Biden is neoliberal (neocon?) war criminal and has been since before he even became Vice President. But let's really not be the "actually Trump 2024 is good actually compared to Biden" people. It's not only a bad look, it doesn't reflect our beliefs or principles.
Maybe the couple posts I've seen about this is :fedposting: but Trump is also a fascist and was doing heinous shit with his power too. Not to mention he'd use the post to pogrom trans people. And all of nakedly fascist stuff he did to suppress the 2020 BLM movement (unmarked feds disappearing people in vans??? Thumping a bible on the steps of the capitol while Feds teargassed protestors???)
Fuck Biden and Fuck Trump and fuck anyone who tries to carry water for either of them.
Can you define your use of "fascist" for me? Like what do you mean specifically?
A swine defecating on his own testicles.
I think it's kinda important here to differentiate between the establishment neoliberal fascism and the far right religious fascism that is trying to take power, which is why I'm asking. Trump seems to largely be the same as every other president that has existed, liberals think that he's a literal nazi but he's obviously not, parts of his base are but he's just an opportunist rather than a true ideological believer. I see largely no difference in actual policy implementation between him and Biden, in fact his term was arguably much less harmful than Biden's term has been no? On top of that it legitimately propelled the growth of the left, blm and more which all just dropped dead when Biden got elected and libs went back to brunch.
Literally everything you've mentioned is happening or would happen under Biden. If huge protest movements sprang up again like BLM you'd see unmarked feds and everything else again, police and the feds would behave exactly the same way. As for the attacks on trans people that are happening I do not see Biden actually stopping or fighting any of it at all.. Which is exactly how Trump would also be but in that case he would have liberal media calling it out and attacking him for it whereas they're completely silent for Biden. I think there would be a stronger and louder movement to try and protect trans people if Trump were in power because media and the liberal base would actually be politically mobilised for it.
I think something desperately needs to be done to stop the attacks on schools, libraries and other things for books right now though, a very dangerous road is happening.
I would argue that the BLM protests would have been much less likely to happen, since libs/radlibs that made up a large part of the mass would have felt much more complacent. Just saw your comment below, seems like you also have this belief.
Yes. Liberal mobilisation played a big part in that, ok so they also tried to coopt it and deradicalise it too but they played a big part in the noise, the promotion and the bubbling of anger.
The best point I think I have to make here is do you want liberals to be fighting the gov because they correctly think it's fascist or do you want them complacent? Red fascism and blue fascism don't matter but liberals only recognise red as fascism and react appropriately in a way that legitimately helps us and our goals.
I dont have opinions anymore about who should be president, but yeah that argument has been pretty well debated.
Most liberals I know went as far as to read a book by a black author and order some take out from a black owned business and shut down at the discussion of dismantling systems of oppression. it was very sad. For a lot of us it felt like it was finally time we would be heard and believed but alas.
It's an important learning moment for the collective. People need to remember it next time, take their energy but do not let them lead and do not expect them to stick around unless they make real ideological commitments to drop liberalism. The conscious choice to drop the label of liberal and take the label of socialist is the true first step that rips most of these people out of that space but they're still a mess if they don't get a re-education from Fanon, Settlers, and other things.
I havent read Settlers or any Fanon
spoiler
I mostly just watch Parenti's lectures and listen to podcasts
My main point is that there's no use in trying to think in those terms since it's gonna be a fascist in power anyways. There's no real answer to "which one did worse" because they both perpetuate the same bloody system. And depending on who you ask, material life was actually worse under Trump.
Not sure how material life wasn't better under Trump, covid hadn't happened yet and when it did happen Trump actually gave people money. Did Biden actually give anyone any covid relief money in the end? I missed whether that actually happened or not from over here in the UK.
I concede that life might have felt worse under Trump because it was noise noise noise 24/7 about shit because the libs were actually mobilised and doing something for once. I believe that probably felt very bad for trans people hearing about themselves getting harmed and attacked constantly. That's happening under Biden too though and he's doing nothing about it, we're just not hearing as much about it because there's literally no liberal political mobilisation.
I argue that it is in fact much better for these groups to have the political mobilisation occurring than to not have it occurring. The battle is outside of electoral politics now, it's happening at local levels in schools in streets in libraries and so on and so forth. That battle needs fighting with the greatest mobilisation possible and the conditions that generate that mobilisation are the better conditions to have. Between two people that will largely have exactly the same policy and liberals being mobilised vs passive I would prefer them to be mobilised.
I think Yanis Varoufakis was right to be doomer when he explained his position here, it was much worse that libs went back to brunch. He was right about pretty much everything he said here. Trump isn't in the whitehouse but Trumpism is in power. I think it's arguably better to have Trump and the mobilised "left" (liberals) than it is to have Biden and no mobilised left.
This is of course the view of people with no skin in the game though from over here in Europe. I understand things feel or look different when closer to a situation.
EDIT: Let me put this another way. If both candidates are to largely just do what the establishment has always done... Is it more beneficial to have liberals fighting their own government as if it is fascist or liberals not fighting their own government at all? I think it is more beneficial to have liberals fighting the fascist state because they truly believe Trump is different and a fascist than to not.
This is the exact kind of argument that is not helpful and I was explicitly calling out with the main post. There is no "better" between Fash Red and Fash Blue.
Excellent points were made about the difference in material conditions when Trump was in office. In fact I consider myself convinced by that argument, so I would say it is explicitly helpful. Your argument in response to it is just to deny that there is any material difference depending on whether it's "fash red or fash blue" in office? Then why call out people for not being anti-Trump?
Objectively, things are just as bad now if not dramatically worse, but everyone I know in real life is literally back out to brunch. Nobody is even pretending to fight for change anymore. I would argue this is in fact, worse for the actual left (tm).
I mean... I agree to an extent. Neither are "better" but there is absolutely a strategic difference of outcome worth considering. What wording or phrasing would you prefer me to use?
But to be less irony poisoned, it's a very tricky word to define specifically. I generally call actions facsist if the government is using violence to suppress popular power or subvert legal norms. So of course you could call every police force in America a fascist occupying force (and I wouldn't disagree with you) and you could also call every American president fascist as well. That's why I said Trump was "nakedly fascist" with his use of force where Obama and Biden are more polite fascists.