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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   29556 thread views

U.S. Election (Day?) 2024 Megathread

With apologies to our many friends and posters outside the United States... it's time for another one of these! Culture war thread rules apply, and you are permitted to openly advocate for or against an issue or candidate on the ballot (if you clearly identify which ballot, and can do so without knocking down any strawmen along the way). "Small-scale" questions and answers are also permitted if you refrain from shitposting or being otherwise insulting to others here. Please keep the spirit of the law--this is a discussion forum!--carefully in mind.

If you're a U.S. citizen with voting rights, your polling place can reportedly be located here.

If you're still researching issues, Ballotpedia is usually reasonably helpful.

Any other reasonably neutral election resources you'd like me to add to this notification, I'm happy to add.

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Realistically, what, if anything, is going to change from a culture war perspective because of this? Will the DNC conduct an election "autopsy" to determine what they got wrong here? They outspent and our raised Trump, a convicted felon with a negative approval rating, and still could not win. Will the Democratic party take a hard look in the mirror? Will the Republican party completely abandon moderates/the establish in favor of the winning populist rhetoric? Will nothing change at all?

Will the Democratic party take a hard look in the mirror?

They will double down.

I both hope and legitimately think it’s possible this could be the beginning of the end of the Democratic Party.

After nearly two centuries, they might not survive this. The Whig party doesn’t exist anymore.

People say stuff like this every election. They still have the support of half the country and all the institutions. I'm pretty sure the institutions will have to go before the party does.

I do think it’s a distinct possibility that it’s really “different this time” because the institutions have tanked their credibility so completely in a way never done before, and the second Trump administration seems more primed to detonate the vest over and over again instead of cooperate.

In many ways the second Trump administration will likely be like the first, but there’s a significant non-zero chance they will pull a Milei and just start slashing and burning.

Why not? There’s virtually no downside.

Why not? There’s virtually no downside.

There is a lot of downside. Institutions, captured as they might be, have a lot of value. There has been a lot of pain in Argentina from Milei's reforms, and we were in much worse shape than the US already.

I’d say it’s manifestly obvious that our institutions have much less value than they did in the past.

There has to be a limit to how much they can beclown themselves and burn through their credibility until the currency they use to keep themselves afloat, reputation, is virtually worthless.

Clearly I’m not alone in feeling this, Trump has a mandate and I hope he uses it good and hard.

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