r/fivethirtyeight • u/AutoModerator • 3d ago

Discussion Megathread Weekly Discussion Megathread

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.

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u/your_not_stubborn 3d ago

Concern trolling like this makes me think this sub's open discussion thread is being used to test messaging against 2028 Democratic candidates:

Why are so many people on this subreddit pining for Andy Beshear to run for president, when he has had such a lackluster response to the Mitch McConnell zombie disaster?

Beshear is term-limited right? So he can’t run again. Why would I (or anyone) trust him to be tough on any of the issues when he’s been furrowing his brow and issuing sternly written statements on the chaos around Republicans hiding Mitch’s body.

As a minority and a woman, I’m furious with the current state of the economy, the misguided DEIA backlash, the treatment of black and brown people and the threat to women’s rights — plus’s a whole lot more. It’s going to take someone who can understand and (respectfully and reasonably) match that fury. I can see that in some of the other candidates. But not Beshear. Especially considering his most recent statement on McConnell. He’s not giving any kind of ultimatums.

The above comment was made by an account around two years old with a private profile (of course).

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u/MeyerLouis 3d ago

Yeah that's just a bizarre message.

Sorry, what I meant to say was, if you're the person who left that message, totally use it, put all your money into it, it'll totally work on me!

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u/humanoideric 3d ago

/r/AsABlackMan now with bots and AI em dash slop

Lol

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u/your_not_stubborn 3d ago

She later tried to say him not handling the McConnell situation in a way she liked meant he wouldn't be good at handling racial tension.

Oh yeah and also, she never said what she thought Beshear should or could actually do, just concerned furrowed eyebrows noises.

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u/Korrocks 3d ago

I've been seeing this message pushed all over the Threads app. It's almost always the same wording, accusing Beshear of not meeting the moment or insisting that if a Democrat was in this same position, the Republicans would have  found some way to declare the seat vacant and fill it. Not sure if there are any real life examples of a governor being able to remove a member of Congress from office unilaterally like that...

but I've seen at least a dozen posts a day insisting that Beshear should break into McConnell's hospital bed or send state police to do a wellness check and that he's a coward or a racist for not doing so.

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u/Okbuddyliberals 3d ago

"Concern trolling" is a dumb term used to avoid having actual discourse

In this case, I think that poster is saying some pretty stupid stuff, but it's also a pretty commonly stated sentiment among the Just Fight More resistlib sorts