Because Putin is challenging him over something very specific
So we're just going to ignore that this is the second time Putin's tried to draw attention towards our leaders in the form of live content to get around our censor in favor of his own agenda?
It was genius when he made Trump deal with that shit, even undermining it further with not allowing Trump's own people to witness their talks. It's both an effective flex and a means of undermining our propaganda.
it seems you're putting words in my mouth as I've never said that we should ignore his constant need to display cracks in our own propaganda.
His need to display cracks in our own propaganda was my point, and if that notion needs defending, that can be done through watching how other Russian activities have been affecting the US web-space when it comes to political nudging.
At the same time we should acknowledge that he's not exactly the cleanest character that should be praised for doing this. Our propaganda should be questioned yes, but it should also matter to us who it is questioning it.
I never said he was clean, but odds are that we won't have a clean person creating circumstances like this over how someone diabolical'd be the sort of mind to come up with these kinds of strategies.
Putin's doing it as an effective flex, and from him doing it it can carry damages even outside of how it could dismantle the propaganda that otherwise protects the American people from themselves (while furthering the civil war infighting), but from the perspective of a detached historian/sociologist/political theorist/etc it can still be appreciated for it's genius.
Appreciate the troll maybe but it's not likely to be more than that
This has the room to be spun by their own news networks as well as our own, it's already more than that.
While by itself this could be ultimately forgotten, it still could end up being a component of incitement further down the line in relation to public outcries looking for reasons to grant their own stances further merit.
This debate will never happen it will be framed as another bit of trying to meddle with American heads.
I wish it would, it has the potential for The Left to flex back if it's handled right.
Putin whether he accepts or not will get something out of it, making posing this in the first place a smart move. As the one who proposed it it also makes him seem that much 'braver' or whatever.
The political left isn't going to do anything about it, they'll want to push a front of unity along side those that call this push as an attack to divide, it would look bad for those pushing more progressive ideas to side or flex this at all. It all comes down to look that can be used against them in the future.
By not accepting it, it gives The Right reason to think "Trump was brave", something in relation to what even Trump believes he was doing both there and North Korea; Being their 'friend' to protect us from how scary and powerful they are. Trump played the role of the shook diplomat in both cases, and interviews with him make it super transparent.
By not accepting the debate they further the divide by making one side look weaker than the other and by giving Putin more room to flex, while if this were handled with something closer to Obama's level of charm this could end up working to empower their global perception. As is, Putin first took advantage of a nut-brained narc who couldn't say no, and now is trying to do the same with a doddering old dude who'd be weakening his position regardless of if he says yes or no.
That can be argued away too tho, it's about not "participating in the division" with someone that's been "known" to want to divide our "great" country. All it'll do is likely rally those that have the them vs us patriot mentality
It's stirring the pot at all, which furthers the divide as people choose to only listen to like minds:
It has a lot of potential to mutate, especially if compounded with other stuff. When calling 'Pepe' a white nationalist symbol can do that much damage to the one claiming it, it demonstrates that a surprising amount of things can be used as a weapon.
Our propaganda against anything Russia has been so ingrained that it would be too easy to use this against those that side for it.
I feel like it'd play out as Leftist weakness either way, so why not go for the showier one if there's nothing to hide?
The Right's eating up that this entire thing is scripted, even a lot of them over Trump, even some over Fox News being CNN 2.0. Having Biden talk, live in another country's space, would sell that much more to us that it's not just a US government farce, a stage play for the commoners, as could be further construed from when our government freaked the fuck out over Trump talking to Putin privately.
He'd likely get slammed for it either way so maybe? All I'm seeing is how it's be spun badly
I still think it furthers the 'they have something to hide' camp of thought, but perhaps he'd make even bigger mistakes if he actually went.
This mark on him may be necessary as harm reduction, the better of two bad outcomes.
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