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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#338851: Nov 11th 2020 at 1:17:35 PM

@Daze, you've also got the 2002 precedent of a party that at least appears to handle a crisis well improving or holding their ground in the Midterms. COVID could be to Biden/the Dems what 9/11 was to W/the Reps.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#338852: Nov 11th 2020 at 1:40:44 PM

Did Covid affect many votes?

The scary thing is that it didn't seem to move the needle much on Trump's base.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
clemont107 Mega Togekiss?! from Land of Missed Opportunities (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
Mega Togekiss?!
#338853: Nov 11th 2020 at 1:43:04 PM

I think some Trump voters were thinking if Trump won re-election he would be able to get a vaccine prepared for them within the next year. When Biden does what they were expecting Trump to do, a lot of them will perhaps warm up to Biden.

"Wow, no Mega Togekiss in Legends Z-A. Or any non-Froslass new Sinnoh Mega Evolutions. Round of applause, everybody." - Dawn
ShinyCottonCandy Everyone's friend Malamar from Lumiose City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Everyone's friend Malamar
#338854: Nov 11th 2020 at 1:44:15 PM

[up][up]I'm sure it swayed some fencesitters one way or the other, but any Trumpist will deny the pandemic no matter what, so they wouldn't be swayed. Even if they caught it, they'd lie (perhaps even to themselves) that it wasn't that bad, just a particularly nasty flu or something.

Edited by ShinyCottonCandy on Nov 11th 2020 at 4:44:26 AM

My musician page
Wispy Since: Feb, 2017
#338855: Nov 11th 2020 at 1:44:28 PM

[up][up]Doubt it, alot of Trumpists are anti-vaxxers.

Edited by Wispy on Nov 11th 2020 at 1:44:39 AM

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#338856: Nov 11th 2020 at 1:45:14 PM

I think this was brought up before - Trump voters were largely unmoved by Covid, because they completely bought into Trump's lies about it really not being a big deal/everything being done to handle it.

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#338857: Nov 11th 2020 at 1:46:57 PM

That ship has sailed, the only way Republicans would've possibly de-radicalized is if Trump was beaten in a landslide by Biden. But he very much wasn't, which means that Trumpism is alive and well.

The Republican Party is a far-right authoritarian nationalist party and that's not going to change anytime soon.

This.

People need to understand that Trump is not the problem. Trump did not create all the problems in the Republican party. The increasing radicalization of Republicans over the past three or four decades created the Trump Presidency.

I know it's comforting to think that there's just this one big bad guy who we can defeat and then it's over, credits roll, and everyone lives happily ever after. But that's not how politics work. Trump is a symptom. He was only able to succeed because the ideological and logistical groundwork had been lain by the Republicans that came before him and by the conservative propaganda apparatus already in place.

There will be another Trump in 2024. It might even be Trump. And then another in 2028 and another in 2032. His Presidency was not a perversion of Republican politics. It was a product of it. Trumpism is the logical next step of American conservatism, and Trump is the logical next step from Nixon, Reagan, and the Bushes.

Trump supporters are not a Vocal Minority, ineffectually crying out with voices unheard by the greater party apparatus. They are the Republican Party and the Republican Party is them.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#338858: Nov 11th 2020 at 1:47:02 PM

@Wispy, if their Messiah endorsed it, they'd gladly line up for it.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#338859: Nov 11th 2020 at 1:47:09 PM

I think covid motivated democrat-leaning or centrist people to vote for Biden, but probably didn't have much of an effect in regards to chipping at trump's base. I don't know if we have any data that suggests otherwise at present, but that'd be my guess.

SatoshiBakura (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#338860: Nov 11th 2020 at 1:48:47 PM

Wow, Biden has only been declared the victor for a few days, but he has been pulling all stops to prepare for his term.

For example, Biden added a transgender veteran to his transition team for the Department of Defense. It really reads as a well deserved “fuck you, Donnie”.

Edited by SatoshiBakura on Nov 11th 2020 at 4:50:13 AM

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#338861: Nov 11th 2020 at 1:50:12 PM

I repeat, again, that Trump is just the Tea Party candidate.

The Tea Party existed before Trump.

It will exist after.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#338862: Nov 11th 2020 at 1:51:17 PM

Kinda morbid, but I wonder if Trump's super-spreader rallies had an effect on him losing. Like, the Trump supporters who went to them and caught Covid literally weren't able to vote, for one reason or another.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#338863: Nov 11th 2020 at 1:57:16 PM

Biden began assembling policy teams once he won the primaries. He knew this transition wasn't going to be easy.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#338864: Nov 11th 2020 at 1:57:20 PM

Good to hear Biden is chugging along without regard for Trump's tantrums.

[up][up]On the other hand, the Republicans' disregard for lives during a pandemic is what allowed them to keep doing door to door canvassing throughout the entire cycle, which undoubtedly helped them reach voters while Democrats safer approach cost them time to reach our own voters.

Edited by Parable on Nov 11th 2020 at 1:57:36 AM

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#338865: Nov 11th 2020 at 1:57:49 PM

I don’t think the rallies caused that many infections, remember Trump lost by tends of thousands of votes in the closer states, he certainly infected many people with said events, but I'm not sure if it’s on the scale of tends of thousands.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#338866: Nov 11th 2020 at 1:59:21 PM

A rather heartwarming story of democracy in action:

https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/first-person-i-was-detroit-poll-challenger-gop-came-make-havoc?amp

     The Story 
It was something to behold: GOP challengers were literally mistaking their own uncertainty or lack of knowledge about the process with voter fraud and worker malfeasance.

This frantic speculation on the part of GOP challengers continued throughout the day, whenever there was a mismatched number, a processing error, a human mistake, or anything that they didn’t understand. Even though each and every item was rectified and explained, to the GOP challengers everything was part of a grand conspiracy.

One GOP challenger even told me that poll workers, who were almost entirely African American at the TCF center, shouldn’t be paid.

“I volunteered,” she said. “Why can’t they?”

That whiff of white entitlement/superiority was evident in the way they behaved toward inspectors and supervisors throughout the day.

It became clear as the morning progressed that we saw our job as challengers quite differently. I was there to ensure a smooth process and make sure every vote was counted. They were there to gum up the process by questioning everything and anything.

It was sad, really. They distrusted their fellow citizens and thought the entire process was skeptical. When you begin with the assumption that there is widespread voter fraud, you see everything—normal processes and explainable errors—as part of a widespread criminal conspiracy.

By late morning, the GOP challengers in my section had to be repeatedly asked by supervisors and team leaders to follow the rules: do not speak with inspectors, only supervisors; stay back 6 feet from the table to maintain social distancing requirements; and wear your mask over your nose and mouth.

Some abided by the rules and many did not. In fact, these requests apparently offended the GOP challengers so much they began filling out affidavits suggesting inspectors and supervisors treated them rudely and disrespectfully.

As the day wore on and the imagined voter fraud failed to materialize, the GOP challengers became obsessed with finding “the military ballots.”

At one point after lunch, a woman with the GOP suggested that a box of ballots had been taken from the tabulator area and was being moved back to the precinct. A group of GOP challengers ran after the team leader carrying a box back to a counting board. They surrounded him and demanded he open it, certain they had nabbed a fraudster. He was unbothered, opened the box and let everyone look inside. It was empty. He had dropped off ballots that were ready to be processed at the tabulator area and was going to the precinct to pick up more.

By the end of the night, the GOP challengers were left with nothing but the majesty of democracy: ordinary people working as a group to uphold the integrity of our election

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Nov 11th 2020 at 2:00:06 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#338867: Nov 11th 2020 at 2:08:18 PM

So I was reading TVT's page on Biden and it pointed out an interesting fact - he is the first, and likely last, president of the "Silent Generation". We had a silent generation president before we had someone from Gen X.

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#338868: Nov 11th 2020 at 2:16:42 PM

It makes sense that the older generation would have fielded a president before the younger generation. What's weird is that we had a slew of Boomers before a Silent Generation president.

Balmung Since: Oct, 2011
#338869: Nov 11th 2020 at 2:22:10 PM

I mentioned the Silent Generation thing a while ago. We kind of skipped straight from Greatest Generation to Baby Boomers holding office.

Also on that note, even if he dies, Kamala Harris would not be the first Gen X president, as by most definitions she is a Boomer, albeit just about the youngest possible Boomer. Harris was born in 1964 and Gen X isn't usually considered to have started until 1965.

It's also not super surprising Boomers skipped in front of the Silent Generation, as Baby Boomers were a very large generation while the Silent Generation was relatively small even going by birth numbers. It's also not implausible that Gen X will be similarly skipped over by the larger Millennial generation.

Doubt it, alot of Trumpists are anti-vaxxers

You're not wrong, but a lot of people across the political compass are anti-vaxxers. It's like the most politically universal anti-science position.

Edited by Balmung on Nov 11th 2020 at 4:26:22 AM

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#338870: Nov 11th 2020 at 2:30:15 PM

Yeah, I personally associate anti-vaxxing with extreme lefts like the Green party.

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#338871: Nov 11th 2020 at 2:34:06 PM

From what I can tell, left-antivaxxers are more along the lines of hating "Western" medicine and shit like that, while right-antivaxxers are more likely to resent the government telling them they can't have total control over their children's lives.

Edited by LSBK on Nov 11th 2020 at 4:40:17 AM

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#338872: Nov 11th 2020 at 2:38:27 PM

I've encountered more right wing anti-vaxxers in my life than leftists ones. So far its been a mix of vaccines cause autism and vaccines are for nano machine tracking devices.

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#338873: Nov 11th 2020 at 2:39:30 PM

Depending on where one puts the line Obama can count as a Gen X president, as some groups do put the start of the generation at 1960.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Balmung Since: Oct, 2011
#338874: Nov 11th 2020 at 2:56:33 PM

By most definitions I'm aware of, Boomers are 1946-64, which includes both Obama (1961) and Harris (1964). Gen X is then 1965-1980, Millennials are 1981-1996, Zoomers are 1997-2012, and "Alpha" is 2013-2028.

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#338875: Nov 11th 2020 at 3:02:58 PM

Shouldn’t generations be the same length? Boomers get 20 years under that definition while all the other generations only get 15.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran

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