Yeah but deciding not to vote for Biden just feels like a good trendy way to express my sympathies with Palestineans… /s
I hope this gets posted in all the leftist boards. People need to understand Biden is a continuation of the United States’ wishy-washy policies on Palestinians whereas Trump is pedal to the floor full acceleration towards genocide. Biden has shown he can at least be pressured into taking minor steps in the right direction. Being able to claim moral purity at the expense of a genocided Palestine will ring pretty hollow.
Looking forward to what the Republicans cosplaying as leftists use instead of “genocide Joe” now that Donald is calling for a final solution.
Pick one:
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Geriatric Joe, the president too senile to make up his mind on which side to support.
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Gray-area Joe, the weak president that refuses to take a stance on foreign affairs.
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Bystander Biden, the president that did nothing to end the Israel-Palestine war.
And so forth. They’ll always find some other stupid thing to blame him for.
Along with what everyone else is saying, I think they could probably still try to make an attempt at taking like, a false moral position, along the lines of an accelerationism-style “oh, well, trump seeking to escalate the war would end it more quickly, thus, saving more lives in the long run” kind of thing. Obviously based on kind of false pretenses, but then, I think a lot of their political positions kind of assume war and resource extraction as an inevitability, and power as an ultimate moral good, on a deeper level, and the fascism and propaganda mind games they play are just kind of a stupid extension of that.
Plus the fact that Biden is definitively anti Ukrainian genocide, and Trump would not only pull US support of Ukraine, he would actively try to discourage NATO
The “ppl” pushing the narrative ur complaining about arent on Ukraines side, nor or they on the side of NATO. Theyre busy convincing everyone they can that literally all western news is propaganda and the only true news will come from state sources in russia, china, etc.
The goal when engaging that side should, for the sane, anyway, always be not to convert the person ur speaking to, bc even if they arent bots/shills, their bad faith arguments turn aggressive incredibly quickly. Instead, the goal should be to demonstrate to the onlookers the absurdness of the tankie’s position, and who it benefits/who is responsible for fabricating the position in the first place.
I mean, Biden absolutely is wishy washy.
But he also reversed Trump’s policy of saying West Bank settlement is legal, and sanctioned violent Israeli settlers.
Obviously Gaza’s really bad, but what’s happened and happening in the West Bank is also arguably ethnic cleansing. Chasing Palestinians off their land. Trump’s a fan.
But he also reversed Trump’s policy of saying West Bank settlement is legal, and sanctioned violent Israeli settlers.
Israel announced this month that they are authorizing the creation of increased settlements in the West Bank.
If Biden used the power of the United States to stop this and to undo the existing illegal settlements then he would deserve credit. He will never choose to do this though. This is because Biden, and all mainstream Democrats and Republicans, are Zionists who believe Israel should not be forcibly prevented from expanding its current borders.
Trump is worse. But mainstream politicians are also horrific. It is equivalent to the choice between the gradualist death by a thousand cuts used by John Roberts vs the immediate exercise of power used by Samuel Alito. Either way, liberty and morality will be destroyed.
We need to demand better as American citizens. No one else can correct the United States but us
Biden is a continuation of the United States’ wishy-washy policies on Palestinians whereas Trump is pedal to the floor full acceleration towards genocide.
If these are the only options that our system offers us, then why shouldn’t we demand our system be replaced?
Democrats are inadequate, Republicans are worse. If this is the only choice available within the United States, then why do we citizens allow the United States to continue?
I have a strict “no genocide” policy. Candidates that promote, endorse, allow, or sit idly by and let others do genocide are gonna be a no go from me.
It’s not going to change unless we make demands.
I have a strict “no genocide” policy.
That’s not one of the options though. You get to pick which genocide. You either get restrained genocide, or full genocide with a side of dismantling American democracy.
I am convinced a good chunk of the “genocide Joe” crew are agents provocateurs.
You’re may be right. I assume most of them are ‘useful idiots’.
They realised western media were often biased, so they switched to ‘critical’ media, spent more and more time in internet bubbles, and ended up uncritically parroting Russian, Chinese or Iranian propaganda instead.
Same thing happened after 9/11 and Iraq. A lot of people were angry about how biased CNN was, so they switched to channels like Russia Today because it was critical of the US and did genuinely have a lot of good journalism. Of course, that doesn’t mean Russia Today isn’t propaganda. A lot of these people are forever lost, I don’t think you can deprogram them.
Also if people use a lot of slogans like “cultural marxism”, “Fuck Brandon” or “genocide Joe”, without being able to articulate a nuanced position, it’s likely they’ve succumb to newspeak. Newspeak uses an impoverished and simplified vocabulary, to prevent people from critical thinking.
I don’t think that “Fuck Brandon” is indicative of much. Especially since Biden himself has heavily leaned into the “Dark Brandon” persona since 2022.
You can’t claim that people who use the term “Brandon” are brainwashed when Biden’s own campaign uses the term - and even sells merchandise with the name/image depicted on it
Unless you’re claiming that Dems/libs are also brainwashed, along with MAGA-types and the uncritical portions of the “dirtbag left”. In which case you’re correct, but likely unintentionally as that cuts against your broader point
It must feel amazing to be held hostage by a ineffective political party that knows that if you don’t vote for them then the alternative will be much worse.
The salient point is that Trump is endorsing a pogrom.
Your takeaway from a story about a former President of the United States of America endorsing ethnic cleansing, is that a backhanded shot should be taken at the other party?
I mean… It kinda sounded like gallows humor
This is a particularly great comparison.
Biden isn’t doing enough to stop Palestinians from getting mowed down in food lines. He’s so focused on appealing to the right that he’s making the left lose hope
Trump is cheering it on, you know how he gets around authoritarians who commit human rights violations
One of these is clearly much worse than the other. No question. But the end result doesn’t feel different
Every step forward is too little so late… Even the article this last week “Biden speaks out against Netanyahu” was him very carefully calling for a cease fire.
It’s so little, so late… We’re all waiting for him to go Darth Brandon and do something big. Something that’ll give the left hope, and involve him making some deserving enemies
Holding us hostage by… progressive voters choosing not to show up in the primaries.
Admittedly, bitching online is much easier and doesn’t involve leaving the house but still…
FYI, voting doesn’t require leaving the house either. Register to vote by mail!
Must be amazing to think that there’s a giant majority of Socialists in America and the only thing holding them back is the DNC.
It is amazing that some people think that Biden can snap his fingers and Israel jumps to attention. Israel is a country that attacked the USS Liberty! Biden didn’t start the conflict. People on both sides have died. You can’t stop trains, super tankers of countries on a dime. It would be nice, however if folks would actually try to understand what is being done and why. Hint: you won’t find in in the MSM or from Putin’s trolls. Then again, mindless online bitching is so much easier.
Yeah, you can’t just call up Israel, threaten US aid, and tell them to end hostilities: that only worked when Reagan and did it! And when HW Bush did it! /s
I dont understand this idea that the US has no leverage when we are sending Israel billions of dollars. Without US resupply, several crucial Israeli military systems would be forced to shut down.
Well uh when you have the US Navy under your command, and already in the area dealing with Houthis, you know, by shooting down their missiles and bombing them and such, you actually /can/ stop trains and tankers.
You could airlift aid! You could, hilariously, stop ships heading to Israel with a Naval Blockade!
Obviously that last one isnt going to happen, but theres a whole lot more than basically nothing that you could do.
For starters: Cut off a bunch of joint projects between US and Israeli firms, stop sending them large amounts of money for other things, stop fucking shit canning every attempt by the UN to sanction Israel, or maybe even use these aforementioned things as threats and leverage to force a fucking ceasefire.
And now because this is the internet: Am I saying that Trump is somehow not bad, not far, far, far fucking worse by pointing out the rest?
Nooooo!
No, fucking obviously Trump would be a thousand times worse!
But pretending that there’s nothing Biden could do is a joke.
He doesn’t because he is a long time Zionist, and the American public, and particularly political and media figures, have been bathed in Zionist propaganda for so long that it takes an overt genocide for us to figure out that maybe Israel actually isn’t a perfect unconditional ally.
Biden: We’ve been reluctantly supporting a very close ally, but it’s gone too far, and now we’re publicly condemning while admittedly still funding them. It’s a complicated situation, and I’m a cautious centrist.
Trump: Why are there still buildings standing in Gaza? That won’t happen on my watch. May as well wipe out the West Bank while we’re at it.
For the life of me, I can’t tell the difference. I have no idea who to vote for to help the Palestinians.
There is no one to vote for to help the Palestinians.
The only hope for Gaza is for Biden to change course and use his significant leverage to convince Bibi to end the blockade.
If the status quo of famine is allowed to continue, there will be no Gazans left to bomb when Trump is sworn in on Jan 2025.
30,000 people are dead. Daily death tolls have fallen by 20% per month since the beginning of the war.
How are you getting to 2,300,000 within ten months?
Can you show your work?
People in northern Gaza have described in detail about their decline.
In the first month or two, they ate the remaining food and slaughtered the animals. Then they ate animal feed for months. When that was gone, they ate bird seed. Now with nothing left, they eat grass.
When it’s only grass, people start to die. Children and elderly first. And that is the stage of famine we are at now.
People can survive a long time on very low food. But they can’t survive forever.
The only hope for Gaza is for Biden to change course and use his significant leverage to convince Bibi to end the blockade.
Five months and almost 31,000 Palestinian deaths later, he’s still just wagging his finger and sending even more arms to Israel.
We might as well just wait for the Pope to shit in the woods.
Edit: Here’s the most likely reason for the downvotes.
(NSFW - language)
Nah the Pope is going after the real threat. Trans youth. I wish that I was kidding…
When your highly nuanced and extremely educated political stance is obliterated by an extremely obvious fact that you forgot to consider because you got lost in the sauce of [current hot conversation topic] for [I’m a Leftist!™] identifying individuals.
I mean I was personally waiting for Trump to say the obvious and finish the punchline for the last couple weeks honestly.
I mean, thats good, but unfortunately a huge (over-representative?) amount of online leftist discourse is so subsumed by extremely emotionally driven short sighted glomming onto bullying a particular person that they often say things that are basically obviously ludicrous if you either take a few deep breathes and think about what you’re saying, or if you’re not really involved in the often extremely petty nature of discourse around/perpetuated by many popular online leftists.
But hey, Not All Leftists, I guess?
Its frankly deeply embarrassing to accurately describe myself as a leftist and then have less politically engaged people often think I’m like one of these over the top internet personalities, and also infuriating when I describe myself as a leftist to other leftists online, who then usually woke scold and purity shame me for having non ludicrous positions.
Hell I’m still banned from like half the hexbear and lemmy.ml communities for pointing out that maybe Taiwan has expressed a desire for governmental sovereignty, you know kind of like Ukraine, even though its obviously not a perfect society, it doesnt deserve to be invaded or subverted by a neighboring state?
Nah. Verbotten opinions.
I think the latest hexbear community to ban me did so because I posted a response to an ‘enigmatic, therefore funny and awesome’ meme on weibo.
The meme, a kind of wojack meme, boils down to ‘Dengist reforms allowed western influence into China, which has resulted in nowadays Chinese incels pretend to be black men online to pick up chicks because many Chinese basically racistly view black men as all having giant cocks.’
But you can’t even hint that parts of Chinese society might be gasp racist, or even have segments that view women as only interested in big dicked men because this breaks the brains of many online Western leftists that Chinese society is not actually perfect.
Its even more baffling to me that many online Leftists barely ever mention, or tie themselves up in absurd logical/rhetorical pretzels about how just in general many East Asian societies and ethnicities have large chunks that are extremely racist towards other East Asian and other ethnicities, basically because a good number of East Asian societies are nominally communist or socialist, so that must mean they’ve solved racism.
Nope that’s what he has said and has been saying. Are you trolling or just ignorant?
What about his actions? How many bombs used in this genocide were sent by the US?
This is what I’ve been pointing out all along… Say what you want about Biden funding Israel, Trump is actively worse.
And no, Jill Stein or Cornell West are not viable alternatives.
Just voted for Gabriel Cornejo in my state’s primary. Looked him up, liked his policies, voted for him instead of Vermin Supreme, because no way am I voting for Biden in the primary. It’s purely symbolic, let’s be real, but I did ultimately vote for someone with leftist platform.
It’s not purely symbolic. The bigger candidates often start to address policy positions represented by smaller candidates who get enough votes in the primaries as a way to sway those voters in the general election.
Absolutely! If we can show that there are votes to be taken up by repositioning policies just a little or adding some, then it absolutely in a working 2 party system moves the closest party to adopt those in order to get the votes. And then it’s up to consistent pressure to make sure they are worked on while in office, pest they lose trust and that voter base forever.
It’s a shame, I’m pretty sure the US is not in a working or stable 2 party system.
This right here. There’s no actual threat of weakening Biden by voting against him in the primary, because there’s no real candidate running against him. Voting uncommitted or for a write in the primary is a great way to leverage your voting power without empowering trump.
Yeah, in the primary all options are valid to vote for, even if it’s just symbolic. That still shows where people stand. However, in the general you pick who you need to pick in order to get the best outcome. You don’t get to vote for symbolism then, at least if you’re a rational person and not just doing something out of an emotional attempt to feel better than other people. It sucks, but that’s how the system functions for now at least. Acting morally superior doesn’t do anything except allow the morally corrupt to get their way.
And no, Jill Stein or Cornell West are not viable alternatives.
My vote will only ever go to Vermin Supreme.
The irony of literally anyone (eligible) not voting for Biden specifically because of his handling of the Gaza situation, and thereby doing their part to help Donald “Gotta Finish the Problem” Trump win, makes my bones hurt. I hate this timeline and I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.
Agreed and I did the same yesterday. Will vote for Biden in the end, but I registered my complaint. As best I can tell, his tone shifted after Michigan so we’ll see if there is more change on the horizon.
I’m usually skeptical of protest votes, but these primary protest votes are actually effective for the same reason voting is effective. Politicians aren’t as static as we want to believe- their number one priority is reelection. When you vote, you are telling the candidates that you are politically useful and they will begin to pay attention to your needs. When you vote for all levels of government, you are giving deeper detail into what your needs are.
If a significant portion of a district votes for a Democrat as president, and then a Republican for state representative, the democratic administration will likely make more conservative decisions if they see that portion of the electorate as critical to reelection.
This naturally reveals a big problem with the electoral college, as there are maybe 5 states with critical demographics needed to win reelection. The people in Ohio, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, and Michigan are more influential to the type of administration a Republican or Democrat would run.
If the Gaza protest vote happened in Washington State or California, I doubt Biden would have reacted as much as he did for Michigan. That said, this problem politicians face goes from the President of the US down to the president of your HOA. So I’ll acknowledge that the power of voting fluctuates depending on the specific outcome you are measuring, but there are so many variables. In political science you need to learn to live with paradoxes, and this may be one.
Either way, I believe we should keep voting; they are paying attention.
There are primaries for Dems? I thought Biden was automatically the candidate as current POTUS.
There is a whole calendar
https://ballotpedia.org/Changes_to_the_2024_Democratic_presidential_primary_calendar
If any American ever has any questions about the Weimar Republic and why Germans didn’t stop Hitler when they still had a chance to do so, just point them to the run up to the 2024 presidential election. People who secretly want fascist leaders will always have an excuse, if one goes away, they already have another excuse waiting.
Everyone knows the Weimar Republic was funding a genocide before they elected Hitler. It’s in the history books, page 420. /s
and did that genocide get worse under Hitler, or ridiculously worse under Hitler? Page 69 will shock you.
Yes and these people become excessively angry with you when you point it out. Their goal isn’t really to find a solution, it is to express discontent. They are divorced enough from reality that when you mention that Trump would be worse, they tend to lash out at you instead.
The irony of literally anyone (eligible) not voting for Biden specifically because of his handling of the Gaza situation
I left my primary ballot blank. There was nobody on the ticket who wasn’t going to continue the genocide (with perhaps Marianna Williamson as an exception, but I’m not indulging her vanity campaign). Come November, I suspect I’ll be in the same spot. Two candidates who are endorsing genocide, with the caveat that one is waving an Israeli sports pennant while the other repeatedly insists he feels really bad about it.
I hate this timeline and I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.
Swing by Gaza. We’ll sell the Israelis the next round of ammo used to wipe you off the face of the Earth.
It’s a good thing that the only responsibility of a US president is deciding what to do about Israel.
If they were the only person able to veto something like a national abortion ban, or legislation criminalizing trans people, it would really mess with your calculus.
Hey don’t blame them they just learned about Kony sorry Palestine and now it’s the make or break thing for them
It’s a good thing that the only responsibility of a US president is deciding what to do about Israel.
Hey now, that’s not true. He’s also responsible for getting his Too Woke judicial nominees filibustered, appointing a bunch of corporate flacks to the Federal Reserve, doing photo ops at the US-Mexico border while wearing tacti-cool kit and frowning through a pair of binoculars, and fucking up the handling of the next environmental / weather disaster. And who can forget the most important job of any President? Fundraising!
If they were the only person able to veto something like a national abortion ban
Then we’re already fucked, because that would imply all this hemming and hawing about abortion being a losing issue for Republicans failed to pan out and now a bunch of sadistic right-wing fucks are crowding into the House and Senate.
If 2024 was the last election ever, then your logic makes complete sense, and I get to liberals every election is the last election ever, despite us seeing Trump’s desperate and flawed attempts at seizing power. He didn’t get more intelligent in the last 4 years or learn from his mistakes.
Imagine a crazy, crazy world, where Trump wins in 2024 and there’s a 2028 election. I know this is hard for some moderate libs to fathom, but you should recognize it as a real possibility.
If it’s incredibly clear that Biden lost because he’s Genocide Joe, then the next Democratic candidate might be someone younger who is ready to end the genocide (which the U.S is perfectly capable of single-handedly doing).
I’ve met people online that absolutely refuse to even acknowledge this is a possible world. They think Genocide Joe is the absolute best, pro-Gaza leader the Democratic party could ever put forth, and that losing elections due to issues like supporting genocide could never change the rhetoric and actions of future candidates in the party.
It’s fucking mind-numbing how little thought people put into this. Like I’m happy to agree that in a world where Trump wins, the years 2024-2028 are going to be worse in about every conceivable way, but then as we get into 2028 and beyond, there are scenarios that play out better for leftists in that world (e.g we get an anti-genocide, socialist leftist instead of some moderate Republican who is a reincarnation of Biden except on some social issues). The fact that moderate libs REFUSE to acknowledge this possibility is fucking exhausting.
And I’m not saying that it’s guaranteed to be better 2028 and beyond, it’s absolutely not, nobody can make guarantees about the future, but there is undeniable potential value in having Biden lose this election when you look beyond the next 4 years.
Politicians cater to the people who vote. If Democrats lose this November and there is an election 2028 they are going to look at the people who voted in 2024 and 2026 and try to get those people’s votes. If progressives don’t vote in the general election this year Democrats won’t waste time on them and will instead focus on conservative voters. Not voting will drive the Democratic party further to the right.
Withholding our votes doesn’t lead to better election outcomes. Voting should be a simple mechanical choice to pick the lesser evil. If people want better candidates then they need to do the work between elections. Refusing to vote and trying to lower voter turnout sets us back. Losing in 2024 will mean America becomes a fascist dictatorship. There is no value in letting the Republicans win.
I didn’t say withhold your vote, go vote for Jill Stein.
It’s sad that you have to resort to a strawman to make a coherent argument against me. This is the only response to me that’s coherent, I just wish it was a coherent point against an actual position of mine, instead of a made-up position you fabricated.
If 8% of the vote goes to someone who has been openly anti-Israel and pro-Palestine, while crowds are chanting against genocide Joe, it’ll send a pretty clear signal to Democrats what they need to do.
Hoping you’ll apologize for the unnecessary strawman honestly, it’s needlessly exhausting to have to deal with all the inane shit everyone is throwing my way, only to then have to deal with a coherent comment put together against a point I didn’t even make.
I am a leftist and the democratic party is no friend of mine. That said:
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I have lost a portion of my bodily autonomy due to republican policies. People I know have avoided getting reproductive care due to draconian republican laws in my state, and lack of control of medical records. Electing a republican will further erode rights for 50% of the nation. Yes, I am talking about women’s reproductive health.
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Republicans are erroding the safety and rights of LGBTQ+ people, in my state and elsewhere. I cannot abide a future where they are able to do this federally.
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Republicans are directly attacking our electoral processes and our partisan supreme court refuses to engage in a timely matter. A bush/gore sort of election issue will send our nation into chaos, or direct civil war. You wish us to imagine a future in which trump wins and there is a 2028 election. I can’t imagine a future where a republican government respects democracy that would allow for a possibility for a democratic (let alone an actual left party) candidate to win. The republican party is no longer a neolib party, they are a party of fascists up for sale to the highest bidder.
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Trump will not just merely support Israel’s genocide. The middle east becomes more and more volatile each day. Remember: Trump had an Iranian general assassinated. I think it’s quite likely we will be dragged into a horrible, hellish war. No heroes, no winners, just unimaginable carnage and human suffering.
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If anyone attempts to engage me with accelerationist rhetoric, know that I will ignore you. I refuse to engage with anyone who believes that an increase in violence is somehow beneficial. You have no idea what you’re asking for, and a glorious leftist revolution is not a possible outcome here.
You’re speaking in certainties when you cannot. The genocide has been perpetuated, on and off, for 75 years. This is the most killing we’ve seen in the region in a short span of time, but we have seen figures close to this in the past 75 years.
Of course there’s a world where Trump is elected, and successfully aids Israel in the extermination of the Palestinians. But you have to admit that that world isn’t a certainty, even if Trump is elected.
There’s also a world where Biden is reelected, his campaign keeps greenlighting the genocide with periodic rhetorical criticism, and then some other fascist Republican or moderate fiscal conservative Democrat comes in in 2028 and finishes the job (the Democrats now emboldened to further ignore the genocide because it costs them nothing).
It’s easier online to speak in certainty about the future, I understand that, but please if you’re going to bother engaging please don’t do it in bad-faith and actually admit where your knowledge ends. You’re not clairvoyant.
Removed, rule 3:
“Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (perjorative, perjorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (perjorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect!”
Look up Project 2025. There will not be a 2028 election if Trump wins 2024. One Day Dictator Donnie won’t stop at one day.
He already tried to seize the capital through force. He has failed, he was the president for 4 fucking years and couldn’t figure out how to dismantle the government. He’s incredibly incompetent, I don’t know why every liberal in the world is clutching their pearls like he’s some kind of mastermind who grew and learned how to overthrow the country.
Project 2025. Downvote me. Shit on my very existence. But read what is planned.
“I don’t want to live on this planet anymore…” oh please, just stop. How horrible is your life? You sound like a whiny liberal. People are dying all over the world, being murdered for religious beliefs, sexual preference, politics…etc…and you don’t want to live because “that big bad republican might become President…” Please…
Trump also repeatedly claimed that if he were president, there would be no war between Israel and Gaza. “It would have never happened if I was president,” he said of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack against Israel, in which more than 1,100 Israeli and foreign nationals were killed. “They wouldn’t have done it to me, I guarantee you that. They did this because they have no respect for Biden and frankly they got soft,” he added.
uh huh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel_in_2017 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel_in_2018
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_airborne_arson_attacks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel_in_2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel_in_2020
They would never have done it if he was president. They only attacked because of biden.