The USDA has a contingency fund for these circumstances: when funding from the federal government slows down or, in the worst case, comes to a halt.
Trump is refusing to allow the USDA to dip into that fund which the USDA is legally entitled to use. Trump and his Admin are the sole reason this money isn't being distributed out to Americans.
It's funny because the Cons are lying by framing the shutdown as being caused by Dems. Trump withholding SNAP benefits is a crack in that lie.
Whether ordinary, low-income Americans realize that is yet to be seen. I'm sure the polls on the matter will continue to get worse against Cons.
You're right about NYC. But wins add momentum, which builds and proves the DNC wrong.
The more and more I hear about Platner, the less I'm willing to defend him. He'll capture liberals, sure, and I prefer to have grace for people if they've shown that they can fix their shit and atone for what they've done in their lives, but he sure ain't the perfect candidate. You're right that we don't want Fetterman again, which is why we need to be critical of Platner here and now and not Vote "Who" No Matter Who like many liberals are doing now. If he keeps making bad decisions, like Kamala did as soon as her 2024 GE campaign made it to the DNConvention, then it'll suck. Janet Mills is an option, but she's not perfect either.
If Platner can have good messaging discipline, keep his campaign to Leftist economic popularism, come out with policies that support that agenda that he'd like to see implemented in Congress, and stay woke, I think I might throw him more support. But these things build. Trust needs to be built. And we all know that trust can be destroyed faster than it can be built.
Americans want populist candidates, and Leftist economics are popular.
AOC has a good track record. I want to see her because the leader of the party. I think the establishment Dems and DNC ignore the reality in front of them that their underlying base is changing views (against neoliberalism), and AOC should lead that fight. I think she'd be better for SML instead of President tho. Because of what we said about NYC and NYS, because of how it votes differently from the rest of the country, I think she has a safer bet to oust Schumer and gain even more national notoriety as a SML. She'll be setting the stage for the Dems, and hell, has more of a backbone than Jeffries ever will.
If Mamdani is an indication of anything, people will vote for leftist economic populism despite there being racial divides.
In the past few weeks and months, we saw in New York City that the majority of Jewish people still support Israel over Palestine. Yet, Mamdani has consistently pulled a plurality of Jewish support with double digit leads over the other candidates.
What this means is that Jewish people are just like any other American, and they are feeling the effects of this shit economy caused by Trump. Mamdani represents a bandaid to that more than the other candidates, so they're going with that and ignoring Mamdani's anti-Zionist and anti-Israel policy.
I don't think it matters what candidate you push a campaign for if they run on Left populism. As we've seen with Platner in Maine, though, being a white male veteran doesn't hurt either.
But Leftists don't have any movement. You might be able to point to Bernie Sanders, AOC, Zohran Mamdani, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib. Those aren't a majority. Hell, sometimes they aren't even in agreement, as is the case with AOC, Bernie, and Zohran.
Platner has less than a year to demonstrate that he's not the crypto fascist you all think he is.
And I'll repeat myself from a comment I left elsewhere:
Lying politicians that lie about drifting to the Left are still better than truth-telling ones that tell the truth about drifting towards the Right. The former changes the permission structure of what's possible in political rhetoric, while the latter foments public dissatisfaction for the Democrats.
Leftism (at least economically) is popular. Platner speaks to that. The DNC NEEDS to recognize this if they want to win elections.
Your point of view leads to nihilism. Sorry, I still want to believe that we can win.
But people are taking that one step further and making it a certain doubt. People are disqualifying him entirely, which can be seen in others responding to me in this very thread.
People have different sus meters, and mine (and Bernie Sanders') meters aren't just there yet.
If he doesn't get this removed and started to capitulate more and more to centrist liberals, then my support for Platner will wane.
I'd rather defend him than be apathetic to him right now.
And while you're at it, support those other Left leaning, anti Zionist frontrunners for elections next year across the US. I'll wait for those people to come to power while Platner takes names and kicks ass.
Of course, if another candidate for the Maine Senate race appears and has better optics while championing the same views as Platner, I'm all for it.
But let's keep closeted leftists from taking office because they aren't left enough.
I am saying that Platner is taking it from both sides right now, when Leftists could show some support by trying to gather a unified front.
Platner isn't perfect. He's done a lot of bad shit. But him winning in Maine means other progressives that AREN'T him become more confident in running.
Ok, well I'll take that over politicians now that don't even bother to lie. Democrats nowadays don't lie and cater to the Right.
At least Obama ran on a campaign of change while fucking us all in the ass. Politicians doing that though shift the Overton Window and change the permission structure for what you can and can't say on a political campaign.
Graham Platner will do his job in pushing the envelope, and other progressives will follow suit.
Hey Puritan, I'm an American zoomer AND I DIDNT EVEN KNOW WHAT A TOTENKOPF WAS BEFORE YESTERDAY.
May I remind you that most Americans didn't even know that Lays potato chips were made out of potatoes, and so Lays is now changing up their marketing to get that fact across?
I think you highly overestimate how intelligent people in America are. We have the average literacy rate of a 6th grader. Come on.
If Platner gets it covered or removed in the next 1-2 weeks, no big deal. He's positioning himself as a reformed veteran, and I'm willing to back him.
We don't have many other Left leaning candidates in non-Blue states!
To be fair, I didn't even know what a Totenkopf was before yesterday. Yes, I'm an American zoomer. This goes to show how shite our US history public education is.
And Platner said that he underwent multiple inspections by the military. Not one of those times did the military point out that his tattoo was a hate symbol. Should they have? Would they have? Clearly not.
Now that he knows the "truth", whether you agree that this is his first time learning about the symbol or not, he needs to cover it up or have it removed. Post pictures on social media. Make it a big thing so the fascists and tankies don't call you a communist and Nazi all at the same time.
If he doesn't get it removed, well then I'm not sure if I want to back him.
It's certainly an inconvenient hurdle to clear to become vegetarian, let alone vegan.
All starts with being convinced that there is something wrong with eating meat, and usually the conscience takes it from there.
It also doesn't help that our governments subsidize the meat and dairy industries to the point where they are some of the cheapest for people. Remove those subsidies, and people will start to see a reason to make the switch.
What about less than lethal ammunition, like rubber bullets that cops get to use on protesters?