25 votes

Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of July 29

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Tags: usa, politics, recurring.weekly

This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.

This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.

26 comments

  2. [4]
    boxer_dogs_dance
    Link
    XKCD Kamala Harris loves Venn Diagrams

    XKCD Kamala Harris loves Venn Diagrams

    16 votes
    2. [2]
      NoPants
      Link Parent
      For those not in the loop like me?

      For those not in the loop like me?

      1. TheRtRevKaiser
        Link Parent
        Just a warning, this is a Daily Caller video, so watch in a private window or delete from your youtube history if you don't want your recommendation polluted with right-wing garbage. *Edit: And...

        Just a warning, this is a Daily Caller video, so watch in a private window or delete from your youtube history if you don't want your recommendation polluted with right-wing garbage.
        *Edit: And for God's sake don't read the comments...

        14 votes
  3. NoPants
    Link
    The Trump Campaign Has Peaked Too Soon (This was written and published just before Biden stepped down, and Kamala stepped up, but I have been increasingly thinking about it over the last week.)

    The Trump Campaign Has Peaked Too Soon

    Every battle has its culminating point—the perfect moment for a counterattack.

    the culminating point is a paradox; it’s a moment of maximum vulnerability at a time when you believe you are at maximum strength.

    The photo of Trump in the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt calls to mind the most memorable image of a hill-taking in American history

    Following the attempt on his life, Trump posted on Truth Social about uniting the country.... But his selection of J. D. Vance as his running mate and his combative remarks when accepting his presidential nomination make clear that he will remain on the attack. This renders him vulnerable.

    The Republicans may have peaked four months too soon. The Democrats’ best hope for victory is to regroup and vigorously exploit this vulnerability.

    (This was written and published just before Biden stepped down, and Kamala stepped up, but I have been increasingly thinking about it over the last week.)

    9 votes
  4. NoPants
    Link
    Democrats Have Finally Learned the Value of Shitposting I've been thinking about this a lot. For the longest time, political opinion was driven largely by old school media. Trump unleashed the...

    Democrats Have Finally Learned the Value of Shitposting

    Pinning the Republicans as odd and weird has become the Democratic Party’s primary weapon this week. And they unsheathed it because the internet and the base was ready for it. Did I think that last week a joke about the possible VP having sex with a couch would land so hard? No, no I didn’t. But here we are, in a new era where Democrats are the ones doing the dunking.

    “It is deeply important to Republican policy and ideology that they are not the weird ones, so they will never be able to let it go. It [sic] shows that Democrats are done playing nice with people who do not play nice with us,” said Emma Mont, Democratic creator and an admin for the @Organizermemes X account. “There are groups of people online who for years have been begging Democrats to lose the niceties, and now that they have, those online folks are excited to participate.”

    I've been thinking about this a lot.

    For the longest time, political opinion was driven largely by old school media.

    Trump unleashed the power of twitter like nobody else. He would tweet something outrageous, and before traditional media had a chance to react, Trump distracted everyone with something else even more absurd. It kept everyones attention focused on Trump, which is probably right where he wanted it.

    I think Kamala and her supporters have unleashed the power of the meme, and it is driving all the narratives and capturing all the headlines.

    Trump is using his usual tricks of saying wildly inappropriate things. But instead of outrage, the meme machine immediately ridicules Trump & Vance.

    And that is what my wife is reading. When she reads the news headlines. The headlines talk about yesterdays memes.

    Ridicule of Sarah Palin felt like the nail in the coffin of John McCain's presidential run.

    It reminds me of my favorite movie tag line... "In the court at Versailles, bullets can kill, but wit is deadly,"

    8 votes
  5. [2]
    NoPants
    Link
    What does "weird" even mean? Why the vagueness works — and why it's driving MAGA nuts

    What does "weird" even mean? Why the vagueness works — and why it's driving MAGA nuts

    "Weird" is a vague term, almost impossible to define.

    Vague accusations or opaque language to draw people into a debate is a highly effective trolling technique

    Trump is an ignoramus in most respects, but he's a proven master of this particular strategy. He regularly says things that could have multiple meanings, each with a different implied or possible level of harm, inciting lengthy disagreements about what he "really" meant.

    Trump uses this technique to normalize previously off-limits ideas all the time. His infamous "very fine people" comment, in response to the 2017 white supremacist riot in Charlottesville, Virginia, is a classic example. Seven years later, people are still arguing over whether he really meant to call violent neo-Nazis "fine people," as if it were a whole lot better if he was just talking about other racists who showed up.

    But just because this kind of deliberate ambiguity can be used for evil doesn't mean it can't also be used for good.

    8 votes
    1. NoPants
      Link Parent
      "Pointing and laughing": Democrats leaned in on "weird" and experts say it's working

      "Pointing and laughing": Democrats leaned in on "weird" and experts say it's working

      "... if you're not part of the Republican cinematic universe, none of it makes any sense," Karpf said. "When you take a step back, their policy proposals are serious and dangerous, but they're also just so off-putting and ridiculous."

      Democrats' current rhetorical strategy works so well because it focuses on style, Karpf argued. It positions the current far-right platform as "out of character with normal Americana" and at odds with more traditional, Reagan-era conservatism. In doing so, it paints policy ideas now popular on the right as strange deviations from American values.

      "So what 'weird' [by] focusing on style does is it allows the Democrats to talk about this in ways that are actually fun and shareable," Karpf said. "They are pointing and laughing at these people who want to do awful things and getting other people involved and saying, 'Yeah, that's off-putting. That doesn't sound like America at all.'"

      "Republicans are still stumbling trying to find any sort of coherent response to it," he argued, noting that the back-and-forth, particularly between the presidential candidates, reminds him that Harris "is a prosecutor and Donald Trump doesn't do well with prosecutors." Democrats, he predicted, will continue to deploy the attack line until the GOP offers an "effective retort."

      7 votes
  7. [3]
    moocow1452
    Link
    Donald Trump falsely suggests Kamala Harris misled voters about her race

    Donald Trump falsely suggests Kamala Harris misled voters about her race

    7 votes
    1. [2]
      boxer_dogs_dance
      Link Parent
      He said that to the National Association of Black Journalists conference. watch here

      He said that to the National Association of Black Journalists conference. watch here

      5 votes
      1. Omnicrola
        Link Parent
        I'm still absolutely baffled as to how anyone on his team thought him going to NABJ was a good idea. If Trump was capable of humbling himself even one iota and could at least attempt to give an...

        I'm still absolutely baffled as to how anyone on his team thought him going to NABJ was a good idea. If Trump was capable of humbling himself even one iota and could at least attempt to give an actual answer, maybe this would have been slightly beneficial. But we all know how likely that was.

        6 votes
  9. greyfire
    Link
    Georgia website that lets people cancel voter registrations briefly displayed personal data

    Georgia website that lets people cancel voter registrations briefly displayed personal data

    But Monday's rollout of the site by Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was marred by a glitch that allowed people to access a voter's date of birth, driver's license number and last four numbers of a Social Security number. That's the same information needed to verify a person's identity and allow a registration to be canceled.

    5 votes
  10. [5]
    boxer_dogs_dance
    Link
    Harris candidacy is shifting the electoral map

    Harris candidacy is shifting the electoral map

    2 votes
    1. [4]
      streblo
      Link Parent
      Would anyone from the 'Biden dropping out will be disastrous' camp like to admit they were wrong? :) The election is a long way away and I'm sure the GOP will eventually adapt to the new dynamics...

      Would anyone from the 'Biden dropping out will be disastrous' camp like to admit they were wrong? :)

      The election is a long way away and I'm sure the GOP will eventually adapt to the new dynamics of the race but it's been pretty clear the past couple of weeks that Biden's decision to withdraw will go down as one of his best.

      9 votes
      1. moocow1452
        Link Parent
        Personal take is that it happened about as well as it could have. I think it's a bad look to run a pressure campaign to get your previous candidate to drop out, then coronate the second in command...

        Personal take is that it happened about as well as it could have. I think it's a bad look to run a pressure campaign to get your previous candidate to drop out, then coronate the second in command with a celebrity endorsement bread and circus after a time of famine, and act like nothing is wrong with that while calling yourself "the party that's saving democracy," but Nancy Peloci isn't on my ballot, and it's probably the best worst choice for the Dems with the tools offered.

        Realize that we are in the honeymoon now, the good times are probably not going to last until November, and Trump is still favored. On the other hand, the morale boost makes it competitive when it really wasn't, and message discipline from his end is going to be much harder against Harris than Sleepy Joe. Maybe "weird strats" are the way to go, but it's entirely possible that the Harris campaign falls apart or otherwise gets electorally locked out and we never see her again.

        11 votes
      2. aphoenix
        Link Parent
        I happily admit I was very likely wrong. We will see later on for sure, but right now it looks promising.

        I happily admit I was very likely wrong. We will see later on for sure, but right now it looks promising.

        10 votes
      3. DefinitelyNotAFae
        Link Parent
        I was absolutely wrong about the outcome, but so were all the people proposing wild "snap primary" and other contested convention alternatives. Had this not been set up so that everyone coalesced...

        I was absolutely wrong about the outcome, but so were all the people proposing wild "snap primary" and other contested convention alternatives.

        Had this not been set up so that everyone coalesced around Harris, I still think it would have been a disaster. I do still think the weeks of leaks and the media coverage of it all was garbáge

        2 votes
  13. [2]
    NoPants
    Link
    ‘Unnerved’ Donald Trump struggles to respond to Kamala Harris candidacy

    ‘Unnerved’ Donald Trump struggles to respond to Kamala Harris candidacy

    “He’s clearly unnerved. And when Trump is unnerved he becomes verbally undisciplined and hostile,” said Doug Schoen, a veteran political consultant, who was baffled by the former president’s decision to question Harris’ identity.

    Part of the frustration among Republicans is that Harris, a former California attorney-general who has veered in and out of progressive politics, should be a ripe target for Trump — if only he could stick to the script.

    Yet the Harrisburg rally was drowned out by the race controversy Trump whipped up earlier that day in Chicago. “If he steps on himself, as he does each day,” said Schoen, “then these messages aren’t going to get through.”

    2 votes
    1. boxer_dogs_dance
      Link Parent
      It's good news for Harris supporters but no one can afford to get complacent

      It's good news for Harris supporters but no one can afford to get complacent

      2 votes
  15. KapteinB
    Link
    Republicans Line Up to Endorse Kamala Harris (Newsweek) Though I assume most of these had already endorsed Biden.

    Republicans Line Up to Endorse Kamala Harris (Newsweek)

    Republicans lined up to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris with a new grassroots program that was launched on Sunday.

    Though I assume most of these had already endorsed Biden.