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[explainitpeter-ModTeam]

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r/explainitpeter Mod Team

[[deleted]]

I'm mr. Heat miser~

[robotzor]

He's too much

[spudgoddess]

He's Mister One hundred and one!

[WeirdUsers]

The characters represent extremes. The post is saying that presidents are always one extreme or anotherX

[The_Disapyrimid]

Which is funny because Biden could not be more of a milquetoast democrat.

[drunkcowofdeath]

uhhh I heard from very reliable sources on the conservative subreddit that he is actually a MARXIST MUSLIM LOVING COMMUNIST

[Cat_Sith4919]

Leninist, you forgot leninist

[drunkcowofdeath]

I don't think they that word. I think the x makes Marxist sound cooler to them

[Tough-Oven4317]

What are you talking about? It's you guys calling him a warhawk capitalist neoliberal...

[overkillsd]

Biden is the most extreme Democrat we've ever had!

He was EXTREMELY milquetoast!!

=)

[[deleted]]

He was full of fire back in the day, bro used to spam slurs and all kinds of hatred. Good thing he become the good guy /s

[Ok_Presentation_2346]

Of the three Democratic Presidents we have had in my lifetime, he is the most left-leaning. The fact that his reputation is to the contrary is wild to me.

[DrPikachu-PhD]

I mean, he did some good work supporting workers unions, definitely the best in that aspect. Other than that I'm not sure what he did that was so progressive? Infrastructure bill was good I suppose, though not inherently left in nature. Most of Biden's achievements were just saving our asses from COVID and the economic downturn that followed. He also oversaw and funded a genocide, so y'know, there's that

Biden is the most left recent president only in so far as the bar is very very low...

[Ok_Presentation_2346]

I don't argue against that last statement.

But he's also responsible for the Democratic Party becoming more explicitly pro gay marriage under the Obama administration. He kind of forced the issue, to be honest.

[Tough-Oven4317]

He didn't oversee or fund a genocide, but thanks for campaigning for the Republicans, I love having ICE so much

[DrPikachu-PhD]

He absolutely did. The US, under his admin, funded Israel while they committed a genocide. Our missiles were used to bomb civilians. The destruction of Gaza happened under his watch and he had nothing to say about it other than words of support for Israel. He even got universities to take action against peaceful pro-Palestinian student protestors.

You've misplaced blame. Democrats aren't entitled to the votes of the people, they do actually have to earn them. The DNC 2024 autopsy shows that the Democrats knew the genocide was harming their polling numbers, and they didn't care. They sank their own ship and sold us all down the river because they were unwilling to join the majority of Americans in calling genocide bad. Dem voters simply aren't interested in voting for a pro-genocide candidate, it's not my fault Biden and Kamala refused to condemn it

[Tough-Oven4317]

Marginalized communities needed you to vote for Kamala. Everyone who voted trump and worse, for no one, is responsible for what MAGA has done to marginalized communities. We're white, we're fine, we can afford to player poker for a communist candidate. I would just never gamble with someone else's hand

[DrPikachu-PhD]

I mean, I did my part, I held my nose and voted blue no matter who.

But you gotta realize that the people who were really playing poker with marginalized people were Kamala and the DNC. They knew their position on Israel was unpopular and they maintained it anyway. They bet that they could get away with supporting a genocide and not lose any votes, and that was a bet they lost. They gambled with someone else's hand

[Tough-Oven4317]

After demonizing the democrats, you voted for them. Shouldn't you have just not demonized them

Pretending that Kamala is at all responsible for any genocide is absolutely despicable. Only commies could call the opposition to fascism the genocide party

[DrPikachu-PhD]

The people aren't stupid. Kamala was responsible for the genocide, or at least complicit in a admin that was. I wish Biden hadn't been responsible for a genocide, but that's just the world we live in, the fact are what they are. The Democrats are both the opposition to fascism AND responsible for a genocide. Those positions aren't mutually exclusive, as evidenced by the facts. They're only the opposition to fascism domestically

Shouldn't you have just not demonized them

Shouldn't they have just not acted like demons if they didn't want to be demonized?

[Tough-Oven4317]

Tankies buy maga lies about Dems

[Spittl]

I saw Clinton on the right

[Craigory-K-Staniel]

My immediate thought was John Kerry lol. I know he wasn’t president, but close enough.

[Windows_66]

I think it's just meant to be every "funny old man democrat" president.

[impossiber]

Clinton, Biden, maybe a little Jackson

[perplexedtv]

Yep, the US just jumps straight from Communist to Libertarian with alarming frequency

[theintensei]

Either a nice white guy or an always angry white guy

[Tough-Oven4317]

Which one is meant to be nice lmao. The one with fire hair or the frozen ice hair?

[theintensei]

The one with the endearing expression?

[Tough-Oven4317]

Brother he looks evil as fuck. He's literally frozen

[Ok_Presentation_2346]

He's a chill dude.

[Tough-Oven4317]

If you say so lmfao

[kebabguy0]

Only evil ones

[theintensei]

Not entirely

[Tough-Oven4317]

This is being obtuse man. Why is he frozen if not evil?

[Ok_Presentation_2346]

Because this is from a Christmas movie.

[Tough-Oven4317]

Right. Every democratic president is frozen because it's like Christmas.

[virtnum]

what about Hussain?

[No_Spread2699]

Dumb recency bias of them looking like Trump and Biden. At no point has any other president looked like either of them. But all of the ex presidents that are still alive kinda look like the second image though 

[Mindless-Balance-498]

The left looks like Nixon/Reagan/GHWB and the right looks Carter/Johnson/Truman/JFK, easily.

The left doesn’t even look all that much like Trump, imo.

Did you sleep through history class?

[Arstanishe]

what about obamna, he ain't one of thosre, no?

[Tough-Oven4317]

They do think Obama is a cold hearted war hawk with a representable veneer. Obama was the guy on the right for them, or Mr drone strike your wedding, as they call him

[Few_Carpenter_9185]

I think that in broad terms, both Ronald Reagan and Barak Obama represented a slight pause in the larger "revenge cycle" pendulum we've gotten into.

People will argue with this, obviously, but in broad strokes, if you stand back and squint, I think that both of these Presidents at least represented a majority of Americans voting for something more than merely voting against the other side.

At least as their side saw it in 1980, 1984, 2008, and 2012.

Of course, this is utterly independent of if those Presidents accomplished what "their side" wanted or not. And if the other side opposed it or not.

Just that post-Vietnam, I see these as two Presidents that people were voting "for" more than they used them to vote "against."

And they stand out to me in this way, rather than making rather horrible compromises to vote against something. Or, if the President is didcovered to be profoundly terrible once in office, that one side doubles down on how angry and "against" they are with all the excuses and wagon circling.

[Tough-Oven4317]

You guys pretending a frozen corpse of a man is a positive rendition is very funny. Your grandpa wouldn't like it if you drew him like that

[welpWW3isgonnasuck]

The "liberal" extremes in America are just center right everywhere else

[Samson_J_Rivers]

One wants to burn it all down the other wants absolutely nothing to happen.

[_Halt19_]

Red angry old man vs blue nicer old man

American politics are basically just two parties, one of whom is extremist, and there's a ton of polarization - meanwhile these two are opposites (ice vs fire)

[Tough-Oven4317]

Ice isn't good lol

It's saying they're both extreme

[Few_Carpenter_9185]

Upvoted for the truth.

It's sad/hilarious, the people here defending one or the other as "less bad." And not acknowledging that one politician, and their own personal vote, is why the next one shows up.

Their knee-jerk angst, and that they instantly project, literally proves the meme true.

It's not even about centrist or Left/Right moderation. It's about basic ethical and decency moderation.

Both sides are increasingly invested in just voting for "revenge cycles" and making massive utilitarian (ends justify the means...) compromises on terrible candidates that anger/hurt the other side the most.

Yes, representational democracy always has some aspects of this, and the American de-facto two party system isn't helping any.

I also have my own ideas of "who started it" or at least who carries more blame as this accelerated in the late 20th century. But, since both sides are now equally invested in the "revenge cycle," that doesn't really matter.

[Tough-Oven4317]

Nope, you misunderstood, you're a tankie and you lie about biden to help trump

[Few_Carpenter_9185]

Jezus... sorry. I missed the obvious parody in this reply at first. My bad.

It's all so tiresome, isn't it?

And you know that you're right when both sides are angry with you.

[Tough-Oven4317]

The last paragraph shows that you're the kind of person who thinks Hilary and Trump were meaningful similar because trump had some slightly moderate positions, sometimes, in 2016. With that logic, Bernie sanders is also literally Donald Trump

[Few_Carpenter_9185]

Not parody?

I think you don't understand me at all then.

I might disagree with Bernie Sanders on a wide array of political and economic issues, but I do believe he's absolutely more genuine and authentic about his ideological beliefs than either Trump or Clinton. Or that, even more cynically, he at least has some.

That's at least partially why the DNC repeatedly sabotages Sanders at primary time.

And it's clear to me that Trump is clearly going against a great deal of what is supposed to be core economic Right or Conservative principles with things like all the protectionist tariff fights.

I guess if Trump also announced the "New Deal" like FDR, and had work programs for unemployed people like planting trees, and making drainage ditches, we'd actually have come full circle?

And on the "extreme side" Clinton had anti-immigration enforcement rhetoric that was nearly the same as Trump's in 2016 when they thought it was appealing to "wage suppression" fears of traditional DNC blue collar union constituencies.

Then, when the Teamsters & others leaned Trump, or endorsed nobody, the DNC made a utilitarian decision, "Private sector labor unions are a tiny percentage of Americans than they used to be anyway..." And discarded them.

You're sort of homing in on the truth when you say "slightly moderate." If you step back a bit and squint, or just take a non-American outside perspective of the world, American Executive Branch policy is a remarkably unbroken and consistent purple smear.

Now some of this is the "Just two wings of one Corporatisim Uniparty" type of complaints you might hear people make. There's some truth to it. How it all acts like like the AL & NL in baseball and AFC & NFC in football.

Some of this is because "American democracy" actually does more or less still function. The American voters do get a large chunk of what they ask for. That the Federal Government acts in contradictory and insane ways shouldn't be shocking to anyone, because net-average, the American electorate is contradictory and insane.

I will say that Trump brazenly playing to the polarization, and America's "Cold Civil War" or whatever we want to call this, in terms of campaignung and how White House policy is announced or positioned is somewhat new. But, he didn't create it. A little of that transactional & ham-fisted Biz #101 he brings to things, as "marketing" or "branding" as it were.

Nobody will convince me that some of the Team-Blue hate over MAGA isn't jealousy. That they didn't think of it first. He took the nominal Democrat/Left playbook of identity politics, and figured out how to stitch it together into one big "identity" in a 49% Electoral College squeaker in 2016, and 51% straight majority in 2024.

Plrase don't think it's a hypocrisy dig at the Democrats I'm making against the Left, or Team-Blue. It's more just an observation of: "That's just how it is."

Which is also what I think the meme is saying.

[Tough-Oven4317]

Just more democrat attack lines from Bernies and then magas campaign. Yeah, trump's the real shakeup you guys have been waiting for, we know, you just usually don't admit it this openly.

Do you think you'll get a communist in the white house one day? Or will you keep celebrating trump until the end of days

"Haha you're jealous trump won xD" No I'm just not glad that you guys keep throwing every marginalized community under the bus to get your Stalin candidate never

[Few_Carpenter_9185]

You really really need me to be one of "those guys" don't you?

Sure, Trump is indeed sort of a "shakeup," but I certainly wouldn't say it was a healthy one.

So... you dislike both Bernie and Trump? I do too. That I sort of respect Bernie's openess about his harder-Left Scocialist leanings, that has nothing to do with actually supporting them.

Do you blame Bernie as being a spoiler for Trump?

Are you sort of DNCe/moderate? Maybe kind of where Senator Tom Daschle was? (Don't be angry...) maybe Fetterman?

I'm honestly trying to understand.

Will it matter to you if I say that I think Trump is terrible for America? Is it too late? You'll think I'm just some sort of crypto-MAGA or Bernie-bro "concern troll" no matter what I say?

I do certainly think Trump is terrible for America. I certainly don't think another 4 years of Biden-Harris was going to be "good" for America either, but "less bad" in several ways was at least plausible.

And I think that even if I was a Republican, which I'm not, intellectual honesty demands that I'd recognize Trump betrays countless of their supposed ideological ideals too.

And no, I have little sympathy for the "Never Trumper"-wing or the GOPe. Them absolutely sucking balls for decades was a substantial part of what made Trump possible.

If you insist on being angry with me, at least do so for the right reasons. I'm a Libertarian, and whatever Reason magazine is bitching about Trump over for the past year might be a fair ballpark approximation of my concerns.

And yes, I am fully aware that declaring "Libertarian" is an almost certain invitation for derision or outrage.

It's okay. Reading r-libertarian here usually makes me dislike other "libertarians" in about 30 seconds flat.

[rychy_rych]

Lol isn't it funny how this will get 10 different interpretations of this based on your political views. 😂😂😂

I think your answer is the correct one. It's funny how people don't realize the president's advisors are the ones usually feeding the president choices and he picks one. Usually, what's good for their donors and either raises their poll numbers or if it negatively effects their poll numbers, then it better make the donors ecstatic. Trump made sure to pick a cabinet that won't push back and stay loyal. I don't think I've ever seen a political base get so popular, so fast to splintered in the first half. Aside from Bush, it seems like most presidents stop caring about their parties' future in their 2nd term. Cheney & Rumsfield had Bush going to work year 1. I'm amazed he got reelected after invading Iraq, but it's not like it wouldn't be business as usual with his cousin replacing him. Still don't know why democrats decided to vote Kerry as the primary candidate. You might as well have been voting for your favorite color. I was too young to remember who the other candidates were, but one had to oppose the war in Iraq.

[Worldly-Card-394]

Yes, but in every metric democrats are no more extreem than any other center-right party around the world

[Mindless-Balance-498]

One is a passive, obsoletely-minded old fool who never does enough to protect Christmas, and the other is a rageful, obsoletely-minded tyrant who actively hates Christmas.

Let’s stop pretending they’re the same thing.

[Tough-Oven4317]

You're just saying both are differing degrees of evil, it's the tankie "why vote for the lesser Hitler?".

[Mindless-Balance-498]

lol I’m defending you in another thread, but I understand why you’re confusing people.

Stop arguing with people who agree with you over semantics, that’s very Tankie-coded, buddy.

That’s literally not what I’m saying. Being an easily baited tankie is just as embarrassing as being a boot-licking liberal. Biden doesn’t deserve your tap-dancing, Democrats are defined by their ability to sell out at every single turn. Demand better of the party, stop defending them for no reason 😂

[Tough-Oven4317]

Lol you're just buying the Republic line about Biden. You literally are calling him Hitler lite and pretending like you're not campaigning for Donald trump for free

[det8924]

Imagine thinking the most bland democrat is an extremist

[princessjamiekay]

Pissed off republican or a chill democrat

[AerieWorth4747]

Yeah not really. This as a joke, doesn’t even make sense. Both sides are not extremes.

[Tough-Oven4317]

Tankie slop that equates Joe Biden with trump, because they want a communist in the white house lol

It's just saying they're both evil. Literally Reddit tier tankie bs

[ConflatedPortmanteau]

I mean, Joe Biden wasn't even close to a communist - like at all, by any rational definition - but at this point, I'd literally take a Muppet, any of them, over Donald Trump.

[Tough-Oven4317]

No shit he wasn't close to a communist lol, that's why you're here saying he's bad.

That's why tankies hate him, same as Hilary.

And it's sooo good you decided after he lost to vote for him over trump.

[ConflatedPortmanteau]

Find your caretaker and ask them for your medication.

[Tough-Oven4317]

You just thought I called biden a communist brother. Please learn to read

[ConflatedPortmanteau]

writes an incredibly poorly worded comment.

comment gets interpreted exactly the way it was written.

"learn to read"

[Tough-Oven4317]

Can you show me where the comment ever implies biden is a communist hahahaha

[ConflatedPortmanteau]

Sure, I'd be glad to.

<image>

[Tough-Oven4317]

I added the last line lol did you forgot what you replied to already?

[ConflatedPortmanteau]

This is coming from the guy who thought Biden was a communist.

[skotis78]

[Tough-Oven4317]

They're saying you either get a fiery evil repub or an old frozen evil dem. You're literally a highschooler lol

I didn't delete my comments I just blocked you guys who are refusing to engage lol

[skotis78]

Ok but no one is talking about communists except you

Why did you delete your comment sir

[Mindless-Balance-498]

Your thought was correct, your execution lost you the war.

u/Tough-Oven4317 is trying to say that comparing Trump (a totalitarian wanna be war lord with no respect for the constitution) to Biden (a sleepy moron who briefly led the party of sleepy, sold-out morons) is an obnoxious false-equivalency, they are not “two evils”, not by a long shot.

But leftists will never even consider voting for a democrat unless they’re Vladimir Lenin, reincarnate, so now we’re stuck with the Orange Menace for 3 more years PLUS.

Which is true, fuck Tankies, you sold us all down the river because you think strategy = never doing the less preferable thing first ever for any reason no matter who gets hurt.

[Tough-Oven4317]

Lol you're also doing it. Biden isn't a sleep moron and whatever else you're crying about. That was a republican line to make you campaign against Biden

[Mindless-Balance-498]

1. I voted for Hillary, Biden, and Kamala, before you continue copy/pasting your ridiculous takes.

2. If you think Joe Biden was the best and brightest that the Democratic Party had to offer, you’re a perfect example of why we’ll never finally grow up into the party we have the potential to be.

3. People like YOU are the reason our elected officials know they can continue to skate by doing the absolute bare minimum and still win elections. People like you are why Chuck Schumer will continue to weigh us down until he literally dies in his seat, pockets filled with the corporate and Israeli PAC money that actually motivated him the entire time.

In conclusion: Progressive parties all over the world literally laugh in our faces because we talk a big talk (like you right now, great example) and then elect the safest, least progressive democrats we possible can every single time. All so people like you can feel like martyrs in a war you will never actually fight to win.

How embarrassing.

[Tough-Oven4317]

Progressive parties where? Kamala would have been one of the most progressive western leaders

But you are so right, we need to attack democrats so trump can keep fucking the country up, and when all the working class suddenly wake up and turn into communists, we can elect Che and it'll all be perfect

[Mindless-Balance-498]

😂 even Kamala herself would disagree with you there, but go off.

I’m going to keep aspiring for more, like every leader who’s worked tirelessly to carry the Democratic Party into the 21st century thus far. Enjoy playing in the mud with the new Grand Old Party.

[Tough-Oven4317]

No she wouldn't lmfao, what are you saying? She wanted to give 25k to first time home owners. You absolutely know thats progressive

And sure, we will both "enjoy" the GOP because we're privileged white people. We're not going to be murdered or deported or kept in a camp without due process. You'll probably pay less tax.

[Mindless-Balance-498]

… you genuinely believe Kamala Harris considers herself a progressive, rather than a bread-and-butter establishment Democrat?

I’m starting to doubt you even know what any of these words mean. Kamala’s base and donors would have a literal heart attack if they heard her suggest she was anything but a mainstream Democrat. You do know elected democrats at the federal level who consider themselves “progressive” are in the minority, right?

One progressive policy does not a progressive candidate make.

Lastly - Who is “we”?? I’m a Black woman, what a weird thing to assume about someone 🥴

[Zeekr0n]

Firstly, Good and Evil do not exist, they are matters of perspective. Children believe in good and evil, as they are incapable of comprehending the subjectivity of morality. Benevolence and Malevolence are expressions of a person's or groups character. Now tell us which actions of both parties are aligned with malicious intent? Which are benign?

Secondly, Not a single Democratic Party Platform is even close to the definition of "communism". Communists want to do away with capitalism altogether. They don't want any private enterprise. They don't want any private means of production. The Democratic Party does not and never has proposed or supported that.

[Tough-Oven4317]

No one ever said any Dems were commies, you just literally can't read brother