US election 2020 thread

[Flavour]

Proud boys

 

[Yossarian]

Oath Keepers

 

[Pickman's model]

Proud boys

Every time I see that I think what a really shit name that is

 

[ska invita]

I don’t disagree that it needs organising. In that sense we could reflect on the fact that we’ve been lucky that the figurehead of this phase has been so incompetent and self-obsessed

...alternatively Trump's been incredibly good at it - utterly brazen - in a way perhaps any successor with any real party political power won't be
People do like a megalomaniacal leader - as I say, might be a hard act to follow. Like IIRC Kaka Tim was saying, might make other Republicans pale by comparison, leading to a slump for them.

If it can grow without the Republicans, that would be something...

I'm not just trying to be contrarian here btw - it could go either way is basically what im saying - at the very least i dont think the momentum to keep growing is a given.

That guy to take one example was apparently a fundamentalist Christian before

That doesnt narrow down the US pool of recruits much

 

[bimble]

Every time I see that I think what a really shit name that is

The best named bunch has to be The Angry Vikings . (a real thing)

 

[nogojones]

The weak security is a bit of a puzzle. What are the odds that Trump intervened to make it that way, and consequently he'll be gone tomorrow?

Just idly wondering.

He didn't need to. The police generally support these demonstrators. They're always going to go a bit easier and give them more lattitude.

 

[krtek a houby]

Boogaloo?

 

[cupid_stunt]

Female Trump supporter and military veteran shot dead in Capitol riots pictured

Ashli Babbit has been described as a devout Donald Trump supporter and had tweeted the "storm is here" prior to joining the riots at the US Capitol where she was killed amid the chaos

www.mirror.co.uk

According to that, it wasn't just Twitter that banned him, but Facebook too.

I bet steam was coming out of his ears.

 

[Yossarian]

Every time I see that I think what a really shit name that is

But it probably wins in the category of "Best Name for a Far-Right Group Taken by a Canadian From the Aladdin Musical"

 

[littlebabyjesus]

That's not what Smokeandsteam's arguing. The extreme right are not going to be won over, where the fight will be is what happens to the populist radical right. Is the answer anti-populist technocratic liberalism or is that part of the problem?

Or alternatively, how do you keep all those first-time voters who have just voted Democrat in Georgia and stop them from becoming disillusioned? How do you keep hold of the Sanders supporters who held their noses to vote for Biden to get rid of Trump?

 

[Flavour]

According to that, it wasn't just Twitter that banned him, but Facebook too.

I bet steam was coming out of his ears.

Last seen leaving furious one-star reviews on Google Maps I believe

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Oath Keepers

Is that a deliberate Game Of Thrones reference or just a coincidence? It's genuinely hard to tell with this stuff.

 

[Winot]

I suppose you could start to deal with Fox, social media and the rest - but at some point we have to acknowledge that a majority of the 70 million voted knowing what this was and would still vote for it.

A huge issue was abortion. There were some good articles before the election about Trump courting the evangelical churches, and interviews with church leaders who had and had not changed their mind since 2016.

It may not sit comfortably from the perspective of the British left, but it’s probably a smart move for the Democrats to get churches onside.

 

[redsquirrel]

Or alternatively, how do you keep all those first-time voters who have just voted Democrat in Georgia and stop them from becoming disillusioned? How do you keep hold of the Sanders supporters who held their noses to vote for Biden to get rid of Trump?

I'm not sure in what way you care calling that an "alternative".

The populist radical right are a minority in the US, Western Europe, etc but they are a large minority. The strategy of the anti-populists, such as the Democratic Party's leadership, has been to put them on the naughty step, pretend they don't exist, argue that demographics will spell the end of them. The "decent" majority will ultimately win.

Yesterday's events show just how much a failure that strategy was/is. Sure populist radical right parties are going to lose more elections than they win, but that does not address their political power (unless you reduce politics to electoralism). Liberal anti-populism cannot "deal with" populism because populism is the result of liberal anti-populism.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

A huge issue was abortion. There were some good articles before the election about Trump courting the evangelical churches, and interviews with church leaders who had and had not changed their mind since 2016.

It may not sit comfortably from the perspective of the British left, but it’s probably a smart move for the Democrats to get churches onside.

How? If you're talking about the evangelical churches, how do you get them onside when your policies need to include defending not just the right to abortion but the right to access to abortion, defending gay rights and trans rights, defending the teaching of evolution in schools?

 

[Orang Utan]

Every time I see that I think what a really shit name that is

It always sets off a sample of Duran Duran’s Wild Boys in my head

 

[bimble]

Quite interesting, the definition of sedition seems to comfortably cover yesterday's escapade, legal bods making noises about this.

 

[Pickman's model]

It always sets off a sample of Duran Duran’s Wild Boys in my head

Do you like the song?

 

[Orang Utan]

Do you like the song?

I used to

 

[Favelado]

Do you like the song?

I'd go for the Reflex over it.

 

[Ted Striker]

Last seen leaving furious one-star reviews on Google Maps I believe

Youtube comments sections too

 

[Winot]

How? If you're talking about the evangelical churches, how do you get them onside when your policies need to include defending not just the right to abortion but the right to access to abortion, defending gay rights and trans rights, defending the teaching of evolution in schools?

I’m not suggesting the Dems compromise on any of that. I’m suggesting that - on a local level - they get to know churches and sell as hard as they can the bits of their message that resonate with the demographic (job security; workers’ rights; housing rights etc.).

 

[platinumsage]

52 arrests apparently.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Quite interesting, the definition of sedition seems to comfortably cover yesterday's escapade, legal bods making noises about this.

View attachment 247535

Yep. It's not even arguable that it isn't sedition under that definition.

 

[ska invita]

More concerning is the apparent complicity/capitulation of the police. The fact these people largely seem to have been allowed to wander off home, and the vast and painfully obvious difference between that and the policing of black people engaged in genuinely peaceful protest, tells you all you need to know about whether ordinary americans should trust law enforcement.

From that Richard Seymour piece:

"The Pentagon, of course, is under acting secretary Christopher Miller after his predecessor, Mark Esper, was removed on 9th November for opposing Trump. Esper was among the ex-Pentagon officials who warned about a coup. My speculation is obviously that the Pentagon stalled under pressure from Trump, in order to give his guys the full beer hall putsch experience."

 

[Tankus]

Ill bet ,after the ease of access by the Maga horde , Isis are probably re assessing potential opportunities for making a statement.

 

[MrSki]

Certainly not spontaneous.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I'm not sure in what way you care calling that an "alternative".

The populist radical right are a minority in the US, Western Europe, etc but they are a large minority. The strategy of the anti-populists, such as the Democratic Party's leadership, has been to put them on the naughty step, pretend they don't exist, argue that demographics will spell the end of them. The "decent" majority will ultimately win.

Yesterday's events show just how much a failure that strategy was/is. Sure populist radical right parties are going to lose more elections than they win, but that does not address their political power (unless you reduce politics to electoralism). Liberal anti-populism cannot "deal with" populism because populism is the result of liberal anti-populism.

It's an alternative way of framing the question. To focus on the 70 million and ask how you win them over is a strange way of framing it to me. The answer to the question is that you can't win most of those 70 million over. The more important question for Democrats is how do you keep the 80 million you have.

 

[Streathamite]

0

I have a Florida flag, from the time I spent there, I'm certain this is the same. Although it wouldn't greatly surprise me if you are right.

Ah right, fair enough!
It probably just looks like the KKK one - possibly because of their shared confeederacy antecedents.

 

[flypanam]

Oh, and the formalities are finally done. All that's left is the swearing in.

Then four years of Bidenfreude*, which could lead to ever greater disenchantment.

*thanks to Benjamin Kunkel.