Quote :

"I'm totally cool letting the leftys get their way in 2028...it's only fair"

i have no problem with that

Quote :

"sometimes experiencing failure is necessary to find (or rediscover for those who have not sufficiently learned from history's lessons) clarity and wisdom. I see it as our civilization is an organism that has been experiencing a fever of sorts, and sometimes unfortunately the best/only/inevitable way to get over a fever is not to suppress it but to let the immune system destroy the inflammation. Trump and Mamdani AOC are both reactions to an unhealthy political environment (thanks obama). I don't think they will be fatal to their hosts."

[Edited on May 12, 2026 at 1:00 PM. Reason : I think the chances of AOC winning the primary let alone the general is extremely low, however]

5/12/2026 12:59:22 PM

other than being Black, what did Obama do to cause an unhealthy political environment?

5/12/2026 1:34:34 PM

that was basically it

[Edited on May 12, 2026 at 1:50 PM. Reason : obv not seriously blaming obama just using the thanks obama line cus that's when things fell apart]

5/12/2026 1:49:32 PM

Speaking as a lame white person, I thought the Obama years were pretty good. I certainly didn't wake up every morning with existential dread.

5/12/2026 1:53:31 PM

Quote :

"I thought the Obama years were pretty good"

agreed. that's why it was easy to not recognize the long festering rot that ultimately led to trump and why people were so shocked by it, which ultimately led to the woke overreaction, which is how we ended up with trump 2.0

[Edited on May 12, 2026 at 2:04 PM. Reason : we keep pingponging, crashing into the shores of history. we need to get back on course and stay in the center]

[Edited on May 12, 2026 at 2:06 PM. Reason : thanks obiden]

5/12/2026 2:02:09 PM

Centrist president did not solve the long festering rot therefore we need another centrist president?

Seems like the alternate view is that if we can't get a government willing to really shake things up, they will never be able to fix what Trump has broken much less put in place better guard rails to prevent in the future, so we'll just be doing 4 years of chilling before the next new Trump.

I have less of a need for my preferred next government to have leftist view points and more of a need for them to attempt a full uno reverso to restart budgets/staffing and then try to pass more iron clad protections for future attempts to go sound the congress, full purge of these unqualified and unprincipledTrump hires/appointees and heavy reform of the Supreme Court so they don't just rip it all up again (I like the traveling court/rotating panel from circuit courts idea). Once we get the country back to stability and add major protections, we can swing back for MFA.

Of course they will likely also have to fix a broken economy and the day they are elected, they will start to be blamed

5/12/2026 2:28:41 PM

Quote :

"Centrist president did not solve the long festering rot therefore we need another centrist president?"

centrists are largely RESPONSIBLE for the rot. biden, obama, clinton (both of em) all contributed to the decline of trust in moderate democrats. they were still imho clearly better than the alternatives when they were elected, and overall generally did a good job in office, but they all fumbled the bag in ways that ultimately opened the door for voters legitimately wanting alternatives, whether it was right or left leaning alternatives. my argument is mostly that moderates should recognize their own failures (actually doing something about corruption within the party would be the biggest needle-mover to regain trust imo) and voters who have been seduced by the fringe right and fringe left leaning alternatives should realize that their protest votes are in actuality worse for the country than the moderates they're rebelling against.

Quote :

"if we can't get a government willing to really shake things up, they will never be able to fix what Trump has broken"

i agree. i'll say it again - we're in an era of change. the US govt barely functions any more, and we are in desperate need of a dynamic political system that can respond thoughtfully (and with integrity!) to the change we are undergoing. most dems just want to uno reverse back to the obama world that no longer exists. we need to reinvent for the 21st century, just like our politicians did at the beginning of the 20th century as the effects of the industrial revolution were becoming undeniable. there's no courage among democrats to do what needs to be done though. they're stuck.

[Edited on May 12, 2026 at 2:56 PM. Reason : MAKE GREAT MODERATES ESTABLISHMENT AGAIN]

5/12/2026 2:47:56 PM

I agree with enough of that answer to not feel worth picking the parts I don't. Let's call it 70% agree.

5/12/2026 3:27:09 PM

i suspect it's closer to 85% but i'm willing to accept your mostly performative 30% disagreement

[Edited on May 12, 2026 at 3:37 PM. Reason : cmon guys we're in our 40s]

5/12/2026 3:36:10 PM