Something is wrong with this split-screen picture. On one side, former president Donald Trump rants about mass deportations and claims to have stopped ā€œwars with France,ā€ 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 ā€œclose the deal.ā€

ā€¦

Letā€™s review: First, Harris was criticized for not doing enough interviews ā€” so she did multiple interviews, including with nontraditional media. She was criticized for not doing hostile interviews ā€” so she went toe to toe with Bret Baier of Fox News. She was criticized as being comfortable only at scripted rallies ā€” 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.

  • Talisker@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    no actually wait here are more links for what I was actually trying to sayā€

    Bro how desperate are you? The links all say the **same **thing. I could find you hundreds more that ALSO say the same thing. This was a HUGE news story a while back, this isnā€™t even controversial. Republicans openly admitted that the bill went farther than the one they previously wrote and only killed it because Trump told them to. Are you gonna keep whining the more links I show you that prove me right?

    https://newrepublic.com/article/178860/republicans-border-deal-michael-bennet

    https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/31/biden-border-deal-progressives-00138687

    https://www.vox.com/politics/2024/2/5/24062710/senate-immigration-bill-border-security-ukraine-2024?utm_medium=social&utm_content=voxdotcom&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=vox.social

    Biden came into office promising to undo the cruelties of his predecessor. His partyā€™s 2020 platform didnā€™t even mention border security and instead focused on expanding legal immigration pathways, rolling back the USā€™s immigration detention regime, ending the root causes of migration, and other immigrant-friendly provisions. After former President Barack Obama was dubbed the ā€œdeporter in chief,ā€ it seemed as though Trump had pushed Democrats to embrace a newfound moral case for increasing immigration.

    But now Biden is staring down what is all but assured to be a rematch with Trump, whose ultra-right immigration platform was arguably what catapulted him to office in 2016 and who has promised to pursue even more extreme policies should he win a second term. The former president is reportedly considering expanding his travel bans on immigrants from certain countries, conducting wide-scale deportations of undocumented immigrants living in the US, ending birthright citizenship, resuming family separations in immigration detention, and more.

    Democrats might still ridicule Trumpā€™s call to build a wall on the southern border. But theyā€™re now favoring an agenda that focuses more on constructing a figurative wall, grounded in legal hurdles and new enforcement measures designed to keep migrants out, than on meaningfully reforming the immigration system.

    Youā€™re not arguing in good faith at this point.

    (yes, itā€™s a matter between doctors and patients)

    Timestamp me the part where she says ā€œyesā€. Thatā€™s not what she said and you know it. Youā€™re just lying now.

    Biden doesnā€™t care about climate change - no wait, that maybe he does, but not ā€œin a meaningful, taking it as seriously as the end of the world doomsday scenario it is

    Thatā€™s the ONLY WAY TO CARE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE. If you just pay it lipservice and then do all the bad things that are making the world boil, guess what! You donā€™t actually care about climate change.

    Not after acknowledging yourself that ā€œyouā€™re not going to flip any single voter by saying you want to end the fillibusterā€ but playing that off like itā€™s just a random ā€œgiven single policy issueā€.

    Yeah buddy the problem is structural. Selling out your values to chase after the mystical ā€˜undecided middleā€™ doesnā€™t work. Democrats need to be a party of values that they live up to. If you donā€™t see the difference between those things then I canā€™t help you.

    And certainly not after evoking Bernie Sanders as a positive figure, who is himself urging people to vote for Kamala.

    Where did I ever say anything about not voting for Kamala? You just donā€™t have a leg to stand on.

    The rest of your comment makes it very clear that youā€™re dug in, that you earnestly believe your projection onto all 70+ million people who are gonna vote for Trump, and that if Kamala was exactly the candidate you wish she was, that sheā€™d magically sway people inundated with Fox News 24/7 because you have it all figured out.

    Yes, I do as a matter of fact tend to argue for the things that I think are right and correct. Is this supposed to be some own? Since youā€™re so right and smart why canā€™t you even form a coherent response that doesnā€™t involve straight up lying about the democrats own words.

    I wouldnā€™t be surprised if you either intend to vote for Stein or De La Cruz, or just want to push other people to do that.

    I donā€™t live in a swing state so yeah Iā€™m gonna vote for PSL and talk about why I think that is good. Again, is that supposed to be some damning argument? Lol youā€™re so out of steam.

    I canā€™t take you seriously.

    Crying and shaking RN.

    • aalvare2@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Bro how desperate are you? The links all say the same thing. I could find you hundreds more that ALSO say the same thing. This was a HUGE news story a while back, this isnā€™t even controversial. Republicans openly admitted that the bill went farther than the one they previously wrote and only killed it because Trump told them to. Are you gonna keep whining the more links I show you that prove me right?

      My guyā€¦can you quote anything that specifically suggests democrats went to the right of Rebuplicans.

      Here, Iā€™ll help you: if you can link me anything that says that republicans killed the bill ā€˜because it goes too far to crack down on the borderā€™, then thatā€™d be democrats moving to the right of Republicans. Simply quoting that Republicans shut it down isnā€™t enough - they shut it down because Trump told them to, because he wanted to campaign on immigration. Youā€™re quoting all this extra stuff about Democrats moving right, but you havenā€™t quoted a single thing to suggest theyā€™re moving further right than Republicans. That was and still is the part I called BS on. Do you think you can manage that? Or are you gonna keep wasting your own time?

      Timestamp me the part where she says ā€œyesā€. Thatā€™s not what she said and you know it. Youā€™re just lying now.

      First offā€¦technically, she does say ā€œyesā€, 17 seconds in. XD Iā€™m starting to think you didnā€™t even watch the video.

      Secondly, itā€™s an open-ended question. ā€œLet me ask you this question, very broadly speaking here. Do you believe that transgender Americans should have access to gender-affirming care in this country?ā€ Then, mid-answer, sheā€™s asked ā€œTheyā€™re trying to define you on this. Iā€™m asking you to define yourself, though. Broadly speaking, what is your value? Do you believe they should have that access?ā€ She gave an open-ended answer about gender affirming care, to an open-ended question about gender-affirming care, asserting that legislators shouldnā€™t be overruling doctors on gender-affirming care. I bet if sheā€™d just answered the question with ā€œyesā€ but no broad explanation, youā€™d complain that ā€œshe doesnā€™t have any beliefs, sheā€™s just saying yes without thinking so trans people will elect herā€.

      Follow-up for you: tell me how her answer implies ā€œnoā€. Oh, but wait, youā€™re a stickler for the exact words used, so Iā€™ll speak in your language: Timestamp me the part where she says ā€œnoā€. Because thatā€™s not what she said, and Iā€™d like to say ā€œyou know thatā€ but you probably didnā€™t watch the video.

      Thatā€™s the ONLY WAY TO CARE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE. If you just pay it lipservice and then do all the bad things that are making the world boil, guess what! You donā€™tĀ actually careĀ about climate change.

      Awfully convenient of you to cookie-cut straight through my statement mid-sentence to make it look like I donā€™t care about climate change, and to ignore the second part of that sentence. Yā€™know, the part you chose not to answer to because it was too hard.

      Yeah buddy the problem is structural. Selling out your values to chase after the mystical ā€˜undecided middleā€™ doesnā€™t work. Democrats need to be a party of values that they live up to. If you donā€™t see the difference between those things then I canā€™t help you.

      The trump voters and the undecideds are the ones who are okay with Trumpā€™s fascism, from supporting it to simply not caring about it. The group you started this whole discussion attempting to explain. Those voters donā€™t want Kamala to end the filibuster or to reign in the SCOTUS because thatā€™s bad for moderate and conservative politics, the politics those people believe in. If she proposes doing those things, those people will be more inclined to vote Trump, meaning theyā€™re more okay with him, either in spite of or because of his fascism. The subject of Kamala appealing more to guys like you or I with her campaign promises is a separate subject altogether.

      Where did I ever say anything about not voting for Kamala?

      Are you saying Iā€™m wrong to assume YOU arenā€™t voting for Kamala, or to assume youā€™re talking about not voting for Kamala in general? Iā€™ll hold onto both those assumptions for a bit longerā€¦

      Yes, I do as a matter of fact tend to argue for the things that I think are right and correct.

      Again, it doesnā€™t matter what you think, it matters what targets of Trumpā€™s appeal think. You position yourself as someone whoā€™s not okay with Trumpā€™s fascism, but you think people who ARE will react positively to Kamala vocally taking a stronger left-leaning stance on a variety of issues. Even though thatā€™s just what YOU want, hence my accusation of projection that youā€™ve so far not addressed.

      Is this supposed to be some own? Since youā€™re so right and smart why canā€™t you even form a coherent response that doesnā€™t involve straight up lying about the democrats own words.

      Hey, thereā€™s more of that projection I was just talking about

      I donā€™t live in a swing state so yeah Iā€™m gonna vote for PSL and talk about why I think that is good.

      ā€¦Good thing I held on to those assumptions from earlier!

      Lol youā€™re so out of steam.

      Crying and shaking RN.

      Lol

      • Talisker@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Oh I get it. You literally canā€™t read anything longer than a tweet. You should have said that before hand. Again, the bill was a clone of a far right Republican bill from a year before that had even more items that Republicans wanted.

        The border security bill ā€“ nearly identical to legislation House Republicans passed last year ā€“ was an attempt by House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana to quell growing hard-right dissatisfaction

        Jerry Nadler of New York, said the bill was a ā€œfoolhardy attempt to pass for a second time one of the most draconian immigration bills this Congress has ever seen. This rehashing of H.R. 2 is a joke.ā€

        https://dondavis.house.gov/media/in-the-news/us-house-votes-down-border-bill-favored-conservatives

        The 370-page border bill that Democrats signed off on reads like a GOP wish list. Perhaps thatā€™s because Republicans helped write the bill (though many of them promptly turned around and helped tank it after Donald Trump announced his opposition) ā€¦ the legislation is a complete concession to the worst aspects of Trumpism that Biden and Democrats purportedly ran against in 2020

        https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/harris-trump-election-border

        While policies narrowing access to asylum and expanding the border wall were once demonized by Democratic Party leaders, they are now a core element of party orthodoxy,

        https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/democrats-border-bill-wrong/

        If passed in its current form, the Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act would be the most sweeping immigration bill of the twenty-first century. It would overhaul the process for seeking asylum in the United Statesā€”and impose an ā€œemergency authorityā€ that would leave asylum fully out of reach for those crossing between ports of entry for much of the next three years. It would attempt to address issues like work permits and years-long waits for asylum seekers, and also raise the initial standard a person must pass in order to access our asylum system.

        https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/analysis-senate-border-bill

        Literally can do this all day. You want me to go on? Probably no since youā€™re not gonna read any of that anyways or pretend those things donā€™t actually say what they say. You argue like Ben Shapiro (pejorative).

        republicans killed the bill ā€˜because it goes too far to crack down on the borderā€™, then thatā€™d be democrats moving to the right of Republicans

        Lol, desperate, desperate, desperate. Thatā€™s not that I said and thatā€™s not why they killed it. The bill IS farther right than anything that Republicans passed through the house. As you even admit, they only killed it because Trump didnā€™t want to give Democrats a ā€œwinā€. Then every Republican internally admitted that the border bill was the ā€œbest oneā€ they would have ever gotten and gave them everything they wanted and more. Like it or not, that IS running to the right of Republicans. Can the Republicans change their stance and go farther right? Yeah of course, theyā€™re fascists. But it doesnā€™t change the fact that Democrats were willing to go farther right than even fascists were proposing.

        First offā€¦technically,

        So she didnā€™t substantively say what youā€™re straight up lying about her saying? Apology accepted.

        She gave an open-ended answer about gender affirming care

        So ā€œopen endedā€ that she actually said nothing of substance. Iā€™ve been arguing with people on the internet for decades and this is probably the most pathetic attempt to weasel away from a politicians words Iā€™ve EVER seen. Itā€™s a yes or no question and she refused to answer.

        Timestamp me the part where she says ā€œnoā€.

        She didnā€™t say no. But thatā€™s not how political support works. When you support something you say it loudly and clearly (e.g. ā€œI support M4Aā€) When you donā€™t support something you weasel out of it. (ā€œDo you support M4A? - Well I support Americans getting access to the coverage they need as part of an important conversation between themselves and their doctorsā€). Thatā€™s how politics works and only a literal child doesnā€™t understand that.

        to because it was too hard

        Because it was irrelevant and you were rambling. I never said shut off all fossil fuel tomorrow and you are once again just making up stuff to respond to and get big mad about. Why would I respond to you just making new stuff up when thereā€™s so many other places in this conversation that youā€™re also making stuff up that need to be addressed.

        Those voters donā€™t want Kamala to end the filibuster or to reign in the SCOTUS because thatā€™s bad for moderate and conservative politics, the politics those people believe in.

        Bro they donā€™t want any of Kamalas policies either! Thatā€™s the point. If you want ANY chance of getting these people out of the grasp of fascist Trumpian progapanda you need toā€¦ articulate. a. clear. alternate. vision. to. fascism. You are NEVER going to win them over by doing fascism lite. You are never going to win them over by running to the right - because the fascists can always just move more right. You will never win them over with feckless centrism. You MIGHT win them over by confronting their world view over a long period of time and making a MORAL case for why fascism is wrong. If you are not confronting the MORAL implications of fascism because you are agreeing with the base premises you are going to lose.

        Are you saying Iā€™m wrong to assume YOU arenā€™t voting for Kamala, or to assume youā€™re talking about not voting for Kamala in general? Iā€™ll hold onto both those assumptions for a bit longerā€¦

        Again, I personally am not voting for Kamala because our election system is a joke and I live in a safe blue state and do not have to vote for her. I have not said anything about telling anyone else how to vote - I canā€™t speak to anyone elseā€™s personal situation.

        Again, it doesnā€™t matter what you think, it matters what targets of Trumpā€™s appeal think.

        Do you not know how arguments work? Do you know where you are right now? What Trump supporters are part of this conversation? This is an online argument between you and me. I am arguing the things to you that I believe are correct. Because thatā€™s how arguments work. Did you expect me to come out here and argue for the opposite of what I believe?

        Even though thatā€™s just what YOU want, hence my accusation of projection that youā€™ve so far not addressed.

        Yes, itā€™s the strategy that I PERSONALLY BELIEVE is the best. That is why I am arguing for it, here on the internet. Presumably you donā€™t believe the same which is why youā€™re arguing something different. Thatā€™s how conversations work. Jesus Christ, can you even pass the Turing test? You see a turtle in a desert lying on itā€™s backā€¦

        • aalvare2@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          Again, the bill was a clone of a far right Republican bill from a year before that had even more items that Republicans wanted.

          You appear to be conflating bills.

          HR 3602, the focus of your first 2 quote blocks AND your first link is a REPUBLICAN bill. It was shot down overwhelmingly by democrats. Even Jerry Nadler, the guy your 2nd quote mentions, is a Democrat badmouthing the bill. (You conveniently cut right through the part of the text that said he was a Dem, which couldā€™ve clued you in that this doesnā€™t back you.)

          HR 3602 IS a clone of HR2, the Republican immigration proposal from last year, but itā€™s the wrong bill. The bipartisan border bill was HR815, before the border provisions were ripped out. BEFORE that happened, your very own 2nd link had this to say about the billā€™s substance:

          Beyond the enforcement measures, the scuttled Senate bill she supports includes 50,000 more green cards for employment and family-based visas for each of the next five years, which would be the first increase to legal immigration since 1990; funding for more asylum officers; government-funded legal representation for migrant children, which would be a first; and a pathway to citizenship for Afghans paroled in after helping the U.S. government during the war. The Democratic Party platform moreover includes plans to strengthen the legal immigration system, address case backlogs, increase digitization of immigration processing, and maintain high levels of refugee resettlement.

          Your ā€œthenationā€ quote acknowledges that it is, in fact, written in part by Republicans. But it otherwise doesnā€™t really get into policy details so as far as Iā€™m concerned itā€™s just prose.

          And your ā€œamericanimmigrationcouncilā€ quote conveniently leaves out the very next sentences: ā€œIt would expand additional visas and future green card availability and offer a pathway to citizenship to Afghans, while also significantly increasing detention capacity. It is a mixed bag.ā€ I wouldnā€™t interpret ā€œmixed bagā€ to mean ā€œright of fascismā€.

          Thatā€™s not what I said and thatā€™s not why they killed it.

          What you said was itā€™s ā€œright of fascistsā€. To me ā€œright of fascistsā€ either means thereā€™re Republicans saying ā€œwhoa, this might be too extremeā€ or it means that comparing the democratic proposal and the republican proposal, the democratic proposal goes further right. In this case, HR2 is the republican proposal, HR815 was the bipartisan proposal. Can you come up with substantive differences where HR815 is MORE radical? If not, what you meant by your exaggeration doesnā€™t matter, itā€™s still an exaggeration.

          The bill IS farther right than anything that Republicans passed through the house.

          We agree that Democrats moved right on immigration. But thatā€™d necessarily mean that this proposal is to the right of previous compromises made in the House. Doesnā€™t mean ā€œto the right of fascistsā€.

          As you even admit, they only killed it because Trump didnā€™t want to give Democrats a ā€œwinā€.

          Yes

          Then every Republican internally admitted that the border bill was the ā€œbest oneā€ they would have ever gotten and gave them everything they wanted and more. Like it or not, that IS running to the right of Republicans. Can the Republicans change their stance and go farther right? Yeah of course, theyā€™re fascists. But it doesnā€™t change the fact that Democrats were willing to go farther right than even fascists were proposing.

          Slow down a sec. ā€œEveryā€ Republican said it gave them ā€œeverything they wanted and moreā€? Again, youā€™re exaggerating. Yes, ā€œsomeā€ Republicans admitted that it was ā€˜the toughest deal they were gonna getā€™, but that just means it was ā€˜the best compromise Dems were willing to giveā€™. (Like your own 2 links said, the substance of the bill contained stuff obviously to the left of Republicans.) From my POV, this was 2 parties meeting in the middle, closer to the right than democrats have ever gone, but still the middle.

          So she didnā€™t substantively say what youā€™re straight up lying about her saying? Apology accepted.

          Lol, you donā€™t have to make it a big deal, just proof-watch your own stuff next time

          So ā€œopen endedā€ that she actually said nothing of substance. Iā€™ve been arguing with people on the internet for decades and this is probably the most pathetic attempt to weasel away from a politicians words Iā€™ve EVER seen. Itā€™s a yes or no question and she refused to answer.

          Firstly, when you have to say youā€™ve been ā€œarguing with people on the internet for decadesā€, either thatā€™s true andā€¦something you should reflect on, or youā€™re just a kid lying about his/her age.

          Secondly: again, her answer was ā€œthat is a decision that doctors will make in terms of what is medically necessary. Iā€™m not going to put myself in a position of a doctorā€ How is that not equivalent to ā€œwe shouldnā€™t be restricting access to gender-affirming careā€, gender-affirming care being the specific focus of the question she was asked?

          She didnā€™t say no.

          Yay! We agree!

          But thatā€™s not how political support works. When you support something you say it loudly and clearly (e.g. ā€œI support M4Aā€) When you donā€™t support something you weasel out of it. (ā€œDo you support M4A? - Well I support Americans getting access to the coverage they need as part of an important conversation between themselves and their doctorsā€). Thatā€™s how politics works and only a literal child doesnā€™t understand that.

          Disagree with your analogue. The real question/answer is closer to ā€œBroadly speaking, do you support abortionā€ - ā€œWell, I belive that Americans should be able to have that conversation with their doctors, and I shouldnā€™t have a say in thatā€. Iā€™m personally fine with that answer to that question.

          I never said shut off all fossil fuel tomorrow

          No, you said we should be ā€œtaking it as seriously as the end of the world doomsday scenario it isā€. And the most appropriate action combat a threat of that magnitude is to shut off fossil fuels tomorrow. But thatā€™s obviously not pracical, because it can lead to backlash and the US doubling down harder on fossil fuels. So the point is: where do we draw the line between urgent climate action and practical, long-term climate action?

          you are once again just making up stuff to respond to and get big mad about.

          ā€œget big mad aboutā€? Kinda outting yourself further as a kid there, lol

          I feel like weā€™re going back and forth as far as the next paragraph is concerned, except for this nugget:

          You MIGHT win them over by confronting their world view over a long period of time and making a MORAL case for why fascism is wrong.

          I agree with you on that. I think thatā€™s what many of those people need - someone to confront them with patience and empathy, who can slowly deradicalize them over time. But itā€™s not Harrisā€™ job to deradicalize them, or to show them an ā€œalternate worldviewā€, thatā€™s the job of a Trump supporterā€™s loved ones. Harrisā€™ first job is to win the election, no matter what she needs to say (ā€˜weā€™ll be tougher on immigration going forwardā€™) or not say (ā€˜weā€™re gonna overhaul the courtsā€™). Her second job is to do the things that need to be done as president. And if Harris gets elected and she neither does anything about the courts, nor does she do anything about the filibuster by end of 2028, then youā€™ll have been right to suspect her of not being ā€œTHAT strongā€ on abortion. But no matter what she says now, we simply wonā€™t know that until end-of-term.

          What Trump supporters are part of this conversation? This is an online argument between you and me.

          Yes, a discussion between you and meā€¦that started with being about Trump supporters. The beliefs that Trump supporters have is relevant to a discussion about Trump supporters.

          Yes, itā€™s the strategy that I PERSONALLY BELIEVE is the best. That is why I am arguing for it, here on the internet. Presumably you donā€™t believe the same which is why youā€™re arguing something different.

          Not saying I donā€™t want her to BE a progressive candidate. Iā€™m saying itā€™s foolish for her to campaign like sheā€™s the polar opposite of Trump. I donā€™t really care how she campaigns, as long as her campaign sits literally anywhere on the spectrum between ā€œunabashedly socialist/communistā€ and ā€œa little left-of-centerā€. I think sheā€™s closer to left of that spectrum than youā€™ll admit, but regardless of how she actually leans, I donā€™t think itā€™s wise for her to campaign to the left side of that spectrum - there are MILLIONS of centrists looking for an excuse not to vote for Trump, and there are WAY MORE of them than progressives who will ONLY vote for her if she campaigns like a radical leftist.

          Oh I get it. You literally canā€™t read anything longer than a tweet. You should have said that before hand. You argue like Ben Shapiro (pejorative). this is probably the most pathetic attempt to weasel away from a politicians words Iā€™ve EVER seen. Why would I respond to you just making new stuff up when thereā€™s so many other places in this conversation that youā€™re also making stuff up that need to be addressed. Do you not know how arguments work? Thatā€™s how conversations work. Jesus Christ, can you even pass the Turing test? You see a turtle in a desert lying on itā€™s backā€¦

          The harder you go on the insults, and the exaggerations, the more convincing it is that youā€™re either too chronically online for your own good, or a kid, or both.

          But Iā€™m actually not saying those things to insult you, just trying to point out behaviors that you should consider toning down on. Iā€™m sure flaming can be fun, but itā€™s not very good for your own mental health - it can degrade your ability to empathize and affect your real life relationships more than you might think.

          I know Iā€™m just a random internet strangerā€¦but just food for thought.