Former President Trump’s decision to skip the first Republican presidential primary debate is fueling Republican angst that his rivals will have little opportunity to catch up to him in the polls.

  • hillbicks@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    I think this is the real issue here, jfc.

    A Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom poll of likely Republican caucus voters released Monday found that Trump’s lead over DeSantis has grown by 5 points since his indictment in Georgia last week on 13 criminal charges related to trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state.

    His approval went UP after the indictment. This is absolutely insane and only shows how hopeless US politics has become. How do you roll that division back? Can you even roll it back if everybody wanted to? This cat is out of the bag and I don’t see it going back in there any time soon.

    The only hope I’ve left is the division of the GOP itself. Let the extremists go somewhere else politically and it’ll hopefully lead to a more, what is the word again, fact based approach of politics when the extremists can be ignored because you don’t have to appease them.

    • El Barto@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Why is all U.S. politics hopeless because of what’s happening inside the losing party?

      The dems are far from perfect, but their side is much less “hopeless” as you put it.

      • grue@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Because the Republicans currently have the support of something like 20% more of the population than the NAZIs did when they seized power.

        Remember, unlike folks who believe in democracy, tyrants don’t need a majority to win.

        This is an extremely dangerous time for liberty in the US, and complacent attitudes like yours are only increasing the danger.

      • Lmaydev@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        The rebulicans have plenty of politicians in power besides the president. As long as the voters favour trump they’ll need to appease them to get into the other houses.

        In an ideal world it will split there vote allowing massive dem gains. But that hasn’t happened yet.

        • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          If there’s anything the GOP is good at, it’s mobilizing and motivating their voters. When they are all so alike, it’s easy to get them to agree on the stupid shit.

          The democrats have the issue of diversity, which makes it hard to motivate large groups of people on a single issue. Love the diversity for the strength it brings, but it makes it hard to feel you’re getting adequate representation in a two-party, first-past-the-post system no matter who you are.

          I wouldn’t trade the diversity for the mess the GOP is though.

    • flipht@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Mainstream “normal” republicans won’t actually not vote republican. They know that their only hope of maintaining some power is to continue to work with the batshit crazy regressives.

      They got in bed with these people via the Southern Strategy, and they’ve only recently started making noises like they’re uncomfortable. Once they’re in the booth, though, they will still vote straight ticket.

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I expect the Mitt Romney/Chris Christie wing to do a hostile take over of the Libertarian Party and abandon the GOP lable to the Trump wing.

        It would be easier to take over a party that’s already on all state ballots then create a new one from the ground up.

    • whatisallthis@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Honestly it’s just as easy as the media deciding they want us all to be friends again.

      That’s legit all it takes.

      If left and right wing media outlets would just start an initiative to bring the country together, everyone would fall in line. People only think what they are told to think.

      The issue is that these corporations want money, and happiness doesn’t make money.

    • kava@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Hitler became dictator only after he was sent and got out of jail. Lula in Brazil more recently was sent to jail and then got out and won a presidential election.

      The Justice system coming after you feeds the Trumper’s belief that the system is against him. Therefore he is anti-establishment therefore they must vote for him because there is a very strong anti-establishment movement right now.

      It’s why I think it was a very dangerous and potentially foolish decision to bring charges against him. We may be starting a chain of events that will get out of control.

      • Shalakushka@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        You’re right, we should just let Trump break as many laws as he wants because we are scared of his yokel supporters. That would be way better.

        • kava@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Maybe it’s better that he had either lost the election first and then we charged or we had brought charges 2 years ago instead of right before election season.

          I’m not sure, to be honest. I just think this is a dangerous decision that shouldn’t be made likely. The world doesn’t work like it ought to. We should keep that in mind. Obviously me and you don’t actually make decisions so we can just speculate.

          But I’m worried about the near future.

          • PrinceWith999Enemies@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            The issue is that his DoJ refused to investigate him because they have a standing policy that a president cannot be charged with breaking the law. So despite multiple public violations of both law breaking and high crimes and misdemeanors, Trump was allowed to get away with it under the Nixonian mandate of anything the president does is by definition legal. It means that Biden could begin actually just arresting all republican politicians on the charge of treason and, as long as the senate doesn’t vote to remove him from office with a 2/3 majority, it’s legal even though it would violate the word and intent of the constitution.

            Now they can’t prosecute him because, despite being a private citizen, he might become president? This is the same party - and literally the same person - who joyfully chanted “lock her up” over their political opponent throughout the previous campaign. The same people who boasted about defeating Hillary Clinton via a comic investigation into Benghazi, which was designed to do exactly what it did.

            Absolutely nothing republicans complain about is said in good faith. It’s time to move past that idea and not even address the complaint. If Trump wasn’t investigated and prosecuted, he’d still be ahead in the polls. Trump is the republican party, and the republican party is Trump.

        • EnderWi99in@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          I don’t think they are suggesting he should be allowed to break laws, but acknowledging the challenge the accountability brings with it.

      • grue@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        The error with Hitler wasn’t sending him to prison, it was letting him out again after only a few months.

        • kava@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Well that’s the issue with imprisoning popular political figures. All it takes is a tide to shift, a different party to come to power, and they may remove the popular figure from prison.

          What if we imprison him and say DeSantis makes freeing Trump his main campaign promise? This type of thing can have unforeseen consequences. It’s an unprecedented time.

      • rynzcycle@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        I think there is a bit of cherry picking in this. I don’t think you’re wrong that the charges will rile up his supporters, but plenty of dictators have taken power without going to jail.

        The problem was already there, charges or not we were going to have to deal with a very violent mob, at least with charges filed we stand up for the moral value that all people (should be) are equal under the law.

        • kava@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I agree you don’t need it but I think there’s a certain zeitgeist going on right now and for example the last Brazilian president before Lula, Bolsonaro is also being prosecuted and they’re trying to put him in jail.

          These types of things are not normal in a stable and healthy democracy. We are teetering on the edge. I just hope Democrats can win this next election. I hate them with a passion but I think they can at least maintain the system functional for another 4 years.

      • btaf45@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Therefore he is anti-establishment

        Being a crime lord does not make anyone “anti-establishment”. Bernie Sanders says Treason Trump is the most corrupt president in history. What matters is not a meaningless abstract word but whether the billionaire elites support your policies, and they love Treason Trump’s tax cuts for the rich.

        • kava@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Of course but you try explaining that to the Trumpers. They won’t believe you. They hear Trump say “witch hunt” and “hoax” so they’re primed to believe it and then he tells them the government is against him… they see the justice system going after them… it almost becomes evidence for it. You see what I mean?