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2020 Political Thread

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Evan

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Imagine if you will a blackface wearing racist who advocates for literal murder declaring a state of emergency because law abiding citizens want to exercise a CONSTITUTIONAL right. Seems like something out a dystopian twilight zone, but it's just a Democratically run Virginia in the United States.


I also love the media coverage of this. Someone explain that why when participants of the women's march hold vulgar signs and wear genitalia hats whilst spewing hate toward men, it's called empowerment? Or when climate change activists block traffic, sometimes emergency response vehicles, and then twerk all the in streets, that's called saving the planet? But, when gun rights activitists just want to exercise their rights and express disgust at an infringement in civil rights, it's dangerous and hateful. I've already seen the headlines..."far-right" or "extremists" have been in the headlines with comparisons to Charlottsville. It's yet example #59896346 why the media are untrustworthy and truly bottom feeding amoeba.

Because as a whole, the media are either ignorant when it pertains to firearms or they're biased and anti-gun. Some are also lazy and just made assumptions based off of the echo chamber that Twitter provides and ran with storylines that it was white supremacists/racists marching. It was 99.8% pro-2A people who protested. Absent a few bad apples, the caricature of them as racists or white supremacists was a total fabrication.

So, yes, it is appalling and infuriating. I see the media as like anything else. Some bad; some good. You have to verify what they say and dig deep well past any headlines (or soundbites). Some of the problems with media are unquestionably due to bias or bad-faith. Often, however, it is due to incompetence or ignorance, or they're reporting what a source has told them. Imagine my frustration when reading stories about Cybersecurity...the media is generally awful at it outside of tech-focused publications.
 

Kory

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I have to applaud Trump for attending the March for Life on Friday. First president to do so...

 

KoD

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Medias bottom line is making money, disingenuous headlines and over exaggerating stories are their best way to lure people into their territory. It would be great if news media had only the best interests of people in mind and didn't try to bait people in for clicks, views and ad revenue but that's the reality of it sadly. Some news organizations are better than others but often a critical eye will see through the frequent charade.
 

ghost

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I have to applaud Trump for attending the March for Life on Friday. First president to do so...

Good photo op to rally his base... not from strong personal convictions.
 

Kory

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Good photo op to rally his base... not from strong personal convictions.
I don’t believe Trump is fully pro life due to deep moral conviction. There’s some alternative motives I’m sure. But, many of his judicial appointments are pro life (I still think Coney Barrett or Kethledge would’ve been a better SCOTUS pick). I suggest you do some research beyond that. Here are two links of things he has done in the last several months. We still have a long way to go.

He’s also restored federal funding to pro life women’s healthcare programs in Texas this week. Obama decided to cut federal funding to the state based program because it excluded planned parenthood and their penchant to murder the unborn.


He has also attempted to restrict abortion referrals in Title X clinics across the U.S. through a federal ruling forcing clinics who do so to close.


One can be critical of his actions while applaud what may come of decisions that may not be 100% rooted in his moral convictions. Abortion is evil. But I think those who are pro life can look at some of the actions taken by Trump regarding abortion and applaud them.
 

ghost

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I celebrate any progress in the reduction of elective abortions. I also believe any progress on that front by Trump is purely a matter of politics over conviction and principle... but it is still good. I also believe pro-life is more than just pro-birth
 

Mike S

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So I'm not the only one who thinks Adam Schiff has a doppelganger

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Kory

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KoD

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"President Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton alleges in his forthcoming book that the president explicitly told him "he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens," the New York Times first reported.

The revelations present a dramatic 11th hour turn in Trump’s Senate impeachment trial. They directly contradict Trump’s claim that he never tied the hold-up of Ukrainian aid to his demands for investigations into his political opponent Joe Biden."

Hmmmm...........
 

gangstonc

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"President Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton alleges in his forthcoming book that the president explicitly told him "he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens," the New York Times first reported.

The revelations present a dramatic 11th hour turn in Trump’s Senate impeachment trial. They directly contradict Trump’s claim that he never tied the hold-up of Ukrainian aid to his demands for investigations into his political opponent Joe Biden."

Hmmmm...........
This is the billionth time trump and his folks have been caught. It doesn’t seem to matter.
Although, 65-70% of people want witnesses at the trial.
 

Kory

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Ahh yes, never forget the 1806 Native American pansexual march for musket control.

And some people wanted to legitimize the March for Our Lives and “kids” leading it? Well here’s one of the founders...

 

Evan

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If anyone thinks Ivanka Trump cares about Southerners, or has ever cared about us, then they're one of the ignorant rubes who Rick Wilson (Southerner, BTW) was mocking last night.



It shows how much of a grift this is. If Trump praised General Sherman, some Southerners would line up to claim that Sherman burned Atlanta to save it. Imagine being so aggrieved at the "elites" that you think Ivanka Trump isn't one of them. She and Jared are kicking back right now, reading the pathetic responses to her tweet, cackling about how stupid we all are down here. Ivanka has made it clear that she has political ambitions. She wouldn't have spit on the type of people that voted for Trump, before 2016, even if they were on fire.
 
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gangstonc

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Looks like there will be no witnesses in the impeachment trial. Say what you want about Mitch, he is a masterful politician. He worked the Democrats over during the entirety of impeachment.
We will see what happens in November.
 

Jacob

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I have to wonder if the news media had been impartial the last 3 years, would the public perception of the impeachment be any different. It's articles like the one I'm attaching below from CNN that make people numb to real issues involving Trump (beyond the certain cult-like followers that cannot be swayed at all)

Coronavirus Task Force Lacks Diversity
 

Evan

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I have to wonder if the news media had been impartial the last 3 years, would the public perception of the impeachment be any different. It's articles like the one I'm attaching below from CNN that make people numb to real issues involving Trump (beyond the certain cult-like followers that cannot be swayed at all)

Coronavirus Task Force Lacks Diversity

People would've just found another excuse to stand in for the vitriol toward the MSM. The vast majority of Americans cannot even tell opinion from fact, so even if the MSM had not acted in absurd ways over the past few years, I don't believe it would've made any difference.

The MSM has consistently made fools of themselves, and put out some really atrocious reporting, but they've also had plenty of excellent reporting that was deeply sourced and backed up by authentic documents. I'm referring to things like ProPublica investigations, the FOIA work that Jason Leopold has done at Buzzfeed, and the occasional NYT/WaPo story that followed the investigatory/FOIA model instead of today's access journalism model.

But no one really cared to separate the wheat from the chaff. Once the Republican party started going along with Trump when he attacked "the Fake News" -- it gave Republicans carte blanche to tuneout everything critical of Trump's and surround themselves with an echochamber of Fox News, OAN, the Epoch Times, Breitbart, Daily Wire, etc.

Polling consistently shows that independents and Democrats both believe Trump should be impeached. They also show that independents line up across the board in opposition to Trump and his behavior. On every single question, independents are much closer to the Democratic position than the GOP position. The only time that differs is when it comes to actual policy issues or questions of culture and society. In other words, political independents outright agree with Democrats that Trump is corrupt, unfit, and unsuited to hold the office of the Presidency. However, political independents are not in agreement with Democrats when it comes to questions of policy and culture. In sum, political independents see Trump for who he is, but they also see the Democrats' policy platforms as a turnoff and a dealbreaker. But, they'd still remove Trump from office.

GOP voters, however, say they have virtually no opposition to Trump's behavior and activities. If they do, they see it as just a tiny flaw that is far outweighed by what they believe the Trump Presidency has delivered to them. The odd thing about GOP polling is that there are a number of differences in live interview and automated polls. Republican voters seem to back Trump more when speaking to an actual human versus when they can just press keys on their keypads. To me, that indicates that they feel a need to justify their position on Trump when speaking to another human. Thus, when granted anonymity, they feel freer to share their true views. I believe this ties into the entire argument about the media being impartial. The media has never been impartial. Ever.

It's hard for me to hear Republicans say they want unbiased opinion free commentary when they're the whole reason Fox News and the massive GOP pundit echochamber exists. I believe the media serve as an easy scapegoat, and Lord knows they've given more than ample ammunition to be used that way. I see people use the media as their excuse all the time. "Well, I don't really like Trump, but the media is so dishonest!" OK, so? The media is dishonest. You don't like Trump. And? "I now support Trump because the media bias was just too much for me." It's an excuse, IMO.

People are predisposed to being part of a tribe, a group, or a team. When the choices are a Democratic party lurching wildly to the left, with insane economic policies and BS identity politics, or the GOP with a corrupt and unfit Trump, most everyone pick a side. They have to fit in somewhere. Very few people reject both sides. I think criticism of media bias and the media's incompetence is often just a sideshow and an excuse for people to overcome the cognitive dissonance of supporting a grotesque and repugnant man as President.

By no means am I saying that criticism of the media is unfair. I'm sure most of you have seen me criticism the media and Democrats on a regular basis. But, for the majority of people, they've already picked a side. Criticism of the other party and the media is simply a coping strategy to deal with the unease they feel after having made a choice they were very uncertain about. But the pressure to be on a team was too intense to ignore.

So, no, I don't think it would've made any difference in today's hyperpartisan world if the media had done better. There was plenty of well-done news articles out there if someone spent the effort and time to look for them. It's just much easier to eat the White bread with the Coke than get the Wheat with a Diet Coke. Especially if you have to put in any effort to avoid one and consume the other.
 

KoD

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Senate fails to pass motion that would allow them to subpoena witnesses and documents. They're now privately deliberating on if senators will be allowed to speak and justify their vote for or against acquittal and how/when to end the trial.
 
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