Joe Biden raises a record-shattering $364 million in August

[Apparition of Jack]

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/02/908773287/biden-democrats-shatter-fundraising-record-with-364-5-million-in-august?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews&utm_campaign=npr

This is crazy. The previous record was set by Obama, at around $190 million. And yes, a lot of this money came from corporate donors, but around half of it came from small-scale donations, which is still huge.

Now, this doesn't necessarily mean Biden will defeat Trump easily, Hillary raised more money than Trump and ended up losing to him. But it does mean there's more momentum on the Biden campaign than it might first appear.

Biden can win. It's not a certainty, and in fact we have to treat a Trump victory like an absolute certainty and then work against that, but there's still cause for hope.

[hoodrow trillson]

Honestly, no one knows who will win.

In 2016, everyone was certain it would be Clinton but look at how that turned out.  This year, because of the 2016 election, people are saying Trump is going to take it.  What if he doesn't?  What if Biden wins???

 

 

[Apparition of Jack]

@hoodrow trillson That's right. There's too many different forces at play. Any situation at this stage is possible, but we can use that to make a Biden victory (and a Trump defeat) more likely.

[Forestluv]

I suppose this could help Biden win and reduce an immediate threat, yet this is a huge red flag about toxic corporate plutocracy. Biden his receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from billionaires and corporate plutocrats. That money ain’t free. They will have power over him and his administration. A lot of people are under the impression that we can “go back to normal” under Biden, yet there are still serious problems with toxic neoliberalism and the fight doesn’t stop in November. I was encouraged to see AOC come out hard against Joe Kennedy III and Pelosi - that is a sign that they will continue to fight hard against neoliberalism if Biden wins. 

[Apparition of Jack]

@Forestluv Yes, if he gets in we'll have to work to make sure things like privately-funded campaigns aren't a thing in the future. My point was mostly that Biden's campaign - at least on the current terms of US presidential campaigns, which involve a lot of money - isn't as weak as it may seem. There's a lot of "silent" support for him I feel from middle class people, businesses, etc. that just don't make the news or social media because it's not so clickbaity. And this is good in the short-term because it means that Trump's fascism will have a harder time winning re-election.

But you're right. Campaign finance reform is hugely needed. Incidentally Biden's campaign is actually making that a part of their policy (https://joebiden.com/governmentreform/) but I imagine we'd need a lot of progressive energy in order to actually make that a reality.

[Preety_India]

I hope Biden wins. 

One last chance to get the cartoon out.. 

 

[Raze]

On 9/3/2020 at 3:16 PM, hoodrow trillson said:

Honestly, no one knows who will win.

In 2016, everyone was certain it would be Clinton but look at how that turned out.  This year, because of the 2016 election, people are saying Trump is going to take it.  What if he doesn't?  What if Biden wins???

Most people are saying Biden will win, and for good reason, he is very ahead. Even if polls were as wrong in 2020 as 2016 Trump would still lose. That doesn't mean he has to lose though, but it will probably require something unpredictable and extreme to let him win.