2020 Presidential Election

[dark_crystal]

Originally Posted by Martina

Just picking up on part of your post, dark_crystal. I think as you point out, there is privilege on both sides, the third party voters and, as you called them in a long ago post (I think) Democrats who are Republicans except for social justice issues.

I don't think Bernie is either-or. And while some of his followers may be up to no good -- the Beto baiting -- it's obviously possible to care about both inequality and social justice.

Rachel Maddow was horrible during the election. She completely misrepresented Bernie's politics and mocked his supporters. I am so tired of her.

I am looking forward to Mueller's actual report though, in part so she can stop obsessing. We know the SOB is guilty of obstruction. It will be a blessing to get that out there.

I first heard about Bernie on TRMS, because she was excited about the momentum he had at his rallies and she was indignant that the media were ignoring his movement.

I did listen to Chapo Traphouse today. The hosts are very cool and hip and edgy and ironic. They were having a really good time joking about "accusations of a coordinated attack on Beto" with Liz Breunig, during which they ironically and edgily attacked Beto. I think this was the 12/23 episode.

I think Beto had a big day yesterday, though? With his anti-The Wall video that got millions of views in five seconds or something?

The Wall is some super low-hanging fruit, post-midterms, and i wish liberals and progressives would ignore it.

It would be too easy for BOTH sides to make immigration the focus of 2020, which would be as big of a so-called distraction as social justice.

It's urgent to stop the detentions and restore the asylum process, create paths to citizenship, protect DREAMers, etc,

Many of my friends and family are not citizens, so these are issues that we can get motivated about: the WH has floated the idea of revoking green cards from non-citizens that use social services-- if my mother-in-law gets deported i will have to go with her.

But i don't think immigration affects the majority in the way that healthcare, employment, wages, and education do-- and a Democratic vs a Republican victory on immigration is not going to change their daily lives.

Letting Republicans trick us into making immigration the battleground is going to lower the stakes of the whole election. Most people's opinions about it are compassion- or ideology-based. It's all theoretical to most people. The only people really passionate about it are the immigrants themselves, their families, plus five zillion racists.

If those are the groups driving turnout, Trump wins.