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Why is Kamala Harris being held at such a higher standard than Trump this election?

It feels like Harris has to run a damn near flawless campaign just to BARELY beat this guy. Yeah you can bring up the current state of the country, but Trump mishandled COVID, there were over 200k deaths, BLM protest and was 2x impeached. And yet, Joe Biden BARELY beat him.

Trump is a convicted felon, liable sexual predator, caused an insurrection on the Capitol Hill, tried to steal the 2020 election (find me 11,000 votes), constantly kisses Russia’s ass, has more pending court cases and gets sentenced next month and overall has been the main driving factor in America’s division.

Yet, this race is STILL either 50/50 or a slight tilt (Harris leads the polling aggregate right now). Harris gets destroyed by the corporate media for almost anything, yet Trump is still lying and saying the most outlandish shit and nobody cares.

Why does it feel standards are much higher for Harris than Trump?

daniyeg , (edited )

honestly aside from explicitly right wing outlets, I don’t see any particular bias against harris. most outlets will almost alway criticize trump on everything while most of the time they praise harris and sometimes they criticise her on her more progression policies (because most of the media tilts fiscal conservative). it’s rather more of a perceptions of the audience thing. trump has done so many outlandish shit that now most of his bullshit gets filtered out as noise.

also i don’t wanna be mean but the question “Why does it feel standards are much higher for Harris than Trump?” sounds like it’s coming from an agitated"vote blue no matter who" democrat who is baffled about why would people not vote for the obviously better candidate.

there are a lot of reasons as you said “this race is STILL either 50/50 or tilt Trump”. maybe it’s because she’s black or female and there are a lot of racist and misogynists out there, maybe it’s because of the electoral college, maybe it’s because of the hold the MAGA cult has over its members, or maybe it’s because harris is refusing to stop arming and helping a genocide and that is turning people off.

the Harris campaign right now can only change one of these factors. even if you plan on voting, lie on the polls and organise and protest against the genocide because if enough people do this to force the hand of the Harris campaign then it wouldn’t be a close race at all.

BadmanDan OP ,

I disagree on the genocide. I’d love for Biden to stop cucking to Israel, but I don’t think that’s nearly a big enough issue to sway polling fully in Harris’ favor. I’ve yet to see a single focus group video or cross tab where Gaza was a major issue for these voters.

KillingTimeItself ,

I’ve yet to see a single focus group video or cross tab where Gaza was a major issue for these voters.

and even if it is a major issue for them, the vast majority of them are going to concede that issue at any cost.

KillingTimeItself ,

or maybe it’s because harris is refusing to stop arming and helping a genocide and that is turning people off.

in terms of this argument, i don’t understand why i never see I/P people talking about russia and ukraine. Russia has lost upwards of 300,000 people in the war effort alone, an entire magnitude more than Palestinian deaths. Most of these being random people conscripted out of nowhere.

Do we not care about the lives or russians or something? Is this covert racism? Are we just politically tuned into only I/P because modern progressives have only the brain space for one single conflict? (and i don’t blame them, i don’t have time for I/P either lmao)

They literally only talk about I/P and it’s so confusing to me, do they go outside or anything? It seems like thats the only thing they care about?

Arbiter ,

Because Trump being an asshole has stopped being a novel newsworthy event.

Professorozone ,

Can’t believe you are asking this now. In the 70s, I don’t believe any of these yokels would have been elected. Lauren Beaubert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Trump, they’ve all done things and said things that are so far over the line, it isn’t even funny. Nixon? Please, he would be small potatoes today.

Why? Gerrymandering. Social Media. Lack of critical thinking skills. A sense of hopelessness. Apathy. Billionaire brainwashing. The list goes on. The strange thing is, conservatives want to go back to the way things were. For them that means when women had to go to back alleys to get abortions, when gays were stoned, when blacks weren’t allowed to vote. For me it means when people didn’t justify these ridiculous notions, but instead just said, “No!”

BadmanDan OP ,

It’s wild that Trump has done things far worse than watergate, and still got the nomination.

Professorozone ,

It is. The world is stranger than I could possibly ever have imagined. Sometimes I play a thought game. What if I had to explain this to, an alien.

“Yes, this is how it works. Are you going to destroy us now? Yeah, we probably deserve this.”

shalafi ,

My game is explaining this to my dad who died in the mid-80s. Cannot even summon words.

Angry_Autist ,

It’s not wild, it’s the GOP plan since Nixon got nabbed.

Drumpf just happened to have that crazy crowd draw, so they yoked their hopes that he would be the first king of America, and disregarded everything else to forward that goal.

Cheetolini could eat a baby live on national television and his numbers would barely dip.

barsquid ,

I don’t think they took him willingly, since he is a narcissistic moron. I think they were stuck with him when he managed to win over the far right radicals they have been grooming for decades. He is a racist schoolyard bully making their enemies angry, that’s all they care about.

lurch ,

conservatives aren’t conservative any more. they are radically backwards. the things they want are so far back, they don’t even want democracy any more. i don’t really have a say in that, but maybe the time has come to stop calling them conservative.

kautau ,

Yeah there was a long time ago when conservatives voted to protect national parks. These aren’t those times

SkyNTP ,

They are “regressives”.

derpgon ,

I call them “degeneratives”. They are both degenerated, and want others to degenerate Atwell.

Disgracefulone ,

Atwell can’t be degenerated. his regeneration power is far too great (at least in the comics.). /s

shalafi ,

I’m conservative vs. most of lemmy and damned if I’ll vote anything but straight D right down to dogcatcher. I wouldn’t vote for an R even if I liked them! The message must be sent. Even if it’s a loss, your vote ends up as a percentage on a spreadsheet. It is still seen.

bradorsomething ,

I know, as a conservative I get everything I asked for in the 1990’s by voting mainstream Democrat now. The parties can change all they want, I vote my views.

Deceptichum ,
@Deceptichum@quokk.au avatar

Yeah sadly American has no left wing party, just a right and far right.

Naz ,

That’s a hell of a vacuous argument. Would you rather get seen outside of a window or let into the store?

Nobody gives a shit about the non-voting numbers or third party ballots, if anything, their response is negative, not positive: They claim people aren’t exercising their right to vote, or that someone has “spoiled the election”.

Meanwhile, those aligned to parties are forming orderly queues and voting consistently.

Which strategy do you think is more effective, from a political science and historical perspective?

barsquid ,

Yes. Dems are conservatives. Repubs are regressives.

Corkyskog ,

It’s what the radical far left has been saying all along lol

KillingTimeItself ,

i really wish more conservatives would accept this, or at the very least not back trump even a little bit, the dude who literally tried to overthrow the election, they throw so much bullshit at dems and dem controlled cities, but have literally no evidence other than “BUT BUT BLM” and “well, they’re taxes are higher” which is literally meaningless.

themeatbridge ,

Conservatives are exactly the same as they have always been. It’s just that conservatives define their priorities and their values and priorities around their identity, and that means their values and priorities shift with whatever is best for the conservative at the time. There are no universally conservative values, just the generic resistance to change things conservatives like. When a conservative benefits from a strong federal government, they support it. When a conservative benefits from abortion, they support it. When a conservative is a minority, or gay, or a woman, they support equalish rights for themselves. It’s narcissism wearing the cloak of stoic preservation of their “heritage,” and it’s always paper-thin.

This also means anyone opposing the conservative is not a member of the self, but a member of the other. The other is evil, because they are outside of the self. Anything the other does in opposition to the self is evil. An other could save a busload of nuns and kittens, and the conservative would complain about the traffic caused by the other. Anything the self does in support of the self is good. Lying, cheating, stealing, killing, raping, everything is on the table if it can be justified in support or defense of the self. From the outside of the self, it looks like hypocrisy, but it’s really not, because the conservative never truly holds an opinion. They just say what they need to say to win.

Curious_Canid ,
@Curious_Canid@lemmy.ca avatar

The right wing has been actively working to undermine our educational system since the early 80’s. A poorly educated populace, particularly one without critical thinking skills, is much easier to manipulate. After four decades of underfunding, restrictive policies, and anti-intellectual propaganda, those efforts are really paying off.

Newt Gingrich and his co-conspirators have been waging war against the people of this country since Reagan was elected. And they are now dangerously close to winning that war.

shalafi ,

I don’t think the attack on education was a long-term manipulation thing. Rather, it evolved from the question, “Why are all these educated people turning into liberals?!”

That question demands an answer. They can hardly let the appearance that they’re dumb stand! So guys like Limbaugh started attacking “ivory tower liberals”. That resonated, they rolled with it. Then the Christians saw the opportunity, got their filthy fingers into the cracks, started undermining public education in favor of their own.

postmateDumbass ,

MTG would have been right at home as a Dixiecrat.

She would have neen standing beside George Wallace.

Professorozone ,

If you say so. I’m more of an 80s person. All I know about George Wallace is that he was shot.

Etterra ,

They’re probably just young.

bitjunkie ,

Because what passes for journalism these days subsists on engagement metrics, and Harris doesn’t say crazy off-the-wall shit every 10 seconds.

Angry_Autist ,

Don’t forget ‘and are largely owned by old rich conservative white men with a vested interest in keeping a black woman who would raise their taxes out of office’.

MehBlah ,

No one hold trump to any standard. Thats what the trash like about him. He is just as shitty as them.

SSJMarx ,

It feels like Harris has to run a damn near flawless campaign just to BARELY beat this guy.

Welcome to gerrymandering. If America went by the actual majority consensus the Democrats would have controlled the presidency since 2009, and the House and Senate for about 50% of that time.

leaky_shower_thought ,

aside from great comments here, trump is associated with some religious imagery of having wings. even i can’t believe that flies.

nothing goes as tunnel vision as blind faith.

cdegallo ,

Because the media, which supplies political “information” to the masses (a) wants to sensationalize things for viewership/ratings and (b) is generally owned by extremely right/conservative/Republican entities and will not allow it to be a fair representation between the two candidates.

And more than that the MAGA side doesn’t campaign on or care about political policy because their base doesn’t know or care about policy, they campaign on hate and dirt and smear. So you could explain all the awesome policy of the other side until your throat is sore, they won’t care because policy is not their concern.

It’s funny to see the latest moanfest from Trump, claiming no-fair because he spent $100m campaigning against Biden and now that’s all a waste. That’s the thing. He/they aren’t campaigning for issues or policy, they are fighting against an individual. It’s all they know how to do and all their base really cares about.

Angry_Autist ,

Because most media companies are owned by rich conservative white men that don’t want a black woman into office that might raise their taxes.

It’s as simple as that.

exanime ,

Because, on Trump’s side, it’s a full blown cult.

Trump can literally poop his pants on national tv and eat a mouthful of shit and his acolytes would clap in unison

However, most people not deranged enough to worship a politician could/would be turned off if that politician, Kamala on our scenario, blatantly lies or makes fun of a disable person or rapes someone

Etterra ,

Okay so here’s dinner context you may be unaware of. I believe it was Newt Gingrich who either came up with or standardized the core modern republican propaganda pillar: Attack attack attack, always attack, never compromise, concede only if you have literally no choice, then attack harder. That’s why the left has slid so far center; they keep trying to compromise and the right will not budge. Now the Democrats look like the Republicans back in the 80s, which is why I call them Republicrats.

Meanwhile Dems are trying to hold themselves to at least some level of standard. Add to that that Trump and his kind are authoritarian; their psychology allows for no criticism of any kind, seeing them exclusively as attacks against them. So now you have not only GOP and Trump cultists jumping on every single thing they can as hard as they can, and the self-aware Democrats calling out what they perceive as bad. The Republicans won’t do that; they never attack their own side without orders from the top, which indicates to them that the target is out of favor with the leadership.

Tldr; because the Democrats refuse to accept that the Republicans can’t be beaten by playing nice.

KillingTimeItself ,

and the right will not budge. Now the Democrats look like the Republicans back in the 80s, which is why I call them Republicrats.

key distinction here, what the left needs to do is not to concede, but demonstrate moral superiority, and political strength. Conceding is the part that fucks us, and it also confuses the republicans when we don’t.

We just need to treat the republican rhetoric like it is, rather than real words actually being said, it’s mostly bullshit, ruthlessly destroy and deconstruct it, don’t leave them anything to stand on, they put themselves in this situation.

we should also probably consider focusing more on rhetoric and specifics, rather than individuals, ignoring extremes like trump. Trying not to alienate the moderate conservative is going to be a huge potential boon for the democratic party here. If we can demonstrate that we’re a real party that actually exists and does things for the public good, the republican party has no choice but to disintegrate.

BadmanDan OP ,

They kind of did that at the DNC.

KillingTimeItself ,

yes, and we need to lean into it more, and we need to lean into it harder. This is why the “weird” allegations work so well.

orcrist ,

Because the standards are relative to the voters, and Trump is appealing to a voting base that’s very big on misogyny and racism. That’s what they want out of their preferred candidate.

But in general, you need to look at redistricting, gerrymandering, voter suppression, all of the standard tactics that Republicans have effectively used to give themselves more weight in the presidential race. Of course the electoral college is part of the problem too. The low population red states are disproportionately represented. This has been going on for a century? Longer? The exact details have changed over time, but the general strategy is to change the rules or ignore the rules and hope you don’t get caught or if you do get caught rely on the courts backing you so that your party wins.

darthelmet ,

2 things:

  • Remember 2016 when the media gave Trump an absurd amount of free publicity by covering every stupid thing he said and did then he won? It wasn’t the only reason, but it clearly didn’t help.
  • People know who Trump is at this point. He’s awful in a way that’s really easy to see and either you’re someone that’s a problem for or you’re someone who loves the awful.

Whoever is the current corporate lackey being put forward by the DNC is the one that needs to claim to be the good one, co-opting the language of progressives while taking corporate money and maintaining the brutal status quo.

So for people who come looking for someone who’s gonna do good, the bad stuff represents inconsistencies with that narrative and despair at a lack of representation in a supposedly democratic system.

Azal ,

Remember 2016 when the media gave Trump an absurd amount of free publicity by covering every stupid thing he said and did then he won? It wasn’t the only reason, but it clearly didn’t help.

2016? Shit the press gave him all the free press when he was doing the birther shit with Obama.

KillingTimeItself ,

republicans have such a low media standard, while democrats have such a high media standard that they’re busy eating themselves over it.

republicans will literally run anybody living and breathing, democrats want the next FDR basically. Thankfully it seems like the dem party is finally moving away from this mostly useless social campaign bullshit, and more into the “broad political problems” shit which actually matters (the federal government is also way more functional from this perspective) if this continues, whether the dems win or lose this cycle, the dems will have a formidable and quite strong campaign machine. Once the media unfucks itself, which is bound to happen with how people are treating it (keep treating it like shit) we should have a pretty strong basis to run on.

It’s looking like the dems are building up a strong political base right now, at the expense of the republican party not existing, and as long as we don’t kill it, things will continue to get better.

Literally all we have to do, is capture the moderate voter, focus on popular policies rather than left leaning/dem policy shit. And then campaign on energy, rather than policy.

BadmanDan OP ,

Agreed, the key to victory this election will be the moderate voter.

KillingTimeItself ,

absolutely, the far progressive sect is so small and will likely vote in line anyway, they don’t really have much options. But the ability to pick up the moderates has vastly increased. Especially across the cities and midwest region, which are the most populous regions of the US.

niktemadur , (edited )

Because so many trump voters are low-information, rabid and impervious to fact and/or reason. They will vote orange even if he shoots someone on Fifth Avenue to death, or if there are 32-or-whatever felony indictments/verdicts.

Meanwhile, many potential Democrat voters are also low-information in their own way - impressionable, fickle and with little memory retention, they seem unable to act upon a clear and present danger until it punches them in the goddamned face (and by then of course it’s too late), somehow have normalized the orange threat and are easy prey to an algorithm pushing a “both parties are the same” divide-and-conquer propaganda.

The difference between a parasite-laden excrement chip cookie and a raisin oatmeal cookie, “But I wanted chocolate chip! bOtH cOoKiEs ArE tHe SaMe!”

BadmanDan OP ,

Very well said

Rhynoplaz ,
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