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I'm throwing another "Calm the Fudge Down" Diary on the pile [1]

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Date: 2024-06-29  

I lurk and comment here frequently, but I rarely “diary”, as I don’t really want to invest the effort in writing and posting the diary, then reading and possibly even responding to a deluge of comments, positive or negative (some fraction of which are presumably coming from trolls), and I’m at a point in my life where I tend to abhor attention-seeking. If anything I prefer to avoid drawing attention to myself. I’ve been at this site since 2005, but this is my first “diary” since one I did about taxes in 2017 and before that I hadn’t “diaried” since 2006. Against my better judgement, I am actually moved today by the insane and hysterical overreactions to the “debate” fiasco to make my voice heard as an advocate for calmness, reason, rationality, optimism, and positive action (and against panic, demoralization and defeatism). I admit that I deliberately chose not to watch the “debate”, and I was absolutely vindicated in my decision to tune it out, as it was every bit the shit show I expected it to be. I mean, CNN and Trump, amirite? What did you expect after that abominable “town hall” they gave him?

More generally, I stopped watching American political “debates” many years ago, unless we are talking about an open Democratic presidential primary. I watched several of the 2020 Dem primary debates, as I was legit undecided in that primary. I saw Joe Biden turn in some very poor performances in those debates too, but since he’d already locked up the nomination before I had a chance to vote for Elizabeth Warren, I voted for him in my state’s primary instead to show solidarity with the presumptive nominee of the party that best aligns with my interests and values. In a general election, I have never based my voting decision on what I saw in a “debate”, and I never felt that I learned anything or had my mind changed about any issue or candidate or political party by watching one. They aren’t even really “debates” in any meaningful, legitimate sense, and they haven’t been in a VERY long time. They’re shouting contests, always pandering to the lowest common denominator, and in the Trump era they’re even more worthless than usual as Trump’s flavor of Gish Gallop is an order of magnitude worse than the GOP standard. A total stream of consciousness, a barrage of lies bearing no relation whatsoever to the “questions” being asked. Modern American “debates” are more like WWE “smackdown” events; fodder for committed partisans to score “gotcha” points against each other and little else. They’re meant to entertain more than inform, and their net “value-add” to American civic life is negative. I defy anyone to argue that point with a straight face.

In the modern age of polarization and negative partisanship, I feel confident in assuming that virtually no one is basing their voting decision on what they saw in one of these media circuses. Before the debate and after the debate, I’m still voting a straight Democratic ticket. The viewership of this debate was way down from the 2020 debates. This should come as no surprise since the candidates are such known quantities and I’m deeply skeptical that there are really as many “undecideds” as our illustrious polling industry seems to think there are among people who will actually show up to vote. On the one hand, the low viewership is a positive because it may imply that more and more people are tuning out our increasingly pro-fascist garbage legacy media and (hopefully) thinking for themselves. On the other hand, low viewership could also be a negative as people who didn’t actually watch the “debate” firsthand are having their “opinions” formed by pundit reactions and lazy media narratives. For that reason, I almost wish I HAD watched the debate so I could see firsthand what all the fuss was about and form my own opinion as opposed to forming impressions based on gaslighting media narratives. As far as I can tell, the main downside of Biden’s bad debate performance is that it has at least temporarily resurrected the “Biden too old” narrative. Looking on the bright side, the fact that this is the best criticism of the Biden administration anyone can seem to come up with underscores how well he’s done as POTUS. An unintended consequence of this narrative is that (if you believe the polls, which I don’t) Biden is suddenly winning “old” voters, who also happen to be the most reliable voters. Everyone is always underestimating Joe Biden at their own peril.

The bottom line for me is that I’m in my early 40s and Joe Biden has easily been the best president of my lifetime (including Obama). His stellar performance in office, the accumulated wisdom from his long career in government, and his success in defeating Trump in 2020 has earned him considerable good will and benefit of the doubt with me. I grew up in a mixed political family (almost an anachronism now), but I’ve been a straight party-line Democratic voter my entire voting life. I figured out VERY early on which party aligned with my interests and values. I voted for Al Gore in my first election in 2000. I vote my preferences in primaries and I support the party that aligns with my interests and values in general elections. Republican voters learned this kind of strategic discipline a long time ago.

One bad “debate” performance does not constitute evidence that Joe is suddenly incapable of doing the job now or for the next four years. But even if it did, I don’t care, because that’s what VP Harris is for! Trump was totally incompetent and corrupt as POTUS and did incalculable long-term damage to the US and to the free world, but he was enabled by his party in doing so because he advanced his party’s agenda, and in spite of all the corruption and incompetence, the US government more or less continued to function as normal and life went on more or less as normal (except for that whole COVID thing). His second term “revenge tour” would be nothing like the first term that too many people are now viewing through nostalgia-addled, rose-colored glasses. They (the GOP) are promising an authoritarian fascist takeover, crowning THAT fucking guy king, and ending American democracy in all but name. That’s really the ONLY important issue for this election. If we as a country make the mistake of letting Trump or the GOP (but I repeat myself) anywhere near power again we may not get another chance to course-correct at the ballot box; nonviolent solutions will be rapidly closed off. The single most important thing in this election is to keep a Democrat in the WH; for the courts more than almost anything else, and secondarily to control one or preferably both houses of congress. For the time being I remain convinced that supporting the incumbent Democratic president for reelection gives us the best chance to do that. If Joe Biden becomes convinced to withdraw by people who actually have the party’s interests at heart, then I will be more than happy to support some other nominee, and I am always open to changing my opinions based on new evidence. But until I see such evidence, I’m in the same place I was before the “debate”. The chorus of shrieking pundits demanding Biden’s withdrawal in bad faith will only grow louder for a bit, but fuck ‘em. The inevitability narrative surrounding Trump is a standard tool in the fascist’s playbook. Ignore it.

We have the power to change the story, we simply have to use it, and have the discipline and patience to play the long game. For me that means ignoring the pundits and withdrawing our attention and $$ from pro-fascist legacy “mainstream” media and doing the work (GOTV, organizing, face-to-face conversations and persuasion with our friends, family, neighbors, strangers) to create our own reality on election day when a landslide Democratic victory blows the punditocracy’s false narrative up in their faces. Instead, let’s keep calm, keep our eyes on the prize, USE OUR CRITICAL THINKING AND BULLSHIT DETECTION SKILLS, and win the fucking election.

Finally, let’s all remember to keep our eye out for common concern-trolling tactics. Virtually all liberal political websites were absolutely flooded with bad-faith concern trolls during and after the “debate”. These are psy-ops. Most of their tactics boil down to something like:



“I’m a Biden supporter, but perception is reality and facts, truth, history, context, morality, and logic don’t matter at all to Republicans or to ANY of the voters who will decide the election, therefore we all need to simultaneously pander to everyone’s delusions, soft-pedal our own beliefs and principles, NEVER try to actually hold Trump accountable because that only makes him stronger, generally remain in a state of debilitating, incapacitating panic at all times, abandon our leaders at the first sign of trouble, give in to defeatism, fatalism, hopelessness, despair, and basically just give up the fight because resistance is futile...”

Let’s learn to recognize and ignore bad-faith concern trolls like these. The first step toward winning a war is recognizing that you’re in one.

[END]
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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/29/2249771/-I-m-throwing-another-Calm-the-Fudge-Down-Diary-on-the-pile?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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