged last year | AP News

[THE_WIZARD_]

She is a way worse politician than Mondale. Probably just a modestly worse candidate. But, her political skills were on par with crashcourse's mastery of any language.

BTW, Wiz -- can you help me understand what LGBQTIA stands for? I've been asking everyone and no one can give me a straight answer.

beyond horrible