2023-2024 Presidential, senate, house, state and city election thread

[spryfusion]

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[caltrek]

John Curtis Wins Utah GOP Primary to Replace Mitt Romney in U.S. Senate
by Kim Bojórquez

More on that:

MAGA Candidate Loses Bid to Replace Mitt Romney
by Stephanie Mencimer
June 26, 2024

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) Former President Donald Trump hates losers, but he backed one in the Utah Senate race this year. Despite a much-promoted endorsement from Trump, Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs lost the GOP primary to Rep. John Curtis by 20 points on Tuesday. The primary victory all but ensures that Curtis will be the state’s next US Senator in a state that hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1970.

Staggs was the first Republican candidate to officially challenge Sen. Mitt Romney last year, months before the one-term senator announced his retirement. He assiduously worked right-wing media to call attention to his candidacy, and he sought out endorsements from a host of MAGA celebrities. As I explained in April:

He’s been endorsed by a string of national right-wing luminaries, including podcaster and former Trump Treasury official Monica Crowley, Ric Grenell, Trump’s acting director of national intelligence in 2020, and Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake, who hosted a private fundraiser for him in Utah in September. Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville campaigned for him in March. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who calls himself the “Trumpiest congressman,” headlined a rally for Staggs on March 28; Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk joins him this week. And Staggs just scored the endorsement of failed GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy after signing his “American Truth Pledge,” which commits him to, among other things, seeking a 75 percent reduction in the size of the federal government and mandating that all high school seniors pass a civics test in order to vote.
Staggs also made a pilgrimage to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and even scored a speaking slot at CPAC, the oldest and largest conservative conference in the country.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... -romney/

caltrek comment: That Curtis is a relative moderate could be very important should Trum be elected and attempt to go full blown fascist. I don't like relying on any Republican to do the right thing, but I do have to admit to the possibility.

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[spryfusion]

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[weatheriscool]

In my opinion
Trump won by a country mile
Trump had a 2016 performance. This is why he won the rust belt.
Biden literally had the worse debate in presidential debate history

It is fucking over
Trump will win 316 elvs and probably a little more and come close to the popular vote.

[spryfusion]

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[firestar464]

In my opinion
Trump won by a country mile
Trump had a 2016 performance. This is why he won the rust belt.
Biden literally had the worse debate in presidential debate history

It is fucking over
Trump will win 316 elvs and probably a little more and come close to the popular vote.

My current prediction is 312 EVs (that's with all battleground states taken by the don)

https://www.270towin.com/maps/ln0gd

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

Why does Newsom have a 6% chance lmao

[Cyber_Rebel]

Why does Newsom have a 6% chance lmao

The idea or perception that he is under consideration for replacing Biden. Such is purely speculatory and has little chance of happening in the middle of an election cycle. Even if Biden "falls" then Harris becomes the nominee obviously, and the best they could do with that is choose Newsom as VP.

In short, it's meaningless. Really, the election itself is hardly a footnote in the grand scheme of things. A single bad president out of many bad presidents this country has ever had, and the sun still rises the next morning while technology and living standards will improve regardless of what old fool dithers in a chair.

The world will not end if things go "south" this November. Climate priority might take a hit, but so long as relevant technologies continue to improve then it won't be as terrible on this front either.

[firestar464]

That is, if one ignores the Trump-Hitler parallels and Project 2025

[weatheriscool]

[funkervogt]

Biden's performance seemed to improve during the last 2/3 of the debate, but that isn't saying much. He still lost to Trump.

[caltrek]

I think Amazing Atheist spoke in hyperbolic terms. No doubt Biden stumbled through some of his answers, the worst of which are being dwelled upon at length. I think he also showed himself to be on top of a wide range of issues and stuck it to Trump on several of Trump's flaws.

Trump "won" because everybody knows that he lies. So, in scoring the debate hardly anybody is deducting points for patently false statements. I watched MSNBC after the debate. There was little or no fact checking of Trump. Just whining and complaining about how Biden did not do a superhuman job of fact checking Trump and presenting the admittedly good results of his administration. Sure, Biden could have done better, but why hasn't the media done more to fact check Trump? Why has he been given such a free pass?

Thankfully, a focus group member they put on the air made the point that Trump was full of lies. A member who was part of the group because he was undecided.

My wife tells me that while I was out of the room Governor Newsome (D) made a brilliant point. Biden has had our back for the last four years, now it is time that we cover Biden's back. I would add not twist the knife deeper.

[caltrek]

Why does Newsom have a 6% chance lmao

The idea or perception that he is under consideration for replacing Biden. Such is purely speculatory and has little chance of happening in the middle of an election cycle. Even if Biden "falls" then Harris becomes the nominee obviously, and the best they could do with that is choose Newsom as VP.

In short, it's meaningless. Really, the election itself is hardly a footnote in the grand scheme of things. A single bad president out of many bad presidents this country has ever had, and the sun still rises the next morning while technology and living standards will improve regardless of what old fool dithers in a chair.

The world will not end if things go "south" this November. Climate priority might take a hit, but so long as relevant technologies continue to improve then it won't be as terrible on this front either.

Sure, the sun will still rise in the morning.

The sun rose for the slaves of the antebellum South.

It rose for those who suffered under the Jim Crow system of the Deep south.

It rose for those who survived the pollution of our environment prior to the establishment of the EPA.

It will rise for the refuges that manage to escape the Ukraine before its final takeover by Russia.

It will rise for those who have medical needs for abortion that must wait until a pregnancy gone wrong finally reaches a stage that compels a doctor to act.

It will rise for the LGBT+ community who will have to wonder just how far the roll back of their rights will go.

It will rise for protestors who will suddenly have to deal with a mobilized National Guard intent on suppressing their right to freedom of expression.

It will rise for those who find that their votes are not counted because they did not vote in accord with Trump's wishes.

It will rise for those who must cope with a fully weaponized Justice Department who are hounded simply because they opposed Trump and supported the application of the law to Trump's corrupt conduct.

It will rise for those of us who receive Social Security, who will have to worry about what cuts will be made to our benefits.

It will rise for those dependent on Medicare and Medicaid who will have to worry about those benefits being slashed.

It will rise for those who suddenly find themselves in the middle of a recession or even a depression.

Some who suffer preventable deaths due to Trump's policies will not see the rising of the sun far earlier than might have otherwise been the case due to preventable deaths.

Preventable deaths due to the worsening of climate conditions and other forms of environmental degradation.

Preventable deaths because medically necessary abortions were put off for too long a time.

Preventable deaths because the Center for Disease Control has been either completely dismantled of staffed at the top by administrators hostile to science and what should be common sense.

Preventable deaths due to becoming victims of unchecked hate crimes.

Preventable deaths because they are denied asylum and returned to countries where they become victims of psychopathic dictators acting out of revenge or other such motives.

Deaths due to Putin's expansionist and genocidal policies going unchecked or checked only by the collective power of Europeans who can no longer count on the support of the U.S. government.

Let us not kid ourselves. Another Trump term will be an unmitigated disaster for many.

Even if the sun dose rise.

[caltrek]

Trump’s Lies About Abortion in America Were Particularly Appalling
by Julianne McShane
June 27, 2024

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) Former President Donald Trump did manage to say one accurate thing about abortion at Thursday night’s CNN presidential debate: He’s responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade. “I put three great Supreme Court justices on the court,” Trump said, “and they happened to vote in favor of killing Roe v. Wade and moving it back to the States.”

This isn’t the first time Trump has boasted about yanking the constitutional right to abortion from Americans. As I’ve written, he previously has bragged about appointing three of the five Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe.

But otherwise, Trump’s lied constantly about the realities of abortion in the US during the first debate. For example, Trump insisted that “all legal scholars” wanted Roe v. Wade overturned. As reproductive rights scholar and NYU Law Professor Melissa Murray said when I asked her for comment: “Yeah, that’s a lie.” In fact, several legal scholars have noted the overturning of Roe undermines the legitimacy of the court given the blatant disregard for precedent, or stare decisis, that the conservative justices showed in issuing the Dobbs decision. Legal scholars also filed several amicus briefs in the Dobbs case urging the court not to overturn Roe.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... ppalling

[caltrek]

Donald Trump Was Asked (Twice) If He’d Do Anything on Climate. He Dodged.
by Jackie Flynn Mogensen
June 27, 2024

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) During Thursday’s presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, moderator and CNN anchor Dana Bash asked Trump what, if anything, he’d do to address climate change.

Last year, Bash noted, was the hottest year in recorded history: “Communities across the country are confronting the devastating effects of extreme heat, intensifying wildfires, stronger hurricanes, and rising sea levels,” she said, pointing out that Trump has vowed to repeal Biden’s climate initiatives. “But,” Bash asked, “will you take any action as president to slow the climate crisis?”

Trump dodged the question, instead opting to speak on criminal justice reform and immigration. Bash asked him again, “Thiry-eight seconds left. Will you take any action as president to slow the climate crisis?”

“I want absolutely immaculate, clean water,” he said. “I want absolutely clean air. And we had it. We had H20.” (The “immaculate” water line is something Trump has said before.) “During my four years,” he added, “I had the best environmental numbers ever. My top environmental people gave me that statistic just before I walked on the stage actually.” (It’s unclear what Trump meant here, but during his time in office, Trump gutted dozens of environmental rules.)

Further extract:

“I don’t where the hell he’s been,” Biden said. “The cleanest water? He hadn’t done a damn thing for the environment.” Biden pointed out that Trump pulled out of the Paris Agreement, which Biden re-joined. “The only existential threat to humanity is climate change, and he didn’t do a damn thing about it.” Trump, meanwhile, had insisted the agreement would be a “rip off” for the United States.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... he-dodged

[caltrek]

FactChecking the Biden-Trump Debate
June 28, 2024

Extract:

(FactCheck.org)

Trump misleadingly claimed that he was “the one that got the insulin down for the seniors,” not Biden. Costs were lowered for some under a limited project by the Trump administration. Biden signed a law capping costs for all seniors with Medicare drug coverage.
• Trump warned that Biden “wants to raise your taxes by four times,” but Biden has not proposed anything like that. Trump was also mostly wrong when he said Biden “wants the Trump tax cuts to expire.” Biden said he would extend them for anyone making under $400,000 a year….
• Trump falsely claimed that “the only jobs” Biden “created are for illegal immigrants and bounced back jobs that bounced back from the COVID.” Total nonfarm employment is higher than it was before the pandemic, as is the employment level of native-born workers…
• Biden claimed that Trump oversaw the “largest deficit of any president,” while Trump countered that “we now have the largest deficit” under Biden. The largest budget deficit was under Trump in fiscal year 2020, but that was largely because of emergency spending due to COVID-19…
• Trump claimed that Biden “caused the inflation,” but economists say rising inflation was mostly due to disruptions to the economy caused by the pandemic.

Read more here: https://www.factcheck.org/2024/06/fact ... -debate/

caltrek’s comment: In all fairness, there were some questionable comments made by Biden that were also pointed out in the linked article.