Okay, sorry for all the unscripted and no CW yelling I basically did at my phone, and you while I was watching the debate.
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Oliphantom Menacewrote last edited by [email protected]
Okay, sorry for all the unscripted and no CW yelling I basically did at my phone, at you, while I was watching the debate.
Right off the bat, it was watchable! I don't find anything involving Donald Trump watchable, because he is the most wretched, puling excuse for a human--and at this point we've all had the benefit of the world's closest microscope to unearth every one of his flaws, and how utterly consumed he is by them. Donald Trump holds no more secrets for us, we can't be surprised.
So watching him sucks. It's like nails on a fucking chalkboard, oh shit, not this again. He's going there. Again. Oh, wild preposterous claims that he pulled from his ass, hyperbole, accordian hands "like we've never seen before", fucking yawn and also fucking tase him because he's clearly "on one", let someone else have a turn to talk.
And on the Kamala Harris side, you get to watch her go, "Mmm, yes, fracking. The soul of a nation" and "We'll protect the fuck out of Israel" and "I'll go super hard on the border and headlock anyone that wants to sell drugs in OUR AMERICA" and you're like make it stop, and you turn it off early.
Or at least I did.
Anyway, then there was Vance and Walz, and even though Walz is my governor I don't make a habit of listening to his speeches or anything. He signs bills I agree with, we got weed and convicts get to vote, and kids get free school lunches and he'll of course give money to cops because literally every politician ever directs money to cops, so I don't see what makes him so special in that area. You think he wins an election by pissing off the police union?
But I think he did a good job, maybe a few missteps but on the whole I didn't really put my head in my hands except for one time:
When he cited Dick Cheney's endorsement and then it was like GODDAMMIT THIS IS NOT A THING YOU HIGHLIGHT OR CELEBRATE, honestly if JD Vance had laughed and said, "Really. Dick Cheney, huh?" he'd have committed a fucking murder on that stage.
But luckily the moment passed and I only had to wince for a short time.
Okay, so then there's Vance. Vance came prepared. He did not sound like a blathering dipshit who didn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. He didn't talk about Hannibal Lector or sound like phrases like "the greatest of all time" and the rest of the hyperbole express are the only words he can string together. He can actually acknowledge points the other side makes HOLY FUCKING SHIT, record scratch, did you see that?
The low expectations, oh my god, he showed real humanity at times, he didn't focus a blinding and uninterrupted stream of hate venom at Walz every time he turned around, didn't try to lie about his military service (in this venue, anyway) and when Walz misspoke, he didn't jump on him for it.
These are not instincts Donald Trump possesses. I had half a thought watching it that Trump is probably disappointed, until he finds out that people are probably going to say Vance did a great job.
Because he actually did. Compared to his puppet master, Vance seemed like the person who might actually know what tariffs actually are and also be smart enough never, once, to reveal this fact or that he knows this fact.
Did he "beat" Walz?
I honestly don't think so. And I don't honestly know if Walz "beat" Vance, either.
Because if I'm Republican and watched the debate, I'd be pretty happy. And I think you're going to see articles about how Vance redeemed himself with that performance, maybe even "Today JD Vance became a VP candidate" or some shit.
And Walz made a lot of points that will probably be lost in the sauce, but honestly every time Walz talked about shit that has actually been done in Minnesota Vance had to shut the fuck up because he was not about to try to put up Ohio's record, and Republican policies, against on any of that shit against Minnesota.
And I've said this before, but Minnesota is a fucking unicorn state. Dems took a trifecta at the state government level and passed a massive, sweeping wish list of things that actually proved one party is truly different than another.
MN state Republicans, meanwhile? Yep, opposing free school lunches.
Anyway, I actually gained a little respect for JD Vance after that debate, and I mean that in a "respecting your opponent" sort of way. In a, "We may be seeing him up there trying to run for President someday" kind of a way.
Hopefully Trump will be gone soon, shuffling off to retirement, or prison, or take the cheeseburger express, but unfortunately Vance and his situational morals and bigotry against immigrants?
We'll be seeing that again.
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Oliphantom Menacereplied to Oliphantom Menace last edited by
So yeah, that's my takeaway. Oh shit, Vance isn't as bad at this as I thought.
Followed by.
Oh. Shit.
Vance isn't as bad at this as I thought.
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Oliphantom Menacereplied to Oliphantom Menace last edited by [email protected]
Look, I think Walz did great, too, but I expected him to be able to win on the issues and his "stop hurting immigrants with your hate speech, these are people we're talking about" (a rough paraphrase) was a very nice thing to hear, for once, and he said it multiple times. This resonates, because Minnesota has the largest Somali immigrant population in the country (Ilhan Omar should have a Gundam), Trump has already come to this state (when he was President) talking shit about the community trying to stir up hate, and there but for the grace of God, as they say, go the Somalis of Minnesota. That Springfield stuff could easily come here, and still may.
My neighbors who live right next to me, sharing the same townhouse building, and many families in my area are Somali. So picking on Haitians feels very "of a kind" to me, and I'm grateful Walz kept humanizing people.
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@oliphant The human aspect is so important yet frequently skipped over. I also found it very refreshing hearing him refer to abortion as healthcare, and pointing out to not stigmatize mental health.
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@ellesaurus Every time Republicans bring up "mental health" as a solution for gun violence I'm like, "Oh, so we're supporting all kids having free mental healthcare in every state so we can be sure school shootings don't happen, right?"
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Oliphantom Menacereplied to Oliphantom Menace last edited by
@ellesaurus But yeah, just the whole, "It's the crazies that do this" feels like thinking that hasn't evolved since 1994.
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Oliphantom Menacereplied to Oliphantom Menace last edited by
You may have thought "Ilhan Omar Needs a Gundam" was just a throwaway comment, but NOPE:
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Oliphantom Menacereplied to Oliphantom Menace last edited by
Also, I fucking adore and appreciate and respect Ilhan Omar very much, and I wasn't expecting this to turn into a "I love Ilhan Omar" thread, but I guess it's all the Minnesota pride right now.