The Race For 2024

[Derec]

- The Muslims in Michigan are angry that Biden is backing Israel after Hamas slaughtered >1000 Israelis and are saying they won't vote for him. I say, good riddance, go to Gaza and vote for Hamas instead and see how you like it there. But Michigan was close last time around.

So they're going to vote for the Muslim ban guy???

Of course not. But many of them may vote for an Israel-hater like Cornell West or Jill Stein.

 

[lpetrich]

Dr. Cornel West Announces the Formation of the Justice for All Party as Part of His 2024 Presidential Campaign and Beyond

In an effort to directly confront the suppression of voter choice and participation by legacy political parties, Independent candidate for President of the United States, Dr. Cornel West, announced the establishment of the Justice For All Party (JFA). The party will primarily be utilized as a grassroots, people-powered vehicle to secure ballot access in specific states. Additionally, JFA will grow into a larger formation that galvanizes people-powered initiatives to promote transformational change beyond the 2024 election cycle.

noting
(3) Cornel West on X: "Big announcement! ..." / X

Big announcement! We are establishing the JUSTICE FOR ALL PARTY, laying down the roots for proportional representation and expanded voter choice in states where establishing a party is the most expedient — starting with FLORIDA, NORTH CAROLINA, and the state of WASHINGTON! This sets a legacy for political and grassroots organizing that will extend beyond the election. Likewise, our 50-state strategy is blossoming, nurturing this moment in the movement for the soul of democracy. To join us and to learn more about our ballot access strategy, visit CornelWest2024 dot com. #JusticeForAll #CornelWest2024 #DemocracyInAction #All50States #truthjusticelove #JusticeForAllParty

More from that page:

Dr. West enters the 2024 Presidential contest at a time in which he describes a national crisis of moral bankruptcy and spiritual obscenity driven by a derelict duopoly of both major parties that equally places profits over people and the planet. West asserts that running as an Independent candidate affords him the opportunity and duty to deliver policy prescriptions incorporated by and for the people, instead of political parties beholden to corporations and special interest groups who feel no solidarity with poor and working-class people of all races, gender identities, and age groups.

"I have good ideas, and that's all I need." Not much of a foundation for a political career. One has to have some plan for getting into office and getting other politicians to do what one wants.

I could find nothing on serious party-building, nothing on running candidates in local and state and Congressional races and campaigning for them.

It's possible to go too far in the other way, to be so preoccupied with running for office that one has no idea what to do when one is elected, but CW is far from that extreme.

 

[lpetrich]

RFK Jr. signals he’s open to running as Libertarian in 2024 | The Hill

During his appearance on CNN Saturday morning, Kennedy was asked by anchor Michael Smerconish if he would seek the Libertarian Party nomination as he is still running as an independent to make sure he can appear on the ballot in all 50 states and in D.C.

...
“That is something that we’re looking at,” Kennedy said on Saturday. “We have a really good, relationship with the Libertarian Party. I’m going to be speaking at the California Libertarian Party convention. I think it’s next week or maybe in a couple of weeks. And, we’re talking about me talking about me speaking in New York.”

How can the Libertarian Party put up with someone who oppresses poor, innocent businesses with his environmentalist activism?

RKFJr himself:

“Yeah, well, we are talking to the Libertarian Party, and I feel very comfortable with, with most of the values Libertarian Party,” Kennedy said. “We have good relationships. I’m talking regularly to libertarian groups. So we’ll continue to do those talks.”

 

[lpetrich]

Trump risks backlash as MAGA world zeroes in on Taylor Swift | The Hill

Former President Trump’s supporters are going after Taylor Swift amid chatter about whether the superstar could wade into the 2024 election with a coveted endorsement for President Biden.

Conservatives in both traditional media and social media have been launching conspiracy theories against the pop superstar, something that ramped up after The New York Times reported that the Biden campaign was actively hoping for her endorsement.

Trump, who is usually not shy about speaking his opinion, so far has stayed out of the fray, though Rolling Stone reported this week that the former president’s allies are pledging a “holy war” against Swift, especially if she sides with Democrats in November.

Vivek Ramaswamy:

“I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month,” Ramaswamy wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall.”

He seems to believe that the Biden Admin wants to fix some upcoming games to give TS's bf a higher profile by his team winning.

But other people in the broader MAGA world have also been weighing in, including fringe figures such as Laura Loomer and Jack Lombardi, as well as more mainstream personalities such as Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, who warned Swift not to “get involved in politics.”

 

[lpetrich]

Is Trump trying to lose? | The Hill

I don’t have hard evidence, but I keep thinking Donald Trump must be a mole, that he must be an undercover agent working for the other side. I don’t mean Putin and the Kremlin. I mean Biden and the Democrats.

Then noting how Donald Trump seemed like a very sore winner in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Take his victory speech in New Hampshire. He won by 11 points. But instead of being happy about it, instead of trying to unify the party and win over undecided voters, he threatened to exile anyone who wouldn’t kiss his ring.

“I said I can go up and I can say to everybody, ‘Oh, thank you for the victory. It’s wonderful,’” Trump told his supporters. “Or I can go up and say, ‘Who the hell was the impostor that went up on the stage before and, like, claimed a victory?’ She [Nikki Haley] did very poorly, actually.”

And then, sounding a little like Richard Nixon when the walls started closing in, he added, “I don’t get too angry. I get even.”

In Iowa, he had said, “We’re going to make this country so successful again, I’m not going to have time for retribution.” Really? Then what does “I get even” mean?

His sore winning extended to posting on Truth Social that “Nikki ‘Birdbrain’ Haley is very bad for the Republican Party and, indeed, our country.” and “Anybody that makes a ‘Contribution’ to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp. We don’t want them, and will not accept them.”

 

[lpetrich]

Why MAGA fears Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl | Salon.com by Amanda Marcotte

Nikki McCann Ramirez at the Rolling Stone documented how MAGA influencers kept claiming the Super Bowl is "the Democrats’ Taylor Swift election interference psyop" and the Super Bowl is "totally scripted" to "elect Joe Biden WW3 will likely follow in a 2nd Biden term and millions will die.

noting Taylor Swift Targeted by Conspiracies Over Chiefs Super Bowl Trip
[/quote]
In response, long-standing conspiracy theories around the NFL’s “scriptwriting” for football seasons clashed with right-wing conspiracy theorists claiming Swift’s involvement with Kelce is part of a deep state plot to gin up support for President Joe Biden in the 2024 election. The result is as ugly as it is stupid.
[/quote]
Back to AM's article.

Soon, the nonsense manifested on Fox News, which knows how to validate the lunacy, but in a soft-pedaled way that can sound less delusional on its surface than the crap on social media.

Aaron Rupar on X: "Fox News is devoting a segment to attacking Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. Bold strategy, Cotton! (vid link)" / X

Decoding Fox News on X: "During a discussion about Taylor Swift Greg Gutfeld seemed to think ABORTION is some type of slur. It's not. ABORTION has been a losing issue for Republicans all over the country even in deeply red states. A majority of Republican voters in NH supported keeping ABORTION legal. (vid link)" / X

Fox competitor OAN, however, feels no need to sound more respectable. They aired a segment Monday with a host claiming that sports "are nothing but a psyop," to get "kids plugged into the cycle of going to public indoctrination camps, playing sports at their schools, and going to games." She used the word "brainwashed" repeatedly and complained that it was a distraction from following Jesus.

Ron Filipkowski on X: "OAN host says it makes sense for Biden to have Taylor Swift date Travis Kelce in a massive deep state psy op, because sports in general starting at the youth level is also used to brainwash kids when they should be focused on Jesus instead. (vid link)" / X

That reminds me of "Allston Wheat's Crusade" in John Kenneth Galbraith's 1963 book "The McLandress Dimension". The titular character tries to prove that team sports are Communist because they glorify the group at the expense of the individual.

“America is a country of team sports. We must see these sports for what they are. They are brainwashing stations for individualism. They are training schools for collectivism, socialism, authoritarianism, and totalitarianism.”

 

[Shadowy Man]

But don’t you dare disrespect these sports by kneeling during the national anthem!!

 

[lpetrich]

Why MAGA fears Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl | Salon.com

The Swift hatred resembles the argument that cults and other high-control groups make to their followers: cut off all contact with the outside world, abandon everything that gives you joy and pleasure, and dedicate your entire life to the cult's ideology. ... Paranoia and alienation are a cult leader's best friends. After all, if the followers discover people outside the group are normal and happy, they might start questioning the cult leader and seeking ways to escape. So it's best to make them afraid to even look out of their own windows.

For the older white reactionaries who make up the bulk of the Republican base, the couple is a focal point for their outrage at younger white people for being more open-minded and progressive than their elders. The rage has gone into overdrive with the two hooking up, however, as if these young lovers have no right to be together. It's another way the MAGA media operates by cult logic. High control groups often take a negative attitude toward romantic autonomy. Leaders will tell disciples who they are and are not allowed to date. They often escalate to picking spouses for members or forcibly breaking up their relationships. So it's no surprise that attitude is being projected outward, onto these celebrities in a very public romance.

Taylor Swift gets it: Cats are better than (some) men | Salon.com
Author Amanda Marcotte confesses that she is a woman who owns cats.

"Cat lady" has been aimed for decades at any woman who believes there's more to life than snagging a wedding band. Do you want a career? An education? A little fun in your youth? Your "punishment": To live alone with cats.

Taylor Swift's answer to the "cat lady" insult? Don't threaten me with a good time.

 

[lpetrich]

Men who feel threatened by Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Barbie deserve to feel bad | Salon.com

Let's get one thing out of the way first. There is one reason that women like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift dominated pop culture in 2023: They are excellent at what they do. There was no feminist conspiracy to put women at the top of the charts. Nor was some mysterious matriarchy forcing movie-goers to pack theaters for showings of "Barbie." Women just happened to make the best pop culture of the year so they were rewarded for it with money, as per the traditions of our capitalist system. It turns out that if you take away sexist constraints on their creativity, a lot of women are very good at producing art that the masses enjoy. There's nothing sinister going on, beyond artists creating and audiences loving them for it.

Last year, women made music and movies, and even more women opened their wallets to show appreciation. To some, 2023 was a sure sign that we must be facing the male apocalypse. And the "What about men" whining isn't just coming from the usual right-wing grifters, like Ben Shapiro or Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., who peddle "war on men" lies for profit and political power. Christine Emba of the Washington Post ended out 2023 with an op-ed framing the success of female-centric pop culture in 2023 as a "danger" to the men of America.

"[T]here are consequences to ignoring the other sex," Emba warns, lamenting how many women "rejoiced in caring much less about male desires." If women are going to be so independent, she asks, "where, then, do those men end up?"

"What should they be doing in the meantime?" she pleads on behalf of those allegedly abandoned men.

GOP dudes are big mad at Taylor Swift for reminding them that the ladies don't like them | Salon.com

There was one group of people, however, that displayed alarmingly over-the-top anger at this low-stakes celebrity hookup: Right wing dudes on the internet. They're so mad you'd think their own wives left them for Kelce, and not some singer-songwriter they've never met.

...
"Taylor Swift's Popularity Is A Sign Of Societal Decline," reads an overheated headline at the Federalist. In the article, Mark Hemingway complains Swift is training young women to expect too much from men they date, and that unmarried 29-year-olds are fooling themselves about when they say they're happy.

Right-wing media use Travis Kelce’s relationship Taylor Swift to further their crusades against COVID vaccines and Bud Light | Media Matters for America

Deranged Right-Wing Grifters Are Declaring Taylor Swift Ugly

 

[lpetrich]

It's a good thing most women don't want to date Trump voters | Salon.com

It's an amusing truth that comes up with regularity: Men who love Donald Trump struggle on the dating market. This is neither surprising nor regrettable. Supporting Trump is much like refusing to bathe, blowing your nose in your hands or farting loudly on purpose. It's a repugnant habit that makes you repulsive to normal people. The whole point of dating and marriage is to find happiness, not to spend the rest of one's days suffering in silence while the racist you live with cackles over Greg Gutfeld's latest hateful diatribe disguised as "comedy."

This should be common sense. Yet our sexist culture remains too enamored by stories of female self-sacrifice to accept that it's just fine if Trump voters never get laid. Even people who really should know better have taken to bullying liberal women for their refusal to date male Trump voters.

Taylor Swift, Stanley cups and a brewing backlash to MAGA's sexist snobbery | Salon.com

But let's face it: The Taylor Swift thing is not helping Republicans. For those remaining 7 people still unaware, there's been a growing amount of Republican hate towards the beloved singer-songwriter and her beau, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. They're mad that she is an unashamed cat lady, that she's more interested in being a superstar than a housewife, and, of course, that she is a Biden-endorsing liberal. But mostly the right is mad that Swift and her fans crush the stereotype that cat-loving feminists are ugly and unloved. This is why the fury metastasized over the weekend when Swift kissed her hunky boyfriend on the field after his big win.

Fox News went ape with outrage at this young (ish) love. Trump got involved, pathetically lying by saying he's "more popular" than Swift while his allies dramatically declared "holy war" on her. ... Most people, however, did not react how Republicans had hoped, by deciding they now hate Swift. Instead, they were grossed out by the misogyny. As popular sports commentator Colin Cowherd said in a viral video this week, the hate is coming from "weird, lonely, insecure men" who "are often misogynistic and resent women."

 

[lpetrich]

Taylor Swift, Stanley cups and a brewing backlash to MAGA's sexist snobbery | Salon.com

Starting in 2014 with "Gamergate," an online harassment campaign against women in the gaming industry, Trump advisor Steve Bannon has championed the idea that misogynist tantrums in the face of "girl power" pop culture would attract young male voters to the GOP. That's why there's this targeted GOP hate at everything from Cardi B's hit songs to the "Barbie" movie.

As Adam Serwer recently wrote in the Atlantic, Republicans hope the overt misogyny is "a way to expand their base of support beyond the core of white Christian conservatives," by reaching some men of color and non-religious men. The strategy has had some success, especially in radicalizing angry young men by blaming feminism rather than their own hygiene/video game addictions for their romantic failures. But what Bannon and his crew failed to account for is that women can also vote, and they are getting increasingly angry about this crap.

It doesn't help that these misogynist pile-ons are happening against a backdrop of rising frustration from women over being overworked and underappreciated. ... The pandemic exposed how much the nation still relies on women's unpaid labor to keep the economy running. The thanks women got for holding things together, however, were abortion bans and a cascade of media stories demanding that women settle for unsatisfying marriages so men don't have to suffer the indignities of wifelessness. The injustice of it all is getting harder to ignore.

There is indeed a split.

 

[lpetrich]

Young women trend far more liberal than young men: survey | The Hill
noting
Young Women Voters Are More Liberal Than Young Men, Change Research Poll Finds | Teen Vogue
Numbers are precentages

• Women: Prog 41, Lib 23, Mod 13, Lbt 4, Con 11, MAGA 3, NA 6
• Men: Prog 24, Lib 15, Mod 14, Lbt 13, Con 18, MAGA 11, NA 4
• Trans, NB: Prog 75, Lib 11, Mod 4, Con 3, NA 7

Progressive, Liberal, Moderate, Libertarian, Conservative, MAGA, Not Applicable

Who to vote for?

• Women: Biden 65, Trump 25
• Men: Biden 43, Trump 41
• Trans, NB: Biden 84, Trump 7

Abortion:

• Women: always legal 56, mostly illegal 10
• Men: always legal 39, mostly illegal 28
• Trans, NB: always legal 80

"Men are more likely to vote for a candidate with whom they disagree on the issue of abortion, while women, trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people are more likely to say they wouldn’t vote for a candidate who holds a different view on abortion than they do."

Men and women share YouTube as a favorite platform, but women favor Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok more than men by considerable margins.

... men most commonly report listening to The Joe Rogan Experience and The Ben Shapiro Show, while women favor the New York Times’s The Daily and Ira Glass’s This American Life. Not only are women less likely to listen to Joe Rogan, 55% think listening to him is a red flag in a potential partner.

Women's green flags:

... potential partners who read, research the best deals and rates before buying, and say Black Lives Matter. ... prospective partners who look better in person (51%), take candid pictures (50%), and identify as liberal (39%).

Men's green flags:

... prospective partner to read, research best deals and rates before buying, and look better in person. ... to say there are only two genders (46%), own a gun (46%), not be on social media (44%), prefer cow milk over nondairy milk (42%), and identify as conservative (35%).

Women's red flags:

... identify as a MAGA Republican, have no hobbies, say All Lives Matter, say there are only two genders, and are so unbothered they never ask for details.

Men's red flags:

... identify as communist, have no hobbies, identify as a MAGA Republican, are so unbothered they never ask for details, are into astrology, and say All Lives Matter.

 

[lpetrich]

A new global gender divide is emerging - "Young men and young women’s world views are pulling apart. The consequences could be far-reaching"

Young women are more in the progressive direction than young men in several nations, not just in the US: 30%. In Germany, also 30%, in the UK, 25%, in Poland, around 30%, judging from who backed the hard-right Confederation Party. Also in South Korea, China, and Tunisia.

"The clear progressive-vs-conservative divide on sexual harassment appears to have caused — or at least is part of — a broader realignment of young men and women into conservative and liberal camps respectively on other issues." Like immigration and racial justice. Relative to their elders, who are much the same, women have moved leftward while men have stayed still.

"It would be easy to say this is all a phase that will pass, but the ideology gaps are only growing, and data shows that people’s formative political experiences are hard to shake off."

 

[Swammerdami]

I regard Taylor Swift as a genius and genuine heroine.

Right-wingers object that young people take political cues from Taylor Swift? What dolts! What hypocrites! Do they seriously think the million-dollar snarls and lies that Tucker Carlson produces are more worthy? Ms. Swift is a creative genius and there's no reason to suspect she's insincere. I would applaud anyone who takes their political cues from someone like Taylor Swift! Yes, some people take their cues from MTG or Alex Jones -- What lunacy!

I see that some worry about a poll suggesting 50% would follow Swift's cues, and 50% the opposite! First, almost any question in this era of Lunacy will get a 50-50 readout. Gopsters uncertain whether the Sun rises in the East or the West will answer 'West' when they learn that liberals think the Sun rises in the East.

But more relevantly, young people really will turn out in higher numbers, even if only slightly higher, because Taylor asked them to. The nitwits who hate Taylor, now hate almost everyone including themselves. Whether they bother to vote or not has nothing to do with Taylor.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Upthread I noticed an optimist saying Biden won in 2020 and will probably win again. But people overlook that The 2020 Presidential Election was one of the very closest elections in all of history! Yes, Biden led in the popular vote by 4.5%, but that's irrelevant in the U.S. system. The GOP still has their big electoral college happenstance advantage.

And there's a real risk that Haley will replace Trump as the candidate; Haley would probably outperform Trump at the ballot-box. I don't think the Democrats have anyone who would clearly outperform Biden.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Young women trend far more liberal than young men: ...

Who to vote for?

• Women: Biden 65, Trump 25
• Men: Biden 43, Trump 41
• Trans, NB: Biden 84, Trump 7

Women's green flags:

... potential partners ... say Black Lives Matter. ...

Men's green flags:

... prospective partner ... to say there are only two genders (46%), own a gun (46%), ... prefer cow milk over nondairy milk (42%),

Big differences!

In the olden days, people focused on seeking better lives for family and friends, so the goals of men and women were aligned. Now people's emotions are driven by social media jerks, and it is emotions and inchoate hatreds that determine voting. Men and women have different emotional natures. As I reported earlier, some men will vote for Trump because they expect a Trump term to be "fun and exciting ... like a TV show."

 

[Swammerdami]

Is Trump trying to lose? | The Hill

I don’t have hard evidence, but I keep thinking Donald Trump must be a mole, that he must be an undercover agent working for the other side. I don’t mean Putin and the Kremlin. I mean Biden and the Democrats.

This reminds me of this old cartoon:

 

[Harry Bosch]

Taylor Swift talking politics with her parents.

That was powerful.

 

[Elixir]

I thought Jared Kushner already solved Mideast peace?

I'm sure he's very much at peace with the $2,000,000,000.00 he grifted for not calling out MBS for murdering Khashoggi.

 

[Shadowy Man]

I thought Jared Kushner already solved Mideast peace?

I'm sure he's very much at peace with the $2,000,000,000.00 he grifted for not calling out MBS for murdering Khashoggi.

That’s all he had to do for the $2B???

 

[Elixir]

I thought Jared Kushner already solved Mideast peace?

I'm sure he's very much at peace with the $2,000,000,000.00 he grifted for not calling out MBS for murdering Khashoggi.

That’s all he had to do for the $2B???

That, plus assurances that he could keep his FIL from saying anything bad about the Murder Prince. A small price to pay for not becoming a global pariah.

 

[ZiprHead]

I thought Jared Kushner already solved Mideast peace?

I'm sure he's very much at peace with the $2,000,000,000.00 he grifted for not calling out MBS for murdering Khashoggi.

That’s all he had to do for the $2B???

That, plus assurances that he could keep his FIL from saying anything bad about the Murder Prince. A small price to pay for not becoming a global pariah.

It was rumored it was JK that gave the list of power players in SA that could threaten the murder prince's regime.