r/politics May 20 '25

Paywall Joe Biden Isn’t Your Scapegoat

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/joe-biden-isnt-your-scapegoat
11.4k Upvotes

2.4k comments sorted by

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4.0k

u/aabil11 New Jersey May 20 '25

Biden’s belief was that the Trump moment was an aberration and that America could return to its liberal equilibrium if he governed normally and gave the Republican party space to heal itself and turn away from its authoritarian project.

Biden’s theory of the case was shredded by events.

I'm so tired, man. I've completely lost faith in my own country

1.8k

u/jeromevedder May 20 '25

Sounds like some reconstruction-era political bullshit. If we just pretend like none of this happened, everything will be rosy

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u/joebuckshairline May 20 '25

It’s almost like this happened once before, it didn’t work, and led to where we are now and he said “let’s go for round two!”

364

u/TrumpetOfDeath America May 20 '25

Yes it’s the same mistake Obama made after the 2012 election when he said the electoral loss would “break the fever” of the GOP

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u/fcocyclone Iowa May 20 '25

And the same mistake of thinking we needed to pardon Nixon to 'move on'.

Its almost like we've been continually giving shitty actors a pass and its led us directly here.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '25

Bro, they killed Lincoln and the replacement president Johnson canceled reconstruction of the south. There’s been nothing but bad actors being forgiven this entire time.

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u/NJdevil202 Pennsylvania May 20 '25

Fun fact: he was also impeached (but not convicted), none of his party's senators voted to convict.

In Trump's 1st impeachment, Mitt Romney became the first senator of the president's party in history to vote for conviction.

In Trump's 2nd impeachment there were 7.

Let's hope by the 3rd we have enough to end it (either America or Trump, depending on the outcome)

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u/stupidjapanquestions May 20 '25 edited May 21 '25

The reason they do this is because they think that if they open the book on sentencing fellow politicians, they open their own party as a target when the power changes hands.

Which is a lot like saying "we shouldn't sentence criminals because what will happen to me if myself or my friends do a crime?"

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u/Grandpa_No May 20 '25

That was a Republican pardoning a Republican, though. It was standard Republican bullshittery. The other examples count, though.

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u/Syscrush May 20 '25

GWB stole an election, lied the nation into war, instituted a global torture program, and awarded hundreds of billions in sole-source no-bid contracts to cronies. Pelosi announced "impeachment is off the table".

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u/Pedantic_Pict May 20 '25

Class solidarity has always been strong at the top levels.

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u/skyst May 20 '25

That reminds me of a PC game I've been playing lately called Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. It's a medieval RPG set (and developed) in the Czech Republic, taking place in the early 1400s.

In it, there is a quest where you accompany the local lord and his captain to track down a stolen shipment. Turns out that it was stolen by a noble baron who attacks your party and his lord. In the aftermath, the baron and a pair of his accomplices are captured.

On the wagon ride back to town, the baron remarks how he's a noble and will probably face no repercussions for his crime while his captured accomplices will surely hang (you can convince the lord to space the common men if you'd like).

It really made an impact with me how smug the baron was about basically getting off with barely a slap on the wrist for a major theft and attempt on his lord's life, merely because he was born into wealth, while the men that he convinced to follow him were slaughtered or hung.

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u/SolemnestSimulacrum Utah May 20 '25

Because liberals and the left are consistently expected by the general public to be the grown-ups...

Turns out America has been in arrested development since the Civil War.

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u/z900r May 20 '25

The fever is continually stoked by Fox News, talk radio, social media bubbles that are enabled and promoted by those platforms, etc. The fever is not going to break unless there's some sort of return to sanity in the media. I don't see any sign of that, or even any serious attempt to do anything about the situation.

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u/twangy718 May 20 '25

Actually, it’s the mistake he made in ‘09 when every single Republican in congress thought it was more important for Obama to fail than the country succeed! The black man in the White House made them insane. Obama should have driven a stake through the heart of the “conservative movement “ and laid the blame for 9/11, lying us into Iraq and the financial collapse at W’s feet where it belonged! And Biden had a front row seat for 8 years, watching how they never relinquished their constant attacks!

That article is spot on, and I said exactly the same things for four years. Biden abandoned the bully pulpit on day one (we now know he wasn’t up to the task), leaving a comms vacuum that the disgraced orange fascist and his enablers in the Fox Propaganda Industrial Complex were more than happy to fill 25/8 with lies and damn lies! Biden failed to understand his moment and we are all paying for that failure. Anything he did accomplished is either being undone, or trump is claiming credit for. Biden’s only legacy is trump!

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u/robocalypse May 20 '25

If we look at the mistakes made by the consultant class, we might have to stop listening to them. If we don't listen to them, how will they get paid?!?!

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u/Caffeine_Cowpies Colorado May 20 '25

WHO WILL DEFEND THE CONSULTANTS?!?!?

They are so oppress

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u/kos-or-kosm May 20 '25

It's literally the ineffectual liberal governance that gives rise to fascism. It's what people warned Biden would happen, but he ignored them. Our current situation isn't ONLY Biden's fault, but he shares a sizable amount of fault.

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u/ZhouDa May 20 '25

Biden was far more effective a president than most people give him credit for, and given the makeup of congress I'm not sure very many politicians could have done much better. It was merely the appearance of being ineffectual that did the Democrats in. Half the country was convinced we were in a recession when we had some of the strongest economic growth this century. Dems may have failed in being able to convince Americans of that message, but voters also failed by remaining oblivious about their own country.

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u/Darkhorse182 May 20 '25

Yeah. He was good at 'doing the work'...but he was shit at communicating with the public, which is a big, big part of the job. 

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u/MoreRopePlease America May 20 '25

Dems may have failed in being able to convince Americans of that message

I don't know why Dems can't hire a bunch of PR people to make sure their message is conveyed to the public effectively. Dems need to be touting anything they do or even things they try to do to help the country. Things should not be flying under the radar.

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u/RocketRelm May 20 '25

Because pr today is different from pr yesteryear. Americans don't value policy or outcomes. They value memes and hate. That's what gets them to vote. 

Also media is very republican dominated despite the "dems own mainstream" narrative brainrot pretending otherwise, so they can't get in edgewise there either.

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u/omgpuppiesarecute May 21 '25

They value memes and hate. That's what gets them to vote.

And yet we've spent the past 6 months hearing that Dem campaigns were bad because they were all "hey remember Trump is evil, your lives are in danger if he is elected" rather than policy.

It makes me wonder which is true.

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u/GeorgeKaplanIsReal Florida May 20 '25

No, it’s the people who voted for Donald Trump’s fault. He made it very clear what he wanted to do and what he was going to do. America either looked the other way, didn’t vote, didn’t believe him, voted for him, etc.

Everything that is happening in the US is of America’s doing. She has nobody to blame but herself.

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u/mediocre_mitten Pennsylvania May 20 '25

He ignored them because he's a center dem. Just like the party's always been. Always reaching an arm across the aisle.

Those days are long, long over old people of the democratic party (even for you too dearest Bern).

The only way to progress forward is to get PROGRESSIVE'S in office.

There is no going forward by playing nicey-nice. The republican's know this, too bad the dems don't.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '25

The only way to get progressives in office is to vote for them in the primaries and the general. If your ideal candidate isn’t on the ballot, vote for the closest thing. Even if the closest thing is a moderate Democrat. That’s how you build power.

Imagine if Democrats had held the presidency and Congress since Obama. Republicans would be scrambling to appeal to moderates, not pushing fascist trash, and the Dems would be further left by now because progressives would’ve had the space to grow influence within the party.

It’s about showing up. Every time.

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u/Gizogin New York May 20 '25

And this is the thing Republicans understand. Think what you will of their policies; they show up, every single time.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '25

I had someone in another thread try to tell me this in response to this exact sentiment.

The thing is, you are shifting the blame on people for not voting for a party that offers them nothing in the end. How can you not see that people just don’t see the point when nothing fundamentally it changes. Democrats have to earn their votes, republicans don’t. Democrats need to understand that. So they need to read the fucking room for once.

They’ve got it backwards. They’re confusing cause and effect.

Not voting because your ideal candidate isn’t on the ballot doesn’t send a message. It just makes you irrelevant. The only way to shift a party is to show up every time.

Power seems to flip every few years. It's been happening for decades. It reinforces that the GOP’s tactics work so they double down, not moderate. Republicans have been grinding away at this for decades. Democrats have a lot of catching up to do.

The attitude that person I quoted has is the biggest reason why we aren't more progressive as a country.

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u/ItsAConspiracy May 20 '25

Also, it's no longer true that "nothing fundamentally changes." Now things are changing, in a profoundly negative direction. Lack of change would have been dramatically better than what we have now.

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u/Gizogin New York May 20 '25

It’s like skipping an oil change because your mechanic won’t make your car fly. You shouldn’t need to be excited to do routine maintenance on a democracy.

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u/xpxp2002 May 20 '25

Excellent point. I'm just so disheartened by the lack of civic engagement in this country. I was raised in a household where you show up and vote because it's your civic duty, just like filing your tax return or being called up for jury duty.

Nobody's enthused or excited about paying taxes, but we all have to do it. I can't understand how these people who don't vote get through life, and don't end up in jail for skipping out on jury duty or having their assets seized by the IRS when they just flippantly ignore filing their taxes because it doesn't excite them enough.

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u/ceddya May 20 '25

I don't know how so many progressives became convinced that it has to be all or nothing.

Biden wasn't perfect, but the US did see gradual progress under him despite records level of obstructionism. Those progressives would 100% turn on Sanders when congress obstructs everything he tries to do.

And the end result is that progress gets rolled even further back. What an own goal.

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u/meganthem May 20 '25

It doesn't have to be all or nothing but people don't want to have a talk about how an increasing number of people in the country aren't sure they are going to still be here in 10 years. You can't wave incrementalist stuff around those people.

In their situation anything that doesn't change their impending doom within the necessary timeframe is useless. They may or may not be fully correct in the situation or timeframe but as long as they believe it their reactions are fairly logical.

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u/PratzStrike North Carolina May 20 '25

You are talking about a country full of people who still don't understand why we need IT specialists since the Internet been running fine for years, and nothing has been stolen.

Then they get fired and everything goes to shit and they wonder why the IT guys weren't on top of this, they should be fired.

Alternatively, 'I don't need to go for a checkup, I feel fine.' 'Poor Rick, he was only 45, aggressive everything cancer is a hell of a way to go, why didn't his doctor tell him?'

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u/WhiteBoyWithAPodcast May 20 '25

Yup, but the people here do nothing but attack Dems

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u/ZhouDa May 20 '25

Joe Biden ran as a center Dem, but he didn't actual govern like one. He made a deal with Bernie Sanders to help him pass a progressive agenda and kept his word so much so that after Democratic leadership was pushing Biden out of the campaign, progressives were rallying around Biden still. Bernie Sanders came out and straight up said that Biden was the most progressive president in his life while AOC openly questioned the Dem leadership for trying to get rid of Biden without even a plan.

Anyway, they'll be more progressive Dems to be elected in the future, but really Biden was not the obstacle to progressive politics here that too many people made him out to be, which is likely why the Democratic leadership wanted him gone so badly in the first place.

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u/ceddya May 20 '25

The only way to progress forward is to get PROGRESSIVE'S in office.

Don't voters get all the blame for this?

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u/Daveinatx May 20 '25

Without control of Congress and Senate, Biden was handicapped. That said, Merrick Garland was Biden's biggest mistake. No corrupt politicians went to prison, few were even charged.

I firmly believe the non voters led to Trump's second election. But, I can understand how some gave up hope.

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u/Novel-Reaction2939 May 20 '25

White Women voting for Trump led to his victories.

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u/MasterSnacky May 20 '25

lol Biden did more to invest in rural and counties than any president since FDR but yeah sure let’s blame just democrats for poverty and right wing brainwashing media

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u/pablonieve Minnesota May 20 '25

FDR was effective because he delivered policies that helped people AND he communicated those policies to the people. Biden gets credit for his legislative success, but he gets an F on communication. It doesn't matter if he helps people if they don't know he helped them.

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u/HypertensiveK May 20 '25

Yeah and the Rs taking credit for shit they voted against. The message wasn’t conveyed

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u/fcocyclone Iowa May 20 '25

Yep. One of the largest powers of the president is the bully pulpit and Biden couldn't effectively use it because his staff knew every time he went out there they were risking a moment like what happened in the debate.

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u/z900r May 20 '25

Communication was rather simpler in FDR's time. The MAGA crowd lives in its own bubbles in social media, and people outside are not necessarily even aware of what's going on there or what the followers believe. I'm not sure anyone knows how to counter that effectively on a mass scale, be it Biden's communications team or anyone else. But sure, even in conventional media, Biden wasn't exactly the great communicator.

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u/PatientEconomics8540 May 20 '25

What does it matter if he lost the long term political battle and trump and republicans are destroying everything Biden championed and then some?

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u/Zepcleanerfan May 20 '25

I can see criticism of him for not dropping out and allowing a primary. However, I can also believe that his decline was rapid and may have occurred after that point had passed.

We will probably never know.

However, have a problem with criticizing his allegiance to Western liberalism.

Parties are made up of people and primarily voters. We are getting what the voters wanted here. They had a viable second option, and for many reasons they chose this one.

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u/QbertsRube May 20 '25

There was definitely a noticeable difference between the Biden we saw at the June debate compared to the Biden at the State Of The Union address just a few months earlier in March. He obviously seemed old at the SOTU address because he is old, but was much more aware and present. At the debate, I was honestly worried he was going to just forget what was happening and wander off the stage. Granted, the SOTU is fully written and rehearsed, but even taking that into account he still seemed like he aged a few years in that 3-4 months.

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u/Zepcleanerfan May 20 '25

Exactly.I had high hopes for the debate because of his long energetic performance at the state of the union.

Something happened there. Again, we'll never really know. It might have just been the fact he was doing all kinds of red eye flights around europe and then had to show up to the debate exhausted.

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u/QbertsRube May 20 '25

I know a cold was mentioned afterwards, and basically any cold medicine worth a damn will knock even a young adult out. There may have been a decision made by him and his team--do we want Joe coughing and sniffling during the debate, or do we stifle that with cold pills that might put him into a drowsy fog? If that's what happened, I'd say coughing and sniffling is easier to explain than mental fog, especially when there are already questions about age and mental fitness.

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u/hydrocap May 20 '25

He also gave perfectly coherent speeches after the debate

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u/Gamebird8 May 20 '25

Reconstruction was precisely designed around not forgetting what the South did.

When reconstruction died, the Fascists regained control and began rewriting history as best they could to erase the truth behind the civil war and built a governing structure so vile and racist that Hitler used it as a blueprint.

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u/Your_Momma_Said May 20 '25

One of my biggest hopes after Trump was that we'd try to codify things to protect our institutions. That didn't happen (Covid is partially to blame here).

That all said, it's clear our country is broken. Corruption runs deep (I don't mean deep-state corruption, just that money turns the wheels instead of people). There's a part of me that really hopes that Trump dismembering things gives us opportunities to rebuild for the better. Maybe the next 15 years are going to suck, but maybe we can finally take lessons to heart. Trump has to really fuck things up for that to happen though.

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u/PlayVirtuaFighter May 20 '25

Democrats didn't have a strong enough majority. End of story. You can't protect your institutions when you can't beat the filibuster. Trump is unfortunately a much stronger candidate than people give him credit for, and it took completely botching COVID for Biden to narrowly beat him.

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u/rodimusprime119 May 20 '25

That was a mistake. The Republicans party is beyond done and needs to be treated like the Nazi part of old. Zero respect. The party needs to fully die and something new come from it.

This was clear in 2010 with the rise of the Tea idiots. The Republican party sold its soul for hopefully short term power.

imagine if the Republican party took its lumps in 2008 and 2010 told the tea idiots we don't want you ans told them off. Yes the democrats would of made some pretty big gains but the republicans party would of become stronger. They still most likely would of won in 2016 but not with Trump then proceeded to win in 2020 again not trump. But they went crazy and now the party is not worth trying to save.

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u/Independent-Bug-9352 May 20 '25

Right we've seen the writing on the wall since the days of the BUSH administration... Trump was not some anomaly — in fact, the GOP created him like Dr. Frankenstein's monster. Rush Limbaugh and Roger Ailes with Murdoch hand-crafted a segment of the electorate and has fed them an alternate reality for decades.

Biden was unfortunately too much of an old dog to learn new tricks and see the writing on the wall. He may have been able to mount a better offensive campaign if we we saw the same Biden who debated Paul Ryan in 2012, but even so.

Reminder that following their defeat in 2012, the Republican party conducted an "autopsy report" of their losses and said that if they don't ease up on their rhetoric and start catering to minorities, they would be marginalized. Along comes Trump who simply cuts through all that and blames vulnerable groups in textbook far-right populism we haven't seen since 1930s Germany.

At some point Democrats must realize that the only way to thwart right-wing conformist populism that scapegoats vulnerable minorities is the full-fledged adoption of left-wing populism that centers around uniting the working class in solidarity and pointing the finger solely at the ultra-rich for stealing the entire pie and leaving us to fight for crumbs.

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u/fcocyclone Iowa May 20 '25

At some point Democrats must realize that the only way to thwart right-wing conformist populism that scapegoats vulnerable minorities is the full-fledged adoption of left-wing populism that centers around uniting the working class in solidarity and pointing the finger solely at the ultra-rich for stealing the entire pie and leaving us to fight for crumbs.

The catch-22 of this is that citizens united has led us to a world where many democratic politicians feel (probably not entirely incorrectly) that they have to cater to that same wealth just to be in the game at all. So they have a difficult time using what would probably be the most effective strategy.

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u/PretendImWitty May 20 '25

full fledged adoption of left wing populism.

Populism is just rhetoric, often empty, and there’s generally a reason it’s viewed as, at best, naive. The cycle usually goes economic stability/growth > people get bored and complacent > vote in populists that speak a big game but fail > voters grow jaded at the failed deliverables > seek out institutionalists/liberals because they make stuff work > repeat.

I don’t know how you can outcompete the republicans with populist rhetoric as they have an entire media ecosystem that ubiquitously and uniformly supports Trump while more legacy media sanewashes them by pretending there’s any parity between the parties, and Sanders (the closest to a left wing populist that I’m aware of) would never win a general election.

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u/BabyBringMeToast May 20 '25

Yes, but the voter base has to be the one to kill it.

This was the problem that Biden had and it’s the problem that America has now.

It would be anti-democratic for a party to dismantle its opposition.

Ok, you say, but Trump did crimes.

He sure did. And Biden moved very carefully to ensure that Trump was charged for crimes that were as apolitical as possible. It was important that it looked (as much as possible) that Trump was being tried in a court of law for being a criminal, not by the Democrats for being a Republican. That’s why it moved slowly. Because he didn’t want to give legitimacy to the idea of arresting your political opponents being on the table.

And as much as you can blame Biden for anything, and you can blame Kamala† for what you like, at the end of the day, nothing was more important to the future of American democracy than beating Trump. And we all knew he was going to cheat, so he had to be beaten comprehensively.

When asked to choose between continuing democracy and going into fascism, not enough people cared enough about continuing democracy.

That’s not Biden’ fault. It’s not like he didn’t say that this was the case.

†My heart sank when she was nominated. When Hillary lost, Patton Oswalt said ““…America is waaaaay more sexist than it is racist. And it’s pretty fucking racist.”. He was so right. The reason they nominated Biden the first time was because he was a white man that nobody could object to. They needed to run basic white men against Trump. Tim Walz would have done better alone- not because of Kamala’s politics, but because people wouldn’t have had to overcome their unconscious biases in the voting booth.

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u/GrumpySoth09 May 20 '25

They litteraly wrote down exactly what the Herritage Foundation had planned for 40 years. It was a book with a catchy name. PROJECT 2025.To say that they would be self reflective is why his party is unserious or outright bullshitting to all Americans.

You lot are screwed since the head of your spear is bloody Schumer.

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u/guamisc May 20 '25

You lot are screwed since the head of your spear is bloody Schumer.

This is the most galling thing about our predicament, imo.

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u/blackhatrat I voted May 20 '25

I keep thinking "damn it's not actually MAGA that's made me lose all hope for the country, it's the lack of opposition"

Like if "constitutional crisis" is allowed to be the new normal, that's not a crisis anymore, that's just the constitution being over

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u/PatientEconomics8540 May 20 '25

I wish Dems fought like they actually believed in something and knew how to politic. Jesus christ. “Republican party space to heal”, what clowns. Fight and win, once Republicans lose the overton window will readjust.

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u/CraigLake May 20 '25

Trump wasn’t an anomaly or fluke. He IS America.

America is fucking trash.

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u/formerlyrbnmtl May 20 '25

If anything, sadly, it feels like BIDEN was the abberation. It brings me no joy to say this

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u/JohnnyFire Ohio May 20 '25

I've had multiple discussions with multiple members of my family against the idea of a stolen election and the crux was always the simplest answer: Biden won because COVID happened under Trump's presidency and he handled it awfully.

At this stage, even remembering how rough things were in late 2019 and early, pre-pandemic 2020, I'm almost 100% sure that if COVID either did not happen or was handled appropriately (which...lol) by Trump actually listening to anyone about anything (double lol), he wins in 2020. The tree is rotten on the inside. It has been for almost a decade now.

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u/Elcor05 May 21 '25

Trump 100% wins if not for COVID.

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u/formerlyrbnmtl May 20 '25

Yup. It was so arrogant of the Dems to act entitled to win when they won based on an off chance

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u/Anderson822 May 20 '25

The fatigue is real—and totally valid. But the truth is, we’ve been electing corporate candidates for decades, and Biden is no exception. The entire political class is downstream from capital. Until we remove the profit motive from governance—no matter the party—we’ll keep circling the same drain.

The reason change feels impossible is because both major parties are designed to fight anyone who challenges that flow of money. But that doesn’t mean we stop pushing. It means we stop mistaking stability for safety.

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u/PlentyMacaroon8903 May 20 '25

How is the headline that Biden ISN'T the scapegoat, while going on to explain that he completely misread the country and misplayed the moment? Seems to me like he holds a buttload of responsibility here.

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u/Killerkurto May 20 '25

This is all so vague. Biden is responsible for what? Not single handedly removing the cancer in this country that is MAGA? I’m unclear what you think he is responsible for?

I will say the one thing I hold against him- not stepping down much earlier.

Maybe more pressure on the justice department to prosecute Trump.

But in reality, I think the conclusion of the article is accurate. It’s a failure of this country. Half the population is ignorant and under educated. The right’s strategy is completely corrupt and their base goes along with it. They are a cancer and I don’t think for a second Biden can single-handedly undo the brainwashing of the millions who have become a cult.

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u/seriousofficialname May 20 '25 edited May 20 '25

Appointing Merrick Garland to dick around for four years was a big problem. Still is actually.

Republicans investigating Republicans. What could go wrong? That is why leftists didn't want to nominate a centrist weakling who says they're best friends with Republicans to hold Trump accountable.

Let me just ask, who is responsible for enforcing the law of our country?

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u/pinegreenscent May 20 '25

Are the people stupid or do we have a media problem nobody wants to talk about?

How come media at large is in the rights pocket or putting up their talking points at every opporunity while never actually talking about a progressive or leftist alternative. What we have are that The Right are filled with the loudest voices gifting their followers and the Left are full of scolds that pretend they aren't holding their own party back.

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u/Sea_Scientist_8367 May 20 '25

Are the people stupid or do we have a media problem nobody wants to talk about?

It can be both. The rot need not be 1 dimensional.

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u/abritinthebay May 20 '25

Are the people stupid or do we have a media problem nobody wants to talk about?

The former. The latter is a symptom of the former.

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u/Acrobatic-Trouble181 May 20 '25 edited May 20 '25

A bit of both. It basically boils down to the relationship between a parent and a child, and bystanders to the event.

The adult (liberals/Democrats) always plays defense, listening to the needs of the child (conservatives/Republicans), while the child throws tantrums demanding the world, but giving nothing.

And for the bystanders, it's a hell of a lot more interesting, and hence lucrative, to report on what the child is doing, than report on the boring day-to-day humdrum of the adult.

So, the media is just responding to what the bystanders want to see, which is basically the intellectual equivalent of a daytime soap opera.

The trouble is, this silly little fantasy soap opera that the people love tuning in to, and love to pretend doesn't really matter, is absolutely real, and when you give the child the power to control things, all hell breaks loose.

When I'm at my most charitable, I believe most people who believe that this kind of soap opera politics isn't real ("herp derp both sides!") know that it isn't real, but can't bring themselves face it. Because imagining that half of country has literally gone insane, and yet wield more than enough power to ruin us all, is too horrifying to imagine.

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u/Malaix May 20 '25

He never should have ran in 2020. He never should have chosen garland or at least aggressively pressured and or removed garland regarding Trump. He never should have ran in 2024. He shouldn’t have given Israel blank checks for Gaza. He shouldn’t have hamstrung Kamala with fears over his legacy.

People never should have defended Biden from criticisms of mental decline. The liberal shock from the debate was deserved for them but terrible for everyone else.

Also presidents are a communication job and Biden, especially 2020 and 2024 Biden sucks at communicating. I never want to hear people shaming others for criticizing a “stutter” from a 900 year old candidate again.

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u/Spraypainthero965 May 20 '25

How about him raising the budget for ICE every year instead of trying to abolish it and then tanking the election and handing that ICE budget to Trump?

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u/RedLanternScythe Indiana May 20 '25

This is all so vague. Biden is responsible for what? Not single handedly removing the cancer in this country that is MAGA? I’m unclear what you think he is responsible for?

How about "The fever will break". He just ignored the problems in the country that led to Trump '16. He wholly misrepresented the state the country was in. His legacy should forever shame him for that

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u/BostonAndy24 May 20 '25

Right? Biden isnt the scapegoat, but its primarily his fault the entire 24 campaign was a complete joke.

You couldnt of asked for two worse democratic campaigns in 16 and 24

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u/jonnyboyrebel May 20 '25

That’s how they win. Chin up buddy. The rest of the world aren’t disappointed with you. We’re disappointed with them.

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u/tlm94 May 20 '25

Wow. If that’s not liberals in a nutshell, I’m not sure what is. Capitalist realism’s a helluva drug

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u/EndoShota May 20 '25

Can we stop letting Trump control the narrative with every fucking inane thing he says that is a distraction from issues of consequence?

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u/1llseemyselfout May 20 '25

Have you not learned anything. No we can’t. People eat it up every time. It’s like meth to them.

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u/Zeraw420 May 20 '25

All for ad revenue and clicks. Hilariously distopian

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u/RiotWithin May 20 '25

Unluckily we have most major news outlets sucking his dick and asking for more. And most Americans get their news from these outlets. I just watched Monday's episode of the Daily Show, the Biden's cognition narrative being repeated throughout the outlets is so weird. He (or his team) did so well with what he/they were given. Now we're heading towards some dystopia and they want to prop it up?

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u/StupudTATO New Jersey May 20 '25

It's really not Trump, it's the ten of millions of Americans that want the narrative they are receiving from him and Fox. Everytime someone goes against Trump and his narrative they are dismissed by his supporters.

Fox tried to angle away from Trump a couple times from 2020 to 2022, and everytime they did, there was mass reaction from their viewers. They started watching News Max or OANN instead. Fox then realized they need to just embrace him or they could lose everything.

We can't stop them from controlling the narrative if half of the voting population wants to hear it.

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u/Hawker96 May 20 '25

This sub would grind to a halt.

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u/EndoShota May 20 '25

Fine by me. I follow it because there’s the occasional post that I find interesting, but the latest “you’ll never believe what Trump (or some other GOP official) said” post doesn’t do it for me.

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u/Stinkstinkerton May 20 '25

Tell that to the dumb maga assholes that believe everything Fox News tells them.

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u/The_Hilltop May 20 '25

They're so desperate to equivocate a generally old and reasonably competent politician with a literal rapist insurrectionist sociopath

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u/CryptoTipToe71 May 20 '25

My biggest gripe was that they constantly accused Biden of being senile because of his stutter but Trump genuinely shows sign of dementia but they call him a secret genius or something

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u/DrDuke008 May 20 '25

It hurts, bredren. Like oh, Biden slipped up for one second on an address but these people watch Trump "weaving" and say "wow, he is obviously much sharper than Biden". Biden had to be riding a bike to fall off one and Trump can barely navigate a slight incline without help...

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u/Static-Stair-58 May 20 '25 edited May 20 '25

MAGA? Have you seen places like r/Fauxmoi ? They had a whole thread devoted to saying they were glad he got cancer. That he doesn’t deserve sympathy. These people 100% believe Trump is a better choice for Palestine, and that it was entirely Biden’s fault for what happened. There is zero room for nuance these days. Fucking bananas.

Edit: boy did I ever touch a nerve. Keeping it to myself next time, lol.

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u/Goya_Oh_Boya North Carolina May 20 '25 edited May 20 '25

The internet not only broke us/ society, but it’s broken itself. It’s hard to tell what comments are authentic and what is generated slop. Maybe it will be better for us if we just abandon all these sites.

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u/Kaiisim May 20 '25

Yeah it's impossible to know if any of these people exist, or if it's AI behaving badly to encourage crazies to behave badly in some weird psyop.

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u/snarky_spice May 20 '25

No these people exist. You’re lucky if you don’t know any in real life, but I live in a very progressive city and know many.

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u/2rio2 May 20 '25

Either way the modern world is broken and we all know it but no one knows how to fix it.

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u/Gardakkan May 20 '25

No your education system failed you all and that made it possible for US citizens to be easily manipulated by media. The movie Idiocracy is documentary at this point.

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u/hooligan045 May 20 '25

Can’t pursue education when those folks believe it is synonymous with indoctrination. Unironically they will also file into the pews and chant the fairy tales of a 2000-year old storybook.

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u/keelhaulrose May 20 '25

They also demand those fairy tales be taught as truth in the schools.

They're 100% in favor of indoctrination, they just want to be the ones who choose the lessons even if it trampled other people's rights.

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u/bookon May 20 '25

The movie Idiocracy is aspirational at this point.

In that film the President turned to the smartest person he could find to fix their problems. We are turning to our dumbest.

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u/Goya_Oh_Boya North Carolina May 20 '25

Because our education system is locally controlled. What kids are learning in Massachusetts is vastly different than what kids in Oklahoma are learning.

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u/Vividagger May 20 '25

I don’t follow that sub, but it used to pop up in my recommended. I saw the vile things they were posting about how he deserved it. I silenced that sub and muted it so it never shows up in my recommended feed. Completely disgusting. I know exactly what post you’re referencing.

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u/InterestingTry5190 Illinois May 20 '25

I got banned from the site just after the election. I couldn’t deal with them celebrating Kamala’s loss anymore that she ‘deserved due to what she did in Palestine.’ I told them I hope they will enjoy the photo with Trump and Bibi standing next to the new Trump golf course over there b/c that is what they just voted for (to be clear I support Palestine). Days before the election most of the sub was either saying don’t vote or don’t vote for Kamala.

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u/aeon_son May 20 '25

I’m convinced the “protest vote” movement stemmed from astroturfing. Sure, maybe actual liberals fell for it, but that’s how astroturfing works - to create faux-credibility for a movement in bad faith.

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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy May 20 '25

The folks I saw doing "die ins" at the mall seemed to be about the age where this would be the first major genocide they'd ever really paid attention to.

It's like the horror of it overwrote their logic entirely. They kept showing up to local city council meetings and making a loud interrupting fuss like they truly believed the only reason people were dying on the other side of the world is that our local mayor hadn't told the aggressors to stop it yet.

I get that it's awful, knowing you're helpless to actually do anything to change a situation. But their reaction wasn't unlike the day my little cousin kicked me in the bad knee because his mama was late picking him up. I have zero control over his mama or the traffic on her commute but golly I was close enough to lash out at!

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u/Mr_HandSmall May 20 '25

Absolutely. That would barely even be considered a low blow by modern republican standards. They're constantly working to spread apathy on the left. Propaganda is the gop's bread and butter and they do it to the entire American public, not just the right.

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u/Agent_Burrito May 20 '25

Those people suck so much, especially with the Gaza pearl clutching. I have a feeling they don’t really care about Palestinians and they just want to feel good about themselves somehow.

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u/bunnycupcakes Tennessee May 20 '25

They’re up in arms about Gaza (rightly so), but are willing to sit and watch it burn down faster than before and let our own countrymen suffer for being too brown or queer. Because they had to prove a point and feel good about standing up for one problem while ignoring all the others.

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u/Agent_Burrito May 20 '25

Heck I have feeling they didn’t even care about BLM or any of the other movements that have sprung up throughout the years. It’s always the same kind of folks too, which at some point makes me believe they’re just stupid or malicious. It would be incredibly easy for hostile actors to insert radicalizing messages into the conversation as those people seem entirely incapable of understanding nuance.

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u/valiantdistraction May 20 '25

That's because a lot of people only care about feeling morally superior and not about actual human lives.

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u/loud-oranges May 20 '25

To be fair that sub is obviously full of bots - other pop culture subs are much more human and reasonable

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u/snarky_spice May 20 '25

There is a handful of subs- documentaries, public freakout, and fauxmoi included, that are controlled by the same 10-12 mods. They have stated that they have an agenda and will ban anyone who doesn’t suit it. I will not say the agenda, but it’s quite obvious if you look.

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u/i_am_a_real_boy__ May 20 '25

Reddit is full of disinformation and manipulation. It's not just a few subs.

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u/RandalFlagg19 May 20 '25

Don’t forget about AM radio. It’s extremist propaganda 24/7, made popular decades ago by Rush Limbaugh, and is now flooded with wannabes.

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u/jotsea2 May 20 '25

Not one of them but its very clear that he had no business running for re-election and stunted all momentum the Dems had because of his hubris.

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u/thegoodnamesrgone123 May 20 '25

None of these old fucks should be running, but here we are.

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u/squidvett May 20 '25

I would be satisfied with an age limit of around 55 for running for POTUS. Puts them at roughly 64 by the time they leave office after finishing 2 terms. Enough time afterward for a healthy person to conceivably enjoy their retirement, remember their presidency, and even show up for any diplomacy assists if needed.

FFS Bill Clinton was President from 93-01 and he’s younger than Biden and the same age as Trump. This trend of geriatric marionette presidents has got to stop.

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u/althanan May 20 '25

The bigger problem was that Dems had no momentum. Party leadership had utterly stalled because they just assumed Biden would run again and win, even though it was clear that he should not run.

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u/Dogitabonita May 20 '25

Nor Obama or Hillary or fill-in-the-blank… Trump never accepts blame for anything, just credit. That alone should be undeniable proof that the guy is full of shit.

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u/Gunningham May 20 '25

He even brings his own scapegoats with him. Look at Pence, look at Rudy, look at Musk. When things go wrong, he even throws his loyalists out like Kleenex.

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u/BigLlamasHouse May 20 '25

Old school Machiavellian strategy, it's in the 48 Laws Of Power.

I read this book and shortly after I called it that Musk would be the first, it was obvious that his work would immediately be the most hated. Old school Republicans in the Senate love it though, don't let them tell you different, they take spending cuts however they can get them.

That's also why the Senate will put up with Trump until the end, because he is their scapegoat.

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u/rlbond86 I voted May 20 '25

He literally said, with a completely straight face, that the good parts of the economy are from him and the bad parts are from Biden.

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u/throwawaytoday9q May 20 '25

Speak for yourself. Joe Biden is the reason my cookies are too doughy.

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u/ManateeGag May 20 '25

Cookies are the reason I'm so doughy.

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u/scruffye Illinois May 20 '25

Finally, someone who gets it.

5

u/toq-titan May 20 '25

Have you learned nothing? Clearly Biden is the reason you’re so doughy.

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u/ManateeGag May 20 '25

Who do you think made me eat all those cookies.

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u/toq-titan May 20 '25

Biden, but only because that’s what George Soros wanted.

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u/tossawaystayaway May 20 '25

i like doughy cookies, bring Biden back!

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u/Trainrot May 20 '25

I blame Obama for that

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u/thejimbo56 Minnesota May 20 '25

That’s silly.

Obama is the reason the cookie is too big to dip in milk.

24

u/Trainrot May 20 '25

Thanks Obama

14

u/mister_buddha May 20 '25

I still giggle at that gif of him.

3

u/Azimov3laws May 20 '25

'I was tempted to wear a tan suit today.' I miss the meme president.

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u/PossessivePronoun May 20 '25

Leave them in the oven longer, Jack. 

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u/throwawaytoday9q May 20 '25

Why doesn’t Joe Biden leave them in longer? Check and mate.

3

u/SharMarali New Jersey May 20 '25

Whenever something mildly annoying happens, my boyfriend and I yell out “I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS, JOE BIDEN!”

We have blamed poor Joe for having to wait in line at the gas station, having to run the dryer a second time because something didn’t get all the way dry, having a bag break in the parking lot and purchases fall out.

I have no doubt we will continue to say this long after he’s gone.

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u/throwawaytoday9q May 20 '25

I mean, who else would you even blame?

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u/Damn_Dog_Inappropes Washington May 20 '25

Joe Biden is why I messed up my creamer to coffee ratio!!

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u/CeruleanSky9 May 20 '25

I'd take an octogenarian with advanced cancer over that orange stain...

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u/[deleted] May 20 '25 edited May 29 '25

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u/inconspicuous_male May 20 '25

The implication is that people disliked Harris so bad that they refused to vote despite hating Trump. I genuinely don't think any candidate would have done better. Trump gained voters, and those voters wouldn't have voted for any democrat. 

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u/ThomasVivaldi May 20 '25

Harris would have done better if she had stuck to her rhetoric about calling Republicans 'weird' and talking about reigning in corporations.

But her brother-in-law, and Uber's head lawyer, told her to back off that kind of talk, and her buzz quickly died down.

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u/pablonieve Minnesota May 20 '25

That plus drawing an actual contrast with Biden.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '25 edited May 29 '25

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u/Flokitoo May 20 '25

He's not the scapegoat but Democrats need to stop with the denial. Joe Biden made numerous very real unforced errors that helped elect Donald Trump.

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u/ImportantQuestions10 May 20 '25 edited May 20 '25

Exactly, I was so resentful of Biden in the beginning for everything he represented about the DNC. A party insider that was propped up against the actual populace candidates. Someone that would change just enough that nothing actually would be different.

I'm shocked how much his presidency was able to accomplish and will admit that he did an amazing job. Doesn't change the fact that his administration completely failed to hold Trump accountable and the DNC continued to make the same mistakes that resulted in "2016 but worse".

It's shocking how many people called this when Biden got the 2020 nomination. Regardless of if he is a good leader or not, he is endemic of everything wrong in the status quo that has allows evil to flourish.

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u/Alma-Rose May 21 '25

Jake Tapper book is a disgrace!

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u/Wakagoshi_002 May 20 '25

"It wasn’t just Joe Biden who failed. It was America. All of it."

That's wrong. The part of America that wants this won. The part of America that is supposed to be the opposition to this failed. The Democratic Party failed. And more specifically, the faction of the Democratic party that believes in maintaining the status quo and protecting the interests of capital failed. The faction of the Democratic party that fights harder against the left than against Republicans failed. And amazingly it seems like a majority of the commenters in this sub have learned nothing from that and still believe they need to protect the establishment Dems who led us here against the progressive Dems who have been warning about this for decades.

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u/New_Entertainer3269 May 20 '25

Gotta wonder how much of these comments are bots. This is exhausting how we still haven't moved on from trying to find a group to blame for the election. I don't care anymore. I want democrats regrouped and fighting as best as they can. I'm not seeing that from the current party leaders. 

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u/Wakagoshi_002 May 20 '25

I don't think they are bots I just think they've watched too much West Wing and listened to too many MSNBC talking heads.

They need to take a step back and think about the fact that the establishment Dem "insiders" MSNBC brings on to give their opinions have a vested interest in protecting the power of the pro-corporate party establishment.

Edit: I think they are sincere and genuinely want to win. I just think they've been sold a losing playbook.

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u/jtides May 20 '25

West Wing is an incredible show. But it really warped a lot of dems into thinking every politician is Jed Bartlet.

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u/Wakagoshi_002 May 20 '25

It also made everyone think compromise with the other side is the ultimate goal, better than actually getting what you want, and that the other side also wants all the same outcomes but just has a different view of how to get there and they are all arguing in good faith. It's a beautiful fantasy.

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u/Yosho2k May 20 '25 edited May 21 '25

I was fucking furious when Biden and Harris were bragging about having fixed inflation while I was paying rent that was 300% higher and groceries 200% higher than ten years ago. I KNEW it was Walmart's fault, but they just pretended there was no longer a problem.

This whole "just get back to normal" shtick only works when people weren't drowning when things were normal.

It's like being stuck in a water well, and during bad times, the well fills up with water and during good times, the water doesn't go back town. We were drowning and he was trying to take credit and tell us we weren't.

<EDIT> My apartment in South Florida that I was living in for $1800 a month raised my rent to $2400 in two years when I left. Similar apartments are going for $3600 now. I don't care about the exact math. If you don't believe me, go on the Miami sub and ask if it's true. Don't try and use technicalities to naysay my reality. Kamala Harris did that and pissed me off. Even though I still voted for her.

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u/theforceisfemale May 21 '25

Joe Biden wasn’t deserving of all the bullshit. No matter who the President had been those years, MAGA would have fucked with them. Biden is somebody’s nice grandpa and I’m glad he’s not President anymore but I genuinely believe he wanted to do the best for the country as he saw it. Which isn’t true of the current President.

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u/Chance_Butterfly_987 May 20 '25

While it’s not the entire reason we have Trump, the people around Biden who knew about his cognitive issues and never spoke up deserve some blame. Depending on how advanced Biden’s decline was (for instance, if he was mostly lucid and realized he was losing a step), he also deserves some blame.

We are allowed to acknowledge the ways that the democratic establishment (and corrupt party politics in general) have led us here. It doesn’t mean we’re dunking on an old, sick man.

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u/Frequent-Mix-1432 May 20 '25

We were lied to and then gaslighted when anyone questioned it.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '25 edited May 29 '25

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u/refred1917 May 20 '25

Poor Castro got excommunicated when he called out Biden's senility at the first 2020 debate! I, for one, will not be supporting any candidate for the Democratic nomination who cannot speak the truth about the folly of Joe Biden.

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u/No-Neighborhood-3212 May 20 '25

And they're still trying to gaslight us about it! It's absolutely insane to go "The old man who had to choreograph and script his cabinet meetings to conceal his dementia for the last year of his administration is not to blame for losing."

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u/EfficientlyReactive May 20 '25

Lol Democratic leadership is so adverse to responsibility you guys are now arguing in their defense. Grow some spine, Dems

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u/tiredoldwizard May 20 '25

The scapegoat is the democratic party. Biden did everything that was asked of him. When they wanted Hilary to be the heir apparent he stood to the side and retired. When they wanted him to come back he was there. When they wanted everyone to rally around him so Bernie wouldn’t win the nomination he stepped up and became the guy. When they wanted him to pick Kamala even though she was unlikable and just called him a racist on national tv he did. And finally, when they wanted him to step down and hand the ship to Kamala even though he believed he had a better chance to beat Trump then her he did.

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u/wrestlingchampo May 20 '25

He absolutely is the #1 scapegoat. His hubris is the primary reason we have a 2nd Trump turn.

The oldest president in the history of the country thought he could run for a 2nd term, solely because his party didn't get crushed in the 2022 midterms against a wave of idiots in the GOP.

I haven't forgotten about the 2022 GOP slate of candidates. Remember such great candidates like Doug Mastriano, Herschel Walker, and Blake Masters?

Even if you take the Israel Palestine genocide off of the table (you shouldn't, he's awful for allowing that to continue unabated), he royally screwed the party in thinking he could run again. I have zero doubt in my mind that had Democrats had a normal primary cycle w/o Biden, you'd have a Democrat in office, and probably a Democratic House as well.

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u/WhiteBoyWithAPodcast May 20 '25

His hubris is the primary reason we have a 2nd Trump turn.

I thought the people who voted for Trump were the primary reason

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u/furutam May 20 '25

Does the phrase "The Buck Stops Here" seem familiar?

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u/Lucky-old-boy May 20 '25 edited May 20 '25

We shouldn’t blame Biden for everything. After all, the ENTIRE Democratic Party has kept people his age in power and doing nothing for years. We can spread the wealth of blame all around.

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u/New_Entertainer3269 May 20 '25

There’s no way he could have known it would be.

This line by itself is enough to not take this opinion piece seriously. 

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u/Otherwise_Stable_925 May 20 '25

I bet you money he'll still be using the Biden excuse a year later.

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u/iiitme Virginia May 20 '25

I bet he’ll be blaming things on Biden all the way until HE croaks

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u/Otherwise_Stable_925 May 20 '25

Worked with Obama in the first term. Shitting on the other guy is half of how he gets elected.

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u/No-Neighborhood-3212 May 20 '25

He could have governed as a radical intent on destroying the populist project. This would have meant aggressively pursuing criminal charges against Trump and his confederates. It would have meant forgoing normal legislation in order to pursue broad, systemic change.2 Such a course would have been risky and—probably—unpopular.

The man's own internal polling had Trump winning 400 motherfucking electoral votes. He could not have possibly been less popular. But he couldn't do good things because that would make him more unpopular? Immediately discrediting.

Try again. Next time, with a more cohesive premise.

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u/ViciousKnids May 20 '25

So, the article wants to sane wash not immediately locking up Trump in a cage suspended over a pit of lava after Jan 6th. "Just appease traitors!" Good god. Fuck this author.

"It would have meant broad, systemic change. Such a course would be risky and unpopular." Yeah, dude. People are totally stoked about our system that's specifically designed to cater to oligarchs. I know most Americans would absolutely hate if the government was geared towards, I don't know, materially improving their lives. /s.

Fucks sake, you know why Bernie and AOC are the most popular left leaning voices, right? Because they want to do just that - broad systemic change that literally everyone wants. God, the media just loves to punch down on the left but will suck right wing dick.

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u/mrdude05 May 20 '25 edited May 20 '25

Biden’s belief was that the Trump moment was an aberration and that America could return to its liberal equilibrium if he governed normally and gave the Republican party space to heal itself and turn away from its authoritarian project.

Biden’s theory of the case was shredded by events.

There’s no way he could have known it would be

This is such a weak argument. If he didn't realize the American political landscape had fundamentally changed after Trump that's entirely on him. Biden had every opportunity to see that his approach wasn't working, but instead he kept pressing on like nothing was wrong and acting like he knew better than everyone else until it was too late to salvage things.

I think Biden was a good president on balance, but his myopia and ego are what got us in this situation

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u/TheShipEliza May 20 '25

That anyone is focusing on Biden at all right now is just insane.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '25

If covering up Biden's cancer is a scandal, then covering up Trump's incontinence Is a shit show.

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u/JWTS6 May 20 '25 edited May 20 '25

Wild to see so many comments from people clearly coping with the fact that we live in a country full of, at best, morons that voted for this. Stop taking agency away from the adults that willingly put this monster back in power, nobody held a gun to their heads in the voting booth. 

Biden could have stayed in the race and campaigned as a literal corpse, Kamala could have been a literal pumpkin, and both of those options would have still been infinitely preferable to the Nazi shit stain currently in charge. 

But I know why half of the commenters in this thread prefer to screech "IT'S BIDEN'S FAULT FOR NOT DROPPING SOONER", instead of admitting that there is something profoundly wrong with a good 30% of the country that will elect a literal Nazi because of their profound hatred for insert minority group. Your MAGA family, friends, coworkers, neighbors - they're the problem. They're the cancer in this society. Start addressing that. 

Oh, that, and a good chunk of you guys didn't vote at all, so now you want a scapegoat to blame because things are much worse than TikTok told you they would be! 

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u/HavingNotAttained May 20 '25

But Jake Tapper says so, I mean how can anyone complete with that?

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u/stepoutfromtime May 20 '25

I think it’s impressive that people here are still completely braindead about the situation.

The bold assumption is an S-tier Democrat candidate would have saved us from Trump 2.0.

Look around you. Fucking look around. Some 60ish percent of the country does not give a fuck about democracy or willingly and happily gave it away.

So goddamn focused on trying to pin the moral failure of a country on one man. It’s the “Thanks Obama” joke but completely serious. I can think of a thousand shitty interactions with my fellow Americans betraying their selfishness and lack of education and complete disinterest in democracy and I’m finding it really hard to trace any of those back to something Biden did.

The truth that you are all still too fucking oblivious to grasp is many of your fellow Americans are not going to change, Trump spread the infection that was already there, and Biden isn’t a magic healer. And sooner or later this path is going to lead us somewhere that Reddit will delete this comment for mentioning. You know it, I know it.

At some point you have to face reality. Americans had to do the absolute bare fucking minimum to defend democracy and didn’t.

Americans like me who want competent, sane, and moral governance are the minority. And while I’m having a hard time figuring out what my life and future are like here when the majority want chaos and corruption, I’m not pinning that on Biden or Harris or the DNC. It was my neighbors, my family, the people I pass by at the grocery store or sit beside at the movie theater.

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u/dobtjs America May 20 '25

The blame game is constantly ricocheting responsibility between everyone who is anti MAGA and it’s a perfectly debilitating distraction. In my eyes we all need to take more responsibility for the current situation and be way more active in fighting it. If this gets worse, there’s going to be no more credit to go around for having voted for Harris or being ideologically opposed to MAGA. History doesn’t remember all the brave souls who voted against Hitler or told him to knock it off. Every citizen was a member of Nazi Germany no matter how horrified they were by the events. It’s a hard pill to swallow but our people need to realize that we are present at the absolute center of the crumbling democracy and we wield way more power than the ruling class.

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u/prodigalpariah May 20 '25

They’re sure trying their damndest

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u/Python_Greed May 20 '25

“He could have governed as a radical intent … This would have meant aggressively pursuing criminal charges against Trump and his confederates ... Such a course would have been risky and—probably—unpopular.”

I’m pretty sure the majority of Americans wanted Trump to be held accountable.

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u/Jsmooth123456 May 20 '25

His entire political career he's contributed to the problems we face today, he isn't a scapegoat when he rightfully deserves a lot of blame

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u/ayylmao_ermahgerd May 20 '25

Ginsberg came to mind when I read this title. Yeah, she’s not to blame for everything that’s happened but there are some substantial events associated to decisions they made.

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u/Quazite May 20 '25

Yeah. She did fantastic work while she was alive, but her trying to be the old boss lady who fights for justice until she dies on the stand rings a whole lot more hollow when you fucking chose not to resign while a you have a president who will replace you with someone who you support and instead hold on until you die under a fascist president who will replace you with a fascist is wildly less noble that she thought it would be in her head.

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u/Nihilist_Nautilus May 20 '25

Biden is one of the most cynical and power hungry politicians I’ve ever seen. He’s a baby who couldn’t cede power when he was in failing health, until it was too late and visible for everyone and thus failed his political project of “saving the soul of the nation”. He’s under the delusion that he would win against Trump instead of Harris.

He should not have been on the national stage after he plagiarized a speech in ‘88. He’s so apt for America’s decline & bringing Trump back into office. America isn’t better than him, we are him. A stupid selfish cancer ridden dying nation that will only live on through our fail sons and daughters.

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u/qualmful May 20 '25

People don't want to face the fact that Biden was power hungry and delusional in similar ways to Trump. He had the same "I alone can fix it" mentality and he intimidated others to get out of his way. Deeply misguided and self-serving.

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u/Nihilist_Nautilus May 20 '25

The hagiography of Biden will be quite interesting, he could have been seen in a much better light if he actually committed to being a bridge to a new generation. Instead he stood on the bridge with his cancer riddled body and said, “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!”

It took George Clooney’s fundraiser & that debate where “we’ve defeated Medicaid” for him to give up the ghost. What a fucking idiot

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u/wisertime07 May 20 '25

he plagiarized a speech in ‘88.

He's plagiarized and/or lied his entire career - tons of compilation videos of him claiming to be a coal miner, a truck driver, he grew up with Puerto Ricans, Cornpop, his grandpa was eaten by cannibals - he's admitted to lying - anything to get ahead. None of this should be a shock to anyone.

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u/oroborus68 May 20 '25

So we aren't blaming the felon for the problems that he's created?

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u/mmrdd May 20 '25

"This post is for paid subscribers"

The is the reason. Any sane information is paywalled while republican/putins propaganda is free and available in every corner of the internet.

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u/formerrepub May 20 '25

Still trying to figure out what terrible decisions Biden made due to supposed mental incompetence. If he were truly mentally disabled, then whomever made the real decisions and policy did a standup job. We're not talking Wilson or 45/47 here.

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u/TraditionalCopy6981 May 20 '25

mattielisbon, The Other 98%

Dear Jake Tapper and CNN et al: Now that it's clear that Joe Biden is quite ill and likely has been for some time while still active and jovial, maybe you can just STFU already about his momentary and fleeting lapses and FOCUS ON THE GUY WHO THINKS MATTEL IS A COUNTRY, FANCIES HIMSELF AN "ARTIST", THINKS HE INVENTED EXISTING WORDS, WANTS TO ANNEX CANADA AND GREENLAND, DOESNT KNOW WHAT HE'S SIGNING OR WHAT'S GOING ON, DOESN'T CARE ABOUT DISASTER VICTIMS, AND HAS NO RESPECT FOR THE RULE OF LAW.

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u/yourpaleblueeyes May 20 '25

In between jerkoff45 and jerkoff 47, Joe Biden busted his and his staffs ass to clean up the mess, get things running in a positive fashion, apologize for the idiocy of 45, and restore some dignity back to the White House.

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u/Woo-man2020 May 21 '25 edited May 21 '25

Biden has always been a mediocre politician, trying to cover all the bases without strong stands on anything. Acceptable as Obama’s VP but no more. Electing him was a big mistake that once again opened the door to someone like Trump. Bernie was the fearless choice.

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u/Crazyhates May 20 '25

You "both sides" people need to be studied.

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u/isoexo May 20 '25

All the people that didn’t vote, or protest voted, or furthered the narrative that both sides are same, are.

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u/IndefinitelyAngry May 20 '25

Author is a complete dipshit

He could have governed as a radical intent on destroying the populist project. This would have meant aggressively pursuing criminal charges against Trump and his confederates. It would have meant forgoing normal legislation in order to pursue broad, systemic change.2 Such a course would have been risky and—probably—unpopular.

Look at this part in bold. Still, after all the luxury of hindsight the Democrat establishment machine will still refuse to have any honest postmortem. I mean how could they be wrong? It’s not their very specific ideological group that’s been dominating the party for 40 years fault—it’s our fault as Americans!

Fuck out of here. Complete and absolute idiocy