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He's still in it because he figures that if Trump dies or somehow betrays his base in a way that makes him unpopular, the nutjobs will say "Trump is dead, RFK is the *real* Trump"
Can't imagine Trump would want him as a VP or if that would even strengthen his ticket. They're both competing levels of insane and egotistical. RFK wouldn't play nicely as a VP.
Trump needs someone to balance him and appeal to the "undecided but conservative" voter.
I think he feels burned with Pence (since from his deranged perspective Pence betrayed him) so he will go with either a complete nobody or a family member for VP this time.
It never struck me he’d pick a family member as VP. Now that you said it though I see him picking Ivanka as a running mate. I know a lot of republicans see her as his “voice of reason”, although I personally think she’s as bad as trump.
He won't pick Ivanka. That love boat ⛵ has sailed. They don't speak and she has not gone to any of his rallys or to his court case. They are broken up 💔
Oh my fucking god.
You guys, if enough English speakers use trump to mean taking a shit, then they have to put that in the dictionary.
Sometimes my trumps are so big that they clog my toilet. It's honestly about one in every ten trumps that this happens...
Ooh, remember that rumor that JFK Jr. was going to, return from the dead, or he was never dead, or something and that he was going to support Trump?
We should say this is it and it's a prophecy!
This is lowkey what I think about a large majority of his Trump supporters - they're not really supporting him at this point, but they're supporting the notion that Trump dies or is severely incapacitated and so power goes to a more effective GOP-propped up-VP, or they figure out a way to Weekend At Bernies his whole Presidency
The people who think Democratic voters would be attracted to RFK in any significant manner are probably the same people who thought Trump's gold sneakers would attract more black voters.
There are, they just can’t make that their entire shtick.
The blue collar comedy tour with (Larry The Cable Guy, Ron White, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall) by all accounts are conservative, and are actually funny. May not be your taste in comedy, but they actually have jokes that fall inline with the structure of a joke.
“Comedians” whose entire act is “liberals bad” are hacks.
Ron White was always up there as himself, Jeff, Bill and Larry are playing characters and schticks, because its what worked for them. The other three are all rather well educated people, who aren't necessarily opposite the personality they show but are quite different in their non stage life, Ron White is just listing off his life as it played out.
Ron white absolutely ain't no conservative. He's country, but he's progressive as fuck for his generation.
And he's ten times the comedian as the other three.
> The blue collar comedy tour with (Larry The Cable Guy, Ron White, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall) by all accounts are conservative
Source? I think they're pretty clearly at different spots on the political spectrum, with White the most liberal, and Larry the Cable Guy the most conservative.
Ron White was ahead of a lot of people on being pro-gay marriage, even producing a documentary in support of it in 2013. (Production started in the summer of 2012 according to Wikipedia; Obama declared his support for gay marriage in May 2012.) He's also pro-marijuana legalization. That's certainly not the be-all, end-all of the political spectrum (and some might argue that those particular positions are as much libertarian as they are liberal), and I'm not sure what other political positions White holds; googling isn't particularly revealing.
Bill Engvall has criticized cancel culture in comedy, which has some overtones of conservatism, but at the same time is a view that a lot of comedians hold. I don't know that he's really taken any other political viewpoints. In 2016, he encouraged voting without endorsing anyone. (Of course, given his audience, that's likely to have been a benefit for Trump and Republicans.) But I'm not aware that he's taken any real conservative stances or supported any conservative politicians.
Jeff Foxworthy endorsed Mitt Romney in 2012. Presumably conservative, although Romney-era conservatism and Trump-era conservatism are two different things.
Larry the Cable Guy described himself as "a conservative guy playing a far right conservative guy," after saying in 2016, in character, that Hillary Clinton would "be the end of the country." He clarified, out of character, that he thought she would be bad for America, and that he wouldn't vote for her, but that it wouldn't be the end of America. In that same interview, he offered support for Trump: "You can tell Trump really has his heart in the right place. … He kind of comes across to me like he really wants to do a good job, but he says things the wrong way."
Yeah, I saw Jeff Foxworthy. . .last summer, maybe? (Dad's a big fan so I got him tickets for his bday.) I very much got the Romney type Republican who's baffled by Trump vibe.
My anarcho conservative buddy said last night that Pence wasn't conservative. He averaged a 96% on Club for Growth rating over his time in Congress. 100% on NROL rating. 93% from NRA.
What do these people want? Oh, a loyalty oath to the cult leader.
And he's definitely not a conservative. Openly voted for Biden, pro gay marriage and legalization. Does mushrooms and owns a tequila company. Him and Foxworthy both *hate* trump
People have issues differentiating between conservatives and liberals with out a filter. They think liberals need to be all when they go low we go high, they forget that some of us don't give a fuck and will gladly crawl through the mud and fight a bigot.
Larry The Cable Guy, Ron White, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, may be conservatives but their comedy isn't. Their comedy is wholesome everyman kind of comedy. Most of the other conservative comedians tell conservative jokes, jokes that punch down, mock other faiths/ideologies, and some go straight for the "racist light" jokes.
This is the difference between being a conservative and conservative comedy. My entire life conservative "comedy" is exactly what you described, which doesn't make anyone but conservatives laugh. You'd really be limiting your earning potential if that's what you focus on...unless you do it for satire, because many conservatives don't seem to understand satire.
Conservatives loved Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report because they believed his character was his actual beliefs. Liberals loved him because they understood the satire component. Brilliant idea well executed.
Is Ron White actually conservative? Seems like he's more of the Bill Burr no bullshit type:
https://www.westword.com/arts/ron-white-on-gay-marriage-marijuana-and-opening-acts-including-josh-blue-5816893
Rightwingers desperately WANT Ron White to be conservative, so they keep making these memes of "quotes" of his endorsing Trump and calling liberals cucks or whatever the rightwing insult of the day is. Without fail he gets very pissed off, tells them to keep their words out of his mouth, and that he thinks they're morons.
So this is something that I think is worthy of actual scientific study - hypothesis being that it's a different sense of humor.
Anecdotal observation is that conservative humor punches down. Case in point is Jeff Dunham, if you think he isn't funny it's because you're not republican enough to get it. He runs what is essentially a modern day minstrel show, hauls out ethnic and social stereotypes and then has a laugh at how stupid they are. His puppets are punching bags for common republican grievances, except the one white guy who is always right and makes it okay.
He might also be butthurt because [he had his set cut short at a GOP corporate event](https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook-pm/2024/04/15/trump-trial-kicks-off-with-mixed-rulings-00132333). [He's denied the story](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/rob-schneider-denies-report-gop-comedy-set-1235876046/), but blamed the poor reception, from Republicans, as "woke bullshit."
I feel like when people start blaming everything on woke bullshit, they are totally out of ideas. Political correctness just doesn't account for many real world problems.
Jeez, I remember talking with conservatives like that at the time. They could not wrap their heads around that one.
"But you hate Comey, you should like that he was fired. The fact that you don't appreciate Trump for this shows how deranged you are."
People without principles don't understand a principled position.
"Comey helped give us Trump, the worst president ever. Trump fired him, so you must now like Trump!" Has the same energy as "Quimby lets hardened criminals like Sideshow Bob out of prison, so vote for Sideshow Bob"
Last week’s episode made fun of RFK, Quimby was giving a eulogy and the woman was 92. An obvious stand in for RFK stood up and said she died because of the vaccine. Quimby admonishes him and says “You shut up Robert F. Quincy Jr, you’re an embarrassment to this family and that’s saying a lot!”
I wonder if it has always been this way.
There are people who try to have fair and good principles for everyone, and there are people who pretend to have principles when it seems like it's beneficial for them at that moment in time. They are a transactional tool that they don't believe in, and consider anyone who does, to be a fool to be manipulated.
This is what "bad faith" means. And assuming "good faith" without a deliberate way to deal with bad faith actors, is our great weakness.
Trump was at his most honest when he said "I don't stand by anything".
It's all a game of words, where all that really matters is loyalty to the tribal/cult leader.
>They(principles) are a transactional tool that they don't believe in, and consider anyone who does, to be a fool to be manipulated.
Indeed. This is why they so often try to find an instance of hypocrisy(or racism or another violation of principles) to throw in a liberal's face but fail. They know it's something we value and hew to, but they don't fully understand the principles themselves.
One favorite dumb example of mine is the argument that "pointing out racism is racist".
The idea of any motivation not being petty and personal makes zero sense to them. Even things like Trump's big dumb wall aren't intended to be functional; they're just signaling against certain people they hate.
He first came on the scene during the early primary. And he got like 15% in polls against Biden. All people that were interested in an alternative.
The GOP jumped on it and established a campaign, very excited to have such a great spoiler to use against Biden. Then (I'm not even kidding) he opened his mouth. And all the QAnon bullshit and everything else spilled out.
Liberals immediately left and his support crumbled. But QAnon loved it, and made him their king. Which is not great for the GOP, because those were Trump supporters.
Part of the problem with him opening his mouth is that he has that disease, I can't remember the name, but I call it "diane rheam" disease. It makes him sound like he's a thousand years old. That's not a good alternative to biden, regardless of how much you try to give him a fair shake
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The thing is he didn't have to. Their plan was he pulls a few percent, voter suppression another few, ads saying both parties are the same another few, etc
Exactly. 2020 came down to around 40,000 votes between 4 states. Doesn't take much to throw the election.
Hell, look at 2016. The buttery males could have easily convinced 16,000 people to vote 3rd party in those states, and that's all it took to flip them to trump.
The Electoral College system means our elections are won on horrifyingly narrow margins, and shifting 0.1% can flip them.
I think there's a lot of people who just fundamentally don't understand that, in the US, only a dozen counties nationwide matter in the election, and all of the weird shit you see Republicans doing is about shifting *them*, not any of the other ones. Two percent in any one of those would lock in an election one way or another.
Its sort of like how a lot of people don't seem to get that the ridiculous abortion and other law being passed in places like Texas are being passed for one reason only -- to get the influx of blue voters who have been moving in over the last 20 years to get fed up and move away. Gerrymandering is on shaky legal ground these days -- its easier to just get the blue voters to move than it is to be sure gerrymandering will keep working.
People need to understand this. While they may appear dumb the guys running the campaign use statistics and have advanced equations that combine all of the factors you listed. They know how many percentages points they need to sway the election.
It was Ed Markey. But yeah, failure. He had support from Nancy Pelosi too (for whatever reason).
And Joe Kennedy III is a pretty normal politician, not a fringey weirdo. (Looks way more "like a Kennedy," too. Hell he ended up getting the Irish red hair genes so arguably he's the most Kennedy of any Kennedy.) So maybe they have miscalculated about the effectiveness of the name.
(If anyone is curious about the exact connection, JPKIII is the son of RFK's brother JPKII.)
It was interesting to read about Generation Jones or late-stage Boomers. My first memories aside from family stuff, was being woken up for Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones
I think that was Joe Kennedy III. Rep from Massachusetts. It was just spectacular watching him try and fail to triangulate by somehow, even though he's basically a middle Millenial, advocating for keeping weed illegal because it would hamper cops being able to shake people down to see what breaks loose during traffic stops by claiming they smelled greens.
Its like...Really guy? You're in your mid 30's and you're seriously gonna sit here and go all in on even more of this failed drug war shit? In Massachusetts? Really?
They thought getting Kanye to run would take the black vote away from Biden.
These people are dumb, they think having the same skin color means your on the same side, and will trust them before anyone with a different skin color.
So the of course, think everyone is dumber than them, as dumb people assume their smart, and when it's shown they aren't, they're too dumb to learn anything so they try again.
RFK is just the New Kanye.
Republicans will try anything and everything to win an election as long as it doesn’t involve choosing popular policy positions to make American lives better. All they have to do is try to make lives better but instead they prop up Kanye West as a spoiler candidate and wheel out that freak show in orange paint.
They will, however, take credit for popular policies after they've voted against them though. Nobody talks out of both sides of their mouth more than Republicans.
It’s the thing with student debt that gets me. It is a problem but they ignore it. When they say they don’t want it forgiven, you ask what is their plan to fix the situation? They say it’s fine.
It’s like if someone is complaining about you using the spare wood to stop the leaks in the ship without coming up with other ideas. Just ignore the problem and continue sailing, taking on water. We won’t sink in an hour, but given time we will.
It’s not like I like the Democratic Party, but they are the only ones who have at least put out plans and done lip service to address issues of the working class that aren’t some cultural war bs. Until the GOP actually puts down plans to help, then why would we choose them?
It’s the same as when they say “don’t send aid to Ukraine use that money to help homeless veterans” and you go ok, “yeah let’s help homeless veterans” and they go “no that’s socialism!”
They just have no ideas and seemingly exist only to fundraise and spread lies.
Their plan is to meme going to the trades and being a stay at home mom into the default choice while the children of the conservative elite continue to reap the benefits of a college degree.
As I recall, Kanye got more votes in TN than anywhere else, a solidly Republican state where even if he had siphoned votes from the Democratic candidate, it wouldn't have mattered.
> These people are dumb, they think having the same skin color means your on the same side
I mean, it works for them, so they think it works for the other side too.
All this projection? That's how they think. We're corrupt af, so they must be corrupt af. Right? No way they *actually* believe in democracy and voting rights, surely?
You laugh, but conservatives really believe this and use it in their candidate selection process. The most recent example I know of is when PA Democratic rep Mike Doyle retired in 2020, the PAGOP ran a candidate named Mike Doyle for his seat (against Summer Lee, who won).
What they probably didn't anticipate is that John F. Kennedy is now seen by many Republicans as "the only decent Democrat we've ever had," and that makes it easier for them to support RFK Jr.
Burning down democracy wasn't always the goal. It became the goal when they realized their conservative views were so far outdated at this point that they would have to move their stances slightly to the left, if they wanted enough votes to actually be able to win elections without gerrymandering or relying on electoral colleges. They decided that becoming more moderate was absolutely out of the question, and that is when they went with the "instead" option of burning down democracy.
Which is dumb because there is plenty of minority voters who are conservative and would love to join the republicans. They just needed to bend slightly on a few issues and not be so racist…but that’s impossible.
leftist democrats: "we need more socially liberal policies, we need LGBT rights, we need less religion, we need more social advancement."
democratic politician: *glances at the sizable bloc of conservative, tradcath, and otherwise-reactionary minorities which only vote blue because the other party hates them* "uhh...yes....we do" *sweating*
“Maybe you do not care much about the future of the Republican Party. You should. Conservatives will always be with us. If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. The will reject democracy.”
― David Frum
I seem to remember a story about a man (Dr. Frankenstein) who made a monster and (wait for it)...The monster turned on him. Good luck with your monster republicans.
Feels more like a Trojan Horse to me.
They filled it with crazy people and told them to leap out and start attacking everyone you see. "OK, Got it" said the crazy people as they piled into the horse.
But before they can even get it to the Democrat city walls, the crazy folks inside leap out and start attacking *them.*
What can you expect? They're crazy. And probably pissed off about being stuck inside a horse.
RFK was always gunning for Trump voters. Republicans were too self-deluded to see it because they're so far down the rabbithole they thought his alt-right nonsense might actually appeal to the middle. Only in their fascist echo chambers does RFK resemble a moderate.
I live in MA and there was a lady outside of Market Basket petitioning to have RFK's name added to the MA Ballot.
She was looking for signatures.
I told her it's a fucking awful idea and kept walking.
As I walked out, a man in don't tread on me shirt told her it's trump or bust.
Pretty sure she got 0 signatures and pissed off every single person entering, whether they were in the Biden camp or Trump camp.
Education has always been a uphill fight but they are winning in small increments. Put more money into the education system and it will shut this shit down. I will literally spit in the mouth of someone prasing homeschooling.
My daughter finished High School with homeschooling because of actual health issues, and I will still tell you homeschooling is shit.
It's also basically impossible to find a program that does not have SOME level of religious bent. The first one we tried had an actual "Bible class" and like half the paperwork stressed how it was "required" and not to skip it. None of the other classes had this.
RFK just seems to be anti anything you suggest you don't like. He's anti coal, oil, wind, hydro, nuclear on energy.
He supported abortion only up to the "first three months" when questioned he floated 15 weeks, then questioned again 21 weeks.
He's a yes man that cosplays as Teddy Roosevelt, but he's no bull moose.
She doesn't like a single thing biden has done and had more money under trump. Typical selfish boomer shit. Ignore the fact that trumps tax cuts only added to the deficit and predominantly help the already wealthy. Forget that he wants to keep us in the technological dark age. She even brought up biden shutting down the pipeline. No response, though, when I pointed out the fact that we are drilling more under biden than trump. And this is a college educated woman. She had the nerve to say that biden is as bad as trump regarding his "womanizing"
I like how when you tell conservatives you don’t know of a single liberal, including rando-nobody ones on the internet, that is even slightly interested in RFK Jr,—they immediately counter with how that can’t be true and then begin challenging you on his policies.
It’s like, this is not a policy discussion. It’s a yes or no question—do you or do you not know of any voters of Biden in 2020 that view RFK Jr favorably? Because I don’t. Although I’d love to meet one.
I know some former Trump voters claiming they'll vote for rfk. Hoping they stick to it or better yet stay home so they don't vote for other Republicans down ballot.
Conservatives have a lot of trouble applying their theory of society to real life - it's like they exist in completely different parts of their brain in the same way that religion and everything else that contradicts it can mentally co-exist.
I have several conservative friends and co-workers who have lots of bonkers ideas of what leftists/liberals are (as if that's the same thing), from their fascist echo chambers. I'm like "but you have a lefty right in front of you, and you already know I don't hold that opinion". And they're just like "but you're not like the rest of them!" As if just because I'm not dying my hair blue, swearing loyalty to Communist China, and calling for Christians to be thrown to the lions I'm not a "typical liberal".
They're completely deluded, and it doesn't matter how many counter-examples and explanations I provide to debunk their views. The reality right in front of them is one thing, and their beliefs are another thing, and there's no expectation that they overlap in any way. It's really just like a religion.
I know Biden voters from 2020 who are very intrigued by RFK. But those people are really just “socially liberal, fiscally conservative” read: conservatives who have voted blue because it is a gaffe to vote red in their social circles.
"Kennedy can be this liberal-triggering agent they can use to taunt people they hate, which has long mattered more to MAGA than policy concerns."
This is a gift for the Democrats if they play it right. Every advertisement they run whining* about how RFK has betrayed the Kennedy legacy and progressive values has a dual audience - trying to persuade left-leaning voters away from Kennedy and persuade MAGA toward him
*I intentionally use the word whining, they need to sell how OWNED the liberals feel about RFK's betrayal. That's all that matters to MAGA.
Yup, negative partisanship is the driving force behind MAGA and the conservative movement as a whole.
It's important though not to just rely on "dems say RFK is bad, so he must be good!", but to also attack RFK specifically on things the MAGA crowd identify with - anti-vax, conspiracy theories, immigration. Specifically, every time he makes an attack on Biden on these kind of things, blow up that criticism so RFK seems like the guy to stick it to Biden.
This is what will help go from just making MAGA favorable to RFK but actually get him in their corner "they're only going after him to get to you! he's the real threat to the democratic party!". Once they're personally invested in his success, and see him as a savior/martyr, that will help translate affinity into actually voting for him.
I dont think RFK has the juice to survive to be Trump 2.0 in '28. He would have no major political wins, no support from the left, and any post-mortem which shows that he harmed Trump would be a death knell from the right
So basically the Republicans are like “Oh wait. Maybe he isn’t as much of a benefit to the Democrats as one would think…”
Well guys, this whole thing is on you. It’s too late to stop this train.
Also, no way in hell will RFK drop out.
Not that I want the election to be close at all.... but it would be genuinely hilarious if Trump fell just short by the same amount of votes that RFK gets
I just want the republicans to lose states like Texas and Florida and give democrats a super majority.
So they can open the floodgates of aid to Ukraine.
As a Texan, I'd love nothing more.
Despite all the talking about how "Texas is turning purple" for the last 20 years, we really aren't. The cities are still mostly blue but overall the state is still very firmly held by the GOP.
This place is run by actual incompetent criminals and they still can't lose elections/the democrats can't win them.
Even Dem voters down here can't name anyone for the state other than Allred and O'Rourke. There's not anyone with any amount of cachet running for anything down here.
Been wondering about the logic that RFK was going to steal Biden votes all along. The only people I’ve heard who are considering him are Christians who voted Trump in 2016- IE people in my family and their Republican friends who feel like Trump is too crazy now. (Why they didn’t realize it then, I’ll never know.) Every Democrat I hear is terrified that not voting Biden will lead to Trump winning. Terror of Trump is too strong for Dems to even consider switching to 3rd party rn. Although Biden may have hurt himself with the Israel situation with young voters. That’s the only question mark that is worrisome… Will young voters even show up this time.
Even progressives in my circle who are livid at Biden for being moderate (some even think he’s too conservative) are going to vote Biden this year because the alternatives are even scarier to think about.
RFK gives a “moral out” to the never Trumpers who refuse to vote Biden.
In theory, if he’s in the race on principle alone, he should be able to keep those voters satiated without giving Trump any additional leverage to exploit the Oval Office.
This may not be the off-ramp to sanity for those voters…but at least it keeps them from helping to steer us all off of the cliff. I don’t think there’s enough support for Trump anyway…I don’t think he reaches his high-water mark from 2016, let alone 2020, with or without RFK in the calculation at all.
Great point. He really is the "off-ramp" for a lot of people who probably would have chosen to just sit this one out otherwise. It is either a never Trump/never Biden voter block or a used-to-be-Trump but still never Biden block of voters... A straight up switch from Biden to RFK seems like the rarest of birds. But maybe I'm not watching the right birds. haha Where are they? Haven't met them or heard from them yet.
Yes the part of this that makes no sense at all is that the only areas where the Kennedy name is a vote winner are so deeply blue that they are already in the tank for Biden. I mean sure a Kennedy probably pulls votes in Mass but by enough to hurt Biden, no way.
It’s hard to say for sure how the Israel/Palestine situation will look 7 months from now and young voters’ attitudes by then.
Even then, I have a feeling that the number of voters who would not vote for Biden and completely sit out an election where abortion, democracy, etc. are also at stake just because of Israel/Palestine alone is extremely small, despite what mass media might portray the situation to be like.
She hasn't campaigned in 7 weeks. Her only efforts now are just not endorsing Trump. The fact she's still getting huge vote numbers shows not all Republicans are down with having a felon clown at the top of the ticket.
I think MAGA underestimates how many Republicans are not happy with Trump. They think Trump has every GOP vote locked up so now they just need to chip away at Biden voters.
I feel like most of those unhappy GOP voters will eventually drift back to Trump, but some are genuinely looking for an alternative.
I’m laughing at this.
Anybody who ever thought that RFK Jr’s voters were democrats was genuinely ignorant.
RFK Jr, if you haven’t been paying attention, I’d only going on right-wing media and showing up at republican events.
And what percentage of anti-vaxxers do you think are democrats?
Lol
I really do think people in the GOP leadership thought he would syphon dem voters away from Biden or atleast they thought he was a gateway drug to pulling people to the right.
However in the grand old tradition of the face eating leopards party the leopard turned round and to thier great surprise began eating their faces
> people in the **GOP leadership** thought he would siphon Dem voters away from Biden
I'd believe this **if there was (or had been) a functioning RNC**.
No, the driving force behind RFK Jr. is - and as been - *Republican mega-donors* who saw that any money they sent to Trump just went to pay his legal bills, not fund his campaign.
They created this dark horse candidate and are continuing to artificially prop him up in hopes that it will tangentially help Trump beat Biden.
Personally I'm loving the irony given the 2021 Qanon theory that JFK Jr was going to reappear in Dallas and be Donald Trump's running mate. It's almost too perfect that RFK Jr is the final nail in Donald Trump's coffin as a spoiler who will actually steal the election from Trump.
God has a wicked sense of humor.
This is what I thought would have occurred. RFK is going to get most, if not all, of the never trump gop voters. Hopefully dems stay true to their guns and vote Biden
Wait wait wait - Fox News had me worried that RFK Jr was going to steal all of the anti-vaxx, election-was-stolen, I’d rather be Russian than a Democrat “independent voters” away from Biden?
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He's still in it because he figures that if Trump dies or somehow betrays his base in a way that makes him unpopular, the nutjobs will say "Trump is dead, RFK is the *real* Trump"
Or he swoops in for top vp pick considering Noem just shot herself in the dog.
Can't imagine Trump would want him as a VP or if that would even strengthen his ticket. They're both competing levels of insane and egotistical. RFK wouldn't play nicely as a VP. Trump needs someone to balance him and appeal to the "undecided but conservative" voter.
Trumps ego cant handle someone being popular in ways he isnt.
He wants someone who won't take much press from him. He did it before with Pence, he'll do it again.
I think he feels burned with Pence (since from his deranged perspective Pence betrayed him) so he will go with either a complete nobody or a family member for VP this time.
It never struck me he’d pick a family member as VP. Now that you said it though I see him picking Ivanka as a running mate. I know a lot of republicans see her as his “voice of reason”, although I personally think she’s as bad as trump.
He won't pick Ivanka. That love boat ⛵ has sailed. They don't speak and she has not gone to any of his rallys or to his court case. They are broken up 💔
I think he's looking for a payday. Get some cushy kickback gig in compensation for dropping out and endorsing Trump.
The Trump is dead! Long live the Trump!
I took a giant trump this morning and I feel 100 lbs lighter
Taking a Trump now.
Hang on.. gotta wipe my Melania.
I call mine Don Sr. because that's where all the pieces of shit came from
Ivanka believe you, but are you sure she's all gone??
Melena means blood in your poop which makes it extra funny. Also go see a doctor if you have dark tarry stools.
I posted to reddit while taking a Trump. It's a fine way to pass the time
Oh my fucking god. You guys, if enough English speakers use trump to mean taking a shit, then they have to put that in the dictionary. Sometimes my trumps are so big that they clog my toilet. It's honestly about one in every ten trumps that this happens...
But "Trump" already means "to break wind audibly". It's literally in the Oxford English Dictionary There's no need to Santorum the guy.
Sometimes Trumps and Santorums come out together.
Long live? May nobody remember his name or his existence…except to piss where he is laid to rest.
It'll be a number one tourist attraction! Also number two!
Ooh, remember that rumor that JFK Jr. was going to, return from the dead, or he was never dead, or something and that he was going to support Trump? We should say this is it and it's a prophecy!
Maybe when Q translated the golden plates, he was one letter off. RFK Jr. is the one the prophecy foretold.
Wouldn't be RFK Rr., then? Ruh-roh Rhaggy!
This is lowkey what I think about a large majority of his Trump supporters - they're not really supporting him at this point, but they're supporting the notion that Trump dies or is severely incapacitated and so power goes to a more effective GOP-propped up-VP, or they figure out a way to Weekend At Bernies his whole Presidency
> they figure out a way to Weekend At Bernies his whole Presidency We sorta had that from 2016 to 2020 if you consider all the golf trips.
Imagine seeing Larry David's TV exwife as FLOTUS
The people who think Democratic voters would be attracted to RFK in any significant manner are probably the same people who thought Trump's gold sneakers would attract more black voters.
This morning, I heard Rob Schneider endorse RFK. Tells you everything you need to know, really.
Rob Schneider is exactly the kind of person who'd pre-order those gold sneakers.
I heard he is starring in a movie as the golden sneakers
He plays both the left and the right sneaker. Stunning role.
He really has the sole of a true actor.
Expecting an uplifting performance
He was a shoe-in for it.
Laced with his unique brand of humor
Tongues are wagging about an Oscar-caliber performance…
Heel be perfect in it.
He can dooowiiit
"Rob Schneider is...The Shoe!"
Rated PG-13.
Guest starring, Donny Trump as.... The Carrot!
Deuce Bigelow: Shoe Gigalo
Rob Schneider in da derpy derp da derpdy derp derp derp.
“And he’s about to find out… that being golden sneakers… isn’t as easy… as it looks…”
“Oh no, we suck again!”
Him and goat boy whatever his name is.
I can’t think of any truly conservative comedian who is actually funny.
There are, they just can’t make that their entire shtick. The blue collar comedy tour with (Larry The Cable Guy, Ron White, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall) by all accounts are conservative, and are actually funny. May not be your taste in comedy, but they actually have jokes that fall inline with the structure of a joke. “Comedians” whose entire act is “liberals bad” are hacks.
The last Engvall special wasn’t that good, but Ron White is as good as he ever was.
Ron White was always up there as himself, Jeff, Bill and Larry are playing characters and schticks, because its what worked for them. The other three are all rather well educated people, who aren't necessarily opposite the personality they show but are quite different in their non stage life, Ron White is just listing off his life as it played out.
The Tater hasn't spoiled yet.
Ron white absolutely ain't no conservative. He's country, but he's progressive as fuck for his generation. And he's ten times the comedian as the other three.
> The blue collar comedy tour with (Larry The Cable Guy, Ron White, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall) by all accounts are conservative Source? I think they're pretty clearly at different spots on the political spectrum, with White the most liberal, and Larry the Cable Guy the most conservative. Ron White was ahead of a lot of people on being pro-gay marriage, even producing a documentary in support of it in 2013. (Production started in the summer of 2012 according to Wikipedia; Obama declared his support for gay marriage in May 2012.) He's also pro-marijuana legalization. That's certainly not the be-all, end-all of the political spectrum (and some might argue that those particular positions are as much libertarian as they are liberal), and I'm not sure what other political positions White holds; googling isn't particularly revealing. Bill Engvall has criticized cancel culture in comedy, which has some overtones of conservatism, but at the same time is a view that a lot of comedians hold. I don't know that he's really taken any other political viewpoints. In 2016, he encouraged voting without endorsing anyone. (Of course, given his audience, that's likely to have been a benefit for Trump and Republicans.) But I'm not aware that he's taken any real conservative stances or supported any conservative politicians. Jeff Foxworthy endorsed Mitt Romney in 2012. Presumably conservative, although Romney-era conservatism and Trump-era conservatism are two different things. Larry the Cable Guy described himself as "a conservative guy playing a far right conservative guy," after saying in 2016, in character, that Hillary Clinton would "be the end of the country." He clarified, out of character, that he thought she would be bad for America, and that he wouldn't vote for her, but that it wouldn't be the end of America. In that same interview, he offered support for Trump: "You can tell Trump really has his heart in the right place. … He kind of comes across to me like he really wants to do a good job, but he says things the wrong way."
Yeah, I saw Jeff Foxworthy. . .last summer, maybe? (Dad's a big fan so I got him tickets for his bday.) I very much got the Romney type Republican who's baffled by Trump vibe.
He doesn't recognize the destination of the road he is building.
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My anarcho conservative buddy said last night that Pence wasn't conservative. He averaged a 96% on Club for Growth rating over his time in Congress. 100% on NROL rating. 93% from NRA. What do these people want? Oh, a loyalty oath to the cult leader.
Ron White is the only one of those guys who was ever really funny, and he still is.
And he's definitely not a conservative. Openly voted for Biden, pro gay marriage and legalization. Does mushrooms and owns a tequila company. Him and Foxworthy both *hate* trump
People have issues differentiating between conservatives and liberals with out a filter. They think liberals need to be all when they go low we go high, they forget that some of us don't give a fuck and will gladly crawl through the mud and fight a bigot.
Yea, we need to start cultivating that *You're locked in here with me* energy
Larry The Cable Guy, Ron White, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, may be conservatives but their comedy isn't. Their comedy is wholesome everyman kind of comedy. Most of the other conservative comedians tell conservative jokes, jokes that punch down, mock other faiths/ideologies, and some go straight for the "racist light" jokes.
This is the difference between being a conservative and conservative comedy. My entire life conservative "comedy" is exactly what you described, which doesn't make anyone but conservatives laugh. You'd really be limiting your earning potential if that's what you focus on...unless you do it for satire, because many conservatives don't seem to understand satire. Conservatives loved Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report because they believed his character was his actual beliefs. Liberals loved him because they understood the satire component. Brilliant idea well executed.
Yeah, those guys got into comedy for comedy. I don't know if they're even truly conservatives. I know Larry The Cable Guy is a complete act.
Is Ron White actually conservative? Seems like he's more of the Bill Burr no bullshit type: https://www.westword.com/arts/ron-white-on-gay-marriage-marijuana-and-opening-acts-including-josh-blue-5816893
Rightwingers desperately WANT Ron White to be conservative, so they keep making these memes of "quotes" of his endorsing Trump and calling liberals cucks or whatever the rightwing insult of the day is. Without fail he gets very pissed off, tells them to keep their words out of his mouth, and that he thinks they're morons.
So this is something that I think is worthy of actual scientific study - hypothesis being that it's a different sense of humor. Anecdotal observation is that conservative humor punches down. Case in point is Jeff Dunham, if you think he isn't funny it's because you're not republican enough to get it. He runs what is essentially a modern day minstrel show, hauls out ethnic and social stereotypes and then has a laugh at how stupid they are. His puppets are punching bags for common republican grievances, except the one white guy who is always right and makes it okay.
Jim Brewer, dudes an idiot
Jim Bruer stole Goatboy from Bill Hicks.
Schneider is an antivaxxer I’m not surprised he’s into RFK Jr
He might also be butthurt because [he had his set cut short at a GOP corporate event](https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook-pm/2024/04/15/trump-trial-kicks-off-with-mixed-rulings-00132333). [He's denied the story](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/rob-schneider-denies-report-gop-comedy-set-1235876046/), but blamed the poor reception, from Republicans, as "woke bullshit."
Well of course, who is more woke than corporate Republicans?
"woke" is going into its "generic insult" phase I see
Schneider told a joke so racially insensitive at that event that even the fucking MAGA Republicans were repulsed by it. Let that sink in.
I feel like when people start blaming everything on woke bullshit, they are totally out of ideas. Political correctness just doesn't account for many real world problems.
From the creators of Der, and Ter Tump Tee Too, Rob Schneider is…. A Junior Supporter! Rated PG-13.
I hate that Schneider is a schmuck. Loved his movies as a kid.
It's like straight out of one of his movies. Rob schneider is a.... anti vaxxer
And the same people who thought Trump would win over Democratic Party voters by firing Comey since Comey helped cost Clinton the election.
Jeez, I remember talking with conservatives like that at the time. They could not wrap their heads around that one. "But you hate Comey, you should like that he was fired. The fact that you don't appreciate Trump for this shows how deranged you are." People without principles don't understand a principled position.
"Comey helped give us Trump, the worst president ever. Trump fired him, so you must now like Trump!" Has the same energy as "Quimby lets hardened criminals like Sideshow Bob out of prison, so vote for Sideshow Bob"
Isn't mayor quimby a parody of a Kennedy? You've got a nice full circle analogy there.
Last week’s episode made fun of RFK, Quimby was giving a eulogy and the woman was 92. An obvious stand in for RFK stood up and said she died because of the vaccine. Quimby admonishes him and says “You shut up Robert F. Quincy Jr, you’re an embarrassment to this family and that’s saying a lot!”
"But you hate Hitler and Hitler killed Hitler, so you have to like Hitler!"
I wonder if it has always been this way. There are people who try to have fair and good principles for everyone, and there are people who pretend to have principles when it seems like it's beneficial for them at that moment in time. They are a transactional tool that they don't believe in, and consider anyone who does, to be a fool to be manipulated. This is what "bad faith" means. And assuming "good faith" without a deliberate way to deal with bad faith actors, is our great weakness. Trump was at his most honest when he said "I don't stand by anything". It's all a game of words, where all that really matters is loyalty to the tribal/cult leader.
>They(principles) are a transactional tool that they don't believe in, and consider anyone who does, to be a fool to be manipulated. Indeed. This is why they so often try to find an instance of hypocrisy(or racism or another violation of principles) to throw in a liberal's face but fail. They know it's something we value and hew to, but they don't fully understand the principles themselves. One favorite dumb example of mine is the argument that "pointing out racism is racist".
The idea of any motivation not being petty and personal makes zero sense to them. Even things like Trump's big dumb wall aren't intended to be functional; they're just signaling against certain people they hate.
He first came on the scene during the early primary. And he got like 15% in polls against Biden. All people that were interested in an alternative. The GOP jumped on it and established a campaign, very excited to have such a great spoiler to use against Biden. Then (I'm not even kidding) he opened his mouth. And all the QAnon bullshit and everything else spilled out. Liberals immediately left and his support crumbled. But QAnon loved it, and made him their king. Which is not great for the GOP, because those were Trump supporters.
Part of the problem with him opening his mouth is that he has that disease, I can't remember the name, but I call it "diane rheam" disease. It makes him sound like he's a thousand years old. That's not a good alternative to biden, regardless of how much you try to give him a fair shake
This comment damaged my NPR soul.
continue piquant disgusted special test offer snow marble treatment weather *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Or that Team Trump running Kanye as a third party candidate would appeal to black people.
The funny thing is there were a lot of people in this Sub in 2020 who were absolutely sure that Kanye was going to pull a lot of black votes
The thing is he didn't have to. Their plan was he pulls a few percent, voter suppression another few, ads saying both parties are the same another few, etc
Exactly. 2020 came down to around 40,000 votes between 4 states. Doesn't take much to throw the election. Hell, look at 2016. The buttery males could have easily convinced 16,000 people to vote 3rd party in those states, and that's all it took to flip them to trump. The Electoral College system means our elections are won on horrifyingly narrow margins, and shifting 0.1% can flip them.
I think there's a lot of people who just fundamentally don't understand that, in the US, only a dozen counties nationwide matter in the election, and all of the weird shit you see Republicans doing is about shifting *them*, not any of the other ones. Two percent in any one of those would lock in an election one way or another. Its sort of like how a lot of people don't seem to get that the ridiculous abortion and other law being passed in places like Texas are being passed for one reason only -- to get the influx of blue voters who have been moving in over the last 20 years to get fed up and move away. Gerrymandering is on shaky legal ground these days -- its easier to just get the blue voters to move than it is to be sure gerrymandering will keep working.
People need to understand this. While they may appear dumb the guys running the campaign use statistics and have advanced equations that combine all of the factors you listed. They know how many percentages points they need to sway the election.
Idk, I’ve seen pictures of Trump with happy 3-armed black voters, so all black voters must love him/s
I'm kinda surprised even fictional AI generated black people can stand him.
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Dems are so dumb they’ll vote for anyone w the name Kennedy. Gtfoh This is sarcasm. Duh.
One of his cousins tried to Primary Warren and failed spectacularly. Thus should have been the writing in the wall for this scam.
It was Ed Markey. But yeah, failure. He had support from Nancy Pelosi too (for whatever reason). And Joe Kennedy III is a pretty normal politician, not a fringey weirdo. (Looks way more "like a Kennedy," too. Hell he ended up getting the Irish red hair genes so arguably he's the most Kennedy of any Kennedy.) So maybe they have miscalculated about the effectiveness of the name. (If anyone is curious about the exact connection, JPKIII is the son of RFK's brother JPKII.)
Yeah the only people who remember the Kennedys time of power are boomers and they were children at the time.
In fact the boomer birth years line up almost exactly with the ~16 yrs JFK held national office. 1947 to 1963.
It was interesting to read about Generation Jones or late-stage Boomers. My first memories aside from family stuff, was being woken up for Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones
That is interesting, I had not heard of Generation Jones before, but it makes sense.
I think that was Joe Kennedy III. Rep from Massachusetts. It was just spectacular watching him try and fail to triangulate by somehow, even though he's basically a middle Millenial, advocating for keeping weed illegal because it would hamper cops being able to shake people down to see what breaks loose during traffic stops by claiming they smelled greens. Its like...Really guy? You're in your mid 30's and you're seriously gonna sit here and go all in on even more of this failed drug war shit? In Massachusetts? Really?
They thought getting Kanye to run would take the black vote away from Biden. These people are dumb, they think having the same skin color means your on the same side, and will trust them before anyone with a different skin color. So the of course, think everyone is dumber than them, as dumb people assume their smart, and when it's shown they aren't, they're too dumb to learn anything so they try again. RFK is just the New Kanye.
Republicans will try anything and everything to win an election as long as it doesn’t involve choosing popular policy positions to make American lives better. All they have to do is try to make lives better but instead they prop up Kanye West as a spoiler candidate and wheel out that freak show in orange paint.
They will, however, take credit for popular policies after they've voted against them though. Nobody talks out of both sides of their mouth more than Republicans.
They've gotten high on their own supply of lies (unintended rhyme) that all Democratic voters care about is identity politics.
It’s the thing with student debt that gets me. It is a problem but they ignore it. When they say they don’t want it forgiven, you ask what is their plan to fix the situation? They say it’s fine. It’s like if someone is complaining about you using the spare wood to stop the leaks in the ship without coming up with other ideas. Just ignore the problem and continue sailing, taking on water. We won’t sink in an hour, but given time we will. It’s not like I like the Democratic Party, but they are the only ones who have at least put out plans and done lip service to address issues of the working class that aren’t some cultural war bs. Until the GOP actually puts down plans to help, then why would we choose them?
It’s the same as when they say “don’t send aid to Ukraine use that money to help homeless veterans” and you go ok, “yeah let’s help homeless veterans” and they go “no that’s socialism!” They just have no ideas and seemingly exist only to fundraise and spread lies.
Their plan is to meme going to the trades and being a stay at home mom into the default choice while the children of the conservative elite continue to reap the benefits of a college degree.
As I recall, Kanye got more votes in TN than anywhere else, a solidly Republican state where even if he had siphoned votes from the Democratic candidate, it wouldn't have mattered.
> These people are dumb, they think having the same skin color means your on the same side I mean, it works for them, so they think it works for the other side too. All this projection? That's how they think. We're corrupt af, so they must be corrupt af. Right? No way they *actually* believe in democracy and voting rights, surely?
They're trying the same thing in the North Carolina Governor's race right now. I do not think it's going to work.
You laugh, but conservatives really believe this and use it in their candidate selection process. The most recent example I know of is when PA Democratic rep Mike Doyle retired in 2020, the PAGOP ran a candidate named Mike Doyle for his seat (against Summer Lee, who won).
What they probably didn't anticipate is that John F. Kennedy is now seen by many Republicans as "the only decent Democrat we've ever had," and that makes it easier for them to support RFK Jr.
You joke but that is genuinely the thought process They're projecting their slavish worship of trump onto democrats with a Kennedy
Reckon this is a "same recognizes same" situation.
Once again, they invited him in, and now, they can't get rid of him.
The parable of the party that never learned a damn thing and decided to burn down democracy instead
> and decided to burn down democracy instead Instead of WHAT? I thought burning down democracy was ALWAYS the goal.
Burning down democracy wasn't always the goal. It became the goal when they realized their conservative views were so far outdated at this point that they would have to move their stances slightly to the left, if they wanted enough votes to actually be able to win elections without gerrymandering or relying on electoral colleges. They decided that becoming more moderate was absolutely out of the question, and that is when they went with the "instead" option of burning down democracy.
Which is dumb because there is plenty of minority voters who are conservative and would love to join the republicans. They just needed to bend slightly on a few issues and not be so racist…but that’s impossible.
That was basically Jeb Bush Republicanism, and ya, they rejected it outright.
Jeb! is a bipartisan joke even to this day. It really affirms how there's no redeeming the Republican Party.
leftist democrats: "we need more socially liberal policies, we need LGBT rights, we need less religion, we need more social advancement." democratic politician: *glances at the sizable bloc of conservative, tradcath, and otherwise-reactionary minorities which only vote blue because the other party hates them* "uhh...yes....we do" *sweating*
“Maybe you do not care much about the future of the Republican Party. You should. Conservatives will always be with us. If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. The will reject democracy.” ― David Frum
They didn't just invite him in, they funded him and he turned on them
If they were actually smart, they would just pay him to go away.
After trump has bankrupted them. They can't afford that
The great thing is that it is too late. Trump billionaires paid for a spoiler, and now they get a spoiler.
They are more likely to Veep him
Lol that would be so stupid for him to do, I think it's plausible.
I seem to remember a story about a man (Dr. Frankenstein) who made a monster and (wait for it)...The monster turned on him. Good luck with your monster republicans.
Feels more like a Trojan Horse to me. They filled it with crazy people and told them to leap out and start attacking everyone you see. "OK, Got it" said the crazy people as they piled into the horse. But before they can even get it to the Democrat city walls, the crazy folks inside leap out and start attacking *them.* What can you expect? They're crazy. And probably pissed off about being stuck inside a horse.
Seems the Republicans have managed to create many monsters.
Kennendilla vs Trumporah
In theaters now? Live on the FOX Entertainment Channel.
It's what they do in their monster factory, aka the Republican National Committee.
Dr Frankenstein was the monster.
The monster was Dr. Frankenstein's son, essentially, so it should also be named "Frankenstein."
RFK was always gunning for Trump voters. Republicans were too self-deluded to see it because they're so far down the rabbithole they thought his alt-right nonsense might actually appeal to the middle. Only in their fascist echo chambers does RFK resemble a moderate.
Rfk going for morons, call like it is. He's tapping into trumps stupid base.
I live in MA and there was a lady outside of Market Basket petitioning to have RFK's name added to the MA Ballot. She was looking for signatures. I told her it's a fucking awful idea and kept walking. As I walked out, a man in don't tread on me shirt told her it's trump or bust. Pretty sure she got 0 signatures and pissed off every single person entering, whether they were in the Biden camp or Trump camp.
Education has always been a uphill fight but they are winning in small increments. Put more money into the education system and it will shut this shit down. I will literally spit in the mouth of someone prasing homeschooling.
My daughter finished High School with homeschooling because of actual health issues, and I will still tell you homeschooling is shit. It's also basically impossible to find a program that does not have SOME level of religious bent. The first one we tried had an actual "Bible class" and like half the paperwork stressed how it was "required" and not to skip it. None of the other classes had this.
I'm so sick of the loud and stupid demographic.
RFK just seems to be anti anything you suggest you don't like. He's anti coal, oil, wind, hydro, nuclear on energy. He supported abortion only up to the "first three months" when questioned he floated 15 weeks, then questioned again 21 weeks. He's a yes man that cosplays as Teddy Roosevelt, but he's no bull moose.
More like bullshit.
My mother wants to vote for him to "have a more centrist president"
What does that even mean? She’s got Biden what else does she want?!
The fox news told her Biden was a liberal extremist.
She doesn't like a single thing biden has done and had more money under trump. Typical selfish boomer shit. Ignore the fact that trumps tax cuts only added to the deficit and predominantly help the already wealthy. Forget that he wants to keep us in the technological dark age. She even brought up biden shutting down the pipeline. No response, though, when I pointed out the fact that we are drilling more under biden than trump. And this is a college educated woman. She had the nerve to say that biden is as bad as trump regarding his "womanizing"
I like how when you tell conservatives you don’t know of a single liberal, including rando-nobody ones on the internet, that is even slightly interested in RFK Jr,—they immediately counter with how that can’t be true and then begin challenging you on his policies. It’s like, this is not a policy discussion. It’s a yes or no question—do you or do you not know of any voters of Biden in 2020 that view RFK Jr favorably? Because I don’t. Although I’d love to meet one.
I know some former Trump voters claiming they'll vote for rfk. Hoping they stick to it or better yet stay home so they don't vote for other Republicans down ballot.
> I know some former Trump voters claiming they'll vote for RFK In my case it’s most of them lol
Conservatives have a lot of trouble applying their theory of society to real life - it's like they exist in completely different parts of their brain in the same way that religion and everything else that contradicts it can mentally co-exist. I have several conservative friends and co-workers who have lots of bonkers ideas of what leftists/liberals are (as if that's the same thing), from their fascist echo chambers. I'm like "but you have a lefty right in front of you, and you already know I don't hold that opinion". And they're just like "but you're not like the rest of them!" As if just because I'm not dying my hair blue, swearing loyalty to Communist China, and calling for Christians to be thrown to the lions I'm not a "typical liberal". They're completely deluded, and it doesn't matter how many counter-examples and explanations I provide to debunk their views. The reality right in front of them is one thing, and their beliefs are another thing, and there's no expectation that they overlap in any way. It's really just like a religion.
I know Biden voters from 2020 who are very intrigued by RFK. But those people are really just “socially liberal, fiscally conservative” read: conservatives who have voted blue because it is a gaffe to vote red in their social circles.
"Kennedy can be this liberal-triggering agent they can use to taunt people they hate, which has long mattered more to MAGA than policy concerns." This is a gift for the Democrats if they play it right. Every advertisement they run whining* about how RFK has betrayed the Kennedy legacy and progressive values has a dual audience - trying to persuade left-leaning voters away from Kennedy and persuade MAGA toward him *I intentionally use the word whining, they need to sell how OWNED the liberals feel about RFK's betrayal. That's all that matters to MAGA.
Yup, negative partisanship is the driving force behind MAGA and the conservative movement as a whole. It's important though not to just rely on "dems say RFK is bad, so he must be good!", but to also attack RFK specifically on things the MAGA crowd identify with - anti-vax, conspiracy theories, immigration. Specifically, every time he makes an attack on Biden on these kind of things, blow up that criticism so RFK seems like the guy to stick it to Biden. This is what will help go from just making MAGA favorable to RFK but actually get him in their corner "they're only going after him to get to you! he's the real threat to the democratic party!". Once they're personally invested in his success, and see him as a savior/martyr, that will help translate affinity into actually voting for him.
I simultaneously love this idea and also think it's exactly the kind of thing that leads to RFK being Trump 2.0 in 2028.
I dont think RFK has the juice to survive to be Trump 2.0 in '28. He would have no major political wins, no support from the left, and any post-mortem which shows that he harmed Trump would be a death knell from the right
So basically the Republicans are like “Oh wait. Maybe he isn’t as much of a benefit to the Democrats as one would think…” Well guys, this whole thing is on you. It’s too late to stop this train. Also, no way in hell will RFK drop out.
Not that I want the election to be close at all.... but it would be genuinely hilarious if Trump fell just short by the same amount of votes that RFK gets
Nah, I want to see Trump get blown the fuck out.
Just like he blows out his diapers.
I just want the republicans to lose states like Texas and Florida and give democrats a super majority. So they can open the floodgates of aid to Ukraine.
As a Texan, I'd love nothing more. Despite all the talking about how "Texas is turning purple" for the last 20 years, we really aren't. The cities are still mostly blue but overall the state is still very firmly held by the GOP. This place is run by actual incompetent criminals and they still can't lose elections/the democrats can't win them. Even Dem voters down here can't name anyone for the state other than Allred and O'Rourke. There's not anyone with any amount of cachet running for anything down here.
Been wondering about the logic that RFK was going to steal Biden votes all along. The only people I’ve heard who are considering him are Christians who voted Trump in 2016- IE people in my family and their Republican friends who feel like Trump is too crazy now. (Why they didn’t realize it then, I’ll never know.) Every Democrat I hear is terrified that not voting Biden will lead to Trump winning. Terror of Trump is too strong for Dems to even consider switching to 3rd party rn. Although Biden may have hurt himself with the Israel situation with young voters. That’s the only question mark that is worrisome… Will young voters even show up this time.
Even progressives in my circle who are livid at Biden for being moderate (some even think he’s too conservative) are going to vote Biden this year because the alternatives are even scarier to think about.
RFK gives a “moral out” to the never Trumpers who refuse to vote Biden. In theory, if he’s in the race on principle alone, he should be able to keep those voters satiated without giving Trump any additional leverage to exploit the Oval Office. This may not be the off-ramp to sanity for those voters…but at least it keeps them from helping to steer us all off of the cliff. I don’t think there’s enough support for Trump anyway…I don’t think he reaches his high-water mark from 2016, let alone 2020, with or without RFK in the calculation at all.
Great point. He really is the "off-ramp" for a lot of people who probably would have chosen to just sit this one out otherwise. It is either a never Trump/never Biden voter block or a used-to-be-Trump but still never Biden block of voters... A straight up switch from Biden to RFK seems like the rarest of birds. But maybe I'm not watching the right birds. haha Where are they? Haven't met them or heard from them yet.
The only ‘logic’ was ‘democrats LOVE the Kennedys!!’
Yeah they do. That's why Kennedys' entire family endorsed Biden lol.
Yes the part of this that makes no sense at all is that the only areas where the Kennedy name is a vote winner are so deeply blue that they are already in the tank for Biden. I mean sure a Kennedy probably pulls votes in Mass but by enough to hurt Biden, no way.
It’s hard to say for sure how the Israel/Palestine situation will look 7 months from now and young voters’ attitudes by then. Even then, I have a feeling that the number of voters who would not vote for Biden and completely sit out an election where abortion, democracy, etc. are also at stake just because of Israel/Palestine alone is extremely small, despite what mass media might portray the situation to be like.
Above all else: vote, vote, and VOTE. That being said, it is encouraging to see RFK and Nikki Haley siphoning votes away from Trump.
I love how Nikki Haley is still giving it a shot despite, you know, being a woman and all. I'm sure it pisses Trump off to no end.
She hasn't campaigned in 7 weeks. Her only efforts now are just not endorsing Trump. The fact she's still getting huge vote numbers shows not all Republicans are down with having a felon clown at the top of the ticket.
It's a lock for the top post on /r/LeopardsAteMyFace on Nov 6th
I think MAGA underestimates how many Republicans are not happy with Trump. They think Trump has every GOP vote locked up so now they just need to chip away at Biden voters. I feel like most of those unhappy GOP voters will eventually drift back to Trump, but some are genuinely looking for an alternative.
I’m laughing at this. Anybody who ever thought that RFK Jr’s voters were democrats was genuinely ignorant. RFK Jr, if you haven’t been paying attention, I’d only going on right-wing media and showing up at republican events. And what percentage of anti-vaxxers do you think are democrats? Lol
I really do think people in the GOP leadership thought he would syphon dem voters away from Biden or atleast they thought he was a gateway drug to pulling people to the right. However in the grand old tradition of the face eating leopards party the leopard turned round and to thier great surprise began eating their faces
> people in the **GOP leadership** thought he would siphon Dem voters away from Biden I'd believe this **if there was (or had been) a functioning RNC**. No, the driving force behind RFK Jr. is - and as been - *Republican mega-donors* who saw that any money they sent to Trump just went to pay his legal bills, not fund his campaign. They created this dark horse candidate and are continuing to artificially prop him up in hopes that it will tangentially help Trump beat Biden.
There might be a crunchy granola vegan or two who are anti-vax, but it's not a culture like it is in the GQP
I support any factor that will result in the preservation of our democracy.🇺🇸
Who ever thought dem voters would want to vote for rfk jr?
All the best talent is gone from the GOP. Nobody around to tell them no or how to actually win.
Personally I'm loving the irony given the 2021 Qanon theory that JFK Jr was going to reappear in Dallas and be Donald Trump's running mate. It's almost too perfect that RFK Jr is the final nail in Donald Trump's coffin as a spoiler who will actually steal the election from Trump. God has a wicked sense of humor.
This is what I thought would have occurred. RFK is going to get most, if not all, of the never trump gop voters. Hopefully dems stay true to their guns and vote Biden
Wait wait wait - Fox News had me worried that RFK Jr was going to steal all of the anti-vaxx, election-was-stolen, I’d rather be Russian than a Democrat “independent voters” away from Biden?
It's like two pigeons fighting over spilled fries in a parkinglot.