While rebutting another post here on Lemmy, I ran into this. This says exactly what I want to say.

I am not a friend of Biden’s Administration. I think they drug their feet over a variety of things ranging from holding Trump and his goons accountable for January 6th through rulemaking on issues like OTC Birth Control and abortion rights, and yes, I think he’s too quick to please big business. But then I remember what the alternative is, and … well, disappointed in Biden or not, I’m voting for him. Because my wife is a Black bisexual goth woman, four strikes under Team Pepe’s tent. And I have my own strikes for marrying her as a White dude, and respecting her right to not have kids since she doesn’t want them is another strike against me. And I care about my Non-Christian, Gay, Transgender, and Minority friends, and will never willingly subject them to Team Pepe.

  • Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Democrats should get over themselves and push through ranked choice voting in each state they control. Republicans gaining control of the nation is a existential threat, and we should be using every tool to keep them out. This means getting rid of FPTP voting and the spoiler effect inherent in it.

    OP, you seem very concerned with how people vote. Have you worked to start an electoral reform campaign in your state? you can entirely solve the spoiler effect that you’re concerned with! What are you waiting for?

  • 3volver@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Biden may be better than Trump, but the system is fucked to make those the only two options. If he wins, after the election I’m going to actively criticize everything about the Democratic party I can so that we have a chance to get a progressive candidate in 2028. For now I’m giving him a pass so we don’t take another step towards fascism. Republicans are going to use absolutely everything they can to squeeze their orange dictator into office.

    • TheHiddenCatboy@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 months ago

      This is a very fair approach. Stop Fascism now, then right after the vote is won, start pushing the party Left.

      • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        I will almost certainly be voting for Biden, but why on Earth do you think we can push the DNC to the left? “Stop fascism now, then right after the vote is won, start pushing the party Left” has been the calling action for progressives and leftists for decades and the US has gotten more right-wing with time.

        Why is this time any different? Is it finally time to realize that you cannot vote the DNC to the left at the scale required to make actual change?

          • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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            7 months ago

            That’s not the question I asked, haha. Voting reform would be nice, of course, but that doesn’t mean it will happen. That’s pure idealism. Voting reform has been pushed for for decades, how do you plan on actually getting voting reform through? Waiting for candidates to magically appear in the DNC and not just third party, and vote for them?

            • Natanael@slrpnk.net
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              7 months ago

              If you don’t get voting reform through, you don’t have much leverage at all for much else.

              • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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                7 months ago

                I asked how you’re getting it through, are you just saying the answer is to wait for the DNC to get around to it? Because I really hope that isn’t what you’re saying.

                • Natanael@slrpnk.net
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                  7 months ago

                  How are you getting anything else through? If you can push them to make any changes at all, this one should have top priority

  • masquenox@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    You’re ignoring the big elephant in the room. This whole “lesser evilism” schtick that the bootlicker Dems have been relying on since 2016? It’s inevitably going to hit rock-bottom - and soon, too.

    • jaemo@sh.itjust.works
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      7 months ago

      Tell me you’re not a student of history without telling me you’re not a student of history.

      • Seasm0ke@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Regardless of the two party systems race to the bottom, 2016 saw the formal introduction of the Pied Piper strategy by the DNC during Hillarys campaign. Formally boosting the other parties evil factor by supporting trump and making the “vote for us, we arent them” the whole schtick.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      This whole “lesser evilism” schtick that the bootlicker Dems have been relying on since 2016?

      Since 1948 at least.

  • Sam_Bass@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Gotta stop lumping all the players in one side together. Biden is not doing anything by himself and neither is the fat orange. Gotta pull out the microscope to see who is who and where and why rather than hitting on a single name. The house and senate are the major string pulling yoyos in everything that comes out of washington

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Biden is not doing anything by himself and neither is the fat orange.

      That is a big part of the problem. If Biden’s camp was full of Green New Deal Dems and peaceniks and Justice Party economic reformers, I’d have a lot easier time supporting him.

      Instead, he’s surrounded himself with corporate flacks, banksters, MIC ghouls, and evangelicals, hoping to peel off the moderate Republican wing of the conservative party one more time.

      The house and senate are the major string pulling yoyos in everything that comes out of washington

      I would say that the donors are at the end of the strings, while House and Senate simply dance to their tunes. And when you consider how much influence a guy like Sam Bankman Fried had with “blue state” senators like Gillibrand and senior white house advisers like Steve Ricchetti, I gotta say I’m not thrilled to see the direction this party went in his first four years.

      Even before you get to the Palestinian Genocide or the continued US blockade of Cuban ports or the migrant prisons lining the US border or the rapid domestic increase in carbon emissions under a President who claimed to acknowledge climate change, it seems like liberals cannot bring themselves to see the naked mismanagement, graft, and cowardice of the current President.

      Boeing airliners are literally falling out of the sky and Biden’s FAA is still dragging its heels, for fear of upsetting one of the nation’s most well-financed lobbying teams. No federal prosecution of the Trump Administration is scheduled to move forward before November.

      By any standard, this Presidency has been a failure.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/07/visualised-how-all-of-g20-is-missing-climate-goals-but-some-nations-are-closer-than-others

          The US’s forecast 2030 emissions of more than 5bn metric tonnes is significantly higher than the 1.9bn metric tonnes it was allocated by the analysts under a 1.5C-compatible fair share model.

          This, combined with our largest trading partners - from China to Mexico/Canada to Saudi Arabia - all doing even worse, means a marginal decrease in emissions domestically will have no hope of meeting the 1.5C target for 2030. We are already cresting the 2C horizon this year and accelerating our rate of warming.

          https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-hot-world-meteorological-organization-6096b3b604025aea9dee07a653907b55

          The infrastructure act has been far too little and far too late, even setting aside how much of it is being squandered to appease profit-hungry American industrialists, more concerned with competing against global imports than curbing the global warming rate.

          • capital@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            I find myself having to repeat this over and over.

            Consider the context of the OP.

            Would Trump be better on this front?

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              I had a much better time with a Trump/Pelosi government than I’m having with a Biden/Johnson government. If nothing else, watching him get impeached again would be more entertaining than arguing over how much nerve gas to send to the Israelis.

              • capital@lemmy.world
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                7 months ago

                I asked if Trump would be better on climate and you attempted a pivot but you’re not gonna bullshit me.

                You’re not serious so I’m out.

                • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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                  7 months ago

                  I asked if Trump would be better on climate

                  If you want to go hard on the numbers, Trump’s pandemic was the best thing to happen to the climate since the early Obama Administration investment in green energy.

                  Joe Biden has seen nothing but emissions growth since he took office. The benefits of the Infrastructure Act remain speculative at best. But shutting down air travel for months and curtailing business activity nationally for the better part of two years? Possibly the greatest act of Degrowth committed in the United States since the Civil War.

                  You’re not serious so I’m out.

                  Democrats have all been on board with Crypto investments and AI expansion, both of which have been voracious consumers of domestic energy and water reserves. Republicans consistently tank the Tech sector while in office.

                  If you care about climate change, bankrupting Silicon Valley would be a great place to start.

      • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        By any standard, this Presidency has been a failure.

        Yep so let’s help elect an actual fascist that says he’ll finish the job in Gaza, has never seen a corrupt dollar that he didn’t want deposited in his bank account, wants to shoot protestors, extrajudicially executed antifa in the Pacific Northwest with federal goons, wants to be a dictator “only on day one”, and has already attempted to overthrow the government because he didn’t like the way an election turned out.

        Also, nevermind the fact that in a global pandemic the fucking guy wanted us to inject disinfectant, said the disease would go away like magic, had store shelves so empty we were wiping our asses with our hands, and had his administration steal crucial supplies from frontline workers to auction off around the country.

        Also set aside that he will let Russia steamroll Ukraine and will probably try to get the US out of NATO.

        And that he’s been indicted with something like 90 criminal counts and a dozen or more civil cases, some of which have already rendered judgements against him.

        And nevermind the non-stop craziness of the general population when he was originally elected in 2016 who while flying his flag ran over protestors with their cars, screamed at people on airlines, went to pizza places with weaponry demanding answers.

        Biden didn’t singlehandedly turn everything around from it being a country on active fire in four years, so let’s put Trump back in to finish the job both abroad and here at home.

        We’ll be a nice smoldering pile of rubble by next election season.

        – 💩🔥🇺🇸

  • DaBabyAteMaDingo@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Alright guys, get your Lemmy Political Retard bingo card out! Let’s see how many we can hit! I already got the system is fucked and are we really reduced to these choices?. Oh! I just got democrats need to pull their head out of their ass!

    • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Okay. Vote for a literal Nazi or don’t vote for anyone and let a literal Nazi tale office, again.

      Either way, I don’t really give a flying fuck what you get on your political bingo card, you enabled a literal fucking Nazi tale the office, again and I’ll think you’re an abject idiot so I guess we’ll all good.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Vote for a literal Nazi

        I was going to vote for a third party who was neither a Nazi nor a geriatric buffoon.

        you enabled a literal fucking Nazi tale the office

        My guy, you need to sit down and look up what the Electoral College is. No single person is in any way remotely responsible for Donald Trump’s presidency, except maybe the 304 electoral college delegates who had the privilege of being in the majority in January of 2016.

        Trying to blame individual voters in a system that deliberately disempowers individual voters is ignorant and foolish.

        • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          My guy, you need to sit down and look up what the electoral college is.

          Hillary lost Michigan by 10k votes, one of the key states whose 16 electoral votes were a major train went despite Hillary winning the popular vote, that fat, orange, white supremacist won the election.

          You say a single voter doesn’t matter but when you currently have 100k in Michigan voting ‘uncommited’ in the Democratic primary against the backdrop of you lost an entire god damn election by 10k, yeah maybe that single voter might actually be important. But you just keep that head in the sand and mumble how or can’t ever happen again.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            Hillary lost Michigan by 10k votes

            Hillary lost Michigan for the same reason Romney lost Michigan. She campaigned on a platform of international trade deals and domestic deindustrialization. Folks in the Midwest consistently hate that.

            Biden’s running a ten-point approval gap relative to Gretchen Whitmer, doing all the annoying toxic shit Hillary did. If he loses Michigan in November, that’s why.

            You say a single voter doesn’t matter but when you currently have 100k in Michigan voting ‘uncommited’ in the Democratic primary

            100k is a lot more than a single voter. And this is an entirely unforced error on Biden’s part. He’s continuing to sponsor a nightmarish genocide in Palestine - one that virtually nobody in his party actually supports and which has poisoned huge swaths of the independent electorate against his presidency.

            That’s not something a “single voter” can fix. That’s a direct consequence of Biden’s own foreign policy. The only voter who can save Joe Biden from a loss in Michigan is Joe Biden.

  • ME5SENGER_24@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I’ll be one of the first to admit, I don’t like Biden. But, if you need to be convinced that he’s better than Trump, you’re an absolute buffoon!! Trump is worse than the shit you stepped on, on your walk. Trump is the worst thing to ever happen to the American presidency. He’s the closest we’ll get to Adolf Hitler and he relishes in that. He thinks it makes him “a bad boy” or someone moving against the curve…and he’s right, he’s moving against the curve. He’s moving against it in 4 straight lines that will bend consecutively in 90° angles to the right. My point is, TRUMP IS NAZI SCUM WHO’S WORSE THAN THE SHIT ON YOUR HEEL

    • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Biden is actively supporting Nazi style Genocide right now.

      But not the figurative one. Literal Nazi Genocide.

      • Mastengwe@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        This is flat-out misinformation. But that’s allowed here apparently. Still needs to be called out though.

        • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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          Israel recently did the biggest land grab in like 30 years under Joe Biden. Not under Donald Trump. Once again there is no difference except Biden probably being worse.

          Trump is a massive moron but he is not stupid enough to escalate into World War 3.

          In fact he has already proven he is not that stupid because after the Suleimani assasination Iran retaliated. And Trump then cut off the escalation.

          An Abrupt Move That Stunned Aides: Inside Trump’s Aborted Attack on Iran

          But barely three hours later, Mr. Trump had changed his mind. Without consulting his vice president, secretary of state or national security adviser, he reversed himself and, with ships readying missiles and airplanes already in the skies, told the Pentagon to call off the airstrikes with only 10 minutes to go. When Vice President Mike Pence and other officials returned to the White House for what they expected would be a long night of monitoring a military operation, they were stunned to learn the attack was off.

          That about-face, so typically impulsive, instinctive and removed from any process, proved a decision point for a president who has often threatened to “totally destroy” enemies but at the same time has promised to extricate the United States from Middle East wars. It revealed a commander in chief more cautious than critics have assumed, yet underscored the limited options in a confrontation he had set in motion.

          • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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            7 months ago

            I mean, we all get it. But Biden is worse? What makes you possibly think trump will make smarter and more humane decisions for the Palestinian people?

            • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              Have you… Have you seen what Biden has done over the last 6 months? We’re talking literal Holocaust Nazi concentration camp extermination of Palestinians.

              • Mastengwe@lemm.ee
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                7 months ago

                Dude… everyone knows you’re a right wing troll here. Why do you keep up with this bullshit. You’re not pro Palestine, you’re just anti-Biden. The proof lies in the fact that nearly everthing you say here is for the purpose of shitting on him.

                Just stop man.

  • Monument@lemmy.sdf.org
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    7 months ago

    And the Democratic Party needs to pull its head out of its ass and embrace its base, rather than smugly scheme in ways that are ruining lives.

    I have no problem with Biden’s job as president. In fact, I got into a big argument with someone a few weeks ago because they keep parroting anti-Biden propaganda from astroturfed pro-Palestine social media groups.
    Biden has been doing a great job for the most part, on a number of fronts.

    But I’m sort of bittersweet on that, because the harder I look, the more I see the illusion of choice, and an intentional effort to barely keep up with the will of the people.

    2016, Bernie vs Clinton. He had the votes, but the party pulled some superdelegate shenanigans to give it to Clinton. And with the same confidence of someone who had just been handed a layup in the primary, she managed to smugly fumble the presidency by a tiny margin.
    Post 2020 - Democrats had a majority, and instead of doing things the populous wanted, they wrung their hands about two candidates the Democratic Party had helped elect - Sinema and Manchin - and whether or not they were going to block bills.
    The other day I did a deep dive into Elissa Slotkin - a candidate so unlikeable she had to move to a much more certain democratic district when districts were redrawn. When the senate seat came up, the Democratic Party cut deals with more liberal candidates who are vastly more likable, to get them to not run in the primary. So now Michigan is going to wind up with an unwanted centrist that used to be an ‘analyst’ for the CIA during the Iraq war. She’s going to pretend to be a democrat while being the same sort of heel the Sinema or Manchin was.

    That’s just the people. In their post 2020-majority they could have done so much legislatively that they didn’t even bother considering - like campaign finance reform or expanding the courts, or even changing the rules around judicial nominees to prevent future shenanigans, but that would impact their bottom line or their ability to inspire panic at election-time. They could have strengthened the ACA, but that hurts some of the corporations that donate to them. Or do things to help people so that their rights wouldn’t be at risk - like codifying Roe, instead of allowing it to continue to be a wedge issue that destroys lives, but gets people to vote.

    The Democratic (and Republican) Party is playing us all.
    I’m not disaffected with Biden. I’m disaffected with a political party that nakedly fucks around to preserve the status quo, rather than embracing their base and winning with an encouraged and engaged populous. They lack the mandate to lead because they only desire to govern. (In contrast to the Republicans which lack the mandate to lead, are unable to govern, and only desire power and to abuse the government for personal gain.)

    So go ahead, give me the downvotes.
    This wouldn’t be an issue if we had ranked choice and a coalition government instead of this ‘winner take all’ nonsense that just incentivizes entrenchment rather than inspiration. But, you know, that doesn’t help the businesses that are political parties, so they ain’t gonna vote on it.

    • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      You make valid points and we ultimately agree that we should change our voting system. But that happens from the ground up, voting for a third party in the presidential election does nothing.

      What are they going to do? “Oh no, people are unhappy with the two parties…well we better dilute our power and give them ranked voting.”

      Never going to happen. But you can work locally to get the changes and encourage that elsewhere. Voting third party is worse than slacktavism, as it’s both pointless and counter productive.

      Don’t try to play the game you want to be playing, play the one you’re currently playing.

      • Monument@lemmy.sdf.org
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        7 months ago

        Circling back - I initially did not respond because I thought that my response would be caustic and catty.

        It seemed that the first two paragraphs you wrote were in response to me, but the rest were just the same canned responses that get shared with everyone who throws out a ‘voting is pointless’ message. And that’s not really my stance, or my comment. It kind of upset me, so I felt that I couldn’t have responded politely at the time.
        It is a reasonable conclusion to draw from my statements, but I don’t believe people should refrain from voting. I just believe political parties should deliver on their promises, and if they don’t deliver, then they should stop making those promises, or make way for parties that do.

        What are they going to do? “Oh no, people are unhappy with the two parties…well we better dilute our power and give them ranked voting.”

        Yes.
        It’s not ‘the norm’ as far as beliefs go, but I do kind of think that should be exactly what they do. They are here to lead and govern. That is what public service is. It is service to the public.
        If they behave in protectionist ways for the sake of their party’s over the public interest, then they lack the mandate to represent the public.
        Leadership is sometimes sacrificing the power of your party for the good of the people. But that’s also irrelevant as an argument. If democrats represent the ideals they claim to represent, then next time they have a trifecta, they should move towards expanding democracy at a federal level, rather than leaving it to states. Leaving it at the state level guarantees the sort of gridlock that holds back local organizing - only certain kinds of ballot initiatives are even seriously considered at a state level because it’ll harm that state’s power on the national stage. In terms of ideology, more U.S. citizens align with democrats than republicans (but huge numbers of left leaning folks don’t vote due to lack of representation). Their political aims would see more progress with a better represented (and presumably more engaged) populous in a coalition government where their ideas can enjoy broader support.
        But they don’t run on ideas or by providing better governance. They’re a business that relies on laws and marketing campaigns to succeed in a given ‘business cycle.’

        • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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          7 months ago

          Yes.

          You missed the point: It is a rhetorical question. Of course they aren’t going to do that. It’s not how it works. These people got into power that way, and there is no way in a representative democracy that you are going to get enough of the reps who gained the power a certain way to give up that way. You are arguing what they should do, and I agree with you. But the problem is that focusing on that is just blind idealism. I’m pointing out the dirty reality of how politics works.

          And this assault on “well washington democrats aren’t idealistic do-gooders!” is just a counter productive position (unless you want Reps to win instead). They are humans who have human faults, and primarily made up of people who have sought out the power, so a lot of those faults are going to be amplified.

          But that’s the game we have right now. Ranked choice is great, but it ain’t going to come from people wringing their hands over “Well, washington democrats with their slim majority weren’t able to force through sweeping changes that some of their members don’t even agree with!” It’s going to come from getting your hands dirty locally.

          It’s super easy to be like “I don’t like either party.” Good for you. I’ve known plenty of edgy 14 year olds who have been able to “reason” themselves to this same conclusion. But nothing you propose is realistic or will solve it.

    • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      In their post 2020-majority they could have done so much legislatively that they didn’t even bother considering - like campaign finance reform or expanding the courts, or even changing the rules around judicial nominees to prevent future shenanigans, but that would impact their bottom line or their ability to inspire panic at election-time.

      This conspiracy theory is so weird.

      How exactly are legislative Democrats supposed to accomplish these things when their bare-bones Senate majority depends on Manchin and Sinema? I mean really, specifically, how are they supposed to get things done?

      Y’all are always like “they should do more” but you won’t give them the numbers to do it. In a 60/40 Senate we can make wonderful things happen, but you just won’t give it to us.

      • ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        When the Democratic Party did have a 60-40 in 2009 they did not act. Where they did they self imposed compromises with the GOP or simply didn’t pass legislation they ran on. For example: codifying Roe v Wade with Freedom of Choice Act went from Obama’s alleged first sct in office to “not a top priority.” Then they got annihilated in 2010.

        We know from precedent that when Democrats are elected there is no indication they will even promote what they or the party ran on.

        Recent example: John Fetterman. Ran as a progressive, immediately said he wasn’t progressive once in office and now pushing for right wing immigration laws.

        Republicans get what they vote for. Democrats do not. Which is why these threads are so ignorant and frustrsting to read.

        • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          They had a 60-40 majority for only a few months, and they passed a massive expansion of healthcare that has saved thousands of lives and lifted countless people out of poverty. And that’s after Republicans gutted it by killing the individual mandate.

          these threads are so ignorant and frustrsting to read.

          At least we agree on one thing. But you’re the one spreading the ignorance.

          • ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
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            7 months ago

            The ACA is the self compromising I was referencing. I thought that was clear, so I apologize for your feeling so provoked by my lack of explicitly referencing it.

  • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Democratic strategists, liberal pundits are making a living off doubting President Joe Biden’s viability in the 2024 presidential election. Why?

    Because they need it to be a horse race to get keep people’s attention. They write those things because they get clicks and views and comments.

    Notice how they’re not writing about how our system is failing everyone by being this way. That’s because they like the system this way because it keeps them on top.

    • TheHiddenCatboy@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 months ago

      If you think the system is failing us now, you must have been asleep from 2017 through 2020, especially for the part where unmarked, literally secret as in unknown, police came in and abducted people protesting the murder of a Black dude, and beat the shit out of them before releasing them. The system REALLY failed us then.

      I get it. You think the Democrats don’t represent your issues in the Congress. I don’t agree with that, as a good half of the achievements listed here benefit the little guy in one way or another, but yeah. Biden answers to the moneyed class, and that is bipartisan. But you only get 26 out of 100 people in the room to flat out come out and say “Yeah, I’m with that guy,” pointing to you. In the polls, you might net another 25 people, and 49 people vote for the R in this accursed D and R duopoly we call our government. But pay attention to those numbers. You can’t afford to lose a lot of people. If Jill Stein picks off 3 of your 51 people, it’s 49 Trump, 48 Biden, 3 Stein, and all 51 of the anti-Trump voters suffer with Trump. Those are the rules the game is played by.

      As I said to the other person arguing that it’s wrong to expect people to vote for people who don’t give them exactly what they want, I agree. We need better choices. But there are smart ways to go about doing this, and dumb ways to go about doing it. And allowing the authoritarian jerk in isn’t just a dumb way to go about doing it. It’s a dumb and cruel way. And understand if you’re a White Liberal choosing to vote Third Party or stay home and not vote Joe Biden the Genocidal Monster: you are benefiting from your White Privilege. You, like me, can keep your head down and pretend to be a Loyal Member of the Race, a Good American who pays your taxes and salutes the flag. You can scrub your Social Media posts and hide behind your anonymity on places like Lemmy, and go about your life. You will not be the first put into the cages by the Trump ICE. You will not be the first rounded up and deported to a foreign land with no citizenship. You will not be the first detained by the military during protests. Many, many people will pay the price for your privilege of voting third party or staying home because you won’t vote for no ‘genocider’. But remember two things First, you will have brought the genocide you say you oppose onto American shores. Second, once they are done with the migrants, the transgender people, the gays, the ‘sinful’ women protesting their rights to get a safe abortion, and so on, there’ll be nobody left to protect you when they turn their attention to you.

      Again. Biden ain’t no bed of roses. But one of two people will win in 2024, just like one of two people would win in 2020, and one of two people would win in 2016. I consider you all who voted Stein or Johnson in 2016 or stayed home in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to be responsible for what Trump did in 2017 through 2020, and if Trump wins in 2024, I’ll hold you all accountable for what happens in 2025 and beyond.

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        tl;dr - The system is broken but we still have to pretend it isn’t because otherwise its brokenness will allow terrible things to happen and the people who do those things will face no repercussions.

        • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          tl;dr - The system is broken but we still have to pretend it isn’t because otherwise its brokenness will allow terrible things to happen and the people who do those things will face no repercussions.

          No, you can either use the broken system and try to minimize the damage done (by voting for Biden) or you can stomp your feet and refuse to use the system by not voting, or voting 3rd party, and in doing so allowing Trump to get reelected which will do great harm to you and everyone else who isn’t named Trump. It’s really a simple choice. Meanwhile, work to change the system. Join your local political party and support progressive candidates who also want to change the system. Hell, run for local office yourself and fight to change the system.

          You have a an angry bear charging at you your family and there’s no where to run. All you have is a dull knife. Do you try and fight off the bear or do you throw up your hands and scream it’s not fair while the bear kills your family?

  • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Biden is currently pulling us into World War 3 by supporting Genocide. He is actively pushing for Republican style immigration laws.

    At this point there is no difference between Biden or Trump.

    • paf0@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Trump would be focused on destroying our institutions rather than other countries. There is definitely a difference.

      • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Would you rather have the mass murder millions of innocent brown people in foreign countries than have negative consequences for the precious white Americans?

        • the_brownie@lemm.ee
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          7 months ago

          It’s really scary to me, as a trans person with many trans friends, how eager much of the far left is to write us off as sacrifices. I guess my life doesn’t matter to you because I’m a “precious white American” (and this disingenuous horseshit totally ignores the fact that POC trans Americans will undoubtedly be the most affected).

          But hey, at least I can feel as I draw my last tortured breaths in a christo-fascist deathcamp some solace in knowing that online tankies got to feel satisfaction in helping punish Biden by helping elect an honest-to-god fascist.

          • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            Rather condone the Genocide of millions of innocents than advocate for change you would prefer not taking any risk and having them certainly murdered with support of the Biden regime?

            It’s pretty astounding to me that people do not consider Biden a Christo-Fascist yet. As he as actively trying to reach some Christian Zionist goals

            • Railing5132@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              Jezuz fuck, having a black-and-white worldview must be so freeing; not having to clutter your beautiful mind with things like FUCKING COMPLEXITY

              • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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                7 months ago

                What do you think about the Nazi’s? Do you know who won the German election in 1933? What about the Spanish civil war? Surely you don’t have a black and white opinion on the Nazi’s like just saying “they are evil for committing Genocide” right?

        • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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          7 months ago

          Well, the problem is it isn’t “either/or.” It’s “both or just one.”

          Trump will be worse for Palestine, believe it or not. I mean, that isn’t hard to believe, it’s just hard to swallow that those are the choices. But it’s the one we’re stuck with.

          • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            Oh that is simply not true. Trump CAN’T be worse for Palestine.

            Biden has done every single thing Netanyahu asked him to. After six months of Genocide there are still not a single weapons restriction and Biden is rushing as many weapons as he can to israel. And Biden condones every single one of the Genocidal war crimes openly. And vetoes any condemnation of israel.

            The worst Trump can do is the same as Biden.

            • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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              7 months ago

              That’s a naive thing to think. Beyond naive.

              Biden is actually kind of concerned with trying to appear like he cares. He kinda has to. It’s for selfish reasons, of course, he is still a politician. But Democratic voters aren’t just rank-n-file voters like republicans. And they’re not all wanting the most cruel thing to happen. Republicans voters almost universally are.

              The US supports Israel. Like, the country. The machinery. Not Biden or trump or even Bernie, in that hypothetical situation. It’s a massive moneyed machine that probably just one dude couldn’t decide to stop—even if that person were president.

              I’d vote for another country too, for another order, if I could. But we can’t. You’re voting for genocide or genocide. But one of those genocides comes with a slew of other problems for vulnerable communities at home. And that same one comes with a petulant fascist with harm on the brain and a rabid fan base wanting to tear trans people limb from limb and stick women back in the 1940s and just open up he earth and suck out whatever regardless of the consequences. We have minutes until midnight on the climate emergency. Even a slow descent into turmoil is better than throwing everything we can into the fires.

              Being a one-issue voter, especially in 2024, is so incredibly shortsighted and…I’m sorry, but selfish. You’re willing to throw MORE Palestinians, trans people, women, the environment all into the shitpile for, I’m sorry, your personal sense of purity.

              We all get it, what is happening in Palestine is beyond horrifying. It’s genocide. No argument, there. But even a president who has to make a few speeches and small demands on how Israel is “starting to concern” or whatever gestures Biden has to make for optics, is better than a vindictive, bloodthirsty bigot who will, believe it or not, be more cruel if and when he can. That shouldn’t be hard to believe, but it is hard to wrap your head around when the topic is supporting genocide.

              • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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                7 months ago

                Dude what? Even past hardcore Republicans like George Bush have been far stronger against israel than Biden.

                This utter delusion that Biden can’t do anything to stop israel is some Blue Maga mental gymnastics.

                Biden is ideologically motivated to support this Genocide. He is willing to throw away the entire election for it.

                • theparadox@lemmy.world
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                  7 months ago

                  There is literally a video of Trump bragging to random Jews in Mar a Lago that he got them more Palestinian land during his presidency. Trump’s only criticisms have been delusions that “October 7th wouldn’t have happened because Hamas wouldn’t dare piss me off” and telling Israelis “You guys have to fix the optics of what you’re doing because you are losing public support.” He doesn’t give a fuck about the genocide - he just wants it done more quietly so fewer people notice and get upset.

              • Mirshe@lemmy.world
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                7 months ago

                In fact, Trump has said Israel should escalate. I believe the phrase he used was “finish the job”.

                • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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                  7 months ago

                  Trump says Israel has to get war in Gaza over ‘fast’ and warns it is ‘losing the PR war’

                  “Get it over with and let’s get back to peace and stop killing people. And that’s a very simple statement,” Trump said. “They have to get it done. Get it over with and get it over with fast because we have to – you have to get back to normalcy and peace.”

                  “They’re releasing the most heinous, most horrible tapes of buildings falling down. And people are imagining there’s a lot of people in those buildings, or people in those buildings, and they don’t like it,” he added. “They’re losing the PR war. They’re losing it big. But they’ve got to finish what they started, and they’ve got to finish it fast, and we have to get on with life.”

    • dirthawker0@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      If you think Trump is going to stop Israel from killing Palestinians or make immigration easier for brown people, you are very mistaken.

  • anticolonialist@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    The key word in the title is Democrats. Leave those of us that are not Democrats or Republicans out of the conversation.

    • TheHiddenCatboy@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 months ago

      Hey, pal, I didn’t write the headline, so don’t give me crap about it. But here’s a fact you miss with your “not democrat or republican” nonsense. Do you claim to care about Non-Christian, Gay, Transgender, or Minority people? Then you must vote for the Democrat. Because come November, one of two parties will win the election. That’s just how the American system is designed currently, and it’s going to take LOTS of hard work to fix it, and there are gonna be LOTS of people who will fight you tooth and nail to stop that from happening. But until it happens, either a Democrat or a Republican will win that seat, like one has every year from 1860 until the present. That’s even more likely if the only time you’re pushing for an alternative is during the General Election and not, say, during the Primary or for local elections.

      And to remind you, the two men who have a lock on that office in January consist of:

      • A man who is admittedly old, who has a speech impediment and a history of engaging mouth before brain throughout his adult lifespan, who is a bit stuck in the past and thinks that solutions that worked on problems back in 1980 will work on problems today, and who is too friendly with Israel as a nation to recognise that Israel’s leader is more akin to his opponent than anyone on his side of the political aisle.
      • A shithead who is only 3 years younger than the other guy, who doesn’t have a speech impediment to explain away his word salads, who once famously bragged that he could take any woman in the world he wanted despite her thoughts on the matter because ‘he’s a star’ and ‘he’s allowed to do that’, who mocked and denigrated disabled people willingly and openly, who quoted Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini freely and pridefully, and who encouraged shitheads to run down Americans protesting shithead policies, and who has a plan to double down on all that bullshit come DAY ONE and he promises to be a dictator “only for a day!” if he wins.

      One of those two will be in office come January. Nobody else. Your third party or no-vote won’t change that. If you stay home or vote third party in 2025, you should be fucking ashamed of yourself if you even begin to think you’re a friend to any of the issues the Left stands for.

      • anticolonialist@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I’ll start with democrats are not left. They are to the right of people like Reagan and Nixon. Your party doesn’t give a fuck about Non-Christian, Gay, Transgender, or Minority people either, talking like they do then doing nothing to protect them makes them no different than their Republican counterparts. Using marginalized people as human shields to defend shitty politicians and their shitty policies doesn’t make you an ally, it makes you an enemy of their progress and keeps them further subjugated.

        Cant change a system if no one has the balls to actually challenge it and refuse to keep propping it up.

  • FJT@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Hahaha no he’s not. Hahahahaha. Leftist stupidity strikes again