#Fuck you POTUS

[zanderlisle]

The US has spent more money funding Israel since WWII than it would take to house every homeless person in the country. twenty-two times over.

[sorryiwasasleep]

Because i hate myself (actually cause I saw a bumper sticker today that made me scream in pure rage) (and also cause like… because i need to be armed to the teeth with knowledge and facts because conservative right-wing family members love to parrot bullshit propaganda when not just being outright bigots🙄) I decided to take a read through the entire Wikipedia page concerning Trump’s 2024 run (and then I looked at his actual campaign website cause I hate myself more and wanted to see some of his actual rhetoric that was mentioned but not quoted) and it’s just like…

He fucking wants to appoint himself as god-king (wants to expand power of the executive (diminishing the separation of powers), turn govt civil employees status to ‘at will’ for firing, and to impose congressional term limits while also abolishing his own) and “root out” the “vermin” in this country (literal rhetoric he has used) and with this Court it probably won’t just go unchecked, but like I’m afraid it could be affirmatively endorsed using principles of originalism and ‘history and tradition’ (whose fucking version of history???? Huh???? Because it certainly wasn’t fucking mine when you overturned Roe in Dobbs) but in the fast and loose way that they like to, where sometimes they want to be textualist and sometimes they don’t.

Assuming he tries, I do think expansion of the executive might not get support from some of the conservative justices under principles of federalism which is— wrong math, right answer. But they 100% would justify his white Christian supremacist alloamatocisheteronormative patriarchal policies under originalism and ‘history and tradition’. As if letting the past guide the future isn’t a fucking BATSHIT thing to do. We learn the past to do BETTER in the future, not to fucking EMULATE it and use their standards to STAGNANT the lives of real people. EVEN THE FUCKING DRAFTERS OF THE GODDAMN CONSTITUTION KNEW THAT IN FUCKING 1787 SO WHY THE FUCK ARE WE STILL DOING THIS SHIT! But I digress from my originalism rant because this is a Presidential Campaign rant.

Like Trump literally said he wants to (and WILL BE) a dictator.

“He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’. I said: ‘No, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.’”

“Baker today in the New York Times said that I want to be a dictator. I didn’t say that. I said I want to be a dictator for one day.”

*insert regina george* so you agree? You want to be a dictator? Pretty sure being one for “one day” is called establishing the dictatorship and suuure Jan im sure that it’ll stay limited in scope to the borders and drilling (as if that would fucking make it okay???) 🙄

And then the option on the ‘opposing’ side is Joe Biden, who, chief among his many faults, is aiding and supporting a genocide. The fact that he has no competition in primaries (literally only one other person is even trying) and will end up being the Democratic candidate has me so incensed and the fact that Joseph Biden is fucking painted as the ‘radical left’ by opposition is both objectively hilarious and just horrifying and dangerously (and probably intentionally) misleading so as to continue the shift of whatever “middle” exists to actually be further and further right wing.

There is not really a larger point here and I’m super not looking for discourse but if anyone is gonna try anyway— don’t bother me without a source.

Anyway I’m just fucking tired and fuck the electoral college and the fact that one of these two ancient men winning seems inevitable

[skinnyscottishbloke]

$30 million in 6 hrs from small donors, huge endorsements from over half of the Dem congressional members plus governors like Newsome, Cooper, Shapiro, orgs like the Human Rights Campaign, Emily’s List, Farmworkers, AAPI for America, heavy hitters like the Clintons, John Kerry, fuck, even a Nikki Haley Voters PAC. LET’S 👏🏻 FUCKING 👏🏻 GO 👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻 #harris2024 #voteblue #fucktrump #kamalaharrisforthepeople

edit: that’s $40 million raised 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[invertedspoon]

god i hate everything about global warming but the thing that grinds my gears is that during the pandemic, the ENTIRE WORLD banded together and were able to (mostly) get rid of a disease that would have killed billions within 2 years.

but as soon as something isn't a immediate threat, people turn a blind eye. if we're not all going to die in a year, then i guess it doesn't matter.

but people are dying. wildfires are rampaging and wiping out towns and islands. there is going to be a HURRICANE on the WEST COAST. a global heat wave is harder to control than a global disease. in the pandemic, the average community had control over spreading a disease, no matter what politicians and the rich would say about it.

but now, the common people cannot control what the rich are pumping into our oceans and atmosphere. you can cut down on your personal carbon footprint. you can convince others around you to cut down. but nothing will make a dent in our carbon emissions unless everyone in the world does it.

the time to try and stop things is now. soon enough, it'll be far, far too late to go back. there's no way to reverse the damage that'll be done in a few years.

we cannot save our own PLANET and that is terrifying.

[danidoesathing]

would it help if i asked you to infodump on hyperfixation

YES THANK YOU

Ok so like. I'll be the first to say I way prefer the music video's version of the World Ender story over the comics. I really like the fire motif Cobb has and personally I think the pacing of the MV's story is better (in the comics he killed Winthrop first and then forms the World Enders gang to help track down the rest vs in the MV him going after the employees first and forming the world enders as he goes along and killing Winthrop at the end).

But. but. ok so his origin in the comic is the same except instead of a house fire, it's a sinkhole below their house. We know the whole Yawning Grave thing and it does later come back in the comic. Additionally, he had actually worked in construction for Winthrop and had actually bought the land from him (while the MV implies Winthrop had started the house fire to acquire the land). The reason Avery goes after revenge this time is because Winthrop had sold the land knowing there was a very big structural issues underneath it but never said anything. Which, while still very evil, is much less actively malicious than him actively setting Cobb's house on fire with him and his family inside. The comics also plays with the flaws in Cobb's idea of justice and if these people are deserving of his vengeance. Specifically, there's a comic page that has this as a sort of narration:

"I suspect there are some who say that Andrew Winthrop is undeserving of such a designation as 'evil'.

Does money lust make you evil? How about ambition?

What if you'll do anything to get it?

Cobb didn't ask for the land documents when Winthrop gave him the plot for his home.

If he had, he would've known about that sleeping sinkhole.

Does ignorance make you deserving?"

ALL OF WHICH. IS OVERLAYED ON THE SCENE OF HIS HOUSE COLLAPSING INTO THE SINKHOLE. WITH HIS FAMILY INSIDE. AND HIM RUNNING INSIDE TO PULL THEM OUT.

WHICH. FUCKED UP AND EVIL ACTUALLY???

and I'm so so interested in what is going on with him now. the World Ender storyline(s) take place in the 50s, and the latest point we see him is in a brief cameo in Vide Noir (which takes place in 1967). During this time, we know that he passes the leadership of the gang onto Alex. We have no clue 1. why he passed the leadership onto to Alex or at all and 2. what he has been doing in the mean time (is he still with the Enders?? is he still going off killing to try and satisfy his rage??? has he stopped??? has he chilled out or is he still violently angry??? did he ever find a way to undo his immortality???). And then his appearance in Vide Noir just. leaves me with SO many questions. What is he doing in the club at all? Why was he down there? Was he there at all, or was he a hallucination/vision/ghost? why did running into him trigger another time space jump? is it because he's inhuman? what does that mean in terms of his connection to Vide Noir? if he was a ghost/vision/hallucination, what the HELL does that mean in terms of how he's related to Buck?? if he wasn't actually there, why does Buck see him at all when he's got no clue who/what the World Ender even is?? did Cobb know there was something up with him and his fucked up stasis with the universe?? or his encounter with johnnie?? does he know anything about the events of Vide Noir?? what was he doing??? what does it mean what does it MEAN

and then like. what the HELL is the World Ender curse?? is it the specific brand of immortality he has??? Cobb is the only immortal character that we know of, but he's not the only undead character and Secret of Life implies there's more out there (though that could be metaphorical, but its hard to tell when Lost and Time in Space turned out to be literal). The curse is referenced a few times in random places but I've still got no idea what it means. and what the HELL does any of it have to due with the concept of the Yawning Grave. Yawning Grave (the song) is one of the few Strange Trails songs that both has no listed narrator but also with no clear connection to any of the established characters (both then and now). As far as we know, the narrator of Yawning Grave is a deity/force of nature of some kind, but not much more than that. But the comics imply that Cobb probably has got some connection to it. which. how??? in what way??? Is he the actual narrator??? is it just a random lyrical reference or does it have actual effects on the lore?? im so curious about him and even if he's gotten so much content theres still so much about the guy we dont know.

[i-still-mask-because]

If you're waiting for public officials to tell you that covid is in fact still here and that you should in fact still be masking & regularly getting tested, it would already be too late by then. I need more people to let it sink in that the US government's first and (probably only) priority is the economy, as opposed to being honest about covid.

Rich people and government officials like the PotUS are still making it mandatory to mask when interacting with them.

Rich people and government officials like the PotUS get PCR tested and make it mandatory for everyone to do the same before interacting with them.

Rich people and government officials like the PotUS are making it mandatory to make sure everywhere they go has filtered, clean air.

They are protecting themselves and still taking precautions during this on-going pandemic while lying to our faces that the pandemic is over. They may be maskless on camera, but they're sure as fuck rushing to get tested after the fact.

If you're waiting for these people to be honest with you about covid & to tell you how to protect yourself, it would already be too late by then.

[historicity-was-already-taken]

Have you, a left of center white person found yourself saying something along these lines: “Of course I want Harris as POTUS but have you seen this country? A black woman could never win.”

You probably did. I certainly did. It’s cynicism you see, not racism; of course you want a black woman for POTUS! But you know what? The more you say it, the more it propagates the idea that a woman of color could never be POTUS. And that my friends, is white supremacy. I can admit that; part of being anti-racist is being able to identify the white supremacy in your own thought patterns.

How do you fix it? Tell your cynicism to take a back seat, and say “fuck yes a black woman will be POTUS! She is the best candidate for the job and we WILL get her in there.”

Problem solved. The more you say it, the more likely it is that others will believe it, and be willing to fight for it.

And of course, yes I am a history blogger. I am posting about politics right now because we are living through weird fucking times, which historians are, perhaps, best equipped to evaluate—especially those of us who fuck with histories involving authoritarianism and fascism.

[anexperimentallife]

So you want leftist candidates? Here's how you get them:

First off, you have to understand that the far right didn't just wake up one day and say, "We should fuck up the country!" They have been OPENLY working for decades to fill literally every elected or appointed government position they could with Christian Dominionists and other right-wingers, and these folks show up to the polls EVERY SINGLE TIME.

When I was a kid in a far right church in the 1960s, they openly discussed how important is was to get their people into office who would help pass legislation to persecute/imprison/kill anyone who didn't follow their religion. If there's no one sufficiently right-wing running, they'll vote for whomever is closest, even if it gags them. And I cannot emphasize enough that they have long term goals that they are willing to take--and HAVE taken--generations to achieve.

The overturning of Roe v. Wade, for example, is a DIRECT RESULT of the decades-long effort by the far right to boost the most far-right-leaning candidates they could find. They've been talking for decades SPECIFICALLY about getting enough far right judges in SCOTUS to overturn Roe v. Wade. And these SCOTUS appointments are for LIFE, so these judges get to set policy for your GRANDCHILDREN.

So yes, the overturning of Roe v. Wade was only made possible because Trump was able to appoint three SCOTUS judges, in addition to all the other federal judges he appointed. Amd they're talking about going after same-sex marriage, minority rights, etc.

(Hell, the judge in charge of his secret documents case is one that he appointed--she has indefinitely postponed that case,by the way.)

And you don't think local school board elections are important? Have you not seen the news about all the anti-queer policies, and all the book-bannings? This, also, has a generational effect.

Meanwhile the left refuses to turn up to the polls because none of the candidates are pure enough. So guess why things are getting worse?

If the Left turned out for the most left-leaning candidate at EVERY SINGLE ELECTION, whether local or state or whatever, including primaries, we'd start seeing more leftist candidates. Yes, that means that if there's a choice between two extreme right wing candidates, you vote for the least extreme one.

I know I keep emphasizing that this is not just about POTUS, but POTUS does figure in, of course (among other things, who do you think appoints judges for congress to approve?).

So swallow this pill: Anything shitty Biden is doing, the shitgibbon will do MORE of.

"Not gonna vote Biden because he supports genocide, so I'd rather the guy win who ALSO supports genocide, wants Russia to invade more countries, thinks it's fine if China retakes Taiwan, wants a nationwide abortion ban, removal of civil rights for minorities, wants to overturn same-sex marriage (which the right-leaning majority in SCOTUS are already talking about), to cut back the role of congress in checking executive actions (including workarounds to avoid the need for congressional confirmation for presidential appointees), to remove federal employee protections so federal personnel can be replaced with Trump loyalists, and so on! That'll teach those Dems a lesson! THEN they'll be sorry. And fuck everyone the bad guys hurt, because I'll still be PURE. So what if top GOP officials want to actually NUKE Gaza?"

That's fucking kindergartner thinking.

Yes, Biden is a piece of shit, but I am not waxing at all hyperbolic when I say that a second orange shitgibbon term, with a far-right-majority SCOTUS--especially if the GOP manages majorities in both houses of congress--may be the end of what little is left of Democracy in the US. Not gonna argue about it, because I don't waste my time with petulant children.

Look at the GOP's plans for a Republican administration, and tell me you think it sounds better than another term of Biden. Hell, they've even set up online trainings and loyalty tests to narrow down potential federal hires to those who will commit to follow Trump without question.

I repeat: If you want more leftist candidates, if you want more worker power, if you want billionaires taxed, if you want to protect minorities and the queer community, you have to adopt the strategy that the right has used, educate yourself about what candidates stand for, and show up EVERY SINGLE TIME. Again, that includes primaries.

So many of us on the left would rather sit in the basement dreaming of some magical revolution that's going to fix everything, giving ourselves and others purity tests, and proudly announcing that we're... boycotting democracy by not voting(?), "because none of the candidates are a good choice."

Yeah, the left refusing to vote--or only voting in presidential elections--while the right turns up every time is exactly how we got here.

And you have to support the most left-leaning candidate even if it makes you gag, and even if "most left-leaning" means "not as openly fascist." This is the ONLY way you can be assured of candidates getting further to the left in the future. (Note that this means learning about your local candidates.)

"But voting won't fix--" I never said it was going to fix everything. There's no rule that if you vote, you can't volunteer with Food Not Bombs, or run for school board, or demonstrate, or circulate petitions. It takes more than voting, but voting has to be PART of our strategy.

You also have to accept that it may take decades to change course, and that you're not going to like every candidate you have to vote for.

The right didn't just magically get the orange shitgibbon into office overnight. It took decades of work. And if we want decent human beings in charge, we have to be willing to do the same.

[elssbethtascioni]

You know what? This is time for POTUS to start honoring his ticket promises to me. I want my regular one-on-one meetings. I want more responsibilities in infrastructure and education reform. I want an expanded role in deficit reduction talks. I want a Cartier fucking dildo.

Veep (2012-2019) | 2x01 - Midterms

[qqueenofhades]

re your tags on that last post, you could say he was...biden his time

BA DUMP TSHH.

I think that everyone, having gotten through the initial 24 hours of rage, fear, terror, confusion, anger, and frustration, is coming around to the idea that this was possibly a good thing and has undoubtedly given the Democratic ticket a much-needed jolt of energy. There are still all the very valid conversations to be had about the sway of a tiny group of billionaire donors, the media and Anonymous Democratic Sources bullying, the decision to torch Biden when they could so easily (so! easily!!!) have done it to Trump at any time and have clearly decided to go FULLY into the tank for him instead. This has many worrisome implications for democracy, and it's not something to be celebrated. All of that is still very much true.

However, now that we have had concrete evidence of the party immediately cohering around Kamala and the grassroots donors busting down the door to give her money, it may also turn out that this was a very wise political jiu-jitsu move by a very crafty political veteran like Biden. As the post I just reblogged pointed out, he did it AFTER the GOP convention, when the Republicans had already locked in (by any reasonable metric) a terrible, terrible ticket. It makes the Democrats look like the ones responsive to the American people demanding a younger and more mentally "with it" candidate (no matter how obvious the slurs about ageism were in regard to Biden when Trump is literally THREE YEARS YOUNGER and far more obviously scrambled). It opens all the excitement and historic firsts of Obama in 2008, it gives the perfect "Prosecutor vs. Felon" tagline that's really easy to run with and stick in people's minds, it is beautiful revenge for all Trump's horrible sexist behavior in 2016 (and really, his whole life) and it gives the Democrats the narrative, if they can FUCKING STICK TOGETHER AND STOP STABBING EACH OTHER IN THE BACK. Now we get to hear about Kamala's running mate, Kamala's plans, feel-good pieces about how she appeals to youth, women/people of color, etc. etc. ALL THAT IS GOOD.

I think/hope the DNC will now be a massive celebration of Biden, who after all came out of retirement when he was already old to take on Trump, beat him, deliver an incredibly successful presidency, and pass the torch on to Kamala. I saw some criticism of Obama yesterday for not endorsing her immediately, but what I read is that he/the other Democratic big beasts (Pelosi, Schumer, etc) want to be a uniting figure with an endorsement of the final candidate, if there was a contested primary beforehand. Thank fuck, it doesn't look like there will be, but it also means that they might wait until the DNC before openly endorsing her. Now, I am still angry at the Biden knifing that all these three were complicit in to some degree, BUT I also have no doubt that if/when Kamala is confirmed as the nominee, they will line up behind her to endorse her and her VP pick. I have seen Mark Kelly, Roy Cooper, etc as possible picks (since alas, she will probably have to pick a straight white man; Kelly would be replaced in the Senate by Democratic AZ governor Katie Hobbs; Cooper is term-limited as governor in NC and might help us target that state for a flip). But what is number one most important is that we support her and whoever she DOES choose. I have also heard that she is already in the process of vetting picks and this is exciting news.

I am thrilled to vote for a woman for POTUS the second time in a few years, I think she has a real shot at winning, and I am heartened by how the base has rallied to Kamala in 24 hours. Let's fucking go. As my new office decoration says:

[fuckablerobotbracket]

In the kindest way possible, because almost everyone who's left tags has been like, enthusiastic/nice/only playfully mean, I've been thinking about making a list of etiquette for interacting with these brackets. Because when you have enough people in one space, IRL or online, you'll inevitably have at least a few people who say some of the most hurtful, out of pocket shit possible, and I don't want things to get ruined for anyone else you know?

Like, things you SHOULD do (unless a poll runner specifically says they don't want it):

Uplift your favs

PLAYFULLY slander the competition

Make fun memes about the polls

Things you SHOULDN'T do:

Post multi-paragraph rants about how much you hate a character

Ask the poll runner to include characters well into the voting phase of the bracket

Demand they run second, third, etc brackets because Your favorite character didn't get submitted

Things you ABSOLUTELY do NOT do:

Compare the poll results to real-life politics ("Which robot would you fuck" != Brexit, 2016 POTUS, etc)

Tell people to kill themselves if they dont vote for your favorite character

Send death threats/doxx people running the Tumblr poll (!?)

I don't have an end to this post. I have to go to class. But I can't be the only poll runner tired of suicide jokes/death threats/doxxing in the fucking Tumblr Poll Community or whatever.

[beabaseball]

"I feel like people don't remember/too young to remember how bad it was under trump: [list of political actions]"

Trump would tweet shit at 3am and you'd wake up to people on the news discussing if it was being taken as an order or not. Everyone with Twitter got signed up for push notifications from the POTUS account so you'd be out doing yard work and someone would be like "Trump just tweeted that Mexico was gonna pay for the wall." You used to have YouTube backseat news bloggers who would talk about breaking news and developing situations and suddenly they were useless because by the time the video was up it was out of date. Videos posted a day before were suddenly completely useless because the situations had 15 additional events and had somehow turned fully upside down. These are the two years *before* the pandemic.

I'm not fucking doing it again.

[teewritessmth]

#Instagram Au (19)

(Niko Omilana x f! reader)

Liked by potus, pewdiepie and 4,125,342 others

y/n.y/l/n trolled the White House today 🤭🤭

chunkz what.....

ajshabeel no call, no text, no nothing and we get to know your next vid thru an insta post?!?!?

jidion you two are the craziest couple I fucking know

stinker what the fuck y/n?

--- stinker lowkey can't wait for the new vid tho 😭

--- haiiyen only y/n and Niko can have these mental ideas

ksi no amount it knowledge, strength and integrity could've prepared me for this upload

Liked by taliamar, specsgonzalez, thatgirlmair and 1,231,600 others

nikoomilana 10 years with this beauty, the only woman who'd sing the most cringey songs with me, start a random rap battle and steal all my NDL merch. Love you to the highest @y/n.y/l/n

zerkaa project josh

--- behzingagram NAHHH

ajshabeel leaders of the NDL

taliamar POP THE QUESTION ALREADY

--- tayone he might be following in Josh's footsteps

dylanisjoking 😭😭

Liked by wroetoshaw, ohnosharky, loganpaul and 708,456 others

nikoomilana guess what I did :)

faithlouisak I just KNOW he proposed

vikkstagram I hear wedding bells

chunkz finally, man got himself together

taliamar oh goodness 😭😭

--- miniminter my god babe 😹❤

jjfan soap opera ahh comment section

[wilwheaton]

As Jan. 6 bore down on Perry and the rest of Trumpworld, his requests and directives appeared to become more frantic. On Jan. 1, Perry sent Clark “relevant information” via multiple texts, before telling the supposed acting-attorney-general-in-waiting to make sure that the Director of National Intelligence provided “exactly what you need. I’m attempting to send you specific questions [r]ight now.” Clark replied by telling Perry to tell Trump that Gina Haspel “needs to get me” security clearance “tickets” in order to “access certain compartments of information otherwise sealed off.” “Roger,” Perry replied. He later texted Clark that “POTUS is giving you a presidential security clearance.” At the time, a 2021 Senate Judiciary Report said, Clark was seeking access to classified records from the DNI to substantiate a theory that the Chinese government had weaponized advanced home thermostats to interfere with voting machines.

How Scott Perry Went Off The Deep End In Effort To Debunk Trump Loss

“...a theory that the Chinese government had weaponized advanced home thermostats to interfere with voting machines”

This is so fucking crazy.

[walks-the-ages]

For those who have somehow forgotten:

Biden is still the current US President for the next 5 months.

He is still committing genocide as we speak.

Congress members were giving standing ovations to Netanyahu today while Rashida Tlaib was there decked out in Palestinian garb to protest, while other "progressives" simply didn't attend, instead of using their voice to actually speak up directly in the face of modern day hitler like Rashida Tlaib, but what fucking ever.

Biden is still in office.

Biden is still committing genocide.

Do not stop the pressure.

Ramp it up to 110%.

Make it clear to Democrats that we will not be voting for ANY OF THEM in November if they don't stop with the genocide, they can't just replace Biden and act like he's uniquely the problem, not when most of them are applauding modern day fucking Hitler as he stands there to plead his case for more and more billions of weapons!

Kamala Harris is just as complicit in the Genocide as Joe Biden!

If she cared about Palestinians, she could have spoken up at ANY point til now and right now, including moving forward!

Scream it from the rooftops and social media!

Tank their polling numbers!

Make them terrified enough of losing votes they don't just pressure Biden to step down as they did because of the above tactics, but they ALSO need to immediately cease all fucking aid and weapons shipments to Israel and comply with international law!

Palestine will be free!

Keep the pressure on! Call and email all of your reps and demand that they comply with international law and arrest Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes! Demand that they use their power to call for a ceasefire, or they will not get your vote!

If you are too cowardly and spineless that you cannot even pretend to withhold your vote as leverage against Democrats *to stop a Genocide*, if you try to leave some liberal bullshit on my post about "voting blue no matter what they do", "trump would be the same or worse", etc, you won't get a response, you'll just get blocked.

EDIT: August 21st, 2024: this goes double for Kamala Harris, btw. It doesn't matter how often she says "ceasefire" or "we care about civilians", if she's continuing to say that "we fully support Israel defending itself" and being part of the team that just this week, on August 13th 2024, signed yet another fucking 20 billion dollar arms deal to israel.

Killer Kamala Harris is just as complicit and enthusiastic about the genocide of Palestinians as Genocide Joe Biden. She is currently in office. She is currently in power. She is getting paid almost 200k dollars this year as VP and she's continuing to support Israel's genocide of Palestinians.

You can not be the Vice President, the second in command of the entire fucking nation, and not be complicit when your office agrees to send another 20 billion dollars in weapons to Israel.

If she cared, she would have spoken up long ago. She would be publicly against Biden.

Despite what "coconut-pilled" liberals would have you believe, the VP is not the slave of the POTUS and incapable of making any statements against their partner.

If Kamala Harris cared about Palestinians, she would actually be using her power as Vice President to get things done.

She is not some helpless woman left on the wayside with no power. She is the Vice President of the United States. She has plenty of political power, especially after Biden fully endorsed her.

[yubnubforhire]

I’ve seen a lot of people decry criticism of the rwrb movie as simply either homophobic or anti-cringe, with the statement ‘let queer people have our cringe rom-coms’ a common defense. This idea is flawed for many reasons, not least of which being that this movie is like… barely queer. Sure it’s about a queer couple, but that’s about where it stops.

First off there’s the blatant bi erasure, with no discussion of Nora’s sexuality, no June/Nora/Pez, the word bisexual only being used once or twice in the whole movie, etc. Second off is the complete lack of queer education or community: where is Alex learning about the gay lib movement and feeling like he understands something new, deep within himself? Where is Henry talking about his role amongst the erased queer figures of the past? Where are the crowds supporting both of them, in the US and the UK? (the scene at buckingham where you don’t even see the crowd felt so cheap) Where was Amy’s role as queer elder and protector? Where was Luna, and Alex’s realization as to why he looked up to him so much and why his betrayal hurt so bad? Where was Alex realizing he and Liam had actually ‘had a thing’ when they were younger, and reconnecting with him as someone who can fully be himself? Where was all the support when they got outed? Where the fuck was Catherine? Where were Bea and Catherine fighting for them during the confrontation at buckingham? Movie!firstprince feel so isolated and without community, which is just SO not the world CMQ created in the book.

More broadly, the movie just felt so shallow. I completely understand the need for adaptation and translation to a new medium, but so many of the things they changed either lower the stakes or remove them entirely. Bea is a non-character, with no depth or backstory. Nora only exists to tell Alex to fuck Henry. Pez gets all of one line in the entire movie. June does not exist, which should completely change things because Alex does not act like the only/eldest child of the POTUS. We never really see the emails and a lot of them are adapted to onscreen dialogue, so what exactly was leaked? Why are they called the Waterloo letters? No one watching the movie alone will know. Who leaked them? I figure the movie implies it was Miguel, but then why have Richards be a character at all? CMQ was making a point with the Richards/Luna story, and the movie having a new side character as the “villain” is just… so disappointing. We don’t see any of the scenes of Henry acknowledging how fucked up the monarchy is (other than a few throwaway jokes), the comparison to the Empire, any of the Bea storyline, or him trying to avoid military service and renounce his royal inheritance, so the one line towards the end when movie!Henry has an outburst about the monarchy being antiquated is just completely unearned and comes out of nowhere.

They kept the line where Oscar tells Alex that ‘sometimes you just have to jump and hope it’s not a cliff’ but it’s now completely devoid of the context— that line is about Oscar telling Alex he doesn’t regret getting together with Ellen, no matter how it ended. It doesn’t work the same if Oscar and Ellen are still happily married! (Justice for Leo also tbh)

In the confrontation at Buckingham, the king (don’t get me started on the things they changed to avoid comparisons to queen liz) still suggests to Henry that they should claim the leaks are deepfakes and deny it, but Alex already gave the live televised speech in the movie timeline! It’s out already! The entire scene with the king honestly just does not work if Alex has already made the speech. Also side note, there’s absolutely no way in turbohell that Alex would make that speech without talking to Henry first.

There’s so much more I could talk about, from more script shenanigans to the Pip of it all, but this is honestly already way too long. All I want to say now is that it’s obviously everyone’s prerogative to like a movie or not, and nothing anyone else says should change the way you personally feel about a piece of art. That does not mean, however, that any criticism of said art is incorrect or unwarranted. You can like something and still acknowledge its flaws. And no, cringiness is not this movie’s main flaw.