Why is Kamala Harris being held at such a higher standard than Trump this election?
It feels like Harris has to run a damn near flawless campaign just to BARELY beat this guy. Yeah you can bring up the current state of the country, but Trump mishandled COVID, there were over 200k deaths, BLM protest and was 2x impeached. And yet, Joe Biden BARELY beat him.
Trump is a convicted felon, liable sexual predator, caused an insurrection on the Capitol Hill, tried to steal the 2020 election (find me 11,000 votes), constantly kisses Russia’s ass, has more pending court cases and gets sentenced next month and overall has been the main driving factor in America’s division.
Yet, this race is STILL either 50/50 or a slight tilt (Harris leads the polling aggregate right now). Harris gets destroyed by the corporate media for almost anything, yet Trump is still lying and saying the most outlandish shit and nobody cares.
Why does it feel standards are much higher for Harris than Trump?
The problem isn't that Harris is being held to a higher standard. The problem is that Americans think of elections the same way they think of a sporting match. It's "my team is going to win!" not "I'm going to vote for the candidate that is best aligned with my beliefs." A huge number of the people who are voting Republican are doing so because the Republican party is their "team," and damn it, their team is going to win even if it kills them.
Many years ago, I was discussing politics with a coworker (always a bad idea, but whatever). It went something like this:
"So, you don't think the less-fortunate should be able to afford medical care?" "No, of course not, everyone should be able to see a doctor."
"You don't think gay people should be allowed to marry?" "I'm not gay, but they can do whatever makes them happy."
"You support the war in Iraq, then?" "I support our troops, but the war is kind of a waste."
"We definitely should legalize weed, right?" "Um, I'd smoke it if I didn't get drug tested."
"So why are you voting Republican, then?" "My family is Republican; we always do."
Here in Canada I've seen much the same behaviour for both Liberal and Conservative voters. "I vote Liberal because I've always voted Liberal" is a surprisingly common statement especially among the older generations, and to a small extent even the Green party has a few loyalists in BC.
Always voting the same way no matter what happens is just giving your vote away for free.
I'll take racism, sexism, propaganda and capitalism for 500 Alex.
They've got pretty firm control of the business sectors through tax cut agenda. They've got pretty firm control of the farmers for the same. Through fear and propaganda they've got pretty strong control of the poor and some of the educated middle class in the rural areas. A lot of the red states are doing everything they can to impede their education systems. If you keep people from becoming educated there's less competition at the top and a lot more red voters.
All you've got to fight them are the poor and the middle class in the cities and suburbs and the occasional upper class that isn't so self-serving that they're willing to stand on everyone else.
Because too many people treat politics like a sporting event. You root for your team no matter what, and against the other team. You have to do it this way, because if the other side wins that means your side loses.
So there are too many people who view Trump as "Their Guy", and are "rooting" for him. Anything they hear that might portray Trump in a negative light (like a criminal trial, for instance) must be the Other Side trying to cheat to win unfairly.
I remind people that Roger Ailes was Nixon's media consultant, and the lesson he learned from Watergate was that Nixon could have gotten away with it if the media was more sympathetic. He then went on to be the CEO of Fox News. That's no accident. There is a direct line from Nixon to Trump, and Roger Ailes drew it.
Then we got Reagan, Bush, and Trump, and he proved it.
The media almost singlehandedly bringing Watergate to the average American's attention was why Murdoch created Fox News. It was created specifically so they could force control of the narrative to their advantage.
And then we allowed every other media corporation to be bought and do the same once they saw it worked so well.
If you really get under the hood of Watergate, it had all the fingerprints of a soft coup. Nixon was a shit and made for an easy fall guy, but also Trumpian in his stubbornness and his refusal to go whole hog on the Cold War. Ford toed the line - installing Bush Sr to clean Kennedy's liberals out of the CIA, promoting Greenspan and Rumsfield to the Republican inner circle, and tapping the breaks on our openness with China.
There was no real reason to break into the Watergate given that Nixon was beating McGovern in a landslide. But it did a lot of favors for the movement conservatives like Goldwater and Reagan to get Nixon's ass out on the curb.
The WaPo (a hotbed of spooks even back then) played a big roll in that for a reason. Ffs, Woodward was an agency man going back to his time in Naval Intelligence. He broke Watergate less than a year after joining the paper.
Woodward going on to not reveal Trump's admission that Trump knew exactly how dangerous COVID was and was purposefully downplaying it until Woodward published his book on Trump couldn't be anymore revealing of capitulation to power while claiming to speak truth to power.
you're asking why fascists and leftists have different standards and morals?
A nice illustration is Republican media operatives are trying to attack Harris with "we checked with McDonald's corporate and they have no record of her working there!". For one, McD's is franchisees and I doubt corporate tracks every burger flipper. Next, of course they're trying to claim she's dishonest, but what about the greater question: Did fuckin Trump ever come anywhere near McDonald's? No, he inherited about $400 million, has misconstrued it it repeatedly ('a small loan of a million dollars', as if that is relatable either) and has never had any sort of normal job that required discipline or labor, ever.
It's the same when it comes to any other countries. The right always gets away with corruption because it's expected. Whereas the left has a higher moral standpoint so it is being accused of hypocrisy and things get blown out proportion even if small scale corruption occurs. For example in UK the previous government were giving jobs and contracts to friends and family all the time and nobody cried about it. It became accepted. The new left of centre government comes in and gives a temporary pass to a donor and suddenly it's a huge scandal...
It's the same if you care for the environment and ever took a taxi somewhere, or a vegetarian or vegan and have shoes made out of leather. Sure you are doing better than everyone else to help but you are still the devil and worse than everyone else somehow...
Kamala proposed a corporate tax hike. They will be pulling out literally All. The. Stops.
1: She's a woman of color so she has to be 75% better than average for anyone to pay attention.
2: Executed moral standards are more important to the left than the right. Declared moral standards are more important to the right.
they're not voting trump they're voting against the democrat party
Because the media is heavily conservative and advertising driven.
Giving republicans new things to throw at Kamala is the #1 priority of the news right now because they need a close race to sell ads.
Years of ownership by conservative billionaires and pundits has also saturated the media environment with a broad conservative tilt. This is why you don't see a lot of articles about why like immigration went up under trump etc.
Indeed. Notice, too, that the concerns about Biden's cognitive abilities have instantly stopped? He's still the President, and still in charge of the nukes. But no more news stories.
Meanwhile, the other guy has recently developed a habit of swearing at rallies, and there are a few articles about his wife asking him to knock it off, but nothing pointing out that a sudden increase in swearing is a symptom of dementia. At a town hall in La Crosse, WI the other day, he didn't know why he was there at first. Still radio silence from the news media.
Funny, isn't it?
First election?
Seriously... A fucking toddler will be held to a higher standard than Trump and Republicans will hold that toddler to that standard while Trump could fart on the Queens grave and Republicans would just support his "strong thoughtful message"
Memba tan suit?
Trump is more than a candidate. He validates and supports a state of mind. To many, he is a champion of a lifestyle and a way of thinking. That isn't something that is easy to overcome.
I think this is a big chunk of it and the other large portion is the fact that the DNC picks terrible candidates to back. Harris is leaps and bounds better than Biden, but Biden was the nominee up until a monthish ago despite everyone's objections. He barely beat Trump I'm 2020 and prior to that they backed Clinton who gave Trump four years in the White House to begin with.
They need to stop catering to the right and fucking get behind the leftist people that actually support the party.
Cuz most ppl knows trump dumb, need to grade him on a curve.
Also, he's our spesho widdle boy who can do no wrong 👶
Can't believe you are asking this now. In the 70s, I don't believe any of these yokels would have been elected. Lauren Beaubert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Trump, they've all done things and said things that are so far over the line, it isn't even funny. Nixon? Please, he would be small potatoes today.
Why? Gerrymandering. Social Media. Lack of critical thinking skills. A sense of hopelessness. Apathy. Billionaire brainwashing. The list goes on. The strange thing is, conservatives want to go back to the way things were. For them that means when women had to go to back alleys to get abortions, when gays were stoned, when blacks weren't allowed to vote. For me it means when people didn't justify these ridiculous notions, but instead just said, "No!"
conservatives aren't conservative any more. they are radically backwards. the things they want are so far back, they don't even want democracy any more. i don't really have a say in that, but maybe the time has come to stop calling them conservative.
It’s wild that Trump has done things far worse than watergate, and still got the nomination.
Trump is an outrage machine, and we have a media that deals in an economy of outrage.
Trump gets outrage. Outrage gets clicks. Clicks get money. It's a pretty simple chain to follow.
We need to wake up and realize that a profit-driven instantaneous news system that leverages strong emotions is not good for anybody. Truth is subjective nowadays, (always has been, really, but it's especially evident in the current media climate) and all that matters is getting information and narratives (not necessarily facts) out and people consuming it (and all the ads embedded with it) there, first, and right now.
I am shocked to see this pseudofascist apologia so highly upvoted.
It's not the media's coverage of the fascism that's the problem.
You would rather deflect blame to the media than point the finger at the fascism. Shame on you.
I don't think the fascism would exist if it wasn't profitable to give it a platform.
It's like My 600lb Life.
Trump is the bedridden 800lb lump of a human. And the news cycle that brings him hamburgers by the pallet is the enabler spouse.
That's stupid!
Literally supports Genocide lmfao. Was Adolf Hitler running a flawless campaign too?
Trump also supports genocide. Nobody who doesn't can possibly win.
If this is your line then you should probably just never vote ever, because this won't ever change.
I’m pretty doubtful the luminary you replied to lives in or has ever even been to the US.
They appear to be from the Netherlands, or a similar European country. TrickDacy pointed out their time zones of activity aren't based in the US, and the name Linkerbaan stems from Dutch.
Which begs the question, why do they care so much about bashing politicians in a country across the ocean, and why only ever Biden/Harris in particular? Linkerbaan, to this day, never answers why he doesn't ever attack Trump for being even worse than Biden or Harris ever would be for Gaza. It's almost like he doesn't really care about what's good for the people of Gaza, and just wants to push an agenda.
inb4 I get called an evil genocidal Zionist maniac, because Linkerbaan always does this when called out or someone disagrees with him: I fully support Gaza and the Palestinians, and absolutely despise the Israeli government and Hamas. Nothing about the Gaza situation is remotely acceptable and the Biden administration should do better. However, refusing to admit Donald "Finish the Job" Trump isn't the worse option is ignorant at best and actively harmful for the Palestinians at worst.
Stop pretending Harris is running a flawless campaign and ButTrUmP when the stupid lie gets debunked.
I'm not pretending that. I'm pointing out that the official policy of the US since before my parents were born has been to support Israel no matter what, and if that was going to change because anybody cared what was happening to Palestinians it would have changed decades ago.
So you need to accept that the country you live in will do heinous shit that you loathe and there's nothing you can do about it.
You need to accept that anyone enabling it is responsible. Anyone voting Democrat or Republican is complicit in Genocide and should face tribunals.
There was ignorance in the past. Everyone voting D now knows they will support Genocide and do so willingly
Wow dude, do you live in a make believe world where anyone who you don't agree with gets the French razor?
Saying anyone who supports either side should face a tribunal is insane and completely idiotic.
I hope one day you can learn just because you have such a high radical leaning and believe death is deserved upon all who disagree with your ideology, doesn't mean that it should be done.
Linkerbaan isn't a rational person, nor participating in good faith. Their entire existence is arguing with people online and accusing people of loving genocide.
I've started to wonder if it's even a real person. They don't respond with any measure of logic or awareness to anything at all, just "liberals want genocide!!" over and over.
If they are a real person, then their existence is just plain sad. Spending that much time arguing online achieving absolutely nothing at all besides making everybody dislike them and causing harm to others.
Right, like “hey I’m going to post insulting and repetitive tripe and empty slogans, and make Lemmy worse after lunch today!” Great. Also, as countless people have pointed out, if they care so passionately about Palestinians, their activities are contrary to helping Palestine so…
Ahh, I love you, bro. This place is wild, ain't it? If one doesn't fall in line to their militant liberal agenda, you're ignorant MAGA scum.
I'm just glad to see someone else here trying to talk some sense.
Stay strong my man/woman. We had red MAGA in 2016 now we also have Blue MAGA. The death cult grows fast.
The divisiveness is insane and scary. So many feel such a devotion to "their side." They don't realize these politicians love getting them all riled up and emotional about an issue so that they will fight for their political agenda with passion. And they just sit back and laugh.
What about trump? Pretty sure he’s just glass Gaza if he had a chance.
Did OP say Trump is running a flawless campaign somewhere too?
So you could link us to your screechings about Repubs supporting genocide in all of the threads about Donald?
You don't seem to care when Republicans support Genocide either.
https://lemmy.world/post/19214621
Oh fuck, you're actually self aware of what the alternative to the Dems will be. And you still want it to happen.
You think Peter Thiel is not using AI to do target selection in Gaza right now?
So you want his hand-picked VP in there to ensure it is done more thoroughly. And in Ukraine. And in the US.
I don't care how much worse anyone threatens to be. Genocide is the red line. There's no "worse" than Genocide.
One Genocides or a hundred Genocides doesn't matter. Support one Genocide and it's morally Joever.
Right. As we already agreed, you consider 99 extra genocides to be great. So you are pretending 100 is the same as 1 in attempt to achieve the former. Extremely privileged take.
Yes I will be complicit in exactly 0 Genocides only.
Supporting a Genocide now that's a privileged take.
You are complicit in the 99 extra genocides given all the effort you are putting into deterring everyone from voting. It's disgusting that you love genocide so much you want Thiel's handpicked VP in there helping.
Grabbed 'em by the pussy.. And they liked it!
https://truthout.org/articles/yes-55-percent-of-white-women-voted-for-trump-no-im-not-surprised/
That's the sad truth. Misogyny is not enough of an issue to sway American women as a voting bloc. They get it every day from people close to them and have internalised it to the point where it's not a dealbreaker. Abortion however, is.
I keep seeing the same bozos say they're the same
One is literally a criminal rapist who has made tens of thousands of public lies, doesn't pay contractors, and said obvious non sensensical stuff during covid leading to mass deaths and whose own ex staff warns he is an asshole.
The other is a normal person you could probably eat lunch with. She's absolutely normal.
And Kamala supports an illegal Genocide
That doesn't mean she supports it. There's evidence that even with Biden there were things potentially happening in the background to try to stop it. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-03/israel-accepts-joe-bidens-gaza-ceasefire-proposal/103926614
Trump literally asked Russia publicly to find dirt on Hillary to win and praises dictators constantly.Kamala isn't praising dictators.
If Trump went to court for every crime he committed, he would have no time to campaign. In fact, with lawsuits they likely have to compress them and limit the contents to the worst offenders to facilitate their processing time.
You haven't heard even a small number of crimes that Mafia don has committed. But a guy who goes and laughs on social media when one of his followers attacked pelosis husband obviously supports assault.
So just to clarify, Trump = actual criminal who uses violence to gain power Kamala = normal person
You're also assuming that Trump will end the war. He won't. He'll do what he normally does and just shout at both parties. If he gets forced out of office, he'll sabotage the next president
Walz in particular is ex military and I seriously doubt he is pro war either. There might be stuff happening in the background again we don't know about (Trump will brag in public about every single thing he does, but sometimes negotiations require the opposite). It's similar to criminal investigations which take a long time
She said she's gonna keep sending israel weapons. Of course she supports the Genocide.
Can you imagine a woman or a black man (let alone a black woman) running for president while being three-times divorced with kids from multiple partners and having cheated multiple times on top of that? Even if they were rich like Trump, it would never fly.
Obama’s political career would’ve ended the second “grab em by the p****” got leaked.
Because Trump has better policy and she doesn't. So it becomes a battle of policies vs personality.
I don't get why my restaurant gets so much scrutiny over a few rat turds in the soup when Gusteau's has a literal rat village in the kitchen
Meanwhile, you doubtless have a restaurant you can point to which is rat and insect free?
Enjoy the rat shit.
Because we all know what trump is.
Because Trump's base does not care and Harris' base does. It's really that simple.
You're asking good questions, but I don't think you're actually open to hearing the actual right answers.