Neoliberal critics: Neoliberalism and bipartisan politics are so fucked that I'm willing to risk Trump retaking the White House and following through on pledges to:
1) establish internment camps for undocumented immigrants
2) abuse his power as retribution against anybody who has previously challenged him
3) appoint more judges and justices who think there should be no Constitutional protection for abortion and specifically appoint judges in the mold of Clarence Thomas
4) require federal employees to take a patriotism exam and be terminated if they refuse or fail
5) take legal action to have local district attorneys and their staff removed from office if they don't perform to his satisfaction
6) fire staff and disband college accreditation boards and pursue civil rights cases against schools that have affirmative action policies in place
6) withhold US aid to Ukraine to pressure Zelenskyy to make a deal with Putin
7) require that school principals be elected by parents each year
8) push for legislation that sentences any person convicted of selling drugs to be executed
9) pardon all defendants charged with participation in the Jan. 6, 2021 riots
10) investigate Comcast, NBC and MSNBC for treason
I could go on, but I won't.
Assuming Trump wins the Republican nomination, we have a binary choice: Either Trump retakes the White House and he attempts to fulfill as many of these promises as possible or Biden wins and doesn't attempt to do any of these things.
By all means, criticize Democrats and liberals. Heaven knows criticism is warranted. But please don't forget what's at stake if left-leaning folks provide the tipping point that makes Trump our next president.
@dangoodin maybe this is the opportunity for people to vote for third party candidates en mass?
uspol third party
I was open to the idea of a third party vote until I looked into how the Electoral College works in more detail. The winner must win a majority (270). If they can't get to a majority then it's thrown over to the House to decide. If a third party candidate takes enough EC votes to prevent Biden from winning a full majority then the House would give it to Trump is my guess. So I don't think it's a relevant option at this point.
uspol third party
@smitten This is an excellent point that I think is not widely understood. For a third party presidential candidate to take office (without having plurality support in Congress) they would have to beat both major party candidates *combined* in electoral college votes; essentially an impossibility.
If you actually want to see a third party be viable for the presidency then you have to start by winning many seats at other levels of government (or do away with the electoral college, which is also a long shot). @sbank @dangoodin
