They're the people who constantly chirp about "colonization" without really having any understanding of it. Same goes with genocide. They also tend to not vote. Or if they do, it's on quixotic 3rd party votes. Oh, and they're usually affluent.
What is a bit confusing is it makes total sense for Dem voting blocs to use their influence over the administation to get policy changes - they have no influence over a Trump regime. So far so good and normal big tent politics. What makes no sense is to try to defeat your own president.
So i listened to Matt Yglesias to get out of my bubble and he remains an insufferable jerk His main thesis is Biden is unpopular because he went too far to the left, and that if only he had been a centrist, then he'd be winning. This strikes me as a remarkable naive and self serving take seeing Yglesias positions himself as the contrarian centrist that supposedly represents the critical voting block of the country.
OK so I listened to PSA analysis so you don't have to - and it was interesting. 1. There are a % of pal community who have lost family in palestine - those people are likely lost. 2. There was an organised movement to register a protest via non-committed vote - which is actually a grown up and democratic thing to do in the big tent. They want to show the size of their support to get policy change. This is fine and great. We'd all like to see policy change 3. Some of these people are likely dead enders. 4. The rest seem to want to trade their support for tangible wins 5. It's a mistake to think they are all muslims - many are young people 6. The result was not enough to trouble Biden hugely, but also he can't ignore it.
Where these guys constantly miss the boat is there is simply very little evidence that passing popular legislation improves the presidents popularity. Biden actually passed a crazy amount of popular stuff and it didn't move the needle at all. Also - how exactly is he supposed to pass centrist legislation when the House refuses to pass anything?
Sarah Longwell thinks Nikki Haley going full Leeroy Jenkins is delivering big value to Biden in terms of who/what to target for Novemeber. Basically the GOP is now two parties in a strange coalition under one roof. 70% of GOP voters think Trump won in 2020. The rest know he lost, and Haley wins that demo by Saddam Hussein numbers. Too long didn't listen; Michigan showed there is about 27% of GOP voters who don't like Trump, want someone else etc - many in key urban/suburban areas. While many will come home to team elephant, it is large enough to create opportunities for Joe to persuade them, or to demobilise them Basically trump may be quite a bit weaker than in '20
While he is factually wrong about Biden, if you focus on the perception, then he provides insight. The perception that many centrists have is that Biden did go too far left, the economy is suffering, inflation is rampant, etc. They have this perception because they either hear it from Fox News directly or, more importantly, because their friends and co-workers who listen to Fox News repeat those talking points. It doesn't matter that it is not true. I provided an example a few weeks ago after speaking with my neighbor, an African-American man who works for the military. He was talking about inflation being rampant, the economy struggling, etc. When I presented the actual facts, he told me about the conversations he has had with coworkers and what they are saying. In my opinion it's the perceptions, not necessarily the facts, that are important when trying to figure out what is happening.
He certainly is in many ways, but so is Biden (specifically because of his age, even though he is still mentally sharp). The question is not so much is the orange idiot weaker per se, but has he become disproportionately weaker than Biden? I'm not convinced of that yet (I'm sure to the surprise of no one).
For me it's simple, Biden would lose more votes pushing to cut off aid to Israel. And there is an alternative candidate for people who feel strongly about that. There is no alternative candidate for the other position.
To your response, specifically regarding what you quoted, those are not the only options. There is the ceasefire demands. Along with reducing, but not ending, aid. There is also the kind of aid Israel receives. There is the level of aid, what kind, and how it is given, to the Palestinians. And, of course, what does "now" mean if a ceasefire has been in place for 3 or 4 or 5 months when late October/early November rolls around? I think most of us here want a ceasefire "now," but we've been around the block and know that it takes time to get that accomplished. Because getting a ceasefire is complicated.
I meant no other options in terms of candidates. Trump will be less willing to work out a solution for the Palestinians. But I certainly don't put any faith in Biden's cease fire efforts unless he starts talking about pulling or qualifying aid.
And this is probably Biden's biggest issue right now. Perception is completely out of line with reality and, so far, Americans have been extremely resistant to altering their perception.
I can't stand her but that is great material for the Biden campaign to use this year. As an aside, I can't see how she can ever endorse TFG either. She is dead for MAGA. Nikki Haley said all of former President Donald Trump’s legal cases should be “dealt with” before the presidential election, NBC News reports. Said Haley: “I think all of the cases should be dealt with before November. We need to know what’s going to happen before it, before the presidency happens, because after that, should he become president, I don’t think any of it’s going to get heard.”
“President Joe Biden will advocate plans to increase taxes on the wealthy and corporations as well as to lower prescription drug prices in his State of the Union address next week, in what aides describe as an effort to lay out second term proposals for protecting and implementing his economic agenda,” Bloomberg reports.
Money will not be an issue for the Biden campaign this Summer and Fall.... Bloomberg: “Groups allied with Biden have already committed to spending more than $700 million to help him beat Donald Trump in the 2024 election… That’s in addition to the $130 million his campaign reported having on hand at the start of February.” “Trump’s financial situation, by comparison, is starting to show cracks. His campaign spent more than it raised in January and allied political action committees are spending millions on his legal defense that would otherwise go to reelection efforts. The Republican National Committee’s fundraising also lags behind its Democratic counterpart.” “On top of that, Trump’s personal finances may be strained after court orders to pay a combined $540 million in damages from both a civil fraud suit and a defamation case.”