All the major candidates for the Republican presidential nomination are campaigning in Iowa as they appeal to supporters to turn out for the caucuses despite the frigid weather.

The former president has set sky-high expectations for his own performance in the first contest of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. He spent the day before the caucuses trying to ensure he meets them. His main GOP rivals all spent Sunday in Iowa as well, making last-minute appeals to Iowans open to hearing them.

At a rally in Indianola, Trump said his supporters could fight back against his political enemies, claiming that the four indictments he faces were driven by politics and renewing his false claims about the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

Many in the crowd wore white and gold caps identifying them as Trump caucus captains who will help round up support for him Monday night.

                • shuzuko@midwest.socialEnglish
                  2·
                  11 months ago

                  You know, as jaded as I am, it still saddens me to see gen z being just as jaded. I’m going to try a different tack, though I probably won’t change your mind.

                  Biden is a dusty old milquetoast imperialist fucktwat. No arguments on that front. However, due to the way our electoral system works, 3rd parties cannot currently be viable at a national level because you and I will never, ever be able to convince 50%+ of the population to vote outside the D/R binary. It is an unfortunate reality that every vote not explicitly for Biden is a vote that will help Trump in the end.

                  What needs to happen, realistically, is that we defeat Trump, buy ourselves 4 more years of slow decline rather than complete collapse, and work at a local level to grow support for some form of ranked voting before 2028. Now, granted, that’s been the goal of most pacifist leftists for years now and it hasn’t happened. However, keep in mind that even if Trump is voted in and we see a fascist collapse, revolution probably just… won’t happen. Not in America. Not in our lifetimes. Not in enough force to change anything. And if revolution doesn’t happen and you’re now living in a full-on fascist hellscape, how will you get out? Do you have a plan? Is it feasible? Even if it’s feasible now, will it remain so in two years?

                  I dunno. I have very little hope at this point, and maybe the “burn it down” zoomers are right. Maybe you all and gen alpha have enough energy to overcome the lethargic despair and bitterness that has suffused us older folks. All I know is that I’m too fucking tired to revolt after the train crash, so I’ll try my best to stop the train instead and work to build new tracks going the other direction. It’d be nice to have a little help but… Honestly I don’t blame you if you just want to see it crash at this point.

                  Wow, writing that all out just made me even more depressed 🥲