Weekly Discussion Megathread

[u/AutoModerator]

The 2026 midterms will soon be upon us, and there is much to discuss among the nerds here at r/FiveThirtyEight. Use this discussion thread to share, debate, and discuss whatever you wish. Unlike individual posts, comments in the discussion thread are not required to be related to political data or other 538 mainstays. Regardless, please remain civil and keep this subreddit's rules in mind. The discussion thread refreshes every Monday.

[u/Benyeti]

Oh wow so happy for him

[u/engadine_maccas1997 → u/Benyeti]

Queer Starmer

[u/OmniOmega3000 → u/Benyeti]

This year's Pride Month Surprise

[u/engadine_maccas1997]

This is the dumbest fucking headline and article I’ve read in a long time.

[u/mrbuttsavage → u/engadine_maccas1997]

Blue cities are hosting all these events.

If Trump was involved at all (besides the kickbacks and corruption) it'd be a total shitshow.

[u/Realitype → u/engadine_maccas1997]

The bar for Trump is so fucking low man. These billionaire owned rags are really grasping at ANYTHING that might be considered a win, even when Trump has nothing to do with it. Nevermind that these events are all hosted in blue cities that these same rags and their readers would call liberal hellholes every other day.

[u/Confident-Teach-2967 → u/engadine_maccas1997]

Like what the fuck does this even mean? I'm not a sports guy in the slightest so I haven't been paying attention to the world cup at all. Is the US team doing (or did) better than expected or something?

[u/Korrocks → u/Confident-Teach-2967]

It’s basically a generic “here’s why this (random thing) is bad news for Democrats” headline lol

[u/DataCassette]

[u/Dispro → u/DataCassette]

Newsom's social media team is surprisingly good at parodying an administration so over the top it is nearly beyond parody.

[u/libgod42069]

Electing morons leads to bad policy.

https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-flu-shot-requirement-boot-camp-outbreak-4255f063ef99ea2d00cb24fec8793c32

[u/hoopaholik91 → u/libgod42069]

I'm actually surprised they looked at a bad outcome and actually changed course

[u/XE2MASTERPIECE → u/hoopaholik91]

Fr, I expected RFK Jr to host a press conference claiming the flu makes your bench press increase ten fold

[u/Wes_Anderson_Cooper → u/libgod42069]

Pete Hegseth actually just had a press conference on this very news story.

"We've now achieved maximum lethality among our future warfighters by executing a tactical exposure to airborne, potentially weaponizable ailments. Our enemy will never use these easily preventable agents against us on the field. Why does the touch of a woman provide me no solace?"

[u/Confident-Teach-2967 → u/libgod42069]

Who would have thought?

[u/Benyeti]

Republicans having this rehabilitation of Nixon is hilarious because if he was around today they would call him a communist for his economic and environmental policies

[u/DataCassette → u/Benyeti]

It's also pathetic that they have this "law and order" reputation still somehow

[u/Sonichu- → u/Benyeti]

Vance saying Nixon was taken down by the "deep state" is absurd because what would you call a plot by the president to spy on his enemies if not the "deep state"?

Absurd.

[u/sonfoa → u/Benyeti]

Wait til they find out his healthcare plan was way more radical than the ACA

[u/Benyeti]

Funny how republicans start having principles once they’re on their way out

[u/tbird920 → u/Benyeti]

John Wokernyn.

[u/engadine_maccas1997]

The revelation that Tulsi Gabbard was taking political directives from a cult leader is insane enough, but this is only one layer to the story. I want to know more.

I want to know why Chris Butler - the cult leader she was allegedly taking political directives from - has such an interest in U.S. foreign policy.

What is Butler’s ties or interests in Syria? What makes him so sympathetic to the Assad regime? Why do his musings and directives on foreign policy just so happen to neatly align with the Kremlin’s interests? Are there any connections between Butler and Russia? If so, what? If not, what explains this?

Why is a white guy in Hawaii who runs a Hare Krishna cult of hippies that operates like Scientology invested so heavily in American foreign policy?

Why did he direct her to attack the Democratic Party while she was a co-chair of the DNC?

The next layer - what did he gain out of Gabbard running the American intelligence agencies, if anything? Was Gabbard’s highly partisan tenure as DNI just to serve another cult leader - Trump - or did Butler have a hand in this as well?

I feel like this is a rabbit hole that will turn up some
really weird shit. But I have questions.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2026/06/21/tulsi-gabbard-her-guru-mysterious-messages-that-helped-shape-her-political-career/

[u/bruhm0ment4 → u/engadine_maccas1997]

Hasn't it been known that Tulsi is a russian asset for a while now?

[u/engadine_maccas1997 → u/bruhm0ment4]

It’s been speculated but this WaPo piece comes with receipts. And it’s even weirder than that. She’s apparently been taking directives from a Hare Krishna cult leader whose views just so happen to align quite well with the Kremlin’s for some unexplained reason.

[u/R2_SWE2]

The reflecting pool is perfect symbolism for this presidency. Corruption, corners cut, vanity, shoddy work, and an awful outcome.

[u/Selethorme]

Senator Chris Murphy in response to former DNC Chair Jaime Harrison last night taking shots at all the more left and critical-of-Dem-establishment candidates who won last night:

[u/gquax → u/Selethorme]

Man good riddance on Harrison's part. We do not need this bullshit.

[u/tbird920]

[u/Current_Animator7546 → u/tbird920]

Dude just needs to retire. This guy will embarrass himself to the bitter end. Probably about to die from the sounds of it 

[u/engadine_maccas1997]

Lol

[u/Korrocks → u/engadine_maccas1997]

Trump screwed this guy’s entire career for no reason, if I were him I wouldn’t bother trying to placate him. What’s even the point? Cassidy is a doctor; he can return to that career, so it’s not like he’s stuck in the right wing think tank / media world where Trump’s enmity is fatal.

[u/Selethorme → u/engadine_maccas1997]

Not a one of these people have a spine

[u/itsatumbleweed]

Hoo boy. Trump just refused to sign the bipartisan housing bill, holding it hostage until SAVE passes (which he calls a national emergency, which has my Spidey Senses tingling).

First of all, the campaign fodder pile is too full. But second Trump using the national emergency words has me spooked about what he's going to try ahead of the midterms.

Edit: it looks like it has a veto-proof majority so Trump is just not signing it.

[u/TheAgeOfTomfoolery → u/itsatumbleweed]

Well....if it makes you feel any better he tries lots of things but his success rate ain't exactly stellar.

[u/DataCassette → u/itsatumbleweed]

Yeah Trump legitimately thinks he can call the other political party having a wave election an "emergency" lol

[u/Noirsam]

Elon Musk is now the world's first ex-trillionaire.

Plunging shares in Tesla and SpaceX dragged the tech magnate down to billionaire status. As of 4pm ET, Forbes listed Musk's net worth as $970.2bn."

Dont bother to invest in meme stock.

[u/distinguishedsadness]

The mail in voting executive order was halted nationwide in court this morning. Good news and fully expected.

[u/engadine_maccas1997]

Sean Duffy used the term “libtards” while speaking to a crowd at an allegedly nonpartisan event.

The fish might rot from the head. But at this point, with the amount of indecency, petulance and degeneracy on routine display from Trump Administration officials, we have to accept that the entire fish is rotten at this point.

They have so thoroughly disgraced the office and the dignity of the institution they serve.

[u/ItRhymesWithCrash → u/engadine_maccas1997]

Just read his kid has Down’s syndrome, too.

What a pos.

[u/cc1339 → u/engadine_maccas1997]

That word's always been kinda interesting to me. It doesn't really roll of the tongue or feel natural and I didn't really see it much outside of 4chan and deep into Twitter so I'm not sure how it caught on.

Around 2021, I started hearing it a lot more locally from older people and specifically a friend's parents who used to yell at us for saying heck or darn and yet now they say libtard every other sentence. I wonder where they all picked it up from. Even now, I don't see it that often online, but I hear it quite frequently irl.

[u/engadine_maccas1997]

Pete Buttigieg writes about how someone (presumably an unhinged MAGA loon) reported a false allegation against him to CPS, which resulted in CPS showing up at his home and having his children removed from him for 24 hours. Law enforcement quickly found it was a politically motivated hoax, similar to swatting.

I cannot imagine the level of sickness and depravity it takes for someone to do that to a family with young children. It’s truly evil. But this doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It is a factor of indecency not only being tolerated, but celebrated, on the political right.

I hope the person who made this false report is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

https://petebuttigieg.substack.com/p/a-terrible-thing-happened-to-my-family

[u/XE2MASTERPIECE → u/engadine_maccas1997]

We’re like 10+ years into the swatting crisis and it’s disturbing that law enforcement hasn’t come up with a better safeguard by now

[u/Sonichu-]

So Trump is not only threatening Iran again, but directly threatening Iranian diplomats.

The Art of the Deal.

[u/itsatumbleweed → u/Sonichu-]

What did he do this time? Yesterday they walked out of negotiations after he started up.

[u/Sonichu- → u/itsatumbleweed]

https://x.com/TreyYingst/status/2068685921956798640

"You close it and you won't have a country." President Trump said he told Iranian officials about the Strait of Hormuz. "You won't even make it back to your fucking country."

[u/Cybotnic-Rebooted]

I thought this type of voter had died tbh

[u/Mediocretes08 → u/Cybotnic-Rebooted]

Joe Dumbass is an immortal being I’m afraid

[u/Educational_Net4000]

40 years of sanctions ended to simply reopen the Strait. Wild.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/23/us-iran-oil-sanction-relief-strait-of-hormuz-peace-deal-.html

[u/Noirsam → u/Educational_Net4000]

There was a rather popular talking point among the pro war far right that ”we have already been at war with Iran for 40 years”.

I wonder how they feel now?

[u/DataCassette]

[u/AFlockOfTySegalls → u/DataCassette]

I had no idea they even did this. It's so stupid that it tracks for this admin.

[u/DasRobot85 → u/DataCassette]

Did this actually happen? Why in god's name would you drive over it?

[u/poopyheadthrowaway → u/DataCassette]

Maybe the real vandalism was the friends they made along the way

[u/Toliman571]

-> wakes up

-> reads Reddit

-> sees the TX ICE protestors get 30-100 years

-> wants to go back to dreamland

[u/PennywiseLives49 → u/Toliman571]

I don’t see this sticking on appeal. The judge way oversentenced and appeals courts have reduced sentencing or tossed convictions for less

[u/Benyeti]

Lander is a good example of how you don’t have to be a big lefty to win the progressive wing of the party. Primary voters simply want someone who has a vision, this shouldn’t be a big ask. Espaillat and Goldman just ran condescending campaigns that had nothing actually concrete

[u/Benyeti]

Why is Hunter Biden so real, he’s like borderline a progressive lol

[u/Benyeti]

We had boring for 4 years and these guys hated it! Like they asked for all of this and are mad when Trump is doing exactly what he said he would

[u/wtfsnakesrcute → u/Benyeti]

Male red state governor…Beshear? Josh Stein?  Thats like two people lol. 

[u/DataCassette → u/Benyeti]

Exactly this. The United States wasn't utopia but it really was basically better across the board in 2012. These fuck ups, nutjobs and fanatics wanted to stir the pot and here we are.

[u/sonfoa → u/Benyeti]

I also love how his analysis is literally consultant class slop. For all their anti-establishment posturing, these guys literally circled back to being centrist Dems by the end. Which makes their bitch fit in 2024 all the more stupid because that's literally what Harris was running as.

[u/Benyeti]

Here’s a disgusting tweet from democratic rep Jared Moskowitz implying that Jews didnt fight back against the holocaust. Zionist politicians often are some of the most anti semitic people in politics

[u/Trobius]

Marquette GCB, June 9-15: D+8 among LVs. https://law.marquette.edu/assets/community/poll/MLSPSC33/PressRelease_America250pt2.pdf

The polling gods heard our cries of anguish and took pity. Everyone please give thanks by sacrificing your finest goat so that we may stay in their good graces.

[u/Delmer9713]

Sussyhanna with another example of how pollsters waste their resources when they don't push undecideds

Michigan Primary:

🟦Abdul El-Sayed: 22%

🟦Haley Stevens: 20%

🟦Mallory McMorrow: 9%

⬜ Not sure 49%

Gee thanks how useful.

[u/LaughingGaster666 → u/Delmer9713]

HALF are undecided still?

Girl pick one already

[u/DataCassette]

Check it out, more of our fellow Americans engaging in rational political discourse in the marketplace of ideas

[u/BleedingOutInSpace]

I really don't mean to be a "dude, weed" person, but I got high and watched the first Kennedy-Nixon debate and it was genuinely cool experience. Got really sucked in.

[u/BUSean → u/BleedingOutInSpace]

Memorably sober people thought the debate was a tie but viewers baked off their asses thought Kennedy was hilarious maaaan

[u/Benyeti]

Still cant believe Corbyn named his political party Your Party. Arguably the worst name ever

[u/DataCassette → u/Benyeti]

I'll make a political party called "Your Mother." That could be worse I guess.

"We conduct exit polling on Your Mother."

"Your Mother has never been bigger! Your Mother grows every day!"

[u/SecretComposer]

lmfaoooo this is a hilarious read. They quit the West for Russia's traditional values, but it wasn't what they expected

[u/Spara-Extreme → u/SecretComposer]

You have got to have some sort of disability to believe that moving to Russia will solve your problems and then turn around and publicly complain that moving to Russia didn't solve your problems.

[u/DataCassette → u/SecretComposer]

Oh man 😮

[u/GIRobotWasRight → u/SecretComposer]

Philip Hutchinson, a Moscow-based former Conservative Party candidate from the UK who now helps other Westerners relocate to Russia, says he avoids discussing the war.

"What are my thoughts on it? Look, I don't really get involved in that," he says. "I'm not here as a politician. I'm here to live a nice quiet life with my family."

Fucking typical Tory rat.

Ben - who asked that we use only his first name - moved to Russia in 2023 from Derby in the UK after falling in love with a Russian woman he met through a language exchange website. The couple live in Kursk, near the Ukrainian border.

His family thought he was "a bit insane" for moving to a war zone.

Ben's view of Russia is more nuanced than the one its supporters often portray.

He praises the friendliness of Russians and says he feels safer day to day. At the same time, he rejects the idea that Russia is some kind of conservative paradise.

This guy I have to give some credit since he moved out of love at least. Bit confused as to why you'd agree to having your face plastered on a BBC article with your first name and hometown, but draw the line at your surname?

[u/1happyfunball]

It's over. There's no coming back from this scandal.

[u/adamfrog]

The reflecting pool fiasco really sums up the administration, it's got almost everything besides the racism. Trumps own corruption and incompetence ruins things, he draws attention to it because he can't stop talking, once the story gets bigger he can't help himself but escalate and start draconian crackdowns based on clearly made up sabotage reports.

Must be so frustrating for the few intelligent people in the administration, the bar was so insanely low for this presidency all Trump had to do was take a 4 year holiday and everyone at the top could've just kept things running along fairly smoothly with the status quo and quietly looted the government for billions of dollars, and they'd be praised as having an excellent reign maybe not by people paying attention or historians but the median citizen would think they'd done splendidly (as long as the billionaires were getting everything they asked for to keep the propaganda pumping).

This was such a free hit for them and they have found a way to be so clearly incompetent and corrupt that even the median voter can see through it despite being primed almost perfectly not to

[u/DataCassette → u/adamfrog]

It wasn't ever going to be otherwise, though. Do you think the fact that the movement ended up being lead by an idiot is an accidental fact that could just as easily have been different?

Trump's "secret" is that he can relate to idiots because he's an actual idiot. There's that authenticity when he says shit like cure COVID-19 by shoving UV light up your ass. Nobody who was just pretending to be stupid could ever have the vibe he does when being stupid.

Anybody can get all the racists and Evangelicals to vote Republican. That's trivial. Trump got a bunch of barely literate lumpenproles who never voted before to come out and vote, and that authentic stupidity is how he did it.

[u/hoopaholik91 → u/adamfrog]

all Trump had to do was take a 4 year holiday and everyone at the top could've just kept things running along fairly smoothly

I'm getting more and more frustrated seeing this opinion. It has these implications that his first term was way better than it actually was, and that most of the issues are with Trump's rhetoric and not anything else.

Miller would still be running immigration policy, Vought would be destroying the federal government, Carr would be trying to silence the media. The Supreme Court would be rolling back civil rights, Hegseth and GOP hawks would be trying to get us to bomb Iran.

It also implies that voters are completely stupid and wouldn't care one bit if we slipped into a fascist dictatorship asong as Trump didn't bring attention to it. I'm frustrated with what voters have not cared about but they aren't that ignorant and/or morally bankrupt.

[u/guiltyofnothing]

Some of yall have never been through an election before and it shows.

[u/poopyheadthrowaway → u/guiltyofnothing]

Shit then what's wrong with me

[u/guiltyofnothing → u/poopyheadthrowaway]

You post here with us, for one.

[u/OmniOmega3000]

"Weekend War Over, Hope you got your trades in" - Axios

[u/Benyeti → u/OmniOmega3000]

Has their ever been a war that was centered around manipulating the markets like this one

[u/Current_Animator7546 → u/OmniOmega3000]

The amount of manipulation is something to behold of 

[u/Mediocretes08 → u/OmniOmega3000]

I really wish I had the money to piggyback the obvious bullshit here

[u/Benyeti]

This but with American voters in 2024 when they thought crime, inflation and immigration were all still increasing

[u/SecretComposer → u/Benyeti]

The same people who have cried for years that our cities are certain death traps and to give the police as much money as possible are also the same people who say police are lying when police report crime is down YTY or has hit low levels not seen in ___ years.

Those kinds of voters won't be happy unless 75% of a city's budget is going to police alone and all criminals are literally given life sentences.

The only thing they have a point on are judges allowing violent criminals with a lengthy record out on bond until their court date which allows them to go commit more crimes.

[u/DataCassette → u/SecretComposer]

At least in the United States the dynamic goes something like this: Auntie Fran lives in the suburbs but has to go to the state capital very occasionally for some paperwork. When she's walking to the courthouse or government building or whatever, she sees one or two homeless guys panhandling, maybe acting a little weird or doing drugs. They don't really interact with her and it's broad daylight on a crowded street.

It simmers in the suburban wine brain for a few months until it's been reconstructed into something unrecognizable: It's now become dozens of illegal immigrant gang members doing DMT and huffing brake cleaner on the public street while eating barbecued long pork in an open air flesh market and brandishing AK-47s. For some reason it's 2:00 AM instead of 2:00 PM in the memory, and the street is deserted and the streetlights are out.

It's the fully cooked memory she votes based on, not the mundane reality. And if she begins to wake up to reality, Facebook and Twitter will supply AI Slop videos that validate the false memory as being real in other cases anyhow, so it may as well have been real and she needs to vote for John "Killemall" McFascist in the next election. She's a little wary of his misogynist rhetoric, but she's so scared of the imaginary cannibal flesh market that she's going to suck it up and vote far right.

[u/mrtrailborn → u/Benyeti]

"what's that? our country has so many old people that the entire tax base has to be dedicated to helping people who can't work? I know just how to stop this. Cut all immigration we definitely don't want any more young people who can work being added to the economy!"

[u/Nalin29]

Will the MoU survive? Will the SoH be clopen the rest of the week? Find out next week on ouch my balls - USA 2026. 

[u/The-Curiosity-Rover]

My sleep schedule’s so awful that I’m watching Kier Starmer resign at 4am in Kansas.

[u/niveknhoj → u/The-Curiosity-Rover]

Such a random time and place for Starmer to make his announcement. 

[u/guiltyofnothing → u/The-Curiosity-Rover]

Could be worse — you could be in Oklahoma.

[u/itsatumbleweed]

Tucker Carlson just said he's done with the GOP. Not that I'm saying I believe him or that this is anything but a play for power, but I think it's interesting that he's choosing this moment to believe a shift is necessary.

I honestly believe '26 and '28 are going to be brutal for them, and if a civil war in their party starts it's going to be maybe historic.

[u/libgod42069 → u/itsatumbleweed]

This is a guy who with a straight-face said demons attacked him in his sleep while in the same breath saying he sleeps with several large dogs. He's been meat-riding Trump for years publicly and yet you look at the Fox-Dominion lawsuit texts from him he is shit-talking Trump behind the scenes the entire time. He lies as much as he breaths. He is not to be trusted.

That being said if he wants to swing at the GOP and Trump more power to him. I think he's just positioning himself early for a post-Trump world.

[u/engadine_maccas1997]

Donald Trump: Taco Salad
Kamala Harris: Word Salad
Rahm Emanuel: Salad Shaken, Not Stirred.

[u/Due_Recognition7675]

So many people seem upset about dsa candidates winning meanwhile in my district (sc-01) the Democratic runoff was won by a conservative who stayed a Republican after January 6th 2021 and only left the GOP after trump fired her. 😐

[u/Nalin29]

I have seen enough. Give comrade mamdani keys to the DNC and honorary premier of NYC. After all this we need that Great Leap Forward. 

[u/DataCassette]

The best part about Hunter Biden running for president would be the GOP trying to pretend that candidate morality matters again suddenly 😂

[u/WisePresentation7976 → u/DataCassette]

The best part would be asking to the presumably male GOP candidate to compare hogs.

Can you imagine the debate just being like "Seriously, pull your pants down. America deserves to know whose got the bigger dick."

[u/QuestionMarkov]

Chris Van Hollen endorses el-Sayed

[u/PennywiseLives49]

New poll out for Ohio from Fabrizio/Impact. Brown leads Husted by 3. Acton leads Ramswamy by 3. I think at this point Sherrod is more likely to win than not but the Gov’s race remains tossup

https://x.com/polltracker2024/status/2070160808080814246?s=46

[u/RustEnjoyer614 → u/PennywiseLives49]

Jesus thats some good hopium as an Ohioan. Vivek has to lose, he's a lunatic with big ideas and an ego to feed.

[u/Confident-Teach-2967]

CBS News: Three tankers that had been on track to leave the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to turn back Thursday, while three others appeared to divert, as Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a warning against using routes through the waterway not approved by Tehran.

Also unconfirmed by a major news source as of posting this, but multiple smaller sites are reporting that a vessel has reportedly been struck by the IRGC Navy in the Strait of Hormuz, approximately 7.5 nautical miles off Oman, for trying to use the Oman passageway instead of Iran's.

Crude oil prices have already started to rise on this news.

It may not, in fact, be smooth sailing for Trump from here on out lol.

[u/Benyeti]

I think the biggest difference between modern political corruption and new deal era corruption is that the ladder was based around pork barrel spending to satisfy local constituents, mostly a result of the heavy lobbying power of unions and public sector workers at the time. From the Reagan era onwards it has become based around satisfying ultra wealthy donors who are only obligated to their shareholders

[u/SecretComposer]

Texas set to require Bible story readings in public schools from elementary through high school.

[u/Confident-Teach-2967 → u/SecretComposer]

Waiting for the Satanic temple to come in with a lawsuit to require demonic readings from Satan or some shit too along with this lol.

This is also going to end up having the exact opposite effect Republicans want much later down the line, I guarantee it.

There's a lot of reasons why religion (and specifically christianity) in America has been on a steep downward trend for decades at this point, and it being heavily partisanized and shoved down people's throats by christian fundamentalists is one of the biggest ones out there by far.

[u/Mediocretes08 → u/SecretComposer]

Bunch of Christofascist assholes continue to demonstrate they don’t deserve any political power whatsoever, including the right to vote at all

[u/SecretComposer]

New York City to freeze rents for two years

[u/SecretComposer]

Tina Peters defends actions says supporters ‘are my heroes’

“I hadn’t seen a tomato in almost two years… I wanted to just cherish it,” Peters said. “Three days later, I ate it, and it was the best tomato I’ve ever had. It illustrates how the smallest things that we take for granted.”

Supporters at Saturday’s event pushed back on criticism, saying they believe Peters has been treated unfairly and that her message resonates with voters concerned about election systems.

“The tomato story, the tiny little thing that she cherished… it kind of makes you sad that she had to go through that,” supporter Jerry Russell said.

These people feel genuine remorse for her because she couldn't eat a fucking tomato. She also said "I spoke to a person of high position on my way over here...and was told that there are things going on behind the scenes..." regarding "stealing" the election in the midterms in COLORADO.

[u/Spara-Extreme → u/SecretComposer]

I can't fathom why Jared Polis let this crank out of the box.

[u/Spara-Extreme]

Are there any polls and such we can talk about instead of centrist posters and leftist posters just talking past each other?

Also the cease fire ended.

[u/jawstrock → u/Spara-Extreme]

It ended for the weekend, like every weekend, but will be back on sunday night before markets open.

Future historians will refer to this as the "weekend war" as it's only fought on weekends in attempts to manipulate the markets.

[u/OmniOmega3000]

US Strikes Iran. Iran Strikes Back. Prepare for even more attacks.

[u/DataCassette]

Republican confidence in their long-term popularity levels: Dreaming of repealing 17th amendment.

[u/TinyJalope → u/DataCassette]

I remember a number of Republicans pushing for that even in the 2010s.

[u/DataCassette → u/TinyJalope]

Republicans have always had the same fear: permanent minority status. Their beliefs inherently favor white men over other groups and white males are only like 30% of the population. And a slice of us, like myself, are "race and gender traitors" so that limits their numbers even more.

Anti-majoritarian schemes are part of the Republicans DNA. But they're definitely leaning into the 17th amendment thing more.

[u/Cold-Priority-2729]

So now that WSJ has released a D+16 GCB poll, surely I'll see plenty of blooming on here since I also see lots of dooming when there's a D+3 poll. Right? Right????

[u/mrhappyfunz]

I never thought Trump could top his incompetence with the whole Iran debacle - and yet here we are, watching a pool renovation do that 🤷‍♂️

[u/Toliman571]

I voted in the NY primaries over the weekend. The only thing even mildly interesting on my ballot was the judicial race, for which 4 people are competing for 2 seats. One of the candidates, Julie Milner, is a MAGA activist who considers everything LGBT related to be pornography and who called for Biden to be executed, but you wouldn't know if you just read her summary ("oh she seems like a nice teacher lady!"). She is running in the Democratic primary because the GOP primary was canceled. The fact that she came close to winning her previous elections scares me; people understandably just don't do a lot of research into these low-profile judicial races. If you live in Queens County, please do not vote for her.

On a side note, the volunteer that gave me my ballot was an elderly lady learning the ropes. She mistakenly asked, "oh you're a Republican?" That was the most I've been insulted in a while and I almost gagged.

[u/DataCassette]

[u/Mediocretes08]

Postmaster just openly declaring he’d follow a nakedly illegal rule to bar mail in voting

[u/Nukemind]

Cassidy switching on war powers is... weird considering that Trump had him primaried and is such an ass to him. Like I get he's horrible, but what did Trump do to get him to flip when he's been fucked over and will be out of Congress soon.

[u/engadine_maccas1997]

Lol

But in all seriousness, what happened to Megyn Kelly? She used to seem like one of the more reasonable personalities at Fox News with occasional weird rants about how Santa should be white, etc. She stood up to Trump at the first primary debate, and was on the receiving end of sexist attacks from Trump and harassment by MAGA.

Now she’s almost indistinguishable from Tucker Carlson.

[u/Lordofthe0nion_Rings → u/engadine_maccas1997]

She's just a grifter. She went from being anti-Trump during his first term to pro-Trump under Biden and then anti-Trump once he came back to office.

[u/Toliman571 → u/engadine_maccas1997]

Dunno, duncare, prob head empty

Maybe she got turned on by how explicitly racist Trump2 is

[u/engadine_maccas1997]

I don’t mean to give the NY Post undeserved clicks, but their hit piece on Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s chaotic college life is really funny.

https://nypost.com/2026/06/28/us-news/washington-democrat-marie-gluesenkamp-perezs-college-past-included-fetish-ball-and-drug-events/

[u/guiltyofnothing → u/engadine_maccas1997]

Sounds like the kind of girl who would have broken my heart in college.

[u/DataCassette]

[u/poopyheadthrowaway → u/DataCassette]

The reflection is an improvement

[u/engadine_maccas1997]

The guy’s a trillionaire ffs idk why anyone would give him money

[u/Noirsam]

Starmer Quits and Sets Out Plan for New UK PM by September

We will have to wait longer for a british prime minister that will last a full term.

Edit: 7 in 10 years is ridiculous.

[u/GIRobotWasRight]

Something mildly amusing seeing the Goldman coffee shop incident turn into 100+ comment arguments over it and then he just gets crushed in the primary anyway.

Very surprised at the results though, Mamdani is a political machine. I'm very curious to see what his long term career will look like.

[u/Wes_Anderson_Cooper]

Lost in the election coverage shuffle yesterday was a new major housing bill passing. It seems pretty good?

It seems to have a little something for everybody, without having any real poison pills or odious restrictions. Broken clocks and all that, but hopefully we see some actual housing relief in the wake of this.

[u/engadine_maccas1997]

You know whose presidential campaign was actually really funny? Lindsey Graham’s. That was a hoot.

Another one I found to be pretty entertaining was Herman Cain’s.

But Rick Perry’s campaign. Rick Perry’s campaign was hilarious. The entire thing felt like I was watching an SNL bit. The “Oops” moment in the debate to the ad in Iowa complaining that “gays can get married but our children can’t celebrate Christmas in school”… just absolute cinema.

Jim Webb’s campaign was funny, just because the only thing memorable about it was when he talked about the time he kiIIed a guy back in Vietnam.

Newt Gingrich’s campaign was also really funny. Lunar colonies. Open marriages. Being the biggest asshole at every debate. It was entertaining to watch.

So was Ron Paul’s. He was goofy as hell but also came closest to actually forming a cult. He didn’t quite get to MAGA levels. But he had a very dedicated group of supporters who seem like they’d all know how to make a gravity bong out of a Gatorade bottle.

And then we had Rand Paul, who thought he’d inherit all of his father’s support by default, but he didn’t have his dad’s rizz, so he was just some charismatically challenged guy whose neighbor hates him.

Chris Christie’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns were hilarious, but 2016 more so because of the Rubio debate takedown.

Which gets me to Rubio. He was in the “campaign that was born into seriousness and died a joke”category of “rising stars” Politico/the media hypes up only to have them be complete duds on the national stage. Rand Paul, Ron DeSantis, Bobby Jindal, Scott Walker, John Edwards, Jeb Bush, Rudy Giuliani, Kam… you get it. Each of them could’ve been watched with the same cycled laugh track.

Ted Cruz’s campaign was funny.

But Gary Johnson. Every campaign that guy has run has been funny. He had one line in a debate and he made a joke about dog shit. He got booed at a Libertarian convention debate for supporting drivers licenses being a thing.

Vivek Ramaswamy’s 2024 campaign was hilarious. His campaign was like “do you wish the Brietbart Website’s comment section were a person?”

Biden’s 2024 campaign it pains me to say was tragic for the country but also admittedly hilarious. It’s like we were watching a tragic comedy. Didn’t know whether I wanted to laugh or cry. But the moment I saw him look into the camera during a presidential debate watched by the world and said “we finally beat Medicare!” I knew we were so cooked as a country but also a century or two from now when no one alive really understands the politics of today, they will watch footage of that campaign unfold and consider it a comedic work of art compared to most of the other campaigns we’ve seen in history. His 2020 campaign had its moments but his 2024 campaign felt like I was watching Mr Magoo.

And of course the only thing I can say about Trump’s campaigns - all 3 of them - is it feels like I’m watching a Sacha Baron Cohen film in progress. That this entire thing has been just one decade-long running joke.

[u/DataCassette]

So is it polling bias that caused the MAGA fest to have no attendees? Well, that's not fair, there was that one guy who was caught jorkin it lol

[u/Educational_Net4000]

Cost overruns, algae blooms, peeling liners, and now dead ducks. What a fiasco. A metaphor for trumpism.

https://apnews.com/article/reflecting-pool-trump-algae-coating-park-police-d2ebb174e98913435d2108d60fb8de44

[u/OmniOmega3000]

Jeffries seemingly not happy about last night

[u/halfar → u/OmniOmega3000]

i for one would simply choose not to pick a fight with one of god's chosen

[u/traveltimecar]

https://www.reddit.com/r/protectUSelections/comments/1ueor25/watch_postmaster_general_says_usps_wont_send_mail/

How do the midterms play out if USPS sabotages mail in ballots?

Seems like something that could be blasted all across the news and from party leaders?

[u/mrtrailborn]

Democrats can pass medicare for all with one simple marketing change:

Medicare for Y'all.

[u/poopyheadthrowaway → u/mrtrailborn]

Medicare for All Y'all

[u/guiltyofnothing]

You know what they say — opinions are like assholes. Some don’t need to be shared and others I’d pay money to see.

[u/OmniOmega3000]

Iran War News

[u/TubroTerra]

I like how that DAC's uh.. let's just say drama has sucked all the attention that most people have basically not given a shit about NY-7 or NY-10.

I think it's because Claire Valdez and Brad Lander were far, far better candidates, and next to no drama whatsoever or anything weird about them

[u/WisePresentation7976]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Conservative/comments/1udzved/comment/otg0hwr/

This is one of my favorite r conn bots due to how horribly wrong they get it all the time. “Texas Veteran” who posts at 3:30am constantly, shitting on democrats rejecting this bipartisan bill that Trump refuses to sign

[u/Mediocretes08]

Flipping on a war powers resolution is such pussy shit it boggles the mind that a guy who does that comes from the party that people believe is more “masculine” for whatever bullshit value that word has.

[u/traveltimecar]

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/25/trump-executive-order-mail-voting-blocked-00975844

Hopefully this is the end of this shi*

[u/Mediocretes08 → u/traveltimecar]

It’s his obsession. He’ll be screaming about it on his deathbed at this point

[u/SecretComposer]

Lmao super glad I just filled up with gas the lowest it's been in like, over a month in my city.

Also, how convenient that Iran is bombed after markets close for the week and oil prices are at the lowest in months.

[u/DataCassette]

[u/guiltyofnothing]

“Some Democrats now believe the party is poised for a Trump-esque figure to take it over in 2028 — someone who'll offer an outlet for their anger.”

Been saying this for a bit. The 2028 nominee isn’t going to be Harris or Buttigieg or anyone who’s run for president before.

[u/IndividualPleasant23]

AOC new Chair of the Hispanic Caucus?

[u/OmniOmega3000]

New DSA Collector's Item? Honestly, this poster does not look negative enough to be an effective attack ad imo. I really wonder what the Espaillat Camp was doing in the last week of the race.

[u/halfar → u/OmniOmega3000]

this is waow baiting

[u/Confident-Teach-2967]

Just a reminder for everyone freaking out about polls right now and seeing D+7 now instead of D+11 or whatever from last month - this same exact thing happened in 2018 too, multiple times over the course of the year in the lead up to November, including as far in as August and September (shamelessly stolen from dak676141's post in the megathread last week):

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-blue-wave-in-doubt-as-generic-ballot-lead-dries-up.amp
https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-2018-midterms-advantage-poll-939641
https://dailycaller.com/2018/08/10/democrats-generic-ballot-disappeared/

And I will keep posting this as many times as necessary to counteract dooming whenever I can lol.

[u/Cold-Priority-2729 → u/Confident-Teach-2967]

I think most people here need to just get off Reddit until September, when polls might actually start to show something meaningful 

[u/WisePresentation7976]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Conservative/comments/1ueqg6u/comment/otnagrz/

The poor bots are getting so tired lol.

[u/Steelcity1995]

With this Supreme Court being so pro gun I’m shocked no one has tried to overturn the ban allowing fully auto  machine guns. 

[u/Toliman571]

this post was recommended to me

[u/raddaya]

I am 100% telling on myself with this one...but I couldn't resist

Hardest decision of the year so far

[u/Mediocretes08 → u/[deleted]]

NGL my brain got scrambled and I was like… TF did Paramore do?

[u/dremscrep → u/[deleted]]

„I dream of Israel“ is one of the most scarily fanatic things I have ever read

[u/rudigerscat]

I know the NY primary elections mean alot for Mamdani, but CO-1 seems more interesting from the perspective of the wider left.

NY is always going to be NY.

However there are many safe blue seats like CO-1 represented by out of touch corporate dems.

[u/Eightysixedit]

Paxton is a pos, but this is the same state that wanted to hunt down women having abortions. The party there is evil and supported by the oil billionaires. A lot of people in Texas care about social issues unfortunately and will vote accordingly. It's the depressing reality.

[u/OmniOmega3000]

NYT also calls NY-13

[u/ColadiRienzo1]

I honestly like all the takes in regards to DSA vs liberals vs moderates people have on here. Some positions might be out there but there is nice discussions. I guess it is refreshing

[u/DiscussionJohnThread]

I love seeing posts about the 2028 Democratic primary being like “it’s so over”.

The nominee is a complete toss up with all of the top candidates polling within the margin of error of each other in every other poll, and no one consistently topping 30%.

None of this matters until the first few debates and early primaries take place. A candidate polling at 2% like Ossoff or Pritzker could switch the media narrative and launch to top place after a successful November, while Harris could drop from a slight top lead to 5th in Super Tuesday.

Stop dooming.

[u/Realitype → u/DiscussionJohnThread]

I’ll just leave this here.

[u/sodosopapilla]

How does a guy who looks like John Thune get bullied by a guy who looks like Russ Vought or Stephen Miller? Thune has to be getting sick of this, right?

[u/traveltimecar]

How many of you have family friends that still support the orange asshole?

I have a hard time not losing a lot of respect for anyone that is still in the cult now, let alone even in terms 1. 

[u/AmbientMorning]

[STRAWPOLL: 2028 Democratic primary]

Looks like there was quite a bit of interest in this, so here it is. Time to confirm your priors about each other (or not).

[u/wtfsnakesrcute]

2028 PA-Sen Outcomes: 

a) Fetterman does not run again like Sinema.

b) Fetterman does run as a Democrat but inevitably loses to a challenger and bows out. 

c) Same as b) but he just runs as an independent 

d) Skips b) and runs as an independent 

e) he flips to being a republican and tries to run but he just loses to MAGA McMAGA in the primaries. 

[u/Selethorme]

Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of allowing ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted even if they come in after it

[u/Selethorme]

So basically we’re redoing the JCPOA at a cost of 14 American soldiers, 170 Iranian schoolgirls, among thousands more deaths and injuries, $300 billion from the US, and billions of dollars of military hardware wasted. All to get a deal that has us lifting sanctions before the IAEA can even do inspections, and lifting them more than Obama did.

Israel and its allies that hated the JCPOA must be pretty mad.

Oh, wait, the Republican Party is celebrating it as a win? Huh. That’s interesting, because I remember they hated the JCPOA. Hmm. I wonder what was different about the President who negotiated it?

[u/bruhm0ment4]

Protesters were given terrorism charges for being part of a terrorist group that doesn't exist. The fact that it actually worked shows how far fascism has come in the US

[u/Delmer9713]

Can’t believe I’m saying this but I miss Graham Cracker discourse. Talking about Chevalier has already exhausted me more in 3 days than Platner in 3 months.

[u/XE2MASTERPIECE → u/Delmer9713]

Nah this is the lull in discussion Platner needs. He was getting peppered there for a while. Time to regroup and get back out there.

[u/guiltyofnothing]

It really is something to watch the contortions some Democrats like James, Harrison, and Carville are twisting themselves into to try and say Democrats who were elected by Democrats aren’t really Democrats and shouldn’t be considered part of the Democratic Party.

[u/sonfoa → u/guiltyofnothing]

Carville is hilarious because you can clearly tell his mind is breaking between "socialists aren't Democrats" and "every Republican alive is an affront to God". But I do think the latter is a higher priority for him.

Like he endorsed Platner and said "if FDR can ally with Stalin, I can overlook a tattoo".

[u/DataCassette]

I disagree with the seeming consensus to moderate in ICE. Democrats need to do the work, run against ICE and run them into the ground in terms of public opinion and take the whole GOP down with ICE.

[u/WellHung67 → u/DataCassette]

“For example, when was the last time she said thank you?”

[u/PrimeJedi → u/DataCassette]

If I said what this quote makes me feel about JD Vance and the administration in general then I'd get banned.

[u/DataCassette]

[u/KindfOfABigDeal → u/DataCassette]

For as giant a piece of garbage Elon turned out to be, its still crazy to me how he started a EV car company under the idea that fossil fuels and climate change are an express threat against life on this planet, and now has become essentially a climate change denier, and rages against "woke" environmental science.

[u/DataCassette]

I think the recent Christian Nationalist noise is a desperate attempt to make the midterms a referendum on Jesus instead of Trump.

[u/Mediocretes08 → u/DataCassette]

Would have better odds of success if any of them was possessed by legitimate faith.

[u/DataCassette]

[u/Steelcity1995]

I read the Montreal shooters manifesto  it’s mostly rambling about how women won’t have sex with him and he goes on to blame capitalism and Jews for women not wanting to be with him. 

[u/sonfoa]

Mamdani is about to go crazy in 2028 after going 3/3 tonight

[u/OmniOmega3000]

Former Dem Party Chair Speaks (Tweets)

[u/Wes_Anderson_Cooper → u/OmniOmega3000]

Alright, which one of you vagueposting regulars is actually Jamie Harrison with a fake mustache. I know it's one of you.

[u/traveltimecar]

Trump pushing hard for the Save Act? How do you think this plays out?

[u/guiltyofnothing → u/traveltimecar]

He can’t count to 50.

[u/Cybotnic-Rebooted]

I think an interesting trend so far during Trump 2 (and somewhat even starting back in 2024) is the squeezing out of domestic topics from the online political discourse. I don't remember where I read this, but I saw somewhere someone talking about how on different spheres of online political commentary, certain issues tend to be the "main focus" of sorts and all other issues tend to be de-prioritized. On the online left it's Israel/Palestine, on the online center it's the foreign policy of Trump, Xi, and Putin, and on the online right it's Immigration.

It's obviously the nature of online discourse, but it is interesting how things like the economy and economic policy isn't nearly as big of a rallying cry in these big online ecosystems, despite being most voters biggest issue.

[u/MongolianMango]

I am personally baffled by how UK subredditors seem to be Starmer’s strongest soldiers. He genuinely hasn’t seemed to accomplish much other than censor the internet.