Well, it all makes me feel insane. What am I doing anyway, reading about totally stuffed American politics (which I seem to have done most of this morning)? It makes me no less angsty about our NZ lot, where the youngest of the three-headed monster is the worst. The age limit however should be 69 (when I retired, understanding the wisdom of this). ...Now I'm going to take my dog for a walk since your beautiful photo looks a lot like him. He is young, remembers things and is kind! Thank heavens for animals.
It's frustrating seeing New Zealand go the way of America. And yes, these three men trying to rule, all chaos agents and not a natural fit. All awful, and somehow more awful together.
Can someone explain to me how big the golf electorate is in America. Cos those old codgers wanted to fight tooth and nail for it (and mumble or rant incoherently for the rest of it).
America’s political party system is like that cargo ship in the Panama Canal. They are so big and so powerful, but impossible to steer in the right direction, no matter how much you need them to move. Now both cargo ships are wedged in the canal because we let senile old men be the captains and everything is fucked.
I was hoping you’d have a rant today, thanks for providing us with a space to rant. That debate, if you could even call it that, was a fucking disgrace. There is a minimum age to be president, and after last night I think there needs to be a maximum age set as well. I have too many thoughts to write them all here, but I can summarize them as: FUCK.
It felt like we all needed a safe space to let off steam, and let off steam we are.
Fuck.
A friend did make a point that these men are being supported by those around them - so a vote for Biden gets us Biden AND his team. I forget that sometimes.
Thinking of it like that - Trump's team vs Biden's team.... I just wish we lived in a world where we got Biden's team.
If we don't get the Biden team, we get the Trump team, and I don't think that would be good for Americans or anyone else in the world. Have a look at the publication called Project 2025, which is a 900-1000 page long playbook for the government Trump is aiming for, with his new supporters. In short, he wants to become a dictator, replace many of the the public servants with members who support him, and impose christofascism on the USA. It is an extremely frightening prospect for the whole world, and he is absolutely serious about all of this. Biden didn't do well last night, he wasn't well, and he sounded terrible and didn't perform well, but if he wins, at least we will know that the President of the USA is NOT a pathalogical liar, a narcissist, a sociopath, and basically and evil character who wishes to be a dictator. Biden performed extremely well in his State of the Union address, and he is a man with a very good heart, and sincerely wants what is good for the majority of Americans. I don't like his loyalty to Israel and blindness (almost) to the terrible deeds they have done, but I see it almost as a traditional stance on Israel (having grown up there, and stayed until the war on Vietnam felt like it would never end!), so I don't blame him completely for his blindness on Israel. But Trump is in it all simply for himself, which is just simply WRONG! I don't think there's enough time for anyone else to fight strongly enough to beat Trump at this point, sadly. I fully expect Biden, when he's well from his current flu, cold, or perhaps even Covid, to come back and fight and win against Criminal Trump! Otherwise, something's gotta give and somehow, someone has to save this earth, and all who live here on it.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a scholar of fascism and authoritarian leaders at New York University, wrote in May 2024 that Project 2025 "is a plan for an authoritarian takeover of the United States that goes by a deceptively neutral name." She asserts that the Project's intent of abolishing federal departments and agencies "is to destroy the legal and governance cultures of liberal democracy and create new bureaucratic structures, staffed by new politically vetted cadres, to support autocratic rule."
I hope David does read and make a post on this project just as a means of discussing some points in it and who's behind it? Who us pushing for it. Basically they want this project to run his platform or any republican platform. No party should be influenced in that way. They should be influenced by those who vote for them. By people. Us. Those who live with the consequences.
I understand it's the Heritage Foundation which is most strongly behind it. They are the originators of the Atlas Network, the right wing thinktank outfit which is prominent in many parts of the world, but it rather secretive. David Seymour spent some considerable time there studying their methods and ideas some years ago, and is now the head of the ACT Party in New Zealand, due to be Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand in a little less than a year. Seymour denies any association with them, but several of our law changes recently line up directly with their extreme RW ideas.
Thank you for sharing. Scary the influence it's having worldwide. What can we honestly do? I feel helpless and I have a 9 and 7 year old at home. Wish we had in person pop up convos with other wormies to discuss these things with. Or zoom chats. Just ro give voice to it and connect.
John Oliver did a great episode on Project 2025. It’s terrifying. Even as a NZer. Vote Biden’s team!! Or, at least, encourage those you know who are eligible to vote.
"Appropriating civil rights for white Christians furthers the Trumpist goal of delegitimizing the cause of racial equality while also making Christian nationalism a core value of domestic policy. Doing away with the separation of church and state is the goal of many architects of Trumpism, from Project 2025 contributor Russ Vought to far-right proselytizer Michael Flynn, who uses the idea of "spiritual war" as counterrevolutionary fuel ... Bannon, Roberts, Stephen Miller, and other American incarnations of fascism are convinced that counterrevolution leading to autocracy is the only path to political survival for the far right, given the unpopularity of their positions (especially on abortion) and their leader's boatload of legal troubles."
I tuned in and when I heard Biden struggling to get his point across and Trump saying that doctors are killing babies that just got born, I turned it off and went to bed. When I awoke, I realized that I didn’t dream any of this and this was what actually happened. It’s past the what the fuck stage and moving closer to we are fucked stage.
Biden is going to use the I’m not Trump to get votes and it’s going to fail this time. What’s scarier is that the debate was Trump slinging out so much misinformation that we, the viewers, got a first hand account of what being on Truth Social was like.
I wish I could laugh this off, think it will get better and just go on about my day. But sadly that’s not the case. There is no more laughing at this as it’s truly scary to think these are our best options. 2 old white guys, one of which is now a fucking felon! If felons aren’t allowed to vote in the US, why are they letting one run for president? It makes no sense.
On another note, The Boys season 4 is fucking brilliant. You NZ have 2 amazing actors with Karl Urban and Antony Starr. I know that’s off topic, but fuck, I can’t stand the reality that is American politics anymore.
I really like that The Boys is back. And yeah, the idea two Kiwis play the leads - one good, one bad - it's just perfect. Growing up, Ant Starr played twin brothers on this really iconic show, Outrageous Fortune.
Also Karl Urban in DREDD is a really great watch if you haven't already.
Anyway - fuck. The killing babies conversation went on for so long - Trump making out like if abortion is legal we're going to be snuffing out babies the second they're born. Just insanity. Between that and the golf talk - as kids die in the thousands in Gaza - fuck man. What the hell is going on.
And your example is totally right: This was Truth Social by way of CNN.
Dredd is such a great movie. I own it. Karl is one of my favorite actors. He can play any role like he lived it.
When Trump was going on and on about abortion i just couldn’t watch it. To know that kind of shit was allowed to even be said without someone calling it out, including Biden. I finally read some of the transcript and it’s just sad. To know that this is all we have. I don’t want to vote, yet I don’t want Trump as president nor do I like the other options either. I’m waiting for Aston Kutcher to come out and say, “ You’ve been punk’d American. “ and we all laugh and go you got us buddy.
Holly cow, I didnt even clock Ant was the guy in Outragous Fortune, and Ive watched all three seasons of The Boys, and a lot of OF. I didnt even get an inkling I had seen him before! Whereas I was sure Jack Quaid was Barry from Barry. Lol, Im losing it.
Some would say that Homelander is what Trump aspires to be...or that the inspiration went in the other direction and that Trump's attitude is the basis for a good bit of Homelander.
This reminds me - awhile back on Webworm I talked to Ant Starr about playing Homelander: "I love "The Boys" because it features a psychopath with strong hints of Trump"
Homelander is inspired by Trump and MAGA nation. The new season really sells the MAGA crowd and such. The comic Homelander was nothing like this and the first 2 seasons he was just an evil superhero.
I have not watched any of season 4 yet, so I'm not sure what they have evolved there. I thought it was originally based on something that had been written pre-Trump, and that there were just convenient parallels there in the characters and taking advantage of that in the evolution of the character through the seasons.
The Boys started as Garth Ennis comic that was a depiction of his hatred of super heroes. The show just took the premise of the source material and made it applicable to the modern world. When you finally do watch the new season, you’ll see that mirror of events of the Trump and MAGA nation come to life.
I had to turn it off after 20 minutes. It was putting my anxiety levels through the roof.
Biden was never my preferred candidate, but I voted for him in 2020. I'll likely vote for him again this fall. There's been a bunch of chatter this morning about possibly replacing him on the ticket somehow but that's a fool's errand for several reasons:
1. Biden is the only one who can decided to step down, and that's not likely at this point. Attempting to force him out at the convention would split the coalition, and almost guarantee a loss in November.
2. The natural successor if he were to step down is Kamala Harris. Kamala polls very poorly for a variety of reasons I won't get into here. But attempting to bypass her for a more "palatable" (read: white) candidate would be a slap in the face to black women voters, who are by far the most reliable Democratic constituency.
3. Assuming you get past those problems, then you have to actually find a decent national candidate. There are several popular progressive governors, but they have no national profile and they've shown no inclination towards the presidency. There's Bernie Sanders, but he's older than Biden, and he had a heart attack in 2019. There are members of Biden's cabinate like Buttigieg, but they're unlikely to try and make an end run around their boss.
All that to say, it's highly unlikely Biden will be replaced, and trying to might actually make things worse. It's a shitty position to be in, but it's what we've got. The Supreme Court just released a new batch of opinions this morning, that further dismantled the regulatory state and allowed states to penalize people for being homeless. I don't want Trump to appoint even more Justices than he already has.
Sorry for the ramble, but the left is prone to panicking, and frankly sometimes I wish we'd be a little more aggressive.
The only thing making me feel sane is that with Biden, comes his team. It's not just him. We get his team. And I'd take Biden's team over Trump's any day.
Also - that was not a ramble. It was clear, helpful, and sane.
Yes, Kamala is pretty divisive especially in the more left-leaning wing of the party. There are a lot of fair criticisms like her prosecutor background. It's what helped sink her in the primaries despite looking promising on paper. And then there's a lot of racism and sexism slung her way as well.
For all his faults, I do think Biden has a good cabinet (with several glaring and huge exceptions to be fair). There's been a lot of small administrative actions they've taken that are actually really great. They just don't make the headlines.
Me, American citizen, living in NZ….Joe….we agree…in my mind I begged Biden to give up his “ reign” over a year ago..The youth of the nation question his ridiculous un nerving stance with fucker Netanyahu…both men are from the dark ages…
I am almost 76…my entire family live in the US…including my only son…I feel great sadness for them and myself….
I agree with you and am also an American citizen, newly (after more than 50 years here) a New Zealand citizen, and I will never return to the US. I also pretty much agree with Joe G.
Not an American, so I can't vote, but what I'm really hoping for is that Biden either dies (peacefully in his sleep) or has a major health issue that means he can step down without loosing face. I think the democrat machine lost the plot when running Hillary against Trump, she was probably the only democrat candidate that could have lost against Trump at that point, but now Trump has grown himself into a monster that appeals to the racism and Christianity (white power) movements and will give any democrat candidate a run for his or her money.
Speaking of SCOTUS, I read this just before turning to Webworm for ... comfort? Support? Sanity? Community? (Thanks for this space David, I'm looking forward to saying HI! at the Auckland Pop-up. )
Side bar: yes it is nice that there's no yelling in this space, but further to that, anyone else notice what an absolute joy it is to be able to come to these comment sections and actually be able to read?? I'm so grateful to be able to properly digest great thoughts because they're invariably so well-articulated.
Absolutely 😊 I love reading comments section but it can get a bit predictable (in such a terrible way) at least fellow worms are articulate and have delightful insight
I find that I'll come back two or three times to look for new comments because sometimes I learn and sometimes I laugh, but rarely ever am I irritated.
America: So fucking obsessed with morals, but so utterly incapable of having any. - THIS! You’re so spot on. Ugh, what a joke we have become. Have we always been a joke? I dunno.
If it was just the US that was going to spiralling into god knows what kind of self-inflicted dystopia I really wouldn’t care, but they’ll take the rest of us down with them and boy that makes me *so mad*. You can see the MAGA crap spreading out like an infection to NZ and the world, the fantasy fact-free thinking, the racism, the misogyny, the cruelty, the prosperity Christianity/evangelism. I could even watch the debate because I’d have been in a blind rage at both Trump and Biden. The republicans are batshit insane so Trump is par for the course but why the heck are the Democrats fielding an old man? It’s just doing my head in because I simply can’t understand how people can vote for Trump and why Biden is the candidate 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
Totally. You just see how quickly words like "woke" were adopted by right wing hosts in NZ, then politicians. The dog whistling, the lies, the misinformation.
The moment someone uses the term woke you absolutely know which box to pop them into don’t you. I think the NZ public doesn’t buy into it quite as readily as the US, certainly it hasn’t worked the few times National has tried it in the past, but NZ First is openly on board so if Trump wins I expect National will return to trying and the Overton window will slowly start shifting for us too, if it hasn’t already.
The degree to which parties like NZ First/Act and further down the lunatic scale will be emboldened by a win is depressing to consider. National has flirted with it too, so can expect them to commit more fully too.
I don't think I have the capacity to articulate right now my thoughts on how horrific this is, so thank you for writing down your feelings and thoughts. I agree with it all. It stopped being funny a long time ago but I am truly scared for the future. I cannot believe this is the reality we are living in, but I feel less crazy just coming to this comment space. Thank you for providing this space to rant, it is the only place on the internet I feel sane.
I remember watching the debates against Trump and Hilary and thinking it was all good fun because Trump was an idiot and would never get in 😫 those were the days 💩
Yes it certainly seems very hopeless right now 😩 I have to add (as an annoying eternal optimist 🤣) that nothing is permanent. As much as it might be truely awful right now and it really is depending on where in the world you are, we're in a bit of flux at the moment and I think we'll see a bit of a levelling off of crazy. I think the next generation coming up is going to be a bit more savvy. One can only hope 😅💓
I get this. All the FUD and chaos and "bad choices" out there but this is such a stark contrast. Look at the stakes. They are high. I'd vote for 3 weeks of Biden and then a roll over to a random vice president before I'd vote for Trump. Can we really taker more right wing Supreme Court justices? Can we really take more removal of women's rights? Can we really take more demonization of minorities (racial and gender and whatever boogeyman Trump can raise)? Can we take more tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy while the normal guy gets the shaft? Can we vote for a guy who lies and obfuscates and cons people and is a convicted felon over a guy with a stutter that is a couple years older but has shown in the last 4 years a great recovery from the recession of COVID?
The reality we are in, with how the US political landscape is designed, there is no way for a 3rd party candidate to do anything else than spoil or randomize the election. That's the truth. We can rage against the dying of the light and thus bury ourselves in shit or we can vote pragmatically and live to vote another day. We can get out and be active in our communities. We can hope for 4 years of sanity while we work for another option in 2028.
But don't listen to me. Listen to HCR and her sane take on things. I'm just some guy, you know?
It is so unfortunate that we judge politicians by their performance on stage rather than their performance in office. Human beings are essentially frivolous, unfortunately, which is possibly why politicians have become so much worse since television.
Why, why, why does this enormous country effectively only allow for two parties to compete? If the system encouraged a wider range of possibility, maybe they'd put more effort into finding better candidates. I'm in NZ, and while we've currently got the worst government I've lived with, we have a much wider range of political thought and opinion. Greens and Te Pati Maori offer hope and are not wasted votes.
Yeah, except in NZ we used to be able to use votes for the minor parties as a barometer for the more polarising positions in our society, but then National did a sneaky and swung further right, which seems to have normalised a lot of right-wing nonsense. My only hope is this will be the end of Labour/National majorities - they no longer represent a comfortable middle ground so now voters need to take an interest in what they're voting for as opposed to "I didn't really like what Option A has done so I'll vote for Option B".
True, it appears I vote more left (away from Labour) each time as the Overton window is pushed further to the right, but my political stance hasn't actually changed since I started voting. I care about the environment, animal and human rights, and an equitable tax system. Apparently, that makes me a far left radical
The state of Nevada (and the Libertarian party in their own nomination process) require that there is always a "None of the Above" option on the ballot, to ensure the winner actually wins. I would love to see that appear on ballots nationwide, and then also to adjust this presidential election concept in 48 states where the plurality (not even majority) winner gets all of the electoral college votes from that state. I'd like to see that broken down by congressional district like Nebraska and Maine do, and then the two remaining votes from the state can go to the statewide winner. That would mean that Republican presidential candidates would have to campaign in California and Democrat candidates in Texas, rather than just ignore those states altogether as a lost cause.
The debate made me really sad. I think Biden is only running to attempt to protect our country from 'him.' The Dems think he's our best chance. When they started talking about their golf games, I thought they might drop trou and start measuring.
I'm in Texas. Never considered myself a Democrat but I certainly can't relate to the Republican party of recent years and can't ever see myself voting for one again. I agree with some commenters that we need a max age allowed to run.
I am sad our homophobia has kept us from having a really great candidate in Buttigieg.
I love this country. I grieve the years before Trump when there was a measure more of civility and family get togethers were so much less filled with land mines.
I also grieve for our undocumented neighbors. I can't imagine the stress the possibility of Trump winning again puts them under. I am in denial that it might happen and I'm allowing myself to stay there. Love & peace to us all!
I believe most people have an over simplified view of Texans. I’m in a small town of about 120,000 in the Piney Woods of East Texas. I just looked up the demographics to write this and Google says we are 49% Hispanic, 24% African American, and14% White. I would guess that might surprise a lot of non-Texans. I did not move to Texas until I was married, but I have loved it here. While there is a lot of pearl clutching, there is also a community that espouse more progressive views and would never vote for Trump. Beto was a glimmer of hope and only lost his senate race by less than 3%. I have a circle of people in my small-town life here that are very sad about the current state of politics in Texas and most of us feel we have by far the worst political representatives in our state we’ve ever had.
What can we do? I’ve said for years that all of us that are plugged in and have the youth/energy and maybe enough optimism to want BIG changes in our political system are too busy working, driving carpools, and raising our kids to get anything meaningful accomplished. Term limits in congress would be the single most beneficial change we could make for this country (IMO), but again, who is going to spend the time, effort, and resources to get that done? I can’t, I have a diorama on Native American life on the prairie to help my youngest make after work. 😊
From my perspective, so much changed when Trump emerged on the political scene. We all want it to be a simple case of “us good, them bad,” but it is not. THIS is the crux of it for me. I still haven’t figured it out, and not from lack of trying, but I know that belief is wrong.
For the first time in decades of happily living in Texas, it feels less like home. We’ve even considered moving. There is so much I love here, but the extreme “Christian” Right might figuratively push us out. Right now, my kids are in an incredible and inclusive school district of about 20,000 kids. The best dancer on our drill team was a flamboyantly gay boy who was also prom king. The undisputed best member on our band’s color guard was also an openly gay boy. I’m sure there are still the neanderthals that make these kids’ lives harder than it should be, but the administration and the community is set up to support and love these kids. My kids are growing up knowing a person’s sexuality is not a choice or related to morality. Our school district is what is called an “open district,” so a family can apply to any school in the district rather than having to go to the school you are “zoned” to based on your address. So, we applied to a dual language school 20 minutes from our house in a very low socio-economic part of the city. We have loved it there. The school has a largely Hispanic population. Many, many parents there are undocumented and plenty don’t speak English, but the kids routinely score some of the highest marks in the district on standardized tests. We believe this is due in large part to the dual language component and have been so thankful that after only four years there, our pale and freckled white kid is fluent in Spanish and has been exposed to a new culture that is rich with tradition and fun.
So, we find ourselves loving the extremely strong economy and the school district here but there is enough of the “other” to make us consider moving. My born and raised Texas-loving husband feels it too, and this makes us sad. Stay and try to improve things, or leave and maybe find daily living less mentally taxing?
I have enjoyed this community, David. Thank you for your work and this space.
I feel like this is a lot to put out there on the interwebs. Be gentle “Wormies.”
You are not crazy. It’s absolutely shocking that we can’t do any better. As an American, I’m ashamed and mortified. We have allowed politicians and the media to narrate a culture war that most of the country truly has no interest in, but apathy doesn’t drive people to the polls. Fear and hate do. And when fear and hate is the driver, this is the result.
In the last election, Biden wasn’t my first choice, but I could see the value in having him as a “triage president” - someone online around that time said that it would be good to have someone in the Oval Office who knows where the bathrooms are on day one. Once he was the nominee, I made calls, knocked on doors, wrote postcards.
This round, I just feel so defeated by the whole thing. I’m sure he’s a perfectly lovely old man, but he’s not capable of this anymore, and I am tired of perfectly lovely old men making decisions for all of us. They haven’t done much in the last four years to make things better for me. And it just feels…sad to show and vote just to try (likely in vain) to keep the other side from taking over.
I do take some consolation in the fact there is a TEAM around him. So a vote for him gets you him - AND his team. I have to keep reminding myself of that.
This is how I look at it as well. A lot of the administrative and regulatory actions don't make headlines, but they make huge differences in people's lives.
That's a very good point. And some of us in NZ might not think about that too much, as here the Cabinet has to be made up of politicians, whereas in the USA the President gets to pick whatever experts he/she wants in their cabinet, rather than just elected polis.
I don’t have a credible answer right now….last night I thought to myself, “ if only Biden would die in his sleep”…..no better “ if Trump and Biden would die, Trump in a gutter or on his gold- leafed toilet….YUP , it feels so scarey right now…feel my arms around you pal….
I think we are super privileged in NZ being able to watch this somewhat like it’s a sport or the latest episode of a show. It truly doesn’t seem like real life. Yet its going to have a massive impact and to be honest the thought of Trump being president again gives me instant anxiety. How can this have happened again?
Sadly the state of our own coalition is no better. Simeon Brown coming for our kids by INCREASING SPEED LIMITS OUTSIDE SCHOOLS and that toxic woman ceding power to Uber over contractors rights. It's a total shit show everywhere. I've been listening to the excellent Spinoff podcast on the 4th Labour government "Juggernaut" (well worth a listen). But it does leave me wondering how we went from leading the world on matters like nuclear policy to *this* [waves arms].
Our coalition is bad news, but you cannot compare any of our politicians to Trump. Yet. And Winston may be old, but he's still sharp as a knife. Our situation is so much better, not in the least because the Nationals could "sack" Luxon if they felt he was out of order. Alas, there IS no choice between Trump and Biden, as has already been pointed out.
Winnie sharp? I don't think so. What seems to have happened is that as he has got older, the alcohol he is so fond of - really hard stuff - is having more effect, and that effect not only diminishes brain power, but also emotions....they get darker. He's always been Mr Teflon, but the teflon has become razor thin and worn off, in many places.
I agree, and also the only way he got in was to go and court the cookers, who are now getting rather disappointed with him. Hoping we won't have this damn CoC "government" for a full term!
I can’t agree. He once had a fine brain, for all that it was largely used in the wrong way. But his performances are increasingly rambling. Once I might have thought he was being a wily old fox pandering to the deluded and obsessive simply for their votes but it’s starting to seem as if that’s how he really thinks nowadays.
He is owned lock stock and barrel by the lunatics. Look at the mad staring eyes on them. They're the eyes that burned women at the stake for being witches. They eyes that went on crusades to the middle east, the eyes that shoved people in cattle cars on the way to death camps. Yes, I went there.
Oh I agree that the current state of affairs here isn’t ideal. But comparing speed limit changes and things like the loss of reproductive rights and wherever trump takes the next cycle is oranges and bananas
I wasn't making a direct comparison. We have 5million people and a different system of government. I was trying to illustrate that everywhere has its own challenges. And Simeon is unlikely to make the same world wide impact another Trump presidency will.
This is a real worry. You might be aware that NZ will be up for more than $20 billion as our commitment to the Paris Agreement (2030), yet the current government is busily adding to this huge liability with policies that will inevitably increase NZ's emissions. I can only think that they are planning for another Trump rule where we will all be forced to sign a document which states that climate change is just not a thing. The Paris Agreement will become irrelevant. Then the wobbly world consensus on climate action will just collapse.
Sorry, but I can't watch it like it's almost a sport, as I feel it's trying to spread here to NZ. David Seymour is a dangerous man, and the rabbitholers and cookers here got their crazy ideas from QAnon in the States and transplante it all here. Our path ahead is not a smooth one, unless, as I fervently hope, the CoC "government" implodes and we go back to a government which governs for the best for all the people in our wonderful little country!
I do think David Seymour has been underestimated as a politician.
He has a way of presenting his very libertarian views as good old common sense, and seems to avoid the scrutiny that that the Greens, Labour and even National are given.
This current round of austerity has his name stamped all over it and we're ploughing ahead with it anyway, despite over a decade of evidence from the UK that it doesn't work and makes things worse.
We have so many problems to deal with right now in NZ (global warming, poverty, housing shortage etc) and none of these can be solved by more tax cuts, less regulation and less government (i.e. more capitalism).
By contrast, I feel like the Greens are over scrutinized, despite a lot of their policies being fairly ordinary in the Scandinavian countries.
If anyone is thinking of voting for Trump over Biden because Trump spoke louder I doubt they'd be the kind of person to understand the intricacies of the hush money, but would understand that Trump is the kind of man who cheats on his pregnant wife.
That's the hope I'm clinging to today.
It's hard to imagine anyone hasn't made up their mind on this. After all these years, they either see Trump for who he is or they don't.
I believe all of those being polled as "undecided" are actually "well, I hate them both, so I'm just waiting to try and figure out which one irritates me the tiniest bit less", whereas I would like them to go out and make sure it's know they hate both and are looking for any other option.
I'm waiting for "Ham Sandwich, '24". Because I'm pretty sure that a ham sandwich (not even a fancy one, just basic boiled ham) would win against these two clowns. Even with vegans and those with a religious objection to pork. (My true theory is different, but I'll put that in another comment.)
These comments are good exercise in sanity. And community. Thank you.
Well, it all makes me feel insane. What am I doing anyway, reading about totally stuffed American politics (which I seem to have done most of this morning)? It makes me no less angsty about our NZ lot, where the youngest of the three-headed monster is the worst. The age limit however should be 69 (when I retired, understanding the wisdom of this). ...Now I'm going to take my dog for a walk since your beautiful photo looks a lot like him. He is young, remembers things and is kind! Thank heavens for animals.
It's frustrating seeing New Zealand go the way of America. And yes, these three men trying to rule, all chaos agents and not a natural fit. All awful, and somehow more awful together.
Can someone explain to me how big the golf electorate is in America. Cos those old codgers wanted to fight tooth and nail for it (and mumble or rant incoherently for the rest of it).
Not exactly middle America, right?
Chin up, David.
Sending good thoughts to you, and the dog. Do not despair!!
Thanks - but difficult not to feel alarmed.
America’s political party system is like that cargo ship in the Panama Canal. They are so big and so powerful, but impossible to steer in the right direction, no matter how much you need them to move. Now both cargo ships are wedged in the canal because we let senile old men be the captains and everything is fucked.
And the stuff the the rest of the world needs is stuck inside. And a couple of the ships trapped behind them are on fire or being attacked by pirates.
I really like this analogy. I mean I hate it, but you know what I mean.
I was hoping you’d have a rant today, thanks for providing us with a space to rant. That debate, if you could even call it that, was a fucking disgrace. There is a minimum age to be president, and after last night I think there needs to be a maximum age set as well. I have too many thoughts to write them all here, but I can summarize them as: FUCK.
It felt like we all needed a safe space to let off steam, and let off steam we are.
Fuck.
A friend did make a point that these men are being supported by those around them - so a vote for Biden gets us Biden AND his team. I forget that sometimes.
Thinking of it like that - Trump's team vs Biden's team.... I just wish we lived in a world where we got Biden's team.
Alas.
If we don't get the Biden team, we get the Trump team, and I don't think that would be good for Americans or anyone else in the world. Have a look at the publication called Project 2025, which is a 900-1000 page long playbook for the government Trump is aiming for, with his new supporters. In short, he wants to become a dictator, replace many of the the public servants with members who support him, and impose christofascism on the USA. It is an extremely frightening prospect for the whole world, and he is absolutely serious about all of this. Biden didn't do well last night, he wasn't well, and he sounded terrible and didn't perform well, but if he wins, at least we will know that the President of the USA is NOT a pathalogical liar, a narcissist, a sociopath, and basically and evil character who wishes to be a dictator. Biden performed extremely well in his State of the Union address, and he is a man with a very good heart, and sincerely wants what is good for the majority of Americans. I don't like his loyalty to Israel and blindness (almost) to the terrible deeds they have done, but I see it almost as a traditional stance on Israel (having grown up there, and stayed until the war on Vietnam felt like it would never end!), so I don't blame him completely for his blindness on Israel. But Trump is in it all simply for himself, which is just simply WRONG! I don't think there's enough time for anyone else to fight strongly enough to beat Trump at this point, sadly. I fully expect Biden, when he's well from his current flu, cold, or perhaps even Covid, to come back and fight and win against Criminal Trump! Otherwise, something's gotta give and somehow, someone has to save this earth, and all who live here on it.
Oh, well this does not make me feel better:
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a scholar of fascism and authoritarian leaders at New York University, wrote in May 2024 that Project 2025 "is a plan for an authoritarian takeover of the United States that goes by a deceptively neutral name." She asserts that the Project's intent of abolishing federal departments and agencies "is to destroy the legal and governance cultures of liberal democracy and create new bureaucratic structures, staffed by new politically vetted cadres, to support autocratic rule."
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025#Reactions_and_responses
I downloaded it. Can barely get started let alone finish it! It's not an easy read. Horrible bastards.
I hope David does read and make a post on this project just as a means of discussing some points in it and who's behind it? Who us pushing for it. Basically they want this project to run his platform or any republican platform. No party should be influenced in that way. They should be influenced by those who vote for them. By people. Us. Those who live with the consequences.
I understand it's the Heritage Foundation which is most strongly behind it. They are the originators of the Atlas Network, the right wing thinktank outfit which is prominent in many parts of the world, but it rather secretive. David Seymour spent some considerable time there studying their methods and ideas some years ago, and is now the head of the ACT Party in New Zealand, due to be Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand in a little less than a year. Seymour denies any association with them, but several of our law changes recently line up directly with their extreme RW ideas.
Thank you for sharing. Scary the influence it's having worldwide. What can we honestly do? I feel helpless and I have a 9 and 7 year old at home. Wish we had in person pop up convos with other wormies to discuss these things with. Or zoom chats. Just ro give voice to it and connect.
I’m always up for a zoom chat :) I’m currently living in a very conservative area, surrounded by trump flags, trying to maintain my sanity!
And while I’m ranting, it seems Meta messed with user settings for political content. Of course, they are blaming it on a software bug https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/27/meta-fixes-bug-that-seemed-to-reset-users-political-content-settings-on-instagram-and-threads/
"What a mystery!"
Ugh.
John Oliver did a great episode on Project 2025. It’s terrifying. Even as a NZer. Vote Biden’s team!! Or, at least, encourage those you know who are eligible to vote.
Ugh, fuck, yeah:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025#Reactions_and_responses
"Appropriating civil rights for white Christians furthers the Trumpist goal of delegitimizing the cause of racial equality while also making Christian nationalism a core value of domestic policy. Doing away with the separation of church and state is the goal of many architects of Trumpism, from Project 2025 contributor Russ Vought to far-right proselytizer Michael Flynn, who uses the idea of "spiritual war" as counterrevolutionary fuel ... Bannon, Roberts, Stephen Miller, and other American incarnations of fascism are convinced that counterrevolution leading to autocracy is the only path to political survival for the far right, given the unpopularity of their positions (especially on abortion) and their leader's boatload of legal troubles."
I need to watch more John Oliver - I fell off.
It's really scary stuff, isn't it, David? I'm worried beyond belief!
I tuned in and when I heard Biden struggling to get his point across and Trump saying that doctors are killing babies that just got born, I turned it off and went to bed. When I awoke, I realized that I didn’t dream any of this and this was what actually happened. It’s past the what the fuck stage and moving closer to we are fucked stage.
Biden is going to use the I’m not Trump to get votes and it’s going to fail this time. What’s scarier is that the debate was Trump slinging out so much misinformation that we, the viewers, got a first hand account of what being on Truth Social was like.
I wish I could laugh this off, think it will get better and just go on about my day. But sadly that’s not the case. There is no more laughing at this as it’s truly scary to think these are our best options. 2 old white guys, one of which is now a fucking felon! If felons aren’t allowed to vote in the US, why are they letting one run for president? It makes no sense.
On another note, The Boys season 4 is fucking brilliant. You NZ have 2 amazing actors with Karl Urban and Antony Starr. I know that’s off topic, but fuck, I can’t stand the reality that is American politics anymore.
I really like that The Boys is back. And yeah, the idea two Kiwis play the leads - one good, one bad - it's just perfect. Growing up, Ant Starr played twin brothers on this really iconic show, Outrageous Fortune.
Surreal to watch in hindsight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibew-vGffH0&t=6s
(Note: pre-roll ad on that video was Biden)
Also Karl Urban in DREDD is a really great watch if you haven't already.
Anyway - fuck. The killing babies conversation went on for so long - Trump making out like if abortion is legal we're going to be snuffing out babies the second they're born. Just insanity. Between that and the golf talk - as kids die in the thousands in Gaza - fuck man. What the hell is going on.
And your example is totally right: This was Truth Social by way of CNN.
Outrageous fortune. Man those were simpler times.
Fuck, they really were. Can we go back to arguing over whether the moon landing happened or not?
Anthony Starr was also the star of Banshee - a great American show I loved for him and the character he played. He’s a great actor!
A very bloody and fun show.
Dredd is such a great movie. I own it. Karl is one of my favorite actors. He can play any role like he lived it.
When Trump was going on and on about abortion i just couldn’t watch it. To know that kind of shit was allowed to even be said without someone calling it out, including Biden. I finally read some of the transcript and it’s just sad. To know that this is all we have. I don’t want to vote, yet I don’t want Trump as president nor do I like the other options either. I’m waiting for Aston Kutcher to come out and say, “ You’ve been punk’d American. “ and we all laugh and go you got us buddy.
Holly cow, I didnt even clock Ant was the guy in Outragous Fortune, and Ive watched all three seasons of The Boys, and a lot of OF. I didnt even get an inkling I had seen him before! Whereas I was sure Jack Quaid was Barry from Barry. Lol, Im losing it.
Some would say that Homelander is what Trump aspires to be...or that the inspiration went in the other direction and that Trump's attitude is the basis for a good bit of Homelander.
This reminds me - awhile back on Webworm I talked to Ant Starr about playing Homelander: "I love "The Boys" because it features a psychopath with strong hints of Trump"
https://www.webworm.co/p/episode-4-i-love-the-boys-because
I thought I went back and read everything, not sure how I missed that Webworm, thanks for the link
Homelander is inspired by Trump and MAGA nation. The new season really sells the MAGA crowd and such. The comic Homelander was nothing like this and the first 2 seasons he was just an evil superhero.
I have not watched any of season 4 yet, so I'm not sure what they have evolved there. I thought it was originally based on something that had been written pre-Trump, and that there were just convenient parallels there in the characters and taking advantage of that in the evolution of the character through the seasons.
Oh, it's Trump allllll the way.
The Boys started as Garth Ennis comic that was a depiction of his hatred of super heroes. The show just took the premise of the source material and made it applicable to the modern world. When you finally do watch the new season, you’ll see that mirror of events of the Trump and MAGA nation come to life.
I might have to park up S03 of The Bear, and start S04 The Boys
Looking forward to season 4 of The Boys. Enjoy the little thing Adam.
I had to turn it off after 20 minutes. It was putting my anxiety levels through the roof.
Biden was never my preferred candidate, but I voted for him in 2020. I'll likely vote for him again this fall. There's been a bunch of chatter this morning about possibly replacing him on the ticket somehow but that's a fool's errand for several reasons:
1. Biden is the only one who can decided to step down, and that's not likely at this point. Attempting to force him out at the convention would split the coalition, and almost guarantee a loss in November.
2. The natural successor if he were to step down is Kamala Harris. Kamala polls very poorly for a variety of reasons I won't get into here. But attempting to bypass her for a more "palatable" (read: white) candidate would be a slap in the face to black women voters, who are by far the most reliable Democratic constituency.
3. Assuming you get past those problems, then you have to actually find a decent national candidate. There are several popular progressive governors, but they have no national profile and they've shown no inclination towards the presidency. There's Bernie Sanders, but he's older than Biden, and he had a heart attack in 2019. There are members of Biden's cabinate like Buttigieg, but they're unlikely to try and make an end run around their boss.
All that to say, it's highly unlikely Biden will be replaced, and trying to might actually make things worse. It's a shitty position to be in, but it's what we've got. The Supreme Court just released a new batch of opinions this morning, that further dismantled the regulatory state and allowed states to penalize people for being homeless. I don't want Trump to appoint even more Justices than he already has.
Sorry for the ramble, but the left is prone to panicking, and frankly sometimes I wish we'd be a little more aggressive.
Thanks for taking the time to clearly write this out - it helped me. So thanks.
I hadn't really realised how disliked Kamala Harris is - especially over the cop narrative: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/12/kamala-was-a-cop-black-people-knew-it-first/
The only thing making me feel sane is that with Biden, comes his team. It's not just him. We get his team. And I'd take Biden's team over Trump's any day.
Also - that was not a ramble. It was clear, helpful, and sane.
Yes, Kamala is pretty divisive especially in the more left-leaning wing of the party. There are a lot of fair criticisms like her prosecutor background. It's what helped sink her in the primaries despite looking promising on paper. And then there's a lot of racism and sexism slung her way as well.
For all his faults, I do think Biden has a good cabinet (with several glaring and huge exceptions to be fair). There's been a lot of small administrative actions they've taken that are actually really great. They just don't make the headlines.
Me, American citizen, living in NZ….Joe….we agree…in my mind I begged Biden to give up his “ reign” over a year ago..The youth of the nation question his ridiculous un nerving stance with fucker Netanyahu…both men are from the dark ages…
I am almost 76…my entire family live in the US…including my only son…I feel great sadness for them and myself….
At this point I will not return…
Janey - *hi* from your old country! Look forward to touching down in NZ for July!
I agree with you and am also an American citizen, newly (after more than 50 years here) a New Zealand citizen, and I will never return to the US. I also pretty much agree with Joe G.
Me 3. How many US expat Kiwis are we in here? (Never going back.)
That's really sad. I hope it improves. Surely the pendulum will swing eventually
Not an American, so I can't vote, but what I'm really hoping for is that Biden either dies (peacefully in his sleep) or has a major health issue that means he can step down without loosing face. I think the democrat machine lost the plot when running Hillary against Trump, she was probably the only democrat candidate that could have lost against Trump at that point, but now Trump has grown himself into a monster that appeals to the racism and Christianity (white power) movements and will give any democrat candidate a run for his or her money.
Supreme Court casts doubt on hundreds of 6 January cases https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/520803/supreme-court-casts-doubt-on-hundreds-of-6-january-cases
Speaking of SCOTUS, I read this just before turning to Webworm for ... comfort? Support? Sanity? Community? (Thanks for this space David, I'm looking forward to saying HI! at the Auckland Pop-up. )
Please do - it's nice to see nice faces in person (as well as in a comments section, of course!)
Thank you that was concise and helpful
Jon Stewart said it best. If Biden would have just ran and got us through and stepped down, we wouldn’t be in this mess.
Oh, yes on all points. #2 especially, I hate to say. What a mess.
Penalize homeless people, wtf. How is that possible, they have nothing left to give. Is it a prisons for profit initiative?
Side bar: yes it is nice that there's no yelling in this space, but further to that, anyone else notice what an absolute joy it is to be able to come to these comment sections and actually be able to read?? I'm so grateful to be able to properly digest great thoughts because they're invariably so well-articulated.
Absolutely 😊 I love reading comments section but it can get a bit predictable (in such a terrible way) at least fellow worms are articulate and have delightful insight
I find that I'll come back two or three times to look for new comments because sometimes I learn and sometimes I laugh, but rarely ever am I irritated.
True 😊💓
Yes! This!!
America: So fucking obsessed with morals, but so utterly incapable of having any. - THIS! You’re so spot on. Ugh, what a joke we have become. Have we always been a joke? I dunno.
I think we were doing okay right after WWII. That counts. Right?!
Well, it took almost another 20 years to give Black people some sort of equality, so I wouldn't be too sure of that.
Maybe? At least we demanded politicians had class and weren’t convicted rapists or felons.
Ugh, so sad.
If it was just the US that was going to spiralling into god knows what kind of self-inflicted dystopia I really wouldn’t care, but they’ll take the rest of us down with them and boy that makes me *so mad*. You can see the MAGA crap spreading out like an infection to NZ and the world, the fantasy fact-free thinking, the racism, the misogyny, the cruelty, the prosperity Christianity/evangelism. I could even watch the debate because I’d have been in a blind rage at both Trump and Biden. The republicans are batshit insane so Trump is par for the course but why the heck are the Democrats fielding an old man? It’s just doing my head in because I simply can’t understand how people can vote for Trump and why Biden is the candidate 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
Totally. You just see how quickly words like "woke" were adopted by right wing hosts in NZ, then politicians. The dog whistling, the lies, the misinformation.
The moment someone uses the term woke you absolutely know which box to pop them into don’t you. I think the NZ public doesn’t buy into it quite as readily as the US, certainly it hasn’t worked the few times National has tried it in the past, but NZ First is openly on board so if Trump wins I expect National will return to trying and the Overton window will slowly start shifting for us too, if it hasn’t already.
That is what scares me the most about the possibility of Trump becoming president again. The spillover was bad last time, and will be worse next time!
The degree to which parties like NZ First/Act and further down the lunatic scale will be emboldened by a win is depressing to consider. National has flirted with it too, so can expect them to commit more fully too.
Yes true, but there is hope in a massive Tory loss this weekend.
I don't think I have the capacity to articulate right now my thoughts on how horrific this is, so thank you for writing down your feelings and thoughts. I agree with it all. It stopped being funny a long time ago but I am truly scared for the future. I cannot believe this is the reality we are living in, but I feel less crazy just coming to this comment space. Thank you for providing this space to rant, it is the only place on the internet I feel sane.
It's good to have a safe space to share, right?
I remember watching the debates against Trump and Hilary and thinking it was all good fun because Trump was an idiot and would never get in 😫 those were the days 💩
Haha, I kinda thought that too! But now look at what's happened! Half the US seems to have gone crazy!
Yes it certainly seems very hopeless right now 😩 I have to add (as an annoying eternal optimist 🤣) that nothing is permanent. As much as it might be truely awful right now and it really is depending on where in the world you are, we're in a bit of flux at the moment and I think we'll see a bit of a levelling off of crazy. I think the next generation coming up is going to be a bit more savvy. One can only hope 😅💓
I get this. All the FUD and chaos and "bad choices" out there but this is such a stark contrast. Look at the stakes. They are high. I'd vote for 3 weeks of Biden and then a roll over to a random vice president before I'd vote for Trump. Can we really taker more right wing Supreme Court justices? Can we really take more removal of women's rights? Can we really take more demonization of minorities (racial and gender and whatever boogeyman Trump can raise)? Can we take more tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy while the normal guy gets the shaft? Can we vote for a guy who lies and obfuscates and cons people and is a convicted felon over a guy with a stutter that is a couple years older but has shown in the last 4 years a great recovery from the recession of COVID?
The reality we are in, with how the US political landscape is designed, there is no way for a 3rd party candidate to do anything else than spoil or randomize the election. That's the truth. We can rage against the dying of the light and thus bury ourselves in shit or we can vote pragmatically and live to vote another day. We can get out and be active in our communities. We can hope for 4 years of sanity while we work for another option in 2028.
But don't listen to me. Listen to HCR and her sane take on things. I'm just some guy, you know?
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-27-2024
It is so unfortunate that we judge politicians by their performance on stage rather than their performance in office. Human beings are essentially frivolous, unfortunately, which is possibly why politicians have become so much worse since television.
Love Heather
Why, why, why does this enormous country effectively only allow for two parties to compete? If the system encouraged a wider range of possibility, maybe they'd put more effort into finding better candidates. I'm in NZ, and while we've currently got the worst government I've lived with, we have a much wider range of political thought and opinion. Greens and Te Pati Maori offer hope and are not wasted votes.
Yeah, except in NZ we used to be able to use votes for the minor parties as a barometer for the more polarising positions in our society, but then National did a sneaky and swung further right, which seems to have normalised a lot of right-wing nonsense. My only hope is this will be the end of Labour/National majorities - they no longer represent a comfortable middle ground so now voters need to take an interest in what they're voting for as opposed to "I didn't really like what Option A has done so I'll vote for Option B".
True, it appears I vote more left (away from Labour) each time as the Overton window is pushed further to the right, but my political stance hasn't actually changed since I started voting. I care about the environment, animal and human rights, and an equitable tax system. Apparently, that makes me a far left radical
Exactly - they are now 38% and 29% in oponion polls, not 52 and 48 as used to happen. There are other options.
The state of Nevada (and the Libertarian party in their own nomination process) require that there is always a "None of the Above" option on the ballot, to ensure the winner actually wins. I would love to see that appear on ballots nationwide, and then also to adjust this presidential election concept in 48 states where the plurality (not even majority) winner gets all of the electoral college votes from that state. I'd like to see that broken down by congressional district like Nebraska and Maine do, and then the two remaining votes from the state can go to the statewide winner. That would mean that Republican presidential candidates would have to campaign in California and Democrat candidates in Texas, rather than just ignore those states altogether as a lost cause.
The debate made me really sad. I think Biden is only running to attempt to protect our country from 'him.' The Dems think he's our best chance. When they started talking about their golf games, I thought they might drop trou and start measuring.
I'm in Texas. Never considered myself a Democrat but I certainly can't relate to the Republican party of recent years and can't ever see myself voting for one again. I agree with some commenters that we need a max age allowed to run.
I am sad our homophobia has kept us from having a really great candidate in Buttigieg.
I love this country. I grieve the years before Trump when there was a measure more of civility and family get togethers were so much less filled with land mines.
I also grieve for our undocumented neighbors. I can't imagine the stress the possibility of Trump winning again puts them under. I am in denial that it might happen and I'm allowing myself to stay there. Love & peace to us all!
I feel as you do about “Pete”….he would be( and is);an excellent leader…a splendid human being….
I am 75….i feel so strongly it is past time for the young to man the ship!!!
Where in Texas are you? I don't really have my head wrapped around it, but outside of Austin it all feels very Trumpy and difficult!
(You are a shining ray of light).
I believe most people have an over simplified view of Texans. I’m in a small town of about 120,000 in the Piney Woods of East Texas. I just looked up the demographics to write this and Google says we are 49% Hispanic, 24% African American, and14% White. I would guess that might surprise a lot of non-Texans. I did not move to Texas until I was married, but I have loved it here. While there is a lot of pearl clutching, there is also a community that espouse more progressive views and would never vote for Trump. Beto was a glimmer of hope and only lost his senate race by less than 3%. I have a circle of people in my small-town life here that are very sad about the current state of politics in Texas and most of us feel we have by far the worst political representatives in our state we’ve ever had.
What can we do? I’ve said for years that all of us that are plugged in and have the youth/energy and maybe enough optimism to want BIG changes in our political system are too busy working, driving carpools, and raising our kids to get anything meaningful accomplished. Term limits in congress would be the single most beneficial change we could make for this country (IMO), but again, who is going to spend the time, effort, and resources to get that done? I can’t, I have a diorama on Native American life on the prairie to help my youngest make after work. 😊
From my perspective, so much changed when Trump emerged on the political scene. We all want it to be a simple case of “us good, them bad,” but it is not. THIS is the crux of it for me. I still haven’t figured it out, and not from lack of trying, but I know that belief is wrong.
For the first time in decades of happily living in Texas, it feels less like home. We’ve even considered moving. There is so much I love here, but the extreme “Christian” Right might figuratively push us out. Right now, my kids are in an incredible and inclusive school district of about 20,000 kids. The best dancer on our drill team was a flamboyantly gay boy who was also prom king. The undisputed best member on our band’s color guard was also an openly gay boy. I’m sure there are still the neanderthals that make these kids’ lives harder than it should be, but the administration and the community is set up to support and love these kids. My kids are growing up knowing a person’s sexuality is not a choice or related to morality. Our school district is what is called an “open district,” so a family can apply to any school in the district rather than having to go to the school you are “zoned” to based on your address. So, we applied to a dual language school 20 minutes from our house in a very low socio-economic part of the city. We have loved it there. The school has a largely Hispanic population. Many, many parents there are undocumented and plenty don’t speak English, but the kids routinely score some of the highest marks in the district on standardized tests. We believe this is due in large part to the dual language component and have been so thankful that after only four years there, our pale and freckled white kid is fluent in Spanish and has been exposed to a new culture that is rich with tradition and fun.
So, we find ourselves loving the extremely strong economy and the school district here but there is enough of the “other” to make us consider moving. My born and raised Texas-loving husband feels it too, and this makes us sad. Stay and try to improve things, or leave and maybe find daily living less mentally taxing?
I have enjoyed this community, David. Thank you for your work and this space.
I feel like this is a lot to put out there on the interwebs. Be gentle “Wormies.”
You are not crazy. It’s absolutely shocking that we can’t do any better. As an American, I’m ashamed and mortified. We have allowed politicians and the media to narrate a culture war that most of the country truly has no interest in, but apathy doesn’t drive people to the polls. Fear and hate do. And when fear and hate is the driver, this is the result.
In the last election, Biden wasn’t my first choice, but I could see the value in having him as a “triage president” - someone online around that time said that it would be good to have someone in the Oval Office who knows where the bathrooms are on day one. Once he was the nominee, I made calls, knocked on doors, wrote postcards.
This round, I just feel so defeated by the whole thing. I’m sure he’s a perfectly lovely old man, but he’s not capable of this anymore, and I am tired of perfectly lovely old men making decisions for all of us. They haven’t done much in the last four years to make things better for me. And it just feels…sad to show and vote just to try (likely in vain) to keep the other side from taking over.
I’m gonna do it. But…ugh. I hate it.
I do take some consolation in the fact there is a TEAM around him. So a vote for him gets you him - AND his team. I have to keep reminding myself of that.
If I can help you in any way, it’s this: don’t even bother looking at the candidates but the *cabinets*. Which *cabinet* will best serve your needs?
This is how I look at it as well. A lot of the administrative and regulatory actions don't make headlines, but they make huge differences in people's lives.
This is a very sensible and heart-safe way to look at it. Thank you ❤️
I completely agree with you, this is the healthy way to look at it!
That's a very good point. And some of us in NZ might not think about that too much, as here the Cabinet has to be made up of politicians, whereas in the USA the President gets to pick whatever experts he/she wants in their cabinet, rather than just elected polis.
Paula,
I don’t have a credible answer right now….last night I thought to myself, “ if only Biden would die in his sleep”…..no better “ if Trump and Biden would die, Trump in a gutter or on his gold- leafed toilet….YUP , it feels so scarey right now…feel my arms around you pal….
He's not lovely enough to stop providing weaponry to the genocidal Zionists, though, so there is that.
I think we are super privileged in NZ being able to watch this somewhat like it’s a sport or the latest episode of a show. It truly doesn’t seem like real life. Yet its going to have a massive impact and to be honest the thought of Trump being president again gives me instant anxiety. How can this have happened again?
Sadly the state of our own coalition is no better. Simeon Brown coming for our kids by INCREASING SPEED LIMITS OUTSIDE SCHOOLS and that toxic woman ceding power to Uber over contractors rights. It's a total shit show everywhere. I've been listening to the excellent Spinoff podcast on the 4th Labour government "Juggernaut" (well worth a listen). But it does leave me wondering how we went from leading the world on matters like nuclear policy to *this* [waves arms].
Our coalition is bad news, but you cannot compare any of our politicians to Trump. Yet. And Winston may be old, but he's still sharp as a knife. Our situation is so much better, not in the least because the Nationals could "sack" Luxon if they felt he was out of order. Alas, there IS no choice between Trump and Biden, as has already been pointed out.
Winnie sharp? I don't think so. What seems to have happened is that as he has got older, the alcohol he is so fond of - really hard stuff - is having more effect, and that effect not only diminishes brain power, but also emotions....they get darker. He's always been Mr Teflon, but the teflon has become razor thin and worn off, in many places.
I agree, and also the only way he got in was to go and court the cookers, who are now getting rather disappointed with him. Hoping we won't have this damn CoC "government" for a full term!
Both Winnie and Seymour used the Agree to Disagree clause of the CoCs in the past week. I dont see this rabble holding the line for the whole term.
I can’t agree. He once had a fine brain, for all that it was largely used in the wrong way. But his performances are increasingly rambling. Once I might have thought he was being a wily old fox pandering to the deluded and obsessive simply for their votes but it’s starting to seem as if that’s how he really thinks nowadays.
He is owned lock stock and barrel by the lunatics. Look at the mad staring eyes on them. They're the eyes that burned women at the stake for being witches. They eyes that went on crusades to the middle east, the eyes that shoved people in cattle cars on the way to death camps. Yes, I went there.
Very well put!
I wasn't trying to make a direct comparison, just commenting that nowhere is great at the moment.
Oh, no, Winston hasn't been anything like sharp for at least the last two elections. He's coasting on past reputation and the cooker contingent.
Oh I agree that the current state of affairs here isn’t ideal. But comparing speed limit changes and things like the loss of reproductive rights and wherever trump takes the next cycle is oranges and bananas
I wasn't making a direct comparison. We have 5million people and a different system of government. I was trying to illustrate that everywhere has its own challenges. And Simeon is unlikely to make the same world wide impact another Trump presidency will.
My loathing of slimeon brown increases daily
Well, its looking increasingly possible that we may have our first one termer since the 70's. Thats something to hope for.
The worry is that New Zealand is sort of going the same way!
This is a real worry. You might be aware that NZ will be up for more than $20 billion as our commitment to the Paris Agreement (2030), yet the current government is busily adding to this huge liability with policies that will inevitably increase NZ's emissions. I can only think that they are planning for another Trump rule where we will all be forced to sign a document which states that climate change is just not a thing. The Paris Agreement will become irrelevant. Then the wobbly world consensus on climate action will just collapse.
Sorry, but I can't watch it like it's almost a sport, as I feel it's trying to spread here to NZ. David Seymour is a dangerous man, and the rabbitholers and cookers here got their crazy ideas from QAnon in the States and transplante it all here. Our path ahead is not a smooth one, unless, as I fervently hope, the CoC "government" implodes and we go back to a government which governs for the best for all the people in our wonderful little country!
I do think David Seymour has been underestimated as a politician.
He has a way of presenting his very libertarian views as good old common sense, and seems to avoid the scrutiny that that the Greens, Labour and even National are given.
This current round of austerity has his name stamped all over it and we're ploughing ahead with it anyway, despite over a decade of evidence from the UK that it doesn't work and makes things worse.
We have so many problems to deal with right now in NZ (global warming, poverty, housing shortage etc) and none of these can be solved by more tax cuts, less regulation and less government (i.e. more capitalism).
By contrast, I feel like the Greens are over scrutinized, despite a lot of their policies being fairly ordinary in the Scandinavian countries.
Austerity is good for rich people and that's Seymour's constituency. "Such an arrogant prick" is the best summary of him ever.
I felt exactly like that listening to Winston Peters on Morning report during the week though.
If anyone is thinking of voting for Trump over Biden because Trump spoke louder I doubt they'd be the kind of person to understand the intricacies of the hush money, but would understand that Trump is the kind of man who cheats on his pregnant wife.
That's the hope I'm clinging to today.
It's hard to imagine anyone hasn't made up their mind on this. After all these years, they either see Trump for who he is or they don't.
I believe all of those being polled as "undecided" are actually "well, I hate them both, so I'm just waiting to try and figure out which one irritates me the tiniest bit less", whereas I would like them to go out and make sure it's know they hate both and are looking for any other option.
I'm waiting for "Ham Sandwich, '24". Because I'm pretty sure that a ham sandwich (not even a fancy one, just basic boiled ham) would win against these two clowns. Even with vegans and those with a religious objection to pork. (My true theory is different, but I'll put that in another comment.)
From your lips to American voters ears.
Biden got fact-checked on this (I'm not joking)
Melania had already given birth to Baron, who was four months old when Trump was "not having sex with a porn star."