Statement: government in Ukraine changed in 2014.
Your response: that new government had the support of the people, therefore that statement is false
This is a non-sequitor. The government either changed or it didn’t. Whether the people supported it or not doesn’t fundamentally change the statement.
I’m starting to think you are a bot, someone with very low reading comprehension, or simply a malicious actor.
If you refuse to engage in this attempt to reach a set of facts we can agree on, then we will never move forward.
I could say the sky is blue and the grass is green and you would yell me I am justifying capitalism’s embrace of carbon emissions and the death of the climate.
Here come the tankies to call Bernie Sanders BlueMAGA in 3…2…
Somehow ‘tankie’ now means not wanting to send tanks to commit a genocide
Way to get out in front of them by casting moral consistency as a bad thing though. Devastating.
Tankie means anyone promoting actions that would have a devastating impact on America as a whole (e.g. Trump returning to office).
Here come the
tankiesRussian trolls to call Bernie Sanders BlueMAGA in 3…2…Fixed that for you
One is a moral/political position and the other is just reskinned antisemitism from the 1900’s
I’m not sure why people haven’t been saying this more.
It’s a fundamentally uncomfortable position. The people of Gaza matter, and we can be pretty sure that Harris will continue current Biden Admin policies on it. You can’t argue for the hundred other policies at stake without knowingly allowing genocide to happen with US approval.
But here’s the thing: there are two very prominent Jewish people who don’t believe for a second that both sides are the same. One of them is Bernie Sanders. The other is Benjamin Netanyahu.
It’s a fundamentally uncomfortable position. The people of Gaza matter
Thank you for saying this.
If I were American, I would surely vote for Harris. But I would want to have been able to do more to keep people safe from state terrorism.
I’ve been foolishly arguing with people for months on this topic.
I have been. It tends to get downvoted by both extremes on Lemmy.
On my instance, the UI doesn’t even give a downvote option. There’s probably a way around that, though, not that I am interested.
Getting rid of downvotes is, I think, a good thing.
We have been, everywhere we can.
the antisemites have to be clearly and succinctly told this, you see
The Forward - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for The Forward:
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - United States of America
Search topics on Ground.News
https://forward.com/fast-forward/668878/bernie-sanders-gaza-harris/
Hey look, someone finally posted an article about this so the mods don’t remove it!
Here’s the link to the actual speech from Sanders: https://youtu.be/Vf5MThSniiY
I came to the Politics community 9 hours after it was posted to find discussion. Nothing.
Personally I feel an exception should be made when the news is literally just a video, why wait for a journalist to regurgitate it in written form?
Anyway
Stop pretending Harris also doesn’t have absolutely horrible immigration, environmental and police policies as well.
*Record Scratch*
She doesn’t.
she does.
I mean she does she supports police funding, violence against refugees and half arsed environmental policies hell she is pro-fracking for example.
No politically viable candidate will have environmental policies sufficient to properly address climate change. We are so unbelievably behind the 8-ball on this.
“Gaza is not the only issue” should not be the takeaway here:
“Even on this issue [Gaza], Donald Trump and his right-wing friends are worse,” Sanders said in the six-minute video, which he posted to X. He noted that Republicans have fought to block humanitarian aid to Gaza and that Trump — who has praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — has suggested Gaza would be a great site for beachfront development.
Yeah, when framed that way, it’s a reminder we’ve had to vote for compromise all along… And it’s fucking fine and we have a mostly functioning society.
And it’s fucking fine
This is part of the problem with America. Centrists are so self centered that they will condone mass murder of nameless masses to keep their personal gravy train rolling.
It’s not fine. It’s such a privilege on your part to claim that the status quo is lovely. I’ve been to funerals for people who had their relatives die in Gaza. It’s tearing apart the community watching bodies of Gazan children on social media and Harris saying she wouldn’t have changed a thing.
Is this going to be American politics for the rest of time: continually voting for least worst of two options which will cause observable harm?
If yes, it would be nice if that changes at some point, thanks.
I call it “defensive” voting. Not voting for actual progress, just voting to prevent further deterioration.
I put practicality over ideology, and in accordance with this have already voted for Harris. But I can still express my disappointment.
You are right, and this is what I would end up doing if I were an American citizen, however I am not, and have never even visited either American continent.
However, as someone who grew up as an abused child, harmed by a society that blamed me for being poor, disabled, autistic, and an immigrant, I cannot help but feel that I would gladly swap my own life to save even one innocent person harmed by state terrorism. It leaves me feeling like I would prefer to be dead that see this happening.
Support single transferable vote ranked choice voting if you want more options.
Approval voting is also good. Really any of the alternatives create more representative outcomes.
Thats the natural end game of capitalism, yes.
Not much you can do about it, it’s human nature.
You work on changing it between and across elections. When in the ballot booth with fixed options, you pick the least harmful for the most at risk in the community, of the candidates that actually have a competitive chance of winning.
That’s how it’s going to be as long as we continue to use First Past the Post voting.
And since the only people who have the desire, and potentially the power, to change that are Progressives who caucus with the Democrats, vote Progressive in the primaries and Democrat in the general. If you’re not willing to do that, then yeah you might as well get comfortable with the current system.
The rest of the world doesn’t care about your internal politics. Fix your stupid country and stop supporting genocide.
Not only, it’s democracy at it’s core. Because there is no "perfect " leader, it’s an illusion that people like trump are more than happy to sell for the masses, but unfortunately even some progressive are buying it. Democracy is based on pragmatic nagotiations and gradual progress.
But there is a big difference between “perfect” and “beholden at all, in any fucking way, to their constituents.”
The DNC gets to refuse to run any progressive policies and say shit like “nothing will fundamentally change” because their entire policy is “at least I’m not Trump.”
Hence
Vote progressive in the primaries
Get enough Progressives and enough left-leaning Democrats together on the issue of rank choice voting, and it really could happen. Obviously, I’m of the opinion that it’s the only way it could happen. So even if the chances are small, it’s what I think we should shoot for.
I mean I wasn’t saying you’re wrong just pointing that the representation doesn’t need to be “perfect”
But also voting for the party that has sued to keep 3rd party off ballots & runs attack ads on third parties to hope that they eventually allow ranked choice or star or etc. is kinda not exactly looking probable but hey, here’s hoping.
Yes it sucks but that’s reality. Until half of America stops being fascist sympathizers at best this is what you have to deal with.
You guys are looking at the choice between eating a salad and swallowing a cyanide pill and complaining that you’d rather have pizza. Unfortunately, pizza isn’t on the table and if you do nothing that cyanide pill is getting forced down everyone’s throat. Complain about it as much as you like but at the end of the day you better choke down that god damn salad before we all get completely fucked over.
“Vote to kill your family or kill yourself.” Is quite the uh… great democratic message that really says “DNC, vote for us, because we’re not (all) openly facist.”
Like I know you probably did not brain that whole thing through there but like fucking lol.
Anyways my point was a counter to needing a perfect representative. They don’t need to be perfect, just need to actually care about what their constituents want/need. Yeah it is bad. Duh. We know it is fucked up that’s why people are discussing alternative ways to vote that do not boil down to Evil and slightly less evil. We don’t need pure good as a candidate. Just… someone who listens to those they want to vote for them?
Like… not actively supporting and contributing to genocide would be a cool start? Public health care would also be nice…
So two things:
-
2020 saw 66% voter turnout, and 2018 saw 49% turnout. Both are records for a presidential and non-presidential year. Only 37% of Americans voted in all three elections in 2018, 2020, and 2022. Politicians do care about what their constituents want/need. They do listen. But they only care about and listen to the ones who vote. People who don’t vote don’t get a say, it’s really as simple as that, and the online cohort that cries most loudly about third parties and alternative means of governance usually does exactly zero between presidential election years to make any of that viable. Jill Stein will disappear again until 2028, like clockwork.
-
Progressives are only about 12% of the population. What you want is only a small part of the overall picture. The fact remains that just because you don’t feel like politicians are listening to you doesn’t mean they’re not listening to the huge numbers of people elsewhere on the political spectrum who probably fundamentally disagree with you on a number of different issues and think of something completely different when they talk about what they want in the healthcare system.
Being a part of a pluralistic democracy means having to wrestle with the fact that you are not the center of the universe, and that the entire population probably doesn’t think like you do, and they get to vote, too.
Damn I didn’t know 69% was a small number of people.
https://thehill.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/wat_04242020.jpg
Or 55%
https://news.gallup.com/poll/642695/majority-disapprove-israeli-action-gaza.aspx
Or 60+%
Boy, I sure have unpopular ideas I would liked
But also, when you split shit 50%, 12% progressive is basically 24% of your base. Actively ignoring 24% of your base seems fucking crazy, but again. Sure dude. The 2016 election went so well for them when they actively antagonised progressives. I’m sure that great strategy will keep paying off.
Also I’ve voted in every major and minor election since I turned 18. But my favourite part is you’re supposed to vote. But you’re told you have to vote for one of two candidates because the others are spoilers. But then they look at less than a third of a percent of the vote going to progressive party and ignore us.
Always cool.
Also, PSL is constantly doing work, organizing, and helping out communities. Their website honestly doesn’t even have a thing on the front about their presidential candidate last I remember checking.
-
That’s a bad headline. Watch his video, he makes a much more nuanced argument.
Someone running for office should not be entitled to a vote simply because the opposition is bad. Even if they’re as bad as Trump. I wish more people demanded better from their leaders, it would stop this ridiculous slide to the right the entire American political system has been going though for decades.
You fix that by pushing for ranked choice balloting, until then, it’s your job to get the least objectionable person elected, which in this case is Harris.
I agree with the first part, not the second however. This situation of voting for the least objectionable person led us to this kind of election. I want more progressives to demand progress and making it conditional to their vote instead of just accepting the least shitty option because the other one is a fascist dickhead. MAGA won’t go away if Harris gets elected, even with a majority of the house and senate. Until America demands better than their politics will just continually slide to the right. Ranked choice balloting would be a major gamechanger, I just don’t see it happening at all. Not with the current political climate.
“In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good you won’t have to vote,” he said. “Christians get out and vote just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it’ll be fixed. It’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore.” - Donald J. Trump.
Literally destroys your point of view. You will not have the opportunity if he gets elected. We’re not just risking American democracy here, we’re on the precipice of history. We’re at the point everyone asks about regarding WWII – the common question is – “Why didn’t anyone do anything?”…well, we clearly have people screaming at the top of their lungs that they should do something.
Literally nowhere in either of my comments did I advocate for Trump or anything of the sort. Im not sure what you’re trying to get at here.
You fix that by pushing for ranked choice balloting, until then, it’s your job to get the least objectionable person elected, which in this case is Harris. - Jordanlund
I agree with the first part, not the second however. This situation of voting for the least objectionable person led us to this kind of election. - Sundial
You did, by basically doing the “they’re both the same!” argument.
How in the earthly hell can you not see that they aren’t anywhere close to the same?
MAGA won’t go away if Harris gets elected, even with a majority of the house and senate.
Sure they won’t go away, but we can reverse their fucking DEADLY policies. They’re literally talking about rounding up their enemies and putting them in camps.
This “both sides” argument is such trash, because both sides are clearly nowhere near the same.
I never said they were the same. I said if the only way Harris is better than a fascist wanna-be dictator is that fact that she’s not that person, then it’s not a good argument to vote for her. Candidates aren’t and shouldn’t be entitled to vote simply because of how bad the opposition is.
Americans have been voting for the less shitty options for decades, and all its done is a continuous slide to extreme far right and fascism. People need to demand better during elections and outside of elections. Imagine how different the Gaza situation would be if more people voted undecided in the primaries. It would have forced the Democrats to really address it and rein in the situation. That would have removed the biggest issue with Harris campaign. Michigan would not have been a state that could swing red if that were the case.
I said if the only way Harris is better than a fascist wanna-be dictator is that fact that she’s not that person
That’s the same thing! Nobody is voting for harris because she’s “not trump” like they did with Biden. She’s GENUINELY simply got better policies on literally everything.
She’s not better than him because she’s not that person, she’s better than him in thousands of other ways. And he literally represents the end of America.
You’re another one of them. There is literally no way you can play this game and be genuine.
I guarantee we won’t hear shit from your burner account after Nov 5th…
That. Doesn’t. Work.
Full stop.
Let’s say for a moment that progressives and Democrats did that for whatever issue they personally felt strongly about.
First, we have to acknowledge that the Republicans ARE NOT doing that. So they’re vote count doesn’t change and they win
Second, people will disagree on the same issue. You can’t capture everyone on every issue. Refer to the first point, Republicans win.
Third, there will be huge factions each with their own issue. A candidate cannot sway all these single issues groups. See the first point, Republicans win.
What first past the post representative democracy means is to vote for the viable politician that MOST ALIGNS with your political position. Not the one that EXACTLY aligns. If you build the third parties at the local and representative and Senate level. Maybe you can get there, but for now, this is the political system we have to work in.
I don’t disagree with anything you just said. I’m just saying that an argument for a candidate on an issue should be a lot better than “better than Trump”. It’s a ridiculously low bar America has been forced to accept, and by extension the world.
This is privilege. You are accepting that a trump second term will be “ok” for you. I know that because if it wasn’t going to be ok for you, you’d throw your vote to anyone who could possibly beat him in a few days.
I’ve got people who won’t be ok. Minorities, LGBTQ, etc who are my friends, neighbors, or even just fellow citizens. They won’t be ok and I’ll do everything I can to help them avoid trump in this election.
I’m not in love with harris’ platform but I’m not trying to get married, I’m just trying to keep my Muslim neighbor with a tough immigration situation, or my gay cousin out of trouble.
I never accepted or advocated for Trump. I just said people should be demanding better. Saying the candidate you want to vote for is better than Trump is an incredibly low bar. That shouldn’t be the only argument to use to advocate for someone.
I’ve been consistent in saying I don’t find Harris exciting or compelling. Low bar or not, it’s the challenge at hand.
Ballots aren’t where effective political action happens. Demanding better means organizing outside of election years, maintaining strong communities, and showing up to participate in political action that isn’t just ticking one of a few allowable boxes. Demanding better sometimes means just doing better, regardless of the state’s involvement. That isn’t directly applicable to, say, genocide, but it does help build a real base of support that allows people to work outside the system to further that progress between elections.
I’m voting for Harris because I would much rather organize under her administration than Trump’s. It’s a dead simple choice imo, because demanding better means doing the work every other day than Election Day.
and definitely pay more attention to your local elections, those will more directly impact you and the people around you.
Fully agree. I wish more people actually made voted uncommitted in the primaries for reasons such as this. To show that American voters want a progressive, not a moderate of an extreme far right fascist.
There was a democratic primary this presidential election?
Alright buddy, go to your safe little bubble.
Agreed. Chasing an electorate where the loudest shout they want more hate, which is what I (perhaps incorrectly) see happening from elsewhere in the world, is not good for the political system. It just legitimises hate.
So you’re a nazi, got it. Blocked.
The fantasy world the zero-tolerance high-ground morality angels live in is as dangerous as the one MAGA lives in, and ironically has the same victims. They proudly polish their halos nice and shiny while they let the world burn.
Don’t support genocide, it’s as simple as that!
By the way: Voting isn’t actually support. The American system is not set up in a way where votes actually add to the power of the Presidential office. On the other hand, making a deliberate choice not to act does mean supporting whatever happens without your action, which could be genocide. This means YOU HAVE TO VOTE HARRIS IN ORDER TO NOT SUPPORT GENOCIDE. The socialism angels are hypocrites.
there are two facts about this election
- there are only two outcomes—0.0% for chance a third party win
- both candidates have a bad stance on the genocide
so neither outcome will help with the genocide. acting like voting third party helps in any way shape or form is disingenuous at best. so what should you do?
my argument is that you should vote for the person you can hope to convince on this issue. phone calls, protests, social media, whatever means you have… which of these candidates is more likely to respond to any kind of public pressure about this?
Harris might be responsive, and let’s be honest, she might not be. but you know for a fact that it’s definitely not the fucking orange turd. Natenyahu wants him to win. how can you ignore that?
My argument is that the only good american is that dude who set himself on fire. You are a scumbag. You are no better than a german in the 30ies smelling the grilled flesh and thinking “this is fine, it’s still better than bolchevism”
lol I’m not an American, go Bolshevik yourself
You think you are not
you’re going dumber with every comment.
You are americanized, what can I say? You are either german, british or from a commonwealth country. I’m betting my left balls.
If you aren’t even American then shut the fuck up. You don’t really grasp how complex the politics actually are.
We do understand it pretty well. Sincerely, an ex-Hungarian.
You really think we don’t understand your politics even though we see them being discussed every day all day online and they affect us all the time? I happen to have Mr. Putin as my neighbor, and if that orange shithead wins the election on the other side of the pond, I’m fucked. You Yanks really seem to underestimate the effect your politics have on the entire world and how invested everyone else is in them.
They’re really not though. You literally have two options and one is so obviously worse
Nobody cares about your internal politics. Your external politics is always the same and seeing all of you idiots saying “BOTH SIDE ARE FOR GENOCIDE” leads to the conclusion you people have zero ethical consideration at all. You know, since you are overtly voting for extermination… again.
Fuck off
If there’s anybody this election cycle shows us, it’s that americans do not care about foreigners life at all. They would gladly throw entire countries under the bus if it means that they get to keep living their comfortable, violence-free lifestyle, putting their little ballot like cowards instead of actually fighting fascism.
Fuck off you’re saying mean things :'(* whine whine*
which of these candidates is more likely to respond to any kind of public pressure about this?
neither. 0.0% chance for either candidate.
i only voted for kamala because she’s a woman and even though she’s an awful candidate at least we can get it out of our collective system, show little girls they can be president, and the neoliberal status quo is probably still better than Trump
i’m not entirely sure on that because I think Kamala is more likely to lead us into a war with Russia… but Trump is more volatile in general I think
neither. 0.0% chance for either candidate.
This level of cynicism is unwarranted. Sure it might be low, but for Harris it’s at least 0.1%.
with the current stranglehold the pro-Israeli lobby has on American politics (includes both GOP and DNC) even 0.1% is a stretch
AIPAC even brags about it: https://aipacorg.app.box.com/s/t8vvqt7evxvgkzn5jktpwejate6oxo0y
98% of AIPAC endorsed candidates won their election in 2022. if you are a politician and you say something mildly critical of Israel they will go to war with you and do everything so that your opponent wins
Israel has figured out how to hack American democracy. There is no going back at this point. We are a pro-Israel country for the foreseeable future, regardless of which candidate wins this election or the next one or the next one
Amazing that you at least did the overwhelming obvious right thing even though your reasons are awful
i think breaking the barrier of sex in terms of male/female president is a powerful thing. there’s been so many women throughout history that could have been judith pulgars, politically speaking, and ended up getting pushed into more subservient positions
that’s the main reason. i dont think that’s an awful reason
as for the russian war thing, i rather like living in a pre-nuclear-war society.
It just implies that looking at the candidates the biggest and most important difference you see is that one is a woman.
Like, it’s great that you did vote for that woman as she also happens to be in favour of women having rights, lgbtq+ people having rights, doesn’t want mass deportions, still wants there to be elections in the future and a painfully long list of stark differences like that. It’s just impressive that none of that mattered to you, or that you are unaware of it
i’m more cynical about her. it’s not that i don’t think gay rights and women rights aren’t important. they are. but to me, the primary issues i care about, in order of importance
a) probability of war
b) attitude towards immigrants
c) economic position
d) foreign policy in general
so for example I think Kamala is probably more likely to get us into war than Trump is. That gives points to Trump.
on the immigration front, I don’t have any illusions about where the national conversation is going. I was brought here to this country illegally as a small child. I grew up here illegal and it wasn’t until my early 20s that I managed to naturalize
so i’ve been embedded in immigrant communities, with a lot of illegals sprinkled in, and have been paying attention to immigration news for virtually all of life
i can only think of two politicians who have done something meaningful for illegals. Reagan and Obama. Reagan of course gave amnesty to millions of illegals. Obama enacted the DACA policy, which wasn’t nearly as broad as amnesty, but it was definitely a good thing that helped hundreds of thousands of people. but “immigration reform” has been promised my whole life by DNC and never delivered. best was the half-assed DACA
But let’s look at rhetoric from Biden. During campaign in 2020 he advocated for a “compassionate approach” and was “pushing for immigration reform”. he promised to halt the construction of “the Wall tm”
What about the last couple years? He expanded construction of the wall which he timed with a photoshoot with Customs and Border Patrol at the southern border. He also went on TV and started using the word illegal - which is a term Democrats historically haven’t used. I don’t think it’s offensive or anything- but it’s telling to show how the overton window has sharply been shoved to the right
Now look at Biden’s successor - Kamala - the woman I voted for begrudgingly. go to her website and look at the policies and you will see zilch about compassionate approach or immigration reform. today it’s “security and strong border”
right now over 65% of all Americans (not just GOP) support deporting all illegal immigrants. Something absurd to say even a decade ago. Majority of Americans support a policy which would effectively have the military going around house to house in order to put over 10 million people in camps, which they would stay at for years while the government tries to figure out the complex and expensive logistical challenge of moving millions of people out of the country (Germans had this same problem back in first half of the 1900s. they came up with a controversial solution to that question, of course)
so i’m not saying kamala is equal or worse than trump on this. trump is partly at fault for the rise in this change. but i think long term it won’t make a difference who wins in this field. either way immigrants are screwed, so it doesn’t really matter to me in this election
economic position, i think not gonna matter much. the whole “tax breaks for first time homeowners” from Kamala is yet another bailout to the banks at the expense of regular people. Trump put in sanctions on China, raising prices for Americans… Biden kept them in place and put some more. I don’t think this is much different. the reductionist “tax the rich” is a nice slogan but without meaning. as long as the government has a money tap funneling public money to leeches, no amount of taxes will ever filter down to help the working class
foreign policy in general. again, i don’t see much of a difference. china from above is a good example. iran is another. Obama actually came up with a revolutionary deal- bringing the Iranians back into the fold. Trump torpedoed that deal in spectacular fashion and then moved the American embassy to Jerusalem. Biden maintained the “get fucked” attitude towards Iran and went to Tel Aviv in Oct of last year to bend the knee to Netanyahu.
so to summarize
for the issues i mentioned, which are the ones that matter to me, i think long term the choice of candidate isn’t going to influence anything significantly either way. the zietgiest is headed in a certain direction and i don’t think either candidate has the capacity or willingness to meaningfully change the course of things
so then we get to why did i vote for kamala. because I think it’ll be inspiring to girls and women across the country. it’ll implicitly let them know they are equal and are able to accomplish anything, even the highest office in the country
i think that alone is worth voting for her. and of course Trump is a bit of a wild card and I prefer stability.
i think breaking the barrier of sex in terms of male/female president is a powerful thing.
I agree with that, and its long overdue, but if she fumbles badly she may set everything backward.
I see what you’re trying to do drag but it just doesn’t track.
What they think their vote contributes to:
Fuck off drag. The US dems are guilty of extermination and everybody who vote in this election are complicit. You can call them to throw foreigners under the bus for their own gain and security, since they are bullying people to vote for the genocide party just because the other side said they were gonna be worst.
When somebody commit a crime, you punish this person, you dont give them power because some other dude talked shit.
Don’t support genocide, it’s as simple as that!
Just say whatever the fuck you want while you do whatever the fuck you want, it’s as simple as that!
Then do not call to vote for the exact people who committed it.
https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/u-s-made-weapons-used-by-government-of-israel-in-violation-of-international-law-and-u-s-law/ https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1091
"Vote for the candidate who will continue to fund a genocide to show you dont support genocide "
Man yall will do anything to avoid a socialist movement.
Voting isn’t actually support
On the other hand, making a deliberate choice not to act does mean supporting whatever happens without your action
Interesting. So, by drag’s logic, a Trump voter isn’t responsible for supporting Trump, but a nonvoter is.
It’s amusing to see the kinds of ridiculous knots y’all tie yourselves into trying to twist around language in an attempt to resolve your cognitive dissonance and punch left.
I was a Bernie-or-Bust-er in 2016 because I was confident Hilary was going to win with or without my vote. I deeply regret taking that stance and feel like I let down every woman who’s lost rights to their bodily autonomy, every family who was separated at the border, everybody whose life was lost or ruined due to the Trump administration’s incompetent response to the COVID-19 outbreak, and everybody else who has been harmed by the Trump administration.
Don’t be like me. It sucks having to vote for the lesser of two evils but that’s how our system works and not voting or voting third-party isn’t going to change that but it does run the risk of things getting a lot worse.
Can I ask what state you were voting from in 2016?
TX at the time. Generally regarded as solidly red. However, looking at the numbers in '16 and '20, I wouldn’t be surprised if everybody in the state who had either voted third-party or not at all because of the belief that their vote wouldn’t make a difference would have indeed been enough to potentially flip the state.
I’m hoping this will be the year we see Texas flip blue. That would be beautiful.
Unfortunately Gaza is a non issue. The situation would only be handled worse under the other candidate. Along with just about every other conceivable thing.
First of all, at this point people in the US should vote against Trump for their safety, and that means in the current political system they have to vote for Harris. That’s the reality they have to face. The Trump party has made fascist announcements that are real and people should expect them to be made into real actions.
The problem is that the Democrats frankly have abysmal messaging and are drifting to the right further and further while using Trump as a threat to their voters. They adopt anti-immigrant policies and are distancing themselves from pro-LGBT stances, saying it’s the states decision. Both these issues as well as demands for a ceasefire poll exceptionally well, but the Harris campaign seemingly don’t want the edge. With all this they are signaling that right wing worries about immigrants and trans people are valid, although that’s absolutely not the case, and leave people to decide for example “do I want anti-immigrant light or extra harsh anti-immigrant?” when everybody says immigrants are an issue. This is unacceptably stupid and risking the vote. And that’s ignoring the elephant in the room that progressive policy like health care is exceptionally popular and using that as counter messaging would win her voters.
We’ve seen how popular the Democrats got after Harris took over and Walz got nominated. It signaled change. Now all the Democrats say that it’s gonna be the same old as usual treading on and the same bad argument vote us or you’ll get a dictatorship. I’m not denying Biden dropping out had nothing to do with the surge of popularity, but back then we also had comments like here, basically declaring any dissent from supporting a decrepit old man as the candidate as heresy. Now there are again, only Yes men here saying if you criticize Harris you’re a bot or a Trump ass eater. What is wrong with you?
Finally, I have the creeping suspicion that Democratic establishment people don’t fear a fascist Trump administration themselves personally as much as the population has to. Trump announces he will go after his enemies, Latinos and trans people (probably all queer people actually). He has anti women’s health and rights messaging all over his campaign. But that doesn’t seem to be a risk for people higher up in the party. I suspect that when you’re rich you don’t have to worry about abortion bans or HRT access. And if Trump threatens them with violence they always have money they can throw at him. It’s much more comfortable to run a risky neo liberal and right wing platform against a fascist if you can jump ship later on.
