Joe Biden, who apparently has been mentally impaired for years and has been controlled behind the scenes, has been switched out for Kamala Harris, who never had to convince a single Democratic voter in order to secure the presidential nomination. What makes it hilarious is that the Democratic Party accuses Donald Trump of insufficient dedication to electoral democracy.
To Save Democracy, Switch Out Puppets
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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A cartoonist, run off by the L.A. Times, seeks demented revenge on all things slightly decent, much like the crystalline form in “Star Trek, New Generation” seeks to consume all life.
Dimestore psychology is cute, and I engage in it sometimes, but I defy you to show me how my politics significantly changed between 2014, when I was still at the LA Times, and 2016, when I was not. Or, for that matter, between 2010 and 2020.
Could you share your list of slightly decent things happening in US politics?
(I must have missed them over the sound of the 2000lb bombs being shipped to Israel to deepen the genocide and widen the war). Seriously, please list them, they are in such small supply these days.
With Kamala Harris I am noticing — and I would welcome disagreement — an even greater emphasis on the mindlessness of Vote Blue No Matter Who-ism than in 2016 or 2020. It’s like the Scientologists, Falun Gong, Synanon, etc. You are for “us” and or you have questions or other challenges and are unmutual and must be ignored, harassed, or actively threatened. The quality of the “arguments” presented by Harris’ supporters who do respond to challenges are appalling in their infantile nature, complete avoidance of the point raised, etc. It is, literally, like being back in high school. (This is not to say Donald Trump’s people are Wittgensteins. Lots of oafery coming from the Trump camp too. But this is about Harris-side failings, not Trump-side ones.)
The New York Times has severely cut back on the number of election articles with active comment sections. I see “We fact checked Donald Trump” and “Trump claims falsely” fairly regularly in the Times headlines and subheads. I do not see anywhere near the same amount of “We fact checked Kamala Harris” and never have I seen a “Harris claims falsely.” Is Harris telling the 100% accurate truth 100% of the time? That’s impossible. And whether a candidate makes an honest flub or demonstrates a staggering idiocy (Harris explains “the cloud“), that should be “fact checked.”
I think Trump’s threat to democracy is that he’s — unintentionally — showing people in a truly unavoidable way exactly how venal, corrupt, ignorant, etc., the democratic party is. ‘Mericuhns are going to have to confront the truth: neither side cares; it’s all just to simplify the transfer of wealth the highest economic class.
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Hey Alex, as usual when it comes to your posts, I agree. It would be interesting to even see fact checking of Kamala Harris that came back in her favor; something along the lines of “we checked out her claims and they turned out to be true.” But they don’t even bother to do that. Indeed, it’s very reminiscent of 2008. At that time, Barack Obama didn’t really have much to say for himself in terms of policy. He really had one real claim to fame besides identity politics: he had consistently talked about how stupid the war against Iraq was. At the time, I was very impressed by his presentation so I took a look at how he voted and it turned out it was a giant lie: he had had exactly six times to vote on Iraq war funding and he voted in favor of it six times. Remember, this was his big issue. And he wasn’t in the Senate when the war started.
Because of the duopoly, so many people miss what I’m trying to convey about this system. It’s not that Trump is better than Harris. It’s that there really isn’t, when it comes to the most important issues, any significant difference between them. The fact that Republicans are evil is pretty well understood. It’s important to understand the Democrats are evil too so that we can start to move on to something better or different.
> It’s not that Trump is better than Harris. It’s that there really isn’t, when it comes to the most important issues, any significant difference between them.
Yes, Harris is a politician and, like most of that ilk, she is far, far from perfect. Yes, on several important issues she is on the wrong side. Yes, we should call her out whenever she does wrong, and work hard ourselves to make things right. Yes, keep up that good work!
Nonetheless, there are plenty of important issues where Harris and Trump differ significantly. I’m starting with abortion, climate change, dismantling racism, LGBTQIA rights, and gun control. So, yes, criticize her relentlessly — and withhold your vote from her if you have to — but let’s not say that Harris and Trump don’t differ significantly.
“without winning a single vote”
This is hyperbole and I am shocked.
According to wiki, KH won 844 votes (~0.3%) in the first 2 states of the 2020 democratic primaries.
Another failed fact check 😉
More importantly she raised more than 35 million $ for her 2020 campaign, the one true harbinger of a democratic mandate.
As I am pretty sure that you know, “without winning a single vote” refers to the 2024 campaign.