Donald Trump is reportedly backing out of a scheduled September debate.That's according to Sam Stein, of The Bulwark and MSNBC, who wrote on the social media app X on Thursday night that the decision was made, "given the continued political chaos" surrounding Joe Biden and the Democrat Party. The st...
"There is a strong sense by many in the Democrat Party - namely Barack Hussein Obama - that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone 'better.' Therefore, it would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds," the statement said.
The quote should be put with spoiler tags and a surgeon general's warning that reading the contents has been shown to lower your IQ by at least four percentage points, and prolonged exposure to even seeing the words on the screen could cause permanent brain damage.
Yeah it says "remember that old racist dog whistle we used to use with the previous minority president? Let's try that again, but throw in a little McCarthyism."
What if she started roasting things. Completely breaking down the things they say in front of a whiteboard. I want that to be her entire campaign just... Letting them talk and then talk about it
Because what it says literally doesn't matter, it's just a perfectly crafted stew of buzzwords to stroke the right. We have to stop reading this shit as normal language and start understanding the code they use. It's just about saying Obama, in their eyes an evil black muslim terrorist (hence HUSSEIN), still holds sway over the democrats, meaning the institution as a whole is infected with his evil muslim blackness, and is acknowledging Marxism, the big bad enemy of good Christian values, in a way that simultaneously aligns it with party ideology AND presents Kamala as an even-greater looming threat. This isn't nonsense word salad, it's meticulously crafted fearmongering to the ignorant party base whose lack of literacy they have cultivated by design.
Their campaign is literally saying shit that I would normally expect to hear from the mouths of 3rd world dictators. The GOP is now conspiracy theory bullshit from stem to stern.
Yeah I was just trying to imagine living that way, so bizarre... Nothing is concrete and reality can be anything.
Well, not anything... Only the things that the fake billionaire reality TV personality (who was unironically the basis for every movie and cartoon villain throughout the 90s), tells me. Because that's a totally rational way to behave.
I said this in deeper reply, but I think it bears repeating, so I'm quoting myself here:
Because what it says literally doesn’t matter, it’s just a perfectly crafted stew of buzzwords to stroke the right. We have to stop reading this shit as normal language and start understanding the code they use. It’s just about saying Obama, in their eyes an evil black muslim terrorist (hence HUSSEIN), still holds sway over the democrats, meaning the institution as a whole is infected with his evil muslim blackness, and is acknowledging Marxism, the big bad enemy of good Christian values, in a way that simultaneously aligns it with party ideology AND presents Kamala as an even-greater looming threat. This isn’t nonsense word salad, it’s meticulously crafted fearmongering to the ignorant party base whose lack of literacy they have cultivated by design.
They love to see shit like this because when they see those (fucking stupid) terms used, they get to feel like they have some kind of secret, inside knowledge. For a brief moment, they get to forget that they've alienated all of their friends and their entire family over this, and get to feel like they're part of something.
But only for a brief moment... As a single tear drops into his Healthy Choice frozen microwave dinner and he turns on Duck Dynasty.
I hope there's a forthcoming lawsuit against the Trump campaign, because I am very, very sure that Obama is not on record publicly nor privately saying Kamala Harris is a "Marxist fraud."
Interesting that they are still today apparently served by mentioning Obama’s middle name.
Whenever I see Obama referred to by his full name, I instantly know that the author is pushing manipulative islamaphobic dog-whistle propaganda and everything else by such authors automatically has zero credibility, lacks substance, and the drivel is a waste of time to finish reading. I wonder if that manipulation attempt is still largely unknown, or if the rt-wing nut jobs are really just out of touch with the pursuadables they are trying to reach and thus shooting themselves in the foot.
Trumpism at its “finest”. Still, Obama’s call for an open convention does open exactly this kind of attack. I’ve certainly BIPOC talk about it as a typically “not really culturally BIPOC” move from Obama that betrays his predominantly white cultural upbringing. Sometimes unity is better than whatever else you have in mind.
The US is bizarro world in so many aspects. Political Supreme Court appointees that are appointed for life (!), two party system, the electoral college, the absurdly long election cycles...
Political Supreme Court appointees that are appointed for life (!),
Judges are appointed for life, so they can be impartial and don’t need to worry about who won’t hire them after their term ends if they made unfavorable decisions.
the absurdly long election cycles…
4 years is absurdly long to you? Getting things done in politics takes time. How long should the cycle be in your opinion?
In a normal country an insurrectionist and rapist would not be a candidate, let alone in the top two. We are already well beyond rational thinking about any of this.
Hold the debate anyway. Have Kamala appear next to an empty chair.
Moderator: giving Trump a couple more minutes to appear.
(~5 min later)
Moderator: Trump is a no show. Hmm.. he originally eagerly agreed to this September debate with Biden. It’s unclear why the change of heart, but I have to say he forfeits by default.
Kamala (interrupts): Hold on, please call Trump’s probation officer to verify his attendance permission while we wait a few more min. He’s understandably a bit skiddish with prosecutors lately but I would like to yield some of my time & do him this courtesy since he donated to my campaign in 2011 & 2013.
(~5 min later)
Moderator: no go, but would you like to answer the questions next to an empty chair to have your answers heard anyway?
Kamala: yes, this way he can take all the time he needs to prepare a scripted response later given his cognitive challenges….
NY Times is a closed website. Paywalled or something? I could not reach it from Tor at least not with my browser. Could be a popup-blocker blocker, not sure. Anyway, the link I gave is a NY Times front-end that is openly accessible, though clearnet users might have to append a .cab or something. There are probably NY Times FEs on clearnet but I don’t know of any ATM.
(edit) actually I think that’s NY Times official onion server. Anyway, for whatever reason it has better accessibility than the clearnet version.
I never thought there was the slightest chance of him ever actually debating her, but I am astonished by how lazy and flimsy their pretext is for backing out.
His supporters will require Olympic level mental gymnastics to dispel the unease they're gonna get if they even hear about this. Backing down from a debate looks cowardly no matter what his lame excuse and they'll feel the truth of that.
They're going to do everything they can to paint Kamala as an illegitimate candidate, and spin his refusal to debate her as simply refusing to legitimize her.
Trump's base doesn't know shit about fuck, so if their god emperor says she's illegitimate they won't even think about it further.
They're far past even bothering with mental gymnastics. Their brains have gotten so accustomed to constant cognitive dissonance that they've basically turned that feature off.
Whatever talking point is chosen for them will be the reality. Really takes the pressure off them I guess.
I can't even imagine what that must be like... It's like there's no concrete, consistent reality to them. Wild.
I don't know if you know this, but Trump's uncle was a professor at MIT. Just a random piece of information that bares no change to your completely factual and valid statement.
Look, having nuclear — my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart — you know, if you're a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I'm one of the smartest people anywhere in the world — it's true! — but when you're a conservative Republican they try — oh, do they do a number — that's why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune — you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we're a little disadvantaged — but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me — it would have been so easy, and it's not as important as these lives are — nuclear is so powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right, who would have thought? — but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners — now it used to be three, now it's four — but when it was three and even now, I would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don't, they haven't figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it's gonna take them about another 150 years — but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us, this is horrible
Even if Trump says no, Harris should at the very least discuss her opinions and views on camera. It could just be a single person question and answering, a debate other Democrats, or debating a third party candidtae if they don't want to back other Democrat candidates. Leaving Harris a mystery is the worst thing Democrats can do.
Leaving Harris a mystery is the worst thing Democrats can do.
This is half the reason he doesn't want to do it.
The other half is that "man yelling at clouds* might beat "well meaning elderly man with a poor memory" but doesn't stand a chance against anyone who can consistently string three sentences together in a coherent fashion.
Having the debate would both make Trump look bad and make Harris less of a mystery and neither of those things helps Trump.
I really hope the democrats take full advantage of spinning that as yet another anti-democratic Trump move.. that it’s anti-democratic to impede informed voting.
She should %100 debate RFK. No one voting for her is going to magically jump to him.....but people who voting trump might jump to voting RFK...plus she can show how scared the turnip is of debating someone who is semi competent
Why are we giving a man who had a brain worm and believes that Wi-Fi gives you cancer a platform?
This man was trying to be a spoiler for the Democratic party, extremely unsuccessfully. He does not have hopes of being president he has hopes of swaying moderates away from the left.
He is a brain dead Trump cultist. He never wanted to win.
Narcissists are frightened, fragile people. Rejection, humiliation, and even the tiniest of defeats can shake them to their core.
Loath to acknowledge such universal truths, narcissists rarely admit, let alone embrace, that to be human sometimes means having doubts, feeling lonely, making mistakes, and living with despair. To narcissists, such experiences are seen as weak, which they cannot allow.
As a result, narcissists live constantly on guard, viewing everyone as potential competitors. Narcissists’ strategies may differ—they may become blowhards, exhibitionists, charmers, or martyrs—but the goals are the same: to prevail every single time while always avoiding loss of face.
Ensconced in spinning a version of reality most favorable to them, narcissists tend to lie and misrepresent so readily that they become convinced that whatever they utter in the moment is true and right. To many around them, such conviction can be persuasive unless you spot the underlying man-behind-the-curtain dynamic.
Ensconced in spinning a version of reality most favorable to them, narcissists tend to lie and misrepresent so readily that they become convinced that whatever they utter in the moment is true and right.
I think this also convinces them that everyone else is lying too, but I can't remember if I got that from a trustworthy source or if I'm just convincing myself because it sounds true.
There is gonna be a huge focus on immigration, especially since Kamala was the "border czar." Just remember that the Democrats made a very strong border bill and worked with Republicans to get it passed, and Trump got his buddies in Congress to tank it so he could campaign on the border issue.
People can drop out of races and I'm honestly jealous to have such a inconsequential problem. It doesn't matter who you are running against if you base your campaign on policy instead of shit-flinging.
He is afraid of strong, smart women. He is afraid of people who can laugh. And he is deadly afraid of ending up losing the debate and the vote to a black woman, the kind of person that should in his mind be as inferior as a bug.
The next debate was scheduled for September I believe, so it would be after August anyway.
They're just giving lame excuses as to why they should wait and then when we wait they'll say it's too late now to schedule anything, they're too busy campaigning...
Is anyone on the fence going to be swayed by a debate anyway? I think the people who are really not sure about which way to vote at this point likely can't be reasoned out of wasting their vote on some third party.
To anyone reading this that is considering voting 3rd party, my advice is to vote dem and then put as much political pressure on the democrats as possible the other 364 days of the year. The alternative, while maybe morally pure, is a lot less workable and doesn't benefit others.
We're gonna have some 3rd party candidate votes, we always do, and most of those people are already dug in for their candidate; likely nothing to be done about that. I know I was in my Ron Paul, Bernie Sanders days. I voted for Nader once or twice and couldn't have my mind changed.
At this point, many of the fence sitters will likely not vote at all, debate or not. It's very easy for people to be meh about the whole thing. It doesn't directly impact them in the short term directly, at least in their minds. And I get it. Life can be hard, and many people have more pressing concerns than who the president is at the moment.
Nearly everyone else who will vote is already solidly Trump or Harris, and maybe a few Kennedy folks.
Everybody also said this about the Biden/Trump debate, and that's ultimately what made Biden bow out. Personally, I'm a bit apprehensive about how Harris would do against Trump: she didn't fare very well in the democratic primaries, and she hasn't had a lot of practice since.
I'm not on the fence, but some who are might want to see how Harris holds up to a strong authority figure (Trump isn't the only asshole on the global political stage, remember)
"There is a strong sense by many in the Democrat Party - namely Barack Hussein Obama - that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone 'better.'
I also predicted Biden’s disaster and asked people around me why the fuck is Biden going to debate Trump. People said “he has no choice”. I found that quite questionable. Now Trump seems to be proving that candidates have a choice.
Sure Trump’s cowardice will damage his campaign. But getting an ass-beating in the debate is even more damaging, as Biden proved. So Trump is making his best tactical move for his ability.
(edit)
I would like it if the headlines were “Trump forfeits the debate” to rightfully emphasize the lossy nature of the decision.
Nothing damages this guy when it comes to his cult. He could go on stage and start sobbing like a child if he bumps his toe on the podium and the propagandists on Fox and the like will just say Democrats set it up to hit him and put pepper spray on the podium or something.
In this case it won't be cowardice, it will be a "totally reasonable" bullshit argument as to why it isn't proper to do and they'll all pat themselves on the back for being "above shitty politics" while beating up Kamala for wanting to debate "out of turn."
The problem with the Biden debate situation is that he was trailing in the polls, so he needed a debate with a strong performance in order to win over voters. Obviously, the opposite of that happened.
Trump's margin against Kamala is likely smaller, but he's still slightly ahead. It's probably much more prudent for him to avoid a debate given that Kamala would probably perform much better than him. He has nothing to gain and everything to lose.
He's dropping in the polls, especially against her. Maybe some people are too young to remember, but candidates usually gain like 10% in the polls after a failed assassination. Or 5% after the convention. And their Vice Presidential Candidate gains after the convention too.
Trump literally had no assassination or convention bump. His ceiling is less than 50% of voters. Kamala Harris has seen a large bump just from jumping into the race. Some swing state polls went from +8 or +10 trump earlier this year, to only +2 against Kamala.
She's only made one speech as the potential candidate! Believe me, she's going to be on top by the day of the debate.
I can! As long as people continue coming to message forums complaining instead of passionately making their case, or joining the party and doing something about it, I predict there will be no "global Democratic overhaul", whatever that means to you.
"There is a strong sense by many in the Democrat Party - namely Barack Hussein Obama - that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone 'better.'"
One thing I learned from the Bush II Admin was that you can run on stirring up rhetoric for a while--worked well enough to make him a two term President--but at a certain point, your policies have to align to reality or you will have catastrophic failure. There are also levels of making shit up, and the statement above might be more making shit up than anything Bush II ever pulled.
It's also just chock full of "watch words" for these people. It's like a code that lets them feel like they have some kind of secret inside knowledge. They all repeat the same types of sayings, and methods of (attempting to) insult over and over.
That's about as subtle as they ever get, the rest are pretty obvious (using Obama's middle name, calling center-right politicians, "Marxist" as a completely meaningless insult that they themselves can't define, etc.)
Turns out that's all it takes to get 70 million+ Americans to literally worship a real life cartoon villain.
Yeah, I saw the "Democrat Party" thing - which, by the way, wayyyyy too many in the "liberal media" let them get away with. They should be correcting them all the time, or asking them if they don't even know the name of the party.
I also caught the full use of Obama's name - another dog whistle for this bunch.
Translation: he's scared he'll one-up his declining showmanship. Or more likely his advisors are and fed him some ego-shielding bullshit that let's him get out of it and tell his cult that it's her fault.
All joking aside, you have to assume they're going to challenge her candidacy and eventual legitimacy in court. Debating her is not only politically ill advised, but also a tacit agreement that she's a legitimate candidate.
She's been vice president for the past 4 years, so she already meets the legal requirements for office, and Republicans haven't ever challenged it.
The DNC is next month, and the party has every right to make her the nominee if Biden isn't running for reelection.
I don't see any actual legal battle here. There's absolutely zero legal precedent for blocking a party nomination before the convention or any of the relevant state deadlines pass.
They're just running their mouths about this switch-up being improper because they're panicking. They spent the last 4 years priming their base to care about one thing and one thing only: getting rid of the "Biden Crime Family". Now that it's down to the wire, Biden isn't their opponent anymore.
They're in the bargaining stage of grief, since Trump's chances of winning have pretty much been killed, especially after introducing professional wet blanket J.D. Vance as Trump's running mate.
I think the candidates autos be treated fairly. Any network holding a debate should give the time and place and say they will be asking questions of whoever shows up.
Him staying out of the debate just takes exposure away from Harris and gives him fewer opportunities to say something awful enough make the light bulb turn on over the heads of the 17 people out there still undecided about him.
I'm a Free Thinking Republican and I think this is a GREAT and STRONG move by a FEARLESS LEADER who is trying to take down the DEEP STATE! Kamala is the DEEP STATE so Debating her would be STUPID even though it would be a PERFECT opportunity for Trump to Attack the Deep State like the Strong Man he is!
To everyone saying he is 'scared' that's not really the point, he has no reason to debate her. She is unknown compared to him, starving her of attention is a good strategy as he is still currently leading in polls.
Trump wants to nothing to change in the race, debates - as we just saw with Biden - are an opportunity for things to change.