A good in-depth discussion of media bias in political reporting, or why is it that Biden voters are encouraged to understand an empathize with Trump voters but Trump voters are never asked to understand Biden voters?

92 points

As a liberal, I don’t need to idolize my president. I don’t want to have a beer with them. I don’t buy Democratic President merch.

I do want them to be competent. I do want them to respect the rule of law. I do want them to be truthful though I understand politics means they sometimes aren’t. I want them to govern for the good of all, even conservatives that didn’t vote for them. I want them to respect history and science, rather than spouting bullshit conspiracy theories with zero basis in fact.

By those criteria, Biden has been as good a president as I could hope for.

Trumpers just seem to care that Trump hates the people they hate. They seem to love the bullshit he spouts; the endless lies, the conspiracy theory nonsense, all of it.

I think I understand Trumpers well enough, without reaching out and trying to understand their point of view. If they could coherently form complete sentences that didn’t involve regurgitating Trump lies or rightwing media conspiracy nonsense, I might try — but they can’t and don’t, so it’s a waste of time. Two groups who can’t agree on the difference between up and down might as well be speaking different languages, so, just no.

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31 points

It’s more basic than he hates the right people. Trumpets love trump because he’s a bully. He makes people upset.

That’s just how authoritarians work. The reason the other Republicans are failing at the primary is they all appear weak. To ACTUALLY take down Trump, a Republican candidate needs to out bully him. They need to call him an orange asswipe.

But they won’t because that will upset trumpets. And that’s why they are doomed to lose the primary. Trump can call their wives ugly and they’ll just take it for fear of upsetting his mob.

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14 points

If you love a politician, you are in a cult. I voted for Joe Biden but I think he’s basically a Republican, and wish the democratic party would field a candidate who is better. But this is politics. You don’t trow up your hands like a baby and demand better, you work with what you have.

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6 points

That and the narrative of “lesser of two evils” creates a race to the bottom. We have Biden because there’s no real incentive to get good candidates, when all we have to do is find one mildly less shitty than the alternative.

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3 points

Sanders tried that but until we dissolve the DNC (and for that matter the RNC), technically those picks will always occur by a pair of privately managed entities.

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2 points
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Updooting for “the Liberal attitude toward democracy oliticians”, but I really would have liked to have a beer with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. In addition to being good national leaders, they appeared to be good people to know socially

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1 point

I’d like to be at a dinner with the Obama’s and the Bush’s because I think the conversation would be fascinating and likely hilarious. I think that you can disagree with Bush’s politics and think he was a terrible president but still recognize that he isn’t a total asshole of a person.

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-33 points

… I want them to govern for the good of all, even conservatives that didn’t vote for them. I want them to respect history and science, rather than spouting bullshit conspiracy theories with zero basis in fact.

By those criteria, Biden has been as good a president as I could hope for.

here’s an article going over biden spouting bullshit conspiracy theories with zero basis in fact and providing shitty governance for lgbtq people by singling them out for political gain: https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-1973-gay-federal-employees-security-risk-frank-camp.

there are many more examples from in his 2020 campaign that prove biden’s a shitty establishment politician that still stands by his bullshit racist, homophobic, and classicist conspiracy beliefs to this day.

trumpers are no different than you; they’re simply operating w a different style of ignorance.

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26 points

An article about someone’s opinions from 50 years ago is not a valid criticism when those opinions have adapted with time. This is just like arguing that Republicans don’t have racist policies since Lincoln abolished slavery. Could Biden do more to be more progressive yes but this is not a good argument for that stance.

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-12 points

he still stands by this decision and defended it during his 2020 campaign.

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12 points

Here is an article by a billionaire funded website that offered $50 million to Stephen Crowder explaining that Biden is bad.

[checks notes]

Seems legit. I mean, how could it not be?

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-4 points

here’s another one that shows that your thought process is heavily flawed: https://thegavoice.com/news/national/sanders-urges-voters-to-look-at-bidens-votes-for-dont-ask-doma/

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4 points
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Biden rules dude. Take your Trump trash paid for by billionaire elites to trick you into giving them gigantic tax cuts and GTFO

“Joe Biden is a friend of mine”. – Bernie Sanders

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72 points

Trump voters are never asked to understand Biden voters?

They can’t. They can’t understand anything outside of their tiny sphere. Everything else angers and terrifies them. Otherwise they wouldn’t be conservatives.

So there’s no point in asking them. It’s like asking a turtle to fly.

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-29 points

They can’t. They can’t understand anything outside of their tiny sphere. Everything else angers and terrifies them. Otherwise they wouldn’t be conservatives. So there’s no point in asking them. It’s like asking a turtle to fly.

being an elder millennial has afforded me to opportunity to experience biden’s trump like behaviors that he signed into law and watching w fascination that his current supporters are just as willfully ignorant as trump supporters.

the real mind boggling thing is that all of biden and trump’s homophobic, racists, and classicist sins are both alike and easy to find with a 30 second google search; but both groups continue to ascribe values to their politician despite it being very easy to disprove and each person will dig in their heels when you point it out to them.

conservative trump supporters are no different than liberal biden supporters in that neither group is aware of what biden has done (or what trump wants to do) and both groups are fervently willfully ignorant about it so long as their politician wins.

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24 points

New account made 3 hours ago? Check.
Comments almost exclusively on political threads? Check.
When doing so, almost exclusively makes “both sides are the same” comments? Check.

How’s the trolling going, friend?

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-18 points

New account made 3 hours ago? Check. Comments almost exclusively on political threads? Check. When doing so, almost exclusively makes “both sides are the same” comments? Check.

How’s the trolling going, friend?

i used to believe reddit was the king dumbass echo chambers; now i know that the fediverse makes reddit same sane and reasonable by comparison.

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17 points

What Biden supporters? I don’t know any Biden supporters. Does anyone here know any Biden supporters? I’m voting for Biden because he’s not a Republican, not because I support him.

Do you really think Biden won the election in 2016 because people liked him?

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6 points

Depends on your definition of supporter. I voted for him in the primary. Didn’t donate, put up a sign, wear a sticker, or base my life on him or his candidacy in any measurable way.

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5 points

Yeah I mean…I generally think he’s doing a pretty good job. I wouldn’t say I am aligned to him much beyond that or I have any ideological attachment to the guy, but yeah he’s at least helped steer away (mostly through appointing the right people to the right roles) from what could have been a pretty bad recession and his foreign policy handling of Russia and China particularly around Taiwan and Ukraine are aligned with my views. My only hesitation towards voting for him again is his age and I would prefer someone younger at this point who isn’t likely to die on the job.

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2 points
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I’m a Biden supporter. He’s done a pretty good job for a moderate, in an extremely difficult political environment. He’s orders of magnitude better than other major contenders. Now that we’ve recovered somewhat from the dark ages, we just need to find a good liberal/progressive candidate to take the country forward

Do I have merch? Of course not. Do I idolize him? No. Do I think he’s perfect? Far from it. Do I salivate over his every utterance? Of course not. Would I follow him into tyranny? You’ve got to be kidding

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-19 points

What Biden supporters? I don’t know any Biden supporters. Does anyone here know any Biden supporters? I’m voting for Biden because he’s not a Republican, not because I support him.

Do you really think Biden won the election in 2016 because people liked him?

i think you meant 2020 and, yes, he’s got a cult following, especially on the fediverse who defend him no matter what and all of the exchanges start like this.

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43 points

It’s not hard to understand Trump voters. They love the way Trump is portrayed on Fox “News,” and they love licking boots. Getting them to understand that a convicted rapist, six-time bankrupted, twice-divorced irreligious grifter makes a bad president can be quite challenging.

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5 points

Hell, you could still be a good president and be all those things. “Irreligious” is a point in favor for me, compared to having Preacher Pence in office.

The self-enrichment, abuse of power, and attempt to overthrow the government are the problem.

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6 points

Preacher Pence

Pence is a known Christian nationalist. People aren’t as afraid of him as they should be, just because he seems quiet.

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3 points

Dominionist, more specifically, and very supportive of the Quiverfull movement, which we should all be concerned about.

These people want the Duggars as the example of the perfect American family, pedophiles and all.

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2 points

The biggest shock/challenge to me is how many would explicitly be okay with the example set for their children or acceptance of such as a prospective in-law. You ask any of those chucklefucks if they’d let their daughter date a jackass like a Trump clone, they’d almost guaranteedly balk…unless they are the sort to admit they’re exactly the same. And those would be the sorts who would encourage their sons to act the same.

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-4 points

Why should I put who the president is as a person above any relevant political aspects?

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1 point

Bad people can’t be trusted to follow through on their promised political aspects more than they cause other issues

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39 points

A good in-depth discussion of media bias in political reporting, or why is it that Biden voters are encouraged to understand an empathize with Trump voters but Trump voters are never asked to understand Biden voters?

Same reason why during BLM, lots of media showcasing the looting or police brutality. But 90% of protests were just people standing there politely and cops standing on the other side.

Media wants blood for ratings.

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30 points

Are there Biden voters or just Anti-Trump voters? The Biden Administration has been dealing with inflation that just now is leveling out. While his policies match what the majority of voters want, the voters don’t want him. The downside is there is no one better to choose. Essentially it is meh Biden is better than anything the GOP has to offer.

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54 points

There’s been places that I really dislike Biden on, but overall he’s been a pretty good president

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25 points

I have no problem with Biden. He has had a good administration. The media likes shiny objects though. This is once again why we need the Fairness Doctrine back with a 21st century spin on it including all media.

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29 points

I obviously don’t speak for everybody but my Biden vote in 2020 was very much a not-Trump vote. And if Trump end up against Biden in 2024 I will make that same vote a second time. Like you said, I’ll take a meh Biden over the crazies in the GQP.

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23 points

I’d vote for Biden over anyone the GOP is running.

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27 points
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I’d vote for Biden over anyone the GOP is running.

I’ll die of old age before I vote R for any position at any level. They can’t possibly reform themselves enough to be trusted in my lifetime.

If I see an R candidate running who doesn’t seem like a whackjob I’m going to assume it’s a trojan horse. They spent the past several years trying to convince me that they are a bunch of crazy bigots who will destroy civil liberties, destroy our educational system, and ban any history or books that they deem as undesirable. I have chosen to believe them.

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17 points

The article addresses that. Because the media doesn’t report on Biden supporters, the public gets the impression that no one likes him much. I also think approval ratings are not contextualized well, because you rarely see how many people who disapprove of Biden’s presidency are right-wing and how many are leftists.

From a personal perspective, while I was not a reluctant Biden voter (would have never voted for Trump), he was far from the top of my list in the 2020 primary. I think, considering the obstacles he’s faced, Joe has been a much better president that I expected. That’s in spite of Republicans ratfucking student loan relief and robust electoral reform.

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15 points
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Deleted by creator
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14 points

Not an American, but I think Biden has been the best US president since at least Clinton, and perhaps even since Carter.

(Although I do agree he is too old… Does the democratic party really not have a younger equally capable candidate?)

Obama was a very popular and charismatic guy, but I think he kind of squandered his popularity and failed to achieve results.

Obama wasn’t successful with the ACA, or Iraq/Afghanistan or the Supreme Court. He didn’t even achieve a minimum wage increase after 2009. Didn’t tackle wallstreet.

He should have been a bit more confrontational and twisted some arms to achieve results.

Meanwhile Biden is just steamrolling a lot of successes with a razer thin Senate majority.

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5 points
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Deleted by creator
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1 point

I also think approval ratings are not contextualized well, because you rarely see how many people who disapprove of Biden’s presidency are right-wing and how many are leftists.

I’m the latter

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13 points

I was an anti trump voter in the last go around, but this time I’m voting FOR Biden. He’s done a lot with a bare minimum Senate majority and a hostile supreme court. And I love his unconditional support of Ukraine.

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12 points

My vote for Biden was an anything but trump vote, but given Biden’s current record as president he has my vote again.

Still not my first choice but we live in a first past the post voting system so gotta take what you can get.

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4 points

Biden’s team has handled the war in Ukraine extremely well, building up our European strategic alliances to a level we haven’t seen in decades while avoiding disastrous escalation. A terrible situation but I think he’s handled it better than, say, a first-term Obama or Clinton (let alone GWB) would have.

IRA & debt ceiling pwnage show he has skilled people working congress too.

On the minus side, he appointed Merrick Garland, who has been absolutely the wrong man for the job.

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2 points
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the voters don’t want him.

Biden was literally chosen by the voters.

Are there Biden voters or just Anti-Trump voters?

Biden rules. Absolutely nobody could have done a better job than Biden on a whole range of issues: Ukraine, jobs, reducing inflation without triggering a recession, covid, student loans, getting liberal policies thru a razor thin Dem majority etc. He has done an outstanding job on all of those things.

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1 point

There is no one better to choose because the media and the DNC keep telling us there is no one better to choose and any time a possible person is mentioned everybody just says “They don’t have Biden’s name recognition so they can’t win.”.

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7 points
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Who isn’t being talked about that is registered and better?

https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_candidates,_2024

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2 points

Serious liberal candidates aren’t going to run against a sitting President.

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3 points

Duverger’s Law and US is still not there yet in the Overton window. I vote progressive to help aid in Overton window shift from something more reasonable and social democracy is arguably the system that makes the most sense.

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2 points

I vote progressive to help aid in Overton window shift

A wise strategy since voting is the only way to shift the Overton window.

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3 points

Who? The two main other candidates are insane pseudoscience and conspiracy theorist trash. And also basically right wingers anyways.

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2 points

You must be new to the internet.

There’s nothing people like more than rehashing the 2016 and 2020 elections

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