Summary

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ 2024 running mate, has suggested he may run for president in 2028.

Reflecting on the Democrats’ loss to Donald Trump and JD Vance, he admitted: “A large number of people did not believe we were fighting for them in the last election – and that’s the big disconnect.”

Walz said his life experience, rather than ambition, would guide his decision.

Though his VP campaign was marred by gaffes, he remains open to running if he feels prepared.

  • JamieSTL@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    22 hours ago

    He’s the one who wanted to go hardball on Republicans and they couldn’t find anything to stick to him, as hard as they tried.

    Dems can do worse and have done much worse.

  • bitwolf@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    22 hours ago

    Hopefully.

    Walz seemed awesome in the debate. Vance and Walz in general were so much more productive than the other two.

  • Floon@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    28
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    2 days ago

    Yeah, let’s keep alive the existence of Walz’s couple of misstatements, while ignoring the insane, senile nonsense that Trump spews on the hour. Fuck the media.

  • FrostBlazer@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    2 days ago

    I think it’s important to work towards enabling more political parties between now and 2028. We need alternative voting systems like Alaska and Maine have, but in the other states as well. That is only really possibly through getting ballot initiatives passed in each state for something like STAR Voting, Ranked Robin Voting, Score Voting, or Ranked Choice Voting.

    A different voting system enables us to move away from First Past the Post, which is what forces a two party system. By having this, there can be more smaller parties that more truly represent the values of each state that can work with the bigger parties. Plus, it opens up the door for the most liked candidates to not knock each other out over the least liked candidates when tallying the votes.

    All that is needed in about half of the states is to get signatures to put ballot initiatives up for a vote. Through grassroots action we can make a meaningful difference, and get more politicians like Walz that actually care about us in office.

  • FahrenheitGhost@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    39
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    2 days ago

    Personally, I’m hoping Zelensky will run for US president after strong Dien in Ukraine. You might be thinking that someone from another country can’t be president. Well… looks at current situation in White House At least this one would be elected.

  • astutemural@midwest.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    251
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    3 days ago

    The Harris campaign had to cover the governor’s tracks when he tripped up during a California fundraiser by stating that the constitutionally-mandated system used to select the president, otherwise known as the electoral college, “needs to go”.

    How the hell is that a gaffe? It’s both the truth and exactly what people want to hear. Any lib who thinks like that needs to kindly keep their mouths shut for the next four years. This country needs radical change, the only choice you get is which one you want.

    • Yoga@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      65
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 days ago

      and exactly what people want to hear

      It’s what people who care about democracy want to hear. That certainly isn’t everyone.

    • Katana314@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      28
      ·
      3 days ago

      Here, let me grab a sharpie and fix that.

      The Harris campaign made a cowardly attempt to walk back the governor’s statements when he said during a California fundraiser that the broken election systems used for gerrymandering and enabling the double elections of Donald Trump, “needs to go”.

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago

      The pearl-clutching Tone Police in the Democratic Party are nothing if not exhausting, that’s for sure.

      The Republicans can and do say just about whatever the fuck they want, and that’s sanewashed, and overlooked, and brushed under the rug, sometimes even celebrated, but the tone police in the “liberal media” and the left, and the Democratic Party itself will be there, wagging-finger at the ready, if some Democrat misses a semicolon .

    • Trailblazing Braille Taser@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      19
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      3 days ago

      Just guessing, but it might be a gaffe because it could be skewed to sound like he doesn’t believe in democracy. Of course, this makes no sense because Trump has quite literally said that we might not need another election in four years.

      A more careful statement might have been, “the electoral college needs to be replaced with a system where every citizen’s vote has the same magnitude.” If that’s not the mathematical ideal of democracy, I don’t know what is.

      Edit: For you pedantic mathematicians, I’ll add that everyone’s vote should have the same magnitude, and that magnitude should be greater than zero.

      • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        2 days ago

        If that’s not the mathematical ideal of democracy,

        That is the mathematical ideal of populism.

        Democracy is “government by consent of the governed”; There is no good way of democratically electing a singular individual. Which is why the presidency should be little more than a figurehead, with very little actual authority.

              • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                2 days ago

                Again: Democracy is government by the consent of the governed. The system you described made no effort to ensure constituent consent. You described a populist system, not a Democratic one.

                There are many good ways to popularly elect a singular representative. The one you described is one of the better ones, but it is still two wolves and a sheep voting on dinner. It is still populist: the sheep does not consent to a “government” that can put it on a menu.

                A democratic system would be one in which the government lacks the power to put the sheep on that ballot: the minority has no cause to protest.

                There are no good ways to democratically elect a singular representative. As soon as you allow that representative sufficient power that the minority protest, the appointment of that representative over the minority may be populist, but it is not democratic.

    • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      3 days ago

      i’m not even sure what that text is supposed to be referencing?

      I assume it’s not literally the message itself, because that would be kind of broad. I’m guessing he just said it weirdly, and that bothered people, because of course it did.

  • Lasherz@lemmy.worldM
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    19
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 days ago

    I’m worried that despite having very good views himself that he is going to be tainted by the past. Not without reason too, because the consultants made him stand down with the “weird” insult and progressive messaging. Like most of these people, if it’s not their authentic campaign, then whose is it? He’s demonstrated, like most people who reach a moment in their career to seriously consider this, that he’s too malleable for populist politics. It’s possible that he completely sheds that team and runs his own, but who here really thinks that’s going to happen? I’d believe it if we had AOC for VP. The pressure to succumb to inferior messaging is higher than it’ll ever be during a presidential campaign, I don’t really trust anyone to stay firm except AOC, Talib, and Bernie because they have demonstrated resistance in this sort of high pressure consultant environment.

  • ef9357@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    2 days ago

    When will the DNC pull their heads out of their asses? If they won’t put forth any serious candidates, why bother?

  • Kalysta@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    92
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    2 days ago

    Tim Walz unleashed would have won this.

    He was hamstrug by Harris. He’s likely the dem’s best choice for 2028.

    So of course they’ll run Newsome or Shapiro or Hillary Clinton again because they’re a bunch of idiots.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        85
        ·
        3 days ago

        I remember Republicans checking out on elections back in 2018 because they bought hard into the Trump “elections are rigged” propaganda. The GOP lost seven Senate seats that year as conservative turnout plunged.

        I wonder if Democrats will make the same mistake in 2026.

        • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          64
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          3 days ago

          No, I don’t think Democrats are ready to make new mistakes yet. They still won’t abandon their devotion to the old mistakes.

        • Ech@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          19
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          3 days ago

          Not sure about rigged, but honestly, depending on how the next few years go, it may be straight up dangerous for non-republican Americans to vote. While that’s by no means a certainty, people should keep an eye on any electoral changes made in their state.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            28
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            3 days ago

            If Republicans experience a route like they suffered in 2018, it will likely be due to the mushy indie republican-when-its-convenient voters breaking ranks in droves, just like they did in prior Dem wave years. That’s what Harris was banking on in 2024 when she paraded around her pet RINOs Liz Cheney and Jeff Flake. She just failed to understand that these wishy-washy voters are chasing less war and less disruption and more protectionist economics, something Trump was able to dangle over their heads (twice!) to win the GOP primary / national election.

            Republicans don’t really seem to get it, either. Which is why they think the midterm after a wave year is the perfect time to put Grade A psychos all over the down-ballots and end up losing statewide in Alabama of all places as a result.

            The “we won’t be having any more elections” crowd is heavily invested in a theory that Republicans can get their own base to sit down, shut up, and follow orders. But the last eight years of Trump should be an indication of the exact opposite. The party is being lead by the base, which means the prior generation’s power brokers like the Bushs and Cheneys and Bloombergs no longer have a place in it.

            • Laereht@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              11
              ·
              3 days ago

              This line of thinking has preserved whatever is left of my optimism. Let us hope my fellow Americans continue to function predictably.

            • zildjiandrummer1@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              2 days ago

              That’s completely wishful and fantastical thinking. By midterms the base will be so propagandized again to just forget about the regime robbing them blind left and right. I want to believe it, but recent history has taught me otherwise.

              • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                edit-2
                2 days ago

                By midterms the base will be so propagandized again to just forget about the regime robbing them blind left and right.

                DOGE is currently lining up a big chunk of the Social Security Administration. There’s some speculation as to whether they’ll even be able to keep delivering checks in another few months. Onboarding new recipients will be functionally impossible.

                Then you’ve got the seemingly routine instance of airplane collisions and accidents. Big historically conservative-friendly districts are losing whole swaths of their workforce. NASA is downsizing in Huntsville, Alabama and Galveston, Texas and Cape Canaveral, Florida. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

                All the friendly Republican press didn’t save Congress in 2006 or 2018, and for good reason. You have a very different perspective on politics when you land on the unemployment line.

                That said, if Dems fumble as hard as they did in 2002, its very possible they could hand the GOP a historic victory by disenchanting the entire liberal electorate with their cowardice and inaction.

                • zildjiandrummer1@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  2 days ago

                  Again, I want to believe, but recent history doesn’t provide that angle. During COVID there were people saying it was a government hoax as they were dying in the hospital. If they can be brainwashed to not believe their own fucking death, then nothing will change them.

                  I’m not talking about some of the moderates who don’t really mind Trump but don’t stay informed, by the way. I think some small percentage of these folks will be able to see the reality, just not in time.

        • BoofStroke@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          3 days ago

          They made it in 2024. The results of abstaining or protest voting were obvious, and these idiots did it anyway. And here we are.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            3 days ago

            The results of abstaining or protest voting were obvious

            Absolutely. The current Dem leadership is now wildly unpopular and vulnerable to primary. Just like after 2016, the seeds have been planted for a big anti-incumbent wave.

        • FundMECFS@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          2 days ago

          That makes no sense at all. 2018 was two years after Trump won in 2016, and he rarely claimed elections were rigged in 2016, because he won.

          In 2020, however, he was gloating about how elections were rigged, and republicans did okay in the midterms later in 2022.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            2 days ago

            he rarely claimed elections were rigged in 2016, because he won.

            He was highly outspoken in 2016 straight up until the elections closed, then did a number of interviews after the fact where he insisted he could have won in states like California and New York if the vote hadn’t been rigged against him. There was also a big wave of “RINOs are undermining the party!” discourse, particularly after McCain spiked the Senate vote on repealing Obamacare that lead to a ton of internal GOP drama.

            In 2020, however, he was gloating about how elections were rigged, and republicans did okay in the midterms later in 2022.

            The J6 riot was the product of four years of Republican discourse, insisting elections were rigged. Once Trump was out of office and banned from Twitter, his ability to amplify conspiracy theories was diminished. The Republican media machine was able to pivot back to a “We’re the majority! We’re going to flood the polls! Red Wave!” exuberance and away from the internalized defeatism post-2016.

        • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          3 days ago

          I wonder if Democrats will make the same mistake in 2026.

          i really, really fucking hope this doesnt happen, i’m going to fucking lose my shit if it does. Because unless things change, it’s not looking great for the trump midterms right now.

        • unphazed@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 days ago

          Shouldn’t be hard. All they have to say is “Remember the townhalls, and how they mocked you while you paid for them to make your lives worse? We’ll put it back.” They don’t even need to add anything, just try to rebuild. Anything would be a positive change when you’re sliding into the negative side of the scale (and in two years, it’ll be far far far to the left)

        • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          12
          ·
          edit-2
          2 days ago

          Democrats will make the same mistake in 2026.

          The only thing the Democrats failed at was fielding a fat old white male felon narcissist serial rapist with ties to a foreign nation-state. If they can just do that they’ll win no matter what.

          Sorry if you didn’t get a personal hug from America’s Mom and Dad but you’re kinda expected to make a value judgement between two options and choose the best. As a group, you did not.

          Only blame Dems who voted for a kleptocratic felon. The rest did their best to field the best candidate they could and lost to a traitor – and those guys need to start with our apology for being stupid, same as all of Ukraine needs our apology, and next Moldova.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            8
            ·
            3 days ago

            The only thing the Democrats failed at was fielding a fat old white male felon narcissist serial rapist with ties to a foreign nation-state.

            Is that why Obama lost in 2008?

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        3 days ago

        Look, guys. I’m rather concerned that the states that haven’t seceded by then won’t even have electricity anymore.

    • samus12345@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      60
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 days ago

      There will, but it won’t be a fair one. They have “elections” in Russia, too.

    • rumba@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      29
      ·
      3 days ago

      There will absolutely be an election.

      It will be a farce, a Russian election where there’s only one possibility to win.

      If we’re not pitchforks in the street before then, I don’t hold much hope

      • Hubi@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        24
        ·
        3 days ago

        Or maybe a Hungary-style election where the entire media landscape shills for the ruling class and people on social media are bombarded with misinformation and one-sided reporting.

        • FrostBlazer@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          2 days ago

          That’s close to what happened in 2024 tbh. Sites like Reddit, Instagram, and YouTube were heavily botted and full of bad faith actors to promote misinformation. Since there are no guardrails like BlueSky has for instance, the bots could show up early to every thread/post/video to set the narrative and then they’d be the last to reply before threads closed to get the final word in.

          I believe the future depends on more Federated sites to become mainstream and for Federated sites to adopt the same moderation mechanisms used by BlueSky.

    • maplebar@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 days ago

      States run the elections, so I’m positive there will be one. But whether or not the results are respected… I’m not so confident in that.

    • Jolly Platypus@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 days ago

      There will be since elections are held at the state level. Many won’t be free or fair in the red states, but they’ll be good in the blue states.

      If red states don’t hold elections, that’s fewer electoral college votes we need to win the presidency and we wouldn’t win in red states anyway.

      Please, Texas and Florida. Oh, please, don’t hold elections. 🙏

      • dhork@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        edit-2
        3 days ago

        The way I read it, electoral college votes are the one thing where individual states can somewhat easily cancel elections for President, as long as they do so before the election. States have broad discretion over the appointment of electors. All states currently appoint them based on the results of elections, but the rules around that are all set by State legislation, and can be reset by States as well. The only Federal requirement is that the rules don’t change after any election is held.

        Prior Supreme Courts have ruled that things like the Equal Protection clause may be used to challenge any act where the legislature restricts voting rights once they have been granted. But who knows what this clown Court would make of that.

        Congressional elections, on the other hand, must be held in order for those seats to be filled. So any state that unilaterally cancels elections across the board will be sending nobody to Congress (and likely any expired Senate terms as well). Some states may go the extra mile and cancel the election for President, but not for Congress. We’ll see how that turns out.

    • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)@badatbeing.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      3 days ago

      The one thing we have going for us is that Don’s dementia and age are going to increasingly make it difficult for him to hold his party together. And there is the chance one of those things will leave the GOP trying to field a new traitor to try and get the cult to consolidate around.

      • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        3 days ago

        once he kicks the bucket, assuming they can’t find someone the republican base will support as fervently as trump, the entire party is done for, it will collapse into a blackhole of nothingness.

        • Kitathalla@lemy.lol
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          2 days ago

          I’d like to believe that, I really would, but let’s be honest with ourselves. The current republicans (in leadership) aren’t stupid. They’ve gotten pretty decent at running with donald’s bullshit and spinning it. They also know that politics isn’t much different than sports teams for the vast majority of the voting public in america. They’ll not have trouble finding someone who is charismatic enough to spit verbal acid at opponents in a primary AND can be riled up against the demographic target of choice.

          The only real challenge for them will be 1.) finding someone with donald’s ‘blessing’ or a connection to him to set it up as ‘taking over’ so the republican voters will find it so amazing, AND 2.) ensuring someone like musk doesn’t try to torpedo everything by using vast amounts of money to try to buy their way into the ring.

          • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            2 days ago

            maybe, but you’re talking about finding someone who can win the graces of the people who like trump, who see trump as this historic figure. That’s a REALLY tall order. Even if you hemorrhage like 10% of your voter base, that’s enough to lose. If the republicans are smart they’re already working on grooming the next republican figurehead, but i doubt they are. Though they might end up playing their cards right, i’m not really convinced it’s a reliable determination to assume that they will find someone to replace trump, these things are just way too volatile.

          • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            2 days ago

            no, the dems, because literally who else are you going to vote for lmao. There is always a budding dem/left leaning candidate, we will never have that problem, we don’t play as aggressively on that.

    • Dogsoftulkas@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      3 days ago

      Nah, there probably will. Whoever is taking control of the US really don’t care about MAGA’s and 3rd terms. They’ll just put another puppet there, the new way of doing things in post-capitalism still maintains and some people will continue to get increasingly very rich doesn’t matter who the prez is. We finally reached “the future”.

    • tyrant@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      3 days ago

      There will definitely be an attempt to eliminate or “postpone” them. I’m certain Trump is looking at Putin in power and other governments in a state of war without elections as inspiration.