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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 6th, 2023

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  • I wouldn’t say Trump stayed on message, but he included it enough in the insane rambling.

    The problem is that Harris was from the incumbent party and administration at a time of deep dissatisfaction with the economy. That’s an extremely difficult position to be in, and it’s made all the worse for her because as VP she gets all the blame by association but can’t really do much personally to adjust policy. She’s handcuffed to the status quo at a time when the vast majority want change.

    Biden and Harris both chose to try to defend the status quo and spin things as more positive. This waa a mistake. I don’t know if they would have won by acknowledging the problems and portraying this as them leading through a time of crisis, and how they have plans to get us through, but it probably would have had a much better chance.

    It also didn’t help that most of the things they did to address the economic woes were either indirect or only narrowly targeted (or canceled out by courts). News that a factory will eventually open and add jobs in one area doesn’t alleviate the concerns of the vast majority of voters, nor does processing student loan forgiveness for a few thousand people at a time under very specific programs. These things are good, but they don’t make most people feel better the way a more broadly applicable benefit would.



  • Tesla could have pursued an affordable model, but instead Elon pushed the robotaxi, and Elon said there was no need for an affordable Tesla model. If we assume that he actually expects to release the robotaxi at some point, and that he actually thinks it’s important for anything other than trying to pump up stock, then it certainly looks like his plans are more focused on fleet sales than trying to sell to consumers. Making cars less affordable across the board (and slashing any funding for public transportation) only helps that business model.






  • Back when I worked in an office I would put up badass president pics Fourth of July. Too lazy to find them, but stuff like Kennedy riding a robot unicorn on the moon, FDR in wheelchair themed power armor, Roosevelt gunning down big foot in a forest fire, etc.

    At home, the only significant decorating I do is for Christmas. There’s enough misery out there, and I choose to embrace the joy and the appeal to the better side of our nature. So we have lights, fake candles, and so on, and we put up a tree that gets a new ornament or two every year which fills it with memories. And as a finishing touch we hang a banner declaring “All creatures will make merry under pain of death”






  • Harris tried to run on protecting abortion rights, and saving democracy from Trump and Project 2025. Under other circumstances, that probably would have worked.

    Unfortunately, she was the nominee for the incumbent party at a time when the vast majority of voters were unhappy with the economy. That’s a hard position to be in, and requires a compelling answer. She had a few token items for the agenda, but nothing that would address the larger issue of people feeling squeezed by inflation. Saying things are better now or going to be better soon doesn’t appease the voters who don’t feel better.

    The horrible truth is, a large portion of the electorate would vote for the literal devil if he was running against an incumbent during a bad economy.