2024 US [Election] Thread: D-N-C, it's Dy-no-mite!
Hahnsoo1
Make Ready.We Hunt.Registered User, Moderator mod
Make Ready.We Hunt.Registered User, Moderator mod
Here is your continuing general US election thread for the year 2024. Good lord, a lot has happened in the past month.
Just as a brief overview of all the crazy shit that's been happening:
US presidential elections as of late have become a stressful and contentious time on these forums, with a lot of infighting and poor posting habits that lead to accounts being jailed and/or banned. The moderators will be watching this thread more closely than any other thread on Debate and Discourse.
Also, a lot of congressional seats and governorships will be elected this year. Feel free to discuss those, but don't be surprised if all the oxygen is sucked out of the room by the presidential election discussion. Some of these side discussions may be easier to do in the appropriate state-level political threads.
General Rules and Posting Guidelines
Most of these rules and guidelines are already standing policy in Debate and Discourse political threads, but they are being reiterated here so you have absolutely no excuse for not knowing them. Some of them are for this specific thread only. You are responsible for these rules and reading the OP (and the entire thread, for that matter) if you want to participate in this discussion.
Who Are The Candidates?
Okay. Stop. Just stop. Get out of the thread. We don't really have time to educate you if you aren't willing to put one iota of research into this topic, or you live under a rock (unlikely, since you post here). If you want to post here, don't do so from a position of ignorance of the very basic topics. For very basic information about the upcoming election (Presidential, Congressional, Gubernatorial, or other), head to Ballotpedia.
Topics to Avoid
Not infractable (EDIT: Okay, maybe a little infractable, as a treat, but we'll give you a warning by default), but generally fruitless avenues of discussion that will get a LOT of side eye from the moderators.
Thread Locks
This thread will almost inevitably get locked due to some sort of infighting or trolling or whatever. When this thread gets locked early, it will be locked for a minimum period of 24 hours (possibly longer based on mod coverage).
New Election Threads
After this thread is locked at 100 pages, the Moderators will create the next OP for the new Election thread. Don't spin up a follow up thread (unless it's about a specific off-topic subject instead of the election, of course). Repeated bad behavior or doomposting may result in thread-kicks being carried over into new Election threads.
Mods will update this OP over time as more things need to be said. We'll hopefully also announce in the thread if there are other rules/guidelines that are being added, but you are responsible for knowing the stuff in this OP.
Just as a brief overview of all the crazy shit that's been happening:
- June 27, 2024 - President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump engage in the earliest debate ever staged between two Presidential candidates in an election year. Sick with a cold, Biden biffs it, causing widespread panic and despair among his supporters. Trump also pulls a bullshit crazy performance, but this largely goes unnoticed because that's par for the course.
- June 28, 2024 - Biden launches a rally in North Carolina trying to buoy the failing morale after a disastrous debate. "I don't debate as well as I used to, but I know what I do know... When you get knocked down, you get back up!" Despite the wisdom of Chumbawumba, few are convinced.
- July 5-7, 2024 - Biden has an interview where he says "only the Lord almighty could persuade him to step aside" and "I'll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did as good a job as I know I can do - That's what this is about." This is not reassuring. Hakeem Jeffries meets with senior party leaders in a crisis session. Democratic leaders meet with Biden, but seem resigned to have Biden stay on the ticket.
- July 10, 2024 - Fucking George Clooney butts in with an op-ed in the New York Times.
- July 13, 2024 - Donald Trump survives an assassination attempt at a rally in PA. A lot of forumers panicked and thought the election was over when Pulitzer-worthy photos of a defiant Trump were widely distributed on mainstream news.
- July 15, 2024 - Random Twitter user rickrudescalves tweeted, "can't say for sure but he might be the first vp pick to have admitted in a ny times bestseller to fucking an inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions (vance, hillbilly elegy, pp. 179-181)." The tweet gained over 1.8 million views, 2,600 retweets and 35,000 likes in one week and spawns a huge wave of JD Vance couch memes.
- July 15-18, 2024 - The Republican National Convention occurs. JD Vance accepts the nomination of VP candidate to chants of "Mamaw". MAGA wears diapers on their ears. Hulk Hogan tears off his shirt. Kid Rock was also there. Trump locks in his coronation as King Trump of the GOP.
- July 17, 2024 - Biden tests positive for COVID and returns to his home in Delaware to isolate.
- July 19, 2024 - Biden reiterates that he's still in the race.
- July 21, 2024 - Psych! Biden announces that he will not seek re-election and endorses Kamala Harris, his VP.
- July 21, 2024 - Charli XCX declares "kamala IS brat"
- July 22-27, 2024 - In a shocking turn of events, Kamala Harris quickly consolidates support from wide swaths of the Democratic electorate, and multiple fundraisers over Zoom break records for attendance. A huge social media blitz across TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms quickly spreads a message of support for the new Presidential candidate.
- July 23, 2024 - Minnesota Governor Tim Walz appears on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and says the thing we're all thinking: "These guys are just weird"
- July 28, 2024 - In just one week, Kamala Harris raises $200 million from supporters and donors, with 66% of the donations coming from first-time donors.
- July 31, 2024 - Trump has a disastrous panel at the National Association of Black Journalists, where he accused VP Harris of "being Indian, not Black, until recently", among various personal attacks and insults against the journalists in attendance and VP Harris.
- August 6, 2024 - After much speculation over a vetted list of candidates that included PA Governor Shapiro, Sec. of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, AZ Senator Mark Kelly, and KY Governor Andy Beshear (among many others), Kamala Harris announces that she has selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate.
- August 12, 2024 - TIME magazine reveals their cover for the August 26th issue, featuring a portrait of Kamala Harris. Trump becomes obsessed with the quality of this picture, for some goddamn reason known only to him.
- August 14, 2024 - Amidst a surge in poll numbers for Harris, Republican strategists beg Trump to talk about economic policy. In North Carolina, Trump shakes two boxes of Tic Tacs calling this "Inflation", and then proceeds to go off-script to sling personal attacks against Harris, in front of a backdrop that says "No Tax On Tips" plastered all over it.
- August 15, 2024 - At his golf course in New Jersey, Trump stood in front of a bunch of food items placed on tables (ostensibly, to talk about grocery prices. They are barely referenced) to deliver what should have been an economic policy speech. He manages to dryly read from sheets of paper on his podium while exaggerating numbers, then fires off into personal attacks. Again.
- August 17, 2024 - MAGA are seen at a Trump rally brandishing JD Vance Jizz Cups. This is thought to be an attack against IVF and by extension Tim Walz, whose children were born via IVF.
- August 19, 2024 - The Democratic National Convention starts. Biden does not secretly reclaim the nomination as candidate for President, much to the chagrin of Trump and the GOP.
- August 20, 2024 - Lil Jon does the roll call for Georgia. The Obamas deliver a one-two punch dissing Trump and reminding everyone what 2008 was like.
- August 21, 2024 - Tim Walz accepts the nomination as VP of the Democratic Party ticket. John Legend attempts to cover Prince.
- August 22, 2024 - Kamala Harris accepts the nomination as President of the Democratic Party ticket. Beyonce and Taylor Swift are no-shows.
- August 22, 2024 - JD Vance visited Holt's Sweet Shop, a donut shop in Valdosta, Georgia. Cringe ensues.
- August 27, 2024 - Trump has a photo op at Arlington National Cemetery and commits yet another federal crime by bringing cameras to a restricted area. The response is a sternly worded letter from the US Army.
US presidential elections as of late have become a stressful and contentious time on these forums, with a lot of infighting and poor posting habits that lead to accounts being jailed and/or banned. The moderators will be watching this thread more closely than any other thread on Debate and Discourse.
Also, a lot of congressional seats and governorships will be elected this year. Feel free to discuss those, but don't be surprised if all the oxygen is sucked out of the room by the presidential election discussion. Some of these side discussions may be easier to do in the appropriate state-level political threads.
General Rules and Posting Guidelines
Most of these rules and guidelines are already standing policy in Debate and Discourse political threads, but they are being reiterated here so you have absolutely no excuse for not knowing them. Some of them are for this specific thread only. You are responsible for these rules and reading the OP (and the entire thread, for that matter) if you want to participate in this discussion.
- Be Kind - This is THE most stressful topic for a lot of the posters here. Now is NOT the time to deploy the snark cannon or the condescension engine or "fucking fuck FUCK", no matter how much you dislike another poster. Be gracious. Be kind. Realize that we're all stressed out here.
- Walk Away - If discussion is getting too heated or you find yourself replying to the same person over and over again in a short period of time... maybe you should talk a breather and walk away from the thread for a bit. I encourage folks, if they are getting into a fight here, to just stop posting and do something else. You don't need to win Internet points. It's not worth it.
- Stay On Topic - It's tempting to go down tangents or rabbit holes, but the election thread is bloated and difficult to read as it is. If your commentary does not pertain directly to the 2024 Election, consider making a God Damn Separate Thread.
- No memes or tweets without commentary and sourcing - If you link to a tweet or a screenshot of a tweet, copy and paste the full text of the tweet, and then source the author and why that author is important to listen to. With links being broken to tweets on a constant basis (and Twitter/X no longer working properly anymore, let alone on these forums), this is more important now than it was 4 or 8 years ago. YouTube video links (or Instagram or whatever) should also be sourced with a general synopsis of what's in the video, along with the subject or author of the video and why they are important.
- Limit your quoting and linking of an article - DO give us the source and the author and why it is important. But if you post text from the article, leave it at 3-5 paragraphs, TOPS. 1 paragraph, with relevant sentences bolded, is best. People do NOT need to read the entire article here! They can just follow your link. Give them enough to entice them to read the article, and leave it at that.
- Images should be spoilered - For best posting practices, because images take different formats on different devices, please spoiler tag your images. This includes screenshots of Tweets and Articles. We'll give SOME lee-way about this (not all pics are created equal), but in general, giant images tend to be annoying on mobile, and sometimes smaller images blow up to a large size on desktop. If you do post an image of anything, accompany that image with some commentary or opinion. If you don't have an opinion about it that you are willing to share, you shouldn't be posting it.
- This isn't a comedy standup show - This is not the place to practice your tight five or post a drive-by of a meme and leave it at that. You aren't boomers (the forum is getting old, but not THAT old)... don't just post unfunny political cartoons or a tired Anakin/Padme meme with political text. Don't post drive-by "gotchas" just to rile up the thread. Don't make snarky one-liners as replies. This kind of behavior will get you jailed or banned.
- No doomposting - Look, we get it. The last decade has been rough, and this past year has been ESPECIALLY rough. It's easy to lose hope or to give into despair. What we cannot allow you to do is to spray that all over the forums. We can't provide mental health services for you. This place cannot be the dumping ground for your trauma. Find help and assistance, or find some other social media to use instead of therapy (not recommended, but I know that's what most people do). But you can't do this here, and this will get you thread-kicked.
- No livetweeting events - What we mean by this is that it's pretty annoying to post "Wow, I can't believe he said that!" and not have any reference to who "he" was or what was actually said. If you are posting events happening in real-time at that moment, you better do a good job of identifying a news source that people can look up and the actual content of the events that are happening.
- No relitigating the 2016 Hilary Clinton vs. Donald Trump Election - Look, we know this is one of the prior elections that got us into this mess. But there's nothing we can say about this that hasn't already been repeated and flamed back and forth a hundred times in the past decade. Talk about the present, not the past.
- The use of political violence - This is a long-standing rule on the entire forums, but we cannot allow folks to endorse or imply political actions that result in violence. This includes death threats and threats of violence against public figures.
- Do not accuse other forum members of being agents of foreign powers or spies - First of all, this is technically a worldwide forum, not limited to the US. But these kind of accusations are never fruitful and only serve to blow up the thread, for some reason. I don't really think any world government has a vested interest in maintaining their propaganda on the Penny Arcade Forums.
Who Are The Candidates?
Okay. Stop. Just stop. Get out of the thread. We don't really have time to educate you if you aren't willing to put one iota of research into this topic, or you live under a rock (unlikely, since you post here). If you want to post here, don't do so from a position of ignorance of the very basic topics. For very basic information about the upcoming election (Presidential, Congressional, Gubernatorial, or other), head to Ballotpedia.
Topics to Avoid
Not infractable (EDIT: Okay, maybe a little infractable, as a treat, but we'll give you a warning by default), but generally fruitless avenues of discussion that will get a LOT of side eye from the moderators.
- The results of any individual poll - This is distinct from talking about the accuracy of a given poll result (the infamous biases that exist with phone polling, for example) or discussing the legitimacy of a poll. In general, any single poll is going to be meaningless unless context is given against other similar polls or the methodology/sample size used in the poll. "Latest CNN poll shows..." is pretty useless, and results change on an almost daily basis as part of our cursed 24 hour news cycle.
- In-depth medical discussion about dementia - I know the few of you who are health care professionals and doctors, but the rest of you have no business diagnosing someone who you've never examined with any sort of mental illness or dementia. We get it, they're old. This is a fruitless topic that leads to a lot of dumb things that laypeople say when they read WebMD.
- Palestine/Israel - This is an important topic, but take it to the MENA thread. Folks can post articles about it if it pertains directly to the US elections, but take further discussion to the MENA thread. "I'd like to talk more about this, but let's take it over to the MENA thread." - Use this line. You have permission from me.
- US Immigration policy - Again, an important topic, but take it to the existing Immigration thread. This one is a bit more lax because we're likely to see a lot of arguing about this from the candidates and the US political parties, but in-depth discussion of immigration policy should take place in the Immigration thread.
- Ukraine - In-depth discussion of what's going on in Ukraine should probably be routed to that thread.
- The philosophical principles of voting in general - We have a separate thread for that. It's a garbage fire, but it exists. Have at it over there.
- The usual Leftist vs. Liberal arguments - We know. It's a longstanding thing on these forums. As much as we all enjoy a circular firing-squad (spoiler alert: We don't), if this starts happening, that's the RIGHT time to walk away. Don't escalate. Use the report button. Post about something else. No political affiliation needs you, Joe/Jane Internet, to defend its honor or whatever. This one IS likely to lead to infractions or thread-kicks or a thread lock.
- Project 2025 - Yeah, this is the game plan given by conservative thinktanks in the US if they obtain enough power. But this is all stuff that happens AFTER the election. It's not their game plan for winning this election. There is a current thread about Project 2025, so lead discussion of Project 2025 here.
- Do not keep making the argument that Trump will be worse than Biden Harris - This is 100% obvious. Everyone knows this. You do not need to make this argument. Yet, it keeps getting made. If you feel compelled to say this in the thread for some reason, take a step back and actually listen to what people are saying. Especially don't keep harping about how Trump will be so much worse for the LGBTQ+ members of our forum! This has ONLY led to bloody and pointless arguments that eventually lead to thread locks. No one here is voting for Trump. Whether or not they are voting or voting for Biden Harris is their own personal dilemma and not yours. Do your political canvassing out there in the real world. Note that you can compare the candidates all that you want. But "Trump will be worse", while technically true, tends to be used as a dismissal or rebuff for criticism of Biden, and you can do better than that. Address the criticisms and arguments.
- 7/16/2024 Addendum - The Trump Rally shooting and assassination attempt - Try to avoid talking about the shooting except how it directly pertains to the Election. We plan on having a separate thread to discuss the shooting. Doomposting based on how this will bump Trump chances is not allowed in this thread, as are snarky comments about the shooting in general.
Thread Locks
This thread will almost inevitably get locked due to some sort of infighting or trolling or whatever. When this thread gets locked early, it will be locked for a minimum period of 24 hours (possibly longer based on mod coverage).
New Election Threads
After this thread is locked at 100 pages, the Moderators will create the next OP for the new Election thread. Don't spin up a follow up thread (unless it's about a specific off-topic subject instead of the election, of course). Repeated bad behavior or doomposting may result in thread-kicks being carried over into new Election threads.
Mods will update this OP over time as more things need to be said. We'll hopefully also announce in the thread if there are other rules/guidelines that are being added, but you are responsible for knowing the stuff in this OP.
Hahnsoo1 on
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Posts
Much to our annoyance, Patti Mayonnaise.
This is super funny and charming
I couldn't resist.
I thought it was the Cubs winning the WS quote
Nope harambe was assassinated, then bowie went
Not to mention carrie fisher going
There is so much emotion and enthusiasm pumping, it's crazy.
Good job Doug
….someone set this dude up on a blind date with then California AG Kamala Harris, and welp!
we don't need to hear it, he basically did it for us
heeyyyyyyy its douuggg
Those kids weddings are gunna be insane
I love him.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
but she's too smart to take that evil on.
Default stream
American Sign Language stream
Audio description stream
Transmisión en vivo en Español
The stream in vertical (don't ask me, it's an option if you want or if you need)
Not seeing any other options, do have to wonder when we'll hit a point where we'll exceed five options. Really feels like we're at a point where this nation has enough people that consume their news media in a language that is neither English, Spanish or Sign Language. I do hope though that all these options are a sign that the Harris campaign will really buckle down and stop letting the GOP have free reign in all the non-English speaking markets, when it comes campaigning for votes.
Holy shit Michelle
Those poor in-laws.
The father of the groom just like "Come on, this isn't even fair!"
i don't think we even need barry
There was also something about not being like Goldilocks with regard to Harris and Walz as the candidates.
don't make obama complete his own call/response
when he says fired up, the ready to go has to be automatic
Well said Obama.
This really has been an exceptionally difficult and unprecedented election cycle. Like I don't think anyone would have believed we could go from an assassination, to an incumbent president standing down, to a complete turnaround in polls/energy between the parties to this DNC that has seen some truly electric support. I wouldn't have ever guessed that one decision in Biden stepping down would ever have had this effect.
Also I am lapping up the delicious media tears as they struggle to find a narrative to make the DNC look bad, because what they truly wanted was a repeat of 1968 and it simply hasn't happened for them.
538 (now owned by ABC, without Nate Silver) still publishes poll aggregates.
From another forum. I hope this is true.
I feel bad for Walz speechwritters. He sort of vaguely follows the prompter, but it is loads of improvisation. So all the clever structuring and word repetition stuff just doesn't end up happening
But he does the Midwest insult work so good. It's soft, but all the more damning for it.
Also just basically saying '"We've got more energy in this building than when they were here 4 weeks ago, were doing this because we know he will throw a tantrum". Was lol.
They need to get him on the sports show circuit. No corn fed Midwestern boy is going to listen to him talk and not get nostalgic for a HS coach of theirs. And if you didn't do sports, he's right out of Miracle, or Remember The Titians, or any of the hundreds of sports movies youve watched. The contrast with the fragile masculinity of Trump/Vance is just damning.
Kamala delivered a solid speech, responded to the crowd well and improvised well, but very much her stump speech at this point. While Walz was working the crowd like a hype man, behind her. Can a VP candidate wear a giant clock on a chain?
77 days!
Executive producer from MSNBC.
Probably doesn't make a whit of difference for the presidency. Might be a huge deal for the Senate.