Something is wrong with this split-screen picture. On one side, former president Donald Trump rants about mass deportations and claims to have stopped “wars with France,” after being described by his longest-serving White House chief of staff as a literal fascist. On the other side, commentators debate whether Vice President Kamala Harris performed well enough at a CNN town hall to “close the deal.”

Let’s review: First, Harris was criticized for not doing enough interviews — so she did multiple interviews, including with nontraditional media. She was criticized for not doing hostile interviews — so she went toe to toe with Bret Baier of Fox News. She was criticized as being comfortable only at scripted rallies — so she did unscripted events, such as the town hall on Wednesday. Along the way, she wiped the floor with Trump during their one televised debate.

Trump, meanwhile, stands before his MAGA crowds and spews nonstop lies, ominous threats, impossible promises and utter gibberish. His rhetoric is dismissed, or looked past, without first being interrogated.

  • @[email protected]
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    4 hours ago

    One side’s supporters partook in the education system while the other went to church?

    They’re accustomed to gibberish…

  • @[email protected]
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    5 hours ago

    I hate to be a downer, but “it’s not fair” doesn’t really matter at this point. Trump continues to gain, and he’s babbling incoherently most days and being quite clear that he plans to be a fascist from day one. Whether it’s fair or not, there’s is a huge double standard. If Harris does anything wrong she loses support. Trump daily explains gleefully how he’s going to take away civil rights, begin mass deportations, purge the federal government and fill it with loyalists, and on, and on, and on, and on, and he’s been slowly but steadily gaining support for a month.

    Is there a huge, glaring double standard? Yes, absolutely. Does it matter for the blunt reality of the upcoming election? No, not at all.

    • @[email protected]
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      34 hours ago

      People know it’s a vote for or against the constitution. Voting for Trump means Civil War. Harris has to be better than that. A lot of people want to kill their neighbors right now.

      • @[email protected]
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        5 hours ago

        First they came for the Muslim and you did nothing cause they were not you.

        R and D killing Americans for a foreign power.

        • @[email protected]
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          54 hours ago

          R is wanting to come directly for the Americans as soon as trump becomes president while D is still wondering how to distance themselves enough from the current genocide to just keep profiting from the far away war.

          Are both options not good? Yes, but one is CLEARLY much much much worse than the other (it’s the R one, if it isn’t clear enough). With D you can at least talk and slow down the horrible shit which gives you time to work with third party politicians to actually improve stuff, while with R they will just add you to their hit list and you’ll get screwed a million times over. Under a D government you can actually work on improving shit and getting third party candidates in, under a R government you’ll be lucky if you can still vote for the next election

          • @[email protected]
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            34 hours ago

            The dead don’t care, only those that survive. Muslim communities are on one side of that line and you the other.

            Those in this article are literally giving their lives for you, you ungrateful fuck.

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    78 hours ago

    Trump is targeting mostly far-right evangelicals who have a common vision on what they want the country to look like. He has a lot of energy when doing so, and because of how similar their interests are he could get away with all sorts of stuff and they would still vote for him.

    Harris (and Democrats in general) is the only alternative mainstream candidate that everyone else has, and that “everyone else” consists of all sorts of people with conflicting interests: liberals, neoliberals, centrists, progressives, leftists, different religious groups or cultures, varying economic demographics, racial minorities, LGBTQ, and immigrants for instance. They’re trying to appeal to all of them at once, but because they don’t have a shared vision, nobody is happy and they get more scrutinized. To make at least some of them happy, they need to focus on certain groups and deprioritize the interests of other groups. However, once they do that then the groups they deprioritize get angry since they no longer have representation, and the groups that are still there remain skeptical because of the history of not working for their interests in the past.

    The advantage that third parties like PSL have is that from the start, they’re trying to appeal to a specific group of people with a common vision like Trump is instead of trying to play both sides with conflicting groups and making nobody happy. The problem (aside from the election duopoly bought out by corporations) is that they are a very small political minority so they have no real chance of winning the election without winning over people from other groups which is a challenge, especially when there are many more unknowns when it comes to progressing than there are when it comes to reverting to a previous state so there is more fragmentation due to those sort of disagreements.

  • @[email protected]
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    912 hours ago

    Anyone who equates “not perfect” with supporting a genocide is not worth being read and taken seriously.

  • @[email protected]
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    1015 hours ago

    It’s not about being perfect. It’s about not regressing to a 2004 republican. That doesn’t appealt to Republicans who have moved further right and not to the left who refuse to budge.

    It’s willful ignorance to complain that she needs to be perfect when the people complaining are often specific about the things they care about that are being ignored.

    And if those are being ignored you can be shocked they won’t vote for her and you must admit she’s clearly not courting those voters either.

    This is either a non-issue cause she is going for exactly the voters she wants or she’s willingly creating a flaw by deciding to court votes that won’t be enough to win.
    I don’t get how this is still an argument. It’s happening exactly as participants are making it happen.

    • @[email protected]
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      1115 hours ago

      It’s the image that each candidate has crafted. Harris is running as an ultra-competent bureaucrat who will follow all the rules. Trump is running as an angry old fart who will break them.

      Fascists in the media lionize Trump because they love the idea of a Rebel Billionaire breaking all the rules to MAGA.

      And because so much of the media is owned and operated by fascists, you get a stark Trump bias.

      But what are Dems going to do about it? Break up these mega-corp news conglomerates? Prosecute flagrant violations of election law by billionaire media magnets? Threaten these oligarchs in any conceivable way?

      No. They’re just going to get strung around by the nose, then complain that The Low Information Voter didn’t see through the bullshit filling up their screens and airwaves.

      • @[email protected]
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        515 hours ago

        The FTC is just starting to go after oligopolies. So yes, institutions supported by Democratic bureaucrats are going after powerful conglomerates. Results can be seen in the denial of the Capri tapestry merger and the language used by the judge in the case.

  • @[email protected]
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    14 hours ago

    Democrats credentials for presidency - they are not Trump.

    Edit - In any other election cycle this is a legitimate question.

    What are you bringing to the table? What is your policy position?

    For both the parties.

    Just because this election only party is eligible to represent doesnt mean that the questions shouldn’t be asked. Browbeating undecided voters for the questions is wrong and might give the result no one wants.

    • @[email protected]
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      29 hours ago

      The position is to acknowledge results of an election. That should be enough. For more information there is a ton of resources like Harris’ website.

    • GHiLA
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      314 hours ago

      they are not… a sexist, traitorous sellout and that’s scratching the surface

    • @[email protected]
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      114 hours ago

      In a two party system this is always true. But what do you mean by “Trump”. What does it mean to not be like him?

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    17 hours ago

    Kamala isn’t really standing for anything, is trying to be too safe, and I don’t think it’s going too work to well

    • @[email protected]
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      1114 hours ago

      She stands for a lot of things, this exact kind of meaningless bullshit is the fucking problem

      • @[email protected]
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        15 hours ago

        Vice President Harris grew up in a middle class home as the daughter of a working mom. She believes that when the middle class is strong, America is strong. That’s why as President, Kamala Harris will create an Opportunity Economy where everyone has a chance to compete and a chance to succeed — whether they live in a rural area, small town, or big city.

        Vice President Kamala Harris has made clear that building up the middle class will be a defining goal of her presidency. That’s why she will make it a top priority to bring down costs and increase economic security for all Americans. As President, she will fight to cut taxes for more than 100 million working and middle class Americans while lowering the costs of everyday needs like health care, housing, and groceries. She will bring together organized labor and workers, small business owners, entrepreneurs, and American companies to create good paying jobs, grow the economy, and ensure that America continues to lead the world.

        There is not a single policy included in this two paragraph long statement.

        It’s the most transparent Politician Speak, saying an earful while telling you absolutely nothing.

        • .Donuts
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          1015 hours ago

          If you could have bothered to read a few lines more, there’s an entire 76-page PDF attached outlining plans and goals.

          Now I’m not asking you to read the whole thing, but you’re being disingenuous.

          • @[email protected]
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            414 hours ago

            there’s an entire 76-page PDF

            How much of it is more fluff like this?

            Now I’m not asking you to read the whole thing

            If you’d like to single out the policies you think are meaningful, I’ll happily pick through that chapter. But if the first two paragraphs are empty pablum, I’m not wasting my time with the next fifty.

            • YeetPics
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              16 hours ago

              Aren’t you a big fan of “theory”?

              Exceedingly verbose publications should be right up your alley 🤷

            • .Donuts
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              714 hours ago

              But if the first two paragraphs are empty pablum, I’m not wasting my time with the next fifty

              Great idea. Have a good day.

    • @[email protected]
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      1417 hours ago

      And what doesTrump stands for? Let’s see. Revenge against anyone who he doesn’t like, threatens political opponents with military action, across the board tariffs that will result in retaliation from other countries, more tax cuts for the rich,… Oh and Lots of fear mongering.

      He is dangerous.

      I don’t think he is going to work too well.

      • @[email protected]
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        615 hours ago

        Right but it’s not about him. You can’t point out how the sociopath with cult of sycophants is a problem cause that is obvious to those of us that care.

        To those that don’t it’s just mud slinging that doesn’t answer the fact they don’t like her policies.
        It won’t work to just not be the other, you got to be preferable. I thought this was learned in 2016 but I see a lot this repeating itself.

        When someone brings up they don’t like Harris’ policies it’s not enough to shout back the other guy is obviously worse. It doesn’t answer the point. And people are not that rational.

        • @[email protected]
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          715 hours ago

          I thought this was learned in 2016 but I see a lot this repeating itself.

          I’m pretty sure a lot of people who helped run Hillary’s campaign are also helping to run Kamala’s. They don’t learn lol.

  • @[email protected]
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    515 hours ago

    “You criticized her for not being good at X so she did X a bunch!”

    Yeah but she’s bad at it and it went really poorly for her and hurt her numbers.

    These people are fucking idiots.

      • @[email protected]
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        12 hours ago

        I have a hard time believing that but I don’t know anything about it. I saw clips of the CNN town hall and she was horrendous.