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1/ Today the #2024Election kicks off in earnest with #JoeBiden’s re-election bid announcement
There is 560 days to the #PresidentialElection. Much will happen, conditions will change but it as #Biden suggests a continuation of the battle for the soul of America
I’ll use this thread to comment periodically on the election over the next 80 weeks. It’s a long road to #ElectionDay2024, but the stakes couldn’t be higher
2) One of America’s better columnists, #TomFriedman, with some thoughts on #KamalaHarris and how the VP needs to be a more visible presence in the #2024Election.
#USPolitics #Politics #WomenInPolitics
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/25/opinion/kamala-harris-joe-biden-2024-reelection.html
3) is the #2024Election a contest between morality vs amorality?
#DavidBrooks of the #NYTimes certainly thinks so
#USPolitics #Politics #Elections
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/27/opinion/biden-trump-soul-america-election-2024.html
4) Meanwhile #DonaldTrump is on the campaign trail reinforcing his uber fan base by embracing a convicted #Jan6 agitator. In Donald world these people were patriots and acted in his best interests although he lifted nary a figure to help them as the indictments and convictions started flowing
5) The #Desantis campaign for the presidency now seems dead before its birth.
What is more surprsing, the empty vision of DeSantis or the continued acceptance of #Trump as a presidentail candidate?
#USPolitics #Politics #Election2024
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/03/trump-critics-desantis-gop-primary-00095011
6) Meanwhile the candidate accused of rape in a current civil suit trial plays golf in #Ireland.
While Mr #Trump claims he will return to #NYC to defend himself, he has opted NOT to attend the #JeanCarroll trial. While the geography was different, the usual MO was on full display, made for #NewsMedia assertions without reference to fact or logic
7) #DonaldTrump is not hirable for most jobs. Like many, conservative pundit, Charlie Sykes, is mystified that many Americans consider #Trump to be a plausible candidate for control of the nuclear codes or top secret clearance
#Politics #USPolitics #Election2024
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/05/trump-reelection-2024-assault-allegations/673957
8) The #2023Election will be the first election where #AI generated imagery, audio and video will be deployed.
Donie O'Sullivan recently flagged a #GOP campaign add which used AI generated imagery to stoke fears about fictional dystopian future resulting from a #Biden re-election
This ad was created by the #RNC not some outsourced hacked media shop. A shameful moment for the #Republican Party
#USPolitics #Politics #DeepFake
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/02/politics/ai-election-ads-2024/index.html
9) The #Trump show was on #CNN last night. He served up a big dose of red meat to true believer supporters who were predominant in the town hall format audience.
While that makes going into the primary process, the #Election2024 campaign will be fought for the middle swing 30%. Many will not be enamored by #ElectionDenialism, #Jan6 rioter embrace or the #JeanCarroll rape verdict
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/11/us/politics/trump-cnn-town-hall-takeaways.html
10) #CNN has had a busy 24 hours trying to justify why it hosted #donaldtrump
Should #Trump be hosted by legitimate news operations? I think yes, but not in the circus like town hall environment
@rbreich is out with a good piece indicating that "libertarian", #JohnMalone was the likely driver behind the decision to host #Trump. I find this suspicion to be highly plausible
#Election2024 #USPolitics #Politics #NewsMedia #News
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/after-last-night-anyone-still-trust
11) File this one under #FailureToLaunch. Hardly surprising when understaffed and under resourced #Twitter is used as a broadcast platform. Seems like #DeSantis lacks risk assessment skills, fairly important if you wish to be #POTUS.
This latest #Musk mess will do little to improve the credibility of his crumbling network
12) I find myself being oddly aligned with #ChrisChristie in the last 24 hours. Is the #MirrorHog trending. If not it should be
13) #DonaldTrump is now facing 2 different criminal court dates in New York and Federal court in Florida. It’s likely that more indictments are forthcoming: election tampering in Georgia and then the #Jan6 conspiracy
14) Speaker #KevinMcCarthy in reacting to the #Trump indictment seems to misunderstand that the charges come from the Department of Justice and not #JoeBiden.
I can understand the confusion given how #DonaldTrump yearned to leverage the DOJ to pursue political vendettas. Seems McCarthy’s understanding of the separation of power is similar
15) The candidacy of #DonaldTrump in #Election2024 forces us to confront the ugly realities that have been unleashed on American #Politics
David Brooks at the #NYTimes reflects on the nature of #Trump’s tyranny and how it has flooded our discourse with cruelty, corruption and selfishness
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/15/opinion/trump-indictment-president.html
16) There is no arguing, #DonaldTrump’s Supreme Court appointments resulted in a court which has greatly limited abortion access. The #Trump court has earned the unfaltering support of many evangelicals
Such Christians seem to be comfortable in overlooking Trump’s more problematic non-biblical complaint behaviors. For Trump the overturning of #RoeVWade was a purely transactional vote gathering effort
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/26/us/politics/trump-documents-tape-audio.html
For years I’ve been beating a drum that we should normalize the cryptographic signing of mainstream content, for example politicians signing with their own identities to certify that a quote or video clip is real and accurate.
Not only would that help assure that a quote wasn’t taken misleadingly out of context, but in this new age it would help protect against outright deepfakes.
Unfortunately, I’ve often heard journalists respond that such a norm would interfere with journalistic independence, and lead to people being skeptical of journalists.
I think such responses get it exactly backwards.
In any case, yep, I’m still beating the drum, but sadly I think the ship has sailed and we’re now entering the more dangerous waters without that protection in place.
There is no panacea. But at least it would be nice to at least be able to say, senator I am pretty sure this video is real and not a deep fake seeing as it has a signature that matches your personal key.
Was his key hacked? Did he give it to a staffer that abused it to embarrass him? Did a quantum computer simply bypass it? Maybe. But at least it’s something other than simply hearing him deny that it really is him in a deep faked video.
A Band-Aid on the festering wound that is humanity is still an improvement :-) Well, that’s probably darker than I really would put it myself.
I think so, and just to clarify in case I’m unclear here, it’s not just that it’s not prioritized, but in my experience I’ve heard from professionals actively arguing against the idea.
I’m not sure what the concern is over digitally stamping one’s on journalistic work. Maybe it’s seen as slowing the publication process or just tediously onerous?
Given the nature of #SocialMedia and the potential for fakery, it seems judicious to want some kind of authentication process
The concern I’ve heard expressed is that if a reporter is asking, say, a politician to sign a report, to certify it as authentic, then the reporter will feel pressure to play nice with the politician to “earn” that signature.
I understand the concern, but I think the pros outweigh the navigation of that task.
It can even stand as a form of review that’s both annoying and fruitful at the end of the day, if it leads to the hassles of revisions that end in a better report.
@gimulnautti
I suppose the question in this case is whether a #journalist should be obliged to have a subject sign off on their report. In my view, that is unecessary,
I think its important for the journalist to put his or her own stamp of validation on their work to avoid fakers that might be impersonating the reporter
So I’d say the signature should be context dependent.
For example, if a reporter is quoting an expert or public figure verbatim, I’d like to see their signature attached to see that they agree that they were properly quoted.
Or if the piece is a technical explainer, the reporter might get a few subject matter experts to attach signatures, publicly attesting that they reviewed the material and it’s solid.
Just a run-of-the-mill report or newsbrief though? Sure, the reporter’s own signature might be fine; track down others might be overkill. Well, we might want editors’ signatures too, just for fun.
But the main thing that comes to my mind with this is the quotation signature. It doesn’t happen every day, but far too often over the years I’ve seen reporters literally leave out a word like “not” and end up reversing the meaning of the quote.
The signing process would have had the speaker catch the misquotation, hopefully.
@mnutty The big issue is abortion. He boasted he got rid of it.
I agree. I think the Dems will be delighted with his chest thumping on #abortion. That is an issue that resonates more across party lines than any other, especially amongst women
The overturn of #Roe and the ongoing attacks on women's #RightToChoose is a shameful episode in the history of American misogyny
@mnutty Couldn't happen to two nicer guys.
@bullivant LOL - I think we're aligned
@mnutty Musk doesn't want a credible network. He wants a mouthpiece to further his narcissistic goals and racist roots.
@mnutty Good thread. Although I focus on #ClimateChange, batshit crazy politics and the money that creates this destructive system must be aired out. Musk is mental. His appeal has always eluded me.
#Musk has been involved in two enterprises, Tesla and SpaceX which are remaking their industries
Whether the success of these companies resulted from or despite Musk is a matter of debate
The accrued wealth has a fascination for many and the ambition of his projects has stoked interest in the man who seems to be descending into increasing levels of delusion likely bolstered by sycophantic minions who enable his inflated self regard
@mnutty I like your psychoanalyses, lol. He appears to be an opportunistic bully to me, with an inflated reputation of brilliance. I haven't seen it. I don't relate to other people's admiration of wealth, which seems to drive way too much behavior in this country.
In my view, there is too much emphasis on asset wealth. When basic needs are met, the incremental benefit of more money is questionable, indeed great wealth can shut people off from the more profound wealth of close human relationships which I believe is where happiness lies.
@mnutty I agree. My priority is always time over money and people over possessions. Wealth as a motivator has driven the destruction of this planet, other people and innocent creatures. My life revolves around writing about #ClimateChange and waking people up now,
@mnutty His incompetence for his job is mind blowing! Or is he so afraid of the freedom caucus that he tweets this BS?
In addition to the Freedom Caucus, I also think the massive #Trunp base is driving this willful ignorance
@mnutty But that he tries to please them in this way is very, very chilling.
Yeah you'd hope for better, that an attempt would be made to steer the base away from unreality, but all we get is pandering
There is little one can do to change the minds of #Trump fans. I see #USPolitics as three evenly divided blocks. Stalwart Dems, Trump Fans and in the middle those that are persuadable.
These are the folks that we want to talk to as we face down another presidential election in 2024
There may be little that can be done to change Trump fans’ minds, but there are ways to stop throwing them meat and encouraging them.
Ignore Trump and he and his followers will wander off.
As the Internet adage goes, don’t feed the trolls.
Well I'd suggest that 1930s politics in Germany tell us otherwise. Ignoring somebody when they willfully subvert the law and attempt to overthrow democracy doesn't seem like a smart idea from my perspective.
Now if you think #Trump didn't break the law and don't value the law, then you position makes sense, at least not if yiou care about democracy
Really? You think 1930s Germany ignored the political figures rising? I’d say the exact opposite happened, as figures gained more and more attention.
I think you have your history backwards.
In the US system of government, “The executive Power shall be vested in a President,” and since indictments are executive branch actions, they DO come from Joe Biden.
The Department of Justice is the agency that the president acts through for this kind of thing.
The DoJ is not a fourth branch of the US government. It is part of the president’s executive branch, part of the president’s administration.
Traditionally the President has a hands off roll with the DOJ. He gets to appoint the Attorney General. Most Presidents opt to maintain distance least they be perceived as interferring in the judicial process.
That changed in the #Trump presidency when #DonaldTrump attempted to find an AG who would do his bidding directly. #WilliamBarr initially proved to be the right man for that job. Now #KevinMcCarthy is attempting to tar #JoeBiden with the same thing, projection at its worst
That a president may choose to allow his subordinates to operate without close oversight is itself a reflection of the president’s authority over his branch.
And it does become problematic: we trust presidents to restrain this powerful law enforcement organization. Presidents traditionally letting them operate as they wish is giving them quite a lot of flexibility to exercise that power against the public.
But we need to be absolutely clear on this: The president is legally responsible for his Department of Justice, and should the DoJ misbehave the president must stand accountable and even impeachable over it.
It is an error for us to buy the idea that law enforcement can do what it wants without accountability for the president that it reports ti.
@mnutty ok i personally can't stand David Brooks but sounds like he is on target this time
I have mixed reactions to his columns. Sometimes agree and sometimes not. I wish more of the conservative commentariat were like him
@mnutty A great day for America. Well, I hope so.
That remains for time to tell us. The fact pattern that has been leaked in the news media looks damning, and if proven to be true in a court of law should result in a conviction
@mnutty Let’s hope so!
@mnutty Disney v. DeSantis, court paper detailing DeSantis complicity in forgery and obstruction of Justice. https://desantisfelonycoverupcorruption.files.wordpress.com/2023/05/disney-v.-desantis-forgery-and-obstruction-crime.pdf
@ScottCommandos
I’ve been astonished by #DeSantis’ willingness to go to battle against the Magic Kingdom. I have to remind myself that #Disney has been in the crosshairs of the #ReligiousRight for decades and so this seems to be the intersection of the #MoralMajority and #Trumpism
@mnutty@mastodon. @mnutty re 2) regarding Kamala Harris. Apologies, I can’t read the article as I don’t have NyT subscription- but is it a bit rich of the media to say she needs to be more visible when they give 90% of their airtime to Trump?
I think VP Harris has been thrown a couple of very difficult tasks, notably stabilizing the migrant border challenge. IMHO opinion, she has not used the VP pulpit to articulate an approach to this thorny issue.
I get that the media is addicted to #Trump dysfunction, I don’t expect the VP to occupy the same media space, sadly she is mostly invisible