Why is fucking Newsom, the most neoliberal establishment motherfucker to ever walk the earth, the first Dem to figure out you can take these assholes down by just using their tactics against them?
It’s like if Pelosi just walked down onto the the chamber floor and just started yelling “okay boomer” every time someone tried to talk, while going the fortnight dance.
I don’t know, I think Tim Waltz figured it out and then the Harris campaign shut him down. The whether or not it works or not I’m not sure. Certainly doesn’t look like anything’s been taken down.
TL;DR: calling fascists weird was and is EXTREMELY effective messaging and pivoting away from it was probably one of the top reasons for Trump being able to infest the white house again.
I think Tim Waltz figured it out and then the Harris campaign shut him down
100%. Without a shadow of a doubt. Never underestimate the ability of the DNC to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in order to please the owner donors and/or uphold arbitrary institutional norms.
The whether or not it works or not I’m not sure.
It ABSOLUTELY worked. Harris/Walz were far ahead in the polls while they were still calling weirdos weird and then they nosedived when they switched from that to the 1992 playbook.
The Trump messaging works by convincing people that the fascists are the only normal ones/the in group in a world taken over by abnormal and immoral people of the out groups
Even SUGGESTING that they might be just another out group rather than the only in group weakens the “everything our Dear Leaders say or do is correct because it’s against the weirdos” narrative and more importantly the feeling of belonging and of being on the right side of history that the leaders of the cult have instilled in the followers.
Regular people have no problem being called weird (in fact, a lot of us actively celebrate our weirdness), but a fascist movement simply falls apart without the solid conviction that they’re the only sane and normal ones.
This went a little longer than I intended, so I’ll add a TL;DR at the top lol
Well said!
Regular people have no problem being called weird (in fact, a lot of us actively celebrate our weirdness), but a fascist movement simply falls apart without the solid conviction that they’re the only sane and normal ones.
Somehow I had never made this connection until just now! It always struck me that just calling them “weird” seemed so effective, since it’s not even really an insult, but this makes complete sense.
The American left constantly punching left even when they’re losing is why the American right ate your lunch. You guys cannot abide allies or any other leftists that aren’t of the exact same stripe, while the right unified. As a non American you guys make our head hurt
But… But… Biden and harris were complacent in the Gaza genocide and even though the opposition would be worse and do more damage elsewhere, I just couldn’t vote for imperfect. 🫠
I think what really caused Harris to lose was the constant everything is great and I won’t change anything messaging. People were struggling and she offered nothing.
Trump did offer something, but anyone with a memory greater than 4 years should have remembered his promises are lies, but here we are.
Harris and Biden all thought facts would help. Facts are great for policy decisions, not great for convincing people to support you.
If facts say that the economy is booming and everyone is off better however I don’t feel it, I don’t see it in my local community. Then fuck off with your facts.
Trumpie understands this. Any good sales person will tell you feelings are what closes sales. Trumpie harped on everyone’s feelings. People felt like the economy was leaving them behind AGAIN. Trumpie speaks like the common person, he’s able to relate to people. This is how Trumpie cons people. I imagine if you ran an analysis on all of Trumpie’s campaign statements, you wouldn’t find specific numbers. General, vague numbers at best.
It’s why Obama and Sanders can attract sell out crowds. Both of them know feelings are more important than facts.
This right here is another example of the issue. It’s not “facts” that the economy was good for the average citizen. Yes our economy was performing well, but our metrics are not designed to tell us how well people are affording rent or groceries. It’s designed to tell us how much is being produced. We can be more productive than ever, but that doesn’t matter if housing has never been more unaffordable for the average American.
We measure the economy based on the needs of capital, not the workers.
I think it’s because she’s a woman. America hasn’t matured enough for a woman to be a viable candidate yet. Sexism is still going strong here. Add to that the fact that she was black, and she stood no chance.
She actually did address and talk about many issues that people cared about, but she barely got any media coverage.
She actually did address and talk about many issues that people cared about, but she barely got any media coverage.
All I remember is how she wanted to assure us all how she wasn’t coming for guns, owned a glock and was cool with Cheneys. (and let’s not forget how she assured us all there would be Republicans on her cabinet) Seemed like what she wanted was Republican votes, but it didn’t work out. Somehow when R goes right, D decides to chase them every last time.
The real reason Harris lost is because she had a vagina
Seriously. Half the comments in here are basically “How dare this guy be on our side! I will not abide anyone less pure than the Virgin Mary”. Maybe it’s just a bunch of right wing bots trying to sow division, but if so they are doing it remarkably well.
Meh. He’s a step up from Trump. So’s literally anyone with whom I’m familiar.
So yeah, I guess if we want the 2016-era Democrats who sleepwalked us into Trump, and who see sacrificing trans rights as a necessary step so they can win some bigot votes, to be where we’re setting our post-Trump goals I guess he’s as good a milquetoast as any.
He probably won’t try to dismantle our constitution and government, so alright, I guess that’s not a given these days. 🎉
It could be that his counter-gerrymander is all talk and there will be some last minute failure to act on it, in which case he is indeed milquetoast and also full of shit. But, should he follow through on it, that’s the opposite of milquetoast and an important step forward. It’s great to see some recognition that the republicans fight dirty, always and openly, and that acting in good faith when your opponent doesn’t, just means you lose.
We are at war, a creeping and undeclared war but war nonetheless. Newsom may be an asshole and his policies may be bad. In war, your allies might not be your heroes, nor even your friends. As long as they are shooting in the right direction and having an effect, that’s a good ally.
I feel like we’re more or less saying the same thing, we’ve just spun it on opposite directions. But his gerrymandering thing, while good, is also reactive. Granted, it’s more interestingly reactive than nearly every other thing Democrats are doing in response to R, but it’s still reactive, and I still have no faith in his values.
So again, is he better than Trump? Yes. Yes he is.
Will a 2028 Newsom run just be a return to white men who are only slightly less openly owned by their donors than Republicans and Trump? Yes, yes it will.
Now here’s where it gets tricky. I voted Kamala even though I was very bothered by her poor strategic decision to try getting Republican votes (see my visual aid below) and her seeming turn from everything Progressive. (The Atlantic had her pegged on this way back.)
So, I’ve been watching this R goes Right and D follows them for votes from people who will never, ever vote for them at the expense of progressives and the left for several decades now. I ain’t no spring chicken.
When I voted Kamala, I vowed that I would no longer support a Republican-lite party. Where we are today is the logical eventual conclusion of every conservative and Republican platform position and policy I can remember from the entire course of my entire life. And they have arrived here via the Ratchet Effect.
I will no longer support it. If 2028 is someone with a D after their name running on policies that could have been pre-Trump Republican policies, or 2016-era Democrat rhetoric, they will have to beat whoever replaces Trump without my vote. I will no longer support the ratchet effect and no longer support a Democratic party who blames all their losses on the left while simultaneously clinging to leadership that is ancient, out of touch, right-leaning, and corporate owned.
This is very specifically not OK, and is enough by itself to lose my vote:
sacrificing trans rights as a necessary step so they can win some bigot votes
Edit: And before someone replies to mention Ken Martin and the supposed changes he will bring, wake me up when he’s done something that shows it’s not going to be more of the same.
Edited to add visual aid about R votes and to fix hyperlink.
Well yeah I didn’t mean to suggest anyone should back him as a presidential candidate. The ironic thing is the democrats would probably win more votes from Trump’s base by having a more progressive candidate, because the left / right spectrum isn’t everything. I’m sure many Trump voters were people who knew they were getting screwed over by the billionaire class and corrupt politicians, wanted change, and were dumb enough to think Trump would fix things. They could be won over by a progressive candidate, but I agree a right-leaning democrat is precisely the thing they will never vote for.
Well yeah I didn’t mean to suggest anyone should back him as a presidential candidate.
Sorry I’m very keyed up about current events lately, and while I’m not looking for a fight, some part of my lizard brain probably is.
The ironic thing is the democrats would probably win more votes from Trump’s base by having a more progressive candidate, because the left / right spectrum isn’t everything.
I agree with this! In 2017 I kind hoped his win would be like an electric jolt to the genitals for Dems to stop being how I’ve already described them being. If only…
They could be won over by a progressive candidate, but I agree a right-leaning democrat is precisely the thing they will never vote for.
I only wish I wasn’t so sure that’s who we’re going to get. And with the same old arguments. “xxxx is just too radical. The middle will vote R if we go with them!”
I hate him because he wants to put me back in the men’s room
I hear what you’re saying, but it’s worth noting that Newsom is far from an opponent to the trans community. He is the governor of CA, which is famously a strong trans sanctuary state. He was the major of San Francisco, and supported LGBTQ+ rights to the point that the city was issuing marriage certificates before it was federally recognized.
As for his other recent stances, I think him saying transgender athletes playing in women’s sports being deeply unfair is, unfortunately, a popular and nuanced opinion. I don’t paint with such a broad brush that I think him saying women’s sports should get careful consideration with trans athletes as being the same thing as him saying trans people shouldn’t exist.
Newsom is far from an opponent to the trans community.
That’s a nice claim Senator, let’s see you back it up with a source.
It’s more complicated than the mainstream narrative would let on. In the US the Democrats are a center right party, they’re more or less in agreement with what the previous republican administrations wanted, with the exception of a few gender related issues (LGBT, women’s rights, abortion). The new GOP is just much more extreme than usual. The Dems see this and are actively moving further right to try and get the leftover scraps of the extremists.
For example, most of the infrastructure that trump is using to round up brown people is stuff that was built under biden/obama. Deep down both parties want this, they’re just using it to bash each other as a matter of tradition.
The left is actually quite ideologically unified at this point, especially compared to historical trends. It’s better to think of the US as in a 3 party system where you have extreme right, center right, and a broad coalition of leftists, but all the infrastructure is only setup to allow two parties.
Purity tests are one of the biggest downfalls of the left.
Just give me a fucking fair primary, please. I’m going to lose my goddamn mind if they ram Newsom through like they did with Clinton and Biden.
If newsom goes for it, like it or not, he will be the nominee.
He has a massive war chest and ability to fundraise and has national name recognition.
He is a centrist corporate dweeb, but at least he is fighting… which is more than can be said for 95% of democratic politicians.
I won’t be voting for him in the primary, but he is a better choice over Harris or Clinton
It depends on how much contempt they have for electorate. And their propensity to learn anything.
I don’t like these odds
Didn’t learn much from 2016.
So in other words, Newsom IS going to be the nominee unless Hakeem Jeffries somehow becomes presidential material by developing a personality between now and 2028.
Personally I hope he Jeb!s the primary. The republican electorate very quickly figured out when an establishment candidate was being rammed through and rejected it spectacularly. Let’s hope the Dems follow suit this time. There’s still a lot of time between now and the primary.
If they won’t learn on their own, they must be taught.
Do they even need primaries at all anymore? We’ll just vote for whoever they select because it’ll be less damaging than the Republican.
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I really can’t stand Newsom. The guy is some of the worst aspects of the Dem party (note I did not say “the left”) Virtually guarantees they’ll run him.
Because he’s also a narcissistic snake who has been self-interested and corrupt for years.
Which sadly, is exactly what we need to oppose the narcissistic snakes in power right now. We’re just fortunate that he is finding success and support to his liking in being the opposition we wish we had.
I support the tactic broadly, I hope the rest of the so-called Democrats pick it up and start mountain an actual “get in the dirty trenches” opposition that declaws Trump’s political capital.
when your fascist dictator is so bad patrick bateman starts looking good in comparison
I’m heartbroken, Gavin Newsom is being the hero we need, even though he’s definitely not the hero my trans ass wants
He also eats homeless people for fun.
Im conflicted in the same way.
At the first instant, my brain interpreted this as hinting that Carlson and Kid Rock had died and I was so pleasantly surprised.
Fucking Mondays.
Damn I hate Newsom but whoever his PR team is theyr fucking killing it with shit like this
EDIT: Friggin autocorrect “new some” lol
That halo over Hogan’s head is the biggest mistake I’ve seen from AI so far
Nah, that’s just a floating ring light to make it look professional
Gotta appeal to who this is intended for
LFG!!! Remember how “weird” almost took him out? This mud fight is long overdue. America could be the first country to resolve a civil war fought entirely through memes.
So I guess his social media team is ramping up for his presidential bid.
Newsom is going hard right now and I love it.
Probably some kid in the office making the memes and it getting signed off on… Where was this when Biden was in office ?
All over his Twitter? Pretty sure there were plenty of Dark Brandon memes, like the “just like we drew it up” tweet after the Super Bowl.
Yeah, he had a gen Z social media coordinator coming up with some pretty good anti-Trump memes for a while. But then they just kinda stopped.
Hakeem Jeffries got offended and started screeching about decorum.
Still being focus group tested. Need to make the meme cringe enough to spread, but still push their messaging while avoiding any solid policies.
It’s some lib zoomer named Camille Zapata.
he needs a team for this?
TBF, biden is 82 years old and has cancer. He should have probably never been running in the first place.
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In this case there is action of a sort - the same gerrymandering that Texas is doing as a counterbalance. Whether that’s better than nothing is up for debate. I think probably but this whole saga just goes to show how completely unserious the American electorate is. So memes and trolling it is I guess.
Can somebody explain the context of this? Who are the people in the picture?
People:
left: Kid Rock
center back: Hulk Hogan
center: Gavin Newsom, Gov. of California
right: Tucker CarlsonContext: all except Newsom are Trump supporters (Hulk Hogan was, he died). Trump is known for posting stupid AI generated pictures in this style with people worshipping him. Newsome makes parodies of that.
Thanks!
The people standing are Kid Rock, Hulk Hogan, and Tucker Carlson. Not sure who’s sitting down, or who the twitter account is, or what the rest of the context is 😅
Thanks!
God dammit…this is actually pretty funny.
Who dat on stage left?
Fucker Carlson
Who dat on stage right?
Kid Rock.
Kid Rock
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I’ve been living a lie, what the fuck?
Okay, not only do I have very specific memories of learning it the way I said, I also remember a joke from the TV show Smash that only works like that. They had a new girl to theatre and she didn’t understand the stage directions and went to the wrong side. But if stage left is left from the actor’s perspective, why would she have been confused? Unless they used the term house left, but I’d never heard that before now.
Is this a common misconception or something? This is seriously throwing me for a loop lol.
Ya. I’m with you actually. I didn’t even click that link because I was 100% sure it was the other way. I did stage crew a lot in highschool, and I specifically remember that it was explained that the audience is the most important party, so their left and right take precedent.
I’ll never make fun of people for believing Mandela effect ever (mostly joking).
You shouldn’t. There’s no sin in ignorance, only the willful maintenance of it.
Thank you fellow theater kid. I didn’t realize an accurate explanation is worth so many down votes, but there you go…
I can’t believe my silly tongue in cheek comment got removed, wtf? Why mods? I guess they viewed it as condescending.
They removed it for misinformation. That’s really what I thought it meant. No idea how I got it wrong. I guess this is what those Mandela effect believers feel like.
If it comes to Newsom against Trump in the 2028 general elections, I’m writing in “Fuck America” on my ballot, since there are no current frontrunner candidates in either party who will defend my rights. But wow he made an ai slop meme. That’ll show 'em.
They count those as a vote for Trump. :)
Even more reason such a weak candidate can’t be allowed to win the primary. Putting forward such a weak platform and demanding the base hold their noses didn’t work in 2024, so why would it work again? Why leave things up the chance when every vote supposedly counts? 🙃
I think it’s one of those cases where whoever gets the nominated, the right wing agitprop machine will work overtime to throw wedges into the opposition and fins reasons for people to be Righteously Mad.
So there has to be some space for disagreement and common goals. Not ‘enemy of my enemy is my friend’ but at least ‘we are broadly going in the same direction and we can at least move the Overton window’.
It is an iterative game. Newsome, asshole or not, makes space for a slightly less right wing asshole next time. Take the long view.
That’s such a losers mentality. People need someone to excite them, which is what this fascist reject is trying to performatively emulate. The Dems lost because they demanded people vote against rather than for, and people saw little hope in that.
I do not share common goals with Newsom, because California Dems like him only know how to make laws that help the rich seem progressive. I am not going in the same direction as him because he’s explicitly leaving us trans people behind. Newsom would a degenerative iteration in every sense, even more so that he showed his true colors when he tried to join Trump.
Dems embracing him makes me even more hopeless for the future. Y’all just don’t get that moving further right and never fundamentally changing is what got us here.
That didn’t end up working with Biden, though. His victory didn’t push the overton window left. Under his watch, we had COVID denialism, conspiracy theories, liberals who thought Trump was the answer to cheap eggs, and an attempted coup.
It’s impossible to fond put what life would have been like with Trump in 2020 but… I suspect worse.
Sucks.
Must be nice having a Democrat who hasn’t thrown you under the bus :)
A Trump presidency and a Newsom presidency would be identical for me, so in a way, either vote is a vote or Trump.
If they’re the same, you might as well vote for him to move the Overton window and make space for the next one.
I disagree. Have you been following what’s going on in England? Labour is now as anti-trans as Conservative, and not just on sports, and public opinion has shifted with it. History suggests winning the election will shift the overton window further right, since it will entrench the party as needing to be anti-trans in order to be considered electable.
Yeah, it’s a problem, but it’s a problem to address during party elections, not the general. It sucks.
Also getting out and throwing some bricks can’t hurt.
Yes, I agree and I will vote in the primary. If another candidate wins it, great. But this is where I’ll stand if the electorate or the DNC chooses Newsom for the general.
I am bela and I approve this message.
Save us the trouble and just don’t show up if your going to throw.
If Newsom is the candidate, the race will have already been thrown.
That’s how you got trump. If you think a miracle candidate is just going to pop up, I think that’s wishful thinking; you walk the needle to where you want it to go.
No, that’s not how I got Trump. That’s how the Democratic establishment got us Trump. They got their choice of “miracle candidate” and ran their choice of campaign their way. They even got their choice of opponent thanks to Hillary’s “pied piper” campaign to pump up Trump. They orchestrated the whole damn thing, so fuck you for blaming me. The only thing you got right is that it actually would take a fucking miracle for the establishment to pull their heads out of their asses and pick a real candidate.
Newsom cares about being President. That’s his entire moral core. Just like Hillary, Biden, Obama, and Harris, being president is an ego trip and serves no end but self gratification. That’s why we fell to fascism. If you think that staying on the same path that got us here will get us out, then it’s you who got us Trump and, more importantly, you who will get us the next Trump
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If you want me to stay quiet and take being the Democrats’ sacrificial cow with dignity for the sake of “normalcy,” I won’t do it. Blue No Matter Who is so simple when it isn’t your neck on the line, though.
No, I’m saying that writing is “fuck America” might as well be like writing in Micky mouse. Its performative bullshit that changes nothing.
Do what you want. But wanting change while thinking that writing a phrase on a ballot is going to change anything screams slacktivism and the yearning for internet “'atta-boys” with internet strangers.
You can make a better impact with your time, if your passionate about wanting something better, do something worthwhile.
Did you know a lot of people make comments on the internet and have outside lives? And, perhaps, even touch grass? I often feel like I don’t do enough, and we’re in so deep I’m often unsure what the answer to our country’s problems are, but I do what I can in the real world all the same. I suppose I’m saying making assumptions about an anonymous posters’ personal life is an odd choice.
So, sure, this was a low-effort comment. I’m frustrated with the state of America. I’m disillusioned with Vote Blue No Matter Who after a decade of it not working. It was uninspired venting that took fifteen seconds to write. A waste of time? Maybe. Welcome to the internet. People spend hours scrolling and stoking the dumpster fire. Social media, while it has its moments, as a whole is not a good place to do anything meaningful in the grand scheme of things, and yet here we all are. You’re here too. Perhaps the moments that really matter in life, that help others, that are satisfying, that are sublime, are interspersed with many small pointless moments as we recharge our batteries.
I also find accusation of karma farming bizarre when my comment was ratioed by at least one other reply and also dogpiled. What attaboys have I gotten? I don’t know what I was expecting out of this, but it sure wasn’t an attaboy. Also not a boy, BTW.
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Oh okay so you support the fascism then
If you support a candidate who interviews far-right pundits and says he “completely aligns” with them on trans issues, then I’m sorry to say that it’s you who is supporting a facist.
I mean its funny, but if he would actually do something, you know, meaningful, that would be cool.
What does “meaningful” mean to you?
he should start by doing what he already proposed doing.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/06/newsom-floats-withholding-federal-taxes-00393386
edit: you people downvoting this must be a bunch of hive-minded morons.
So, nothing he can personally accomplish is what you would like him to do.
he could probably accomplish a lot of things if he actually wanted to.
Thanks for letting us know you have no idea how the american political system works.
Oh, you’re on a Canadian instance. You’re just here to stir the pot.
nice assumptions
