volkris @volkris@qoto.org

@danwentzel and just to follow up on my response from last night, one part of the picture is the position by many Republicans (and others) that all of this really is a team sport, and that in this case only Republicans should be choosing the nominee.

For those people, they really don't care what non-Republicans anywhere think, which is why I emphasized the party in my comment.

It's sad for them since they'll sure have to care about what those people think if they want to win, but it's a childish box they're painting themselves into, depriving themselves of input from voters who actually do really matter.

@quatrezoneilles no, I don't extend that excuse to him.

Dr. Fauci wasn't just an expert but someone who had taken a job as a public facing public official. Communicating with and engaging with the public was part of the job.

And he blew it.

He didn't foresee bad faith and water-murkying? How? If he was THAT out of touch with the public then he was unfit for holding a position where understanding the public was so critical.

So I don't know if he could have played his cards better. If he couldn't foresee water-murkying then he was unfit to play the game.
@mattmcirvin

@mattmcirvin I would take exception to some of that, but more to my point, the scientific method's requirement of rigorous experimental design pushes back on blind combing of the universe.

This is part of my proposal: if "science" is maintained as the specific process, but the critic skips steps, then we'd avoid them being able to claim the mantle of science or scientific disproof.

But that's only if we refuse the dilution of terminology that otherwise allows them to claim the authority of science.

@dalfen OH!

You're right, I was in politics brain and had substituted Tim Scott 🙂

@danwentzel Oh they do care, quite a bit!

The thing is that an unfortunate number of Republicans are buying into their own rhetoric and believe that Republican people of color and people who live in urbanized America are already behind Trump, so it's just a waste to go through the process.

It's not that they don't care. It's that they have convinced themselves they know what the answer is already.

@0batty_bat0 I think this is a link to the bill, and the articles aren't really a capturing what the legislation would change.

In particular it requires that force or threat of force be part of the defense for responding with deadly force.

That goes beyond merely being unhoused.

https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/24rs/hb5.html

@gcblasing@mstdn.social @spencerbeswick

@dalfen One of the most infuriating things about Trump supporters is how often I hear them celebrating what a great orator he is: "Oh ha ha, Biden can't complete a sentence, but our great Trump is such a word smith!"

It's one of those things that lead me to generally suspect that none of them at all actually listen to him at all. They all just watch his mouth move and then substitute whatever words they want to be hearing.

I've been surprised by the timing and number of endorsements Trump has been getting from people like Tim Cook, so who knows what's going on behind the scenes or what was going through Cooks's head as he was standing up there.

I wonder if he's either playing along with the what Trump says doesn't matter to these people take, or maybe he himself substituted his own words in his mind too.

@dalfen It sounds like you're overlooking that so many potential Trump voters don't ignore the charges because he kissed a flag.

Rather, they consider those to be badges of honor for him and even confirmation of the whole bus versus them attitude that he has been running on.

It's not despite the charges for those voters. It is in part because of the charges that he has gained so much support.

In the end there is no one model of trump voter. Trump was elected by many different types of voters, often with directly conflicting values and goals, free traders and isolationists just to name two of those groups.

But if you want to understand what's going on in US politics with regard to Trump, it's important to recognize how much those felony charges increased his likelihood of success.

@GeePawHill I am so sure because I know how the system works, I watch it all the time, I know about the laws and the procedures and we have seen how they successfully work over and over.

And heck, if Trump could have turned off democracy he already would have. He was president already, and he utterly utterly fell on his face trying to get that election victory, he gave it his best shot, but the system is so solid, so firmly established that it swatted him away like a gnat.

Look at the events leading up to January 6th. We know how hard Trump worked to stay in office, but all of the mechanisms the US government has in place to protect democracy just made it an exercise in futility. There's just no way to get around that.

So no, democracy is not on the ballot. It literally cannot be since we have such strong legal frameworks preventing exactly that from happening.

The law matters. The laws protecting democracy most of all. And it's because we have such legal frameworks that we can say firmly that democracy cannot be on the ballot.

We need to support those laws by recognizing them. They won't go away if we talk like they're not there, but it doesn't help.

@GeePawHill still no.

@GeePawHill nope.

I'm referring to the enormous amount of legal machinery developed over the course of so many generations all aimed at protecting the democratic processes, ensuring that voting is that the core of the US system.

Democracy is not on the table. The democratic process is going to elect a jerk one way or another, but then, that's democracy for you.

@shayz0rz I'd say respect their choices, especially if they are at that high level.

Make sure they have as much information as they need to make it good choice, but at the end of the day I'm not going to tell her what she should do.

(Assuming she's an adult, that is)

@GeePawHill what in the world? It's BECAUSE of law that democracy is protected.

It is because the law matters that we need to emphasize that the law would prevent such an option being on the table in any serious way.

We should be shouting that from the rooftops because the law, and it's protection of democracy, absolutely matter. Undermine both with this nonsense about democracy being on the ballot.

@ArtSmart like I said, complicated, but it's up to them.

They could have a conference call tonight and cancel if they felt like all of the penalties and public perception would be worth it.

And this prize is pretty big.

@GeePawHill No such question is before the voters, there is no mechanism to put such a question before the voters, it's just not going to be on the table anytime soon given the structure of the US government.

Folks who talk about ending democracy aren't being realistic about how government actually functions.

@ArtSmart going through the state by state polling results I don't think it's nearly that clear which would come out ahead. A whole lot has changed in the world since 2020.

So we'll see what Biden's campaign ends up looking like as he gets it moving. Still early days for him to really put the re-election strategy on the table.

As for the conventions, both parties are free to change the timing of their conventions, if they wanted to. It's really all up to them as more or less private organizations, though again yes it would involve a ton of complications involving state ballot access and such.

But they could.

@smach The thing I don't hear mainstream Republicans acknowledging nearly often enough is that mathematically they can't win with only Republican votes.

It's sad that not only does this go unacknowledged, but I don't think a lot of them realize it at all.

They aren't receiving good advice from their high profile figures.

@ArtSmart and my personal take on it, the interesting point is that even if nothing else changes, The party that nominates someone other than Biden or Trump wins the election.

So both parties have a tremendous incentive for changing nominees. They win!

So it's a funny situation when both are playing a silly game of chicken.

(I know, I'm being a little over simplified and dramatic, but I think it's interesting)