this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2024
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[–] yessikg@lemmy.blahaj.zone 68 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (5 children)

Everytime I read these kind of takes, I think to myself 'Where the fuck is Russia getting all this money to mess with the USA election?'

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 51 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Naomi Klein is a real person with a real history of political opinions not controlled by shadowy Russian masterminds. Maybe, just maybe, you're hearing this criticism all over the place because it's actually a real issue and "must be Russians" is a comfortable mental shutoff to avoid thinking about how the ego of the most powerful person in the country could be leading us into political danger.

[–] Uranium3006@kbin.social 1 points 9 months ago

He's Joe Buchanan

[–] curiousaur@reddthat.com 14 points 9 months ago (2 children)

You need to wake up, you're sleepwalking into fascism. The DNC thought Hillary couldn't lose and forced her through despite Bernie being more popular. They are making the same blunder again.

[–] Overzeetop@beehaw.org 13 points 9 months ago (3 children)

There is nobody else with the name recognition or independent/middle clout - the swing voters the Ds need to win. Who are you going to put up - Kamala? Bernie? The middle/middle-right would rather stay home and sit on their hands while Trump drags out his base in the big red states. The best possible outcome is for Biden to take the economic momentum into a win and then step down and give the next generation 3+ years to forge their path. Of course, if you're a Lefty, you don't want Kamala either, so the only option is for the entire administration to step away and watch a true Left slate fail miserably in every swing state.

[–] crusa187@lemmy.ml 5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Any generic dem will do, just look at the polling and it becomes clear.

A 30 years younger Newsom across the debate stage from angry orange felon would be a slam dunk, even if it is last minute.

[–] Overzeetop@beehaw.org 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Across a stage? Do you really think Trump will attend a debate? Or that his followers will care either way?

No, the play here is you have to find someone that 30% of the electorate will actively vote for. You've already lost the anti-zionists, the envronmentalists, the Cubans, the Catholic hispanics, the student loan forgivenessers, the low-taxers, the gas-pricers, and the libertarians. EV enthusiasts are gone too, since half are listening to Musk as a demigod and the other half are mad that everyone is throwing their weight behind his charging standard and giving him patent royalty money. No, what's left (ha!) are the milquetoast republicans and globalist democrats who you must court enough to register actual votes in actual precincts. Oh sure, there are a handful of centrist body autonomists who are mad about Roe (but weren't preemptively angry enough to vote in Hillary) that you have in your back pocket, but there has to be enough to counter the brain-washed MAGA crowd. And the MAGA crowd may be a little less confused about whether early voting is Liberal Ballot Box Stuffing or part of the MAGA master plan to spread Patriotism and a Can of American Whoopass™ and get their votes in early this time.

[–] Scary_le_Poo@beehaw.org 2 points 9 months ago

Pilling only gets the opinions of people who actually pick up the phone for pollsters. Who does that sound like to you?

[–] SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca 4 points 9 months ago

Newsom and Whitmer come to mind. Not saying they’re sure to do better, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

[–] curiousaur@reddthat.com 3 points 9 months ago

I'd put in Newsom. He's been in the bullpen.

[–] millie@beehaw.org 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Hilary wasn't an incumbent. Biden should have been the go to in 2016. You run your sitting vice president if you've got one, because they have a way better chance of winning. Doubly so for a sitting president.

It would be an incredibly stupid political strategy to try to run someone else right now. I think the DNC learned that lesson eight years ago.

[–] marxistsynths19@lemmy.ml 14 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Maybe the answer is that Russia isn’t doing what you think they’re doing. Blaming the failures of our electoral system on Russia is so 2016.

[–] megopie@beehaw.org 17 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Eh, I mean they did mess around, but they were mainly just exacerbating existing issues and fault lines.

[–] Quexotic@beehaw.org 16 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That's exactly how it works. Find the fault lines and apply pressure. If you do it right, it doesn't even cost much.

[–] megopie@beehaw.org 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Eh, it doesn’t move the needle very much though. It only really does anything when there’s already a very close situation. If the case were otherwise then there would probably be a lot less spending on campaigns

[–] Quexotic@beehaw.org 14 points 9 months ago

I disagree. Flooding the internet with disinformation isn't that expensive and although it's probably impossible to measure, I think there's tremendous potential to sway opinions.

Russian troll farms and bot farms come to mind.

To what you said, I don't think there would be so much effort if it didn't work.

This is one example: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/fake-joe-biden-robocalltells-new-hampshire-democrats-not-vote-tuesday-rcna134984

I haven't researched this or anything, but this kind of thing feels like low-hanging fruit that moves needles.

If you know of any interesting articles or studies about the topic, I'd definitely be interested in them! 🙂

[–] NattyNatty2x4@beehaw.org 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Didn't like 90+% of the online parts of the trucker convoy nonsense come from like 2 Facebook accounts? Small groups can get the ball rolling far more than you seem to think

[–] marx2k@beehaw.org 10 points 9 months ago

.... yeah they are

[–] DdCno1@kbin.social 13 points 9 months ago

They still have enough oil for this - and American politicians are cheap.

[–] krolden@lemmy.ml 13 points 9 months ago

Stop blaming all your problems on another government