Game Thread The Debate! Donald Trump vs Kamala Harris!

Yep.

By offering the debate and Trump likely (and, eventually) declining, she scores a few points without putting herself at the risk she's open herself up to in another debate. Trump looks like he's scared to face her, which is like the plague to much of his toxicly masculine crowd.

 

I wish that was the case, but with the Electoral College not relating to popular vote, it's likely to be neck and neck.

 

As long as Harris doesn't start trying to push too many hot button issues I think she's going to take the rust belt.

You certainly could be right. Trump has surprised me before. I just think a ton of people are going to make sure they get their vote in to prevent that catastrophe from happening again.

And a lot of Trump people are probably not going to vote. Just my feeling.

 

Battleground states are still very close. Whatever factor Kennedy was going to have has been nullified. We're heading towards a photo finish, but I too have a strange confidence in a Harris victory.

 

This is the deciding factor for me, just like in 2020. Trump will talk about record low polynesian unemployment before addressing his white base directly. That will destroy him in PA and Wisconsin. His rhetoric has been total shit this cycle. If I was a 2016 Trump voter who stayed home in 2020, nothing has changed that in 2024. He went from building a wall to stamping a greencard on degrees in alternative dance therapy. You're getting a typical Republican president now with tons of personal baggage and a guarantee that whatever gets him elected will be ignored in favor of leveling Gaza. Not even getting shot could restore the "2016 energy" in his most diehard of supporters.

 

She appeals to them naturally because that's where her actual politics are, on the centre right. It's what makes the Trump claim that Kamala is a devout Marxist so absurd. This race is essentially caffeine free diet Donald Trump vs 2012 Mitt Romney, who the NYT actually floated as a possibility before Harris was locked in. And the Donald Trump of 2024 is a far cry from his 2016 self, his rhetoric has been neutered, his rallies are non-events, his TruthSocial posts have no wit or bite. It's a shockingly boring election if you look at both candidates objectively.

 

Harris supports cease fire in Gaza and two state solution. Trump wants Gazans wiped out. Harris wants cops who break law held accountable. Trump wants absolute immunity for cops. Harris wants to expand education. Trump wants to abolish department of education, end Head Start, ban books and replace public school with Christian schools. Harris thinks women should make our own reproductive health decisions and that might be a minor issue for men but sure fucking isn't for women. Trump wants women and girls forced to carry pregnancy against their will. Harris supports equality for LGBTQ people. Trump wants to overturn marriage equality and ban transgender health care. Harris wants to increase taxes on wealthiest. Trump wants to cut taxes on rich and increase on poor and middle class. Harris respects those who serve. Trump calls them suckers and losers. Harris defends democracy. Trump tried to overthrow it and wants to be a dictator. Harris stands with Ukraine. Trump with Russia. Trump invents racist lies about immigrants. Harris supports immigration reform.
Is she perfect? No. Does she spin? Yes.
And Cheneys supporting Harris haven't changed her platform. They acknowledge they disagree with her but are putting Constitution ahead of partisan. About fucking time Dick Cheney respects Constitution.
Trump cares only for himself, his ego and wealth.

 

All this and yet Harris is only ahead by 0.6% in Pennsylvania. Frustrating. Obviously, Harris will win the popular vote but that doesn’t matter.

 

Harris by 0.9% now in Pennsylvania on 538

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/pennsylvania/

Trump voters are not going to be mobilized enough to get out a respectable vote for a weak old man who is afraid to debate a little black woman.

 

If I remember correctly Biden was supposed to lose Pennsylvania in 2020 according to the polls.

Inner city Philly and Pittsburgh came out in droves to vote. I remember the election guru’s either Kornacki or Chuck Todd saying the turnout was substantially higher than the last election cycle and it wasn’t expected.

It was actually the lower income part of Philly that said oh hell no to Trump.

Wouldn’t surprise me if it played out that way again.

 

Cheney wiped his ass with the constitution for eight years. It's bet hedging. The wheels are falling off this Trump thing, even if he wins. The safe haven for our poor excuse of an elite long term is with the Democrats, who have done a far better job at suppressing their progressive wing than the Republicans have their populist faux nationalist contingency. Kamala will, in my personal opinion, continue the impotent leash tugging approach the Biden administration took to Netanyahu, letting him commit genocide up to a certain point. Trump will continue the Likud lebensraum expansion of Israel, full stop at whatever expense. As far as taxes are concerned, Trump is running on no taxes on tips or overtime pay. Total horseshit in terms of likelihood of being fulfilled, but the type of cuts directly aimed at the middle class.

I downplay abortion because I'm a guy, a Catholic, and sort of lean states rights instead of sweeping federal legislature on most issues. Even Trump had to admit that when abortion rights go to the vote, the evangelicals take a fat L in red states. Immigration reform is the exact same on both sides this cycle, an increase in student visas from overseas in the Canadian model, as the southern border is fortified and ICE agencies expanded. Trump supported same sex marriage when he was in office, but the anti trans athlete stuff, not allowing them to compete in sports, has become a staple of the internet right. The same internet right that is in some sort of information e-war about Haitians eating basset hounds online. Even their views on free speech meet each other at the back of the world, Kamala and the DNC are in bed with big tech censorship efforts, and Trump wants to throw people who protest or boycott Israel in jail. Just nothing there for me.

 

It's just so hard for me to believe. I live in Central PA, in the heart of Trump country. There are so few Trump signs compared to the last two presidential elections and more Harris signs than I remember for Clinton or Biden.

 

I love hearing that!

 

You better friggin vote!

 

Newsmax has a unique poll where they don’t actually poll anybody. They just make up a number.