Not sure if this violates rules, but this is breaking news and the primary source. Local news video.

17th house Democrat calls for Biden to step down. Post NATO-news conference, 6:30 Pacific Time

      • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        I pointed out in our last scuffle that I was a supporter of Biden stepping down. Multiple times. What I opposed was the presumption that, if he did not, allowing fascism to win was a morally acceptable alternative, like you suggested.

          • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Welp…it’s over folks. To those continually downvoting me because you can’t face facts, it’s time. As a staunch Democrat, I cannot bring myself to support that man any longer. Either find a new candidate or this will be the first presidential election I don’t vote in.

            This wasn’t the original message as you edited it, the original was more explicit that you were actively refusing to vote against fascism if it came down to fascism or Biden, but it’s close enough to the original in meaning.

            • Coach@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              Yup, I said “go fascism.” I see it, right there. If I squeeze my eyes really tightly.

              Again, it’s this “fascism or else” distillation that is going to drive people away from politics and the polls, not towards.

              • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                Yup, I said “go fascism.” I see it, right there. If I squeeze my eyes really tightly.

                You said that in the case of fascism against Biden, you would let fascism win. Pretty unambiguous.

                And then tried to bothsides fascism with Biden by calling the presumption that the opposition was literally fucking fascism as insufficiently nuanced view of the race. Because, as we all know, Trump et co are very complex. They definitely aren’t fascists with their masks all the way off.

                • Coach@lemmy.world
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                  6 months ago

                  Again, you can’t read and I can’t rationalize with someone so defensive. Have a good one.

                  • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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                    6 months ago

                    Again, you can read

                    Yes, hence why I was able to parse you saying

                    And distilling the complexities of American leadership and our standing in the world into fascism vs. dementia is just naïve and simpleminded.

                    In a discussion about whether or not voting against fascism was necessary to not be pro-fascist (PROTIP: it is). If there is complexity in this, it is on the Democratic side, which is a mess and a big tent with a shitty candidate at the moment. There’s no ‘complexity’ about the fascism that Trump et co are peddling. When I asked you to explain this, you refused, what, three times?

          • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            I think it will be a much harder fight if Biden does not step down, and that he has a duty to the country to step down.

            Whether he can win it? It would be entirely on anti-Trump sentiment, and not at all because of his influence - which, at this point, is overall detrimental to the ticket.

            Let’s put it this way - it’s a tough race, and Biden was supposed to be an extra sail for the ship. Only he turned out to be a bit of debris jutting out of the side, slowing the ship down. CAN this ship still beat the opposing one in the race? Potentially, if our ship is otherwise fast or the opposing ship slows. But it sure as hell isn’t going to be because we had some piece of rotting wood dragging in the water behind us.

            • Coach@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              Biden was supposed to be an extra sail for the ship.

              An “extra sail”? He’s the president. It’s a presidential campaign. He is the ship and it’s completely submerged.

              • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                I’m sorry that you think that most Americans think like you, and would prefer to let fascism win than elect a shitty candidate to the presidency. The reality in a two-party system like our’s, and especially one with a grotesque candidate like Trump on the opposing ticket, is that people are voting for parties every bit as much as candidates.

                  • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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                    6 months ago

                    It’s related to a different conversation we had, and discussed in the comments here regarding not voting against Trump, not a direct line drawn from “Biden is sunk” to “I should let fascism win”.

            • Coach@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              But you think he should still serve as president? At this apparent diminished capacity?

              • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                No, ideally he’d step down from the presidency too, but that’s less realistic to expect. Replacement as the candidate, on the other hand, has a real chance at this point in time.

      • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.worldOP
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        6 months ago

        Whatever, they’re on the right side now.

        Its just a matter of there is enough time to undo the damage that was caused by Blue Maga.

        • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          As way of explanation, as my opinion on the matter changed before my little argument with Coach, it was Democratic Congresscritters coming out to call on Biden to step down.

          We live in a society where meaningless and twisted data abounds, propagandists push opposed views, and news is more interested in a click than the truth (not to say the past was any better on that point). As long as Biden’s support from those well-placed to be informed in his own party was solid, I was willing to accept that Biden, while undeniably slowing down, still had the best chance of pushing through with the advantage of incumbency and name recognition.

          Once he lost the full support of his party in such a major and public way, as Congresscritters asking the sitting president to step down as candidate for their own party is fucking unheard of, and Nancy fucking Pelosi all but asking him with a public statement, it became apparent that, through all the noise, something was desperately wrong. Dem Congresscritters have next-to-nothing to gain by replacing Biden, and their seats to potentially lose - not to mention the cooperation of the President if Biden were to win.

          That they’re speaking up in PUBLIC means that things are SERIOUSLY fucked, and I take the opinion of those placed so close to the President, and so tied to his fortunes, very seriously. If there’s one thing that you can trust Congresscritters on, usually, it’s that they want to keep their seats and the power it comes with, and their actions will tend towards that.

          • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.worldOP
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            6 months ago

            I think you need to acknowledge the roll you played in silencing a dissent that has for months been trying to communicate that that Biden is not winning this election. You in-particular were part of a group trying to brow-beat myself and others into submission under the false premise that Biden “is going to be the nominee” and “is the best chance for us to beat Trump”. It was wrong, both in principal, approach, and underlying assumptions, and it maybe has cost us our ability to beat Trump.

            The approach is what built the seeds of what is now “Blue Maga”, a deluded cult of personality that has the real chance of stopping us from stopping Trump. You did work that hurt our ability to stop Trump. Its good that you’ve come around, but how you conducted yourself for months did real damage to this community.

            Look at the vote count. This isn’t an opinion piece or some far left anything. Its a local news station breaking a story about their House representative. That negative vote count on basic reality, “Just the facts ma’am” reporting is Blue Maga.

            • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              I think you need to acknowledge the roll you played in silencing a dissent that has for months been trying to communicate that that Biden is not winning this election. You in-particular were part of a group trying to brow-beat myself and others into submission under the false premise that Biden “is going to be the nominee” and “is the best chance for us to beat Trump”.

              At the time, the information pointed towards that. Congress members asking a member of their own party to step down publicly is fucking unprecedented. The advantage of the incumbent is offering unity to the party by providing an unambiguous candidate to rally behind - once the incumbent can’t offer that, he loses much of the advantage that he would otherwise have. As information available to me changed, so too did my view of the best way to move forward.

              It was wrong, both in principal, approach, and underlying assumptions, and it maybe has cost us our ability to beat Trump.

              For not wanting the candidate who was actually running to be undermined at every turn? You had no alternatives. Hell, the only reason there are alternatives now is because of the debate sapping confidence in Biden and causing enough pressure to emerge to potentially have him step down from the candidacy. God only knows what ugliness will emerge if he refuses to step down and the DNC tries to replace him. A lot of arguing about rules, and a lot of damage to the ticket, I imagine.

              The approach is what built the seeds of what is now “Blue Maga”, a deluded cult of personality that has the real chance of stopping us from stopping Trump.

              Lord.

              Look at the vote count. This isn’t an opinion piece or some far left anything. Its a local news station breaking a story about their House representative. That negative vote count on basic reality, “Just the facts ma’am” reporting is Blue Maga.

              The vote count is negative because people are concerned, rightly, that propagandists, native fascists, and clickbaiting news orgs are pushing a divisive narrative for their own reasons. And they are pushing a divisive narrative - but this one stems from a very real problem that we need to address. Right equation, wrong answer.

              • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.worldOP
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                6 months ago

                At the time, the information pointed towards that. Congress members asking a member of their own party to step down publicly is fucking unprecedented. The advantage of the incumbent is offering unity to the party by providing an unambiguous candidate to rally behind - once the incumbent can’t offer that, he loses much of the advantage that he would otherwise have. As information available to me changed, so too did my view of the best way to move forward.

                Bro I hate to break it to you, but nothing about Biden changed from that debate. He’s had the slightest, margin of error dip in polling. The reality is that he’s been losing this whole time and you’ve been in complete denial of that.

                Biden needed to be at 55% in the aggregate of polling to be cruising to a W comfortably. 50% is tight, but very doable. 45% and Biden is struggling, kind-of landslide losing territory. Biden hasn’t polled at 45% in 450 days.

                Because of your denial others have become comfortable denying material reality as well, and now down vote anything that doesn’t agree with their insane bias that Biden is somehow the best candidate when at no point in the past 450 days has he even been competitive.

                YOU helped build that. YOU normalized that. YOU made it acceptable to walk around in abject denial of reality for 6 months and and promoted that others do the same.

                Not some one else. YOU.

                Its quite fucking literally how r/TheDonald started. Take some fucking responsibility and have some accountability. Fix the damage you caused.

                • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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                  6 months ago

                  Bro I hate to break it to you, but nothing about Biden changed from that debate.

                  He lost the confidence of his own party. I believe I mentioned that. Quite prominently. Several times.

                  He’s had the slighted, margin of error dip in polling.

                  I didn’t say “The polls changed, so I changed my mind.” Perhaps you should reread what I wrote.

                  The reality is that he’s been losing this whole time and you’ve been in complete denial of that.

                  He was in a bad position, that’s not the same as not being our best chance at victory. I believed he was previously despite his poor polling.

                  • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.worldOP
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                    6 months ago

                    He was in a bad position, that’s not the same as not being our best chance at victory. I believed he was previously despite his poor polling.

                    And you were really, really, really fucking wrong. Wrong in such a way that the net effect has been that you worked to prevent a real conversation about what was happening.