9mo ago

Trump is killing free speech.

Mastodon.

92 comments

Let me get this straight, CBS is refusing to fact check the VP nominee who, on TV, admitted that if he has to make up lies to get America's attention then he'd do just that?
Eat shit CBS
- They should just add "Admitted liar" to his marquee whenever he's on screen.

If there is no fact checking, Kamala needs to be ready to ask why Trump nominated someone who isn't allowed in any Ashley Furniture store in the lower 48 states and Alberta.
- I agree with the sentiment, but that tees up Trump to reply with something that normalizes getting banned from places. You know, the sorts of consequences for the actions of "fine people" everywhere. It doesn't even have to make complete sense nor be morally defensible; simple soothing words and support from perceived "leadership" is enough to make that play.
  If your opponent isn't rational, and their base much less so, appealing to general reason is probably not going to work. Better to go on the attack and out specific weird behavior as, well, weird and not a part of the overall group (voters) dynamic. The key is to signal that there's something wrong with this kind of behavior with your time on the mic, rather than hope that your opponent will just screw up their rebuttal.
- You... do know Harris (it's weird you used her first name) and Trump won't be at the Vice-Presidential debate, right?
  
  Not weird at all, it's her first name. That's what it's for

Don't act like Walz wiping the floor with Vance is a forgone conclusion, it's not. That's what people thought about Biden's debate. Whether we admit it or not, there's intelligent Republican debaters who can't be baited out there, Trump just isn't one of them.
I genuinely wonder if the best option wouldn't be to refuse the VP debate until live fact-checking is in place for both candidates. That, or correcting simple untruths didn't count toward their time. I love Tom Walz, but if he has to literally spend his entire time refuting very obvious lies continuously spewed by Vance, his time would be better spent campaigning in swing states. How much does a Vice-Presidential debate really matter, anyway?
- correcting simple untruths didn’t count toward their time
  This would be THE BEST rule ever for all debates of any kind.
  
  I disagree, that'll be abused by candidates to get more screen time.
  We should keep the fact checking ABC did and perhaps deduct time for candidates that are consistently caught out on lies. The fact checkers should be approved by all candidates as well, so they can't just point to the hosts as favoring one or another.
- There’s intelligent Republican debaters who can’t be baited out there
  This is true, but I've seen Vance speak, he has zero charisma. I feel like you need some amount of charisma to be a bullshit artist and have people not see straight through you. I mean people with any semblance of intelligence will see through you no matter what, but votes aren't weighted on intelligence.
  
  I've been saying for years that votes should be weighted on IQ. 1 vote for 100IQ points, 1.2 votes for 120IQ. If people literally rip up their children's homework because they are learning about pronouns (the grammatical concept) then they should be considered mentally unfit to vote
  edit: sub-100 IQ people keep downvoting :)

Part of the problem is that nearly every sentence trump spoke was a lie, so fact checking was not 100%. They just fact checked random things, like, nobody is eating our pets. ProfessorWeKnowDis.gif
- They fact checked the most obvious stuff on purpose. It's irrefutable. You cannot seriously claim they were biased when their two fact checks were the most basic shit. And yet that highlights just how bad Trump is.

It’s not that Trump is killing anything; no more than millenials killed anything. It’s the media that’s the problem. If we’re going to blame anybody for failed media, then let’s blame the appropriate people. Instead of giving them a scape goat, we hold their feet to the fire.
- This. They made the choice not because Trump is a whiny little baby, but because they see dollar signs by allowing him to make a spectacle.
  
  C.R.E.A.M.

He has no power to shut down a major news network, so one must ask why they decided to change the policy. It is not because of Trump's impotent threats.
- Because they want a piece of that sweet, lucrative, "insane spectacle" money. The execs don't care, as long as they get paid.
- I assume the Trump/Vance campaign privately told CBS no fact checking else Vance drops out of the debate.
- If Trump wins and we became a dictatorship he could do anything. The supreme Court has ruled on this, he is practically immune from the law while in office. He could literally have people assassinated and get away with it.
  
  That's a big if. Additionally, he may have a scotus ruling saying that he's not accountable, but that doesn't mean that shit won't hit the fan if he tries to exercise that decision. The government and its institutions aren't comprised solely of documents. There are a fair number of powerful people who would not take kindly to a dictator running the country. Hopefully we never need to test this. I've lived through enough interesting times already.

Some people are under the mistaken impression that corporate news is not run specifically by republiQans to promote conservatism.
🌎🧑‍🚀🔫👨‍🚀
- Do you mean that these entities are run by people who believe qanon? Or you weren't being literal? Just the former I'd be really curious to see what lead you to opinion
  Hilarious and sad if true
  
  Do you mean that these entities are run by people who believe qanon?
  It’s kind of a ‘trick question’ because they don’t have to believe Qanuts to support them. I like to think they don’t but statistically - i.e. Elon - some must. It becomes irrelevant when they simply repeat Qanon idiocies without brutally mocking them.
  A defining quality of Qanon “theories” is that they literally aren’t theories in any sense but in the largest most general term. Like “robots are stealing my luggage” is a “theory”.
- Is this one though, or are they merely... "useful"?
  My own point is that if those two are functionally indistinguishable, then that should tell us something about how dangerous the situation has become.
  Very nice emojis btw!
  
  Every corporation is run by rich assholes who only care about stock prices and quartly earnings

I kinda wanna see the entire debate evolve into ludicrous, outlandish claims back and forth. Just sheer comedy. I know this isn't the right way to fix anything, but it's what we deserve at this point for letting the situation get this far unchecked.
- Imagine a candidate spilling bullshit like "Haitian immigrants are eating the dogs". That would be hilarious.
  
  Oh don't be ridiculous, who would be stupid enough to believe something like that?
  
  I can't fathom it.
- "No, you have poopy pants!"
  This is the level of discourse I've come to expect from presidential debates ever since trumpler entered the races.
  
  "I will give everyone a car to drive to work"
  "I will do one better! A helicopter! Helicopters are way cooler!"
  
  This is exactly the spirit I'm talking about.

Walz needs to make outlandish, unbelievable, rumors. Couch fucking should sound normal.
Vance is technology he's own great-,grandfather/ brother. You know, he's Grafa bro! His pet ladybug is very proud of their accomplish.
- That would be so fun if he would use the maga debate technic and go full lie after lie making Vance lose his time refuting everything
- It seems that Walz has been using the Trump cult's tactics of being super cheeky and poking at the competition.
  I hope to see him ridicule that eyeliner-wearing, couch-fucker. When the righties complain we can tell them "why so triggered? he was just joking around! Lol"
  
  I thought I say him wearing eyeliner. Dude's weird.

Is the debate being simulcast on all the major networks? I seem to remember seeing the Trump/Harris debate on ABC, CBS and NBC (just with different talking heads before and after).
If so, ABC should broadcast the debate with fact-checking overlays (Pop-up video style?) and advertise the shit out of the fact that they'll be doing this.
- Wow, it's Kennedy vs. Nixon all over again, with techno-enhanced augmentation of "facts"!
- Pop up ~~video~~ debates

he has no power on his own. go after the shadow drivers that hide behind his buffoonery if you really truly want to see clarity

How was Trump's threat successful?
- CBS says they will not fact check the debate, some people see this is because ABC was threatened and so CBS is caving to Trumps threats
  
  I get it now, thanks!

I feel like less people will watch the VP debate but people might still point out that jd vance is lying out of his aaa

Trump demands networks agree with him.

This is exactly how the press works.

Americans still haven't figured out that when the US talks about democracy and freedom, it's a fucking lie. The rest of the world knows this. Catch up already. Democracy was never alive in the US.

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