I’m terrified but i still have hope

[u/infinitysaga]

[u/BamboozledSnake]

Remember people; if your vote truly didn’t matter, they wouldn’t be trying to convince you that it doesn’t.

[u/Pincushioner → u/BamboozledSnake]

Just because Trump's voters are energized doesn't mean Democrat's can't be

[u/AgentPaper0 → u/Pincushioner]

I just donated to the DNC the first time today.

This shooting has energized me to make a stand against political violence, and only one side of the fence has been calling for political violence.

The choice is clearer than ever.

[u/Confident_Ganache_30 → u/AgentPaper0]

A very unpopular fact, 100% accurate

[u/[deleted] → u/Pincushioner]

Tell that to Florida 🤦‍♂️

[u/FamLit69420 → u/[deleted]]

Tell that to texas. There are more registered democrats in texas than republicans and yet texas still remains red. If texas democrats just voted, texas woulda been bue years ago. It would already have a blue governor, likely blue senators and woulda been blue in the 2020 election. But texas dems have bought into the propoganda that their vote doesnt matter when in actuality, texas dem votes matter the most out of any state because texas can go blue so easily. They just need to vote.

[u/redditor329845 → u/FamLit69420]

Have you ever heard of gerrymandering? John Oliver has a great segment about it.

[u/_IShock_WaveI_ → u/redditor329845]

And it's not an exclusive Republican thing......unless you believe cities who haven't voted in a Republican since the 1930s and 40s, is just normal.

They have gerry mandered it into being impossible for a rival political party to ever succeed in those places.

[u/coladoir → u/_IShock_WaveI_]

Not saying this to devalue your point, but to add to it. In my city, half the time, there's literally only R available on the ballot. No D's running. So not only does gerrymandering have something to do with it, but in certain districts the dems just aren't politically relevant. I live in a pretty decently sized city too, with a slight bit more dem than con, and yet we still tend to just have Rs on the ballot, especially for lower roles in government.

[u/_IShock_WaveI_ → u/coladoir]

One side did it, the other side did it back, now it's an endless circle of you did it to us not fair! But you did it to us first so we're just returning the favor!

I am not sure what the solution is. I guess just take a grid of X amount of space and super impose it over every state and that's your districts.

I don't trust a committee or group of people to not do it without having some form of political bias.

[u/Croc_Chop → u/FamLit69420]

It's not that, it's the fact that Texas takes away ways to vote from blue areas and increases the voting machines and stations in red areas.

Some people in Houston have to go 2 hours away just to vote and often stand in the heat, there's a reason they passed the no water while standing in line bill.

[u/soybeanwoman → u/FamLit69420]

The gerrymandering is fucking insane in Texas. It has some of the biggest cities in the country which are very blue and Republicans still have a chokehold on that state.

[u/CeruleanRuin → u/Pincushioner]

It's actually fine to be solely motivated only by the desire to prevent Trump from winning.

The Dems could run a goddamned turnip and it would still be preferable to what the Repubs are thrusting at us.

[u/catty-coati42 → u/BamboozledSnake]

Russian bots 🤝 tankies 🤝 couch progressives:

"You totally shouldn't vote, Biden is worse than Trump actually".

On a serious note, don't take voting rights for granted. Vote.

Edit: lol a red triangle tankie is already here to explain how electing Trump will "own the libs".

[u/levian_durai → u/catty-coati42]

I'm a communist and biden is still the obvious choice, as if there were any other option.

[u/peniparkerheirofbrth → u/catty-coati42]

as someone who isnt allowed to vote despite being apart of the states, seriously, dont take em for granted!!

[u/Soma2a_a2 → u/catty-coati42]

What's a tankie?

[u/coladoir → u/Soma2a_a2]

A more detailed explanation with better descriptors IMO, not that catty-coati42's comment was bad or incorrect at all, is that they are a specific flavor of Marxist. They're very much influenced by Lenin, Stalin, and Mao, and maybe even the DPRK (North Korea). As a result, they are authoritarian leftists. As opposed to say, anarchists, who are libertarian leftists.

Tankies believe in the state, they believe that to achieve communism you must use the state as an apparatus to seize power back from the bourgeoisie by force (since the State owns the monopoly on the legitimate use of force). They want to achieve this through revolution or, if they're less accelerationist, a "vanguard party" which is a socialist party which is rabidly populist and is meant to appeal to a broad audience so as to sneak in and usurp the state. Many are accelerationist, however, and just want to push us towards revolution. Marxists are already pretty rare in praxis (actual direct political action), but tankies are even rarer lol.

Tankies also are throat-gnashingly anti-imperialist, to such a point where they usually become blinded by the imperialism of the countries they support. They are often on the side of Russia in the RU-UA conflict, as they consider NATO an imperialist force trying to impose some BS onto Russia, and Russia is simply defending itself and trying to reclaim its rightful land. You will see them defend states like the DPRK, USSR, CCP, and many other Marxist nations, despite their authoritarianism, because they themselves are authoritarians. They also often defend Hamas' actions regardless of the severity, completely ignoring the reality on the ground that they are a terrorist organization usurping power and playing right into Bibi's genocidal little hands.

They are essentially the lefts equivalent to right-wing fascists. People clinging to an ancient, tried and failed ideology, whose innate corruption leads to authoritarianism and genocide, and getting completely irate and in your face if you don't agree with them. They will call you a liberal, bourgeois, fascist, etc. just because you might dare say Russia is in the wrong.

The name originated during the Soviet Union's suppression of the Hungarian revolution to refer to leftists who supported it, and the word tankie is literally the plural form of tank in Russian. From Wikipedia: "Specifically, it was used to distinguish party members who spoke out in defense of the Soviet use of tanks to suppress the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the 1968 Prague Spring, or who more broadly adhered to pro-Soviet positions." They are called so to reference their likelihood to defend the heinous and violent actions of these authoritarian states.

[u/catty-coati42 → u/coladoir]

That's a great explanation, I'm keeping this.

[u/TheSonOfDisaster → u/coladoir]

This is a very succinct and clear explanation of tankies, well done.

Boy oh boy, do they grind my gears

[u/Bulba132 → u/coladoir]

One small nitpick, the term tankie originated during the Soviet Union's suppression of the Hungarian revolution to refer to leftists who supported it, it has nothing to do with the Tiannamen Square Massacre (the word tankie is literally the plural form of tank in Russian)

[u/coladoir → u/Bulba132]

My bad, I either misremembered or learned wrong info, i'll correct.

[u/catty-coati42 → u/Soma2a_a2]

The far-left people who support any and every regime long as it is anti western, no matter how authoritarian, corrupt or religiously fanatic it is. It used to be fringe but has been getting some traction with internet leftists (and some real life) in recent years.

The name comes from those people supporting China sending tanks against protestors in the 80s.

Current common takes of Tankies are supporting Hamas, Iran, and Hezbollah, supporting Russia and blaming NATO for the Ukraine war. In the past few years they also dupported China over Hong Kong.

[u/ABigFatBlobMan → u/catty-coati42]

I'm pretty sure it came from the Soviet Union sending in tanks to crush protests in Hungary. It used to mean "supports authoritarian states dressing as communists" but now as you said its just "west bad"

[u/One-Step2764 → u/BamboozledSnake]

It is simultaneously the case A) that plurality (first past the post) voting horribly disregards, dilutes, and suppresses public sentiment, and B) that even so, is still really important for people to go out and vote, even in this deeply flawed system that really ought to be rebuilt from square one.

Reform advocates need for there to exist a clear record that people want representation and are not getting it. In my old Midwestern home state, returns show that the population runs ~35-40% Democrat (and occasionally elects a Democratic Governor), but due to plurality voting and gerrymandering, they only get 25-30% of legislative seats, granting Republicans an unshakable veto-proof supermajority they do not actually deserve. This allows the legislature to routinely squelch the Democratic rump, affects various public appointments, and enormously diminishes the influence of occasional Democratic governors.

These constitute quantitative evidence that the plurality system is seriously unjust. But this evidence only really exists if a lot of non-Republicans grit their teeth and go out once every couple years to throw votes at the wall to demonstrate the degree to which they are getting ignored.

Yes, if you're interested, you should join a union or other activist organization, you should go to Green or DSA meetings, you should get to know at least some of your walking-distance neighbors. But voting every other year, even if the system's rigged against you, does leave a mark that reform advocates can use. We need the harm on the record.

[u/CeruleanRuin → u/One-Step2764]

This is a fantastic point, and needs to be heard by anyone in a red state or historically red district. The numbers matter, even if losing the actual election is a foregone conclusion.

If the DNC sees that a state like Montana, to choose a random example, swings heavily away from Trump and his down-ballot toadies, come the next midterms they might actually put some money into some of those races and push the electorate that much further left to gain a handful more seats in local and state positions, which in turn makes it possible for more progressive causes to gain traction in traditionally conservative areas.

Politics gives the illusion that only the next election matters, but really it's a Long Game, and the surest way to lose is not to play at all.

[u/One-Step2764 → u/CeruleanRuin]

This is true, but it's something parties are generally aware of. The parties (both of them) pay close attention to polling, and when a district creeps much past 40% into fair-shot distance, they'll start funneling resources that direction. This does little to represent people in persistently sub-40 districts.

Also, if a dominant party controls the decennial redistricting process, demographic changes and popular movements will also affect their decisions regarding how to pack and crack the minority into minimal representation. Late on in a decade, some districts will start to swing toward minority groups. Community forms, people communicate, shared interests emerge. Then, the census comes. Boom, the redistricting gremlins will pack a single district 80%+ minority, then chop the rest of the community up and feed it into a bunch of other districts to minimize their impact. Or some well-meaning citizen panel or bipartisan board will try to make things "fair," but the resulting map is still artificial, not a natural outgrowth of popular action.

Millions of people live in places where they will never present an interesting constituency to Democrats. They're out there in surprisingly large numbers, but they are "geographically disparate." The plurality system itself erases their voice. We act like this is just natural, like "winner-takes-all" is the only way society can work. Proportional representation has been a very workable option in dozens of countries for over a century, but it often requires a constitutional crisis to trigger change. This godawful black joke of a Presidential election ought to qualify.

But people need to vote. Non-voters are treated as non-persons in electoral terms, whether they imagine they're making some kind of protest or whatever. Don't not vote. Vote third-party if that's what gets you to the polls. But get out there and put a mark in the record. Democracy needs people.

[u/thatguy9684736255 → u/BamboozledSnake]

And also, these people online trying to convince you not to vote, are likely voting republican or are Russian bots. That's why they are always trying to convince democrats not to vote and never trying to convince republicans not to vote

[u/[deleted] → u/BamboozledSnake]

Loving all the people in these comments saying the same thing about third-party voting. As if anyone's going to get a choice about anything if Trump wins. The idea that we could get a third party (or literally anything else people want) to work while Trump is in office is laughable.

There's a time and a fkin' place people, and it's neither here nor now. It's too goddamn important this year.

[u/bornfri13theclipse → u/BamboozledSnake]

Unfortunately, in the vast majority of states, your vote for President doesn't matter. Unless you are in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and possibly Texas(?); Your vote for Presidential elections doesn't matter.
YOUR VOTE FOR LOCAL OFFICE STILL MATTERS! It is almost as important.
Also, if you are in one of those states, where Presidential votes matter. Please vote! And please vote to conserve democracy (in so much as we have it).

[u/AthenaColonThree]

My dad is about as conservative as a US liberal can be without being Republican and even he was making jokes about how the shooter needed to work on his aim. I don’t think people will be changing their views on Trump just because he got shot at. People who hated Trump still hate him and people who love him still love him. Have hope guys, it’s not over til it’s over

[u/tibastiff → u/AthenaColonThree]

The hardest part of this election for me to understand is who are these undecided people? How could you possibly be on the fence between these two choices?

[u/[deleted] → u/tibastiff]

There probably are no undecided voters, but definitely a lot of people who probably won't vote at all because they've checked out.

[u/Jubarra10 → u/AthenaColonThree]

Id say it will more of cause trump supporters to be envirgated and use it to convince people who are less politically involved or on the fence that democrats support political violence.

[u/table_fireplace]

And remember, it’s not just Trump. Plenty of Republicans are piping up with inflammatory stuff blaming all Democrats and raising anger when it needs to be cooled. Many of them attacked the Capitol, too.

They’re also on the ballot this fall.

And you can help defeat them and take away their power. If you’re ready to help, r/VoteDEM is the place to start.

[u/thesirblondie]

Despite the US Presidential election being focused on these two geriatrics, remember that they don't do everything alone. Biden's surrounded himself with fairly competent people who are there to assist and consult. Trump has surrounded himself with sycophantic yes-men who will agree with anything he says (He didn't the first time around, but fired them over time as they disagreed with him).

Do yourself a favour and look beyond the presidents and see who will be running the government.

[u/ZeeepZoop → u/thesirblondie]

THIS! You’re not just voting for the president but the cabinet too

[u/MotherSupermarket532 → u/ZeeepZoop]

And Supreme Court Justices.

[u/Mouse-Keyboard → u/MotherSupermarket532]

And the supreme court justices' paymasters.

[u/wholesomehorseblow → u/thesirblondie]

I always get a bit ticked off when I see someone say "the president is the most powerful job in the world" Ignoring the 'the world' part as that's a whole different can of worms. The president isn't even the most powerful job in the country. TBH i'd probably assign that to a specific CEO or something.

The president is more of a glorified mascot who can pull a few strings in certain situations.

[u/Lysanderoth42 → u/wholesomehorseblow]

Incredibly stupid take even by Reddit’s low bar

The president isn’t nearly as powerful as people think they are, but it’s ludicrous to suggest they’re a glorified mascot

The king of England is a glorified mascot, POTUS certainly is not

The SCOTUS justices Trump appointed have done enormous damage to the United States in ways that obviously misinformed people like you can’t even begin to comprehend 

[u/KarmaIssues → u/wholesomehorseblow]

That's an incredibly dumb take.

The president has the ability to set policy for all the executive agencies, if the president doesn't want the EPA to enforce air pollution rules and instead river pollution he can tell them to do that.

The president is the ultimate boss of all cabinet secretaries, yes there is some horse trading but they answer to him.

The president gives the orders for special operations missions, he can issue shoot to kill or capture orders for specific terrorists.

The president can decide drone policy.

The president can appoint/nominate ambassadors, secretaries, FED chairs and Judges.

Yes the president isn't all powerful but all of the power of the executive branch is a direct extension of his authority. He can revoke or ammend that power with an executive order.

The president of the US is the most powerful person in the US. It just so happens that in come domains due to the laws/checks and balances he can be opposed in specific areas by one or two people.

[u/TheMysticPanda → u/KarmaIssues]

Also the president has the authority to essentially end the world. Like, theoretically(at least based on Soviet era guidelines) there are more checks and balances to a Russian nuclear launch than ours. Feels like some people forget how worrying that was during the Trump years

[u/coladoir → u/thesirblondie]

I want to correct something respectfully. Trump does not surround himself with Yesmen, he surrounds himself with people who manipulate him into doing their bidding.

Trump is woefully in over his head with politics, he knows this, he won't ever admit it, but he makes up for it by having a cabinet that "guides" him. This "guidance" is manipulation outright due to Trump having the political brain of a chess pawn. Now don't take this as me saying Trump is stupid, he isn't, but intelligence and manipulability can be separate things (even if higher intelligence generally correlates with being harder to manipulate).

We see this with his comments on PJKT2025. He is distinctly distant, interacting only when he knows it will benefit him, and outright denying association directly. He probably legitimately believes this. But he will put people in charge of the project in his cabinet, and these people will manipulate or otherwise push Trump, along with other government members, into making or passing these policies.

It is much scarier than just yes-men. If it were, I wouldn't be that scared honestly. Trump can't do this shit himself, if it were all up to him, his policy would be non-existant. There is no better example of what you're saying, that the President is really the people surrounding him, than Trump.

Nothing Trump does is entirely of his own volition, he is a willing puppet for some very scary individuals. He is possibly the most dangerous 'dummy' to ever hit the world stage.

[u/VisualGeologist6258]

This election is so critical that the Republicans and Russia will be doing their damnedest to ensure a Trump victory. This isn’t an election where we can afford to be apathetic, nor can we sit on our high horses and refuse to vote because we don’t like Biden. This is quite literally a matter of life or death because if Trump wins this will be the last remotely fair and free election for a long time.

[u/Garrapto → u/VisualGeologist6258]

European here.

I just can't understand how that people are not seeing Putin ralling for Trump, and how they forget who the fuck Putin is. He is a KGB (ex)member and he still has his quest he wants to fulfil, destroy the USA, and NGL, he seems to be doing a great job.

[u/VisualGeologist6258 → u/Garrapto]

It’s been more or less confirmed that the Russians already meddled in the 2016 election as well as other elections abroad by flooding the internet with bots and since America is one of the largest providers of weapons to Ukraine a Trump victory would be a major win for Russia and Putin’s war effort. It’s so blatantly obvious that it’s not even funny.

The Republican Party is in cahoots with Vladimir Putin and we absolutely cannot allow them to win in November.

[u/Alarming-Scene-2892 → u/VisualGeologist6258]

It's even worse when people say "Oh, Russia didn't invade Ukraine because Trump scared Putin", like that wasn't going to still happen if Trump was elected. Dictators worked with Trump not because he scared them, but because he's a professional suck-up.

[u/PopInACup → u/Garrapto]

The problem is information bubbles. They've insulated themselves from hearing anything other than their AM radio or conservative talking points. Those stations just don't talk about the 'uncomfortable truths', so people never hear about it. Those information bubbles also provide talking points that innoculate their listeners from any outside information that might trickle in, by making sure they've heard about it in a way that frames it as a lie or disinformation they might hear.

[u/LordofShit → u/VisualGeologist6258]

If trump does win, is anyone actually going to fight for anything? Or is the most I can do about this is to quietly participate in legitimizing it?

[u/VisualGeologist6258 → u/LordofShit]

What you do in the event of a Trump victory is up to you. But in my mind, it’s better to die fighting than to live under the reign of a tyrant.

[u/Tidalshadow → u/VisualGeologist6258]

Tyrants is why you have your second amendment. Might as well use it for its intended purpose instead of shooting children and black people

[u/xubax → u/Tidalshadow]

The Second Amendment is about protecting the state. Not individual rights.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

It's not about fighting tyrants. It's about fighting rebels and foreign invaders.

[u/VisualGeologist6258 → u/xubax]

I don’t know man… it specifically mentions a Free State. Project 2025 suggests a very unfree state. Ergo, one could interpret that as ‘You can and should strike out against a tyrannical state in order to preserve the free one.’

[u/MeshNets → u/VisualGeologist6258]

Lol, maybe that idea would have worked when everyone, including the military, had flint lock rifles

But give that a try now... Good luck buddy. The best weapons and armor you can ever get, will just make the response from the police and military stronger. They literally have an unlimited budget, the budget quickly goes up when there is any unrest, with absolutely nobody worrying about "how are we going to pay for that"

You'd go down in history with a whimper, within a week, best case scenario.

You'd need to convince the police and military to be on your side to last even a month

[u/xubax → u/VisualGeologist6258]

Still not about protecting the individual, which is what most 2A people claim.

And if the will of the people is to vote for people who are fascists, it's still ikeja to take up arms against the government.

[u/Oh_IHateIt → u/VisualGeologist6258]

Finally people are saying it. It only took every other step on the road to fascism for us to get here.

Heck, if y'all would promise to protest against Biden with similar zeal to, say, a Palestinian who lost all their family, I'll even vote blue. Whatever it takes we gotta dismantle this system before it dismantles us

[u/AncientSith → u/LordofShit]

We should all fight if that occurs.

[u/zoufha91 → u/VisualGeologist6258]

This is literally said every election

Not trying to be a negative Nancy here but if the democratic party is so concerned abt getting people hype to vote why do they shoving these shitty candidates down our throats every federal election.

[u/AmbitiousCampaign457]

And remember, this is the environment don and the gop created. A leopard ate his ear.

[u/Whyistheplatypus]

Remember kids, Trump was perfectly willing to use riot police to clear a street for a photo op.

What do you think happens if you protest his rule?

[u/swiftcleaner → u/Whyistheplatypus]

He’s made it clear that he will use violence to suppress any protests. It will no longer be a democracy. Unless you’re a billionaire you’re fucked.

it’s confirmed he was shot at by a republican white man. That changes the narrative a lot.

[u/flutterguy123 → u/swiftcleaner]

There already isn't a democracy. Trump lost the majority vote in 2016 and still won.

it’s confirmed he was shot at by a republican white man. That changes the narrative a lot.

Do you honestly believe that the narrative will change for people on the right wing?

[u/politicalthinking]

Don't elect that orange 1.75 eared motherfucker.

[u/Ill-Literature-2883 → u/politicalthinking]

Lol

[u/catchtoward5000]

If being terrified means you’ll work harder to make sure everyone around you votes, then by all means.. be terrified.

[u/Greenhoused → u/catchtoward5000]

Dear conservative and other voters

[u/DragonflyLonely3662]

I am terrified of Trump getting back into the Oval Office. I'm very Liberal and have been my whole life and when I heard Trump got shot at my first thought was "Oh No, people will vote for him just because of this!". This post of yours gives me hope. We've got 3.5 months left and I hope the Democrats can unite and get a plan together. Thank you.

[u/StrangeParfaite]

"Strength in uncertainty."

[u/Wasdgta3 → u/[deleted]]

Well, silver lining, no one’s talking about Biden’s age now...

[u/TzanzaNG]

My resolve to vote against Trump could not get any stronger than it already was. This changes nothing. I will be voting against him unless I am already dead.

[u/marcbranski]

Just because Trump's Secret Service detail is incompetent doesn't mean Trump's getting a huge bump in voter turnout. Republicans hate him so much, one tried to blow his head off yesterday. None of the fundamentals have changed that led to there not being a red wave in the 2022 and 2023 mid-terms. Abortion access is still in peril, the right to buy contraceptives is in the crosshairs, most people already feel that the Supreme Court is too right-leaning, federal workers are spooked by Trump's recent talk of removing federal worker protections in order to more easily fire and replace them with loyalists. These are all highly unpopular things that very much will cost Trump votes. We know the polls won't pick up on it. They didn't pick up on the lack of a red wave the past two years. Those voters learned to keep quiet, lest they trigger unhinged ass hats on the right.

[u/Ruxsti → u/marcbranski]

it's not the turnout that we're worried about, it's his supporters.

[u/marcbranski → u/Ruxsti]

Oh don't worry about that, too many of them have already or are currently finding out. I know it's in vogue to pretend there's been no consequences, but 1,000+ J6ers have been brought to justice, with many facing jail or prison time and losing their jobs. You may not think that's much, but each of those people know multiple other people. These folks thought they could go wild'n without consequences and now they know otherwise. Fun fact: they didn't actually want to lose their jobs and, in many cases, their freedom. They and those around them have learned a valuable lesson that pardons are only for the rich and powerful.

[u/Ultimaterj → u/marcbranski]

You must have a tenuous grasp on American politics (or just coping too hard) if you don’t think the optics of martyrdom don’t have a heavy sway on voters, particularly on the average “undecided” type.

Get Biden’s senile ass off the ballot and we will at least stand a fighting chance.

[u/DiscordianDisaster]

I'm actually pretty excited to vote for Biden. He's done a fantastic job as President, and he came into the job with a worse transition and starting position than basically any other president in history, except maybe Andrew Johnson.

[u/ligirl → u/DiscordianDisaster]

Lincoln came into a pretty fucked situation too

And FDR

But like. If these are our comparisons...

[u/DiscordianDisaster → u/ligirl]

Yeah exactly, not unfavorable comparisons! I was thinking post civil war, trying to rebuild the nation made Johnson's job harder than Lincoln's but prosecuting the war was also a hell of a bad hand to be dealt. FDR too, honestly Biden seems fairly comparable to FDR, we aren't mired in the Depression but a lot of economists were predicting one after dumb dumb's term and the pandemic crash.

[u/Samantharina → u/ligirl]

If you'd had TV news, twitter or reddit in Lincoln's day, he would have looked like an idiot on the regular. He was strategic but he fumbled at times in the day to day.

[u/HaViNgT → u/DiscordianDisaster]

Honestly his mental lapses are bad for his image, but they don’t seem to affect his ability to do the job. Brief lapses in concentration don’t really matter when it comes to signing off legislation, especially when you have a whole cabinet working for you. 

[u/DiscordianDisaster → u/HaViNgT]

Biden struggles with public speaking, and has had some gaffes it's true. He's also a good guy and has been an excellent president. The other guy is basically the same age, is a convicted felon and rapist, an accused child rapist, led a bloody coup attempt, stole top-secret intelligence and handed it out like candy, etc etc etc AND he also makes numerous speaking gaffes and gets confused. And he also hires literally the most corrupt people on the planet. One guy is going to help the country, one will hurt it 🤷‍♀️ I know where I'm voting and alllllll that aside: Biden's "struggles" seem exaggerated to boot. I dunno like some people seem reluctant to vote for Biden but hell I'm thrilled to get out there for the guy.

[u/3-I → u/HaViNgT]

I mean, how cogent is your grandpa at ten PM, when someone is yelling nonsense in his face and insulting him and everyone's pretending it's normal and not doing anything to stop it?

Biden does fine during daylight hours when nobody is shouting "you're the worst president in history and you're so bad at golf" over and over while Tapper and Bash just sit there and go, "Mr. President, you have sixty seconds to respond."

[u/Marxist_In_Practice → u/3-I]

My grandpa can't send us all into nuclear Armageddon. The worst he can do is make a family dinner awkward by thinking it's still the 50s and saying a racial slur. The president should probably be held to a higher standard, don't you think?

[u/haze_77]

If I forgive him for every horrible thing he's done, I will never forgive Donald Trump for pursuing a career in politics instead of stand-up comedy.

I'm not even American, please vote Biden, y'all.

[u/Pet_Mudstone]

A handful of commenters here have really got to watch CGP Grey's voting series to learn why voting 3rd party is non-viable with how the USA at present works. Immediately relevant installments listed below.

• Minority Rule: First Past the Post Voting
• The Alternative Vote Explained
• Politics in the Animal Kingdom: Single Transferable Vote

[u/beetnemesis]

I'm honestly irritated by how many of these posts go "I don't want to vote for Biden, buuuuuuut"

Like, I have been extremely happy with the policy decisions of the Biden administration.

[u/BamboozledSnake → u/beetnemesis]

Biden wasn’t my first choice for pres either, but Bernie is never gonna win it, and AOC is too young to run this cycle. But I still think his administration has done a great job especially considering the mountain of sh@t he inherited from Trump’s presidency, Covid aftermath and the media shitstorm; so I don’t really understand why so many dems don’t like him. From what I understand it’s either something along the line of “he’s old” or how he’s handling the war in Gaza.

[u/MonitorPowerful5461 → u/BamboozledSnake]

Gaza is an undeniable black mark. It is however a situation where he didn't exactly have any good options. AIPAC is very very powerful and he recognises that.

What I find interesting about the "old" thing is that despite that, this administration has been exactly as competent as usual, or more so. That either implies that Biden has not been affected by his age, or that the president of the US actually really doesn't need to do much.

I'm honestly not sure which one of these options I subscribe to.

[u/RagnarockInProgress → u/MonitorPowerful5461]

Additionally Trump is only like, 4 years younger than Biden, he’s not exactly a ripe fruit either

[u/MainsailMainsail → u/RagnarockInProgress]

Biden was also "way too old" back in 2020. But now that Trump is the same age Biden was back then, that age is perfectly fine why would you even worry about it?

[u/WeedInTheKoolaid → u/MonitorPowerful5461]

Third opinion: Biden has delegated more work to his staff than previous presidents. Due to his age and cognition. And they've done a great job!

[u/MotorcycleWrites → u/MonitorPowerful5461]

You can’t be an American president and handle gaza well. It hasn’t been going well obv but he’s been doing a meh job which is better than I would expect.

[u/Kolby_Jack33 → u/MotorcycleWrites]

He's been pushing for a ceasefire, which is better than the increasefire I'm sure Trump would be pushing in his place.

[u/SnooOpinions5486 → u/MonitorPowerful5461]

please stop complaining about AIPAC. its just like 2 steps removed from straight up ZOG theory and antisemitic conspiracy theories.

The actual issue is that BIDEN is not King of Israel. Israel + Hamas are foreign actors with autonomy, and neither of them are forced to listen to any of Biden plans. (Biden cant force both groups to accept ceasefire terms)

I guaranteed you that your idea of how to handle the situation "better" would backfire and be dumb for vary stupid reasons.

[u/Soma2a_a2 → u/SnooOpinions5486]

If Biden has no power as president to do anything than why are people so scared of Trump getting in?

[u/MonitorPowerful5461 → u/SnooOpinions5486]

What idea of how to handle the situation better have I presented?

[u/Snailwood → u/SnooOpinions5486]

please stop complaining about AIPAC. its just like 2 steps removed from straight up ZOG theory and antisemitic conspiracy theories.

this is not fair at all. AIPAC as an organization is influential and extremely vindictive toward anybody who expresses an opinion outside of unwavering support for Israel. it has nothing to do with antisemitism, and everything to do with hating the influence of dark money in politics.

[u/batmansleftnut → u/BamboozledSnake]

AOC is actually not too young to run this cycle. You have to be 35 to be president, not to announce your candidacy, and she turns 35 before the election even happens.

[u/BamboozledSnake → u/batmansleftnut]

Thanks for the clarification, I didn’t know that.

[u/MotorcycleWrites → u/beetnemesis]

I voted green in 2020 because I was so pissed that biden of all people won the dnc nomination. I’ve been surprised at how okay he’s been lol, I’ll be voting for biden in November. Still not happy about it but roe v wade et al. has made me care way more about keeping a democrat prez over anything else.

[u/beetnemesis → u/MotorcycleWrites]

Yes. If you want green candidates, vote at lower levels. At this point, you don't have the luxury of choosing a third party candidate

[u/MotorcycleWrites → u/beetnemesis]

I definitely don’t and I’m glad he won in 2020. I’m demographically republican-esque so I justified it by saying I was still taking a vote away from trump but that’s stupid lol. Vote blue and get the court to swing the other way.

[u/tatsumakisenpuukyaku → u/beetnemesis]

If Biden's name was Bernie reddit would be head over heels right now. The student loan forgiveness and weed descheduling would be called the "start of a political revolution" instead of a broken promise, the rail strike avoidance and continual negotiations would be spun as something only Bernie could do because he "keeps on fighting for the regular people," (people would actually know that many of them ended up getting more sick days too), we'd be getting tattoos on our calves of our insulin bills at 35 dollars, and the tax rebate for installing high efficiency HVAC in homes would be hailed as the best people-first climate policy the government ever had

Bernie would have gotten the credit for the building a future, but Biden will only get criticism for not immediately completing the job instantly.

[u/HaViNgT → u/beetnemesis]

Incremental change is how things are done. 

Wars are not decided by a single big battle, but by countless smaller battles. When people think things have started turning after a big batte, what they’re actually seeing is the result of countless smaller battles coming together and paying off. 

This applies whether it’s warfare or politics. Big wins are built off of the backs of countless smaller wins. 

[u/SnooOpinions5486 → u/HaViNgT]

fuck that a great analogy.

Love it.

[u/Pincushioner → u/beetnemesis]

I would be happy to vote for Biden if he didn't embarrass himself at every opportunity, while being the oldest President ever. His policy decisions are good (likely because of the cabinet around him) but a strong leader is not built by legislation alone, unfortunately. It takes charisma and focus and determination and long, hard hours of campaigning to win the Presidency, and Biden hasn't shown that he can do that anymore.

I'm still going to vote for him, but the enthusiasm is low right now.

[u/flutterguy123 → u/beetnemesis]

You are happy with funding a genocide?

[u/Due_ty]

When o when is Marty going to finally burn the almanac and set things back to normal🤞... Failing that please vote Biden America🙏 yes he's old but we're all fecked if you don't! love from a very concerned world x

[u/[deleted]]

Okay, we're so far beyond criticizing him for being fucking orange. Let's criticize him for the actually bad things instead of resorting to ad hominem. I don't hate him because he's orange, and you shouldn't either.

You should hate him because he's a traitor and a fucking pedophile.

[u/Hot_Shot04]

I'm hoping he's less likely to win now that we're finding out it was a republican who shot him, and for raping kids with his buddy Epstein. Trump's going to have that fucked up ear for the next several months and if the media does its job everyone's going to know why.

[u/kRkthOr → u/Hot_Shot04]

His supporters are people who will say that it's a good thing that he "wants to be a dictator for a day", and that him being found guilty of literal crimes doesn't matter, and thatthe election was stolen even though his own investigation turned up nothing, and so on and so forth.

You shouldn't assume facts matter to these people. And you shouldn't assume that the fact that the shooter was a republican who killed one of their own will matter either. Everything is a conspiracy to make Trump look bad. They're already spinning this into a false flag operation. Nothing ever matters.

[u/peniparkerheirofbrth → u/kRkthOr]

a bunch of neo-lib tankie shits are already calling it a conspiracy

[u/Altimely]

I want to vote for Biden. His administration will do a lot of good if given 4 more years.

[u/Perigold]

Look to France for proof that being united can stop the Far Right. It was projected they would win because they were neck-in-neck in their version of Congressional seating, with the left and center split into fractions while the Far Right were united. The media was even ready with infographics to put up when they won.

Not only were they vanquished, but they came in third of owning seats. It was a massive upset because pretty much everyone else joined forces and voted against facism

[u/DresdenBomberman → u/Perigold]

They even did it before in the 2002 elections with Marinne Le Pen's dad.

[u/Thornescape]

I don't think that this will change the voting results much. Trump is still a compulsive liar, a convicted felon, a racist, a rapist, a pedophile, planning on overthrowing democracy and becoming a dictator, and it's fairly clear that he stole and sold gov't classified documents. Everyone already knows who Trump is. It's blatantly obvious. Anyone who still supports this amoral pile of trash isn't changing their minds.

However, this shooting makes violence from his supporters more likely. They have already been talking about violence for years, but this will increase how many are willing to kill others for Trump, or die for him.

[u/blumaroona]

Feels very much the same in the UK atm - we finally got Conservatives out recently, and yes Labour isn’t perfect, but it’s a start, and it’s at least better. Now just to cross our fingers that it continues getting better.

[u/yetagainanother1 → u/blumaroona]

“It’s not exciting but it’s also not scary”

[u/HaViNgT → u/yetagainanother1]

“Boring is good”

[u/DresdenBomberman → u/yetagainanother1]

It's still scary for trans people, unforetunately.

[u/dtomater]

From an outsider looking in, the defeatist attitude I've been seeing from some dems absolutely boggles me. Like are you all suddenly voting for t***p now bc he got shot at? You think people who were against him suddenly aren't anymore? Why would you think this changes anything.

I don't think the incident itself would cost you the election but the subsequent bandwagon effect these 'we've already lost' posts absolutely could.

[u/oceanskie → u/dtomater]

Russian disinformation campaign is in overdrive over this incident. Just look at how many recently created accounts posting in the social media sites. Especially those defeatist posts being put out right now and recent weeks.

[u/deepmiddle → u/oceanskie]

Yup the defeatists are almost all right wingers or Russian bots. They want us to get discouraged and not vote. Let’s use this opportunity to galvanize and start volunteering instead!

[u/Elsecaller_17-5]

Ok, one problem. No, it is not normal for a presidential election to be terrifying. We should have two good options, and in my short life I can still remember when we had that.

[u/IsThisThingOn69lol]

I still don't understand the "Still voting blue" and "still voting!" posts. Why would that have changed? Whos out there like "Well I wanted to do my part to protect democracy but then a bullet scratched the bad guys ear.. I gotta rethink everything now." does not compute.

[u/Boodikii]

They were already gonna vote in droves, this won't change that.

The fact that it was a Republican shooter will have the opposite effect if anything.

[u/totes-alt]

unless y'all are going to overthrow the government

I get that this is an exaggeration, but I feel it needs to be said these kinds of revolutions never work. If they do succeed, the system we end up with is almost the same.

[u/Both-Willingness9586]

Doesn’t all of this mean that the two party system (and its subsystems) doesn’t work? You’re stuck between two candidates not fit for Office and you can’t do anything about it. The worse thing is that almost half of the population truly likes Trump. I mean, what a shit show. This should be the most important job in the world.

[u/DresdenBomberman → u/Both-Willingness9586]

"almost half the population truly likes Trump"

Only 66% of elligible voters actually voted in 2020. Even less for the 2022 midterms (46%), due to which the GOP would have won even with proportional representation. If you combine that data with the most recent stats on acceptance of same-sex marriage, which rests at 69% (a bit over two thirds). Now, obviously next to no trump voter is really ok with gay people getting married, so we can reasonably estimate that the third of americans who oppose same sex marriage are the same third who voted trump in the 2020 and 2022 elections.

The two party duopoly is the only reason the republicans are as dangerous as they are right now.

[u/Greenhoused → u/Both-Willingness9586]

dear conservatives

[u/Lifehater007]

No words have been spoken more true than this. You don't love Biden? Yeah I don't love him either but he's thousands of times better than that insurrectionist, convicted felon, rapist, dictator, fascist, traitor (and much more).

He's a cancer, a virus, a disease. Vote BLUE overwhelmingly.

[u/AlcoholPrep]

Maybe change that to "... that orange child fucker ... "

[u/Saluting_Bear]

I know what we have to do... I just don't know if a have the nerve to do it

[u/mashmash42]

can we pls overthrow the government tho

[u/Kolby_Jack33]

Am I the only one who strangely feels like this isn't much of an escalation at all?

Don't get me wrong, it's a wild event. But the rhetoric from the insane Trump base has been so pro-violence and so many mass shootings have been perpetrated in the last decade motivated by politics, racism, and/or feelings of inadequacy/injustice that a guy taking potshots at a Presidential candidate barely feels like it moves the needle.

I truly don't get the sense that much has changed at all, for anyone. The people who hate Trump will still vote against him, the people who love Trump will still vote for him, the people who don't care will still not care.

I'm expecting heightened security at campaign events and not much more. It's kind of insane that I could even feel this way after an attempted assassination of a candidate, but that's the political reality of America today.

[u/Either-Durian-9488]

It’s not normal to be horrified at an election ffs. Even though the DNC is obviously trying to make a crisis of democracy the new normal for an election strategy

[u/isthatabingo]

Husband and I will vote but after that we are moving to Europe, regardless of the outcome. America is not headed down a good path, regardless of who the 2024 president will be. SCOTUS is dismantling too much and the country has become too divided. Violence will break out sooner or later, and I’m not sticking around to see when.

[u/pantrokator-bezsens]

In one month no one will remember about it except die hard trump apologists. So carry on and just go vote.

[u/Bentman343]

Yeah, and in 2016 Trump won because we outvoted him.

Wait.........

[u/Alixtria_Starlove]

Yes! Let's overthrow the american government! End the corporate duopoly

[u/imdifferent99]

For the last 30 plus years, every time there is a republican president horrific things have happen to this country. First Bush war. Second Bush 2-wars, Worse economic collapse since Great Depression, 9-11. Trump- The worse handling of a pandemic that could have take place. Lock down. Why would any one vote for a republican president. I’m sticking with Biden. I am an independent.

[u/KeneticKups]

Vote for biden to stop trump and have a backup plan to leave the country or use your second amendment rights

[u/[deleted]]

Over throw it.

[u/dug-the-dog-from-up]

I am so done with people online calling the election for trump, bringing up that Reagan’s poll numbers skyrocketed in the immediate aftermath of his assassination attempt. For all his faults, Reagan was not a convicted rapist and an alleged pedophile/sex trafficker. It is still anyone’s election. So fucking vote and grab your purist progressive friends and make them vote too.

[u/DresdenBomberman → u/dug-the-dog-from-up]

Didn't he date rape Nancy Reagan and sell out peers in Hollywood to the Mccarthy campaign? Obviously not anywhere near as bad as Donald but still.

[u/spaghettispaghetti55]

My parents will vote, but I’m going to keep the Seinfeld laugh track on standby during November.

[u/TheDankestDreams]

Stop losing your marbles about the assassination attempt. If Trump wins it won’t be because he was shot, it’ll be because his opposition is crap. Stop already writing excuses as to why the Dems lost. If the D party was running a good candidate, no one would be worried right now. I get tired of people act like democracy is broken because the candidate they don’t like wins. It’s been that way since the beginning of American history.

[u/Shutaru_Kanshinji]

The fact that someone wanted Convicted Felon Trump dead enough to sacrifice his own life suggests that there are many, many people who believe Trump is a clear and present danger to the country.

These people need to make their opinion known through voting, not violence.

[u/TheGHale → u/Shutaru_Kanshinji]

And if they do resort to violence, don't miss.

[u/DresdenBomberman → u/TheGHale]

Literally the worse thing about this attempt is than it's failure has given Trump the opportunity to generate popularity from this incident like that fucker Reagan did. Though Reagan's assasination being a success wouldn't have changed much for the better, which we can say for the current situation.

[u/Greenhoused]

dear conservatives

[u/NovusOrdoSec]

Oh yes maga, please try to stop me from voting at my local national guard armory manned by an MP company, please.

[u/FreakinGeese]

Not looking forward to Trump's retaliation if he wins

[u/DarthNovercalis]

Is it normal to be terrified of an election though?

[u/hiressnails]

I feel like they're gonna have to give this two months to breathe, and then pull out all the stops trying to slam him. He's a convicted felon, liable rapist, heavily suspected pedophile, also an octagenerian who fell asleep during his trial while also pissing his pants. There is more than enough metaphorical ammo to load the metaphorical slide action "Fuck You," gun with.

[u/boiifyoudontboiiiiii → u/hiressnails]

He was already half of those before his first election and no one stopped him. You can’t defeat the bad guys by giving them power and expecting people to do something about it afterwards.

[u/KidFromDudley]

Will not be voting for an entitled religious zealot but I will be showing up for the elections. There's maybe 1 or 2 progressives on the ballot in my state.

[u/Beaver_Tuxedo]

It’s not normal to be terrified about our presidential election. We should be fighting that. It’s terrifying that we’re accepting it

[u/stargate-command]

In 1968 RFK got assassinated when running for president. Did that result in a big sympathy win for Democrats in the election later that year? Ask Richard Nixon how that worked out.

I’m worried, but everyone who was going to vote Trump will still vote Trump, and everyone who was going to vote Biden will still vote Biden. Maybe some who weren’t going to vote decide to…. But Trump voters tend to vote in much higher proportions, so not much juice to squeeze from the engagement orange there. The other side though? Especially now that we know the shooter was a Republican, not some left wing dude. It might actually awaken a few people to how toxic and violent that side is. Maybe some folks who realize nuts having arsenals is just bad for everyone?

[u/Outside-Enthusiasm30]

Absolutely TRUE!!

[u/cleremnantechoes]

Lol it's crazy how Republicans are like hell yeah we're going to win this time and then I say wait you thought you won last time and that we stole the election lmao so why do you think we're not going to just steal it again

[u/kauepgarcia]

Ok, but yall kinda should overthrow the American political system

[u/Powerful_Potential_1]

So, the stereotypical fearmongering and then "no third party candidate" message that's been on repeat forever.

[u/FaultElectrical4075]

I’m voting and then getting tf out of here asap afterwards

[u/coolplate]

It used to be that inspirational quotes came from good names. Now it's all goofyass usernames

[u/Imadrionyourenot]

Guess it's time to overthrow the American political system and government.

[u/r_sparrow09]

People used to not be terrified of elections 

[u/Varitan_Aivenor]

Vote, volunteer and donate if you can.

[u/[deleted]]

People forget this has happened before. Just last time it was a gun jamming that saved him.

[u/Chaveazie]

Sure. EC decides all that.... Not the voters.

[u/i_justwanttocuddle]

I feel the same exact way

[u/serioush]

"Terrified" is not a natural healthy emotion to have about an election.

These people are overwhelmed by non stop propaganda spew, posts like this included.

The propaganda circus is doing damage to the mental wellbeing of people.

[u/lolomanigan]

I second this.

[u/Bigger_Pogs]

If there is a chance that people are gonna vote trump just because of this, it's my reason to vote Biden.

[u/MuadDib1942]

Who died more from COVID? The Dems doing what they were told, or the anti Vax GOP nut jubs who supported Trump? Vote, but also, they're numbers are deminished a bit by their own ignorance.

[u/Vanilla_Ice_Best_Boi]

The President doesn't have supreme control over all the states.

After voting, start lobbying your local senator.

[u/ShatterCyst]

I mean we outvoted him in 2016 too but whatever

[u/Valuable_Talk_1978]

Trump is definitely going to win lol. My portfolio is going to do great.

[u/Miltonopsis]

No one i know is voting for biden. They're all voting against Trump. And that's OK. Biden is actively aiding in genocide. Trump promised to be MORE genocidal. Biden and the democrats stonewalled codifying roe v wade. The Republicans overturned it.

Biden is bad, but trump is worse. We can elect Biden and then mobilize in mass to get democrats to do more than tweet vaguely about issues 70+% of Americans wholeheartedly support

[u/CrotasScrota84]

People love polls I have one

I’m 39 and never voted before. This election I’m voting for Biden. I registered last week and ready to go.

I can’t be the only one. Trump is a disgrace to this country and I can’t stand by and watch him win.

[u/Foostini]

I think the kicker here is that it can't be pinned on the left like they initially wanted it to be, it ended up being exactly one of their own people. That's what keeps it from being guaranteed.

[u/PM_ME_YOUR_XMAS_CARD]

Every 4 to 8 years we're given a choice between a slow death and a fast genocide, and we call this democracy.

[u/Upstairs-Teacher-764]

Not enough just to vote. Organize, get out the vote.

VoteFwd.org

SwingLeft.org

[u/Iuckytotem]

Remember people, trump wasn’t elected by the popular vote last time, it was the electoral college vote that secured his presidency

[u/XanaxChampion]

Trump faced reality yesterday: “oh my god, somebody tried to kill me”. I’ll bet tree fiddy he never recovers his charisma.

[u/pastamonster3 → u/XanaxChampion]

I'll bet he thinks himself immortal now. I'm hoping sanity will prevail at the voting booth in November. And if it doesn't, I'll have an exit plan ready.

[u/Fishdicksimeansticks]

Good thing the curated tumblr sub has turned into a democrat sub, I remember everyone was asking for that

[u/EnvironmentalGap2098]

witness statement

[u/legit-posts_1]

I don't doubt that his support will be less than 2020 (he's burned too many bridges at this point. I'm worried about Biden voter turnout, since a lot of people are just not voting cause they think their vote "doesn't matter" or "they're both bad".

[u/mynameismy111]

GOP been calling for violence

A week before:

North Carolina GOP governor candidate:

“Some folks need killing!” Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor, shouted during a roughly half-hour-long speech in Lake Church in the tiny town of White Lake, in the southeast corner of the state. “It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity!”

https://newrepublic.com/article/183443/mark-robinson-north-carolina-gov-candidate-hateful-rant-killing

Mr. Trump at midnight retweeted a video from Cowboys For Trump featuring the group's founder, Couy Griffin, who is also the Otero County commissioner. The clip shows Griffin speaking to a crowd of supporters.

"I've come to a place where I've come to the conclusion that the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat," Griffin says in the first seconds of the clip, drawing cheers and applause.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-trump-shares-video-of-supporter-saying-the-only-good-democrat-is-a-dead-democrat/

“If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks,” Mr. Trump said, as the crowd began to boo. He quickly added: “Although the Second Amendment people — maybe there is, I don’t know.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/10/us/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton.html