“It’s almost a cruel joke on the electorate that the longest presidential election potentially ever might also be the one that they’re least excited about,” said one Democratic pollster, speaking anonymously to candidly discuss the race.

  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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    10 months ago

    Biden has advanced a lot of helpful policies for millions of people in his first term, really progressive civil rights policies and good economic and foreign policies.

    trump rapes people, lies about it, and repeatedly commits election fraud.

    The only way you can pretend these two are remotely similar is if you ignore the real world because you’re too cynical to learn anything.

    Lazy article, lazy thesis.

    • FlexibleToast@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      The only thing similar about them is that the electorate doesn’t want them. Oh, and they’re both older than former president Bill Clinton, who has been out of office for 25 years now.

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        I want Biden. And he won The New Hampshire primary without even being on the ballot.

        I think this “the electorate doesn’t want him” shit is made up or refers only to people who don’t understand or know about the positive consequences of Biden administration policies, repeating vapid, empty headlines

        It’s repeated too often with zero evidence outside of ludicrous polls to be given any merit.

        • MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca
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          10 months ago

          The anti Biden noise is basically leftist idealists who would rather spend their time fighting other leftists than the alt right, and Russian bots.

          • Eatspancakes84@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Come on, are we really going to pretend that being in your 80s is ideal for a president? At age 81 the probability of dying in any given year is more than 7 percent, reaching more than 10 percent at the end of his presidency at age 85. Let’s not even mention the risk of mental decline. What do we do exactly, if Biden goes the way of Feinstein (incapacitated but unwilling to leave office)?

            He’s miles better than the alternative, but it remains a very risky choice. I fear what will happen if Dems need to use the 14th amendment to remove him from office.

            • TrousersMcPants@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              These are good points. Problem is that he’s basically the only other choice and arguing about whether or not to vote for him only helps Trump right now. I would absolutely vote for someone other than Biden if I thought it would do any good, but it won’t. Like it or not we have a two party system in the US so it’s Biden or Trump right now.

              • FlexibleToast@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                This is why the primary shouldn’t have been rigged for him to be the nominee, and one reason he should have stepped aside. Biden currently polls worse than Trump, but do you know who polls higher than Trump? Undeclared Democrat. Biden filled his role and did his job well, but it’s time for him to move on. It’s a lot like how RBG should have retired and moved on when the timing was right instead of letting her legacy get completely undone.

          • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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            10 months ago

            Agree, and conservative trolls who want to spread whatever dissent they can since they have no leg to stand on and no viable candidate

          • FlexibleToast@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            It’s the people paying attention to the polls and seeing Biden losing in key states while undeclared Democrat wins. Bidens biggest weakness isn’t if he is too moderate or liberal. It’s that he is too old. There are voters now that weren’t even alive during the Clinton presidency, yet Bill Clinton is younger than Biden… Biden can win primaries, but can he win the actual swing voters in the swing states that actually matter? Polling right now suggests no. There is still a lot of time, but time has only been Biden’s enemy so far.

            • MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca
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              10 months ago

              They’re both too old to run and a comedy reel of gaffes could easily be produced for both.

              Any attack on Biden’s age that doesn’t include an attack on Trumps age is ridiculous.

              As far as the polls, It’s up to Biden’s campaign, court cases, and the ability of the mainstream to get people to the voting booths. Swapping out candidates now is suicide.

              • FlexibleToast@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                Any attack on Biden’s age that doesn’t include an attack on Trumps age is ridiculous.

                I agree. They’re both too old. But the polls show the biggest reason voters don’t want to vote for Biden is his age.

                As far as the polls, It’s up to Biden’s campaign, court cases, and the ability of the mainstream to get people to the voting booths. Swapping out candidates now is suicide.

                It’s kind of suicide either way at this point. Relying on informed voters is not a winning strategy.

  • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    Well, here’s your problem.

    Republicans, by and large, want Trump.

    Democratic voters, by and large, want to make sure that Trump loses (much like the person he is), and would like any candidate that can offer a high probability of that happening. Biden has already beat Trump once, and has, overall, been a pretty decent president. (Yes, the Israel thing is a mess, I know. From the river to the sea, etc.) Dems might prefer a younger candidate that’s better at ramming legislation through–which no Dem could do right now, not with Republicans controlling the House–but preventing a Republican victory is more important.

    So that’s how we’ve arrived here.

    • El Barto@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Bernie would be better. But we already know what the old establishment dems think of him.

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        10 months ago

        Sanders, while I love the guy, is a more polarizing figure than Biden.

        Biden was pretty much always going to be the nominee in 2020 for that reason: he was never anybody’s favorite, but he was the one face in that field with the important distinction that while nobody really super liked him, nobody really hated him either. Cast a wide net, big tent, and all that.

        While the people who like Sanders really like him, there are also a lot of people who would vote Biden to block Trump for whom being asked to vote for Sanders would be a bridge too far. Not that they’d vote for Trump instead…but they just wouldn’t cast a vote for either main party candidate.

        …which of course also segues neatly to the fact that Sanders isn’t a Democrat, and asking the DNC to nominate someone who’s not even a party member is a big ask anyway.

        • hark@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          If Sanders is a polarizing figure, it’s because democrats (and republicans, obviously) paint him that way because his policies diaagree with their donors. In reality, Sanders’ policies align with the vast majority of Americans, but there’s no way that’ll be allowed through our bought-out election system.

          • DigitalTraveler42@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Bro I’ll let you try and explain the difference between communism and socialism to my boomer Conservatard father, this is your average Con, Neo-Con, and Neo-Lib, they simply often can’t separate the terms, and with Bernie unabashedly displaying the socialist/democratic socialist moniker he scares the people who can’t get over the red scare and the anti-communist/socialist programming they’ve been brainwashed with for decades, and it’s specifically that kind of stuff that makes Biden the better and safer pick against Trump, plus Bernie is older than both Trump and Biden, so there is the age factor as well.

            • hark@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              The scaremongering about communism and socialism is something both republicans and democrats benefit from. Again, neither have any interest in countering this narrative since the kind of policies that Bernie supports, which a majority of Americans do as well, are the kind of policies that republican and democrat donors do not want.

              • DigitalTraveler42@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                are the kind of policies that republican and democrat donors do not want.

                This in itself is BS, George Soros, yes Right winger Boogeyman George Soros, he supports many groups that advocate for socialism and Democratic socialism, there are a few other Democratic donors that do as well, however of course most rich folks aren’t going to back candidates that operate against their interests, and pushing back against the wealthy, regulating against them and their businesses, and taxing their wealth is obviously against their own self-interests.

                My point was more about the lifelong hold that cold war propaganda has on our boomers and my fellow Gen X’ers, and how it does dissuade people from accepting Bernie’s stances qnd getting past how he describes his political ideology, and I say this as a 100% Bernie supporter, I’m just a realist, and the reality is that cold war propaganda still has a hold on our nation, and until we break we’ll still have to deal with people like my conservatard father saying “hurr durr socialism is communism!!” despite being given shit loads of evidence to demonstrate the differences.

                • hark@lemmy.world
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                  10 months ago

                  Biden was bragging that he was “the guy who beat the socialist” (referring to Bernie) to show how not a socialist he is. Democrats are anti-socialist. If there are democrat donors who advocate for socialism, they’re crowded out by the vast majority who advocate for the opposite.

        • Alien Nathan Edward@lemm.ee
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          10 months ago

          nobody really super liked him, nobody really hated him either.

          I feel like this is indicative of a general shift in the electorate in America. It’s hard to be someone that most people like. It’s really easy to make most people hate the other guy and then just not be him. In 2016 Clinton tried this with the pied piper strategy, but Trump did a better job of it. People know Hillary, and they don’t like her. They didn’t know Trump at the time, and I personally know some Bernie voters who went for Trump just because “He’s not just another politician, we need a change.” In 2018, 2020, and 2022, name recognition hurt Trump and the GOP. Democrats successfully positioned themselves as the people you vote for if you don’t like Donald Trump, and they succeeded by a comfortable margin in 2018 and 2020. 2022, historically speaking, should have been an absolute bloodbath for Dems but Trump’s polarizing dickishness drove democratic voter turnout and the GOP failed to take control of the Senate and took such a narrow majority in the house that they’ve been basically non-functional since then. In 2023 Glenn Youngkin was thinking about what a GOP-controlled legislature in Virginia would do for his presidential chances and then Dems overperformed again and now he’s not even in the presidential picture and his agenda is being thwarted at every turn.

          Now it’s 2024 and each candidate is running on a platform that boils down to “vote for me, I’m not that guy that you hate and fear”. It’ll be interesting to see how it works out, and by interesting I mean that as a queer person I’m terrified because of all the violence.

      • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        Against Trump? Probably not. Republicans and independents that lean Republican view Sanders as a communist, which is generally a bad thing. (Sanders is more a democratic socialist, which is generally a positive thing.)

        • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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          10 months ago

          Sanders is more SocDem by policy, but I think any reasonable Socialist is a Communist as well, just with vastly different time frames for achieving Communism. The ideal of a Stateless, Classless, Moneyless society is a noble goal, whether that be in 50 years, 500 years, or 5000 years.

          • El Barto@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Nah, I don’t think Sanders wants actual communism. More power to the people and more corporate accountability, sure.

            There are countries that already do this successfully. Don’t you remember how Republicans were saying “Sanders?! Do we want to be another Sweden?!”?

            • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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              10 months ago

              I am not saying he’s a Communist, rather, I’m saying he’s not really a Socialist and just a Social Democrat, like Sweden.

              • El Barto@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                I understand what you meant, then. Apologies, I’m an ignorant in terms of those types of definitions. When I read:

                Sanders is more SocDem by policy, but I think any reasonable Socialist is a Communist as well, [etc]

                I thought “being a SocDem” and “being a Socialist” were the same thing.

                • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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                  10 months ago

                  It’s an easy and common misconception! Social Democrats believe in Capitalism with strong safety nets, while Democratic Socialists believe in Socialism as the form of economic structure instead of Capitalism.

    • Nudding@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      What I don’t see talked about much is the record breaking oil extraction done under the Biden administration.

      • chuckleslord@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Is record breaking oil extraction actually news? Isn’t that a record we’ve been consistently breaking since fraking was discovered? I feel like it’s more “Oh shit, the money machine might be turned off soon, best run that shit as fast as we can until then” from oil execs rather than “I, as Supreme Commander of the United States, demand more oil be extracted”

        • Nudding@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          I’d say it’s news, as it’s directly tied to the ongoing climate apocalypse.

          • chuckleslord@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Yeah, but the point is that Biden is neither the cause nor culprit behind the record breaking, so why put it on him?

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              10 months ago

              I mean if you think the fossil fuel companies don’t have close ties to whatever administration is in power, I’ve got some bad news.

              • El Barto@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                Still missing the point. You’re trying to pin it on Biden as if the record-breaking thing is a direct consequence of Biden being Biden - and “Biden bad.”

                No. If Trump, Zombie Kennedy, Jesus Christ or even freaking Al Gore were in power right now, the “record breaking” thing would have still happened.

              • Alien Nathan Edward@lemm.ee
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                10 months ago

                to whatever administration is in power

                then by your own admission this is lost regardless of who’s in power and we need to look at where the candidates stand on other issues, such as Trump and the GOP being completely against renewable energy in any form and looking to defund the EPA

  • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    This election started in November 2022, because the media wants to milk as much money as possible from both rage bait and fear mongering.

  • Nobody@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    And yet, democracy itself is on the ballot. I don’t want Joe Biden to be my nominee, but I also realize that Trump is the absolute collapse of America. It’s letting our basest instincts and lesser demons overcome the promise of what we could be.

    I don’t care that he’s old and moderate and held dumbass positions in the past. Biden is what is standing between order and chaos. Stability and collapse.

    One candidate openly supports lawlessness and fascism for his own personal gain. The other is an old yellow dog Democrat who governs from the center right. It sucks, but the right thing is showing up for Biden IF you vote in a swing state.

    If you don’t vote in a swing state, vote hard down ballot, then do whatever for president. It doesn’t really matter.

    • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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      Biden has not governed from the center right, at least during his presidency.

      He’s advanced concrete LGBTQ rights more than probably any other president.

      People talk about him like they have not been paying any attention to the three years of policy and legislation he’s pushed through that advancing civil rights, and it’s probably because they aren’t paying attention and it’s easier to complain then comprehensively analyze the candidates.

      trump is a rapist who doesn’t care about hurting people for his own gain, so it’s pretty easy to analyze him, but these two candidates couldn’t be farther apart. In terms of domestic and foreign policy, civil rights, economic policy, it’s just they’re nothing like at all.

      Lazy equivocative articles like this are useless or worse because they’re spreading misinformation that Biden, who has actively helped tens of millions of people with his policies, is as bad as Trump, who has actively hurt untold millions with his policies.

      • Nobody@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Biden is an establishment Democrat, and the Democratic party has been a center right party since Bill Clinton.

        • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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          10 months ago

          So you’re agreeing that while Biden used to be center-right, he’s now a startlingly progressive legislator as the president?

          • Nobody@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            No, Biden still very much a centrist. He’s more pro-union than expected, which is great, but I definitely wouldn’t call him a progressive.

            • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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              He reversed the transgender ban in the military, expanded the civil rights act to include transgender protection, gave direct student relief aid in the form of cash money to people, provided funding for the DOJ to sue anti-lgbtq groups, is replacing federal and government buildings and vehicles with sustainable materials and systems, created a gender policy council in the White House, has reunited families across the border that were separated by Trump, took down the keystone pipeline, invested a trillion dollars in sustainable technology and infrastructure, threw another billion at climate change and healthcare.

              I have said he was a center right republican before his presidency, but his executive orders and legislation in his first term are painting him firmly left, and in some areas like LGBTQ rights or the environment, progressive.

              • Nobody@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                Biden just pledged to shut down the border if the GOP will allow him to do it. He’s supporting Netanyahu through its genocide in Gaza. He’s anti-Medicare for All. He signaled to all his wealthy donors that “nothing fundamental will change” and has stuck by that pledge.

                “More progressive than we thought” is not the same as being actually progressive. He’s had to move that way in part because the policy positions have become so popular.

                But I’m done arguing with you. I’ll let you get the last word.

                • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                  You should definitely quit while you’re behind.

                  Shutting down the border does not negate Biden’s progressive policies.

                  Biden has actively contradicted netanyahu since the war started, and has openly said he won’t support an extended war and is focusing on a two-state solution.

                  He’s expanded healthcare in a ton of ways(lower premiums, increased access to Obamacare, expanded Medicaid eligibility, LGBTQ coverage, mental health services, telehealth services, reducing drug prices) while pursuing the policy he prefers. That does not negate Biden’s other progressive policies either.

                  Biden has not signaled that nothing will change, biden has progressively reformed social, civil, business, economic domestic and foreign policies.

      • Zoboomafoo@slrpnk.net
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        The trick is to make up your mind on him before he gets sworn in, then it’s easy to dismiss any progress as “not far enough” or “just doing it to get re-elected”

        • Barbarian@sh.itjust.works
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          Got no horse in this race, but wouldn’t “doing it to get re-elected” be a good thing? Isn’t that how democracies are supposed to work?

          • Willie@kbin.social
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            In a way, but since you can only be US president for two terms, “doing it to get re-elected” means that you don’t believe they’ll continue doing whatever they’re doing during their second term if you re-elect them.

  • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I’m gonna be honest, this shit is too noisy. I am exhausted by all of this. On top of it all, these fucks make more money in 5 minutes than I will slaving my life away. I hate politics. I hate bribery codified into law. I know it would be worse for everyone if this whole thing imploded but sometimes it feels like that would be a win. Because then maybe some of these fucks that don’t realize or care we all have to share the same pie would be forced to take what has been alloted to me all these years. Am I saying I’d rather us all be in the dregs like rats? Probably not, but I think a healthy thing for a society to do is to not allow people to indirectly harm others by claiming a far bigger piece of the global pie than them and their ilk could ever remotely finish.

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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      The problem with implosion is that it’s people like you and I that get hurt, and implosion doesn’t guarantee a sane outcome. To the contrary, countries that have major upheavals generally end up with authoritarians and dictators in power rather than easing into a stable democracy. The rich guys that remain take even more power and wealth. They’re even more untouchable.

      The only kind of major upset that would effect real change would literally be to kill off the rich and powerful, especially the extremists. Otherwise it’s a long, difficult slog to possibly, if you’re lucky, change the system via democratic means.

  • spider@lemmy.nz
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    10 months ago

    They also want a cease-fire in Gaza, but once again, The Big Club doesn’t care.

    • dragontamer@lemmy.world
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      Nikki Haley is still running. Good grief people… There are 48 primaries left to go. If Republicans want someone else they can still choose Haley.

        • dragontamer@lemmy.world
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          There’s a chance Donald Trump gets disqualified and Nikki Haley is the only reasonable choice. There’s also a chance that Donald Trump’s shit mouth proves that he’s unfit for office the more he talks. He’s seriously not all there anymore.

          Nikki Haley staying in the race is a big part of that. Just a few weeks ago Donald Trump confused her with Nancy Pelosi. The dude’s fully a dumbass at this point and is unable to keep his arguments or rhetoric straight anymore. I think people are sleeping on what Nikki Haley could seriously accomplish here. If Nikki Haley pushes Trump to rage against her and publicly prove how much of a dumbass he is, Nikki Haley’s got a good chance.

          A lot of Republicans are going with Trump because they think they have no other option. Biden/Democrats are also pushing Trump as their opponent because someone like Nikki is the most problematic for them. So yeah, its an uphill battle, but one that I personally support.

          • chuckleslord@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            There’s a chance Donald Trump gets disqualified

            Yeah, and there’s a chance I win the Powerball even though I don’t play. Don’t think it’s going to happen though.

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        10 months ago

        She is not going to win a single state. Her shot was NH. She is getting buried in the state where she won the governor’s race; after she loses there, I can’t imagine she’ll keep getting funded.

        The republican party will split before they abandon Trump.

  • snownyte@kbin.social
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    10 months ago

    Maybe it’s because we’re tired of old as fuck candidates. I just want more capable and sharp-minded candidates. But we’re not going to get that because old farts love other old farts so they keep getting on the ballot.

  • Bwaz@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I dunno. These articles strike me as right wing misinfo. I’m VERY excited that Trump NOT get elected again. That wouldn’t matter even if he were running against Homer Simpson.

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    10 months ago

    forgive me if im wrong but hasn’t trump only won two of the smaller states in the union. What the heck is wrong with nowadays. No canidate of the past would be talked about like they were the one who was not the sitting president.