My take on the Capitol Riots is that what happened is a natural consequence of the rhetoric that America is built on combined with the lies spread by Trump. Whenever rioters overthrow a government who tries to steal an election in South America or Africa, Americans cheer, because we see it as our duty to protect our Republic. Further, the culture surrounding guns is about the defense of rights through violence or the threat of violence. In no small part, this violent defense of rights is what this country was founded on.

Therefore, when someone gets up and says that the election has been stolen (one of the most grievous offenses against rights in a democracy), of course people are going to fight. Further, based on our current system, I struggle to find those actions as inconsistent with the ethos of America.

That is why Trump is at fault. He lied about the election. He lied to people that their rights had been stolen away and that it was their responsibility to fight to get them back. The Capitol Riots were Trump, either through malicious intent or stupidity, manipulating his followers to use violence to "defend their rights". The fundamental problem is not the attack on the Capitol, it is the lie that their rights had been stolen away. In my opinion, if the things Trump said were true, it would have been entirely consistent with the values of this country for the rioters to attack. 

And that is precisely why Trump is at fault. 

Note: This may be a somewhat hot take. Unsure. I will say that I think we need to change those aspects of our culture and rein in guns and our expectations and explanations for their presence in this country, but that is another conversation. 

(yeah I should prolly avoid this forum lol.) Not a big fan of either Trump or Harris. Foreign policies are identical, domestic policy is marginally different. Economic policies are the difference of solidification versus furthering corporate power. Immigration policies are identical. Local-level courts don’t hold grand amounts of sway and no Democrat US Supreme Court justice is leaving anytime soon (and any Repub justice is still young enough to wait another 4y before dropping down). Dems choose to use abortion as a political football, refusing codification at all costs, and repubs will only re-enforce minor executive orders. Not much to comment on…it’s the election of white bread versus white bread with one extra gram of fiber.

You’re right, if your only contribution to a political thread is “both sides are the same” then you probably have nothing worthwhile to say and should stay out.

little harsh, but I’m nonpartisan. I see nothing wrong with that…how do you dispute my claims? I can provide evidence if you want, in order to demonstrate my thinking here. Happy to have a conversation.

I mean, please do, because almost everything you said was objectively false. 

alright. Which one should I tackle first? Can't tackle everything all in one post. (And just as a heads up: I may do a post or two, be gone for a few hours, do another post or three, etc. Y'all like to interpret "I have a life" as a convienient excuse to not immediate counter all arguments lol. I do have exams next week, so I am very short on time.)

Edit: Seems that Sunsin13 has chosen not to engage further. Somebody else can give me a topic. I can share my evidence and thinking.

Let's start from the top: "Foreign policies are identical". 

Also, I too "have a life", so I hope you won't be waiting with bated breath for my responses like you seemed to have been with this post. 

Sure, Dems have plenty of issues.

A big one is that they're generally not as cohesive as conservatives have tended to be. There's quite a difference between Manchin and Sanders for example. 

Another one is that they're not generally playing the same game that conservatives have been. "When they go low, we go high".

This is practically the first time I've really seen them kind of pull together. 

But there are tons of differences. How they treat trans people, and climate change and science and education.

The only way that both parties are the same is if you're discounting incremental change. A big part of that is very little changes quickly. There's not a stark difference in how my life is going between Trump's presidency and Biden's. 

But conservatives don't seem to discount incremental change. They'll vote for Bush on the premise that he's pro-life, and they'll vote for him again even though he's changed nothing. And then they'll vote for the next guy, and then in 20 years they've finally overturned Roe v Wade. They seem like they're in it for the long haul. 

I've been very concerned with how I've seen a lot of people talk about Trump's second presidency being the end of democracy. Because I think we should recognize that even if it didn't end up meaning that, having the door being opened up to it more, should be concerning enough. Having the Overton window shift more to make people think it's a little more acceptable should also be concerning enough. 

Dems have been talking about overhauling the Supreme Court with term limits, expanding the court and the like. Change can happen if you vote for the right people. And they're probably too scared to shake up the boat to actually do any of that, but we should still actually try. 

I'm pretty sure you're the only one who's made that excuse.

Some of the other posters are totally fine with coming back in a week if need be.

"I hope you won't be waiting with bated breath for my responses like you seemed to have been with this post." bub, I was waiting with baited breath for the reason you can see...I only had until like 12/12:10pm to give a sufficient response lol. Wanted to respect your time.

In any case, I'll give something quick: Foreign policy? Okay. What are your understanding of Trump and Harris' foreign policy positions? Are we talking about Ukraine? Are we talking about NATO? Are we talking about the genocide in Gaza? Taiwan? More specifics, please. Tell me where you're at, and we'll start from there. I'll get back to you later today (and I'll get back to you also Pi Guy...even though you already said you don't care how long it takes).

Hey, you're the one who made the claim. I am expecting you to make decisions on how to back it up. For the record, I think there are substantial policy differences in every single one of those things you listed: Ukraine, NATO, Gaza, Taiwan.