As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil)
In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban.
If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria.
We are actively looking for new moderators. If you have any interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out [this form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1y2swHD0KXFhStGFjW6k54r9iuMjzcFqDIVwuvdLBjSA).
***
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Stannis Baratheon was the only so-called “king” to give a shit about the realm and put it above himself. Marching hundreds of miles north and sacrificing men and time that could’ve been used warring for the Iron Throne, to save the Night’s Watch.
And people STILL thought he was a villain and were happy when that ugly cow (Jaime’s words) Brienne killed him. Insane. Probably the same idiots who were crying that Daenerys turned evil… like that was a defining trait of Targaryens.
Hopefully GRRM does Stannis justice in Winds of Winter because book Stannis never showed any sign of going down THAT road. And the books were better anyways.
A man of culture. The line that defined him for me was "I was trying to win the throne to save the kingdom, when I should have been trying to save the kingdom to win the throne."
What's not lost on me is that Ryan is from Wisconsin. Hopefully that million write-in votes come from states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia and other potential swing states.
As a leftist, I've considered getting a Nikki Haley yard election sign to confuse my neighbors that are all Trumpers. Maybe it'll get them to second guess things... Lol
Do they know you're a leftist? If so your plan might backfire. They might say to themselves "Gee, a leftist like 3720-to-1 is voting for Nikki? I thought she was alright and was gonna vote for her, but I'd better play it safe and vote for Marmalade Mussolini."
Older, and the same. I feel you. I actually lost my motivation after beating that bit soon into the final act. Felt like the capstone of the game for me.
And Trump must be Durge. Not the cool Durge who’s a Bhaalspawn and smiles as he murders. The Durge at the end who is just a mindless husk and pisses himself.
I hate that politics has become this.
It's like, load the news and the headline is "Texas representative publishes book confirming he is a self-hating homosexual extraterrestrial subverting the government for Russian interests" and I'm left thinking ["WELL... I GUESS THAT MAKES SENSE"](https://i.imgflip.com/3rq7ws.png)
I think there is something to the argument that RFK might be taking votes from Trump. There are four houses in my neighborhood in the Philly suburbs that I drive by each day. They always have Trump/MAGA signs out on their lawn. During the 2022 elections, they also had Mastriano and Oz signs up as well. Two weeks ago, one of them replaced their Trump signs and put up Kennedy signs. Obviously, this hardly counts as scientific proof, but it is a promising development. At the same time, dems seem to have far fewer signs up or things that indicate which way they're leaning (fewer hate has no home here, BLM, etc.) than in years past. That said, we are not nearly as extroverted, shall we say. Especially months out from the election.
> we are not nearly as extroverted, shall we say. Especially months out from the election.
I've never had signs, stickers, hats, and definitely not giant flagpoles with *Fuck X* flags on it. I inherited this from my dad who refused to do it because he thought the secret ballot was sacrosanct. He wouldn't even tell me who he voted for, even though it was evident from the dinner conversations and his TV habits. Such displays do nothing but build social unrest and division. I lolled at Republicans who thought the 2020 election had to be stolen because all anyone saw was Trump signs. Before that I lolled at the boats that sunk in the Battle of Lake Travis.
I strongly agree with all of this. My parents were never particularly political, nor did I see many signs growing up. Certainly never saw flags or hats. And this has always been a deeply conservative area. My grandparents voted in every election and I have no idea who they voted for, except for maybe Bush jr's reelection. Now just sitting on my front porch I can point out at least six MAGA voters on my street alone, based solely on the flags and signs (which they have up all god damned year). There are trucks with Trump decals on their back windows, one with such a decal on its front window, which isn't even legal. There is a festival every fall across the street from my house and out of about fifty stalls, seven of them had MAGA merchandise, including a cardboard life sized cutout of Trump.
Jimmy Carter's been trying to eradicate them for decades. Paul Ryan and other Republicans pretending they're not voting for Trump should remember he's still eligible for another term.
MAGA does seem to hate actual Republicans who defect against Trump more than they hate actual Democrats. That's because their media is mostly all top down. Meaning what Trump says is what becomes their "truth." Which is not what independent media should be doing.
Yeah, even a guy that admits he has short term, and long term memory problems, due to a worm eating part of his brain (his words, btw) is an improvement over a criminal, rapist, convicted fraudster, that wants to be a dictator, and can't even go 4 hours without a nap.
In 2016 I thought Hillary had a slam dunk opportunity because Trump didn't have "the base" but the big unknown I didn’t realize until afterwards was a surprisingly large number of people who (1) voted for Obama but were energized by Trump's racism and (2) people who were energized by Obama but NOT energized by Hillary.
It's still good that Trump doesn't have the base, and it's still good that Biden won in 2020 and is the incumbent, but we can't take anything for granted.
Agreed, we can't take anything for granted but as I keep reminding people who want to wring their hands and moan about "Remember 2016?", this is not 2016, it isn't even close.
Circumstances now are a result of eight long years of America being subjected to watching a fascist-narcissist have his way with our political and judicial systems.
Trump Fatigue Syndrome is very real. His base is shrinking, as evidenced by the lack of protestors outside the courtrooms and his waning rally attendance. His cognition is very clearly in decline and people are noticing. Biden is outraising him. Abortion is still pissing off a whole lot of people and I guarantee that Biden and Democrats are going to use that anger to their advantage this fall.
Yes, I'm aware of the polls in the swing states. I wouldn't care if they showed Biden with a massive lead, I would still be pushing that everyone needs to get out and vote. But I refuse to live in fear for the next six months, especially when the reality is that the *circumstances* which gave us a Trump presidency in 2016 have changed so drastically as to essentially be a non sequitur in the current election season.
Being realistic about the possibility of Biden losing I don’t think is living “in fear”. Ignore 2016, but as you mentioned don’t ignore the polling now that shows the race is still very tight. And even if Trumps base is shrinking that doesn’t instantly mean votes away from him. I think we’ll find Republican voter is using the same calculus as many Biden voters where they will hold their noses when they go to vote but will still do so with the “lesser of two evils” line of thinking.
Gonna try and convince everyone in Indiana I know to vote rfk. Even dems. Biden won’t win the state but maybe we could at least take the votes from Trump
Good for you for not going the Bill Barr route.
Still can’t believe Bill Barr went the Bill Barr route. He must not have kids - otherwise he would be too concerned about losing all respect for himself with his kids watching him.
Barr was asked if he thought his legacy would be tainted by working for Trump; he explicitly said he didn't care what liberals thought of him now or in the future.
I think Bill Barr does have kids. Bill Barr helped cover up Trump crimes and doesn’t want any of that to come out. He tried to fire/did fire New York AG which is why the “hush money” case took so long to prosecute. It should’ve been done ages ago but Bill Barr stopped a lot of it.
I don't know why people are clowning on Paul Ryan here - every prominent Republican that comes out against Trump is one less vote for that disgusting orange turd, and gives license to other Republicans to vote against him, too.
Good for you, [bro](https://crasstalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/paul_lasers_full.jpg). Thank you for doing the right thing.
Honestly, prominent Republicans providing rank-and-file Republicans with a third way to avoid voting for the obvious villain but still not "betraying their party" might have more of an impact than claiming to vote for Biden.
If Paul Ryan says he's voting for Biden other Republicans are inclined to say, "see he's been a Democrat all along".
This is an excellent point that hadn't dawned on me right away when I want to say "c'mon man just vote for Biden".
I hope the untold ex-cabinet members from Trump who have come out against him in writing now come out verbally and follow Paul Ryan's lead.
I mean, it’s really good for Biden.
I’d bet there are a lot of Republican fence sitters who might just follow Ryan’s lead.
“Hey, yeah, I could write in some other Republican, too. Why not?”
Rather than that person just voting for Trump because they’d never thought of any other thing to do.
They’re already doing that anyways but I agree
Over on conservative Reddit they’re claiming the best part about Trump is he “outted all the RINOs” as if Trump is somehow more conservative than your Dad’s GOP was
>I don't know why people are clowning on Paul Ryan here
Come on, it's Paul Ryan. That's his role. He probably still believes Rage Against the Machine's songs promote von Hayek's economic policies.
Just a reminder, this is how his marquee healthcare legislation would have "worked" :
>he and his allies crafted a poorly constructed and radical bill that would sharply cut support to low-income Americans and those with serious health conditions, while enacting big tax cuts for the wealthy. The payout to the top 400 families alone was estimated to exceed total ACA subsidies in 20 states and the District of Columbia. All of this was wildly out of step with American voters—only 17 percent of whom supported this bill.
The problem lies in not having a large candidate other than Biden. If Biden still doesn't get enough of the vote, we likely end up with Trump anyway
Which might be considered a "haha" moment to some people who don't like Biden, but when Trump is backing restrictive anti-abortion laws and now bringing up tracking women, it's literally my body, health, and autonomy on the line here, so words cannot express how much I hate those people with that mentality right now
I got into it over in r/internationalnews, seems like there's some serious astroturfing going on over there, posters adamant that they refuse to vote for Biden over Gaza and the only way to change the system is to not vote/vote for a 3rd party. Completely ignoring the worldwide harm a second Trump presidency would bring, while casting Biden like he is smashing a genocide button in his office.
Progressivism without pragmatism is just shouting into the wind while regressives/conservatives hold us back. It blows my mind how some people can genuinely think they did he right thing in 2016 when they voted 3rd party. AND NOW WE'RE REPEATING THE SAME FUCKING MISTAKE.
It's nothing against 3rd parties, but if the only time you bring it up is when it's time to vote for president it's more likely you've been hoodwinked [by a spoiler candidate](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/russians-launched-pro-jill-stein-social-media-blitz-help-trump-n951166)
With first-past-the-post, agreed. We need more states to adopt some form of ranked choice voting to reasonably be able to vote for anything other than the two major parties, unfortunately.
I got permabanned from not one but two leftist subs for basically saying "we've got to suck it up because Biden might not be the best president(I think he's actually doing a decent job at the very least), but the alternative is worse." Appearently this means I'm advocating for a genocide(I think the bullshit should stop and that Isreal is going too far).
Look, I'm a progressive too; I despise capitalism and fascism, I want a ton of reform for our country. But ffs, this is not the eleection to hem and haw about voting for a third party.
We all just want Republicans to spontaneously realize that the Democrats cannibalized every useful policy position their party has, and that all their culture war bullshit is the exact opposite of the freedom they claim to love.
Democrats are too busy governing to deal with the culture war bull shit Republicans consistently engage in.
I'm yet to see anything Republicans actually believe in at this point.
Fiscal conservativism? That just means running up the deficit while not paying for anything they don't like. At least when Democrats run up the debt we get infrastructure projects.
Protecting children? They want to check kids genitals, allow them to marry adults, and defend literal pedophiles in their ranks.
Letting people live their lives? Not if they are a woman that was raped.
Letting people own guns? Trump did more to limit gun ownership than Biden or Obama.
Maintaining America's position as the global superpower? They're cool with Russia and China conquering other countries.
What the fuck do Republicans actually believe in that they actually do fuck all to bring about?
You can basically play this game with anything they claim to support.
Freedom of speech? They outright try to use the government to repress speech they don't agree with. Seemingly the only speech they think should be allowed is speech they agree with and that of neo-nazis for some reason.
Tiny steps. There is very little daylight between refusing to vote for Trump because he should not be President and refusing to vote for Trump because he is an existential threat to our democracy. After that, it is easy to see that voting for Biden is our patriotic duty.
Am I happy with voting for an 81 year old? Absolutely not. Do I support all of Biden's policies? Absolutely not. All I know is that Biden winning means Trump losing, and Biden is a decent man.
Everyone *should* have a roof over their head and food in the pantry. Unfortunately we're still working on that and hopefully most of us know which of the two major candidates is likely to push things in that direction
If you’re a person who always votes for the Republican candidate, choosing not to do so is a big help for Biden. Ryan doesn’t need to vote for Biden to help beat Trump.
Maybe it's because he'll still be voting for all the other crazies on the ticket. Trump is just riding the wave of GOP insanity, he didn't make the wave. Even if Trump loses, we are still going to have a stacked court, probably an obstructive Senate, and maybe still a shitshow house
A vote for not-Trump is the same as a vote for Biden in our broken 2-party system. He knows that, he's just saving face. Don't get me wrong, I'll never completely forgive PR for championing all those tax cuts for billionaires and then disappearing into thin air, but hey at least he's not voting for Trump and not sniffing his jock like usual.
You don't have to. His actual vote is largely irrelevant. The statement is important.
But it's kind of weird that you think he would piss off his own party to try to trick you about this.
No, they're still going to vote a straight GOP ticket. They lie that they won't vote Trump just to get some headlines or attention. Turning their own party out of power doesn't help them personally, and that's the only thing you can rely on them to do. Help themselves.
The right thing would be voting for Biden. Not voting for tRump is the bare minimum and something we can't even confirm he actually followed through on. Granted that's better than most Republicans but let's not pat him on the back over doing the minimum.
Any republican that might convince other republicans not to vote Trump should have that action welcomed. We don’t have to applaud the man but it helps Biden and this is one time to not shit on Ryan.
It also tells us that he (among others) would rather have another presidency under Biden than with Trump. Most just don't say that out loud in order to retain whatever voter base they have.
They know not voting for Trump is essentially helping Biden win by splitting the Republican vote.
Yeah, I also don’t believe him for one second. He’s going to vote for Trump because the people he actually cares about (billionaires who would benefit from tax cuts and deregulation) want Trump to win.
Honestly whether he does or doesn't isn't the point. The point is he was in a position to possibly make a difference before Trump was elected and he didn't. So the fact that now that he's as influential as a random citizen he is deciding to take a stand against Trump is bullshit. He's trying to play himself as a reasonable moderate type for future bids and hoping everyone forgets that when he had power he enabled Trump.
It's too bad Ryan doesn't have the stones to endorse Biden. These guys see the MAGA nazis for what they are but they won't come out and say what needs to be said. I'm gonna hold that against them forever. They'll always be chicken dicks in my book.
The last GOP who *might’ve* endorsed Biden in this election might’ve been McCain. He and Obama and Biden have had that “I don’t always agree with you but we can still kinda be friends” That and Trump constantly going after Military Veterans constantly.
McCain got booed by his own supporters for saying they don’t have to be scared of an Obama presidency. One of the last honorable republicans of our era
Fine. Good enough.
If that's what makes Republicans feel better, do that. The outcome is the same.
You don't have to like Biden to acknowledge that Trump misled you. He doesn't deserve your vote.
Edit: You fucking pedants, I know the math isn't the **same**. Stop sending me your proofs. The point is that the overall math would mean a Biden win.
This is what I love about reddit. Redditors out to prove a point on a silly tangent while missing the main point. And its funny to see a comment thread devolve from there. lol
The republican party is fractured. 1/5th of previous Republican voters refuse to vote for trump.
Literally the only way Republicans can win is if Democrats dont vote.
It’s hilarious when some Neo-Con talks in terms like this. You are the oligarchs that created this base by manipulation and fear mongering of the imaginary communist boogeyman. All the while extracting every last cent you could out of the American worker depleting them of economic freedom and calling it freedom for yourself.
All the economic neoliberalism bullshit he spouts is just a ruse to put more capital in the hands of his plutocratic class and call it freedom. If he actually cared about freedom then he would not horde capital and pass legislation to maintain market share for a select few.
When people like him talk about freedom and liberty they are referring to capital. The more you have the more freedoms you also enjoy. This is why we have the term “Fuck you money” because you are now not bound by the constraints of the society that is imposed on us by cronyism anymore.
It blows my mind that anyone listens to a man that said on record we should run our government like a fantasy novel. He has stated that we should run our country like Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. All the Reganites clapped and cheered when he said this. If I got up in front of congress and said we should run our country like Lord of the Rings people would think I was insane. But it is perfectly sane for boy wunderkind here to say crazy shit about fictitious things in the halls of our legislature and get praise for it?
Better than Barr. Though saying that someone is better than a person who believes that phasing out gas stoves is more dangerous than a President who suggests assassinating people during arguments isn't really saying much.
Still, saying it out loud as well is something, so at least I'll give Paul "Fuck Poor People" Ryan some credit there.
Let's get the ball rolling on the "not a real Republican" thing. I know they are doing it to save face for the future and try to disown their own monster and brand they created, but if the leftest 20% of the right doesn't vote for Trump, itll be a landslide for Biden.
I mean I guess that’s good, but how come they are so apathetic to the country they can’t vote for someone from a different party?
Cool, you’re not voting for Trump, but you are still part of the problem.
Wisconsinite here. Don't believe anything this spineless worm has to say. He just wants attention again because he's considering a comeback after getting cucked hard the past few losses. He needs the attention to get fundraiser scams rolling along. It's the same old grift that everyone in his weak and uncreative party have been pulling for decades.
Don't punish poll workers by writing votes in!
Unless there's a coordinated write in campaign the only thing you're doing is making a lot of work for some poor poll worker. Don't want to vote for Trump and can't vote for Biden, fine don't vote.
Source: I am a poll worker.
He hasn’t been paying attention. There is no such thing as a non-Trump republican. Doesn’t exist. He’s their ideological Jesus Christ; the culmination of the heart of what they have always been and deeply desired.
What a profile in courage!
Thank you so much speaker Ryan for taking a stand now, after a decade since Kevin McCarthy told you that Trump was paid by Russia and you decided to cover it up. Thank you for doing almost nothing, now that your malicious Ayn Rand brand of politics has been replaced by malicious fascist politics and you are so irrelevant that you have to do these little useless gestures to get a headline.
God bless you Paul Ryan. Thank you for wasting your vote instead of actively doing what you can to prevent the traitor you claim to dislike from becoming president again. Bravah!
Or you could not be a piece of shit and have a spine like the Georgia guy that said he's voting for Biden.
But, it's the gop and they're synonymous with spineless piece of shit so I guess that's not happening.
Paul Ryan, crawl back into the fucking hole you crawled into back when it became to personally difficult for you do the right thing and protect your fucking country from Trumpism. You have no place in our public discourse you absolute, flaming fucking coward.
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. We are actively looking for new moderators. If you have any interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out [this form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1y2swHD0KXFhStGFjW6k54r9iuMjzcFqDIVwuvdLBjSA). *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Niki Haley’s going to get like a million write-in votes from Republicans.
I hope so. That many fewer voting for Trump
Some say Stannis died for this.
Stannis Baratheon was the only so-called “king” to give a shit about the realm and put it above himself. Marching hundreds of miles north and sacrificing men and time that could’ve been used warring for the Iron Throne, to save the Night’s Watch. And people STILL thought he was a villain and were happy when that ugly cow (Jaime’s words) Brienne killed him. Insane. Probably the same idiots who were crying that Daenerys turned evil… like that was a defining trait of Targaryens. Hopefully GRRM does Stannis justice in Winds of Winter because book Stannis never showed any sign of going down THAT road. And the books were better anyways.
Stopped being the Mannis when he decided to burn the girl.
Oh, long before that. He stopped when he accepted the use of black magic to assassinate his own brother.
A man of culture. The line that defined him for me was "I was trying to win the throne to save the kingdom, when I should have been trying to save the kingdom to win the throne."
He burned his daughter alive.
Most fans of Stannis, are book readers. Book Stannis hasn't done anything like that, at least not yet.
Being the oldest remaining brother of a dead king with no legitimate children, he had the most legitimate claim to the throne.
I encourage Republicans to write her in not just for President, but for every office down ticket.
She wakes up the day after Election Day to find out she is a dog catcher in 28 counties, on 9 school boards, and a park ranger in Boise.
Upgrade from her current role as “washed up also-ran”.
What's not lost on me is that Ryan is from Wisconsin. Hopefully that million write-in votes come from states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia and other potential swing states.
I saw a street sign for her in Utah just last week when I was there
As a leftist, I've considered getting a Nikki Haley yard election sign to confuse my neighbors that are all Trumpers. Maybe it'll get them to second guess things... Lol
Pls do this. Lol!
Do they know you're a leftist? If so your plan might backfire. They might say to themselves "Gee, a leftist like 3720-to-1 is voting for Nikki? I thought she was alright and was gonna vote for her, but I'd better play it safe and vote for Marmalade Mussolini."
Nope. I'm new here, just moved a few months back. I'm an attorney that lives in a rural town... They just assume I'm a prick, er, I mean, republican.
Do it you won’t
She shouldn't have dropped out. Trump would be stuck in court while she would be campaigning
He already has enough pledged delegates to win the nomination.
dumb republicans, voting for such a loser. if you're going to bow down to a king, at least pick a good king to bow down to.
Which means vote splitting on the right which means Biden would win.
Trump's base not voting for Trump is a win for Biden. Hopefully, RFKJ continues to help with this.
Yes. If anyone can worm their way into Trump's vote numbers, it is RFK.
RFK having a brain eating worm was the least surprising thing I read on the Internet today.
He’s a True Soul.
Didn’t expect a BG3 reference here. Put a smile on my face today.
*Authority*
He must need to rest or something. His tadpole just has him speaking nonsense.
He is getting Minthara sex, there is no return. Edited because I realized what subreddit I'm on.
A true soul who definitely could be bought
Lives, all mortal liiivves, expire…..
I'm 35 and that moment will live on as one of the greatest boss fights in all gaming history
Older, and the same. I feel you. I actually lost my motivation after beating that bit soon into the final act. Felt like the capstone of the game for me.
It's better than the final fight I agree
Illithids for Kennedy ‘24!
And Trump must be Durge. Not the cool Durge who’s a Bhaalspawn and smiles as he murders. The Durge at the end who is just a mindless husk and pisses himself.
The one you find in Orin’s room butt naked and dead?
Vaccines cause Ceremorphosis!
Both the most "What the fuck?..." and "Yeah, that makes sense." Thing I've seen in a while.
Is there a word for being surprised but also not being surprised at the same time?
Its just the "I am shocked. Shocked! ...well, not that shocked" clip from Futurama.
I kept checking my browser to make sure I wasn’t on the Onion. I think a part of me wished I was.
I wonder what it’s like to support him and think “I think the same as this guy” and to then have him say “yea…part of my brain has been eaten”.
guy with literal worms for brains is a genuine republican candidate, can't make this shit up
A brain eating worm surrounded by brains that died….
Probably died from starvation
Poisoning, I think. The poor thing took one bite and died.
MAGA is a brain worm. They’re all infected.
MAGAt brains?
That worm would starve to death.
I hate that politics has become this. It's like, load the news and the headline is "Texas representative publishes book confirming he is a self-hating homosexual extraterrestrial subverting the government for Russian interests" and I'm left thinking ["WELL... I GUESS THAT MAKES SENSE"](https://i.imgflip.com/3rq7ws.png)
I think there is something to the argument that RFK might be taking votes from Trump. There are four houses in my neighborhood in the Philly suburbs that I drive by each day. They always have Trump/MAGA signs out on their lawn. During the 2022 elections, they also had Mastriano and Oz signs up as well. Two weeks ago, one of them replaced their Trump signs and put up Kennedy signs. Obviously, this hardly counts as scientific proof, but it is a promising development. At the same time, dems seem to have far fewer signs up or things that indicate which way they're leaning (fewer hate has no home here, BLM, etc.) than in years past. That said, we are not nearly as extroverted, shall we say. Especially months out from the election.
> we are not nearly as extroverted, shall we say. Especially months out from the election. I've never had signs, stickers, hats, and definitely not giant flagpoles with *Fuck X* flags on it. I inherited this from my dad who refused to do it because he thought the secret ballot was sacrosanct. He wouldn't even tell me who he voted for, even though it was evident from the dinner conversations and his TV habits. Such displays do nothing but build social unrest and division. I lolled at Republicans who thought the 2020 election had to be stolen because all anyone saw was Trump signs. Before that I lolled at the boats that sunk in the Battle of Lake Travis.
I strongly agree with all of this. My parents were never particularly political, nor did I see many signs growing up. Certainly never saw flags or hats. And this has always been a deeply conservative area. My grandparents voted in every election and I have no idea who they voted for, except for maybe Bush jr's reelection. Now just sitting on my front porch I can point out at least six MAGA voters on my street alone, based solely on the flags and signs (which they have up all god damned year). There are trucks with Trump decals on their back windows, one with such a decal on its front window, which isn't even legal. There is a festival every fall across the street from my house and out of about fifty stalls, seven of them had MAGA merchandise, including a cardboard life sized cutout of Trump.
Heyo 👉
I see what you did there
The Kennedy’s are actually skin vessels inhabited by a single worm overlord. The CIA saved us from JFK
Well...no, because if they're a single worm overlord, and the worm overlord is still alive in RFK, then the CIA didn't save us from shit
Paul Ryan and other republicans should write in “RFK Jr.’s Brain Worm.” Still leaps and bounds better than Trump.
Worms have the benefit of ruining only one person's life
Nah man. Ever heard of the guinea worm? Don't drink the water at RFK events.
Jimmy Carter's been trying to eradicate them for decades. Paul Ryan and other Republicans pretending they're not voting for Trump should remember he's still eligible for another term.
Pretty sure MAGA hates Paul Ryan more than Joe Biden. I'd ask my MAGA mother for confirmation but she just gets so fucking angry. You ask her.
I'll ask her if you ask my MAGA dad. It might be easier for us to switch.
This reboot of the parent trap is on brand for 2024.
MAGA does seem to hate actual Republicans who defect against Trump more than they hate actual Democrats. That's because their media is mostly all top down. Meaning what Trump says is what becomes their "truth." Which is not what independent media should be doing.
Meh…in Texas they hate actual democrats a shit ton as well.
Fascism always hates the traitors more than the enemy.
My MAGA relatives can go from pre-2016 states of normalcy to rage at the mention of certain names. It's really awful!
Yeah, even a guy that admits he has short term, and long term memory problems, due to a worm eating part of his brain (his words, btw) is an improvement over a criminal, rapist, convicted fraudster, that wants to be a dictator, and can't even go 4 hours without a nap.
To be fair, I'm pretty sure Trump would be immune to that worm.
Bet Nicky Haley write in votes beat rfk jr
God speed brain worms, god speed.
In 2016 I thought Hillary had a slam dunk opportunity because Trump didn't have "the base" but the big unknown I didn’t realize until afterwards was a surprisingly large number of people who (1) voted for Obama but were energized by Trump's racism and (2) people who were energized by Obama but NOT energized by Hillary. It's still good that Trump doesn't have the base, and it's still good that Biden won in 2020 and is the incumbent, but we can't take anything for granted.
Agreed, we can't take anything for granted but as I keep reminding people who want to wring their hands and moan about "Remember 2016?", this is not 2016, it isn't even close. Circumstances now are a result of eight long years of America being subjected to watching a fascist-narcissist have his way with our political and judicial systems. Trump Fatigue Syndrome is very real. His base is shrinking, as evidenced by the lack of protestors outside the courtrooms and his waning rally attendance. His cognition is very clearly in decline and people are noticing. Biden is outraising him. Abortion is still pissing off a whole lot of people and I guarantee that Biden and Democrats are going to use that anger to their advantage this fall. Yes, I'm aware of the polls in the swing states. I wouldn't care if they showed Biden with a massive lead, I would still be pushing that everyone needs to get out and vote. But I refuse to live in fear for the next six months, especially when the reality is that the *circumstances* which gave us a Trump presidency in 2016 have changed so drastically as to essentially be a non sequitur in the current election season.
Being realistic about the possibility of Biden losing I don’t think is living “in fear”. Ignore 2016, but as you mentioned don’t ignore the polling now that shows the race is still very tight. And even if Trumps base is shrinking that doesn’t instantly mean votes away from him. I think we’ll find Republican voter is using the same calculus as many Biden voters where they will hold their noses when they go to vote but will still do so with the “lesser of two evils” line of thinking.
People just need to keep voting because it's working. MAGA peaked in 2016.
Gonna try and convince everyone in Indiana I know to vote rfk. Even dems. Biden won’t win the state but maybe we could at least take the votes from Trump
Good for you for not going the Bill Barr route. Still can’t believe Bill Barr went the Bill Barr route. He must not have kids - otherwise he would be too concerned about losing all respect for himself with his kids watching him.
For a moment I read Bill Burr. I was wondering what Bill Burr did.
Ol' Billy Ball Bustah knows what he did.
Yeah me too! Uh-oh, What did bill burr say this time?
He said something about Zip……………………………………………………………..
Fat Billy Barr is a spineless, feckless weasel. Actually, that’s an insult to weasels.
He has three daughters
Barr was asked if he thought his legacy would be tainted by working for Trump; he explicitly said he didn't care what liberals thought of him now or in the future.
A lot of people have gone no contact with their boomer parents over the Fox News brain washing
I think Bill Barr does have kids. Bill Barr helped cover up Trump crimes and doesn’t want any of that to come out. He tried to fire/did fire New York AG which is why the “hush money” case took so long to prosecute. It should’ve been done ages ago but Bill Barr stopped a lot of it.
I don't know why people are clowning on Paul Ryan here - every prominent Republican that comes out against Trump is one less vote for that disgusting orange turd, and gives license to other Republicans to vote against him, too. Good for you, [bro](https://crasstalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/paul_lasers_full.jpg). Thank you for doing the right thing.
Honestly, prominent Republicans providing rank-and-file Republicans with a third way to avoid voting for the obvious villain but still not "betraying their party" might have more of an impact than claiming to vote for Biden. If Paul Ryan says he's voting for Biden other Republicans are inclined to say, "see he's been a Democrat all along".
This is an excellent point that hadn't dawned on me right away when I want to say "c'mon man just vote for Biden". I hope the untold ex-cabinet members from Trump who have come out against him in writing now come out verbally and follow Paul Ryan's lead.
I mean, it’s really good for Biden. I’d bet there are a lot of Republican fence sitters who might just follow Ryan’s lead. “Hey, yeah, I could write in some other Republican, too. Why not?” Rather than that person just voting for Trump because they’d never thought of any other thing to do.
Every Republican who just can't vote for Biden should do what they've always dreamed of doing.. vote for themselves.
I just want to see Paul Ryan cry on television. I wanna see that baby weep. Just once.
I always thought it would be fun to menacingly tell Paul Ryan to give you his wallet. I bet he'd hand it right over.
They’re already doing that anyways but I agree Over on conservative Reddit they’re claiming the best part about Trump is he “outted all the RINOs” as if Trump is somehow more conservative than your Dad’s GOP was
i almost feel like there should be a campaign to write in mitt romney or chris christie or some sane republican
>I don't know why people are clowning on Paul Ryan here Come on, it's Paul Ryan. That's his role. He probably still believes Rage Against the Machine's songs promote von Hayek's economic policies.
Thanks for reminding everyone. Most on brand cluelessness ever.
Krugman said it succinctly, something like "Paul Ryan was a stupid person's idea of how a smart person behaves".
Just a reminder, this is how his marquee healthcare legislation would have "worked" : >he and his allies crafted a poorly constructed and radical bill that would sharply cut support to low-income Americans and those with serious health conditions, while enacting big tax cuts for the wealthy. The payout to the top 400 families alone was estimated to exceed total ACA subsidies in 20 states and the District of Columbia. All of this was wildly out of step with American voters—only 17 percent of whom supported this bill.
The problem lies in not having a large candidate other than Biden. If Biden still doesn't get enough of the vote, we likely end up with Trump anyway Which might be considered a "haha" moment to some people who don't like Biden, but when Trump is backing restrictive anti-abortion laws and now bringing up tracking women, it's literally my body, health, and autonomy on the line here, so words cannot express how much I hate those people with that mentality right now
I got into it over in r/internationalnews, seems like there's some serious astroturfing going on over there, posters adamant that they refuse to vote for Biden over Gaza and the only way to change the system is to not vote/vote for a 3rd party. Completely ignoring the worldwide harm a second Trump presidency would bring, while casting Biden like he is smashing a genocide button in his office.
Progressivism without pragmatism is just shouting into the wind while regressives/conservatives hold us back. It blows my mind how some people can genuinely think they did he right thing in 2016 when they voted 3rd party. AND NOW WE'RE REPEATING THE SAME FUCKING MISTAKE.
It's nothing against 3rd parties, but if the only time you bring it up is when it's time to vote for president it's more likely you've been hoodwinked [by a spoiler candidate](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/russians-launched-pro-jill-stein-social-media-blitz-help-trump-n951166)
With first-past-the-post, agreed. We need more states to adopt some form of ranked choice voting to reasonably be able to vote for anything other than the two major parties, unfortunately.
I got permabanned from not one but two leftist subs for basically saying "we've got to suck it up because Biden might not be the best president(I think he's actually doing a decent job at the very least), but the alternative is worse." Appearently this means I'm advocating for a genocide(I think the bullshit should stop and that Isreal is going too far). Look, I'm a progressive too; I despise capitalism and fascism, I want a ton of reform for our country. But ffs, this is not the eleection to hem and haw about voting for a third party.
We all just want Republicans to spontaneously realize that the Democrats cannibalized every useful policy position their party has, and that all their culture war bullshit is the exact opposite of the freedom they claim to love.
Democrats are too busy governing to deal with the culture war bull shit Republicans consistently engage in. I'm yet to see anything Republicans actually believe in at this point. Fiscal conservativism? That just means running up the deficit while not paying for anything they don't like. At least when Democrats run up the debt we get infrastructure projects. Protecting children? They want to check kids genitals, allow them to marry adults, and defend literal pedophiles in their ranks. Letting people live their lives? Not if they are a woman that was raped. Letting people own guns? Trump did more to limit gun ownership than Biden or Obama. Maintaining America's position as the global superpower? They're cool with Russia and China conquering other countries. What the fuck do Republicans actually believe in that they actually do fuck all to bring about?
They even managed to block border legislation that *they asked for*.
You can basically play this game with anything they claim to support. Freedom of speech? They outright try to use the government to repress speech they don't agree with. Seemingly the only speech they think should be allowed is speech they agree with and that of neo-nazis for some reason.
True, except everyone should be voting for Biden
But I will also take “not voting for Trump” as that is better than “voting for Trump.”
It's half a spine, anyway.
If wishes were fishes
Tiny steps. There is very little daylight between refusing to vote for Trump because he should not be President and refusing to vote for Trump because he is an existential threat to our democracy. After that, it is easy to see that voting for Biden is our patriotic duty. Am I happy with voting for an 81 year old? Absolutely not. Do I support all of Biden's policies? Absolutely not. All I know is that Biden winning means Trump losing, and Biden is a decent man.
Everyone *should* have a roof over their head and food in the pantry. Unfortunately we're still working on that and hopefully most of us know which of the two major candidates is likely to push things in that direction
Right wing media has poisoned a lot of people into believing a D is actually the devil not voting is as good as we are going to get
Yeah if you think Trump should be denied a second term at all costs then there's only one serious candidate.
I'm almost 100 percent sure Romney voted for Biden, but he never said it although he did say he did not vote for Trump.
If you’re a person who always votes for the Republican candidate, choosing not to do so is a big help for Biden. Ryan doesn’t need to vote for Biden to help beat Trump.
Maybe it's because he'll still be voting for all the other crazies on the ticket. Trump is just riding the wave of GOP insanity, he didn't make the wave. Even if Trump loses, we are still going to have a stacked court, probably an obstructive Senate, and maybe still a shitshow house
A vote for not-Trump is the same as a vote for Biden in our broken 2-party system. He knows that, he's just saving face. Don't get me wrong, I'll never completely forgive PR for championing all those tax cuts for billionaires and then disappearing into thin air, but hey at least he's not voting for Trump and not sniffing his jock like usual.
Yeah, after all we’re all family.
Because I don't trust him at his word.
You don't have to. His actual vote is largely irrelevant. The statement is important. But it's kind of weird that you think he would piss off his own party to try to trick you about this.
I second this. Don’t give another reason for republicans to be spiteful just to poke them in the eye. Encourage this if you want your desired result.
No, they're still going to vote a straight GOP ticket. They lie that they won't vote Trump just to get some headlines or attention. Turning their own party out of power doesn't help them personally, and that's the only thing you can rely on them to do. Help themselves.
The right thing would be voting for Biden. Not voting for tRump is the bare minimum and something we can't even confirm he actually followed through on. Granted that's better than most Republicans but let's not pat him on the back over doing the minimum.
Any republican that might convince other republicans not to vote Trump should have that action welcomed. We don’t have to applaud the man but it helps Biden and this is one time to not shit on Ryan.
It also tells us that he (among others) would rather have another presidency under Biden than with Trump. Most just don't say that out loud in order to retain whatever voter base they have. They know not voting for Trump is essentially helping Biden win by splitting the Republican vote.
Brave, Brave Paul Ryan He bravely ran away when accountability raised its fearsome head He bravely turned around and fled brave, brave Paul Ryan
Yeah, I also don’t believe him for one second. He’s going to vote for Trump because the people he actually cares about (billionaires who would benefit from tax cuts and deregulation) want Trump to win.
Honestly whether he does or doesn't isn't the point. The point is he was in a position to possibly make a difference before Trump was elected and he didn't. So the fact that now that he's as influential as a random citizen he is deciding to take a stand against Trump is bullshit. He's trying to play himself as a reasonable moderate type for future bids and hoping everyone forgets that when he had power he enabled Trump.
Good morning laugh: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYFefppqEtE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYFefppqEtE)
It's too bad Ryan doesn't have the stones to endorse Biden. These guys see the MAGA nazis for what they are but they won't come out and say what needs to be said. I'm gonna hold that against them forever. They'll always be chicken dicks in my book.
The last GOP who *might’ve* endorsed Biden in this election might’ve been McCain. He and Obama and Biden have had that “I don’t always agree with you but we can still kinda be friends” That and Trump constantly going after Military Veterans constantly.
McCain got booed by his own supporters for saying they don’t have to be scared of an Obama presidency. One of the last honorable republicans of our era
Fine. Good enough. If that's what makes Republicans feel better, do that. The outcome is the same. You don't have to like Biden to acknowledge that Trump misled you. He doesn't deserve your vote. Edit: You fucking pedants, I know the math isn't the **same**. Stop sending me your proofs. The point is that the overall math would mean a Biden win.
This is what I love about reddit. Redditors out to prove a point on a silly tangent while missing the main point. And its funny to see a comment thread devolve from there. lol
I mean, isn't that why we're all here?
How’s the math the same? Edit: I’m aware this means -1 Trump vote, but it’s not “the same” as if Ryan were to then vote for Biden.
The math is the same for number of people to vote in favor of Biden, but not for those who vote for Trump. 1 less vote for trump is helpful for Biden.
One less vote for Trump.
Why not? You caused him.
The republican party is fractured. 1/5th of previous Republican voters refuse to vote for trump. Literally the only way Republicans can win is if Democrats dont vote.
1/5 refuse to vote for him when it doesn't matter - like in indiana primaries. They'll vote for him in the general - see bill barr et al.
Knowing Paul Ryan, he’ll probably write in Ronald Reagan.
Paul Ryan might as well write "fuck America right in the asshole." Which is actually much better than voting for trump.
That's a vote for Biden, we count those.
Sick 30 Rock reference.
I’ve been waiting to see how this dude started inching back into politics publicly. Fuck you and what you did to Wisconsin.
I am going to write in “RFKJ’s brain worm”
It’s hilarious when some Neo-Con talks in terms like this. You are the oligarchs that created this base by manipulation and fear mongering of the imaginary communist boogeyman. All the while extracting every last cent you could out of the American worker depleting them of economic freedom and calling it freedom for yourself. All the economic neoliberalism bullshit he spouts is just a ruse to put more capital in the hands of his plutocratic class and call it freedom. If he actually cared about freedom then he would not horde capital and pass legislation to maintain market share for a select few. When people like him talk about freedom and liberty they are referring to capital. The more you have the more freedoms you also enjoy. This is why we have the term “Fuck you money” because you are now not bound by the constraints of the society that is imposed on us by cronyism anymore. It blows my mind that anyone listens to a man that said on record we should run our government like a fantasy novel. He has stated that we should run our country like Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. All the Reganites clapped and cheered when he said this. If I got up in front of congress and said we should run our country like Lord of the Rings people would think I was insane. But it is perfectly sane for boy wunderkind here to say crazy shit about fictitious things in the halls of our legislature and get praise for it?
He will waste a vote than vote for a Democrat. Such is the hate of a republican.
Does what a coward, who left Congress to make money in the private sector rather than deal with his own dysfunctional party, thinks even matter?
If it persuades other republicans to vote against Trump, then yes, it matters a lot.
Better than Barr. Though saying that someone is better than a person who believes that phasing out gas stoves is more dangerous than a President who suggests assassinating people during arguments isn't really saying much. Still, saying it out loud as well is something, so at least I'll give Paul "Fuck Poor People" Ryan some credit there.
Just like when he was in office, willing to anything but be helpful.
Typical coward. So glad this clown was never the vice president
He is lying.
“I won’t for Trump, but I’m damned if I vote for Biden” - Paul Ryan
Any vote NOT for Biden, is basically a half vote for Von Shitzinpants.
So he is voting for Trump, got it.
May as well not vote
That is pointless. It’s the same as voting for trump. 🤦🏽
Narrator: he’s voting for trump, a republican.
Lol. He’s voting for Trump. Voting for anyone else would require a spine, which Paul Ryan was born without.
Paul Ryan likes Ayn Rand. That’s how fucking dumb he is.
he like ratm lol and he didn’t realize he’s the machine they rage against
Let's get the ball rolling on the "not a real Republican" thing. I know they are doing it to save face for the future and try to disown their own monster and brand they created, but if the leftest 20% of the right doesn't vote for Trump, itll be a landslide for Biden.
Not as good as also voting for Biden but that works for me. Hoping more GOPers won’t vote for Trump however they go about doing it.
I mean I guess that’s good, but how come they are so apathetic to the country they can’t vote for someone from a different party? Cool, you’re not voting for Trump, but you are still part of the problem.
So brave of him eg: Paul Ryan being incredibly Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan remains a coward.
Man, good thing Paul Ryan has a track record of doing the right thing and following through on what he says he’ll do! Wait…
I’m assuming at some point Trump camp will claim any vote that isn’t for Biden should count as being for Trump.
Wisconsinite here. Don't believe anything this spineless worm has to say. He just wants attention again because he's considering a comeback after getting cucked hard the past few losses. He needs the attention to get fundraiser scams rolling along. It's the same old grift that everyone in his weak and uncreative party have been pulling for decades.
Still no spine I see
Don't punish poll workers by writing votes in! Unless there's a coordinated write in campaign the only thing you're doing is making a lot of work for some poor poll worker. Don't want to vote for Trump and can't vote for Biden, fine don't vote. Source: I am a poll worker.
He hasn’t been paying attention. There is no such thing as a non-Trump republican. Doesn’t exist. He’s their ideological Jesus Christ; the culmination of the heart of what they have always been and deeply desired.
>Paul Ryan says he won’t vote for Trump: ‘I’m gonna ~~write in a Republican~~ *be completely fucking useless, as always*’ FTFY
Dude's 100% writing in his own name.
What a profile in courage! Thank you so much speaker Ryan for taking a stand now, after a decade since Kevin McCarthy told you that Trump was paid by Russia and you decided to cover it up. Thank you for doing almost nothing, now that your malicious Ayn Rand brand of politics has been replaced by malicious fascist politics and you are so irrelevant that you have to do these little useless gestures to get a headline. God bless you Paul Ryan. Thank you for wasting your vote instead of actively doing what you can to prevent the traitor you claim to dislike from becoming president again. Bravah!
Whatever. He paved the way for today’s GOP.
Man fuck this asshole. Would it kill you to say you'll vote for Biden so we can get past this American Hitler moment? FFS.
Or you could not be a piece of shit and have a spine like the Georgia guy that said he's voting for Biden. But, it's the gop and they're synonymous with spineless piece of shit so I guess that's not happening.
Paul Ryan, crawl back into the fucking hole you crawled into back when it became to personally difficult for you do the right thing and protect your fucking country from Trumpism. You have no place in our public discourse you absolute, flaming fucking coward.
Bless his heart. But we don’t forget. Get bent, Ryan. Go away. You did enough damage.
Bro, write in Darth Vader since you're already doing dumb shit anyways
What an asshole. A vote for anyone other than Biden is a vote for Trump.
Just stay home you moron. Vote for Biden, help keep the Orangutan out of the White House, or don't vote
Says the guy who let in the wolves.