Trump backs out of debate as camp says it's 'inappropriate to schedule things with Harris'

jeffw@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 1043 points –
Trump backs out of debate as camp says it's 'inappropriate to schedule things with Harris'
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"There is a strong sense by many in the Democrat Party - namely Barack Hussein Obama - that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone 'better.' Therefore, it would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds," the statement said.

This is a statement from a presidential campaign.

The quote should be put with spoiler tags and a surgeon general's warning that reading the contents has been shown to lower your IQ by at least four percentage points, and prolonged exposure to even seeing the words on the screen could cause permanent brain damage.

It's okay I already have permanent brain damage, I can translate for everyone.

It says,

Donald Trump is tired of changing his pants every time someone mentions debating Harris, so we respectfully decline.

Thank you,

Your future inmate president.

Implying Trump changes when he shits himself is far too generous. People literally say he smells of shit.

Little late now, now all I want is a truck at 37%, Trump president and strangely threatened by accomplished women.

Yeah it says "remember that old racist dog whistle we used to use with the previous minority president? Let's try that again, but throw in a little McCarthyism."

am I reading this right? Republicans are saying that Obama thinks Kamala Harris is too Marxist to beat Trump?

what, and I cannot stress this enough:

What if she started roasting things. Completely breaking down the things they say in front of a whiteboard. I want that to be her entire campaign just... Letting them talk and then talk about it

I get the strategic value, but I'd rather she run on actual policies that help people.

Because what it says literally doesn't matter, it's just a perfectly crafted stew of buzzwords to stroke the right. We have to stop reading this shit as normal language and start understanding the code they use. It's just about saying Obama, in their eyes an evil black muslim terrorist (hence HUSSEIN), still holds sway over the democrats, meaning the institution as a whole is infected with his evil muslim blackness, and is acknowledging Marxism, the big bad enemy of good Christian values, in a way that simultaneously aligns it with party ideology AND presents Kamala as an even-greater looming threat. This isn't nonsense word salad, it's meticulously crafted fearmongering to the ignorant party base whose lack of literacy they have cultivated by design.

Their campaign is literally saying shit that I would normally expect to hear from the mouths of 3rd world dictators. The GOP is now conspiracy theory bullshit from stem to stern.

It’s wild how frequently they just… make shit up and say it like it’s factual.

Yeah I was just trying to imagine living that way, so bizarre... Nothing is concrete and reality can be anything.

Well, not anything... Only the things that the fake billionaire reality TV personality (who was unironically the basis for every movie and cartoon villain throughout the 90s), tells me. Because that's a totally rational way to behave.

Barack Hussein Obama

Gotta get his middle name in there

Without birtherism Trump never runs in 2016.

Without Obama making fun of him at a correspondents dinner...

That was the White House correspondents dinner with the most influence on history of all time

I said this in deeper reply, but I think it bears repeating, so I'm quoting myself here:

Because what it says literally doesn’t matter, it’s just a perfectly crafted stew of buzzwords to stroke the right. We have to stop reading this shit as normal language and start understanding the code they use. It’s just about saying Obama, in their eyes an evil black muslim terrorist (hence HUSSEIN), still holds sway over the democrats, meaning the institution as a whole is infected with his evil muslim blackness, and is acknowledging Marxism, the big bad enemy of good Christian values, in a way that simultaneously aligns it with party ideology AND presents Kamala as an even-greater looming threat. This isn’t nonsense word salad, it’s meticulously crafted fearmongering to the ignorant party base whose lack of literacy they have cultivated by design.

I made a similar comment above.

You missed the attempt at a subtle dig at the Democratic party by calling them "the Democrat party" (https://www.factcheck.org/2007/12/the-democratic-or-democrat-party/ )

They love to see shit like this because when they see those (fucking stupid) terms used, they get to feel like they have some kind of secret, inside knowledge. For a brief moment, they get to forget that they've alienated all of their friends and their entire family over this, and get to feel like they're part of something.

But only for a brief moment... As a single tear drops into his Healthy Choice frozen microwave dinner and he turns on Duck Dynasty.

It's not even a good excuse because even if they did change their minds, he could still attempt to debate whoever it is on the scheduled date.

Obama's forthcoming speech endorsing Harris will be worth watching I think

I hope there's a forthcoming lawsuit against the Trump campaign, because I am very, very sure that Obama is not on record publicly nor privately saying Kamala Harris is a "Marxist fraud."

Obama will take the high road. A lawsuit would just make him martyr and give some semblance of evidence to the radical left trying to silence him and his right to free speech like the gag order. Obama really has nothing to gain but a lot to lose. He's more coy than that based on his prior actions. I suspect that he'll sit on that for awhile, give it its time in the media to get as widespread attention as it can, then release a statement enthusiastically endorsing her while citing her policy and character.

"there are many" - continues to name one.

Yeah yeah sorry! I know I tried to search for logic in a statement from that guy..!

Interesting that they are still today apparently served by mentioning Obama’s middle name.

Whenever I see Obama referred to by his full name, I instantly know that the author is pushing manipulative islamaphobic dog-whistle propaganda and everything else by such authors automatically has zero credibility, lacks substance, and the drivel is a waste of time to finish reading. I wonder if that manipulation attempt is still largely unknown, or if the rt-wing nut jobs are really just out of touch with the pursuadables they are trying to reach and thus shooting themselves in the foot.

Trumpism at its “finest”. Still, Obama’s call for an open convention does open exactly this kind of attack. I’ve certainly BIPOC talk about it as a typically “not really culturally BIPOC” move from Obama that betrays his predominantly white cultural upbringing. Sometimes unity is better than whatever else you have in mind.

... Did you just suggest that Obama isn't "black enough?"

So, what you’d say if I’m literally just echoing what I’ve seen other BIPOC people say?

I’d say the same thing to them.

He's half African and was raised by his white mother and grandparents. He's not really culturally ADOS (African descendant of slaves).

^ ^ How to say you're racist without actually using the word racist.

I mean it’s very dangerous and touchy for white people, like myself, to weigh in on topics like these for sure.

I was just sharing what I’d heard from other BIPOC on what seemed a meaningful point … that, apparently, someone more in tune with slavery descendant culture would have gotten behind a woman of colour in a heart beat.

FWIW, as a white person, that makes total sense, and I’m not sure to whom it wouldn’t make sense and be the obvious move. And yet Obama seems to have been the one person out of step. Dunno how else to think about it.

As for racism, as see the point as only highlighting that such a culturally white person was likely always going to be the first black US president.

Reporting has been he will endorse her relatively soon, now that it's clear she has the votes to win.

Oh I’m sure. Still seems like he missed the cue that everyone else hit on time.

He might have been saving it for a boost later, maybe at the convention, but this idiotic shit forced his hand. He and Michelle endorsed today.

He might have been saving it for a boost later

Yea and the support for an open convention may have just been rumour. Or at least a hand wavy stance from a couple of weeks ago.

1 more...

Brave Sir Donald ran away.

Bravely ran away away.

When danger reared it's ugly head,

He bravely turned his tail and fled.

Yes, brave Sir Donald turned about

And gallantly he chickened out.

Gingerly taking to his feet,

He beat a very brave retreat.

Bravest of the brave, Sir Donald!

Sir?

You…

You get the joke, right?

I’d say in this very specific context, it’s appropriate.

I think its Monty Python but not 100%

Yup. Monty Python and the Holy Grail to be precise.

Great, I had plans this evening....

It's only a bloody model.

Alright, I'm just gonna say it.... your mother was a hamster, and your father smelled of elderberry.

Remind me again, was Sir Donald the one that planned the wooden rabbit?

in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, it was the "scientifically leaned" Sir Bedevere (Terry Jones)

Coulda fooled me, given the general quality of trumps planning and organization skills.

If it was any other, normal country, the debate schedule would not be based on whether someone wants to show up or not.

If a canditate doesn't show up, the other candidate gets to talk about their campaign.

The US is bizarro world in so many aspects. Political Supreme Court appointees that are appointed for life (!), two party system, the electoral college, the absurdly long election cycles...

The fact that the first lady does speeches and the presidents family is in the spotlight at all. (Rather dynastic for a democracy)

The fact that our election is held on one day and that day happens to be a Tuesday. 😡

Come on now we can't have the poors voting now can we??

How are we supposed to keep our stranglehold on wealth the country if we allowed the poors to have their say!?

Political Supreme Court appointees that are appointed for life (!),

Judges are appointed for life, so they can be impartial and don’t need to worry about who won’t hire them after their term ends if they made unfavorable decisions.

the absurdly long election cycles…

4 years is absurdly long to you? Getting things done in politics takes time. How long should the cycle be in your opinion?

The "political" before "Supreme Court apointees" implies a lack of impartiality.

"Election cycle" and "term of office" aren't synonymous.

Judges are appointed for life, so they can be impartial and don’t need to worry about who won’t hire them after their term ends if they made unfavorable decisions.

Brother I'm not talking about letting the new president fire them at will, I'm talking about term limits and retirement ages.

4 years is absurdly long to you?

This one is maybe on me since my word choice was possibly ambiguous, but I was referring to the campaign cycle - not the length of the term.

Ok, then we agree on all points except term limits for judges. Forced retirement is fine by me, but yanking them out of office before they retire has the drawback I mentioned before.

Term limits in general have lots of drawbacks that people seem to constantly ignore

The US supreme court judges are appointed by politicians: They are political appointees. In a lot of other countries supreme court judges are selected by a non-political committee, like every other non-political appointee.

In a lot of other countries supreme court judges are selected by a non-political committee

My worldwide knowledge of this is limited. In Germany, each of the two ‘houses’ of parliament (Bundestag and Bundesrat) elect one half of the ‘Supreme Court’’s (Bundesverfassungsgericht) members (judges and other staff).

Article 94 of the constitution. (Translated)

In a normal country an insurrectionist and rapist would not be a candidate, let alone in the top two. We are already well beyond rational thinking about any of this.

Trump is a PUSSY

BOK BOK BOK 🐓🍗🐔

He's such a giant pussy that he can't debate Harris because he'll be furiously grabbing himself for the foreseeable future.

When he gets taken to the police car he'll cry "when she's president, she'll let me do it"

Pussies are wonderful though. Trump is a humorless clown.

Clowns are wonderful though. He is a decroded piece of crap.

I didn't really like Napoleon Dynamite all that much. But I like the quote.

a felon running away from a prosecutor

Why did trump cross the road?

To get away from the prosecutor.

that works really well because he just proved he is a chicken

Well he's not wrong, in the end. Televising the brutal beating of a handicapped old man would be pretty inappropriate.

Hold the debate anyway. Have Kamala appear next to an empty chair.

Moderator: giving Trump a couple more minutes to appear.

(~5 min later)

Moderator: Trump is a no show. Hmm.. he originally eagerly agreed to this September debate with Biden. It’s unclear why the change of heart, but I have to say he forfeits by default.

Kamala (interrupts): Hold on, please call Trump’s probation officer to verify his attendance permission while we wait a few more min. He’s understandably a bit skiddish with prosecutors lately but I would like to yield some of my time & do him this courtesy since he donated to my campaign in 2011 & 2013.

(~5 min later)

Moderator: no go, but would you like to answer the questions next to an empty chair to have your answers heard anyway?

Kamala: yes, this way he can take all the time he needs to prepare a scripted response later given his cognitive challenges….

Funny comment, but why the tor link?

NY Times is a closed website. Paywalled or something? I could not reach it from Tor at least not with my browser. Could be a popup-blocker blocker, not sure. Anyway, the link I gave is a NY Times front-end that is openly accessible, though clearnet users might have to append a .cab or something. There are probably NY Times FEs on clearnet but I don’t know of any ATM.

(edit) actually I think that’s NY Times official onion server. Anyway, for whatever reason it has better accessibility than the clearnet version.

Who here had him backing out of deba...oh, most everyone.

I never thought there was the slightest chance of him ever actually debating her, but I am astonished by how lazy and flimsy their pretext is for backing out.

The only people who didn't take that bet were ones who didn't see the point of putting money on 1:1.01 odds.

His supporters will require Olympic level mental gymnastics to dispel the unease they're gonna get if they even hear about this. Backing down from a debate looks cowardly no matter what his lame excuse and they'll feel the truth of that.

They're going to do everything they can to paint Kamala as an illegitimate candidate, and spin his refusal to debate her as simply refusing to legitimize her.

Trump's base doesn't know shit about fuck, so if their god emperor says she's illegitimate they won't even think about it further.

Well, those people weren't going to change their mind anyway. The debate wasn't for them.

No they won't lmao

Yea the vast majority of his supporters are not the brightest individuals, they don't need mental gymnastics because they are so stupid

Yeah they don't think the felonies are legit because "witch hunt"

You would think this. But it hasn't been true for years. Intellectual dishonesty+laziness is the default now.

Nah. Trump did it, so it's good. It's not like they actually think.

They're far past even bothering with mental gymnastics. Their brains have gotten so accustomed to constant cognitive dissonance that they've basically turned that feature off.

Whatever talking point is chosen for them will be the reality. Really takes the pressure off them I guess.

I can't even imagine what that must be like... It's like there's no concrete, consistent reality to them. Wild.

Chickenshit.

Seriously, just have Kamala call him a chickenshit little weasel in a press conference. Instant ego meltdown and I'LL SEE YOU AT THE DEBATE within the day, I guarantee it.

Yes, it would be inappropriate for Harris to fight a battle of wits against an unarmed man.

I don't know if you know this, but Trump's uncle was a professor at MIT. Just a random piece of information that bares no change to your completely factual and valid statement.

Or, as Trump himself put it:

Look, having nuclear — my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart — you know, if you're a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I'm one of the smartest people anywhere in the world — it's true! — but when you're a conservative Republican they try — oh, do they do a number — that's why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune — you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we're a little disadvantaged — but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me — it would have been so easy, and it's not as important as these lives are — nuclear is so powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right, who would have thought? — but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners — now it used to be three, now it's four — but when it was three and even now, I would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don't, they haven't figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it's gonna take them about another 150 years — but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us, this is horrible

The well-documented cowardice of this geriatric and demented rapist insurrectionist.

They’re still blowing that dog whistle with Obama’s middle name. For fuck’s sake, grow up!

Yeah, same with the "Democrat party" dog whistle, and randomly throwing around the word "Marxist". His whole campaign is just memes and buzzwords.

The dumbest take my racists family friends use is the tired DemocRAT. Oh so clever.

I’m just glad we never have to hear Let’s Go Brandon ever again.

“FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”

…..but, talk to Kamala Harris about policies and record?

*flee

Coward. Total and utter chickenshit.

FLIGHT! FLIGHT! FLIGHT!

Man I wish the media reported him yelling flight flight flight instead :')

Even if Trump says no, Harris should at the very least discuss her opinions and views on camera. It could just be a single person question and answering, a debate other Democrats, or debating a third party candidtae if they don't want to back other Democrat candidates. Leaving Harris a mystery is the worst thing Democrats can do.

Leaving Harris a mystery is the worst thing Democrats can do.

This is half the reason he doesn't want to do it.

The other half is that "man yelling at clouds* might beat "well meaning elderly man with a poor memory" but doesn't stand a chance against anyone who can consistently string three sentences together in a coherent fashion.

Having the debate would both make Trump look bad and make Harris less of a mystery and neither of those things helps Trump.

Harris is a beast when she debates, too. She would mop the floor with that orange clown. Trump will simply refuse to debate her.

This is half the reason he doesn’t want to do it.

I really hope the democrats take full advantage of spinning that as yet another anti-democratic Trump move.. that it’s anti-democratic to impede informed voting.

This! Do the debate whether he shows up or not. It will expose him for being a massive pussy

I know it's hard to believe sometimes but people are slowly realizing what he is. All of my Trumper family are now apolitical all of a sudden lol

Works for me!

pussies are tough. he's a ballsack: quite sensitive, shrivels up in cold weather, and prone to premature ejaculation

She should %100 debate RFK. No one voting for her is going to magically jump to him.....but people who voting trump might jump to voting RFK...plus she can show how scared the turnip is of debating someone who is semi competent

100% also call out how RFK is not a coward for debating Harris.

Usually insane people are not cowards.

Do you believe that Wi-Fi gives you cancer? RFK adamantly argues this (while being around Wi-Fi constantly)

The guy had a literal brain worm that permanently altered him. It is disgusting that we're parading is mentally ill man around as a spoiler for a political race

Just leave him alone and let him inject steroids in peace

Why are we giving a man who had a brain worm and believes that Wi-Fi gives you cancer a platform?

This man was trying to be a spoiler for the Democratic party, extremely unsuccessfully. He does not have hopes of being president he has hopes of swaying moderates away from the left.

He is a brain dead Trump cultist. He never wanted to win.

She was a fucking DA, ain't nobody wanna debate with her, especially a half brained real-estate broker

Lots of talented people would look forward to debating with a worthy opponent. It’s a challenge. An opportunity to rise up, prove yourself.

Trump isn’t one of those people lol

I so badly want to see her wipe the floor with him, but now sadly the popcorn I bought in anticipation will have to settle for a movie.

I would put so many commercials out there on fox "news" and everywhere else calling out Dementia Don for being scared and too weak to debate her.

Because he doesn't like to get his ass handed to him by a smarter woman.

Kamala Harris is the candidate. Everyone knows it, including him. He's just scared

Scared or is his team putting together some racist bullshit fearmongering for the next few months?

I bet it’s racist stuff, and of course immigrants.

There is gonna be a huge focus on immigration, especially since Kamala was the "border czar." Just remember that the Democrats made a very strong border bill and worked with Republicans to get it passed, and Trump got his buddies in Congress to tank it so he could campaign on the border issue.

Everyone knew Biden was too.

I disagree, there were a million people saying that Biden was unfit to run for president and/or should exit the race.

Keyword: "was"

People can drop out of races and I'm honestly jealous to have such a inconsequential problem. It doesn't matter who you are running against if you base your campaign on policy instead of shit-flinging.

Bwaaaak Bwaaaaak 🐓

Koo-koo-kachow! Koo-koo-kachow!

Ay eee eee eee tookie-tookie tookie-tookie, tookie-tookie tookie-tookie ka-ka-kawkawkaw!

Has anyone in this thread ever even seen a chicken?

I believe we've established that 'kakaw' and 'tookie tookie' don't work.

Over of my faves for the simple fact it was the last movie i saw in theaters with a friend before they died in a car crash. It keeps their memory fresh.

Best movie of all time imo

Almost a scene-by-scene rewrite of Ghostbusters. But I really liked it anyway.

I watched Evolution with my mom like once a week when I was a kid, so it has serious nostalgia factor for me lol.

He is afraid of strong, smart women. He is afraid of people who can laugh. And he is deadly afraid of ending up losing the debate and the vote to a black woman, the kind of person that should in his mind be as inferior as a bug.

Felon, pedophile, rapist, coward.

There are so many ways to describe this man

"Inappropriate" ?

How about after August 1, when she's officially nominated? Will it still be "inappropriate" to debate her then?

They are manufacturing chaos. The Dems don't think they are in chaos. The R's just project and therefore they say the D's are in chaos.

The next debate was scheduled for September I believe, so it would be after August anyway.

They're just giving lame excuses as to why they should wait and then when we wait they'll say it's too late now to schedule anything, they're too busy campaigning...

Didn't he just say the other day that he wanted to debate her multiple times? Don't tell us that was a weak ass lie Donnie! (We already know it was).

i agree it would be inappropriate

why would a politician debate with a convicted felon

Is anyone on the fence going to be swayed by a debate anyway? I think the people who are really not sure about which way to vote at this point likely can't be reasoned out of wasting their vote on some third party.

To anyone reading this that is considering voting 3rd party, my advice is to vote dem and then put as much political pressure on the democrats as possible the other 364 days of the year. The alternative, while maybe morally pure, is a lot less workable and doesn't benefit others.

He would be eviscerated. Knock out all that good will he got from being a false martyr. Still want to see that 'bullet' wound....

We're gonna have some 3rd party candidate votes, we always do, and most of those people are already dug in for their candidate; likely nothing to be done about that. I know I was in my Ron Paul, Bernie Sanders days. I voted for Nader once or twice and couldn't have my mind changed.

At this point, many of the fence sitters will likely not vote at all, debate or not. It's very easy for people to be meh about the whole thing. It doesn't directly impact them in the short term directly, at least in their minds. And I get it. Life can be hard, and many people have more pressing concerns than who the president is at the moment.

Nearly everyone else who will vote is already solidly Trump or Harris, and maybe a few Kennedy folks.

Everybody also said this about the Biden/Trump debate, and that's ultimately what made Biden bow out. Personally, I'm a bit apprehensive about how Harris would do against Trump: she didn't fare very well in the democratic primaries, and she hasn't had a lot of practice since.

I'm not on the fence, but some who are might want to see how Harris holds up to a strong authority figure (Trump isn't the only asshole on the global political stage, remember)

"There is a strong sense by many in the Democrat Party - namely Barack Hussein Obama - that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone 'better.'

Hmmmmmmmm...

Somebody better tell Obama then so he can retract his endorsement.

Ha! I predicted this!

I also predicted Biden’s disaster and asked people around me why the fuck is Biden going to debate Trump. People said “he has no choice”. I found that quite questionable. Now Trump seems to be proving that candidates have a choice.

Sure Trump’s cowardice will damage his campaign. But getting an ass-beating in the debate is even more damaging, as Biden proved. So Trump is making his best tactical move for his ability.

(edit)
I would like it if the headlines were “Trump forfeits the debate” to rightfully emphasize the lossy nature of the decision.

Sure Trump’s cowardice will damage his campaign.

Press X to doubt.

Nothing damages this guy when it comes to his cult. He could go on stage and start sobbing like a child if he bumps his toe on the podium and the propagandists on Fox and the like will just say Democrats set it up to hit him and put pepper spray on the podium or something.

In this case it won't be cowardice, it will be a "totally reasonable" bullshit argument as to why it isn't proper to do and they'll all pat themselves on the back for being "above shitty politics" while beating up Kamala for wanting to debate "out of turn."

The problem with the Biden debate situation is that he was trailing in the polls, so he needed a debate with a strong performance in order to win over voters. Obviously, the opposite of that happened.

Trump's margin against Kamala is likely smaller, but he's still slightly ahead. It's probably much more prudent for him to avoid a debate given that Kamala would probably perform much better than him. He has nothing to gain and everything to lose.

I honestly assumed most of my life that it was just a rule for candidates that they have to debate.

When folk had the tiniest bit of mutual respect for each other and the office, I believe your assumption was correct, but times change.

There was a time where it was a given that we'd have x number of Presidential debates... I can't believe how far we've sunk.

Normally you don't have a debate against an Alzheimer patient from a party that denied how bad it was for years. Remember when his senility was fake news, like....3 weeks ago? Exact same arrogant bastards are risking a trump victory again while they play their stupid games. Harris is looking coronated, same as Biden and Hillary before. That they don't have a real open primary is pathetic. The one party state yall say you want to prevent arrived ten years ago, now you're just the north american equivalent of Jackie Chan supporting the communist party. Yknow they vote for left and right factions inside the overarching party there, right? People vote with a choice of conservative communist member or liberal communist member, they all belong to a second party under the main one.

I feel like I could almost understand what you tried to communicate.

Lol. Nice try. I realize you can't argue the points, but playing dumb is really, really obvious. Better to say nothing and all

Holy fuck. If you're still human and waking up in the morning, you're real sick. You might be ai.

I must say he’s right about one thing: the US is a one-party system.

Or more specifically I would say the US is a two-party system for white men (+Kanye West) and a one-party system for everyone else.

He's dropping in the polls, especially against her. Maybe some people are too young to remember, but candidates usually gain like 10% in the polls after a failed assassination. Or 5% after the convention. And their Vice Presidential Candidate gains after the convention too.

Trump literally had no assassination or convention bump. His ceiling is less than 50% of voters. Kamala Harris has seen a large bump just from jumping into the race. Some swing state polls went from +8 or +10 trump earlier this year, to only +2 against Kamala.

She's only made one speech as the potential candidate! Believe me, she's going to be on top by the day of the debate.

Yes, I hope her momentum continues to grow and that she snaps up the undecided vote as people become more familiar with her.

But at that point, the question becomes whether she needs to debate. The Pod Save guys were saying that if she's ahead in the blue wall states by September it might be the smarter move to stay on the campaign trail and deny Trump the national airtime.

Can you predict a global Social Democratic overhaul?

I can! As long as people continue coming to message forums complaining instead of passionately making their case, or joining the party and doing something about it, I predict there will be no "global Democratic overhaul", whatever that means to you.

Scratch that—make it democratic socialism (otherwise known as socialism)

What would this involve for foreign policy?

I'm particularly interested in a few Islamic fascist states with carte blanche to abuse, well, less lucky countries, but too populated by kinda brownish people. And in Israel with the same privilege.

Do fascists get ignored (they are fine with this, but at least better than support)? Do they get sanctioned (hopes are not high)? Do they get desert-stormed (yes, please, desert-storm Baku)? Or does anything change at all.

I'm not at all from where you are.

Best case, it doesn't get better for you. Maybe they shoot a little less.

Keep your head down and take care of your people. I'm sorry. It isn't right or okay. I'm teaching my son to love people and that's about all I can do.

Good luck. Be hard. Take care of your people.

Where I am this is not a problem (yet), but I'm worried about the country my ancestors are from.

Well Trump is a sex offender so I agree it's inapropriate to have any unsupervised interaction with other women

Fucking

P U S S Y

Now now, pussy is good.

What about fearful weakling? Sorry my English isn't up to scratch, maybe someone can chip in and help out?

He can’t handle that he will lose to a woman. He’s got nothing to fight her with except insults about women.

This is the same reason he didn't show up to the republican debates: he knows he can't keep up with anyone.

So... Biden wasn't the nominee yet but he did a debate. Harris isn't the nominee yet but... What?

This is hilarious. Will this help more than going into a debate? Likely not, but they will have to do one after a nomination, right?

Even funnier, the nominee will be set by that date either way. So the excuse doesn't even work to say they don't want to debate an uncertain nominee.

"There is a strong sense by many in the Democrat Party - namely Barack Hussein Obama - that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone 'better.'"

One thing I learned from the Bush II Admin was that you can run on stirring up rhetoric for a while--worked well enough to make him a two term President--but at a certain point, your policies have to align to reality or you will have catastrophic failure. There are also levels of making shit up, and the statement above might be more making shit up than anything Bush II ever pulled.

It's also just chock full of "watch words" for these people. It's like a code that lets them feel like they have some kind of secret inside knowledge. They all repeat the same types of sayings, and methods of (attempting to) insult over and over.

For example:

The use of "Democrat party" is meant as a slight to the Democratic party. (https://www.factcheck.org/2007/12/the-democratic-or-democrat-party/)

That's about as subtle as they ever get, the rest are pretty obvious (using Obama's middle name, calling center-right politicians, "Marxist" as a completely meaningless insult that they themselves can't define, etc.)

Turns out that's all it takes to get 70 million+ Americans to literally worship a real life cartoon villain.

Yeah, I saw the "Democrat Party" thing - which, by the way, wayyyyy too many in the "liberal media" let them get away with. They should be correcting them all the time, or asking them if they don't even know the name of the party.

I also caught the full use of Obama's name - another dog whistle for this bunch.

Listen, I may not like the Marxists but I’ll settle for any communist tradition at this point barring MLs and their intellectual descendants

Based

Thanks, it’s what you get when you’re a syndicalist who marries a mutualist. My issues with Marx are intellectual. My issues with Marxist-Leninists are why I’m afraid to come close to starting to win a revolution with them anywhere near behind me.

Frankly I’d rather fight the capitalists than people who disagree on how the workers should control the means of production. Political pluralism shouldn’t be a casualty of the revolution.

As a Trot, albeit a reluctant and undogmatic one (I think), I also am terrified of winning a revolution with MLs in the mix. They love to talk about how no anarchist/trotskyists have ever had a "successful revolution" and its like no shit you killed them all and took power in the name of socialism.

Curious about your intellectual issues with Marx. No one is above critique, not asking to jump all over ya. I have some criticisms of Marx, namely that he spent the end of his life not finishing Capital and instead working on ethnography and trying to chart a path to socialism through Russian peasant society, and like I'd rather he'd have finished one of those instead of not finishing any of it. His work on ethnography would be really useful to anarchists and mutual aid networks: Anarchist Marxists, how cool would that be? But instead we just have his volumes and volumes of notebooks.

My main issues are that he blatantly misrepresented Proudhon. I also think that he largely overestimated the inevitability in a way that’s been harmful to communists.

And there absolutely anarchist Marxists, I just fall more along mutualist lines

Well as someone who couldn't get through the Poverty of Philosophy, despite having read lots of Marx including Capital: that's fair. He was really gunning for the Young Hegelians. I thought his critique of Stirner was really good, and his debunking of Bauer was essential. But I didn't get into PoP. Maybe some other time. He was too optimistic wrt how capitalism would create "gravediggers." I think its an actual thing that happens, it happened to me for example, but he underestimated ideology, or maybe like over estimated the way capitalism would change people's consciousness.

You're right there are individual anarchist Marxists, I study with one, but I guess I was referring to something more like a movement. I guess the Kurdish liberation movement kind of qualifies? Maybe my views are too west-centric.

Any recommended Proudhon I should read? Maybe take on Philosophy of Poverty before trying Marx's response again?

Trump running scared from a black woman, wow, I thought was supposed to be a "strongman" not the little bitch that he is. Draft dodging POS.

I'm not even American, but I'm gonna tune in for the debate, when it happens. It should be entertaining.

Damn. I lost that bet.

I thought it'd take longer than this. Mostly for trump to figure out which words to use. he has trouble with multi-syllabic words.

Translation: he's scared he'll one-up his declining showmanship. Or more likely his advisors are and fed him some ego-shielding bullshit that let's him get out of it and tell his cult that it's her fault.

I would love for them to meet on stage and Kamala runs up and grabs trump.

Trump flips out "wh..what are you doing Kamala?!"

Kamala scoffs "pfft, I'm grabbing them by the PUSSY, you dipshit"

I read Trump's line as "step bro"

I mean, I guess Vice president is the step-equivalent of President.

"Help, I'm stuck in a cult of my own incompetence, step bro."

UwU just isn't the same with trump's sphinctoral mouth....gross

Trump campaign says it won’t commit to Harris debate until she’s confirmed as nominee.

He reaggravated his bone spurs while fighting hard for the American people. /S

That was sooner than I expected

All joking aside, you have to assume they're going to challenge her candidacy and eventual legitimacy in court. Debating her is not only politically ill advised, but also a tacit agreement that she's a legitimate candidate.

She's been vice president for the past 4 years, so she already meets the legal requirements for office, and Republicans haven't ever challenged it.

The DNC is next month, and the party has every right to make her the nominee if Biden isn't running for reelection.

I don't see any actual legal battle here. There's absolutely zero legal precedent for blocking a party nomination before the convention or any of the relevant state deadlines pass.

They're just running their mouths about this switch-up being improper because they're panicking. They spent the last 4 years priming their base to care about one thing and one thing only: getting rid of the "Biden Crime Family". Now that it's down to the wire, Biden isn't their opponent anymore.

They're in the bargaining stage of grief, since Trump's chances of winning have pretty much been killed, especially after introducing professional wet blanket J.D. Vance as Trump's running mate.

When has Precedent mattered to Robert's Extreme Court?

Exactly. Just because they don't have a legitimate argument doesn't mean they don't have an argument.

Racist Rapist Convicted Felon is scared to have a discussion with a woman POC.

What a bitch.

I think the candidates autos be treated fairly. Any network holding a debate should give the time and place and say they will be asking questions of whoever shows up.

Him staying out of the debate just takes exposure away from Harris and gives him fewer opportunities to say something awful enough make the light bulb turn on over the heads of the 17 people out there still undecided about him.

Said the "grab them by the p***y" guy. Yeah, that sounds right. Sure. He's appropriate.

I'm a Free Thinking Republican and I think this is a GREAT and STRONG move by a FEARLESS LEADER who is trying to take down the DEEP STATE! Kamala is the DEEP STATE so Debating her would be STUPID even though it would be a PERFECT opportunity for Trump to Attack the Deep State like the Strong Man he is!

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If I ran a media outlet, the only image I would ever use of Trump is him making fun of the disabled guy. Make his camp defend that.

To everyone saying he is 'scared' that's not really the point, he has no reason to debate her. She is unknown compared to him, starving her of attention is a good strategy as he is still currently leading in polls.

Trump wants to nothing to change in the race, debates - as we just saw with Biden - are an opportunity for things to change.

She is unknown compared to him

She is literally the sitting Vice President of the United States

Agreed that debates can only hurt him though