What Is the Democratic Party For? 

Ranked Choice Voting, FTW. The People didn't choose these candidates; the Parties did.

I thought of Orwell's book 1984 when Trump told his followers not to believe what they saw and what they heard.

@@someguy2135 When did he do that? Was it after he told people to inject bleach or when he called Nazis "fine people?" Protip: He didn't say any of that.

Historian Heather Cox Richardson writes: Gish Gallop, "It's a rhetorical technique in which someone throws out a fast string of lies,non-sequiturs, and specious arguments, so many that it is impossible to fact-check or rebut them in the amount of time it took to say them. Trying to figure out how to respond makes the opponent look confused, because they don't know where to start grappling with the flood that just happened. It's a form of gaslighting". For me as a voter there was no debate Trump eliminated it. Trump's and Biden's answers to questions should be written and if not a real answer it is not read.

@@FactCheckerGuyWe beat Medicare.

You are correct!

$14M raised after debate, I'd say so 😸

also, he's running for a four-year term. what will be like two years from now?

I think they gave him the wrong prep during pride month 😮

good point-it's like NASA telling us there's nothing wrong with Boeing's spacecraft even though they can't bring the two astronauts back.

Total bs, Biden 2024!

@@drumming975convincing truly.

It could get worse... Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

@singed8853 🙄 right- let's put in Kamala - whose net negatives are higher than Biden's. (Trump troll. )

òh no not another trum term! cause the last 4 years were such a disaster! i mean they were the opposit, but this time it will obviously be different, for... reasons...

rfk jr is the answer, watch the real debate. He's not anti vax. he's anti big business regulating itself, which is why they lie about him.

🖐🏽

They don't have to switch out Biden - just the VP with a new, charismatic person like Cory Booker! Everybody thinks the VP will be President sometime in next 4 years. All focus will shift to the new person + re-energize the campaign. It's MUCH easier to switch out VP than top of ticket.

òh no not another trum term! cause the last 4 years were such a disaster! i mean they were the opposit, but this time it will obviously be different, for... reasons...

It's not the hard thing. The hard thing would've been Democrats having a meeting with him two years ago, and letting him know he can't run again. The hard thing would've been not calling Kennedy a white supremacist, conspiracy theory expert, and running him as the Democratic candidate. The easy thing is removing a man with dementia, and running someone else.

Don’t even think about it! In 2020, voters got excited about the Biden-Harris TEAM-knowing full well that Harris might eventually become president. That was A FEATURE, NOT A BUG. And most of the same voters still feel that way. No-the party throws Harris under the bus at its peril! Now, a Harris-Booker ticket might be something to consider-but only in that order.

Are you WOKE?

Yep. Even if that was just his floor, that's an unappectable floor. And he's only going to get worse.

This is what I fear. Even if we all agree that [Lord Dampnut] is unacceptable, can we honestly make the case that Biden is the right man to understand and respond to a crisis? That Biden can sway and persuade wavering foreign leaders, or a hostile Congress? Project an image of strength and unity that sews doubt in our enemies? In other words, do you really believe Biden can be an effective president for four more years? Even if you and I agree that [Lord Dampnut] is unacceptable, what are the 60-80% of Americans who aren't true-blue Democrats going to think of that proposition?

òh no not another trum term! cause the last 4 years were such a disaster! i mean they were the opposit, but this time it will obviously be different, for... reasons...

Agreed. Biden as been clearly cognitively impaired for well of a year of not longer.

The president is his cabinet, not himself. Trumps lackeys passed every kind of bullshit during his term. Biden barely speaking passed significant legislation and drove the covid recovery. If it were to come to that, you can either impeach him or make the vice-pres step up.

This isn't about "an old man's pride" or "love of power". It's about simple math + politics. If Joe had stood down now, Harris is his natural successor. But HARRIS CAN'T WIN. HER NET UNFAVORABLES ARE HUGE. Had Biden deferred to her, she would have been slaughtered against Trump. The easy solution is to replace HARRIS on the 2024 ticket with somebody that both Dems + INDEPENDENTS actually LIKE + trust to run the country. Once you have a POPULAR successor in place, Biden is free to step down early in his 2nd term + hand the Presidency over to the VP. With Trump running, the stakes were just too high to put Harris in b/c she was a guaranteed LOSS! Replacing VP in 2024 means everybody wins and it's much easier to do than changing top of ticket.

In this case the peaks and troughs correlate almost perfectly to whether or not there's a teleprompter in front of him. Clever devices. From the audience they look like forgettable pieces of clear plastic on stands at either side of the podium. But they are beautiful mirrors from the speaker's position... He can appear to look out at the crowd while merely reading a script.

òh no not another trum term! cause the last 4 years were such a disaster! i mean they were the opposit, but this time it will obviously be different, for... reasons...

Some presidents are very proactive; others set a vision, and then make a few speeches but basically delegate the implementation. Biden surrounds himself with competent people and knows how to delegate to them; and we may see him do more of that in his second term. What’s the alternative-Trump and HIS horrible vision for America?

⁠​⁠​⁠@@terry9238the alternative is moving someone else (probably Harris) to the top of the ticket to continue that legacy. You’re preaching to the choir when it comes to appreciating Biden’s work as President and despising Trump and what he would do. But when it comes to winning this election, this debate has clearly shaken many voters’ image of him. You and I can scream until we’re blue in the face about our confidence in everybody around him, but there are people in this country who don’t think that way and want to vote *for* someone (not just against Trump). Right now, those people are making it clear that they don’t want to vote *for* Biden, often citing his age even before the debate. If they vote for a different candidate or stay home or whatever, then we get Trump.

Stimulate ideas and never influence them.

100% they are criminals. going back at least to Russia collusion BS

They share some burden, but now it is mostly the DNC, and conversely RNC.

They literally lied and pretended that this dude was sharp as a tack since 2020. Even before he was given the nomination in 2020 they were talking about how he was entirely too old and losing it. That narrative totally changed and everyone got in line once Obama forced everyone out who still had brain cells.

Chasing clicks....

in february!? cause sniffing children and mistaking his wife for his sister didnt happen in 2020?

Nope. Historically, debates have not affect election outcomes. Also, if Biden dropped out after being chose I the primaries, there are some states where getting new person on the ballot would be basically impossible

​@@technoloverishThis moment does not have historical precedent, it's not that Biden had a "bad" debate performance, it's that he demonstrated he lacks the mental capacity to do the job. We can win without Ohio, which had little chance of going for Biden anyway, I am doubtful we can win with Biden.

The difference is Biden has a competent and good faith staff, if Biden is slow they can pick up the slack. Trump had some of that and systematically fired all of the staff that wasn't specifically loyal to him. I do think Biden should step down because he is too far past his peak, but if he won't he is still the only choice because Trump *MUST* be defeated.

@@Dolby109Biden will elect Trump and if by some small chance Biden wins… the GOP will do something crazy like overthrow the government, because then we as voters would also show our lack of integrity, morals or clarity. This is giving them an opportunity to do something horrific. If democracy is on the line, we should put someone in that’s up to the task.

Does Biden have a competent, good faith staff? Who agreed to those nutso debate format and rules? Who prepped Biden for the substance of the debate? Who prepped Biden for the optics of the split camera? Who let Biden go onstage sick and pale with a voice that made him sound 101 years old that nobody could hear? My faith in the staffing is now much lower than my faith in Biden.

If Biden steps down now, he will be regarded as a hero , the humblest president ever. The longer he waits, the more it proves that his pride is holding him back. We can do this. We're the USA, right? Since when did we back down from uncertainty? All he is doing is dividing Democrats bitterly. Give time and space for democracy to find itself again. We have no b**lls. Ezra is absolutely right.

You think Joe wants to be up there mumbling? No. He knows he’s toast. It’s Jill who is pushing this out of her own ego to remain in power. It’s elder abuse.

I agree with you. I do think some older elected do well, such as Bernie Sanders. He's still at the top of his game. But we all age differently and President Biden is clearly in decline.

@@belindaberdes9647 No, President Biden is not in decline. That implies he has further to go. He is at the bottom.

When do these people not give themselves credit? They’re on a crazy train all the time 😂

òh no not another trum term! cause the last 4 years were such a disaster! i mean they were the opposit, but this time it will obviously be different, for... reasons...

Please don't take this the wrong way, but as someone who's comfortably retired father often says the same thing to me: The way to show your children you actually care is to not leave it to them alone to fix. Nothing has corroded my relationship with my father more that his seeming desire to abdicate responsibility for what had arguably happened on his generation's watch - particularly now when he has both the means, the time, and the knowledge to do something meaningful about it. If you do nothing to support efforts to turn the tide - think carefully about how your son might feel about the "legacy" you've left him.

@@craven5328 I deeply appreciate your comment and you are absolutely correct. The one improvement over my own father is my willingness to say, I'm sorry. I have said that more than I care to remember. I have spoken to my son and stated that democracy is messy and a participatory form of government. We all need to be pro active in this situation as Americans. We older Americans should not "dump" this problem on our youth. We certainly helped fuck this up and we are certainly responsible to help fix it. The one thing that is different between your father and me is, that short of a miracle, I will be working until my last day on this planet. My son being 23, and he just started his first job at $300k. I struggle to make $40k. He will most likely retire well before my death. Good for him 👏 My final words to him and you. The only thing of true value in our lives, is our time. Spend it wisely.

I happened to bump into this set of comments, and while the political situation in our country terrifies me I'm so impressed by how the commenters above where able to critique each other while still being constructive. Not everything in the world is broken.

Trump is actually the result of the backlash to a bunch of ridiculous progressive policies that mainstream democrats have decided to adopt, but can most easily be summarized by the phrase "Identity Politics" - that's 2015 timeframe language for the phenomenon that has gone by different terms over the years, but still represents the same set of terrible ideas: Political Correctness, Wokeness, Social Justice, Diversity Equity and Inclusion, Cancel Culture, Believe All Women.... In 2016, the Democrats represented roughly half the country but the vast majority of Academia, Big Tech, Media, and Hollywood. Regular people got sick and tired of being told what they were allowed to think and say, that everything was racist and sexist, and that of course discrimination is perfectly fine as long as you are discriminating against straight, cis, white, abled, men. You have to say Black Lives Matter, but it's racist to say All Lives Matter? (newsflash Black Lives are included in All Lives... "All Lives Matter" is the *more* inclusive statement, not the less inclusive statement.) Fast forward through 2020 and now to 2024 and the situation on the democrat side has only gotten worse. "Moderate" Joe Biden decided that the most important criteria for his VP pick and his Supreme Court pick was their genitalia and skin pigmentation. We've been told that biological men are women and should be allowed to compete in female sports. We've been told to believe all women. We've been told that the police should be defunded, and that showing photographs of violent criminals is promoting racism instead of promoting the reality of the situation. We've been told that we're racist if we think it's *possible* that the virus came from a lab in China, or if we want to limit who is allowed to legally enter our country. We were told for 3 years that Trump colluded with the Russians, even though it was never proven and that the Hunter Biden Laptop is Russian disinformation propagated by Rudy Guiliani which was proven... to be false. Please don't misdiagnose the reasons that people want Trump. They want Trump because he is not scared by political correctness. He is perfectly fine to stand up to the insanity, expose it for what it is, and fight against it. That's the reason that Trump became popular. I'll be the first to admit that I wish he wasn't a jackass, sometimes con artist, womanizer, who goes with his gut more than his senior expert advisors. There's a lot about Trump that sucks. But in the end, people have decided that they are willing to accept Trump's flaws because he is right person to fight against the progressive agenda that mainstream democrats have decided to adopt.

The issues we're dealing with politically are less a question of personalities, and more an issue with our political systems. The systems are completely broken, and our aged government shows it... something needs to be done about a system where a vast majority of incumbents are being re-elected, because people have not a clue about how to organize to get preferable candidates on the ballot.. it has become a completely mysterious and red-taped process of grass roots organizing. We're basically at a place in America where everyone shows up to the ballot box every 2 years pretty much voting for whatever they're given.. there is no civic participation in REAL democracy (which is the process of deliberating on who will be on the ballot to begin with). We're so overworked, atomized, and distracted to the point where it's become virtually impossible to expect people to civically organize to get reasonable candidates on the ballot. It's been barricaded by money. Serving in congress has become a career track, rather than a temporary office of public service. Our decrepit politicians reflect that perfectly.

Who cares what the specific term is. Whatever THAT was, it was not presidential.

@@bosshog8844And Trump was presidential? No freeken way.

@@codecodigo5461 Relative to Biden, Trump was miles ahead. Biden cannot win this.

@@bosshog8844 Biden is going to Win, when it comes down to voting most Americans will vote for Biden.

@@codecodigo5461 how wasnt he?

You value your freedoms, and so do your workers. That's why your workers must free themselves from their shackles! End the tax strike by capital, and the politics will start to look more like a democracy. Credibility is the number one messaging issue on both sides of the aisle right now. Target a different political equilibrium. We're at the bottom of a trough, and working on credibility issues is job number one. That means getting results, then coming back to the voting public with red meat. Those are your future candidates, that accomplish this.

òh no not another trum term! cause the last 4 years were such a disaster! i mean they were the opposit, but this time it will obviously be different, for... reasons...

we've been experiencing it for years, the two party system is irrevocably corrupt and only helps the wealthy.

Biden surrounds himself with competent people, and is able and willing to delegate the details to them. The other guy is too egotistical to delegate-no matter how incompetent he is (and always has been)-because he thinks he alone is the “savior”. I know which one I trust to run the country: the modest delegator, not the megalomaniac!

In both the public and private space, unconditional loyalty eventually leads to gangsterism and gaslighting.

I agree. An elected official's loyalty should be to the people and the Constitution.

Loyalty in the private sphere is why Google has changed their algorithm to bring the Internet back to the late 90s...

Newsom will be the best.

@@dawnfmEnthusiast I love Newsom. He would be the best. But I want to win. Shapiro and Whitmer took Penn and Wisconsin. This is a pure political calculation. Newsom could win. Don’t give up brother.

So many better (and more importantly younger) candidates.

@@steve-real you mean Penn and MICHIGAN … right?

@@vinista256 Exactly 2 of the seven swing states. I like Gavin Newsom too

Sadly, I don't think they care. I've already written letters. They don't even bother to respond.

òh no not another trum term! cause the last 4 years were such a disaster! i mean they were the opposit, but this time it will obviously be different, for... reasons...

​@@wasdwasdedsfExactly. Trump will cause WW3. Why didn't he the first time around. Why didn't he blow up the world?

Interesting that you’re not saying Trump has to step aside too

Nothing would get home more love and adoration honestly

@@technoloverish they should both step aside. Trump is a felon

@@technoloverish People in the Republican party probably wish they could replace Trump. Nikki Haley would be beating Biden in a landslide right now.

This is a great idea, but we already know what the results will be. Biden must step down now or a true leader must step up and challenge him for the sake of our country and democracy.

The party can't "require" Biden to do anything. The ball is in his court. You've made this bed; lie in it.

That's right. Dems need an incredibly charismatic leader to win, because the electoral college leans conservative and progressive policies are only attractive in coastal states. Without the personality aspect you're doomed.

The fact that he DNC can literally rig the primary to make sure biden isn't challenged is the problem. If ttrump wins again it's 100% the DNC's fault. I think it goes deeper than JUST the primary process, the bloated two party system that is owned by special interests is the enemy of democracy.

This is not about "bad Biden"! Why is no political pundit willing to identify the elephant in the room? Biden couldn't bow out in 2024 b/c his CURRENT successor is unelectable at top of ticket! (Her net unfavorables are HUGE.) The easy solution is to REPLACE HARRIS AS 2024 VP candidate with somebody that DEMS + INDEPENDENTS actually LIKE + trust to run the country. Once they win, Biden can retire early + hand the Presidency over to somebody the Biden voters are HAPPY with.

This event has made me see how profoundly selfish, manipulative, and frankly unpatriotic the Bidens are. The only good thing about this situation is that it will be the end of the Bidens and their enablers. But at a terrible cost. The coming fascist dictatorship will be their legacy.

Yup they look like blue MAGA, living in lala land comparing his performance to Obama’s first performance… yeah right!! This is malpractice….

As a reminder America's founding fathers were old white men and your complaint is racist and sexist.

Well if kamala could talk we could resuce

A cult of personality devoted to worshiping a selfish old man.

how do you mean bow to? why wouldnt the gop pick the best presiden in modern history?

I could care less f*** the Dems, no wonder I left that party in 2007 #DemExit.

"the process" that they rigged to make sure biden wasn't challenged. the DNC IS the problem, along with the rest of the two party system. The sad truth is that moneyed special interests have a near complete control over our politics, thanks in no small part fo citizens united. RFK Jr is the only one acknowledging this.....

Gaza is still a huge problem and is definitely going to erupt at the convention. I was a delegate at the conventions in my congressional district and my state, and at both events-which otherwise ran smoothly-there was a tussle over resolutions addressing the Israel-Hamas conflict.

its only kiddos that are single issue based on israel/hamas. half of the kiddos that complain online probably cant even vote yet. Dems need a candidate with broad appeal, and if it hasnt been proven yet, this issue does NOT have the broad appeal, even among dems, that you think it has.

This is the stupidest most irrelevant argument I've ever heard and basically anti semetic unless you really think we can nominate Bernie who is older

So you more okay with a national abortion ban then?

@@technoloverish No, I'm saying we need more choices. A binary isn't a real choice.

The Supreme Court returned a portion to the states . How can there be a national ban ? It works both ways .

It’s not the parties, they are only supporting what constituents & donors want. So there are ppl in this country that support these party positions.

rfk jr is the best answer for now, watch the real debate. He's not anti vax. he's anti big business regulating itself, which is why they lie about him.

I would too. Everybody wants Joe out because at the end of the day they don't want Trump to win.

@@michaelh4227 yes, we are proud as democrats to vote for mr potato head!! And we will beat Medicare!

😂

stop saying this online. everyone typing this into websites run by AI context filters will ensure biden continues his reign.

Trump would beat Medicare with his policies

It would go terrible and would basically ensure a Trump victory. The Republicans want the Democrats to have this division

Why not half a dozen or more capable democrats on the debate stage like we had in 2016?

@@newsienurse8870 this wasn't a democratic debate though